<div>
  <p>
    &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Balance, a B2B payment infrastructure provider, has raised USD 56 million in Series B funding led by Forerunner Ventures with participation from Salesforce Ventures, Hubspot Ventures, Lyra Ventures, Gramercy Ventures, and several angel investors. This round comes less than a year after 
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5148">
      the company raised Series A funding
    </a>
     and brings its total raised funds to ~USD 87 million&lt;/ul&gt;.&nbsp;
  </p>
  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>
        The funds will be invested in customer acquisition and expanding its workforce to 100 employees by the end of the year (from 70 employees currently).&nbsp;
      </p>
    </li>
  </ul>
  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>
        Merchant and marketplaces using Balance have reportedly increased by 10x since last year.
      </p>
    </li>
  </ul>
  <p>
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/26/balance-56m-one-click-checkout-b2b-merchants/">
      TechCrunch
    </a>
  </p>
  <p>
    <a href="https://www.finsmes.com/2022/07/balance-raises-56m-in-series-b-funding.html">
      FinSMEs
    </a>
  </p>
</div>


FinTech Infrastructure

Balance raises USD 56 million in Series B funding

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 <p>Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platform, Affirm, has broadened its collaboration with Adyen, a company specializing in payment infrastructure, marking them as the first BNPL platform to support the "Adyen for Platforms" solution - a comprehensive payment solution for businesses.</p>
 <p>This enlargement of their partnership will make Affirm's services available to Adyen's customers, which include business merchants, peer-to-peer marketplaces, and platforms for on-demand services and crowdfunding. Affirm offers flexible payment options, such as personalized payment plans ranging from six weeks to 36 months with Annual Percentage Rates (APRs) as low as 0%. Furthermore, they assure no hidden or late fees.</p>
 <p>Affirm and Adyen first partnered in 2021, and since then, their average annual volume has seen more than a sevenfold increase, spanning from 2021 to 2023.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> Adyen's strategic move to partner with BNPL providers enhances its value proposition for merchants while growing its customer base. This partnership, along with its collaboration with German B2B BNPL <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/26781"> provider Billie </a> in February, exemplifies this strategy, enabling more online merchants and marketplaces on Adyen's platform to offer flexible payment solutions to their customers.</p>

Affirm and Adyen expand partnership to offer payment options to Canadian merchants

<div>
 <p>Lending-as-a-service (LaaS) platform, Zest AI, has garnered a growth funding of USD 200 million from Insight Partners. This substantial funding has catapulted its total to USD 357.7 million.</p>
 <p>These newly procured funds are set aside specifically to amplify its fraud protection features, GenAI capabilities, and improve its existing loan underwriting solutions. This also includes an overall enhancement of its marketing and data intelligence capabilities.</p>
 <p>Zest AI’s service provides AI-powered credit underwriting software that aids financial institutions in making informed lending decisions. This innovative technology utilizes machine learning algorithms and scrutinizes data points to evaluate creditworthiness. Additionally, it features LuLu, an AI lending intelligence companion purposed to furnish instantaneous strategic insights and portfolio performance metrics.</p>
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> The lending-as-a-service segment has seen a surge in product launches and funding, driven by increasing demand for digital lending solutions due to their convenience and personalized financial services. Recent notable product launches include <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/37219"> Mbanq Comet </a> , an AI-powered digital loan origination platform, and the <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/37095"> Commercial Revolving Credit API </a> , designed to build and manage revolving credit card products.</p>

Zest AI raises USD 200 million in growth funding from Insight Partners

<div>
 <p>UK-based banking-as-a-service platform, Railsr, also known as Embedded Finance, is set to acquire Equals Group for GBP 283 million (USD 358 million). An investor consortium, consisting of TowerBrook and J.C. Flowers, has supported this deal. </p>
 <p>The objective of the acquisition is to expand Railsr's portfolio via integrating their BaaS and card issuing solutions with Equals' international payments, multicurrency accounts, and card product capabilities. According to the terms of the deal, Equals shareholders will receive 140 pence per share in cash, representing a 37% premium to the closing price of Equals on October 31, 2023.</p>
 <p>Equals Group is a FinTech payment company known for developing and selling scalable payment platforms that allow organisations to manage their money flows. The company operates under several brands including Equals Money, Equals Money Solutions, FairFX, CardOneMoney, and Equals Connect.</p>
</div>

Railsr acquires Equals Group for GBP 283 million to build FinTech platform

<div>
 <p>The Berlin-based company, Upvest, has recently raised a series C funding amounting to EUR 100 million (USD 104.7 million). The funding has been led by Hedosophia and includes participants like Sapphire Ventures. Other investors such as Bessemer Venture Partners, BlackRock, Earlybird, HV Capital, Motive Ventures, and Notion Capital have also contributed, bringing the total funding to USD 199 million.</p>
 <p>Upvest plans to use this fresh injection of funds to expand considerably by doubling its current 170-person team. Moreover, it aims to enhance its product offerings and deepen collaborations with other financial institutions. One of the other major objectives is to strengthen its presence in the UK, following approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).</p>
 <p>Presently, Upvest processes over one million trades weekly and has seen a 25% monthly revenue growth throughout 2024. Thanks to clients like Revolut, Raisin, N26, and Bunq, its investment infrastructure is available to more than 50 million users scattered across Europe.</p>
 
</div>

Upvest raises EUR 100 million in Series C funding to expand UK presence and enhance offerings

<div>
 <p>Lithic, a card solutions provider, has introduced its Commercial Revolving Credit API. This API allows firms to create and oversee revolving credit card products.</p>
 <p>The API includes capabilities such as flexible APR and billing period settings, tools for fee imposition, dispute resolution, advanced interest computation, automated credit ceiling management, customizable grace periods, adjustable billing cycles, and live transaction monitoring.</p>
 <p>Additionally, clients can either opt for a fully managed solution or maintain authority over certain program aspects.</p>
 
</div>

Lithic launches commercial revolving credit API for business cards

<div>
 <p>DigiFi, a lending-as-a-service (LaaS) platform, is collaborating with ValidiFI, a predictive bank account and payment intelligence provider. The partnership seeks to improve DigiFi's automated credit decisioning capabilities.</p>
 <p>This collaboration will enable DigiFi to integrate Validafi’s credit risk solutions, including vIndex, vAccount, vAccount Plus, vFraud, and vCredit into their platform. The aim is to offer precise insights to clients for making informed lending decisions. Additionally, it will help in improving conversion rates, enhancing operational efficiency, and preventing fraud. </p>
 <p>The solutions of ValidiFI are delivered through the Omni Platform, their core technology. It assists organizations in validating bank accounts, detecting fraud, and assessing credit risk by studying the links between bank accounts, consumers, and payment performance. ValidiFi was taken over by Ribbit AI in May 2023.</p>
</div>

DigiFi partners with ValidiFI to integrate credit risk solutions for automated lending

<div>
 <p>WealthKernel, a provider for digital investment services infrastructure, has joined hands with Griffin, a banking-as-a-service provider. This collaboration aims to augment its product range by incorporating savings account features into its investment platform.</p>
 <p>Through this cooperation, FinTech companies and wealth managers will have the capability to use WealthKernel's platform to provide savings accounts in conjunction with investment services. This attribute will grant customers the benefit to earn interest on their funds prior to deciding on long-term investments.</p>
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> We believe this collaboration could greatly benefit both companies, given the rising trends among FinTechs, such as neobanks ( <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/34024"> Revolut </a> and <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/34013"> Bunq </a> ), diversifying their product portfolios by offering additional investment and budgeting tools alongside traditional banking services. This move enhances their value proposition to customers and positions them to compete effectively against other fintech infrastructure providers, such as <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/85350"> Plaid </a> and <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/86191"> Moven </a> , which offer a broader range of integrated financial services.</p>

WealthKernel and Griffin partner to integrate savings accounts into investment platform

<div>
 <p>Cloud-native digital banking provider, Lumin Digital, has secured USD 160 million in growth equity financing. The funding round was led by Light Street Capital, NewView Capital, and Partners Group, taking Lumin's total funding to USD 249 million.</p>
 <p>This new capital is intended to drive strategic growth plans, with a particular emphasis on tech advancements for financial institutions. Lumin Digital is also set to broaden its product range while staying dedicated to a client-focused approach.</p>
 <p>Established in 2016, Lumin Digital supplies cloud-native digital banking solutions to financial institutions across the US. The company caters to retail banking, commercial banking, and digital account opening. As of October 2024, Lumin's platform catered to over 5.2 million digital banking users and supported more than 60 financial institutions.</p>
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> The FinTech infrastructure industry has recently seen an infusion of funding. Lumin Digital joins the likes of <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/36582"> Cardless </a> , which raised USD 30 million,&nbsp; <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/36522"> Cellpoint Digital </a> , which raised USD 30 million, and <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/35871"> Satispay, </a> which secured USD 64 million over the past month.</p>

Lumin Digital raises USD 160 million in growth equity to accelerate business growth

<div>
 <p>Cardless, a company providing credit card issuing infrastructure, has garnered USD 30 million in growth funding. The funding round was spearheaded by Activant Capital, with contributions from Mischief, Industry Ventures, Thayer Ventures, Assurant, and Amex Ventures. The new capital injection pushes the company's total equity funding beyond USD 90 million.</p>
 <p>The newly acquired funds are earmarked for several key undertakings. Foremost among these are the creation of co-branded credit card and loyalty products, bolstering the staffing for engineering and operations, and branching out into the retail, ecommerce, and small to medium business sectors.</p>
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> The FinTech infrastructure industry has recently seen an infusion of funding. Cardless joins Cellpoint Digital, which raised USD 30 million, <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/35871"> Satispay, </a> which secured USD 64 million, and <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/35771"> LendAPI, </a> which raised USD 3.2 million.</p>

Cardless raises USD 30 million in growth funding from Activant Capital

<div>
 
 <p>The banking-as-a-service (BaaS) infrastructure provider Mbanq has introduced Mbanq Comet, a digital loan origination platform empowered by artificial intelligence (AI). This innovative platform can be integrated with any core banking system to improve lending abilities.</p>
 <p>With assistance from <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32620"> SME Approve </a> , Mbanq Comet provides various intelligent features. These include AI-driven credit decisioning devices, smooth digital onboarding of borrowers, AI-based Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures for improved compliance and security, and a consolidated dashboard that gives thorough insights into the loan pipeline. It's capable of processing loan applications in seconds and abides by Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices (UDAAP) regulations.</p>
 <p>According to reports, Mbanq Comet allows for a swift implementation process without interrupting ongoing operations. At the same time, it helps decrease operational expenses and ensures precision in credit scoring and risk assessment.</p>
 
</div>

All Updates

Balance raises USD 56 million in Series B funding

Affirm and Adyen expand partnership to offer payment options to Canadian merchants

Zest AI raises USD 200 million in growth funding from Insight Partners

Railsr acquires Equals Group for GBP 283 million to build FinTech platform

Upvest raises EUR 100 million in Series C funding to expand UK presence and enhance offerings

Lithic launches commercial revolving credit API for business cards

DigiFi partners with ValidiFI to integrate credit risk solutions for automated lending

WealthKernel and Griffin partner to integrate savings accounts into investment platform

Lumin Digital raises USD 160 million in growth equity to accelerate business growth

Cardless raises USD 30 million in growth funding from Activant Capital

Mbanq launches AI-powered loan origination platform

FinTech Infrastructure

Balance raises USD 56 million in Series B funding

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