Financial brands have developed a reputation for being corporate and oftentimes, a little dull, but that doesn't have to be the case. Switching up the stereotype is Tilt, a fintech company focused on empowering people without dwelling on their financial past. The best rebrands strengthen a brand by digging into its heritage and values, creating a new identity that's succinct and strong.
Americans give nearly half a trillion dollars to charity each year-over 2% of GDP. Yet despite this massive scale, charitable giving remains stuck in the past, dominated by donor-advised funds marketed exclusively to the wealthy and clunky processes that make generosity harder than it should be. Today I'm joined by Adam Nash, co-founder and CEO of Daffy, a modern platform that's democratizing charitable giving through technology.
Aspect Capital, Tide, Neighbourly and Guavapay were each awarded the prestigious Lord Mayor's Award, reflecting the breadth of the UK's fast-growing business ecosystem - from fintech and quantitative investment to social impact platforms and global payments infrastructure. The awards are part of the Lord Mayor's Growth Unleashed programme, which is designed to revive the UK's appetite for responsible risk-taking, channel institutional investment into high-growth sectors and ensure scale-up companies remain rooted in Britain.
ModernFi - $30M Series B ModernFi, a comprehensive deposit management platform for financial institutions, has raised $30M in Series B funding led by Canapi Ventures. Founded by Adam DeVita and Paolo Bertolotti in 2022, ModernFi has now raised a total of $57.4M in reported equity funding. Euclid Power - $20M Series A Euclid Power, an operating system for renewable energy project development, financing, and operations, has raised $20M in Series A funding led by Venrock.
Y Combinator startup Eloquent AI has raised $7.4 million in seed funding to provide AI-fueled customer service in the financial services industry. The startup says its AI product can help with complex, regulated workflows, such as onboarding new customers and unfreezing bank cards. Eloquent was cofounded by Tugce Bulut, who previously cofounded market research startup Streetbees. Bulut left the company two years ago. Last month it went into administration and laid off all staff.
The companies that spent the last decade promising to disrupt banks are now building their foundational systems. Coinbase, once the crypto outsider pitching digital assets as banking's alternative, is powering J.P. Morgan's deposit token experiments. SoFi is routing remittances through Bitcoin's Lightning Network while acting as a regulated bank holding company. Even pure-play digital banks like Chime have shifted focus from pure customer acquisition to deepening existing relationships through credit products and early-pay services.
"I was shocked that this process was so hard. It's paper-driven. It's archaic. You're googling to-do lists that are not helpful. You're calling attorneys who might do a sliver of the work, and they cost thousands and thousands of dollars."
"The driver behind everything new in finance over the past 30 years has been innovation," Lenz told Business Insider. He added that technological advances continually spur change in the financial world, keeping the role of a fintech engineer both compelling and essential.
Pursuing a master's degree in finance technology, or fintech, engineering was one of the best decisions I've ever made. My degree allowed me to build on my technical knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of how emerging technologies are transforming financial systems.
Although they have comparatively few problems accessing overseas bank accounts-often in the Cayman Islands or Switzerland-in lieu of a US bank account, they are often unable to earn yield on deposits or transact seamlessly with US-based counterparties, and sometimes incur high account fees.
"These kinds of events are not just about networking-they're about creating a shared space where ideas can succeed and long-term collaborations can take root."
Winning not one, but three awards at this year's African FinTech Summit is a proud moment for our team. It reflects the hard work and creativity of our team, and our ongoing dedication to delivering innovative solutions that empower traders and support financial inclusion across Africa and the MENA region. Our role as Global Sponsor reinforces our commitment to leading fintech transformation in these vital markets.
This collaboration immediately strengthens Echo Base with access to over 100 engineers and accelerates the development of its growing portfolio, which currently includes , , and .
Few digital platforms have the technology infrastructure, product-market alignment, and innovation velocity required to serve this demographic effectively and profitably, and we think Chime is one of them.