Investors and entrepreneurs are gearing up for a fintech spring.
Money will start to flow toward fintechs this year on the heels of innovation and an improving macroeconomic environment, Sarah Lamont, senior associate at global fintech venture capital firm F-Prime Capital, told Bank Automation News.
Fintech went mainstream in 2021, with lots of money invested and innovation coming out of the sector, Lamont said, adding that the subsequent years saw valuations crater as growth slowed.
Global fintech funding dropped to $28 billion in 2024 from $91 billion in 2021, according to an S&P Global Jan. 30 report.
“I think now we are in a stage of fintech recovery and rebound,” Lamont said. Easing rates, mature companies heading to IPOs and consolidation will help the industry bounce back.
F-Prime, which has $11 billion in assets under management and more than 200 companies in its portfolio, is focusing on AI-driven companies, payments, open banking, crypto, stablecoins and wealth-tech companies for investments, Lamont said.
Companies that are selling as a core proposition or as an added layer can win big if they provide value to their clients, Lamont said.
“Customers don’t care about the how the sausage is made,” Lamont said. “They care about the end product, so if AI can deliver services for better and cheaper, that’s great.”
These seven fintechs stood out at the Fintech Meetup event in Las Vegas this week:
AI-driven fintechs
- Saris AI
The Lasalle, Quebec-based fintech helps organizations create and deploy agentic AI solutions.
Globally, “$80 billion to $110 billion is spent on back-office human resources right now for banks alone,” Brad Compton, senior sales executive, told BAN. “About 70% of the work that a bank’s back-office worker is doing is automatable.”
The company’s AI agents can be custom trained to follow procedures at different banks for processes like documentation and insurance verification, Compton said.
Founded: 2023
Funds raised: Undisclosed, looking to raise series A
Notable customer: TD Bank
2. Interface.ai
This San Jose, Calif.-based company helps deploy an out-of-the-box Intelligent Virtual Assistant for banks and credit unions.
“Our solutions are focused on AI voice for the call center,” Jack Chawla, vice president of product marketing, said at Fintech Meetup. “AI tries to automate 40% to 60% of the calls and transfer the rest to the agents as needed.”
Founded: 2019
Funds raised: $30 million
Notable customers: Del One Federal Credit Union and Bank of Guam.
Compliance-related fintechs
3. Instnt
This AI-driven SaaS platform helps FIs to eliminate fraud risks and transfer losses to the insurance market.
The New York-based company works with FIs to extend credit services to consumers by providing additional layer of customer screening to prevent losses and remain compliant, Chief Executive Sunil Madhu told BAN. If there is a loss due to fraud, Instnt makes the lender whole, he said.
Founded: 2019
Funds raised: $23 million
4. MidDesk
The know-your-business service provider helps financial institutions in running background checks before onboarding a business client on their platform.
San Francisco-based MidDesk uses government data sources and the online presence of businesses to provide the most up-to-date information on business clients, keeping FIs compliant and reducing onboarding friction, Jackie Wylie, head of marketing, told BAN.
Financial services is a major sector for MidDesk and the company is also seeing increasing demand from online marketplaces, Wylie said.
Founded: 2018
Funds raised: $77 million
Notable customers: M&T Bank and Revolut.
Crypto
5. BitGo
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company helps financial institutions embed crypto services to their platform.
“We offer crypto as a service to banks via APIs,” Mike Gross, product marketing manager, told BAN. “We have $100 billion of assets under custody … and our CEO [Mike Belshe] was at the White House crypto Summit sitting at the table” on March 7.
Founded: 2013
Funds Raised: $171 million
Customers: SoFi and Morningstar.
6. Zero Hash
Zero Hash provides B2B2C crypto-as-a-service infrastructure for financial institutions.
“Our vision is provide a one stop global regulatory infrastructure that would enable any other company to embed crypto and stable coins into their platform,” Shaun O’Keefe, head of global growth enablement at the Chicago-based firm, told BAN. “We provide our services via APIs and have 14 stablecoins like USDC on our platform.”
Founded: 2017
Funds raised: $170 million
Notable customers: BlackRock, Kalshi and Franklin Tempelton.
Payments
7. Liquid Trust
This Los Angeles-based company helps SMBs make payments across the globe along with providing micro-escrow services.
“In a cross-border transaction, the smaller business takes all the risk,” Chief Executive Saujin Yi told BAN. “We are seeking to fill that gap between a direct payment, where [SMBs] take all the risk, and the enterprise level solutions.”
Liquid Trust provides its services to SMBs via APIs, along with working with fintechs and banks to expand their reach, Yi said.
Founded: 2019
Funds raised: $4 million
Notable customers: Declined to disclose, but working with JPMorgan Payments for cheap and quick payments settlements.
Editors Note: Funding figures from Crunchbase.
