Wise, GCash, and Kraken Lead a Busy Week for Fintech Exits (TWIF 5/17)

Wise completed its shift from London to New York and began trading on Nasdaq, as the cross-border payments company pushes deeper into the U.S. market and seeks broader investor visibility.

Philippine e-wallet operator Mynt, which runs GCash, is preparing for a domestic IPO that could value the company at more than $8 billion and raise roughly $1 billion.

Payward (Kraken's parent company) is raising fresh capital at a $20 billion valuation as it ramps up acquisitions and remains on track for a future IPO.

SoFi acquired most of the assets of U.K. retail investing platform PrimaryBid, as the U.S. fintech looks to expand retail investor access to IPOs and capital markets products.

Carta acquired AI legal and compliance software firm Avantia to launch Carta Law, positioning it as an AI-native legal and compliance solution for private markets.

Private equity firm Verdane completed its acquisition of Augmentum Fintech, delisting the London-listed fintech investment trust from the LSE and partnering with its management team to continue backing its 34-company European fintech portfolio.

Monte dei Paschi di Siena and Banco BPM remained at the center of merger speculation as investors debated a possible tie-up between the Italian lenders.

National Australia Bank acquired London-based open banking payments fintech Banked, integrating its account-to-account Pay by Bank platform to help businesses receive payments faster and at lower cost by bypassing card networks.

U.K. digital bank Kroo entered a forward flow funding partnership with specialist bridging lender Glenhawk, acquiring an existing loan portfolio and committing to fund future bridge loan originations across the U.K. property market.