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This week, capital flowed across credit, crypto, and SME finance. Highlights include Liberty Mutual’s $320 million commitment to inKind’s restaurant commerce enablement platform and Gauntlet’s $125 million Series C.
AI kept attracting capital for infrastructure and risk. Thought Machine raised $41.5 million to push its core‑banking platform deeper into tier‑1 institutions, while TaxWire secured $25 million to scale its indirect tax compliance software for global enterprises. Bridgement brought in $20.3 million to expand AI‑powered SME lending in South Africa, and Tangos AI raised $20 million to automate financial crime investigations for banks and fintechs.
Early‑stage and vertical bets rounded out the week, as agentic credit, spend intelligence, insurance, AI‑native finance platforms and niche rewards and workflows raised between $1 million and $25 million. Meanwhile, in venture funds news, India-based Fundamentum’s ₹2,200 crore ($230.5 million) Fund III and Cedar Hill’s ₹250 crore ($26 million) maiden fund moved toward closes that will back the next wave of fintech and enterprise technology for FIs.
Stat of the Week
Agentic commerce will reach 1.3 billion users globally by 2031 as card networks become the dominant infrastructure for AI-powered purchasing, according to Juniper Research.
Venture Financing
Liberty Mutual Investments committed $320 million to inKind, a restaurant commerce enablement platform and technology company helping U.S. restaurants grow with upfront funding tied to dining credits.
Gauntlet raised $125 million in Series C funding to scale its DeFi risk and digital asset allocation platform for institutional crypto investors.
Databento, a market data platform, raised $97 million in Series B funding.
EDX Markets closed $76 million in Series C funding to expand its institutional‑only crypto trading venue and central clearinghouse infrastructure for regulated digital asset markets.
Super.com raised $65 million in Series D funding to grow its savings‑focused super app that offers cash‑back deals and budgeting tools for consumers.
U.K. fintech Kord raised £6.4 million ($8.5 million) in Series A funding to scale its unified identity verification and payment infrastructure for regulated businesses.
Thought Machine raised £30 million ($41.5 million) from a tier‑1 global bank to further develop its cloud‑native core banking software used by large financial institutions.
TaxWire raised $25 million in Series A funding to scale its indirect tax compliance platform that automates global VAT, GST and sales tax for enterprises.
Young Group closed $24.4 million (€22.5 million) in new capital to expand its Italian digital wealth management and investment advisory services.
Bridgement secured $20.3 million (R330 million) in funding from South African banks to expand its AI‑powered online business lending platform for SMEs.
Tangos AI raised $20 million in seed financing to scale its autonomous AI platform that automates financial crime investigations for banks and fintechs.
Grace Investment Machine raised a $20 million Series A for its AI‑native agentic investing platform for capital markets.
Aviva raised $18 million in Series A funding to expand its SaaS workflow and data automation platform for financial institutions and enterprises.
Agave raised $15 million in Series A funding to bring AI automation to construction financials and help contractors streamline billing and cash‑flow management.
Onchain perps exchange Extended raised $12.5 million to grow its on‑chain perpetual futures exchange for leveraged crypto trading.
Kor Protocol raised $7.5 million in Series A funding to build a creative asset clearinghouse standardizing rights and payments data for media and entertainment.
Aria raised $8 million (€7 million) to scale its embedded invoice financing platform that lets SaaS and marketplace operators offer instant pay‑outs to freelancers and SMEs.
Arc Intelligence raised $5 million (€4 million) to scale its AI‑native finance platform.
Adaptive Insurance closed $5 million in additional financing to expand its specialty insurance products focused on emerging risks.
Stoa secured $2.4 million to build its cash rewards platform that lets users earn brand rewards on deposits held with partner banks.
Spense raised $2.8 million in seed funding to build agentic credit infrastructure.
Paraito raised $1.9 million (C$2.65 million) to automate rote tasks for notaries with workflow software.
Rivage raised $1.7 million (€1.5 million) to scale its AI‑powered rental management software for French real estate agencies.
Cfone raised $1 million (¥170 million) in pre‑Series A funding to grow its SaaS platform that streamlines communications and payment workflows for small businesses.
Unity Partners made a strategic growth investment in Meaden & Moore to expand the firm’s tech‑enabled accounting and advisory services.
Prosperity Venture Partners invested in Exchangifi to support its SaaS platform modernizing foreign exchange and payment workflows for institutions.
Paradigm and M1x Global backed tokenized sovereign debt infrastructure that lets institutions trade government bonds as blockchain‑based tokens.
Flutterwave secured a strategic investment from Circle Ventures to deepen its pan‑African payments platform and enhance stablecoin‑powered cross‑border payments.
Debt Financing
Aria secured a $274 million (€240 million) debt facility to expand its embedded invoice financing capacity for freelancers and SMEs on SaaS and marketplace platforms.
Venture Funds
Fundamentum launched a ₹2,200 crore ($230.5 million) Fund III to back growth-stage Indian technology companies including fintech.
Cedar Hill Capital raised more than 90% of its ₹250 crore ($26 million) maiden fund and expects an October final close to invest in fintech and enterprise technology serving financial institutions.
