Builders in Fintech — Thursday 12 November: Imprint raises $130M, 5 more rounds
Regulators shaped the biggest stories. California's conditions ended Western Union's $500M bid for Intermex after 54 other jurisdictions had approved it, while Deutsche Bank's crypto custody went live only once its MiCA registration was in place and Dubai's VARA signed up Mastercard to bring founders into its sandbox. Money kept flowing to credit products: Imprint raised $130M at about $1.9B for co-branded cards, and Nexu and Palomma added capital for auto loans and rent in Latin America.
The editor
The lead
Western Union terminates its agreement to acquire Intermex over California's conditions
Western Union has delivered notice terminating its agreement to acquire International Money Express (Intermex).
A single state regulator's conditions were enough to stop a remittance merger approved everywhere else, a signal to any money transmitter planning consolidation through US state licences.
Rounds · last 7 days: 41 · Funding Index (2026-W45): 181
Our news
Vine Ventures closes $236M Fund III for US and Israeli startups, above its $200M targetVine Ventures has closed its third fund at $236 million, above the $200 million it set out to raise.
- Fintech Signals — October 2026
108 fintech equity rounds in October, $5.7B in USD rounds led by Ramp and Kalshi, with early stages making up most of the count.
Alta secures $47.5m Series A for privacy-focused institutional blockchainAlta, which builds blockchain infrastructure for regulated institutions, closed a $47.5m Series A led by Index Ventures, bringing total funding to $80m.
- Conta Azul acquires financial BPO platform PlayBPO
Conta Azul has acquired PlayBPO, a platform for firms that run outsourced financial management for small businesses.
Dubai's VARA and Mastercard sign an MoU covering sandbox options for virtual asset foundersDubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and Mastercard have signed a memorandum of understanding to grow the emirate's virtual assets sector,…
Deutsche Bank goes live with digital asset custody for institutional and corporate clientsWhat is new: Deutsche Bank's digital asset custody service, announced in September pending approval, is now live for institutional and corporate clients.
- Goldman Sachs, Citi and other banks commit about $270M to the Project Faro stablecoin venture
Banks including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Santander and Deutsche Bank have committed about $270 million to Project Faro, the joint stablecoin venture first…
Airwallex to invest more than S$2B in Singapore over five years and grow its team past 1,000Airwallex plans to invest more than S$2 billion in Singapore over the next five years and grow its local workforce from above 750 to over 1,000 people, with…
The rounds
| Company | Round | Lead investor | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imprint source | Late-stage round | Khosla Ventures | $130M |
| Finite State source | Series C | — | $27M |
| Griffin source | Series B | — | $20M |
| Palomma source | Series A | Cometa | $10M |
| SALAD source | Bridge | — | £1.5M |
| Nexu source | Debt facility | BBVA Spark | MXN 1B |
Quick hits
Payments
- SG DBS PayLah! now supports Alipay and Weixin Pay merchant QR payments in mainland China, adding to UnionPay, so its three million users can pay at over 100 million merchants. — Fintech News Singapore
- AE Commercial Bank of Dubai completed two-way wholesale Digital Dirham transfers with Bank of China on the central bank's Jisr platform, from initiation to final settlement. — Fintech News Middle East
Crypto
- US Kraken parent Payward added more than 200 tokenised UK and European stocks, including all 40 DAX companies, to xStocks, which now holds over $1.1 billion in assets; UK and US investors stay excluded. — CoinDesk
Banking
- NG Rex Africa launched an AI-native bank built around the conversational agent Rex Atlas, operating through the CBN-licensed Rex Microfinance Bank with savings, cards, POS and credit products. — Disrupt Africa
- AE Emirates NBD signed an MoU with J.P. Morgan Asset Management to explore offering its active ETFs on the bank's digital platforms, plus joint investor education. — Fintech News Middle East
Number of the day
181
30 rounds this week · baseline 16.58
How the Funding Index worksCompany in focus
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