AI-enabled fintechs rake in 23% of all Q3 fintech funding

AI-driven fintechs were the top recipients of funding during the third quarter, while financial advisory and wealth tech fintechs registered the highest growth in headcount. Five of the top 10 Q3 deals by dollar amount went to AI-powered finance platforms, allowing those leaders to widen the competitive gap as AI-first and agentic solutions scale, according to data and analytics company CBInsights ’ State of Fintech Funding report published last month. [caption id="attachment_220152" align="alignright" width="300"] (Courtesy/CanStock)[/caption] Nearly 23% of all fintech deals went to AI-driven fintechs during the quarter, with Ramp and AppZen leading the pack by raising $500 million and $180 million, respectively. AI fintechs raised 17% of all funding in Q3 2024. Wealth tech’s AI moment The financial advisory and wealth tech sector, on the other hand, saw head count increase by nearly 52%, driven by higher demand for AI-powered tools, according to the CB Insights report. AI’s impact on investment banking can be quite sizeable, Roy Choudhury , analyst at Boston Consulting Group ’s Commercial, Corporate and Investment Banking unit told FinAi News . “We’ve seen AI take on the heavy lifting in deal sourcing, pitch preparation and client research, the kinds of tasks that once absorbed an entire analyst team,” Choudhury said. “In our analysis, global institutions that have scaled AI pilots are freeing up 25% to 40% of banker capacity, while operations teams are realizing 20% to 35% efficiency gains by automating everything from credit checks to post-trade settlements.” One large European bank that BCG studied integrated AI copilots into its deal teams to summarize client histories, draft briefing notes and generate term sheets, Choudhury said, adding that what once took several days can now be completed in hours. “The biggest shift isn’t just speed, it’s in the quality of work,” he said. “When bankers spend more time advising clients and less time assembling materials, you start to see a step change in creativity and client impact.” In the past month, these FinAi companies raised money: Upgrade raises $165M in series G, hits $7.3B valuation Digital lender Upgrade has raised $165 million in a series G round from venture capital companies including Neuberger , LuminArx Capital Management and Ribbit Capital to realize a $7.3 billion valuation, according to Upgrade’s Oct. 16 release. “This round is about strengthening our balance sheet ahead of an IPO and continuing to invest in innovation,” a spokesperson told FinAi News . “We’re expanding our product suite, deepening partnerships across home improvement, auto and BNPL, and creating new experiences that help our customers.” The money will also be used by Upgrade to offer its employee liquidity ahead of the IPO , the spokesperson said. The company also plans to expand use of AI and gen AI within its operations, the spokesperson said. “Generative AI is helping us optimize credit modeling, automate verification, and enhance marketing and customer service,” the spokesperson said. “We’re also working on native AI products, in particular in the agentic finance space.” Campfire raises $65M in series B Campfire , an AI-powered accounting startup, has raised $65 million in a series B round, led by venture capital companies Accel and Ribbit Capital, according to Campfire’s Oct. 15 release. The company is aiming to make enterprise resource planning software easier and more intuitive with the help of AI and is seeing traction among business clients for its services, Chief Executive John Glasgow told FinAi News , adding that Campfire has experienced a tenfold increase in revenue year to date compared with 2024. Campfire has built a proprietary AI model trained on a large set of accounting data to aid finance teams in streamlining processes, he said. The money will allow Campfire to continue investing in “AI capabilities along with expanding its reach to more clients,” Glasgow said. The San Francisco-based company has raised $107 million since its inception in 2023, according to Crunchbase . Aboon Raises $17.5M in seed funding Aboon , a New York–based AI-powered platform helping financial advisers launch and manage 401(k) plans for business owners, has raised $17.5 million in a seed round, according to the company’s Oct. 16 release. The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures , with participation from Altai Ventures , Runyon and Edward Jones Ventures . The company will use the money to enhance its digital and automation capabilities, expand product offerings and deepen integrations with advisory firms nationwide, according to the release. Aboon aims to use AI for automating 401(k) plan setup, pricing, participant onboarding and compliance, reducing what can be a monthslong process to as little as a day, according to the company. Matters.AI announces $6.25M in seed funding Enterprise data security startup Matters.AI raised $6.25 million in a seed round led by Endiya Partners , Kalaari Capital and Better Capital, according to Matters.AI’s Oct. 15 release. Founded in 2023, San Francisco-based Matters.AI is building an autonomous platform to safeguard enterprise data. Functioning as what it calls an AI security engineer the platform unifies data security functions into a single solution, correlating information from an organization’s systems to identify and prevent data misuse, according to the company. "The market doesn't need another tool or alert. Matters.AI instead provides an intelligent AI interface that understands context and acts before misuse occurs," co-founder and CEO Keshava Murthy said in the release. "The future of security is AI-native. That's why we built the AI security engineer to keep data protection always-on and self-learning." Register here for early-bird pricing for the inaugural FinAi Banking Summit 2026, taking place March 2-3 in Denver. View the full event agenda here .

AI-enabled fintechs rake in 23% of all Q3 fintech funding

Upgrade, Campfire, Aboon and Matters.ai raised money last month

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AI-enabled fintechs rake in 23% of all Q3 fintech funding

Upgrade, Campfire, Aboon and Matters.ai raised money last month

AI aiding FIS in client retention, growth

Hiding in Plain Sight: How to Use Data to Spot Consumer Accounts Being Used by Small Businesses

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