Persona Raises $200M in Series D Round
Weekly Funding news up to Friday, 2nd of May 2025.
WEEKLY FUNDRAISING ACTIVITY
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Co-led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital, the round saw participation from existing investors such as BOND, Coatue, First Round Capital, and Index Ventures.
The funding follows a period of growth for Persona, with the company improving its age assurance solutions, expanding its KYB capabilities, scaling its footprint into workforce identity security, including apartnership with Okta, and extending its product suite.
With the newly acquired capital, Persona aims to further solidify its position in the market, intending to develop a verified identity layer, a secure infrastructure la supports businesses in verifying individuals and entities across contexts while providing people with increased control over their personal information.
🤝 M&As
Flex acquires a16z-backed Maza for $40M as FinTech M&A heats up. Maza will rebrand as Flex Consumer, and Maza’s founders Arango, Robbie Figueroa, and Siggy Bilstein, will take on executive roles within the combined entity. Keep reading
FinTech platform FundThrough announces acquisition of Ampla. This acquisition strengthens FundThrough’s digital-first ecosystem, creating a platform explicitly designed for small businesses that sell to larger companies and wait to get paid after invoicing.
Railsr and Equals Group merge. By integrating cross-border transaction expertise with next-generation embedded finance solutions, the newly combined group offers businesses a seamless way to embed financial services into their products, enabling them to launch, scale, and operate globally with confidence.
C-One Ventures acquires Nigerian FinTech Bankly. The deal will see Bankly’s services, licenses, and talent integrated with complementary offerings from other companies within the C-One Ventures portfolio. Read more
Mastercard and Corpay Cross-Border Payments announced a partnership. Mastercard takes a minority stake and invests in the company. Corpay will become the exclusive provider of currency risk management and integrated high-value cross-border payments solutions to Mastercard’s financial institution clients.
Edison Partners announces exit from MoneyLion following acquisition by Gen. Edison Partners was MoneyLion’s first institutional investor in 2016, supporting its multi-stage enterprise growth into a global FinTech leader of next-generation, personalized financial products.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🎉 NOTABLE FUNDING ROUNDS
⭐️ Clara raises $80 million and is close to profitability.
⭐️ Revolut ends stock-only bonuses ahead of potential IPO.
⭐️ Mastercard invests US$ 300 million in the business of the owner of Sem Parar.
⭐️ Zopa Bank backer launches $100m fund for growing FinTech and AI firms.
Discover FinTech innovation across APAC. Stay informed with weekly updates—join now!
🌎 REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
UK 🇬🇧
WineFi secures £1.5M Seed funding for fine wine investing platform. The funding aims to enhance WineFi's platform, which offers data-driven access to fine wine investment opportunities, making this asset class more accessible to a broader range of investors.
UK FinTech Sprive raises £5.5m in funding to help millions repay their mortgage faster, saving a fortune in interest. Sprive empowers homeowners to pay off their mortgages faster, reducing interest costs and boosting their financial freedom.
London FinTech Navro raises $41 million. The fresh capital will be used to expand operations into more US states, Dubai, Hong Kong, and India. Navro clients can collect funds locally in 35 locations, and hold, convert and make payouts in more than 200 countries and 140 currencies.
USA 🇺🇸
Thunes raises USD 150 million in series D, led by Apis Partners and Vitruvian Partners. Thunes plans to leverage this capital to supercharge its expansion in the United States, supported by the recent acquisition of licenses across 50 U.S. States, subject to regulatory approval.
European FinTech Pliant banks $40M to build the future of corporate card infrastructure. Pliant is utilising this new capital to enhance its talent and infrastructure in preparation for global expansion. The team, currently comprising 170 people from 35 nationalities, is expected to expand beyond 200 soon.
Theo raises $20m for on-chain trading infrastructure. Theo’s platform provides access to institutional-grade trading infrastructure that supports a range of strategies traditionally reserved for hedge funds and proprietary trading firms.
Argentex accepts IFX Payments £3 million offer for the company. The Argentex Directors said that they unanimously intend to recommend the Acquisition, which is still subject to a shareholder vote, which has yet to be scheduled. Read more
A16z leads $25M funding for Miden blockchain project. The funding will be used to fund Miden’s development, and its mainnet launch is slated for the fourth quarter of 2025. Miden plans to airdrop around 10% of its native tokens to Polygon tokenholders and stakers to reward its native ecosystem.
ASIA
Indian FinTech startup Bachatt secures $4m seed funding. This financing comes at a time when household savings rates in India are declining according to economic data, highlighting the timely nature of tools that encourage systematic saving behaviors.
SG FinTech firm Surfin Meta raises $26.5m to help the unbanked. The company intends to use the newly raised capital to enter new markets and enhance its research and development of financial products for underserved communities. Read more
Stablecoin payment system Next Generation secures $5 million in Seed funding. The firm says the fresh capital will finalise technical development and expand partnerships for the blockchain-driven platform. One of the products features direct integration between IBAN accounts and crypto wallets.
Zest Equity secures $4.3 million pre-Series A led by Prosus Ventures. The new funding will be deployed to grow Zest's presence in the KSA and UAE, acquire specialised talent, develop new products, and scale the technology infrastructure to support growing volumes and types of transactions.
FinTech unicorn Perfios acquires healthtech firm IHX. This acquisition aims to strengthen Perfios’ capabilities in claims management within the healthcare insurance sector. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.