The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup takes a look at the latest fintech stories from around the world on Friday 8 August 2025.
Industry hires
Mark Trenavin-Body has become a non-executive board director of the social lender Fair for You. He is currently CFO at St Edmundsbury and Ipswich Diocesan Multi Academy Trust, as well as being a trustee of national youth charity EmployabilityUK and on the board of advisors of fintech GFA Exchange. Fair for You recently launched a new Shopping Card loan, giving even more customers freedom to buy essential items.
Genesis Global has appointed James Harrison as CEO, succeeding his fellow co-founder Stephen Murphy, who is stepping down after 10 years. Genesis delivers software and solutions for financial markets developed on its robust, AI-native application development platform. Its clients include Bank of America, BNY, Citi, ING, Marex, Neptune Networks, Octaura and StoneX.
Global fintech platform Pine Labs has introduced Sameer Kamath as its next chief financial officer. Kamath will be responsible for the global finance strategy, accounting, investor relations and providing financial leadership across the Pine Labs group. He was most recently the group CFO at Avendus Capital.
Insurtech Send Technology Solutions has named Laura Wathen as chief financial officer to support its international expansion as well as help guide the company through the next phase of strategic growth. She was most recently CFO at fintech platform Funding Xchange. At Send, Wathen will lead Send’s financial operations, orchestrating investor relations, capital strategy as well as the implementation of scalable financial infrastructure.
Triodos Bank plans to appoint Suzanne Schilder as chief transformation officer and Barbara van Duijn as chief information officer, expanding its executive board. The CIO role replaces the COO position, with Nico Kronemeijer stepping down. Jacco Minnaar is set for reappointment as chief commercial officer. Appointments will be confirmed at an EGM on 26 September.
More hires
Thread Bancorp, a FDIC-insured bank, has appointed Marty Miracle as chief digital officer to lead its technology strategy and digital transformation. Miracle, formerly CTO, CISO and chief AI officer at Sutton Bank, will oversee engineering, infrastructure and cybersecurity, with a focus on scaling Thread’s embedded banking platform and delivering secure, compliant and API-first banking solutions.
Seccl, the Octopus-owned embedded investment platform, has appointed Jonathan Dees as UK CEO, subject to regulatory approval. Dees, previously interim MD and former Octopus Investments COO, succeeds David Ferguson, who becomes executive chair to focus on strategy and European expansion. Seccl powers portfolios for over 300,000 investors and continues to scale rapidly.
Funding and investments
Casap, a US-based AI-powered disputes automation and fraud prevention platform, has raised $25million in Series A funding led by Emergence Capital, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Primary Venture Partners and SoFi. The round, a record for the payment disputes category, brings total funding to $33.5million and will support product expansion, hiring and scaling first-party fraud prevention tools.
Tether has acquired a stake in Bit2Me, the Spain-based digital asset platform, becoming the main backer of an investment round expected to total €30million. The deal, led by Tether Ventures, will support Bit2Me’s EU and Latin American expansion following its recent EU regulatory licence, bolstering its role in Spanish-speaking crypto markets.
Rillet, an AI-native ERP platform for finance teams, has raised $70million in Series B funding co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and ICONIQ, bringing total funding to over $100million in a year. Founded by former N26 executives, Rillet aims to replace legacy accounting systems with AI-driven tools that cut close times and streamline operations.
Brazil-based consumer fintech NG.CASH has raised $26.5million in Series B funding led by NEA, with participation also from Quantum Light, Monashees, Andreessen Horowitz, Endeavor Catalyst, 17Sigma and Daphni. Serving over three million active accounts, NG.CASH will use the funds to expand products including stablecoin accounts and context-driven underwriting.
Capitolis, a fintech helping banks and investors optimise balance sheets and access diversified capital, has raised $56million from Barclays, BNP Paribas, J.P. Morgan and VC backers. Earlier investors also include Citi, Morgan Stanley, State Street and UBS. The funds will accelerate growth in its capital marketplace and portfolio optimisation businesses.
Partnerships and collaborations
Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) has formed Anchorpoint Financial with Animoca Brands and HKT to pursue a Hong Kong stablecoin issuer licence under the new Stablecoins Ordinance. The joint venture builds on the partners’ participation in the HKMA’s Stablecoin Issuer Sandbox and aims to advance licensed stablecoin adoption in payments and financial markets.
UK-based payments firm Boodil has partnered with South Africa’s Transaction Junction to provide Shopify e-commerce merchants in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa with enhanced payment solutions. The collaboration combines Boodil’s e-commerce technology with Transaction Junction’s regional expertise, offering support for cards, digital wallets, Pay by Bank and local payment methods.
Seychelles-based crypto exchange and Web3 firm Bitget, which serves over 120 million users in 150+ countries, has launched a Visa and Mastercard payout feature enabling instant conversion of crypto such as bitcoin and ether into fiat in 140+ currencies. The move is part of Bitget’s strategy to boost fiat access and bridge digital assets with everyday payments.
MetaMask, the Consensys-owned self-custodial Web3 wallet, has integrated the Sei Layer-1 blockchain, enabling users to access Sei-based dapps, tokens and NFTs directly within the wallet. The move expands MetaMask’s supported networks to 11 and connects it to Sei’s growing EVM ecosystem, which records about $600m TVL, 4.2 million daily transactions and 11 million monthly active users.
More partnerships
One Inc, a US payments network for the insurance industry, has partnered with core property and casualty (P&C) insurance platform provider INTX to integrate its PremiumPay and ClaimsPay solutions into INTX’s management system. The collaboration aims to digitalise payouts, cut paper checks, and boost operational efficiency for insurers and policyholders.
Payment processing platform Solidgate has partnered with financial crime prevention firm Salv to monitor all transactions on its global treasury platform in real time. The collaboration aims to help Solidgate detect suspicious activity, meet compliance requirements, as well as support secure, scalable payments for digital businesses worldwide.
M&A
Ripple has agreed to acquire stablecoin payments platform Rail for $200million to expand its digital asset payments offering. Rail’s virtual accounts and back-office infrastructure will complement Ripple’s licensed payments network, enhancing stablecoin pay-ins and payouts, liquidity, and 24/7 global coverage. The deal is expected to close in Q4 2025, pending regulatory approval.
Germany’s Deutsche WertpapierService Bank (dwpbank) has agreed to acquire Berlin-based fintech lemon.markets, adding its brokerage-as-a-service platform to dwpbank’s full-custody offering. Lemon.markets will remain an independent subsidiary, with its management team in place. The deal, subject to BaFin approval, is expected to close by autumn 2025.
Mexican fintech Finsus has acquired merchant cash advance platform Anticipa to expand its SME offering with financing secured against card sales. The fully digital product will offer advances from $150,000 MXN to address liquidity challenges faced by over five million SMEs in Mexico, a market where card payments are growing at double-digit rates.
