Fintech Highlights - 9/2/2025
Here's what we've been watching this week 👇
Pinned to the Top
When President Trump issued his executive order on alt assets in 401(k) plans, one of the people cheering most loudly was Abdul Al-Asaad, CEO of a fintech startup called Basic Capital.
- "It's like we got a green light from the administration," he tells me. "It's not going to litigate if you attempt to reinvent how 401(k) plans work ... We wouldn't have had a different business plan had [Kamala] Harris won, but it would have been much more challenging."
Driving the news: Basic Capital, which lets workers use private credit to leverage their 401(k) accounts, today is announcing $25 million in Series A funding led by Forerunner and Lux Capital.
- Other backers include Henry Kravis, SV Angel, Box Group, HOF Capital, Inspired Capital, and Westbound Equity Partners.
The big picture: Trump and Al-Asaad share a common mission for 401(k) plans — using private capital to juice performance — albeit via very different methods.
- Basic Capital essentially wants to provide workers with a way to leverage appreciating assets (i.e., equity-heavy retirement accounts), rather than just for depreciating assets like homes and cars.
Zoom in: Semafor's Liz Hoffman has referred to the concept as a mortgage for your 401(k), unlike margin loans that are subject to regular revaluations.
- She also correctly identifies that private credit is a much less mature and tested product than is the home mortgage, let alone the traditional 401(k). In short, it's a less sturdy safety net.
- Much like Trump's plan, the Basic Capital thesis also carries an enormous amount of headline risk — regulators care much more about blowups that burn retail investors than those that only singe institutions.
What they're saying: Al-Asaad acknowledges the concerns about private credit, including high fees and low liquidity, but argues the risks of being unleveraged could be higher.
- "Why is it inherently bad to charge a high fee," he asks. "Shouldn't we only really care about after-fee returns? People so often focus on the small detail that's right in front of them, rather than the big picture."
- He also believes that as more of America's economy becomes private, investing only in publicly held companies becomes self-defeating.
Zoom out: Al-Asaad says that Basic Capital has secured a "high double-digit" number of customers since its May launch, with an average of around 100 employees. His goal is to move upmarket into companies with 500 to 2,000 employees.
The bottom line: 401(k) plans are changing. Fast.
The BFD
MCR Group has agreed to help take Soho House (NYSE: SHCO) private for $2.7 billion, or $9 per share.
Why it's the BFD: This pairs one of America's largest hotel operators with one of its largest members' club operators.
Zoom in: Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. will roll over its control stake into the deal, while Apollo will provide around $700 million in equity and debt. Ashton Kutcher also is involved and will take a board seat. Existing backer Goldman Sachs Alternatives will roll over most of its shares.
- Among the sellers would be Dan Loeb's Third Point, which in January objected to a different deal involving Burkle, calling it a "sweetheart" transaction and pushing for outside bids.
The bottom line: "The business has at times struggled with the balancing act of growing faster while keeping its exclusivity ... Company executives have said that they can boost growth by expanding locations, rather than ramping up the number of members at existing clubs." — Craig Karman and Ben Glickman, WSJ
M&A
Genstar Capital completed its purchase of a majority stake in New York-based lender First Eagle Investments. More here ->
Gemini, a crypto exchange platform led by the Winklevoss twins, filed for an IPO that Renaissance Capital estimatescould raise $400m. It reports a $282m net loss on $68m in revenue for the first half of 2025, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (GEMI). Backers include Morgan Creek Digital Assets. More here ->
Arthur J. Gallagher (NYSE: AJG) completed its $13.45b acquisition of AssuredPartners, an Orlando, Fla.-based insurance broker, from Apax and GTCR. More here ->
Permira and Warburg Pincus hired Evercore to find a buyer for U.K. wealth manager Evelyn Partners, which could fetch £2.5b, per the FT. More here ->
Bow River Capital acquired the asset-based financing business of Dallas-based Park Cities Asset Management. More here ->
Crypto.com, which yesterday launched a $6.4b crypto treasury with Trump Media & Technology Group, has met with bankers about an IPO. More here ->
Commercial Bancgroup, a community bank with dozens of branches in Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee, filed for a $173m IPO. It plans to list on the Nasdaq (CBK). More here ->
Fintech
Kira, a Miami-based payments infrastructure platform, raised $6.7m in seed funding. The company helps businesses—from small startups to large enterprises—launch and manage embedded financial products in emerging markets, particularly Latin America. More here ->
IVIX, an AI-powered platform specifically designed for public sector—and especially government enforcement—agencies to detect and investigate financial crime and non-compliance at scale, raised $60m in Series B funding. More here ->
Fintech Akuvo has signed 15 financial institutions in Q2 2025. Including the Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union, which tapped Akuvo for debt management and collections services. PSECU selected Akuvo for its ability to drive efficiency and effectiveness across its collections operations, a spokesperson for the $9 billion credit union told Bank Automation News. More here ->
Payment Labs, an LA-based fintech, raised $3.25m in seed funding. Initially the company was focused on solving the complex payment needs of esports and sports organizations, particularly prize payouts following competitions. Over time, their platform has evolved to support the creator economy, NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) payments for student athletes, royalty distributions, and other industry-specific payment use cases. More here ->
Insuretech
Sola, an Atlanta-based property insurance company, raised $8m in Series A funding. They offer property insurance solutions—specifically for wind, hail, tornado, and other natural disaster–related damage—focused on affordability, transparency, and faster claims resolution. More here ->
Proptech
Holo, a Dubai-based home buying platform, raised $22m in Series A funding. It provides the Middle East’s first fully digital, end-to-end home-buying and mortgage platform, aimed at simplifying and streamlining the real estate financing experience. More here ->
Sequifi, a Lehi, Utah-based home service workforce platform, raised $6.7m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. Sequifi is a purpose-built workforce platform designed specifically for home service companies—including sectors like HVAC, plumbing, roofing, solar, pest control, landscaping, electrical, mortgage services, fiber installation, and more. More here ->
From the Stash
Intuit records growth on the back of AI investment - Intuit’s investments in emerging technology looks to be paying off. In the early stages of AI tool deployment, Intuit is observing positive consumer feedback and significantly higher repeat usage cases, Chief Executive Sasan Goodarzi said during the company’s Aug. 21 earnings call, adding that Intuit will be “doubling down in these key [AI] areas.” More here ->
Visa abandons open banking in US as data-access debate rages - Visa Inc. shut its open-banking business in the US amid regulatory uncertainty about consumer-data rights and the prospect of higher fees for customer information, according to people familiar with the matter. The payments company has closed its open-banking operations, which provide technology to help third parties such as financial-technology firms access customer-account data, the people More here ->
Inside Capital One’s innovation, patent strategy - Big banks are positioning themselves as technology companies — and they have the patent portfolios to prove it. Investments in technology in the past decade have “made banks key players in the technology ecosystem,” Rocky Berndsen, head of patent analytics at patent preparation and prosecution firm Harrity & Harrity, told Bank Automation News. More here ->
BMO launches two AI tools in fiscal 3rd quarter - BMO is investing in AI and launching new solutions to build deeper relationships with clients. “We’re seeing tangible value from AI in several areas, including decisioning, customer experience, software development and employee productivity,” Chief Executive Daryl White said during the bank’s fiscal third-quarter earnings call today. More here ->
Reports & Webinars
Enriching payment systems: Streamlining compliance and security in a global economy
As regulatory compliance grows more complex in a global economy, the risk of non-compliance can stifle growth and erode profits.
Hear what solutions industry leaders are implementing in our webinar designed for financial services leaders. September 11, 2025 - 11:00 AM PT
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