Michele Mattei

Fintech expert, manager, advisor, investor.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Marble raises a €6.5M Series A led by Smartfin, taking total funding to €9M.

The Paris company, founded in 2021 by ex-Shine execs Arnaud Schwartz and Pascal Delange, builds open-source fraud and AML compliance software used by 100+ institutions in 25+ countries.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Blue Fire AI closes a $9M round, with Mizuho's Asset Management One taking a minority stake.

Its neuro-symbolic engine runs fundamental equity research at scale. AM-One, with $500B+ under management, will build AI-driven equity products with it for clients in Japan.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Protego Ventures closes Fund I at $125M, a dedicated fund for early-growth Israeli defence companies.

Its first investment, XTEND, which builds AI software for tactical drones and robots, raised a $70M Series B led by Protego and has since listed on the NYSE at $1.5B.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Robinhood unveils AI trading agents, 10x crypto perps for eligible US users and weekend stock trading.

150,000+ agentic accounts opened since May. Weekend equities will run on Bruce ATS, which also announced new strategic investments from PEAK6 and Robinhood.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Alpaca secures in-principle approval from Singapore's MAS for a Capital Markets Services licence.

Its Singapore entity will offer brokerage and custody to financial institutions across Southeast Asia. Alpaca supports 10M+ brokerage accounts for partners in 50+ countries.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

erad raises a $22M Series A led by MEVP, with 500 Global, SVC and ANB Capital among new investors.

The Riyadh lender gives GCC SMEs Shariah-compliant working capital of up to SAR 10M, approved in 48 hours on average. SAR 500M+ deployed; 8x growth in Saudi Arabia in a year.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Outmarket raises a $34.5M Series B led by SignalFire, four months after a $17M Series A.

Founded in late 2023 by ex-Ethos product lead Vishal Sankhla, it uses AI to automate commercial insurance paperwork for brokers. 300+ agencies use it, including a quarter of the top 100.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Checkout says annualised net revenue is up 28% to $750M, based on its August figure.

The UK payments company, valued at $12B, expects $150M of adjusted EBITDA in 2026 and $480B in payment volume. The US is its fastest-growing region.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Citi and Coinbase expand their partnership, starting in the US.

Citi's corporate clients can accept stablecoins at checkout through Spring by Citi, powered by Coinbase Payments and settled in fiat by Citi. Coinbase Virtual Accounts will run on Citi's Virtual Account Wallet.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Valley National Bancorp agrees to acquire Bluevine for $340M, 75% cash, 25% stock.

Bluevine brings 175,000 small business customers and $2.1B of deposits, 99% from customers who don't borrow. CEO Eyal Lifshitz will run Valley's small business banking. Closes early 2027.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Aljazira Bank selects Thunes to power international remittances from Saudi Arabia. Retail customers get real-time transfers to bank accounts and mobile wallets worldwide, across Asia Pacific, Europe and the GCC. 56% of Saudi residents sent money abroad in the past year.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

The ECB and Banco Central do Brasil are assessing whether TIPS, the Eurosystem's instant payment service, can be linked with Pix. Pix handles about 250M instant payments a day. The study covers technical, legal and business aspects; no launch date is set.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Humanos raises a $3.2M seed led by Anthemis, with Springbank, Critical Ventures and Start Ventures. The Lisbon startup gives each AI agent a live 0-100 risk score in a risk passport that insurers and lenders use to underwrite it. It says it is deployed at 350+ companies.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

CoinMarketCap acquires Coinglass, the crypto derivatives data platform tracking open interest, funding rates and liquidations across 28 exchanges. The deal has closed; terms were not disclosed. Coinglass keeps its brand, team and pricing and reaches CMC's 115M monthly users.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Former Nubank CFO Guilherme Lago joins Kaszek as a partner. Kaszek, one of Nubank's earliest backers, is closing its seventh fund, which NeoFeed reports at about $600M, above the $540M of its 2023 vehicle. Kaszek has not confirmed the size.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Stay raises R$30M (about $5.8M) in a Series A led by Citrino, with Norte, 17Sigma and BTV. It sells private pension plans to employers as a benefit and expects 100+ corporate clients by year end, including iFood and Claro. Under 3% of Brazilian workers have one.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Promenaut launches with $8.9M in total funding, including a strategic investment from HSBC. The bank is also a design partner, and its chief AI officer David Rice joins the board. Founded in 2025 by ex-HSBC Stephen Murphy, it runs people and AI agents as one governed workforce.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

https://t.co/GB6w9MZ6tw

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

Weekly update #151 is out. This week: Nubank in talks for Monzo, Bessemer's $5.75B in new funds, Revolut cleared to buy Banco Cetelem in Argentina, Numeral's $100M Series C. Full edition on Substack - link below.

[Michele Mattei @MicheleMat7]

PhonePe gets in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE for payment services and stored value licences, its first market outside India.

It needs final approval before launching and plans to explore UAE rails Aani and Jaywan.