Builders in Fintech — Thursday 22 October: Pigment raises $250M, 5 more rounds
The OCC finalized its GENIUS Act rule for stablecoin issuers, effective 18 January 2027, and left room for third-party rewards programmes. In the rounds, Whop raised $200 million at a $5.1 billion valuation led by Sequoia and Shopify Ventures, Bain Capital committed up to $250 million to Hong Kong lender FundPark, and VIVA Finance closed a $150 million facility with Viola Credit. Standard Chartered signed to buy Zodia Custody, and Sea plans to list Monee.
The editor
The lead
OCC finalizes its GENIUS Act rule for stablecoin issuers, effective 18 January 2027, and drops the presumption against third-party rewards
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has finalized its rule implementing the GENIUS Act, setting reserve, redemption, risk-management and custody…
Stablecoin issuers now have a final US rulebook and a start date, 18 January 2027, and exchanges keep room to pay rewards, which shapes how fintechs can price stablecoin yield.
Rounds · last 7 days: 36 · Funding Index (2026-W42): 204
Our news
Vintage Investment Partners raises $920M in new capital, taking assets under management past $4.8B across venture fund-of-funds, secondaries and growthVintage Investment Partners has raised $920 million in new capital, bringing assets under management to more than $4.8 billion.
- LemFi adds UK savings, credit and eSIMs in its biggest product expansion, moving beyond remittances under a new global brand
LemFi has launched the largest product expansion in its history, together with a rebuilt app and a new global brand, "Ambition has no passport".
Image: cityam.com Airwallex renews its McLaren Racing partnership and becomes the F1 team's Official AI Finance Partner from 2027Airwallex has renewed and expanded its partnership with McLaren Racing and will become the Official AI Finance Partner of the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team…
- FundPark secures up to $250M of financing from Bain Capital to expand lending to e-commerce SMEs, as it passes $10B lent
Hong Kong-based FundPark has secured up to $250 million of financing from Bain Capital to strengthen the institutional funding behind its lending platform for…
- Whop raises a $200M Series D at a $5.1B valuation led by Sequoia and Shopify Ventures
Whop has raised a $200 million Series D led by Sequoia and Shopify Ventures at a $5.1 billion valuation, eight months after Tether invested $200 million at…
Image: morningstar.com VIVA Finance closes a $150M credit facility with Viola Credit to scale personal loans repaid through payrollAtlanta-based VIVA Finance has closed a $150 million credit facility with Viola Credit, the alternative credit manager with about $5 billion under management…
Image: webwire.com CapitalOS raises a $21.9M Series A led by LGVP to let B2B platforms launch cards, wallets and bill pay in daysCapitalOS has raised a $21.9 million Series A led by LGVP, with WEX Venture Capital, Group11, Great North Ventures, Night Capital and existing investors…
Image: thepaypers.com Rebill raises a $5.4M pre-Series A to let companies collect payments across the Americas without setting up local entitiesBuenos Aires-based Rebill has closed a $5.4 million pre-Series A round, taking total funding past $9 million since it was founded in 2020.
The rounds
Quick hits
Payments
- SA Vrtx, a Riyadh-based embedded finance platform, raised a $3.6 million pre-seed backed by SC Ventures by Standard Chartered and six others, and has in-principle approval from SAMA for an electronic money institution licence. — Wamda
- CA Nuvei secured a direct acquiring licence in Israel from the Israel Securities Authority, taking its network to 53 markets, as it prepares for its proposed $2.75 billion combination with Payoneer. — Nuvei
- US Mastercard launched Mastercard Gateway in Syria through its Merchant Cloud platform, letting banks and merchants process point-of-sale and e-commerce payments after the country's first international card transactions in over a decade. — Mastercard via Zawya
- SE Klarna launched Consumer FX, letting shoppers pay participating merchants worldwide in their own currency with no exchange fee; Klarna reports early gains of 5% in conversion and 6% in sales for merchants. — Klarna
Crypto
- BO Peso, a Bolivian fintech that connects USDT to local banks, closed a pre-seed round led by Tether, amount undisclosed, to add on- and off-ramps in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina. — Cryptorank
Banking
- US Mercury launched Mercury Payroll for US business customers in all 50 states, covering W-2 and 1099 payroll and tax filings; it is free through 2026, then $100 a month plus $50 per person paid. — Mercury
Number of the day
204
33 rounds this week · baseline 16.17
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