Executive Summary
This week’s fintech headlines showcase a dynamic blend of AI acceleration, funding momentum, and crypto milestones. AI continues to permeate insurance, banking, and fraud prevention, with OakNorth integrating OpenAI’s tools and Google’s Gemini Nano tackling scam detection. On the funding front, startups like Ravio, Glide, and OX Security raised over $90M combined to modernize HR, embedded finance, and app security.
In crypto, Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky receives a 12 year sentence and Ripple eyes Circle in a $20B power move.
Bhutan surprises with the world’s first national crypto tourism payments system, and New Hampshire makes a strategic Bitcoin play. Meanwhile, data breaches at Pearson, Insight Partners, and student tool iClicker highlight growing vulnerabilities in education and enterprise sectors.
📩 Stay ahead of these fintech trends! Read our full report for expert insights and deeper analysis on the latest industry developments.
Trends in Fintech Verticals
Top Data Breaches
iClicker site hack targeted students with malware via fake CAPTCHA: The website of iClicker, a popular student engagement platform, was compromised in a ClickFix attack that used a fake CAPTCHA prompt to trick students and instructors into installing malware on their devices.
iClicker is a subsidiary of Macmillan and is a digital classroom tool that allows instructors to take attendance, ask live questions or surveys, and track student engagement. It is widely used by 5,000 instructors and 7 million students at colleges and universities across the United States, including the University of Michigan, the University of Florida, and universities in California.
According to a security alert from the University of Michigan’s Safe Computing team, the iClicker site was hacked between April 12 and April 16, 2025, to display a fake CAPTCHA that instructed users to press “I’m not a robot” to verify themselves.
VC giant Insight Partners confirms investor data stolen in breach: Venture capital firm Insight Partners has confirmed that sensitive data for employees and limited partners was stolen in a January 2025 cyberattack.
Insight Partners is a prominent global venture capital and private equity firm specializing in high-growth technology, software, and internet companies, managing over $90 billion in regulatory assets.
The company has significant investments in more than 800 companies worldwide, including Twitter, HelloFresh, and Veeam Software.
Education giant Pearson hit by cyberattack exposing customer data: Education giant Pearson suffered a cyberattack, allowing threat actors to steal corporate data and customer information, BleepingComputer has learned.
Pearson is a UK-based education company and one of the world’s largest providers of academic publishing, digital learning tools, and standardized assessments. The company works with schools, universities, and individuals in over 70 countries through its print and online services.
In a statement earlier last week, Pearson confirmed they suffered a cyberattack and that data was stolen, but stated it was mostly “legacy data.”
Latest Funding News
Agree lands $7.2m seed to streamline e-signature and payments: Agree, a FinTech startup based in the US, is transforming how businesses manage contracts by integrating e-signature, invoicing and payment processing into a single platform.
The company has raised $7.2m in a seed round led by Pelion Venture Partners’ Tyler Hogge, with further backing from Blank Ventures and angel investor Gokul Rajaram. The round follows a $3m pre-seed investment led by Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV), with continued support from 8-Bit Capital, Trust Fund, Hustle Fund, Everywhere Ventures, Singh Capital Partners, and Firsthand VC.
Ravio raises $12m Series A to modernise compensation data for global workforces: Ravio, a compensation data and decision-making platform for modern workforces, has secured $12m in a Series A funding round to expand its reach and accelerate innovation.
The round was led by US-based Spark Capital, with additional backing from Blackbird in Australia and Cherry Ventures in Europe. This investment aims to bolster Ravio’s efforts to modernise compensation strategy through real-time data integration.
Glide Raises $15M to Accelerate Embedded Fintech Innovation powered by AI: Glide, an embedded FinTech platform focused on transforming the digital capabilities of traditional financial institutions, has raised $15m in a Series A funding round.
The round was led by Acrew Capital and joined by Pear VC, Pathlight Capital, and several prominent angel investors. Notable participants included Claire Hughes Johnson, former COO of Stripe; Paul Williamson, former CRO of Plaid; and Arash Ferdowsi, co-founder of Dropbox.
Glide provides a unified digital experience platform for community banks and credit unions, replacing the fragmented legacy systems many still rely on. By offering a modern infrastructure layer, Glide enables these institutions to deliver banking experiences on par with FinTech challengers.
OX Security lands $60m Series B to advance AI-driven AppSec innovation: New York-based OX Security plans to use the Series B investment to automate remediation at scale and close the gap between problem identification and resolution, according to co-founder and CEO Neatsun Ziv. OX wants to help customers focus on the 5% of vulnerabilities that matter through smart prioritization and remediation rather than overwhelming developers with endless issue lists, Ziv said.
“It’s always good to do fundraising when all the stars are aligned,” Ziv told Information Security Media Group. “The market is receptive to the message, everything seemed to be going in place. We went into this fundraising when we had at least one more year till we had to do fundraising. So, it’s like everything fell into place.”
Banking and Payments
Clearent by Xplor Launches new product, Enabling SaaS Providers to Easily Embed Business Financing into Software: Clearent by Xplor, a leading U.S. payment processor under Xplor Technologies, has today announced the launch of Xplor Capital, an innovative embedded financing solution for software providers and their merchants. This new offering is made possible through a strategic partnership with Parafin, a “capital as a service platform” specializing in capital solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. Following the successful launch of Xplor Capital for small businesses, this extension allows Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers to integrate merchant financing capabilities directly into their software ecosystems.
Venmo gaining ground in payments as Cash App struggles: Venmo is experiencing significant growth in the digital payments sector, with a 20% year-over-year increase in payment volume for Q1 2025. This surge contributes to PayPal’s broader monetization strategy, including new offerings like the Venmo debit card and Fastlane checkout. Conversely, Cash App is encountering challenges, with a decline in user engagement and transaction volume, highlighting the competitive pressures in the fintech industry.
Bhutan launches world’s first national-level crypto tourism payment system: Bhutan launched the world’s first national-level cryptocurrency tourism payment system in partnership with Binance Pay and DK Bank. This innovative initiative allows travellers to use digital currencies for a wide range of services during their stay in Bhutan. Visitors can pay for airfares, visas, accommodations, and even local fruit using their Binance accounts. The move aims to enhance the tourism experience while promoting financial inclusion in the country.
Cardstream and Mastercard team up to boost open banking adoption in UK: Mastercard has teamed with British FinTech Cardstream to promote open banking payments. The partnership will allow Cardstream to bolster its Payment Facilitation-as-a-Service (PFaaS) platform and allow customers to offer open banking payments to merchants and retailers throughout the U.K.
“There’s strong demand for open banking payments as a secure and convenient way to pay alongside cards,” Adam Sharpe, CEO of Cardstream, said in the announcement.
According to the release, the partnership will let acquirers, payment facilitators and payment channels that use Cardstream offer their merchant customers the option to accept open banking payments alongside debit and credit cards and other forms of payment.
Green Dot Announces Partnership with Samsung to Introduce New Samsung Wallet Features: Green Dot Corporation, the banking-as-a-service provider and registered bank holding company, has announced a partnership with Samsung Electronics to introduce new payment features to Samsung Wallet in the United States.
The collaboration will initially focus on a peer-to-peer (P2P) payment service called “Tap to Transfer”, with additional functionality planned for future releases.
The feature will allow Samsung Wallet’s reported 12 million US users to transfer funds within minutes to other digital wallets or contactless debit cards.
The service will be powered by Green Dot’s Arc platform, a modular embedded finance system that provides banking infrastructure to businesses.
Wealthtech
Kafi Securities Corporation Launches Advanced Trading Operations With Horizon: Horizon Trading Solutions, a global leader in electronic trading solutions and algorithmic technology for capital markets, announces that Kafi Securities Corporation, a leading financial services company in Vietnam, is now live on Horizon’s trading platform.
As part of its mission to become the leading provider of personal financial consulting and investment services in Vietnam, Kafi selected Horizon to support its expansion into market making and advanced trading activities. Kafi is now live with Horizon’s trading and market making solutions for Warrants, Equities, and Futures listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) and the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX).
Canadian Financial Services Platform Wealthsimple Taps Eventus for Compliance Solution:
Eventus, a leading provider of comprehensive, at-scale trade surveillance and financial risk solutions, announced that Wealthsimple is among its newest clients deploying the firm’s Validus platform for trade surveillance across asset classes. Wealthsimple is one of Canada’s fastest growing financial services platforms, serving more than three million clients, with $50+ billion in assets across trading, saving and investing.
Artificial intelligence
CLARA Analytics Unveils AI-Driven Subrogation Detection for Insurance Claims: CLARA Analytics (“CLARA”), a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI) technology for insurance claims optimization, today announced game-changing subrogation detection capabilities that promise to help insurers identify millions in previously missed recovery opportunities. The enhancements to CLARA’s flagship CLARA Triage product automatically identify potential subrogation and risk transfer opportunities, providing narrative assessments and numeric scores that help claims adjusters to focus on cases that offer the greatest potential.
Musk’s xAI joins TWG Global, Palantir for AI push in financial sector: Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has partnered with Palantir Technologies and investment firm TWG Global, the companies said on Tuesday, as they look to tap growing AI demand in the financial services industry.
The data analytics firm and TWG, led by Guggenheim Partners founder Mark Walter and entertainment financier Thomas Tull, had in March announced a joint venture aimed at AI deployment in financial services and insurance sectors.
TWG will lead the implementation efforts by working with company executives to design and deploy AI-powered solutions, the companies said.
The collaboration will integrate xAI’s models, which include its Grok family of large language models and its Colossus supercomputer, into business operations. The companies expect “many more partners” after the inclusion of xAI.
OakNorth to embed GPT tools from OpenAI across its business: UK-headquartered business bank OakNorth is set to further embed generative AI (GenAI) technologies across its business through a new partnership deal signed with ChatGPT developer OpenAI.
The bank says it will gain “custom-built GPT tools” through the collaboration as it looks to “enhance speed, personalisation, service quality and efficiency”.
The company adds that these embedded tools are to be deployed “across horizontal and vertical initiatives – from digital lending to functional-led AI enhancement projects”.
Google Deploys On-Device AI to Thwart Scams on Chrome and Android: Google has begun integrating Gemini Nano, its on-device large language model (LLM), into the latest version of the Chrome browser to combat online spam, scams and phishing campaigns.
As it released its latest version of its browser, Chrome 137, Google announced that it was experimenting with the on-device LLM as an additional layer of protection in the Enhanced Protection mode of the new browser version’s Safe Browsing service.
Chrome’s Enhanced Protection mode is the highest level of Google Safe Browsing and the company claims it provides twice the safeguard against phishing and scams compared to Standard Protection mode.
Blockchain and Cryptocurrency
Ripple gets aggressive with $20 billion bid to buy Circle: Ripple is reported to have increased its offer to purchase Circle, the issuer of USDC, from $5 billion to over $20 billion.
The higher valuation is now under active negotiation, according to Bloomberg sources. If confirmed, the deal would shift the balance of power in the global stablecoin market.
Ripple’s move to acquire Circle would give it control of USDC, the world’s second-largest stablecoin. The timing of the proposed deal comes as Circle is cautious after filing an IPO application in the U.S.
Ex-Celsius CEO Mashinsky gets 12-year sentence for crypto fraud: Alexander Mashinsky, the former CEO of crypto firm Celsius Network, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for commodities fraud and securities fraud.
Mashinsky pled guilty in December over his part in a scheme to defraud investors.
Celsius operated a crypto asset platform offering customers “rewards” on deposited assets, secured loans, and custody services. Marketing itself as the “safest place for your crypto,” the firm encouraged customers to “unbank” themselves by transferring crypto assets to its platform.
New Hampshire becomes first US state to establish Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: This week, Governor Kelly Ayotte signed House Bill 302 into law, paving the way for NH’S Treasury to allocate up to 5% of public funds to these assets. The legislation is based on a plan by pro-Bitcoin non profit Satoshi Action Fund.
Announcing the decision on X, Governor Ayotte said: “New Hampshire is once again First in the Nation! Just signed a new law allowing our state to invest in cryptocurrency and precious metals.”
As reported in The Hill, the metals and assets must have a market cap of more than $500 billion, and bitcoin will be the asset used to fill the stockpile.
Visa backs stablecoin infra provider BVNK in strategic bet on stablecoin payments: Visa Ventures has made a strategic investment in stablecoin infrastructure platform BVNK.
Although the financial terms weren’t disclosed, the move follows BVNK’s $50 million Series B round in December 2024, which was led by Haun Ventures and included backing from Coinbase Ventures, Scribble Ventures, DRW Venture Capital, Avenir, and Tiger Global.
Hemson-Struthers described the partnership as “more than capital,” calling it a “powerful validation of our vision to upgrade global payments with stablecoin technology.”
Insurance Technology (Insurtech)
IntellectAI launches Magic Placement to transform insurance document comparison with AI: IntellectAI has launched Magic Placement, a new AI-driven tool designed to streamline insurance policy comparison for agents, brokers, and wholesalers.
The solution leverages IntellectAI’s Purple Fabric platform and uses Agentic AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) to automate the review of complex documents like quotes, binders, and expiring policies.
Traditional placement processes are often slow, error-prone, and reliant on manual work or offshore support. Magic Placement aims to eliminate these inefficiencies by using generative AI agents that automatically extract, compare, and deliver actionable insights from multiple documents. This speeds up placement decisions, reduces errors, and helps distributors offer better service.
Insurers urged to prioritize data quality over speed in GenAI race: Recent data from the Chartered Insurance Institute showed consumer satisfaction in the insurance sector fell to 84% in Q4 2024, down from 86% a year earlier. In response, many firms are deploying GenAI to improve efficiency across customer interactions, quoting processes, and product delivery. But M-Files senior industry solutions manager Yohan Lobo warned that moving too fast without the right data foundation can backfire.
Lobo said, “To streamline the way they interact with customers, generate quotes, and present their product portfolio, insurance firms are exploring how digital technologies (specifically, GenAI solutions) can be integrated across business functions.”
Regulatory Technology (Regtech)
FTC delays enforcement of click-to-cancel rule: The Federal Trade Commission has delayed the start of a rule that aims to make the process of canceling subscriptions less of a nightmare. Last year, the FTC voted to ratify amendments to a regulation known as the Negative Option Rule, adding a new “click-to-cancel” rule that requires companies to be upfront about the terms of subscription signups and prohibits them “from making it any more difficult for consumers to cancel than it was to sign up.” Surprising no one, telecom companies were not happy, and sued the FTC. While the rule was nevertheless set to be implemented on May 14, the FTC now says enforcement has been pushed back 60 days to July 14.
Capgemini launches perpetual KYC sandbox: Capgemini has launched a tech sandbox that offers financial institutions a way to migrate from static KYC processes towards perpetual KYC (pKYC).
The framework will also enable users to replace labour-intensive periodic reviews with event-based reviews. To roll out the tech testing environment, Capgemini collaborated with multiple technology partners to orchestrate the integration. The sandbox offers a secure test environment for firms to visualise how to transition to a pKYC process and demonstrate the positive effects to management and regulators.
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🎙️ Tech Behind Fintech Podcast Highlights
Coming Up This Week
Join us on Friday, May 16th, 2025, at 12 PM EST for a chilling yet essential episode of Tech Behind FinTech featuring James Edgar, SVP and Chief Information Security Officer at Corpay. With a career spanning top roles at Elavon, U.S. Bank, and Cox Communications, James brings a deep, real-world understanding of the threats financial institutions face today. In this episode, we explore how artificial intelligence is turbocharging the oldest cybersecurity threat in the book: social engineering. From deepfake CFOs authorizing fraudulent wires to fake developer resumes infiltrating dev teams, the line between real and synthetic has never been blurrier—or more dangerous. James unpacks the psychology, tactics, and future trajectory of social engineering in the AI era. We’ll dive into the technologies behind these attacks, what CISOs are doing to fight back, and why employee training and internal trust have never been more mission-critical.
What You’ll Learn:
• Why social engineering is still the #1 threat vector for financial institutions
• How AI-generated audio, video, and personas are reshaping cybercrime
• Real examples: From Scattered Spider to North Korean dev scams
• How security teams can fight back with better detection, training, and internal protocols
Website: https://techbehindfintech.com/featured/faked-voices-real-damage-social-engineering-in-the-age-of-ai
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X5IhN6XY68
📌 In case you missed it – Latest Episode Highlights
Show Title: The 17-Year-Old Behind a Fintech Giant Powering Global Investing
Guest: John Shammas, Chief Growth Officer at DriveWealth
This episode dives into the remarkable journey of John Shammas, who joined DriveWealth at just 17 years old, helping build the API infrastructure that powers investing features for over 100 fintech partners globally—including Cash App, Revolut, and Stake. John shares how his early fascination with design, coding, and user experience shaped his approach to building tools that democratize access to U.S. equities worldwide.
The conversation covers the evolution of DriveWealth’s API-first model, how it partners with consumer-facing apps to embed investing seamlessly, and the company’s mission to bring fractional share ownership, bonds, and potentially even 24/7 trading to underserved markets.
John also offers insight into AI’s role in personalized wealth building, the challenge of regulation, and the importance of education, infrastructure, and timing in making investing accessible globally.
💡 Key Takeaways:
1. APIs are the Future of Embedded Investing: DriveWealth powers global investing through a flexible API that lets apps add investing features without building full brokerage systems—dramatically lowering the barrier for entry.
2. Fractional Shares and Accessibility are Game-Changers: By enabling fractional investing, DriveWealth allows users—even in underserved markets—to access U.S. equities with small amounts of capital, transforming global wealth participation.
3. 24/7 Trading is Coming: DriveWealth is preparing for the transition to round-the-clock equity trading, as U.S. exchanges plan to expand hours—driven by global demand and crypto market precedents.
4. AI Can Expand Financial Advice—If Used Responsibly: AI has the potential to offer personalized, low-cost financial coaching, but current use cases—like relying on LLMs for stock tips—can be risky. Regulation will shape responsible deployment.
5. Regulatory Complexity is a Moat and a Mission: Building brokerage infrastructure takes years due to licensing and compliance demands. DriveWealth manages this complexity so partners can focus on user experience and growth.
6. Financial Literacy and Local Customization Are Crucial: DriveWealth works with partners who understand their markets to tailor products to local needs—blending U.S. market access with culturally relevant onboarding and education.
🔗 Watch the full episode now: https://techbehindfintech.com/featured/the-17-year-old-behind-a-fintech-giant-powering-global-investing
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Or stream it on your favorite podcast platform! 🚀
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