Builders in Fintech — Thursday 15 October: Sterling Bank raises $200M, 5 more rounds
Two European payments companies are building directly for AI agents. Mollie is offering up to €50 million in equity to a founding team that builds a banking layer for agents on its rails, and Pliant, whose platform already serves agents, won its own UK e-money licence. Payward agreed to buy Lithuania's Saldo Bank for an EU banking licence. In funding, Zippy raised a $20 million Series C for manufactured housing loans and Fragment $12 million for agent-ready ledgers.
The editor
The lead
Payward, the parent of Kraken, agrees to acquire Lithuania's Saldo Bank to bring an EU banking licence to Payward Banking
Payward has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Saldo Finance, the Finland-based holding company of Saldo Bank, a digital bank licensed by the European…
A full EU banking licence would let Payward take deposits and lend across Europe itself, moving Kraken's parent from crypto exchange toward primary bank for its European clients.
Rounds · last 7 days: 15 · Funding Index (2026-W41): 236
Our news
Mollie offers up to €50M in its own equity to a founding team that builds a banking layer for AI agentsMollie has launched a venture model to build an intelligence platform and banking layer that lets its customers run their own AI agents directly on Mollie's…
Image: getpliant.com Pliant secures FCA authorisation as an Electronic Money Institution for its UK subsidiaryPliant's UK subsidiary, Pliant Payments Limited, has received full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority as an Electronic Money Institution.
The rounds
| Company | Round | Lead investor | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sterling Bank source | Credit guarantee fund (target size) | — | $200M |
| Zippy source | Series C | Saluda Grade | $20M |
| Mogul source | Series A | Draper Associates | $15.5M |
| Fragment source | Series A | FirstMark | $12M |
| Salary Hero source | Series A | Cento Ventures | $7.6M |
| The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network source | Fund launch (initial capital) | — | £300K |
Quick hits
Crypto
- NL Qivalis, the euro stablecoin consortium backed by 37 European banks, has received an e-money licence from the Dutch central bank under MiCA and plans to distribute its token through banks and payment providers. — CoinDesk
- US Polygon Labs has completed its acquisition of Coinme, giving its payments business 37 state money transmitter licences and 11 exemptions across 48 US states. — The Block
Regulation
- US Circle's USDC has been classified by the European Banking Authority as a significant e-money token under MiCA, the first token to receive the designation. — Finextra
Payments
- SG Ant International has received two licences from the Central Bank of the UAE, clearing Antom to offer merchant acquiring and WorldFirst to provide cross-border financial services in the country. — Fintech News Middle East
- CA Nuvei has secured a licence to offer local payment acceptance in South Africa, so merchants there can process payments domestically through its platform. — Finextra
Lending
- US Zaria has raised a $5.2 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and has applied to the OCC to charter Zaria National Trust Bank for structured finance servicing. — PR Newswire
Number of the day
236
34 rounds this week · baseline 14.42
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