Hello Fintech Friends,

Labor Day is past, and we have three more financial services tech providers sprinting to the exit.

Please find another week of fintech exits and deep reads below.

Have feedback for us? Let us know. Find me at @nikmilanovic, @twifintech, and @ndm

Reads of the Week

A Stablecoin Primer: Money for the Digital Age

A deep look at stablecoin, the history of money, how stablecoins remain stable, the different layers supporting this digital currency, how the different providers stack up to TradFi, and more

Fintech: Under the Hood 🔍Jas Shah

Exits

IPOs & SPACs

• Figure Technologies aimed for a valuation of up to $4.13 billion in its U.S. IPO, seeking to raise about $526 million by offering shares at $18–20 each.
• Klarna launched a debit card rollout across Europe and filed for a U.S. IPO following a successful U.S. trial.
• Gemini filed for an IPO and planned to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market by offering 16.67 million shares at $17–19 each to raise up to $317 million.

M&A - Fintech

• Shawbrook Group acquired SME lender ThinCats, adding around a £700 million loan book and deepening its presence in UK SME lending.
• Fiserv acquired CardFree to integrate its order, payment, and loyalty solutions into Fiserv’s merchant platforms such as Clover.
• Airwallex acquired billing platform OpenPay to bolster its recurring revenue services and better compete with Stripe Billing.
• Rogo Technologies acquired Subset to deliver an AI-native spreadsheet agent that automates modeling tasks for investment bankers.
• Aryza acquired Bravure to enhance its digital collections and debt sale capabilities in the Australian market.
• Klar acquired Banorte’s digital bank Bineo, granting Klar access to a banking license after a prior application fell short.
• Kraken acquired proprietary trading firm Breakout, enabling performance-based, funded crypto trading with institutional-grade tools.
• BT Group sold its Radianz financial information network business to Transaction Network Services (TNS) as part of a strategy to streamline international operations.
• Zopa acquired UK payments infrastructure firm RVVUP to strengthen its backend payments capabilities.

M&A - Banks and Financial Institutions

• JTC rejected two preliminary takeover proposals from private equity firm Permira, causing its share price to surge over 17 percent.
• Aon divested a majority of NFP’s wealth business to Madison Dearborn Partners in a deal valued at approximately $2.7 billion as part of its strategy to sharpen focus on core operations.
• BlackRock agreed to acquire ElmTree Funds, a net-lease-focused real estate investment firm managing $7.3 billion in assets, to strengthen its Private Financing Solutions platform.