Registry — Vantage Bank Texas (US) added to the registry
Enforcement — Licence Revocation issued against Paytm Payments Bank · RBI · Apr 26, 2026
Partnership — Qolo Expands KeyBank Partnership to Launch Virtual Commercial Card Program · Apr 28, 2026
Product — Aven Launches Bitcoin-Backed Visa Credit Card with BitGo and Coastal Community Bank · Apr 28, 2026
M&A — Capacity Acquires DevRefactory to Expand Embedded Middleware and AI Capabilities · Apr 28, 2026
Funding — UAE B2B Embedded Finance Platform Comfi Raises $65M Pre-Series A · Apr 27, 2026
Deal Feed
Partnerships, funding rounds, product launches, and M&A across the ecosystem.
Elavon, a U.S. Bancorp subsidiary, committed to a three-year sponsorship of Georgia Tech's ATDC FinTech program to mentor early-stage fintech startups on payments integration and growth. The program supports approximately 35 fintechs. This signals a bank-linked payments processor investing in building a fintech partnership pipeline.
VP Bank's British Virgin Islands branch adopted white-label fintech tools from Swiss providers, including Appway for digital client onboarding and FINFOX for investment advisory. The move reflected banks turning to fintech partners for technology modernization. VP Bank leveraged these tools to enhance client experience without building proprietary systems.
Canadian fintech FI.SPAN partnered with JP Morgan Chase to provide cloud-based API services enabling the bank to integrate third-party fintech solutions for business banking products. The collaboration supports payment and cash management services for corporate treasurers. This was one of four partnerships FI.SPAN established with top U.S. banks, reflecting growing demand for white-label banking infrastructure.
Cross River Bank, a Banking-as-a-Service provider for fintechs, raised approximately $100 million in a funding round led by KKR. The round included $75 million in equity from KKR with participation from CreditEase, LionTree Partners, Battery Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Ribbit Capital. The investment underscores growing investor interest in BaaS infrastructure banks that power fintech lending and payments.
Canadian fintech Smooth Commerce, operating through the Scotiabank Digital Banking Lab ecosystem, offered white-label platforms for merchants including mobile payments, loyalty programs, and custom apps for multi-location retailers. The partnership combined Scotiabank's banking reach with Smooth Commerce's technology. This exemplified bank-backed fintech incubation for embedded commerce solutions.
Lloyds Banking Group began exploring Thought Machine's cloud-native Vault core banking platform as part of a broader technology transformation. IBM serves as the global implementation partner for the deployment. The initiative aims to replace legacy core banking infrastructure with modern cloud-based systems capable of handling billions of transactions daily.
Thailand's Kasikornbank made a $50 million strategic investment in Grab to support the ride-hailing giant's expansion into fintech services across Southeast Asia. The deal positions Grab as an embedded finance platform open to financial services partners. This partnership highlights how traditional banks are backing super-app platforms to deliver embedded financial products at scale.
Payments interoperability fintech Modo closed over $13 million in Series A funding with participation from Deutsche Bank. The round supports Modo's platform that connects disparate payment systems. Deutsche Bank's participation signals traditional banking interest in payments infrastructure modernization.
CYBG terminated Virgin Money's digital bank project and ended a related contract with core banking middleware provider 10x Future Technologies. Instead, CYBG chose to pursue its own iB cloud-based digital banking platform. This decision followed CYBG's acquisition of Virgin Money and reflected a preference for in-house technology over fintech middleware partnerships.
Finn AI (formerly Payso Inc.) operated a white-label virtual assistant platform for banks, with partners including ATB Financial and BMO. The chatbot enabled budget tracking, spending analysis, automatic payments, and personalized alerts. The platform was distributed via channels like Facebook Messenger, Twitter, and Temenos Marketplace, targeting banks and credit unions.
Nationwide Building Society began re-platforming its digital banking and mortgage services onto a core cloud-based platform using AWS and DevOps practices. Initial workloads including mortgage switchers were already live. The project aimed to modernize the building society's infrastructure with broader migration planned over 6-12 months.
MuchBetter launched a 'bank-in-a-box' white-labelled payments service targeting non-fintech sectors. The product supported mobile and fingerprint payments, offering a turnkey embedded finance solution. This represented a notable early example of BaaS-style infrastructure for non-financial brands.
Volante Technologies released Designer version 6.0 on October 31, 2018, enabling API, cloud, and microservices-based integration for banks and financial institutions. The platform supports financial messaging and payments processing, providing middleware-like functionality that underpins banking-as-a-service ecosystems. The release positioned Volante as an infrastructure enabler for banks seeking to modernize their integration layers.
UK challenger bank Monzo raised £85M (~$108M) in a Series E round led by General Catalyst and Accel, with participation from Thrive Capital and Stripe. The round valued Monzo at over $1.2 billion, making it the UK's newest fintech unicorn. The funding supports Monzo's growth as a digital banking platform challenging incumbents.
UK BaaS and payments provider Contis partnered with Featurespace to integrate AI-driven fraud prevention across its banking and payments platform. The collaboration enhances Contis's ability to offer secure embedded payment and account services to its fintech and enterprise clients. It underscores the importance of real-time fraud detection in banking-as-a-service infrastructure.
Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) made an undisclosed minority investment in Zenmonics, a software company specializing in digital banking channel solutions for financial institutions. The investment strengthens FIS's capabilities in digitizing banking services and supports Zenmonics' growth in financial institution modernization.
The SEC launched FinHub, a Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology, to engage with fintech innovators working on digital marketplace financing, APIs, and distributed ledger technology. The initiative provides a central point of contact for fintech companies navigating regulatory requirements.
NatWest became the first bank to launch on Finastra's Fusion LenderComm, a blockchain-based platform built on R3's Corda for syndicated lending. The integration enables real-time position reporting and improved transparency for loan agents and investors. The platform went fully live in November 2018.
OnDeck launched ODX, a Platform-as-a-Service subsidiary enabling banks to digitize SME lending with embedded software, analytics, and services. The platform allows banks to offer fully digital loan applications and underwriting, funding small businesses in as little as 24 hours. ODX leverages OnDeck's proprietary OnDeck Score for real-time lending decisions, targeting bank-fintech collaboration.
Europe-based VC firm Corviglia Capital launched with a $500M maiden fund to invest in fintechs disrupting banking and financial services. The firm plans to deploy $10M–$50M per deal, with offices in Berlin and London. The fund signals strong European institutional appetite for fintech-banking infrastructure plays.
CB Insights released its 2018 Fintech 250 list, spotlighting 250 promising fintech startups including banking-as-a-service provider Cross River Bank and API-based lender Upgrade. The cohort had raised $53B in aggregate funding since 2013, with 30 unicorns and 33 mega-rounds in 2018 YTD.
The IMF released the Bali Fintech Agenda outlining 12 policy principles for harnessing fintech and banking infrastructure development. The agenda addresses regulatory frameworks, financial inclusion, and cross-border considerations for digital financial services. It provides a global policy blueprint relevant to BaaS and embedded finance.
Brazilian digital bank Nubank raised $180 million from Chinese tech giant Tencent, valuing the company at $4 billion. The investment from Tencent represents a significant cross-border bet on Latin America's largest digital banking platform. The funding supports Nubank's expansion of its financial services ecosystem in Brazil.
Starling Bank announced the expansion of its Banking-as-a-Service offering around PayExpo 2018, opening APIs for white-label banking, debit cards, and payments. The BaaS platform enables fintechs to access banking infrastructure without obtaining their own banking license. Early partners include Instarem and FIS Global.