Weekly update #81

Welcome to this edition of the weekly newsletter. The idea behind this is to gather all the information in the startup ecosystem in one place, with a special focus on the fintech market and the VC industry.

No episode of Builders last week, but you can always recover the last one where I sit down with Stephane Dehaies , CEO of Spendesk Financial Services.

Before leading Spendesk Financial Services, Stephane was previously partner at KPMG UK in the financial services practice, but also Deputy CEO and COO at Western Europe, Head of Integration & Separation at RBS / NatWest Group and ABN AMRO Bank N.V. , passing through experiences at Deloitte and KPMG US.

You can find the full episode here on YouTube, or you can listen to it here on Spotify or here on Apple Podcast.

With him, we will talk about the evolution from a spend management system to a fintech service, the challenges behind the over regulation in Europe, but also the shift from a very well structured environment to a startup, and finally the importance of partnerships in fintech.

This week in the next episode of Builders the CEO and founder of one of the major fintech SMEs banking platforms in Europe will be my guest, stay tuned!

Coming back to us, I was reading an interesting report from Checkout.com this week, about the impact of payments in the digital economy, called “Trust in digital economy in 2025”. Checkout.com partnered with YouGov to survey adults from around the world to understand what drives trust in the Digital Economy and in the brands that operate within it. Here my main takeaways:

First of all, let’s take a look at the number of people who transact online in different economies, divided by age brackets (Millennials and Gen Z). The data reveals a stark disparity in digital transaction habits globally, with emerging markets showing significantly higher engagement.

Brazil leads with 35% of the total population and 41% of younger generations transacting online daily. Similarly, China shows a striking generational divide: while only 17% of the total population transacts online daily, 40% of Millennials and Gen Z do so—highlighting a strong digital uptake among younger users. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE also demonstrate high engagement, with more than 20% of their populations, and close to 30% of younger cohorts, transacting online daily.

In contrast, developed economies such as Germany, Sweden, and Spain show much lower figures. For example, only 3% of the total population in Germany and Sweden transact online daily, rising to just 7% among younger users.

When coming to payment methods, the data underscores a generational shift in payment behavior, with younger users leaning more heavily toward digital-native solutions. Digital wallets are the most trusted method for both groups, but particularly dominant among Gen Z, with 40% expressing trust compared to 35% of the global population. This reflects Gen Z’s stronger affinity for mobile-first, app-based financial tools such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and regional players like Alipay or Pix.

Local payment methods come next for Gen Z at 21%, showing their openness to region-specific options, while only 17% of the global population share this preference. In contrast, traditional credit cards hold significantly more trust among the broader population (22%) than among Gen Z (14%), pointing to generational differences in financial habits and access to credit.

Debit cards show similar levels of trust across both groups—14% for Gen Z and 15% globally—while conventional methods like bank transfers and cash on delivery rank low overall. Notably, cash on delivery still sees 7% trust among Gen Z, higher than the 4% reported by the global average, suggesting pockets of reliance in specific markets or use cases.

Coming to alternative payment methods, the adoption and daily usage of digital wallets for peer-to-peer (P2P) payments across different countries reveals strong regional contrasts in both penetration and activity levels.

China stands out with 93% of the population having adopted digital wallets for P2P transfers and 25% using them daily—by far the highest rate globally, driven by platforms like Alipay and WeChat Pay that dominate everyday transactions. Similarly, the UAE (88%), Egypt (87%), KSA (85%), and Brazil (80%) demonstrate high wallet adoption, with daily usage also notable—ranging from 17% to 20%—reflecting the central role of mobile wallets in daily financial life across emerging and mobile-first markets.

In contrast, Western markets show significantly lower figures. The US, while having a 65% adoption rate, sees just 9% of the population using digital wallets daily for P2P transactions. European countries like France and Germany show both low adoption (45% and 51%) and minimal daily usage (3%).

Finally, the report also investigates the savings attitude of new generations. China leads globally with 79% of the total population using investment apps, yet Gen Z weekly usage is only 33%, suggesting broader adoption driven by older demographics or institutional users. In contrast, Brazil shows the highest Gen Z engagement at 53%, closely aligned with a 73% national adoption rate—highlighting how digital investment is deeply embedded across all age groups.

Middle Eastern markets also stand out, with the UAE showing a 71% total adoption and 36% weekly usage among Gen Z, while KSA records 63% and 39% respectively. Japan and Egypt present similar patterns: moderate Gen Z engagement (35% and 27%) with overall adoption exceeding 50%.

In Europe and North America, usage is flatter and more evenly distributed. The US (42%), Canada (44%), and UK (30%) reflect moderate total adoption, with Gen Z weekly engagement generally below one-third. Australia is an outlier here, with 43% of Gen Z using investment apps weekly, despite only 45% total penetration—indicating strong momentum among younger investors.

Anyway we saw some very interesting news in the market this week. Coinbase is the first crypto company to join the S&P500, Chime officially files for the IPO, while Nubank launches tap-to-pay with Pix in Brazil. Robinhood announced the acquisition of WonderFi , but we also saw some very interesting partnerships again, with Perplexity teaming up with PayPal for agentic payments and Mastercard striking one with MoonPay to launch stablecoin cards. In the VC industry, Adams Street Partners launched a $270 million fund to invest in european founders, AI Fund closed a new $190 million fund to invest on AI, but also RockawayX, Verb Ventures, Wave Ventures with new capital raising. In the italian market we saw Satispay launching “Salvadanaio Remunerato” entering the investment market. And finally, we saw some very interesting funding rounds from fintech startups like Glide, Stash, Autobooks, FlexPoint, Penzilla, GoDutch, iAltA and many others.

But let's take a closer look at the main news of the last seven days.

Closed deals

• Embedded fintech platform Glide raises a $15 million series A to modernize banking infrastructure
• Egyptian proptech Nawy raises $52 million to take on the Mena region
• US based fintech Stash closes a crazy $146 million series H round for its money coach AI solution
• Detroit based fintech Autobooks lands $40 million to improve small businesses banking operations
• MarvelX AI raises a $6 million round to transform financial operations with AI agents
• UK fintech RetailBook secures £4.5m to expand retail investors access to the market
• NYC based payments platform FlexPoint secures a $12 million series A
• Wealthtech company Addepar secures a $230 million series G round to support global expansion
• Dutch fintech GoDutch just raised a €1.2 million round to fix business banking
• Munich based fintech Penzilla raises a $3.2 million round to modernize Germany's occupational pension system
• Bengaluru based fintech startup Hyperbots Inc. raises a $6.5 million series A
• Zopa Bank raises £80 million in its first bond issuing ahead of bank account launch
• Private markets infrastructure iAltA goes live with a $20 million funding round
• Indonesian P2P lenders Amartha secures $55 million from European DFIs

Insights on the VC industry

• Adams Street Partners closes $270 million for its debut European VC fund
• AI Fund closes a second $190 million fund
• Verb Ventures closes a second $25 million fund
• Mainsail Partners raises $1.53 billion for its fund VII to invest in B2B SaaS companies
• Mercury CEO Immad Akhund wants to bet on early stage founders with a $26 million fund
• NYC focused VC Work-Bench closes a $160 million new fund
• RockawayX closes a $125 million early stage crypto fund
• Europe’s largest Gen Z-led VC firm Wave Ventures closes a third fund at €7 million
• Redpoint closes a new $650 million early stage fund

News on the market

• Monzo Bank is hiring bankers to prepare for its highly anticipated $6 billion IPO
• Breaking news: Robinhood just announced the acquisition of WonderFi
• Vivid Money secures a MiCAR license from the Dutch authorities to expand regulated crypto services across Europe
• Nubank launches tap-to-pay with Pix in Brazil
• Paysafe strikes a partnership with Fiserv to expand wallets and capital access for SMEs
• Coinbase becomes the first crypto company to join the S&P500
• Fintech company Chime officially files for IPO in the US
• Monzo Bank release a feature to allow customers to undo payments
• Indian fintech unicorn Moneyview taps bankers for a possible $400 million IPO
• Perplexity strikes a partnership with PayPal to power in-flow shopping via Agentic AI
• BitGo secures a MiCAR license in Germany to offer crypto custody services in Europe
• Coinbase says customers personal data has been stolen in data breach
• German blockchain startup Gnosis acquires HQ.xyz (Gnosis HQ) for $15 million
• J.P. Morgan to withdraw UK lawsuit against greek fintech Viva.com
• Adyen and JCB roll out card on file tokenization service
• Mastercard will roll out a stablecoin card in collaboration with MoonPay

A special look in the Italian market

• Satispay launches "Salvadanio Remunerato" to enter investments market

And here some useful resources for everyone involved in the ecosystem:

Events you don’t want to miss

• Money 20/20 - Amsterdam | 3-5.06.2025 (link to event)

You have a cool event you want to mention or to sponsor? Feel free to send me a DM.

Startups raising funds

• Loyyal - Loyalty platform from the MENA region, with entities in the US and South East Asia, provides a B2B2C platform to handle multiple loyalty programs and earn rewards all over the world. Raising a $6M Series A
• Freedhome - Proptech and fintech platform, enabling people to be able to gain profit from real estate by renting them to intermediaries. Raising a $1M seed round

• Tutornow - Edtech that provides an online tutoring platform for students with learning disorders. Raising $500k to $1M.
• Weagle - B2B Tech startup that provides the very first browser designed for company, with total security for sensitive data. Raising $6 millions for their seed round.

• Shoppy Code:Gift card platform that offers a points based loyalty program. They share part of the profits coming from marketing budgets with their customers. Raising $500k.

Take also a look at the last edition of the newsletter, Weekly update #80