Issue #143: eToro’s IPO Redux, Affirm To Fuel FIS’ BNPL Play, And UK Neobanks Keep Gaining Ground

The week’s biggest fintech moves, broken down and delivered to your inbox ✉️

👋 Welcome back to another edition of Fintech Radar!

If you’re new, here is a breakdown of what you can expect from each issue.

If you missed our recent editions, you can catch up here. Some previous issues you might want to check out if you’re new include “A Deep Dive Into The Cash App's Growth Machine”, “The Future Of Payment Initiation”, and “Current: Doing It Differently”.

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🚀 eToro files for IPO, Finextra

🏃‍♂️ The Rundown: eToro has confidentially filed for an IPO in the U.S., aiming for a valuation of at least $5b. The Israeli investment platform, known for its social trading features and multi-asset offerings, previously attempted to go public in 2022 via a $10.4b SPAC deal, which ultimately fell through due to “market conditions”. With 35m users globally, eToro is now hoping improved market sentiment and renewed investor interest in retail trading will support a successful public listing.

🥡 Takeaway: I think many fintech thinkbois (including me) have been waiting for one of the big fintech privates to announce their public market debut, and we finally have one. While it’s not at the nosebleed levels of peak SPAC mania, eToro’s move means it will soon join Robinhood as a mainboard-listed consumer trading platform.

With markets rewarding Robinhood, up significantly since their massive dips just a few years back, eToro likely sees this as an opportunity to ride the wave. And in some ways, they might even see themselves as further ahead—having already gone international and pushed deep into multiple markets, while Robinhood is just beginning its global expansion.

Let’s see what the market thinks when they list.

💳 Affirm partners with FIS on buy now, pay later debit cards, CNBC

🏃‍♂️ The Rundown: Affirm has announced a partnership with FIS to introduce BNPL functionality to traditional debit cards. This collaboration aims to integrate Affirm’s BNPL services into FIS’s extensive network of banking clients, enabling consumers to split purchases into instalments directly through their existing debit cards.

🥡 Takeaway: How times have changed. It wasn’t all that long ago that many were waiting for the big boys to come along and sweep aside the BNPL players. The refrain was usually something to the effect of, “BNPL is just a feature… wait till the banks/TechFins offer it themselves. Game over”.

Fast forward to today, and we see the likes of FIS and JP Morgan partnering with the startups (well, not so much startups any more) instead of homebrewing their own BNPL product. Yes, these are markedly different examples — FIS v JP Morgan — but the point that Affirm and Klarna are powering their respective offerings says a lot about where the market has landed.

Clearly, BNPL isn’t just a feature—it’s becoming an essential part of the financial system, and the banking value chain has taken notice.

🏦 UK Neobanks Take Market Share from Incumbents, Finextra

🏃‍♂️ The Rundown: UK neobanks are rapidly gaining ground, with new data showing a major shift in consumer behaviour. The share of UK adults using a fintech or neobank has surged from 16% in 2018 to 50% by the end of 2024. Meanwhile, the number of consumers holding their main debit card with a neobank has jumped from 1% in 2020 to 9% in 2024, while the Big Six banks have seen their share shrink from 85% to 71%. Notably, neobank users also spend 20% more than those with traditional banks, according to data from RFI Global.

🥡 Takeaway: Again, how times have changed. Once it was “consumer will never trust a neobank”, then it was “they’ll never use a neobank as their primary account”, and now,… well, those both turned out to be wrong.

It’s clear the UK neobank sector has moved beyond early adoption and is now firmly mainstream. While challengers once struggled to convert sign-ups into primary banking relationships, the latest data suggests they’re finally breaking through. Higher spending levels among neobank users also signal strong engagement, which many high street banks dream about.

💳 Mercuryo Partners with Revolut to Launch ‘Revolut Pay’ for Crypto Purchases, The Paypers

🏃‍♂️ The Rundown: Mercuryo has teamed up with Revolut to introduce Revolut Pay as a payment method for crypto purchases. The integration allows users to buy digital assets directly through Mercuryo’s fiat-to-crypto on-ramp, leveraging Revolut’s seamless checkout experience. This move aims to simplify crypto transactions while ensuring compliance with evolving regulations.

🥡 Takeaway: Expanding Revolut Pay into crypto is a smart move—it allows Revolut to tap into its massive user base, add a new revenue stream, and keep more transactions inside its ecosystem. Given Revolut’s deep experience in crypto, they’re likely in a stronger position than most payment providers to assess risk and navigate compliance.

The bigger question: Is crypto (particularly in Europe, where most of Revolut’s users are) the niche that gives Revolut Pay real traction? If so, this could be the first step toward something much bigger for the product.

🤖 Mastercard to Tackle Financial Crime in Asia Pacific with New AI Service, FStech

🏃‍♂️ The Rundown: Mastercard has launched an AI-powered fraud prevention service aimed at combating financial crime in the Asia-Pacific region. The new solution leverages machine learning to detect and prevent fraudulent transactions in real-time, helping financial institutions strengthen their risk management frameworks. This rollout is part of Mastercard’s broader push to enhance security across global payment networks.

🥡 Takeaway: My ongoing quest to find where AI is actually being used in FIs mostly turns up the same thing—ML dressed up as AI. And this looks like another one for the pile.

That said, the move itself makes a ton of sense. The schemes have been expanding their remit for years, looking for new ways to drive ACV, and fraud prevention is a natural (and frankly, necessary) play—especially in APAC, where digital payments are booming, and fraud is rising just as fast.

AI-powered fraud detection isn’t exactly new, but this is a reminder that payments networks don’t just compete on transaction speed or cost—they compete on trust. Which also makes for a great product for them to sell.

🚀 Sardine raises $45M Series C to expand fraud prevention and compliance platform, Sardine Blog

🏃‍♂️ The Rundown: Sardine has raised a $45m Series C round led by Valor Equity Partners, with participation from existing investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Visa. The company provides fraud prevention, compliance, and instant settlement solutions for fintechs, banks, and crypto platforms.

🥡 Takeaway: Sardine’s shift to positioning itself as an “AI risk platform” makes total sense in today’s AI hype cycle—except, in their case, it’s actually somewhat justified. Fraud and compliance are two areas where AI (or at least ML) is already proving its worth, and Sardine has built a solid niche as a compliance command centre—a space that’s been painfully underserved for years.

Having seen compliance teams use Sardine, I can say firsthand it actually does what it says on the tin—which, let’s be real, isn’t always the case in compliance tooling.

The bigger question: where do they go from here? There’s plenty of growth just keeping up with the ever-expanding risk surface (real-time payments, A2A, crypto, etc.), but there’s a much bigger game to play in fraud and compliance data. Feels like they’re just getting started.

💰 Era raises $6M to bring AI-powered ‘Wealth Care’ to every American, FF News

🏃‍♂️ The Rundown: AI-driven financial platform Era has raised a $6m funding round to advance its mission of providing AI-powered “Wealth Care”—a term the company uses to describe proactive, AI-driven financial guidance. The round includes participation from investors such as XYZ Ventures and notable fintech angels.

🥡 Takeaway: Ok, this is one vertical in fintech I’m excited to see more AI applied. The promise of Robo-advice really finally feels like it’s ready for primetime. The difference this time is that it’s coming for the whole financial relationship.

It doesn’t feel far-fetched to imagine fully AI-driven financial advisors that handle end-to-end wealth management, from personalised planning to real-time adjustments. Obviously, non-deterministic models + money = tricky, but everything from reasoning through to voice models is getting dangerously close to being truly consumer-ready.

Character.ai, but for wealth management? Honestly, it feels inevitable.

🎧 This Founder has VCs Begging to Invest in his Startup, Indie VC

Brandon Arvanaghi, founder of Meow.com, joins Bryce Roberts from Indie.VC to break down how he built a profitable fintech without playing by Silicon Valley’s rules.

Brandon scaled Meow to $1b+ in assets with just 12 people by staying hyper-lean and rejecting the “growth at all costs” mindset. He dives into why he thinks VC-backed fintechs often raise prices over time (spoiler: to hit growth targets) and why he’s betting on a “Costco for financial services” model instead—offering rock-bottom pricing and passing savings to customers.

This one is full of counter-narrative insights on building a real, sustainable fintech business—worth a listen.

🎧 Max Levchin, Founder & CEO @ Affirm:The Biggest Surprise Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap, 20VC

This episode of 20VC with Max Levchin leans more into the inside baseball of running Affirm than pureplay fintech—but it’s still a pearler of an episode.

Max and Harry Stebbings cover everything from hiring brilliant (and often extreme) personalities to making tough calls as a leader. He unpacks his approach to building a high-performing team, why he believes in relentless execution over moonshot bets, and how Affirm is navigating the BNPL landscape—including its rivalry with Klarna.

Also, if you’ve ever wondered why The Big Lebowski keeps popping up in Affirm shareholder letters, Max spills the tea. Add this one to your podcast playlist for your next run.

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