Visa and Mastercard both made strategic investments in Plaid as part of its $250 million Series C round, valuing the fintech infrastructure company at $2.65 billion. Plaid provides APIs that connect fintech apps to users' bank accounts, serving 80% of major fintech firms including Venmo, Robinhood, and Chime. The co-investment by both card networks signals their intent to benefit from the growth of the fintech ecosystem reliant on bank-account connectivity infrastructure.
Stripe launched Stripe Capital, an embedded lending product offering instant merchant cash advances of $5,000–$25,000 to U.S. merchants on its platform. Repayments are collected as a fixed percentage of future sales with a flat 10% fee. The product leverages Stripe's payment data for underwriting, bypassing traditional credit checks, and is funded through an unnamed bank partner.
PNC Bank launched numo, an internal fintech startup program designed to foster innovation within the bank. Its first product, indi, is a mobile banking account tailored for gig workers with features like tax calculations and no monthly fees. The initiative represents a bank-led embedded finance approach with a pre-negotiated equity split between PNC and numo employees.
Scalable Capital partnered with Raisin to offer white-label fixed-term deposit products from over 20 European banks via Baader Bank. The integration allows Scalable Capital's portfolio customers to access competitive savings rates across multiple banks. This represents a significant embedded finance collaboration in the European savings market.
Stripe announced a corporate credit card for its business clients in September 2019, further expanding its embedded financial services offerings beyond payments and lending. The move positioned Stripe alongside competitors like Brex and Square in the corporate card space.
Fintech AvidXchange announced the acquisition of BankTEL Systems, which serves approximately 20% of U.S. banks. The deal combines BankTEL's bank accounting tools with AvidXchange's AvidPay Network of over 500,000 suppliers. The acquisition positions AvidXchange as a dominant provider of invoice-to-payment automation for the financial services industry.
Trade Republic Bank closed a €10 million Series A funding round to support its expansion across Europe. The licensed fintech bank offers commission-free stock trading. The funding underscored growing investor appetite for licensed fintech-bank models in the European market.
BMO Bank of Montreal announced an expanded partnership with fintech platform Blend to enhance the bank's technology and improve customer experience. Blend provides a digital lending platform that banks embed into their operations. The deepened relationship demonstrates the growing trend of major banks partnering with fintech infrastructure providers to modernize their customer-facing services.
Mastercard acquired Nets' Corporate Services division, adding real-time payment capabilities and marking its fourth fintech acquisition of 2019. The deal positions Mastercard as an enhanced partner for banks seeking embedded payment infrastructure. This aggressive acquisition strategy underscores card networks' push into BaaS-adjacent services.
The Federal Reserve announced it will develop the FedNow Service, a new real-time payment and settlement system. The service aims to provide 24x7x365 instant payment infrastructure for depository institutions. This foundational infrastructure decision has significant implications for BaaS providers and embedded finance platforms that rely on real-time payment rails.
Core banking provider Temenos announced its acquisition of Kony, a mobile app development platform used by digital banking clients, for $559 million plus a $21 million earn-out. The deal was expected to close in Q4 2019. The acquisition strengthened Temenos' digital front-office capabilities for banks seeking to modernize their customer-facing channels.
ABN AMRO integrated Tink's account aggregation technology into its Grip personal finance app, enabling users to view accounts from multiple Dutch banks via PSD2 APIs. Grip became one of the first apps in the Netherlands to leverage open banking, broadening its reach beyond ABN AMRO customers to its 700,000+ user base.
Gateway First Bank (formerly a mortgage company) completed its acquisition of Farmers Exchange Bank, creating a full-service chartered bank with $1.2 billion in assets and five banking centers in Oklahoma. The acquisition enabled Gateway's transition to a chartered bank, positioning it as one of Oklahoma's largest banks by assets. The combined entity planned core system migration to FIS and a new loan origination partner rollout in summer 2019.
Entities: Gateway First Bank · Farmers Exchange Bank · FIS
Citi provided white-label banking services through API-powered partnerships, notably powering the Qantas Money mobile app in Australia. The app gave customers online banking access to co-branded Qantas credit cards. This represents an early example of a major global bank offering embedded banking-as-a-service capabilities to a non-bank brand.
Visa launched its Fintech Fast Track program in the U.S. on July 31, 2019, enabling fintech startups to integrate with VisaNet more quickly. The program partners with major VCs like Andreessen Horowitz and Ribbit Capital, and includes BaaS providers Green Dot and BBVA Open Platform. It targets fintechs in payments, lending, and money management, offering simplified access to Visa's network, security, and global reach.
Entities: Visa · Green Dot · BBVA Open Platform · Andreessen Horowitz · Nyca Partners · Ribbit Capital · Trinity Ventures
Business challenger bank Valt Bank received conditional approval for a U.S. bank charter in July 2019. The approval signals continued regulatory openness to fintech-driven banking entrants seeking national licenses. This positions Valt Bank among a small cohort of digital challengers pursuing full banking charters in the U.S.
OnDeck hired a bank veteran to lead sales and strategy for ODX, its bank-facing lending-as-a-service platform. ODX enables banks to offer small business lending powered by OnDeck's technology and underwriting. This move signaled OnDeck's deepening commitment to embedded lending through bank partnerships.
Berlin-based mobile bank N26 raised a $170 million extension to its Series D round, bringing total Series D funding to $470 million and valuing the company at $3.5 billion. The raise cemented N26's position as one of Europe's most valuable fintechs.
Fintech platform FNZ completed its acquisition of European Bank for Financial Services GmbH (ebase), a B2B direct banking subsidiary of comdirect bank. The deal gives FNZ a licensed banking entity to serve its financial services platform clients. This represents a fintech acquiring a bank charter/subsidiary to deepen its embedded finance capabilities in Europe.
Entities: FNZ · ebase (European Bank for Financial Services) · comdirect bank
Cloud banking platform nCino acquired Visible Equity, a provider of analytics and compliance tools for banks and credit unions. The deal enhances nCino's cloud-based operating system for financial institutions with deeper data insights and regulatory compliance capabilities. It reinforces nCino's position as a key infrastructure provider for digitizing bank operations.
First Associates, a loan servicer for fintech lenders, merged with Portfolio Financial Servicing Company following a recapitalization backed by Stone Point Capital. The combined entity creates a larger loan servicing platform supporting fintech lending programs. This deal strengthens back-office infrastructure that underpins fintech-bank lending partnerships.
Entities: First Associates · Portfolio Financial Servicing Company · Stone Point Capital
London-based over-the-top banking platform Curve raised $55 million in a Series B round at a $250 million valuation. The round was led by Gauss Ventures with participation from Santander InnoVentures and others. Funds will support European expansion, new features, and a planned 2020 U.S. launch.
European neobank N26 launched its US mobile banking product in partnership with Axos Bank, which provides FDIC-insured accounts, ACH payments, routing numbers, and debit cards. N26 manages the customer-facing app while Axos handles backend banking operations. This white-label arrangement allowed N26 to enter the US market without a full banking license.
Danske Bank, DNB, Nordea, SEB, Handelsbanken, and Swedbank announced the formation of a joint venture to create a shared KYC (Know Your Customer) data platform. The initiative aims to standardize and streamline compliance processes across the Nordic region. This collaboration is significant for the BaaS and embedded finance ecosystem as shared KYC infrastructure reduces onboarding friction for fintechs and partner banks operating in the Nordics.
Entities: Danske Bank · DNB · Nordea · SEB · Handelsbanken · Swedbank