Tag: Email

• AI defense startup Offset Labs has secured €600k ($804k) in pre-seed funding in a round led by Archangel Ventures and featuring participation from Amadeus Capital Partners and Seven Capital.
• The funding takes the company’s total capital raised to more than $1.1 million, according to Crunchbase.
• As Byne, the company made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateEurope 2025 in London.

UK-Ukrainian AI defense venture Offset Labs, which rebranded from Byne earlier this year, has raised €600k ($804k) in pre-seed funding in a round led by Archangel Ventures. Amadeus Capital Partners and Seven Capital also participated in the investment. The funding takes Offset Labs total funding to more than $1.1 million, according to Crunchbase.

“This funding marks an important milestone in our mission: to build the first AI Lab creating frontier models specifically tailored to the needs of defence and national security customers,” the company noted on its LinkedIn page. “We believe that achieving this vision requires uniting talent, data, and computing infrastructure under one roof. Only with this integrated approach can we deliver the breakthrough—the ‘ChatGPT moment’—for mission-relevant AI and sustain a decisive qualitative offset in the decade ahead.”

With a team split between London and Kyiv, Offset Labs is a bi-national security laboratory that has designed and deployed AI models for signal and voice processing in operational environments. The investment is expected to accelerate the company’s development of what it refers to as a “decisive AI advantage” for NATO and its allies. As its name implies, Offset Labs is focused on the idea of an “offset” or strategic leap forward that provides one side a significant advantage in the balance of power.

The company believes that AI is the next likely area for an offset, but insists that in order for Western countries to make this happen, firms will have to embrace an integration of data, research, and talent at scale. This is where Offset Labs comes in, “to bring everything from data curation to research under one roof and unlock deep AI innovation for defense customers, ensuring Western leadership in this critical domain.”

As Byne, the company made its Finovate debut in February at FinovateEurope 2025. At the conference, the startup’s co-founder and CEO Borys Nadykto demonstrated how the technology enables users to create secure Large Language Model (LLM) agents for enterprise use. Designed to manage the tension between productivity gains and data security when using AI tools like ChatGPT, Byne’s technology empowers companies to host LLM applications within their secure perimeter (on-premise or private cloud) to ensure safe handling of sensitive data and integration with internal systems.

Headquartered in London, the company was founded as Byne in 2022 by Nadykto, Denys Budnyk, and Andrii Yakovyna. Byne announced its rebrand to Offset Labs earlier this year.

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• Payments optimization platform Spreedly has acquired fraud prevention company Dodgeball. Terms were not disclosed.
• The acquisition will combine payments optimization and fraud prevention into a single platform.
• Founded in 2008 and headquartered in North Carolina, Spreedly has been a Finovate alum since 2013.

Open payments platform Spreedly announced its acquisition of fraud orchestration company Dodgeball. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition combines payments optimization and fraud prevention in a single platform and helps bolster Spreedly’s strategy for both AI and open payments.

“For most merchants, payments and fraud aren’t separate challenges—they’re two sides of the same coin,” Spreedly CEO Justin Benson said. “You can’t optimize payments without addressing fraud, and you can’t fight fraud without understanding the payment flow. This acquisition brings these critical functions together, allowing us to deliver immense value to our customers and accelerate our vision for an AI-powered, open payments future.”

The acquisition is designed to give Spreedly’s customers additional reliability, as well as insights to help eliminate fraud and make more intelligent e-commerce decisions. The company noted that the acquisition will also enhance Spreedly’s workflow engine and help build the foundation for an AI-powered payments copilot. Post acquisition, the Dodgeball brand, as well as the Dodgeball team, will be integrated into Spreedly. This will not only enable Spreedly to maximize the benefit of Dodgeball’s expertise, but will also help ensure a smooth transition for customers with no service interruption and complete access to Spreedly’s global support and account management teams.

“We leapt at the opportunity to join forces with Spreedly, in order to help more merchants build best-of-breed fraud management solutions while still promoting growth,” Dodgeball CEO Adam Hiatt said. “The partnership will also help us provide much greater value to our existing customers. All of us at Dodgeball are excited to get started on integrating our offering with Spreedly’s.”

Most recently having demoing its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2018 in New York, Spreedly has been a Finovate alum since 2013. The company, founded in 2008 and headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, counts major brands such as BMW, HBO Max, Priceline, The New York Times, and others among those that use its payments technology. Spreedly processes more than $50 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) on behalf of more than 400 customers in 100+ countries.

Spreedly’s acquisition announcement came shortly before the company released its State of Checkout 2025 Survey, conducted by Talker Research on Spreedly’s behalf. The survey noted that many US executives remain concerned that AI could bring greater complexity to what they consider to be fragile checkout flows, leading to greater challenges and even financial losses.

“AI has incredible potential to transform payments,” Spreedly President Peter Dougherty said. “But executives in the survey also revealed they’re already paying a steep ‘engineering tax’—with as much as a quarter of their engineering teams dedicated to maintaining fragile checkout flows. AI should be layered thoughtfully to strengthen these payment systems, not replace them entirely and introduce new risks.”

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• Fraud and financial crime prevention platform Feedzai has secured $75 million in funding at a valuation of $2 billion.
• The company also announced that the European Central Bank (ECB) has selected it as the first-ranked provider for fraud and risk management for the digital euro, slated to be launched by 2029.
• Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Portugal, Feedzai made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2014.

In a big start to the month of October, fraud and financial crime prevention platform Feedzai has announced both a major funding round and a deal with the European Central Bank (ECB) to safeguard the digital euro.

First up, the funding. Feedzai has secured $75 million in a round that featured participation from new institutional investors Lince Capital, Iberis Capital, and Explorer Investments, as well as existing investors Oxy Capital and Buenavista Equity Partners. The funding, which takes Feedzai’s total capital raised to more than $352 million according to Crunchbase, gives the Portugal-based fintech a valuation of $2 billion.

In a statement, Lince Capital CEO Vasco Pereira Coutinho praised Feedzai for its use of AI and the company’s “end-to-end approach to risk operations.” Coutinho also underscored Feedzai’s ability to “execute across multiple product lines while scaling globally.”

Feedzai CEO and Co-Founder Nuno Sebastião spoke to the strong pace of innovation in the fraud prevention space, and pointed to the importance of future-proofing financial crime fighting technology. “This new investment round enables us to continue driving innovation to defend against whatever comes next, so that every form of payment, even those yet to be imagined, can be trusted and adopted safely,” Sebastião said.

Second, the ECB deal. The same day that Feedzai announced its major funding, the company also reported that the European Central Bank (ECB) has selected it as the first-ranked tenderer in its framework agreement to provide the central fraud detection and prevention solution for the to-be-launched digital euro. The framework agreement outlines the providers for five different digital euro components and related services: alias lookup, risk and fraud management, app and software development kit, offline solutions, and secure exchange of payment information. Feedzai is one of two providers in the risk and fraud management component; Capgemini Deutschland is the designated second provider. Service requests, according to the framework, will be initially directed to first-rank providers with second-rank providers contacted only as needed.

The framework agreement for the risk and fraud management component for the digital euro has been valued at €79.1 million ($92.8 million), with a maximum value of €237.3 million ($277.3 million). For its part, Feedzai is partnering with subcontractor PwC to deliver a state-of-the-art central fraud detection and prevention mechanism that complies with EU security, privacy, and data protection standards.

“Being selected as the first-ranked tenderer in the framework agreement to secure the digital euro is both an honor and a responsibility,” Feedzai’s Sebastião said. “With tens of billions of transactions expected across the eurozone, success depends on AI that can adapt as quickly as fraud evolves. Our role is to provide the intelligence that keeps even the most sophisticated fraud out, ensuring trust in every digital euro transaction from day one.”

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal, Feedzai made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2014. Today, the company defends 900 million people in 190 countries from fraud with an end-to-end financial crime prevention platform that features AI-native solutions. Over the past year, Feedzai has launched a number of key products including its Feedzai Orchestration and Feedzai IQ, which empower financial institutions to make better, faster risk assessments. Feedzai has also introduced the TRUST Framework to embed fairness, explainability, and security into every component of GenAI model development.

In April, Feedzai acquired data management platform and fellow Finovate alum DemystData in a deal valued at $157 million.

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This week’s edition of Finovate Global reviews recent fintech news from the Netherlands.

Dutch insurtech RISK acquires Amsterdam-based fintech Dyme

Dutch insurtech RISK has acquired Amsterdam-based savings app Dyme. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal will enable Dyme to boost its presence in the Netherlands as well as enter the German market. Courtesy of the agreement, both Dyme’s brand and management team will remain intact.

“From being featured on Dragon’s Den to becoming one of the largest finance apps in Europe and reaching profitability, our mission has always been the same: helping people take control of their money,” Dyme noted on its LinkedIn Page. “This step opens up some great opportunities for Dyme and its customers: expand the product, especially with great insurance packages and service, reach millions more people through the RISK ecosystem, and take Dyme international, beginning with Germany.”

Dyme currently has more than 600,000 consumers who have linked their bank accounts to the Dyme platform. The company’s app serves as a personal financial assistant to help users lower costs, and uses smart algorithms to automate subscription cancellations and provide financial guidance. Dyme announced its first profitable quarter in 2024, and has said that it has helped users save more than €40 million since inception. The acquisition will combine RISK’s market expertise and technological platforms with Dyme’s user-friendly financial solutions that enable users to easily manage their expenses, budgets, and more.

RISK offers an advanced IT platform, SureBase, that assists financial advisors, online labels, and insurers in product comparison and distribution. SureBase, according to RISK CEO Harm Vollmuller, will serve a key base for the new synergy between RISK and Dyme. “By combining that with our platforms and market knowledge, we can reach people at a time when financial breaking space is more important than ever,” Vollmuller said.

Factris raises €100m to power SME financing

A new funding partnership with Brand New Day Bank will enable Factris to expand its ability to provide financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Dutch fintech has secured a €100 million facility to support financing SME factoring across Europe. This will enable Factris to finance sellers in nine countries and manage receivables from debtors in 27 countries.

“This new facility is a testament to the trust and confidence Brand New Day Bank has placed in Factris and our vision for SME financing,” Factris CEO Brian Reaves said. “As we continue to scale across Europe, this partnership ensures we can meet the increasing demand for alternative financing and provide SMEs with the liquidity they need to thrive.”

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Amsterdam, North Holland, Factris specializes in invoice factoring for small and medium-sized enterprises. The company offers selective factoring to enable companies to decide which specific invoices to factor, fund availability within 24 hours of invoice submission, credit insurance to protect against customer non-payment or bankruptcy, and debtor management for collections and account receivables.

Brand New Day Bank is a Netherlands-based digital-first, challenger bank and fintech that began operating in 2010. The financial institution serves both individuals and small-to-medium sized businesses with savings accounts, investment and pension products, tax-advantaged savings and investment solutions, and annuity payment services. Brand New Day Bank has more than €8 billion in assets.

Dutch fintech Plumery unveils Canada-based solutions

Digital banking experience platform Plumery announced a suite of new features and integrations designed especially for credit unions in Canada. These new capabilities will give these institutions the ability to provide personalized, compliant, and modern digital banking experiences for their members.

The Amsterdam-based fintech leveraged a collaboration with Aequilibrium, a digital services and technology consultancy headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, to make sure its Canadian-ready platform is built based on the way that Canadian credit union members prefer to bank. This includes not just hyper-personalized, mobile-first, and intuitive digital journeys, but also support for everyday payments and transfers including billpay and Interact e-Transfers, and Canadian savings and lending products like GICs.

Plumery’s move comes as Canadian banks and credit unions face a range of challenges including evolving customer expectations, fintech competition, and the pressure to modernize their legacy systems. More immediately, Canadian credit unions are scrambling in the wake of Central 1 Credit Union’s announcement that it will wind down its digital banking platform Forge (formerly MemberDirect). More than 170 credit unions across Canada had been relying on the technology.

“With Forge winding down, Canadian institutions have a rare opportunity to modernize on their own terms, rather than being tied to outdated systems,” Plumery CEO and Founder Ben Goldin said. “Our platform provides an immediate, future-ready option that puts control back in the hands of credit unions. By working with Aequilibrium, we are combining global banking innovation with local expertise to deliver experiences that meet the unique needs of Canadian credit unions’ members.”

Founded in 2016, Plumery enables financial institutions to offer unique mobile and online experiences on top of either their modern or legacy core banking platforms up to 80% faster. Plumery’s technology features foundations that are pre-integrated into its digital banking journeys that accelerate app development and shorten time-to-market while maintaining complete control over both design and functionality.

Check out my interview with Plumery’s Goldin from earlier this year.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa

• Mastercard teamed up with African fintech Smile ID to introduce new digital identity solutions across the continent.
• South African mobile payment platform Street Wallet partnered with Plush Car Wash to deliver secure, cashless payments.
• Visa and digital payments network Onafriq launched Visa Pay in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Central and Eastern Europe

• Lithuania-based identity verification and fraud prevention company iDenfy launched its Criminal Background Check tool.
• Hungarian payment service provider Barion Payment completed its acquisition of PSC CEE Ltd, the company behind the SmartKassa brand.
• Turkey’s Türk Ekonomi Bankası (TEB) partnered with Provenir for its AI-powered decisioning platform.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

• India’s Bank of Baroda launched its eRUPI Person-to-Person (P2P) gifting solution.
• TBC Uzbekistan extended financial services to non-residents.
• Indian fintech Kiwi unveiled its interest-backed EMI on UPI.

Latin America and the Caribbean

• Brazilian digital banking giant Nubank has applied for a US national bank charter.
• Unlimit announced securing Principal Membership with Mastercard and Visa in Peru.
• Brazi-based proptech Lastro raised $15 million in Series A funding in a round led by Prosus Ventures.

Asia-Pacific

• Cambodian MSME-focused bank Chief Bank teamed up with payment solutions provider BPC to launch its new Chief Mobile 3.0 mobile app.
• The People’s Bank of China opened a digital yuan operation center in Shanghai.
• The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) launched IADS Developer Hackathon to promote bank-fintech collaboration.

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• Mastercard Commerce Media has launched to leverage consumer-permissioned transaction data, giving 25,000 advertiser partners smarter targeting and delivering up to 22x ROAS across industries like retail, travel, and dining.
• Mastercard’s partnerships with Citi, American Airlines, Microsoft, and WPP will expand scale, reach, and brand integration.
• Retail media networks are surging, with spending projected to hit nearly $100 billion by 2028. Chase Media Solutions, which launched in 2024, is an example of how financial institutions are monetizing first-party data to serve personalized offers.

Mastercard announced that it will begin leveraging consumer-permissioned data via its new digital media network, Mastercard Commerce Media. The new media network will give Mastercard’s 25,000 advertiser partners access to transaction data from the 500 million enrolled consumers in order to power smarter, personalized commerce.

Through Mastercard’s proprietary Offers platform, advertisers can deliver tailored campaigns, such as cashback, discounts, and incentives, to audiences defined by their business goals. Using insights from consumer-permissioned data, Mastercard identifies the right customers and delivers relevant advertising content. Consumers can then activate offers on their enrolled card and complete the purchase, with Mastercard directly attributing the transaction to the campaign.

Beyond traditional cashback, Mastercard Commerce Media helps publishers strengthen brand loyalty by enabling programs where consumers earn rewards in a brand’s own cash currency, giving shoppers more purchasing power and brands deeper engagement. Looking ahead, Mastercard plans to expand distribution to new channels and deepen integrations across its broader services portfolio beginning in 2026.

Mastercard processed more than 160 billion transactions in 2024, and its new media network will deliver proprietary insights from transactions like these processed by Mastercard. Mastercard Commerce Media currently delivers a return on ad spend (ROAS) of up to 22 times for advertisers across retail, travel, entertainment, dining, and more.

“We understand how to connect advertisers to consumers and consumers to the products, services and experiences they value,” said Mastercard Chief Services Officer Craig Vosburg. “Mastercard Commerce Media is a natural extension of the trusted connections we’re known for and the work we already do across our unique suite of services. That means we’re not just well-positioned to bring a full-scale commerce media network to life—we’re best-positioned.”

Mastercard Commerce Media is launching in partnership with  Citi, which will help the program grow faster, reach more users, and deliver more value. Mastercard already has ongoing ties with Citi, which will give Mastercard’s media network a head start in leveraging Citi’s infrastructure, customer base, and channels. Mastercard is also partnering with American Airlines, Microsoft, and WPP, which will help extend its footprint and connection to brands in the traditional media space.

As the use of consumer-permissioned data gains popularity across fintech subsectors, so too has the adoption of retail media networks. These networks allow institutions to monetize their first-party data by connecting brands with highly targeted audiences through trusted digital channels.

According to eMarketer, retail media networks will expand in the coming years. The firm estimates that retail media network spending will reach nearly $100 billion through 2028, reflecting both advertiser demand and consumer engagement with personalized content. An early trailblazer in the space is Chase Media Solutions, which launched in 2024 to leverage its transaction and cardholder data to serve personalized offers and marketing to its 80 million customers.

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• Account holder engagement specialist Larky has announced a strategic partnership with digital banking solutions provider Tyfone.
• Courtesy of the partnership, Larky will integrate its nudge engagement platform into Tyfone’s nFinia digital banking solution.
• Tyfone made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2008. Larky first demonstrated its technology to Finovate audiences at FinovateFall 2014.

Proactive account holder engagement company Larky has inked a strategic partnership with digital banking solutions provider Tyfone this week. The agreement will integrate Larky’s nudge platform directly into Tyfone’s nFinia digital banking solution.

“At Tyfone, we believe that elegant user experiences are only the starting point,” Tyfone CEO Siva Narendra said. “What truly sets us apart is our commitment to innovation, collaboration, and execution. Partnering with Larky extends that commitment, helping our clients engage their customers and members in meaningful ways that strengthen relationships and deliver lasting value.”

Larky’s nudge platform provides real-time personalized notifications to enhance the ability of financial institutions to connect with their account holders. The solution enables financial institutions to increase deposits and new loans, and prevent fraud with tailored, turnkey push notifications. Financial institutions using nudge leverage data-driven and location-aware messaging to secure customer and member engagement rates that are seven to ten times higher than with traditional marketing channels.

Via a pre-built integration with Tyfone’s digital banking technology, Larky’s notification capabilities are seamlessly embedded, empowering banks and other financial institutions to bring additional value by way of the mobile channel that customers use and trust. Financial institutions will be able to choose from either a library of pre-built campaigns or deploy Larky’s AI-powered solutions to create messaging that is customized for their specific audiences. This messaging can help banks and other financial institutions to encourage debit card use, boost fraud prevention awareness, announce the launch of new solutions, and more.

“We’re thrilled to launch our partnership with Tyfone and bring our nudge platform to more community financial institutions,” Larky CEO Gregg Hammerman said. “Tyfone’s focus on meaningful digital relationships aligns perfectly with our mission to help account holders receive relevant, timely engagement where it matters most.”

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Larky made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014. More recently, the company has forged partnerships with core banking solutions provider VisiFi, and began this year teaming up with data analytics and business intelligence solutions company for credit unions Trellance. Larky has raised more than $4.5 million in funding, according to Crunchbase, most recently securing an investment from Reseda Group in 2023.

Portland, Oregon-based Tyfone has been a Finovate alum since its debut at FinovateSpring 2008. The company’s nFinia digital banking platform offers account management, fund transfers, and billpay services, as well as payment solutions and personal finance management (PFM) tools. The platform also features Penni AI integration that delivers conversational banking capabilities including smart tools and intelligent, personalized support, 24/7.

Tyfone’s partnership news with fellow Finovate alum Larky comes just days after the company reported collaborating with another Finovate alum, BioCatch. Last month, the two companies announced a strategic partnership that integrated BioCatch’s Account Takeover Protection solution into Tyfone’s nFinia platform.

“Account takeover fraud is one of the most pervasive threats in digital banking,” BioCatch Senior Director of Global Integration Partners and Alliances Jay Whoriskey said. “By embedding our behavioral intelligence into Tyfone’s digital banking platform, community financial institutions gain real-time protection, identifying and stopping fraud before any money leaves the would-be-victim’s account without compromising the user experience.”

Founded in 2004, Tyfone has raised more than $38 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. This figure includes the company’s $25 million venture round in 2023.

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How is AI helping lenders make better loans to more qualified borrowers? How can stablecoins promote cross-border trade and help local merchants make more sales in more markets? How can banks overcome the limitations of their legacy systems and confidently embrace modernization? The latest round of interviews from Finovate VP Greg Palmer and the Finovate Podcast cover all these issues and more.

Here’s a look at the Finovate Podcast’s recently completed September slate. By the way, the first few podcast interviews with FinovateFall Best of Show winners have just begun to drop. If you want to get an early listen, check them out on our Finovate Podcast page.

Greg Sullins (LinkedIn), Head of the US Banking Center of Excellence for Newgen Software, talks with Greg Palmer about how AI is revolutionizing the lending process. Sullins explains why AI is especially valuable in the lending business, in part because it sits at the intersection of data intensity, risk management, and the customer experience. Episode 271.

Founded in 1992, Newgen Software offers lenders a low-code platform that provides end-to-end automation, AI-powered decisioning, configurable workflows, and enhanced customer experience capabilities. The company’s technology enables business analysts rather than programmers configure workflows and deploy changes quickly. This helps financial institutions modernize their legacy systems faster while remaining compliant.

Bridgit Antwi (LinkedIn), Head of Strategy and Planning at Flutterwave, talks with Greg Palmer about the rise of stablecoins, the importance of building strong relationships across the financial ecosystem, and what Flutterwave is doing to help local merchants expand their reach across borders. Episode 270.

Africa’s leading payments company, Flutterwave was founded in 2016 by Olubenga “GB” Agbola. The firm offers a single API platform that enables merchants to seamlessly collect payments across multiple countries, currencies, and payment methods. Flutterwave operates in more than 30 countries, holds licenses in 14 African nations, and maintains 35 money transfer licenses.

Rouzbeh Rotabi (LinkedIn) Chief Revenue Officer at Qolo and Greg Palmer talk about the challenge and opportunity of payment infrastructure modernization. With more than 20 years of experience in fintech and payments, Rotabi explains how the need to increase deposits, infrastructure limitations of legacy systems, and evolving consumer demands are pressuring banks to embrace new technological solutions. Episode 269.

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Qolo offers an all-in-one platform for card issuing, ledger management, and payment processing. The company helps businesses launch faster, lower costs, and secure real-time visibility into the payment flow.

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• Paytech ACI Worldwide announced that Berlin-based embedded finance platform Solaris SE will consolidate all SEPA payments onto ACI Worldwide’s ACI Connetic payment hub.
• Unveiled earlier this year, ACI Connetic is a unified solution that integrates account-to-account (A2A) payments, card processing, and fraud prevention within a single, cloud-native architecture.
• Founded in 1975, ACI Worldwide has been a Finovate alum since 2011.

Just months after launching its centralized payment hub, ACI Connetic, ACI Worldwide has announced that European embedded finance platform, Solaris SE, will consolidate all SEPA payments onto ACI’s cloud-native payments solution.

“ACI Connetic represents a significant step-change in our commitment to supporting financial institutions as they navigate the complexities of the global payments landscape,” ACI Worldwide CEO and President Tom Warsop said. “In an environment of increasing payments complexity and regulatory demands, ACI Connetic delivers the agility, resilience, and innovation required to drive digital transformations, sustainable growth, and long-term success.”

ACI Connetic is a unified solution that integrates account-to-account (A2A) payments, card processing, and AI-powered fraud prevention within a single, modular, cloud-native architecture. ACI Connetic helps financial institutions simplify their operations, innovate faster, and meet emerging regulatory and compliance requirements with greater agility and less cost.

Solaris SE joins a number of financial services companies around the world—including leading clearing and settlement systems—that are integrating their payment capabilities into ACI Connetic. These early adopters include the Bank of England, Swift, the US Federal Reserve, and The Clearing House. The company’s partnership announcement with ACI Worldwide comes at a time when the benefits of centralized payment processing are becoming more apparent to both financial services analysts and financial institutions.

“Migrating our instant payments capabilities to ACI Connetic marks a key milestone in Solaris’ digital transformation and growth journey,” Solaris SE CEO Carsten Höltkemeyer said. “It future-proofs our payments infrastructure, accelerates service innovation, and enhances the value we deliver to partners and their customers across Europe.”

Based in Berlin, Germany, Solaris SE was originally established as a part of incubator and accelerator, Finleap. As Solarisbank, the company secured its German banking license in 2016. The company rebranded to Solaris in 2022, a move which coincided with the firm changing its legal status from a German AG (Aktiengesellschaft) to an SE (Societas Europea or European company). Today, Solaris SE offers a Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform that enables businesses—from SMEs to multinational corporations—to embed a wide range of financial solutions from digital banking and payments to cards and lending.

A Finovate alum since 2011 and an alum of our developers conference FinDEVr Silicon Valley, ACI Worldwide offers solutions that power intelligent, real-time, payments orchestration to enable banks, billers, and merchants to deploy modern payment technologies seamlessly and securely. The company serves the top 10 banks worldwide; enables more than 80,000 merchants directly and via PSPs; and provides thousands of businesses and organizations with billpay solutions. Founded in 1975, ACI Worldwide now processes 25 billion cloud transactions and more than 225 billion consumer transactions annually. The company is headquartered in Elkhorn, Nebraska.

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• Swift is launching a blockchain-based shared ledger with Consensys to enable instant, always-on cross-border transactions.
• Swift is leveraging its 50 years of experience providing global financial messaging to offer the same standardization and trust for tokenized assets as it has for payment instructions.
• The ledger will emphasize trust and compliance while being interoperable by working with both public and private networks.

Swift announced this week that it is launching its own blockchain in partnership with blockchain software company Consensys.

Swift’s new blockchain-based shared ledger will facilitate instant, always-on cross-border transactions. Today’s announcement comes after Swift prototyped the blockchain with more than 30 financial institutions across the globe. The experience with those firms is helping Swift design and build the ledger, which is starting with a prototype powered by Consensys.

This move builds directly on Swift’s five-decade history as the backbone of cross-border financial messaging. Since it was founded in 1973, Swift has grown from a consortium of 239 banks in 15 countries into what it is today: a global standard for secure interbank communication that connects more than 11,000 institutions worldwide.

Just as Swift’s original network created a common language for banks to exchange payment instructions, its new ledger is designed to provide standardization and trust for tokenized assets. Swift anticipates that its new ledger will expand its focus on infrastructure. The member-owned cooperative plans to work with banks on leveraging the ledger infrastructure.

The launch also reflects rising demand for always-on settlement, interoperability between blockchains and fiat rails, and the need for a trusted global standard in digital finance. “We provide powerful and effective rails today and are moving at a rapid pace with our community to create the infrastructure stack of the future,” said Swift CEO Javier Pérez-Tasso. “Through this initial ledger concept we are paving the way for financial institutions to take the payments experience to the next level with Swift’s proven and trusted platform at the centre of the industry’s digital transformation.”

The new ledger will work with existing and emerging networks to record a secure, real-time log of transactions that take place among financial institutions. Swift will place a great emphasis on trust and compliance, leveraging its long-standing reputation. It will also ensure interoperability between distributed ledger transfers and existing fiat rails, by orchestrating between different systems and supporting both private and public networks.

“As digital assets continue to develop and mature at pace, Swift’s blockchain-based ledger provides the foundational infrastructure needed for trusted, real-time cross-border payments alongside existing ways of moving money,” said NatWest Head of Group Payment and Digital Asset Strategy Lee McNabb. “By partnering in this initiative, we are shaping solutions that allow our clients benefit from greater speed, transparency and crucially, flexibility in the digital age—without wavering on robust compliance and risk management.”

Swift’s ledger is not just an evolution of the company. It is also an example of how the wider industry is changing along with technology. In this case, the same rails that have carried payment messages for 50 years may soon carry records for tokenized funds, as well.

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• Bolt launched its all-in-one SuperApp, combining digital banking, crypto trading, ecommerce, and peer-to-peer transfers in a single platform.
• The company has partnered with Midland States Bank and Zero Hash for FDIC-insured banking services and crypto infrastructure under one roof.
• The app has added agentic AI and dual-rail transactions give users seamless fiat and crypto payments, personalized shopping, and integrated rewards.

Identity and ecommerce fintech Bolt launched its all-in-one app to bridge the gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi). The new app offers users a singular way to shop, spend, save, earn, and invest.

Bolt is calling the app its SuperApp because it provides crypto trading, peer-to-peer transfers, digital banking capabilities, and ecommerce, with Midland States Bank providing FDIC-insured banking services and Zero Hash powering crypto custody and trading infrastructure.

“The future of money and commerce isn’t siloed—it’s seamless,” said Bolt Founder and CEO Ryan Breslow. “Today’s consumer shouldn’t have to juggle multiple apps for fiat, crypto, rewards, or shopping. Our SuperApp brings it all together in one secure, intuitive platform. By building rewards, banking and commerce directly into a single app, we’re creating not just another wallet, but a financial operating system for the modern consumer. Bolt is delivering the infrastructure to make this future real, scalable, and accessible to everyone.”

The app, which is launching out of beta today, offers a virtual and physical debit card with the ability to lock and unlock the card using the app. Users automatically earn rewards, including personalized rewards boosts that let users optimize earnings across everyday spending categories like restaurants, travel, groceries, transit, and fuel.

Crucially, in addition to debit and credit functionality, the app offers dual-rail transaction support for both fiat and crypto, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, USDC, and more. Additionally, Bolt’s crypto trading is available on more than 40 major cryptocurrencies.

Bolt is leveraging agentic AI by introducing an AI agent that helps users search, compare, and products products based on personalized preferences, intent, and constraints. The new app offers integrated shopping and spending that brings commerce, payments, and tracking in a single experience.

Bolt was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company offers both retail and commercial payment tools, such as conversion and loyalty solutions for retailers and one-click checkout for more than 80 million shoppers.

Photo by Liliana Drew

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