Hey fintech friends,
After a summer of AI investment hype, stablecoin surges, and tariff volatility, it's a good time to take stock of what's been happening in fintech over the past quarter and where the latest funding, exit, and product trends are going looking forward.
For new readers, Signals is the premium subscriber edition of TWIF designed to get you away from the headlines and to explore the larger trendlines. Each quarter, we break down four key questions on fintech activity:
Which concepts are getting funded?
Where are exits, M&A, and SPACs concentrated?
Which firms are raising debt and venture funds for fintech?
Which products were launched over the last quarter?
Signals quarterly roundups are possible thanks to Hayden Hill, who collates insights from TWIF's newsletters into a comprehensive data dashboard each quarter.
If you haven’t already, subscribe to future editions here!
Overall activity
Total fintech funding in Q3 rose 6% from the prior quarter, to $9.56 billion in Q3 (a 53% jump Year-over-Year). The number of equity raises was down 8% QoQ (⬇️8% YoY), bringing average deal size up 19% QoQ (⬆️66% YoY).
See the full Q3’25 data here (for paid subscribers only).
AI is fueling a resurgence in growth-stage rounds (Series B- Series E), led by Ramp’s $500M Series E-2, ID.me’s $340M Series E, and AppZen’s $180M Series D. Meanwhile a wave of IPO/SPAC filings signal long-awaited exits for Revolut, Wealthfront, Grayscale, BitGo, Coinshares, and Groww.
See the full Q3’25 data here (for paid subscribers only).
Over 50% of global VC funding has been directed to AI this year, but it’s unclear how long this pace of AI-driven investments will last. With capital being deployed faster than it’s replenished, venture dry powder is set to hit its lowest level since 2019.
Which concepts are getting funded? 🤑
See the full Q3’25 data here (for paid subscribers only).
Areas that received the most funding were:
Investment infrastructure, led by iCapital’s $820M private equity raise, Saphyre’s $70M PE raise, Eton Solutions’ $58M Series C, and Capitolis’ $56 million strategic raise.
Fraud mitigation, led by ID.me’s $340M Series E, Quavo’s $300M growth round, Vanta’s $150 million Series D, and SEON’s $80M Series C.
DeFi infrastructure, led by VERB’s $558 million private placement, Zero Hash’s $104M Series D, Agora’s $50 million Series A, and RD Technologies’s $40 million Series A.
Consumer digital banking, led by Tata Capital’s $523M raise (ahead of its planned $1.7B IPO, set to be India’s biggest public listing in 2025), Bilt’s $250M raise (at a $10.75B valuation, following news that the rental rewards platform was switching its bank partnership from Wells Fargo to Cardless), and Klar’s $170 million Series C.
See the full Q3’25 data here (for paid subscribers only).
A few concepts received notable funding:
AI-powered wealth & asset management, with Savvy Wealth’s $72M Series B, Eton Solutions’ $58M Series C, Allocate’s $30.5M Series B, Finary’s €25M Series B, Lightyear’s £17M Series B, ZILO’s £20M Series A2, Alix’s $20M Series A, Dispatch’s $18M Series A, Pave Finance’s $14M Seed, Daloopa’s $18M Series B, F2’s $10M raise, Tilt’s $7.1M Seed, Keye’s $7M Seed, Metal’s $5M Seed, Tracelight’s $3.6M Seed, Pascal AI’s $3.1M Seed, and Nestimate's $3M Seed underscoring opportunities for AI to transform institutional & retail investment.
Tokenized investment infrastructure, with zerohash’s $104M Series D, aPriori’s $20M Series A, Tangany’s €10 Series A, Plural’s $7M Seed, Legion’s $5M Seed, and Bridgeport’s $3.2M Seed accelerating the dollarization of traditional equities (as Chuk Okpalugo discussed in The Weekly Stable).
Stablecoin payments & banking, with Rain’s $58M Series B, Agora’s $50M Series A, RD Technologies’ $40M Series A2, m0’s $40M Series B, Brale’s $30M Seed, Stable’s $28M Seed, Utila’s $22M Series A extension, Kredete’s $22M Series A, Stabelcore’s $20M Series A, Zodia Markets’ $18.3M Series A, Transak’s $16M raise, Dakota’s $12.5M Series A, Tazapay’s $10.5M Series B, Obita’s $10M Pre-Seed, Due’s $7.3M Seed extension, Tetra Digital’s $10M raise, Divine’s $6.6M Seed, Loop Crypto’s $6M raise, HoneyCoin’s $4.9M Seed, Stablecorp’s $3.6M raise, Riva Money’s $3M Pre-Seed, and IDRX’s $300K Pre-Seed announcedjust as the GENIUS Act (governing stablecoins in the US) came into effect.
Where are exits, M&A, and SPACs concentrated? 📈
Areas that saw the highest M&A activity were:
Consumer financing platforms Klarna ($15.1B IPO) and Figure ($7.6B IPO) made a splash in public markets. Meanwhile, Rocket Companies (the largest home loan originator in the US) acquiredMr. Cooper (the US’ largest mortgage servicer) for $14.2B, marking the largest independent mortgage deal in history.
Crypto exchanges followed suit, as Bullish’s $10.25B IPO, Gemini‘s $3.3B IPO, and Coinshares’ $1.2B SPAC reflected improving regulatory clarity and growing confidence in crypto’s path toward mainstream adoption. Stripe
Investment infrastructure, with Miami International Holdings going public in a $2.5B IPO, Corpay’s $2.2B acquisition of European investment funds facilitator Alpha, and SS&C’s $1.03B acquisition ofCalastone.
See the full Q3’25 data here (for paid subscribers only).
Which firms are raising debt and venture funds for fintech? 💰
Venture firms raised a total of $1.06 billion in funding for fintech-focused strategies:
Curql, a venture collective of 160+ credit unions, announced a $360M Fund II to support promising fintechs partners.
Ondo Finance and Pantera Capitalpartnered to launchOndo Catalyst, a $250M fund investing in real-world asset tokenization projects.
Better Tomorrow Venturesannounced its $140M third fund targeting early-stage fintech startups.
Notion Capitalunveiled a $130M in a third growth fund targeting B2B software and fintech scalers.
Deciens Capitalraised a $93.33 fintech-focused Fund III.
Accionclosed $61.5M for a second Accion Venture Lab Fund supporting early-stage fintechs meeting the needs of the financially underserved.
Japan’s UNLEASH Capital Partnersraised $36M to invest in fintech and financial inclusion startups in India.
Denmark’s BlackWood Venturesclosed an inaugural $25M fund to invest in European fintech and Web3 startups.
Robinhood also announced it will open private opportunities to retail investors through Robinhood Ventures Fund I.
Which products were launched over the last quarter? 🚀
Stablecoins are taking over money movement: In Q3, Stripe and Paradigm spun out Tempo, an L1 blockchain for global stablecoin movement; FIS and Zepz joined forces with Circle to launch support for USDC transactions, and incumbents like Citi, Western Union, Amex, EWS, and Franklin Templeton are all reportedly exploring the launch of their own stables to speed up financial flows.
Beyond stablecoins, cryptoasset players are looking to the CLARITY Act that’s making its way through Congress to finalize guidance on how broader crypto markets will be regulated– potentially paving the path for new (non-stablecoin) token projects to launch.
Premium credit cards are making a comeback: After years of rewards devaluation, issuers are doubling down on high-fee rewards programs like the Citi Strata Elite Card and Alaska Atmos Rewards Card to offset the prospect of tighter interchange caps in the US, Europe, and UK.
Agentic business financial management AIs like Ramp’s AP Agents, Intuit’s AI Agents, and Payhawk’s AI Agents are going live to help businesses manage finances, initiate payments, reconcile transactions, and put their money on autopilot.
Q3'25 Roundup: Agentic commerce infrastructure, fintech bank licensing
AI agents need payments infrastructure
While payment agents on platforms like Ramp and Intuit automate payments within businesses’ existing workflows, exciting developments in agentic payment infrastructure signal that agents could soon gain widespread adoption across eCommerce use cases.
Shifting from “human-to-machine” to “AI agent-to-machine” commerce is going require innovation at every layer of the payment stack:
Intent layer: Translates user intent into structured payment instructions. Embedded layers like OpenAI & Stripe’s Agentic Commerce Protocol and Knot’s AgenticShopping surface purchase recommendations and initiate payments, while copilots like Ramp AP Agents automatically initiate processes like payables from within users’ existing workflows.
Routing & orchestration: Once an agent receives payment instructions, it needs to route payments to the right network for card, ACH, RTP, or stablecoin settlement. Agents can leverage Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) to interact across different payment networks, Coinbase’s x402 protocol for stablecoin payments, and vertical platforms like Kira for specialized use cases like cross-border transfers.
Payment ecosystem: The underlying payment networks are also rolling out protocols to interact with agents through credentialing systems like Visa Intelligent Commerce and Mastercard Agent Pay.
Authorization & consent: Once an agent sends the user’s payment details to a merchant, authorization layers like Checkout.com’s KYA suite, PayOS, validates user consent, whether the agent has authority to transact on their behalf, and within what limits.
Governance & observability: Perhaps the most crucial layer for bringing agentic payments out of pilot phases, observability tools are needed to make sure payments are explainable, reversible, and compliant. In Q3, Unit21unveiled monitoring agents to flag non-human payment behaviors and money laundering in real-time, while Fingerprint launched Smart Signals to combat agentic fraud risk.
Observability will likely be the biggest barrier to agentic commerce becoming mainstream, as no major orchestration platform or LLM developer offers true explainability for agentic payments– only traceability through decision logs.
Today, we have the tools to know what an agent did, but payment regulators won’t be crazy about AI agents until companies have the explainability mechanisms to show why they did it.
Fintechs chart new paths to bank licenses
After years of partnering with regulated banks to offer fintech products, many fintechs are now capitalizing on the shifting regulatory environment and provisions for digital assets to secure their own financial charters in the US. Applications for fintech bank charters have spiked to 20 filings in 2025, while other fintechs– including Increase, and (reportedly) Revolut and Starling have their eyes on acquiring existing chartered banks.
Not all charters are created equal, and the license fintechs obtain will determine the use cases they can support:
National bank charters enable the most comprehensive set of activities (deposit-taking, lending, and payments) nationwide, regulated by the OCC and with preemption from state laws. Klarna, which obtained its UK bank license in July, has said it is exploring applying for a bank charter as part of its US expansion.
State bank charters allow for similar capabilities, but in certain states, are proving to be faster and more flexible to fintechs’ models. Wyoming’s Special Purpose Depository Institutions (SPDI) license, for example, enables fintechs like Kraken to conduct limited deposit-taking and digital asset custody. Businesses licensed as Industrial Loan Companies (ILCs) in states like Utah or Nevada can take deposits and offer loans without being regulated as bank holding companies– in other words, allowing commercial firms like Square to operate subsidiary banking arms (i.e. Square Financial Services). This year, Georgia also approved Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank (MALPB) charters to grant Stripe, Checkout.com, and Fiserv direct access to card networks.
National trusts can provide narrower fiduciary and custody services. Unlike licensed banks, trust institutions can’t take deposits, but can generally issue or manage tokenized fiat– making these ideal for crypto payments and custody platforms like Anchorage. As of Q3, Nubank, Paxos, Wise, Ripple, Circle, and Erebor have also all applied for national trust charters.
Most of these fintechs have, since inception, operated through partner banks’ licenses. So what’s driving so many of them to apply for charters now?
For one, regulatory scrutiny on bank-fintech relationships spooked many players from working with sponsor banks to offer fintech products. Moreover, regulation is adapting in the form of new state licensing regimes and updated guidance for de novo applications.
You may recall that the OCC tried to roll out special-purpose bank charters for fintechs in 2018– only to be sued by the NYDFS and consequently forced to put the program on ice– but this year, the OCC is revisiting full national trust charters for fintechs as states roll out licenses for institutions like SPDIs, ILCs, or MALPBs.
Across the Atlantic, the trend is echoing at a slower pace. The UK’s “mobilization” regime continues to attract e-money and BaaS players like Griffin, while the EU’s DORA and MiCA frameworks have tightened standards for payments and digital-asset firms. Instead of national banking licenses, European fintechs are increasingly applying for Electronic Money Institution (EMI) or MiFID II investment firm licenses, using them as modular equivalents to U.S. trust or payments charters.
