August 5, 2025 @ 9:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

New Zealand’s small business sector continues to grapple with economic headwinds, as revealed by the latest Xero Small Business Insights (XSBI) report for the June 2025 quarter. According to the global small business platform Xero, small business sales in Aotearoa fell by 0.1% year-on-year (y/y)… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 9:50 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Commonwealth Private, a subsidiary of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), has launched Private Wealth Advantage, a new self-directed investment offering exclusively for wholesale investors. Announced on August 4, 2025, this initiative marks a strategic alliance with J.P. Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM), combining CBA’s local expertise… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 9:44 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Payments Canada has announced the implementation of changes to its bill payment framework, set to take effect on December 1, 2026. These updates, developed through public consultation and collaboration with industry stakeholders, aim to improve operational efficiency, embrace technological advancements, and enhance the bill payment… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 9:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Ascot Group Limited, a global specialty (re)insurance company and Antares Capital, an alternative credit manager with $83+ billion in capital under management and administration, announced a partnership to launch Wayfare Reinsurance Limited, a reinsurance sidecar, together with Canro Re Limited, a segregated account company. Wayfare… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 4:15 pm By JD Alois  |  

Upgrade, a Fintech focused on providing credit, has surpassed $40 billion in credit, serving over 7 million customers. Launched in 2017, Upgrade was founded by Fintech OG Renaud Laplanche.  While launching with a credit anchor, Upgrade is now more of a neobank providing services like… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 3:20 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

iBusiness Funding, an SMB financing technology and services company, is working with Intuit to offer additional funding options to its shared customers. iBusiness Funding already works with Intuit to provide fixed-rate conventional business loans through Intuit QuickBooks Capital. It expands this capability to include SBA… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 3:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The European Central Bank (ECB) has recently released a series of updates that shed light on critical economic trends shaping the euro area. From inflation dynamics and wage growth to the enduring relevance of cash and the risks of critical trade dependencies, these reports offer… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 3:10 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

FluidCloud, a provider of portable cloud infrastructure, has launched with $8.1 million in seed funding led by Unusual Ventures with participation from U First Capital. Most enterprises today find themselves unintentionally tied to a single cloud provider. Despite best efforts to prioritize agility and innovation,… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 3:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

In its Q2 2025 Industry Insights report, TrueAccord, a machine-learning and AI-driven digital debt collection fintech, offers an analysis of the economic landscape and its implications for the debt collection industry. The update shared by TrueAccord highlights key trends, regulatory updates, and strategic recommendations for… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 3:06 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Visa (NYSE: V), a global enabler of digital payments, announced an advancement for Fleet Operators. With the addition of Google Pay tokenization and push-to-wallet, Visa addresses the “challenge of fleet data tags being tied solely to the plastic card chip.” Now, fleet data tags can… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 3:04 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

This week, Drizz, founded by Asad Abrar, Partha Mohanty, and Yash Varyani (engineers from Amazon, Coinbase, and Gojek), launched from stealth with a $2.7 million seed round to introduce a Vision AI mobile app testing agent. The round was led by Stellaris Venture Partners and… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 12:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

Companies House, the UK repository for business filings, will soon require firms and individuals to validate their identity.  The process is expected to roll out over a 12 month period, commencing on November 18, 2025. Going forward, there will be legal requirements for directors and… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 11:47 am By JD Alois  |  

Republic Europe, part of Republic – the largest online capital formation platform in the world, will soon add its new Mirror Notes to its European subsidiary. In the US, Republic offers Mirror Tokens, which are digital assets that “mirror” securities in private firms. By adding… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 10:03 am By JD Alois  |  

There has been a maelstrom of complaints this week targeting the UK government and its tepid response toward digital asset innovation. As the US moves forward with new law that enables payment stablecoins under the GENIUS Act, and pending legislation on crypto market infrastructure, the… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 9:50 am By JD Alois  |  

Following its merger with Auto Club Trust, FSB, Grasshopper has announced $46.6 million funding round. Grasshopper is a federally chartered digital bank that targets small business customers. Its services include the full range of expected business banking services plus offers embedded banking and banking as… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 8:28 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

iCover Direct, a consumer-facing life insurance platform powered by a proprietary AI underwriting engine, released results of a survey showing that 65.3% of consumers say AI-driven personalization would “greatly” or “moderately” increase their interest in purchasing life insurance, while 65.1% said they are “extremely” or… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 8:26 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

Kuvi.ai, the platform behind Agentic Finance, has announced the successful completion of its $700,000 seed round, led by Moon Pursuit Capital, and the expansion of its strategic round, which is now oversubscribed. Recent additions include crypto investor Michael Terpin of Transform Ventures and Web3 educator… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 8:24 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

Crypto optimism rages, thanks to a softening of America’s position on crypto. That, and Ethereum’s 10th anniversary, had Web3 minds talking last week. NFT market rebound? “Renewed volume around legacy NFT collections like CryptoPunks shows that digital ownership still has speculative appeal, but the more… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 8:22 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Aventus Group has solidified its position as a reliable online lending group globally, according to a recent announcement shared by PeerBerry, its crowdfunding platform. This update underscores Aventus Group’s strategic vision, risk management, and approach to digital lending, which have helped it with meeting client… Read More

August 5, 2025 @ 8:21 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has taken new steps to promote greater transparency and fairness in Malta’s capital markets, following a comprehensive review of “how listed companies communicate with investors and the public.” The MFSA has released a “Dear CEO Letter” letter addressed to… Read More