Fintech Highlights - 8/19/2025
Crypto exchange Bullish soars 84% in first-day trading. Chime stock slides on weak sales growth outlook. RBC and BMO are weighing a sale of payment processor Moneris.
Here's what we've been watching this week 👇
Pinned to the Top
Bullish, the crypto exchange operator and owner of news outlet CoinDesk, surged 84% on Wednesday after raising $1.1 billion in an upsized initial public offering, showing the public market’s exuberance for crypto stocks.
The Peter Thiel-backed firm opened trading at $90 per share on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, after pricing its IPO at $37 per share. The shares closed at $68, giving it a market value of $10 billion.
Bullish’s first-day surge followed other IPO debuts recently, including stablecoin issuer Circle and software company Figma.
The BFD
In its first earnings call as a public company since its initial public offering in June, digital banking firm Chime said it made $528 million in sales in the June quarter, up 37% from the same period a year ago. However, its executives predicted that its sales growth for the full year would slump to 28% or 29%, lower than the 31% rate it posted in 2024. Chime’s stock has fallen about 14% since Thursday evening’s report to a price of $28.89.
Chime, which makes most of its revenue from transaction fees whenever its customers swipe its debit and credit cards, introduced a new short-term lending product last year in a bid to attract more customers.
On yesterday’s earnings call, chief financial officer Matthew Newcomb said he expected growth in the number of active members, or the number of people who transacted on Chime in the last month of the quarter, to be the primary driver of revenue growth this year.
What's next? That figure grew by 23% in the June quarter to 8.7 million active members, in line with its average annualized growth rate for that metric over the last few years. Investor expectations going into the report were high, however, with Chime’s shares trading at more than $30 per share in the hours prior to the call – above the $27 per-share price at which Chime went public.
M&A
Advent to Acquire Sapiens for $2.5 Billion in All-Cash Deal Sapiens International Corporation N.V., a global provider of SaaS-based software solutions for the insurance industry, has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Advent in an all-cash transaction valuing the company at approximately $2.5 billion. More here ->
The Trump administration is preparing to sell stock in mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with the offerings possible by year-end. More here ->
Western Union (NYSE: WU) agreed to buy payment transfers firm Intermix (Nasdaq: IMXI) for around $500m in cash, or $16 per share (72% premium to Friday's closing price). More here ->
PayPay, a Japanese digital payments firm backed by SoftBank, filed confidential U.S. IPO papers, per Bloomberg. More here ->
Fitch Learning agreed to buy two businesses from Moody's (NYSE: MCO): MALS, a provider of credit training, and the Canadian Securities Institute, which provides professional certifications for the Canadian financial services industry. More here ->
Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) and Bank of Montreal (TSX: BMO) are weighing a sale of payment processor Moneris, which could fetch up to $2b, per Reuters. More here ->
Fintech
Confido, a New York-based AI financial operating system for consumer brands, raised $15m in Series A funding. It functions as an "AI Financial Operating System" or AI Financial OS, automating critical financial workflows for CPG brands. More here ->
Inclined Technologies, an SF-based fintech that lends against whole life insurance policies, raised $8m in Series B funding. More here ->
Riva Money, a cross-border money transfer startup, raised $3m in pre-seed funding. Riva Money offers a “dual-rail” platform that intelligently routes international B2B payments through either traditional banking channels or blockchain networks (often using stablecoins), choosing the most efficient, cost-effective, and compliant route on a per-transaction basis. More here ->
Bumper, a British BNPL for car repairs, raised $11m in Series B extension funding. Autotech Ventures led, joined by InMotion Ventures, Suzuki Global Ventures, Porsche Ventures, and Shell Ventures. More here ->
Onerway, a U.K.-founded payments infrastructure startup, raised $10m in Series A extension funding. Key services include cross-border merchant acquiring, global payouts, and card issuance, catering to e-commerce businesses, gaming developers, and AI-driven startups (AIGC). More here ->
Drivepoint, a Boston-based finance platform for consumer brands, raised $7m in Series A finding. It helps finance teams do more than just manage spreadsheets—they can automate forecasts and scenario planning, unify data, and make decisions with real-time clarity. More here ->
Coverd, a New York City-based platform to gamify financial wellness, raised $7.8m in seed funding. More here ->
Investtech
Cache, a wealth management tech startup, raised $12.5m in Series A funding. Cache is bridging a long-standing access gap by democratizing exchange-fund wealth management tools previously reserved for ultra-high-net-worth individuals. Its approach enables concentration risk mitigation and tax-efficient diversification with lower costs, better accessibility, and solid performance results—especially valuable for tech professionals and equity-compensation recipients. More here ->
Proptech
Topline Pro, a startup using AI to automate operations for home services companies, raised $27m in Series B funding. More here ->
EliseAI, a New York developer of chatbots for the housing industry, raised around $200m led by a16Z at a valuation north of $2b, per The Information. More here ->
From the Stash
Stripe to Tap Paradigm Co-Founder Matt Huang to Lead New Blockchain - Payments giant Stripe will tap Matt Huang, the co-founder and managing partner at crypto venture firm Paradigm, to lead its upcoming blockchain, called Tempo, according to Fortune.
Huang, who is already a Stripe board member, will continue his role at Paradigm as he takes the new job, Fortune reported, citing one of the people. Stripe is developing its own blockchain that specializes in payments, the publication reported. Stablecoin issuer Circle and brokerage app Robinhood have also said they are developing their own blockchains. More here ->
Circle Revenue Jumps 53%, Unveils Blockchain Plan - Stablecoin issuer Circle, which went public in a blockbuster IPO in April, reported second-quarter revenue of $658 million, up 53% a year ago, on growing circulation of its USDC tokens. But a rally in the stock which followed the earnings, sending shares up 1.3% by the close of trading, reversed in after-hours trading after Circle filed to sell 2 million new shares. Circle shares were trading down 6% at $153.50 in late afternoon trading. More here ->
KeyBank identifies 40 AI proofs of concept - KeyBank is continuing its AI and gen AI development pipeline after seeing positive effects on its operations. “We have roughly about 40 proofs of concept [POCs] across KeyBank that we are evaluating right now,” Ken Gavrity, head of commercial banking, told Bank Automation News More here ->
U.S. Bank’s efficiency ratio trends down, clocking in at 59.2% in Q2 - U.S. Bank is looking to manage expenses without cutting corners on technology, and its steadily decreasing efficiency ratio is proof of the effort. Efficiency ratio is a key indicator of financial institutions’ cost effectiveness in their operations. “We are making steady progress on our medium-term profitability and efficiency targets,” Chief Financial Officer John Stern More here ->
The Hartford Accelerates Underwriting with mea Platform’s Generative AI Solution - The Hartford has successfully completed a pilot program with mea Platform, leveraging its generative AI-powered solution to streamline document processing in underwriting. More here ->
💸 Klarna raised its provision for losses by 64% - But the buy-now-pay-later fintech firm said customer delinquency rates are falling overall. More here ->
Reports & Webinars
The AWS Financial Services Tech Disruptors virtual event brings together some of North America's most respected financial institutions who are revolutionizing the industry. In this exclusive gathering, you'll witness firsthand how hype becomes reality as industry pioneers showcase their groundbreaking transformations.
August 21 - 12pm to 5pm ET.
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