A group of Stripe alumni has unveiled a new AI-powered financial platform designed to become a “financial home” for startups. The platform aims to rival traditional banks by offering integrated services such as cash management, analytics, and financial decision-making tools tailored for early-stage businesses. Backed by their experience at Stripe, the founders are positioning the solution as more agile and innovation-focused compared to incumbent banks. With AI at its core, the platform promises smarter, automated insights to help startups manage their runway and funding more effectively. This move reflects a broader trend of fintech challengers directly competing with banks in areas once considered their stronghold. If successful, it could reshape how startups approach banking and financial operations.
Insight of the Day
Payment hub functional architecture
In today’s fast-changing financial environment, payment systems are no longer back-end utilities – they are at the core of customer experience, operational excellence, and digital innovation. Yet for many banks, infrastructure remains rooted in legacy systems.
As volumes of UPI, cards, NEFT, RTGS, IMPS, and wallets surge, banks struggle to keep pace. Outdated, fragmented systems create inflexible, expensive ecosystems. Independent payment engines and isolated back-office systems lead to errors, manual intervention, and delayed processing. This complexity hinders innovation, compliance, and real-time customer expectations. To address this, institutions are moving toward integrated, intelligent payment hubs.
👉 What is a payment hub?
A payment hub is a centralised platform that orchestrates and simplifies the entire lifecycle of payments processing within a bank. From initiation to authorisation – validation, routing, execution, and reporting – it acts as the control tower for every payment flow.
By connecting with banks, third-party providers, and internal systems, hubs deliver consistency, transparency, and automation. Their modular design allows financial institutions to manage multiple payment types and channels via a single interface, serving as the digital nerve centre for real-time, scalable transaction management.
👉 Integrating payment hubs in banks
Financial institutions manage diverse domestic and international payment products, in both batch and real time. Coupled with complex integrations – core banking systems (CBS), treasury platforms, fraud and risk management (FRM), reconciliation engines – all with different file formats, this often leads to fragmentation.
Curated News
💳 Payments
Vipps MobilePay Teams Up with Tink on P2P Payments
Nordic payments giant Vipps MobilePay has partnered with Tink to enhance peer-to-peer payments and strengthen its open banking integrations. The collaboration highlights the growing convergence between P2P platforms and open banking infrastructure across Europe.
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Spreedly Acquires Dodgeball to Boost Fraud Prevention
Spreedly has acquired Dodgeball to bolster its fraud prevention capabilities in the payments ecosystem. The deal enhances security layers for merchants, reducing fraud risks in digital transactions.
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🏦 Banking
Zone & Co Launches Direct Bank Connectivity for ZoneReconcile
Zone & Co has rolled out direct bank connectivity for its reconciliation tool, ZoneReconcile, enabling faster and more accurate matching of transactions. The move streamlines financial operations for enterprises managing high transaction volumes.
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MANTL Clients Bring in $3 Billion in Deposits in Six Months
MANTL announced that its clients have raised over $3 billion in deposits through existing banking relationships in just half a year. The milestone underlines the power of digital onboarding and customer engagement in driving deposit growth.
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💸 Fintech
Extend Secures $20M for Expansion
Virtual card platform Extend has raised $20 million in fresh funding to accelerate growth and expand its product offerings. The capital will help Extend scale its infrastructure and deepen partnerships in B2B payments.
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Kredete Raises $22M for Global Expansion
Nigeria-founded Kredete has secured $22 million in Series A funding to fuel its global expansion plans. The company specializes in providing financial access to underserved markets using AI-driven credit models.
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EvoluteIQ Secures $53M for AI Operations Expansion
Bengaluru-based EvoluteIQ has raised $53 million to scale its global AI-driven business process automation solutions. The funding will accelerate expansion across enterprise markets.
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MindBridge Unveils AI Agent for Finance Professionals
MindBridge has launched a new agentic AI interface designed to connect finance professionals with trusted insights. The platform aims to enhance audit and analytics workflows with explainable AI.
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Finova Launches Specialist Buy-to-Let Platform
Finova introduced a new platform enabling lenders to roll out buy-to-let mortgage products in as little as four months. The innovation seeks to speed time-to-market in the specialist lending sector.
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Compass Plus Launches AI-Powered FraudAxis Platform
Compass Plus has introduced FraudAxis, an AI-driven fraud detection system aimed at reducing risk across digital financial services. The solution promises faster, more accurate fraud prevention for banks and fintechs.
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Qover Partners with Helvetia for Insurance Innovation
Insurtech Qover has partnered with Helvetia to co-develop new digital insurance products. The collaboration reflects the continued integration of insurtech solutions into mainstream insurance offerings.
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🪙 Crypto
DBS, Franklin Templeton and Ripple Advance Tokenized Assets
DBS, Franklin Templeton, and Ripple have teamed up to merge tokenized collateral with stablecoins in trading money market funds. The initiative demonstrates the increasing institutional adoption of blockchain-based assets.
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Stablecore Raises $20M to Bring Digital Assets to Banks
Stablecore has secured $20 million to integrate stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and digital assets directly into banks and credit unions. The funding will support its mission of bridging traditional finance and blockchain.
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MiniPay Hits 10M Wallets and 270M Transactions
Web3 wallet MiniPay is celebrating its second anniversary with 10 million users and 270 million transactions. Its growth underscores stablecoins’ central role in driving Web3 adoption.
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📈 WealthTech
FNZ and AJ Bell Extend Partnership with 10-Year Deal
FNZ and AJ Bell have renewed their collaboration with a decade-long agreement to expand digital wealth services. The deal reinforces their commitment to providing scalable investment platforms in the UK.
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⚖️ Regulation
Credas Debuts Compliance Wallet for Property Purchases
Credas has launched a Compliance Wallet to streamline regulatory checks in real estate transactions. The solution simplifies property purchases by integrating identity verification and compliance requirements into one digital tool.
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Communities Preserve Cash Access Through Local Rules
A new initiative shows communities successfully maintaining access to cash through locally applied rules. The move highlights ongoing regulatory efforts to balance digital payments growth with financial inclusion.
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📊 Other
UK Leads Europe in Fintech Funding
The UK continues to dominate Europe’s fintech investment landscape, attracting the largest share of funding in the region. This reinforces London’s position as a global fintech hub despite economic uncertainty.
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DWS Plans $2B Data Centre Sale
DWS is preparing to sell its $2 billion data centre portfolio as part of a broader strategic shift. The deal signals increasing investor appetite for infrastructure assets tied to digital transformation.
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FinSight Ventures Launches $50M Generative AI Index Fund
FinSight Ventures has introduced a $50 million index fund focused on leading generative AI companies. The fund provides investors with exposure to a fast-growing sector reshaping multiple industries.
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MongoDB Unveils AI Modernization Platform
MongoDB has launched an AI-powered platform to help enterprises modernize applications, reduce technical debt, and accelerate innovation. The product targets large organizations seeking to enhance their digital infrastructure.
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Capitolis Appoints Melanie Carucci as Global Head of Sales
Fintech and capital markets firm Capitolis has appointed Melanie Carucci as its new Global Head of Sales. The hire reflects the company’s push to strengthen its leadership team and expand client engagement.
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