Wednesday 4 November: Pliant raises $80M, 9 more rounds
Consolidation ran through the day’s stories: Bilt agreed to buy sports loyalty platform LAVA for $300M, UMB signed for California’s El Dorado Savings Bank at about $506M, and Fourthline and Veridas closed their identity-verification merger. On the funding side, Hoxton Wealth took its first outside capital since 2018, a $135M commitment from Aspirity Partners, and Krungsri Finnovate joined Amity’s Series D. Grey won Nigerian central bank approval for inbound transfers.
The lead
What is new: Fourthline and Veridas closed their merger on 3 November, after announcing the agreement on 16 July.
Why it matters
Two identity-verification vendors serving neobanks such as Revolut and N26 now sit in one company, so fintechs buying KYC face fewer independent suppliers and a larger one with an €85M ARR target.
Coverage note: our round capture increased in September 2026, so the Index currently overstates market activity.
Our news
• Sequoia Capital closes its London office and will cover Europe from the Bay Area — Sequoia Capital is closing its London office, and several people will leave the firm.
• Grey secures CBN approval to operate as an international money transfer operator in Nigeria — Grey, a cross-border payments company backed by Y Combinator, has received approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate as an international money…
• UMB Financial agrees to buy El Dorado Savings Bank for about $506M — UMB Financial, based in Kansas City, Missouri, has agreed to acquire El Dorado Savings Bank, a federal savings bank in Placerville, California, founded in…
• Bilt acquires sports loyalty platform LAVA in a $300M deal — Bilt has acquired LAVA in a deal valued at $300 million.
The rounds
10 today · 37 in the last 7 days
Company · Round · Lead investor · Amount
• Hoxton Wealth · strategic minority investment · Aspirity Partners I · $135M
• Krungsri Finnovate · Series D · EDBI · $100M
• Pliant · Unnamed round · Seaya Nova · $80M
• Lazarus AI · Unnamed round · — · $43M
• Guava · Pre-seed · Acrew Capital · $12.5M
• mamun · Seed · — · $3M
• Blue Skies Space · fund commitment · British Business Bank · £2M
• Crediflow AI · Seed · NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance · £1.5M
• Amity · Series D extension · — · Undisclosed
Quick hits
Payments
• US Toast added about 8,500 net new locations in the third quarter to roughly 189,000, with annual recurring run-rate up 24% to $2.5B, and said it will defend itself against the FTC lawsuit. — PYMNTS
Builders Fintech Funding Index
Number of the day 143.4 · This week 30 rounds · Baseline 20.9
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7,141 companies · 7,540 investors · 9,967 rounds
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