TLDR Fintech 2026-03-26

Fresha makes beauty and wellness software. What's it doing extending $5.5M+ to SMBs? In this webinar, you'll learn how Fresha used Adyen's embedded finance offering to enter a new space. Topics include:

• The strategic business case behind Fresha's decision to offer SMB funding
• Insights on scaling financial services across the EU and the US
• Proven methods for driving retention and growth through embedded finance

↗️ Join the webinar on April 14 for a clear perspective on how embedded finance can diversify revenue and strengthen SMB relationships.

In the meantime, catch up with the Embedded Finance Podcast for the latest insights, news, and hard-earned lessons.

Branch, a leading provider of workforce financial infrastructure, today announced its integration with Stripe to become the new embedded digital wallet provider for worker payouts. Companies now have an easy way to launch a customizable digital wallet and branded debit card experience via Stripe Issuing. Whether paying drivers, contractors, marketplace sellers, or frontline teams, Branch's digital wallet solutions help workers access funds instantly while unlocking rewards and everyday financial tools that help them keep more of what they earn.

Revolut is emerging as one of the fastest-growing and most profitable financial institutions globally, with £4.5B revenue, 38% margins, and 35% ROE, driven by diversified revenue streams and strong product velocity. Its growth engine is a combination of rapid user expansion, rising ARPU, and increasing primary account adoption, with significant upside from lending and global expansion. Revolut is no longer a challenger fintech but a scaled, compounding banking platform with a credible path to becoming a top global bank.

Despite intense competition, the CEOs of Kalshi and Polymarket are both investing in 5(c) Capital, a new $35 million VC fund focused on prediction market infrastructure. The fund aims to back startups building market makers and related tooling, signaling growing institutional confidence in the category's long-term expansion. The move comes as both companies pursue massive valuations, with Kalshi at $22 billion and Polymarket reportedly targeting $20 billion.

Stripe's launch of Tempo signals how seriously major payments players are building crypto-native infrastructure for agentic commerce, with a full stack spanning wallets, stablecoin issuance, settlement, and its own blockchain. Tempo's main advantage is developer and distribution momentum, especially through Stripe's integration of payments rails and MPP, though that comes with meaningful centralization tradeoffs. Crypto infrastructure is increasingly being shaped by large incumbents optimizing for usability and scale, not maximal decentralization.

AI is commoditizing software, eroding traditional moats like features and switching costs, leaving trust as the primary defensibility. In regulated industries like fintech and healthcare, winning companies build trust through deep domain expertise, honest product capabilities, and disciplined restraint in shipping. Firms like Zocks and Lorikeet exemplify this by prioritizing accuracy and transparency, turning trust into a compounding advantage and distribution engine.

Stripe is enabling a new native checkout experience on Facebook, allowing users to purchase directly from ads using saved Meta wallet credentials. Businesses can activate the feature via Stripe and sell seamlessly across web and in-app surfaces, reducing friction from discovery to purchase. The rollout, powered by Stripe's Agentic Commerce Protocol, signals a push toward embedded, AI-driven commerce across platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Mastercard is rolling out a “virtual CFO” as part of its AI-powered Virtual C-Suite, aimed at helping small businesses with tasks like cash flow forecasting, performance analysis, and risk detection. The tool is designed to augment human decision-making by embedding insights directly into existing financial workflows using Mastercard's transaction data. The move reflects a broader shift toward agentic AI in finance, where automation handles analysis while humans focus on strategy and judgment.

PayPal is rolling out Venmo internationally for the first time, enabling users to send money across 90 countries through integration with PayPal accounts. The move addresses fragmentation in peer-to-peer payments and aims to simplify cross-border transfers, with fees waived initially to drive adoption. It marks a long-awaited step in integrating Venmo into PayPal's global network amid rising competition from providers like Wise and Remitly.

A new federal advisory group is bringing together top tech leaders like Jensen Huang (Nvidia), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Larry Ellison (Oracle), Marc Andreessen (Andreessen Horowitz), Sergey Brin (Google), Michael Dell (Dell Technologies), Fred Ehrsam (Coinbase), and Lisa Su (AMD) to help shape US strategy on next-generation innovation. The council will advise on issues ranging from AI and biotech to workforce disruption and regulatory barriers as emerging technologies evolve. The move highlights a deeper alignment between government and Silicon Valley as competition for global tech leadership intensifies.

The SEC fined Ally Invest Advisors after finding its automated investment product quietly steered about 30% of client portfolios into cash to benefit affiliated banking and brokerage units. Regulators said the firm failed to clearly disclose that this allocation boosted internal revenue through interest and rebates, creating a misalignment with client returns over nearly six years. The case underscores growing scrutiny on how “no-fee” fintech investment products monetize users behind the scenes.

AlphaSense is reportedly raising hundreds of millions in new funding at a valuation above $4 billion, capitalizing on strong investor demand for AI-driven data platforms.

Goldman Sachs president John Waldron earned roughly $38 million in compensation, outpacing several major bank CEOs despite holding the No. 2 role.

Wisedocs has introduced a new platform that helps insurers turn complex claims documents into structured insights that support faster and more confident decision-making.