On the Lookout for a Q3 Fintech Funding Surprise
Could Q3 2025 fintech funding surprise to the upside?
CB Insights noted that venture funding topped $94 billion in Q2 of this year. This figure was the second-highest quarterly figure since Q2 2022. It also marked the third quarter in a row when venture funding was above $90 billion. This, plus the continued role of AI and venture investment in the technology, is some reason for optimism, in their view, that Q3 2025 might maintain these levels.
Other analysts have pointed to some of the quarter's biggest fundraisings—iCapital's $820+ million at a valuation of more than $7.5 billion, Rapyd's $500 million Series F earlier this month that gave the firm a valuation of $4.5 billion—and an uptick in the number of mega-rounds (investments of more than $100 million) as evidence that Q3 could represent a continuation of the moderate recovery in fintech funding that began in the first half of the year.
Our own Finovate alum funding report for Q3 is only a few weeks away. That will also provide some interesting insight into what we might be able to expect in the final months of the year.
With fingers crossed and less than a week to go, I'm David Penn with this week's edition of the Finovate newsletter!
Weekly news
Arva AI and FairPlay AI team up to help financial services firms embrace agentic AI.
Bits of Stock™ brings the benefits of fractional investing to Gen Z credit union members.
Spend management firm Extend secures $20 million in funding.
Stablecoins: A Look at EY's Report on Adoption and Opportunity
For all the popular excitement over memecoins, the rise of stablecoins has been the real success story in this field. With the passage of the GENIUS Act, these digital assets now truly have the wind at their back. Banks, financial services companies, fintechs, and even major retailers are looking at ways to leverage stablecoins to offer new services, cut costs, and improve liquidity.
Finovate Senior Analyst Julie Muhn has been covering the stablecoin beat relentlessly for some time. In her latest blog post on the topic, she reviews a recent report from Ernst & Young's (EY) strategy consulting services group EY-Parthenon about how executives from both financial and non-financial companies view stablecoins.
Pause Button: Remembering the Original Free Speech Comedian
This past week's controversy over ABC late night show host Jimmy Kimmel got me thinking about the role of comedy and comedians in American life in general—and my life in specific. Although I can't tell a joke to save my life, I grew up obsessed with comedians, especially those from the 1970s. As a kid, I used to stack albums like Flip Wilson's The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress and Richard Pryor's Was It Something I Said? on my record player at bedtime every night and listen to them until I fell asleep. The ability to get audiences to laugh at and find humor in often uncomfortable truths was a skill that has always amazed and impressed me.
Which is why I thought it worthwhile to remember the original free speech comedian of our era, Lenny Bruce. Born 100 years ago, and dying at a relatively young age of 40, Bruce was renowned and at times reviled for comedic routines that blended satire, politics, vulgarity, religion, and sex. In fact, Bruce was convicted of obscenity in 1964, a conviction that was not overturned until 2003.
Even for proponents of free speech, Bruce's routines were not for everyone. He could joke about being from a tough school where kids wrote essays titled "What I'm Going to be If I Grow Up." He could also go on a relatively humorous tirade with language that would make a sailor blush. But, perhaps, that was the point. Hopefully, it still is.
Making an Impact: A Peek at the Future of Fintech
Earlier this month at FinovateFall we launched a new initiative called The Impact Zone. This special program for fintech startups gives them access to highly curated conference content and demos, unlimited high-level meetings with financial institutions, banks, credit unions, and venture capital firms, and more.
"Focused on growth and scaling, these innovators are ones to watch," Finovate VP and Director of Fintech Demos Heather Stowell said. "Expect to see them on the Finovate stage soon!"
Our inaugural Impact Zone featured these eight startups: AiVantage.Global (CUSO) , Blue Street Data , CloudBankin , Hansa , Moneylab Technologies , Netswitch Technologies, Nextvestment , and Trieve . Learn more about these companies in our latest look back at FinovateFall 2025!
Photo by Sebastian Svenson on Unsplash
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
VP @ Finovate | Fintech Director @ Informa Festivals | J.D.
2dOh you can definitely tell a joke David Penn. Your Canary Island redux made us hip enough for that hidden San Francisco gem . . .