Builders in Fintech — Wednesday 4 November: Pliant raises $80M, 9 more rounds
Consolidation ran through the day's stories: Bilt agreed to buy sports loyalty platform LAVA for $300M, UMB signed for California's El Dorado Savings Bank at about $506M, and Fourthline and Veridas closed their identity-verification merger. On the funding side, Hoxton Wealth took its first outside capital since 2018, a $135M commitment from Aspirity Partners, and Krungsri Finnovate joined Amity's Series D. Grey won Nigerian central bank approval for inbound transfers.
The editor
The lead
Fourthline and Veridas complete their merger to create a European identity and fraud prevention group
What is new: Fourthline and Veridas closed their merger on 3 November, after announcing the agreement on 16 July.
Two identity-verification vendors serving neobanks such as Revolut and N26 now sit in one company, so fintechs buying KYC face fewer independent suppliers and a larger one with an €85M ARR target.
Rounds · last 7 days: 37 · Funding Index (2026-W44): 143
Our news
Sequoia Capital closes its London office and will cover Europe from the Bay AreaSequoia Capital is closing its London office, and several people will leave the firm.
Grey secures CBN approval to operate as an international money transfer operator in NigeriaGrey, a cross-border payments company backed by Y Combinator, has received approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate as an international money…
- UMB Financial agrees to buy El Dorado Savings Bank for about $506M
UMB Financial, based in Kansas City, Missouri, has agreed to acquire El Dorado Savings Bank, a federal savings bank in Placerville, California, founded in…
Bilt acquires sports loyalty platform LAVA in a $300M dealBilt has acquired LAVA in a deal valued at $300 million.
The rounds
| Company | Round | Lead investor | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hoxton Wealth source | strategic minority investment | Aspirity Partners I | $135M |
| Krungsri Finnovate source | Series D | EDBI | $100M |
| Pliant source | Late-stage round | Seaya Nova | $80M |
| Lazarus AI source | Growth-stage round | — | $43M |
| Guava source | Pre-seed | Acrew Capital | $12.5M |
| mamun source | Seed | — | $3M |
| Blue Skies Space source | fund commitment | British Business Bank | £2M |
| Crediflow AI source | Seed | NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance | £1.5M |
| Amity source | Series D extension | — | Undisclosed |
| Revolut source | secondary/late stage | Baillie Gifford | Undisclosed |
Quick hits
Payments
- US Toast added about 8,500 net new locations in the third quarter to roughly 189,000, with annual recurring run-rate up 24% to $2.5B, and said it will defend itself against the FTC lawsuit. — PYMNTS
Number of the day
143
30 rounds this week · baseline 20.92
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7,141 companies · 7,540 investors · 9,967 rounds. Connect via MCP.