Block Inc. (Square's parent company) completed its $29 billion acquisition of Afterpay on January 31, 2022, and began rolling out BNPL integration to Square Online sellers in the U.S. and Australia on February 1. The deal embeds buy now, pay later functionality directly into Square's merchant ecosystem and Cash App. This positions Block as a major player in embedded consumer finance at the point of sale.
Challenger bank Nerve launched public APIs in February 2022 enabling creator platforms to embed digital banking services. Features include instant payouts, transaction data access for loans and invoicing, and low-cost payments tailored to the creator economy.
Central Pacific Bank (CPB) announced the launch of its banking-as-a-service platform, serving as the sponsor bank for fintech partners Swell and Elevate Credit. Elevate Credit will provide digital lending solutions through the collaboration. The move positions the Hawaii-based bank as a BaaS infrastructure provider enabling fintechs to offer compliant financial services.
Entities: Central Pacific Bank · Swell · Elevate Credit
Walmart's independent fintech unit Hazel, in partnership with Ribbit Capital, acquired fintech companies Even and ONE. The combined entity operates under the ONE brand as an all-in-one financial services app. The move gives ONE access to Walmart's 1.6 million U.S. associates and over 100 million weekly shoppers.
Entities: Walmart · Hazel · Ribbit Capital · Even · ONE
Tuum (formerly Modularbank), a Banking-as-a-Service platform, raised €15 million in a Series A round led by Portage Ventures. Existing investors Blackfin Capital Partners and Karma Ventures also participated. The funds will support product innovation and global expansion focused on the EU and UK markets.
Temenos announced composable banking services aligned with the Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN) on the Temenos Banking Cloud. The services include BNPL, Challenger Bank, Retail Lending, Payment Fraud Mitigation, and KYC Customer Risk Assessment. These are deployable across public clouds or on-premise environments.
M2P Fintech, a payments infrastructure provider enabling banks and fintechs to launch financial services via APIs, raised $56 million in a Series C round led by Insight Partners. The company's platform aligns closely with BaaS models, helping institutions embed financial products. The funding supports further product development and market expansion.
Global Processing Services (GPS) secured $100 million in funding to expand its embedded finance and API payments platform. The investment supports GPS's infrastructure that enables other companies to build customer-facing financial products via APIs. The raise underscores strong investor interest in BaaS infrastructure providers.
U.K.-based Fintech Farm raised $7.4 million in seed funding led by Flyer One Ventures and Solid to launch neobanks in emerging markets including Nigeria and Azerbaijan. The startup uses a banking-as-a-platform middleware model, partnering with local banks in 50-50 equity splits to handle app development, customer acquisition, and credit decisions while banks provide licenses and capital. This approach enables rapid neobank launches without requiring Fintech Farm to hold its own banking license.
Entities: Fintech Farm · Flyer One Ventures · Solid · TA Ventures · Jiji · u.ventures · AVentures Capital
First Northwest Bancorp (FNWB), through subsidiary First Fed Bank, partnered with digital lending platform Splash Financial to deploy consumer loan products nationwide. The partnership combines community banking expertise with Splash's automated underwriting platform, enabling borrowers to compare financial products across a network of lenders.
Entities: First Northwest Bancorp · First Fed Bank · Splash Financial
Fintech Automation (FTA) signed an agreement with Finicity, a Mastercard company, to integrate open banking data into its infrastructure-as-a-service platform. The integration streamlines account opening and funding for FTA's clients. Consumers gain a holistic view of finances across multiple accounts through the combined solution.
Berlin-based Banxware raised €10 million to scale its lending-as-a-service platform across European markets. The company planned to launch white-label merchant cash advance solutions with leading payment service providers. Banxware had already integrated with platforms including Penta, Takeaway.com, and Prestashop.
Wise Platform announced seven new partnerships heading into 2022, expanding its embedded international payments integration to over 20 banks. The partnerships allow banks to offer Wise's cross-border payment capabilities directly within their own platforms via API. This reflects growing demand for embedded finance solutions in international payments.
Subaio partnered with Aiia, a Mastercard-owned open banking platform, to create a white-label creditworthiness assessment solution for financial institutions. The solution combines Aiia's open banking data access with Subaio's recurring payment detection to automate credit scoring. Full rollout was expected in Q1 2022.
Laurentian Bank announced a strategic partnership with Brim Financial to transform its Visa customer experience using Brim's payments-as-a-service platform. The integration includes digital onboarding, instant virtual cards, mobile wallets, and self-serve account management. The rollout is planned for 2022.
Finxact launched its Product Launchpad, a no-code visual tool on its cloud-native core banking platform. The tool allows banks to design and deploy financial products via APIs, supporting embedded services like real-time position-keeping. It targets banks seeking faster product creation without custom development.
MoneyLion acquired Even Financial, an embedded finance and enterprise financial product marketplace, for an enterprise value of $440 million. Even Financial's platform enables fintechs, banks, and digital publishers to embed personalized financial product offers into their customer experiences. The deal strengthens MoneyLion's position as a consumer finance super-app with embedded distribution capabilities.
Astra launched the first point-to-point debit transfer API, enabling fintechs to embed instant card-to-card payments into their applications. The product is powered by Cross River Bank's infrastructure and leverages Visa debit card rails. This removes the need for additional bank account setup for instant funding.
Google-backed Indian neobank Open acquired consumer fintech Finin for approximately $10 million. The acquisition is intended to strengthen Open's Zwitch embedded finance platform. Finin's consumer-facing capabilities will complement Open's existing SME banking and BaaS offerings.
Mambu, a SaaS cloud banking platform, raised €235 million (~$266 million) in a Series E round led by EQT Growth, valuing the company at €4.9 billion (~$5.5 billion). The Berlin-based company reported over 120% year-on-year revenue growth and serves more than 200 customers globally. This was the largest private fundraise to date for a banking software platform.
Alloy launched its Partner Center, a resource hub for banks and fintechs to access identity decisioning integrations. The platform supports embedded finance transparency by streamlining KYC/AML and identity verification workflows. It aims to simplify partnerships between financial institutions and technology providers.
Tyme completed a $180 million Series B round, with $70 million from Tencent and CDC Group announced in December 2021, building on $110 million raised earlier that year. The funding supports scaling its digital banking infrastructure for mass-market financial services and risk management. Tyme operates digital banks serving underserved populations in emerging markets.
OCC Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu indicated in December 2021 that the review of Figure Technologies' national bank charter application was complete, with a decision expected shortly. Figure, a blockchain-based fintech, had originally filed in November 2020. No approval was granted in December 2021, but the pending decision signaled a potential landmark moment for fintech chartering.
Entities: Figure Technologies · Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) · Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS)
Oportun, a mission-driven fintech lender, closed a $150 million credit facility secured by assets and backed by WebBank, a Utah-chartered industrial bank. WebBank is a key BaaS partner bank enabling fintech lending programs. This deal expands Oportun's funding capacity for consumer lending products.