Fintech has emerged into the dominant segment in the Colombian startup ecosystem, making up more than 15% of all startups in the country, a new report by StartupBlink, KPMG Colombia and other industry stakeholders, show. The Colombia Tech Report 2022-2023, released on September 28, explores the country’s booming tech sector, ­­startup funding activity and emerging trends. In particular, the report highlights the rise to prominence of fintech in the Colombian startup ecosystem. The sector is now the biggest startup category in the Latin American country, recording 203 startups in early 2023. Not only is fintech the most prevalent startup category,…

OpenAI has confirmed one of the largest cloud contracts ever signed, agreeing to purchase US$300 billion worth of computing power from Oracle over the next five years. The deal forms part of Project Stargate, OpenAI’s ambitious initiative to develop extensive AI data centre infrastructure both in the US and internationally. The companies plan to construct 4.5 gigawatts of data centre capacity, roughly equivalent to the output of two Hoover Dams or the electricity consumption of four million US homes. While rivals such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta have collectively pledged US$300 billion on AI centres this year, OpenAI’s single…

Pipe, a California-based fintech company providing embedded capital products for small businesses, and Uber have announced a partnership that will give hundreds of thousands of restaurants across the US access to working capital. Through this partnership, eligible restaurants will be able to access Pipe Capital via Uber Eats Manager, the platform merchants use to monitor and manage their businesses. For qualifying merchants, Uber Eats will display capital offers from Pipe, tailored to each restaurant’s revenue, cash flow, and overall performance. Using its underwriting system, Pipe can provide personalised, pre-approved capital offers with clear, upfront pricing. “Uber Eats is an integral…

Klarna, the global digital bank and provider of flexible payments, is now officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker KLAR. CEO and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski marked the occasion by livestreaming the bell-ringing ceremony on Instagram Live and X, sharing the moment with employees, partners, merchants, customers, and investors who have contributed to Klarna’s growth. Shares of Klarna rose 15% on their New York Stock Exchange debut on Wednesday (September 10), closing at US$45.82 after the Swedish fintech priced its initial public offering above the expected range. Klarna, known for its buy now, pay later products, set…

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) may permit trading platforms licensed under Europe’s new MiCA framework to operate in American markets, Acting Chairman Caroline D. Pham told UK lawmakers. Speaking before the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Blockchain Technologies in London, Pham said the CFTC is examining whether MiCA-authorised venues could qualify under its long-standing cross-border recognition rules. According to Finance Magnates, Pham stated: “The CFTC will also explore whether trading platforms authorised under the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), or similar virtual asset or crypto asset regimes, would also qualify under the CFTC’s current cross-border frameworks.” The Acting…

Nasdaq has submitted a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking approval to facilitate the trading of tokenised securities on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The proposal would allow tokenised securities to trade in the same manner as regular securities, while maintaining investor protections and market stability. Tal Cohen, President of Nasdaq, said: “The integration of tokenisation and blockchain technology with traditional market systems presents an opportunity to reduce friction, accelerate settlement, and improve efficiencies in capital and collateral management. Widespread institutional adoption will be the true measure of success. Our filing represents an early step in bridging…

Sierra, a San Francisco based enterprise software company focused on building AI agents for customer experience, announced that it has raised US$350 million in additional capital at a valuation of US$10 billion. The funding round was led by Greenoaks. “Starting Sierra was an early bet that AI agents would transform the enterprise software industry,” the company said. “At the time, we had to explain what the word ‘agent’ meant to every potential customer, and we had no idea we would build something that would resonate with businesses this quickly, or deeply.” Founded 18 months ago, Sierra reports having hundreds of…

ID.me, a digital identity verification company based in Virginia has raised US$340 million through a Series E financing round and a recent credit facility. The funding values the company at more than US$2 billion. The Series E round was led by Ribbit Capital with participation from existing investors Ares Credit funds and Moonshots Capital, along with new investors including Positive Sum. The investment will support ID.me’s efforts to expand access to secure, reusable digital identity and to counter fraud driven by artificial intelligence. Fraud has become both a financial and national security concern. Between 2018 and 2022, the US government…

Lead Bank, a bank that works with fintech and digital asset firms, has closed a US$70 million Series B funding round. The round included new investors ICONIQ and Greycroft, alongside existing backers Ribbit Capital, Coatue, Khosla Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Zeev Ventures. The latest raise places the bank’s post-money valuation at US$1.47 billion. “The fastest growing fintechs want to work with a bank that moves at their speed, without compromising on risk or compliance,” said Jackie Reses, Chief Executive Officer of Lead Bank. “We’re grateful to our investors, new and old, for seeing the future as we do, one where…

Stripe and Paradigm, a San Francisco-based investment firm focused on advancing the crypto industry through investing, building, and research, announced the launch of Tempo, a blockchain designed specifically for payments and stablecoin use cases. Much of today’s crypto infrastructure is built with trading in mind, but is less optimised for payments. Tempo has been developed to address this gap, combining Stripe’s experience in global payments with Paradigm’s expertise in crypto technology. “Tempo is purpose-built for stablecoins and real-world payments, born from Stripe’s experience in global payments and Paradigm’s expertise in crypto tech,” said Matt Huang, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at…

Kite, a San Francisco-based company developing trust infrastructure for the agentic web, has raised US$18 million in Series A funding, bringing its total funding to US$33 million. The round was led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst, with participation from 8VC, Samsung Next, Alumni Ventures, SBI US Gateway Fund, Vertex Ventures, Dispersion Capital, Avalanche Foundation, GSR Markets, LayerZero, Hashed, HashKey Capital, Animoca Brands, Essence VC, and Alchemy. Formerly known as Zettablock, Kite has built its platform on experience in distributed infrastructure systems supporting networks such as Sui, Polygon, Chainlink, and EigenLayer. Its recent launch, Kite Agent Identity Resolution (Kite AIR),…

AEON, a crypto payment framework, has introduced its new Scan-to-Pay feature in Brazil through its Web3 mobile payment solution, AEON Pay. The service enables Brazilian users to scan merchants’ PIX QR codes and complete purchases using crypto assets, with AEON automatically settling payments to merchants in Brazilian real (BRL) via PIX, the country’s instant payment network. The integration allows users in Brazil to pay at any merchant that accepts PIX QR codes. At checkout, customers can choose their preferred cryptocurrency and wallet, whether through direct crypto transfer, AEON wallet balance, or other payment options such as Binance Wallet, Bitget Wallet,…

British fintechs are stepping up plans to acquire US banks as regulators signal a more relaxed approach to mergers under the Trump administration. According to the Financial Times, UK digital banks Revolut and Starling are exploring the purchase of nationally chartered banks in the US, a move that would grant them American banking licenses and allow them to lend across all 50 states. Revolut, Europe’s largest fintech, has held discussions with advisers including Bank of America about a potential deal, one person familiar with the matter said. Acquisitions are seen as a faster way of securing a license compared with…

Kapital, a financial institution and AI-driven platform for SMBs in Latin America, has closed a Series C funding round of up to US$100 million. The round, led by Tribe Capital and co-led by Pelion Ventures with participation from Y Combinator, Marbruck Ventures, and True Arrow, has doubled the company’s valuation to US$1.3 billion in less than two years. Kapital also reported achieving profitability. The funding will be used to expand its AI-powered financial ecosystem for SMBs across the region. Founded as a technology-first bank, Kapital built its systems as financial infrastructure rather than adapting legacy models. This approach enables the…

Google Cloud is advancing plans to launch its own layer-1 (L1) blockchain, positioning the network as neutral infrastructure for global finance as fintech rivals build out their own distributed ledgers. In a LinkedIn post, Rich Widmann, Google’s head of Web3 strategy, outlined new details on the project, called the Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL), CoinDesk reported. He described it as a “credibly neutral, high-performance blockchain designed for institutions,” supporting Python-based smart contracts to make development more accessible. “Any financial institution can build with GCUL,” Widmann said. Widmann contrasted Google’s approach with two other major initiatives: Stripe’s Tempo and Circle’s Arc.…

Binance has introduced Medá, an authorised Electronic Payment Funds Institution (IFPE) in Mexico, with planned investment of more than one billion pesos (US$53 million) over four years. Medá will operate independently under Mexican regulatory approval, offering peso deposit and withdrawal services. The entity is intended to provide a bridge between traditional finance and digital assets. “Medá aspires to become the leading alternative in the financial technology space as a processor of transactions in Mexican pesos,” said Guilherme Nazar, Binance’s Regional Vice President for Latin America. He added that greater competition would improve the quality and affordability of services available to…

Visa has shut down its open banking business in the US, citing regulatory uncertainty over consumer data rights and the prospect of higher fees for customer information, according to people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg reported that the payments giant has closed its operations that provided technology enabling third parties, including financial technology firms, to access customer account data. The people requested anonymity as the matter is private. The move comes as the future of a rule prohibiting banks from charging for access to customer data remains unclear. Under President Donald Trump, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) had sought…

The US Department of Commerce announced that it has begun publishing real gross domestic product (GDP) data on the blockchain, starting with the July 2025 figures. According to revised estimates released by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP rose at an annual rate of 3.3% in July 2025. This marks the first time a federal agency has released official economic statistical data on the blockchain, reflecting the Department’s ongoing use of innovative technologies to protect federal data and expand public access. For its initial release, the Department published an official hash of its quarterly GDP data for 2025, and…

Rain, a provider of enterprise-grade infrastructure for stablecoin-powered payments, has raised US$58 million in a Series B funding round led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from Dragonfly, Galaxy Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Samsung Next, Lightspeed, and Norwest. The latest funding brings the company’s total capital raised to US$88.5 million and follows its Series A round five months ago. The company provides a single integration for fintechs, banks, and marketplaces to launch stablecoin-powered cards, wallets, and payment programmes in compliance with regulatory requirements. Interest in stablecoins among enterprises has increased following the introduction of the GENIUS Act in the US and the…

Snowflake shares surged around 19% on Thursday (August 28), buoyed by strong demand for the company’s AI database products, as firms race to modernise their data infrastructure and streamline AI adoption. If these gains hold, the stock move could add more than US$12.5 billion to Snowflake’s US$67 billion market capitalisation. The cloud-based data warehousing company, which enables enterprises to store, manage and analyse vast datasets across multiple cloud providers, reported accelerating demand for its platform, Reuters reported. Investor optimism was further supported by Nvidia’s upbeat forecast, which reinforced confidence in the AI boom and signalled continued spending on data infrastructure,…