Builders in Fintech — Wednesday 11 November: Clara raises $65M, 10 more rounds
Several of the stories are about who controls the plumbing. Wise put its US broker-dealer licence to work for the first time, letting customers invest balances they still spend from, while Raenest bought an FCA-registered firm instead of renting a UK partner's licence and Revolut moved a step closer to a bank in Israel. On the infrastructure side, Alta raised $47.5M for a private, compliance-first chain with Airwallex building on it, and zerohash bought the identity stack it needs for AI agents that move money.
The editor
The lead
Wise launches Interest and Stocks for US customers, its first use of its US broker-dealer licence
Wise has launched Wise Interest and Wise Stocks for personal and business customers in the US.
A cross-border payments app now offers money market and index fund returns on balances customers can still spend instantly, putting Wise in direct competition with US banks and brokers for idle deposits.
Rounds · last 7 days: 43 · Funding Index (2026-W45): 181
Our news
Revolut Pay goes live in the Uber app across the UK and EuropeRevolut has expanded its payments partnership with Uber.
Mastercard and LiaPay bring earned wage access cards to GCC workersMastercard has partnered with LiaPay, the GCC payroll app run by fintech Liabify, to issue Mastercard Platinum prepaid cards to salaried employees in LiaPay's…
Raenest acquires FCA-registered UK payments company RemitiseRaenest has acquired 100% of Remitise, a UK payments company registered with the Financial Conduct Authority.
zerohash acquires an agent-identity infrastructure stack and names its creator Mark Meadows Head of Applied AIzerohash has acquired an infrastructure stack and IP portfolio covering agent authentication, permissioning and machine-initiated financial transactions.
Revolut gets a conditional banking licence in IsraelThe Bank of Israel has granted Revolut a conditional licence to set up a new bank, Revolut Bank Israel, together with a control permit for the entity.
The rounds
| Company | Round | Lead investor | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clara source | Series C | Citius | $65M |
| Alta source | Series A | Index Ventures | $47.5M |
| Marble source | Seed | — | $11M |
| Ancep source | Early-stage round | Creandum | $8.5M |
| Lumepay source | Pre-seed | — | $6M |
| Planky source | Early-stage round | Azimut Investments | €6.9M |
| Numina source | Pre-seed | — | €1.1M |
| Capital on Tap source | Debt facility | NatWest | £200M |
| Axiology source | Unnamed round | — | Undisclosed |
| Bud source | Unnamed round | — | Undisclosed |
| WafR source | Pre-seed | — | Undisclosed |
Quick hits
Banking
- AE Tabby Cash passed 1 million UAE accounts two months after opening to all residents, adding fee-free transfers to more than 50 countries and bill payments split into up to 12 instalments. — Fintech News Middle East
- GB Sage partnered with Adyen and Mastercard to offer business accounts with debit cards inside Sage 50, Sage 100 and Sage Active, starting in France, with Adyen providing the banking-as-a-service infrastructure. — Sage
- GB Bud Financial took an undisclosed investment from BankTech Ventures to expand with US banks and credit unions and develop its Revenue Agents. — Finovate
- US PortX, a data integration platform for community banks and credit unions, received growth capital financing of undisclosed size from CIBC Innovation Banking. — Business Wire
Payments
- US Bottomline completed its first live cross-border USDC payments through its Global Payments Hub and Cash Management platform, starting with an intra-company transfer using Circle's stablecoin. — Fintech News Singapore
Crypto
- US DriveWealth's EU subsidiary received MiCA authorisation from the Bank of Lithuania for crypto custody and order execution, alongside its existing MiFID II licence, with services phased in for partners. — Business Wire
Number of the day
181
30 rounds this week · baseline 16.58
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