The second half of August saw fintechs scale across customers, AI, payments and infrastructure, led by Revolut crossing 80M users, Stripe’s OpenRouter acquisition and continued expansion in embedded credit, open finance and core banking modernisation.
✔ AI is moving deeper into payments, banking and wealth
✔ Embedded credit is expanding across new platforms and markets
✔ Core banking and payments infrastructure modernisation continues
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🚨 Story of the Week: Revolut’s Push Toward 100M Customers
Revolut has crossed 80M customers across 40 countries, adding around 5M users in just three months and bringing it within 20M users of its next target of 100M customers by mid-2027.
The milestone caps a steep growth curve that has seen Revolut expand from 1.1M customers in 2017 to 80M in 2026, while its valuation has risen from roughly $418M to $115B over the same period.
That scale is increasingly being matched by a broader banking footprint. Revolut is adding local banking licences, credit products, subscriptions, wealth and payments capabilities across markets, giving it more ways to deepen customer relationships beyond the core account.
The next phase is therefore less about customer acquisition alone and more about converting that scale into primary banking relationships, higher engagement and a more locally regulated global banking model
Our deep dive on Revolut breaks down how Revolut has scaled its customer base, expanded its global licensing footprint and built a broader banking, payments and subscription ecosystem around that growth.
Download the full report here.
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🚀 Startup Spotlight: AdvisorFinder
This edition, we’re spotlighting AdvisorFinder, a wealthtech startup founded in 2023 that helps consumers discover financial advisers and helps advisers improve their digital visibility.
Its newly launched AdvisorFinder Intelligence shows advisers how they appear across search and AI platforms, with tools to assess website health, online credibility and AI visibility. AdvisorFinder now represents more than 12,400 advisers across its platform and network.
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Edition #192 focuses on how fintechs are scaling through market expansion, AI, infrastructure and broader financial products.
The Hot 10 that formed August’s second half !!♨️🔟
Scale is being pushed across customers and new markets
⤷ Revolut crossed 80M customers across 40 countries, adding 5M users in three months and targeting 100M customers by mid-2027.
⤷ dLocal launched dMore, a platform to simplify payments, compliance and operational setup for businesses expanding into emerging markets.
AI is becoming part of both infrastructure and wealth workflows
⤷ Flanks partnered with Perplexity to combine wealth data aggregation with AI-powered search an analysis for financial institutions and advisers.
⤷ Stripe agreed to acquire OpenRouter, adding AI model-routing infrastructure across 400+ models.
Market access is widening through licences and issuing capabilities
⤷ Allica Bank applied for a Swedish banking licence, with Sweden set to become its first European market outside the UK.
⤷ Nium expanded into US card issuing, enabling fintechs and businesses to launch Visa debit and prepaid card programmes.
Financial platforms are broadening what they can offer
⤷ Stripe launched Treasury in Australia, enabling businesses to accept payments, hold and convert
funds, and pay recipients globally.
⤷ Zilch launched two membership tiers alongside Pay Monthly and Advance, adding longer-term
instalments and early salary access of up to £100.
Data and technology are becoming more central to financial decisioning
⤷ Experian partnered with iPiD to offer global bank account verification to UK businesses across SEPA and international markets.
⤷ Siebert increased its investment in FusionIQ, deepening its push into digital wealth management and advisor technology.
Now, for the ‘byte’-sized fintech buzz –
Digital banks are combining premium subscription expansion with geographic growth, using differentiated propositions alongside new banking licences to deepen presence across international markets.
Revolut launched its Ultra subscription in Singapore, bundling premium travel, lifestyle and investment benefits for S$89.99 per month or S$899 annually.
Allica Bank applied for a Swedish banking licence, with Sweden set to become its first European market outside the UK.
Digital payments is seeing both infrastructure expansion and strategic consolidation, as firms strengthen cross-border capabilities while reassessing large-scale M&A opportunities.
TerraPay partnered with Deutsche Bank to strengthen cross-border payments, gaining access to its correspondent banking network, FX services and USD settlement capabilities.
Stripe and Advent reportedly dropped their pursuit of PayPal after an earlier
$60.50-per-share offer, valuing PayPal at more than $53B.
Digital wealth is combining brand-led customer acquisition with deeper institutional infrastructure, as firms expand visibility while strengthening digital asset trading and liquidity capabilities.
eToro signed a multi-year partnership with Leeds United, becoming an official club partner and gaining brand visibility across the team’s Premier League activities.
BitGo acquired NYDIG’s institutional trading arm, expanding its digital asset trading and liquidity capabilities for institutional clients.
Embedded finance is expanding beyond lending into rewards and operational infrastructure, with platforms embedding financial capabilities more directly into existing customer journeys.
Xceptor expanded its SaaS offering into Switzerland and Japan, adding local data residency for its automation, AI, tax, confirmations and reconciliation tools used by capital markets firms.
Edenred expanded its gift card infrastructure into an embedded finance offering, enabling
businesses to integrate branded rewards directly into their platforms.
Open finance is moving deeper into trust and regulated infrastructure, with firms adding payment verification while gaining formal access to national open finance frameworks.
Open Payments partnered with Movitz Payments to integrate Verification of Payee, helping
businesses verify beneficiary details before sending payments.
Fintech Galaxy received in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE to operate as an Open Finance provider and participate in the country’s Al Tareq Open Finance scheme.
Fintech Infrastructure modernisation is accelerating as banks replace legacy cores and upgrade the technology supporting sponsor banking, lending, cards and digital channels.
Pathward selected Thought Machine’s Vault Core to modernise its US sponsor banking infrastructure and support more flexible embedded finance programmes.
Queensland Country Bank selected VeriPark and Fiserv to modernise its core banking, cards, lending, CRM and digital banking platforms
And that’s a wrap 👋
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Weekly Fintech Brew!
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