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Hey, fintech fam! 💜

This NY Tech Week, I took a different approach—fewer events, more creating. While I attended a few key events, I spent most of my time doing what I do best: building content, capturing stories, and doubling down on the future of the Fintech Is Femme ecosystem.

I stayed focused—on the platform, on our growing community, and on the leaders shaping what’s next.

The move is all about making sure the content I’m serving up—whether in your inbox or your LinkedIn scroll—is sharp, actionable, and built to help you grow. Think of it as your weekly dose of the right blueprints, at the right time, to build what’s next.

Today, I have three new stories highlighting how fintech evolves with AI, infrastructure, profitability, and identity. Plus, there's a throwback podcast episode filled with leadership insights that remind us to focus, grow, and maintain momentum.

Let’s get into it.

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What’s Up In Fintech

Every Thursday, I bring you the latest fintech news and trends, delivering the key insights that matter most to the industry—and you.

#1 Fintech’s Growing Up — And The Best Is Still Ahead

I’ve always been bullish on fintech — and now we’ve got fresh data to back it up.

After a turbulent few years, fintech is hitting its next phase of evolution, according to the Global Fintech Report from BCG and QED Investors, published this week. Global revenues jumped 21% year-over-year, profitability is real for nearly 70% of public fintechs, and the industry is officially outpacing traditional financial services growth.

This is a turning point worth paying attention to.

The report outlines five key trends that will shape fintech’s future. Their insight reflects what I’ve long believed — we’re entering a chapter shaped by powerful technology, deeper customer relationships, and sharper expectations around both impact and profit. 

But this isn’t the finish line — we’re just getting started.

Here’s what stood out to me from the research — and where I see opportunity for founders, funders, and fintech leaders to keep pushing the industry forward.

1. Agentic AI Is Real — and It’s Just Getting Started

The report calls agentic AI one of the biggest transformations since the internet. That’s not hyperbole — it’s accurate. AI is already reshaping how fintech products are built, launched, and scaled. And the next leap — autonomous agents that can take actions, not just deliver insights — could redefine the entire customer experience.

The opportunity here is massive, especially for founders who think intentionally about human-first design. AI that amplifies, not replaces. That drives financial equity, not just margin. That’s the future we need — and the one fintech is uniquely positioned to build.

2. Onchain Finance Is Moving from Hype to Infrastructure

Stablecoins and cross-border payments are just the beginning. The real unlock? Tokenizing traditionally illiquid assets — private credit, real estate, funds — and embedding that functionality into trustworthy, interoperable systems.

We’re still early, but this is where fintech’s creative edge will shine: building access points, creating UX people trust, and developing infrastructure that can go the distance. 

3. Challenger Banks Are Expanding with Purpose

I loved this point: the most successful challenger banks are focusing less on geographic expansion and more on deepening their value with existing customers. That means building smarter deposit products, going upstream to serve more affluent users, and growing with their community instead of spreading too thin.

In a world where trust is currency, they’re not trying to be everywhere. They’re aiming to matter more where they already are.

4. Lending’s Next Chapter Is Ripe with Possibility

There’s still enormous white space in fintech lending — especially in business credit, secured lending, and underserved segments.

The report rightly points out the rising role of private credit funds and improved underwriting models. But what excites me most is the chance to build lending tools with financial education and transparency baked in — tools that serve not just risk models, but real human needs.

5. B2B(2X) and Infrastructure Are the Next Frontier

This might be the most underrated space in fintech right now. We’re talking accounting, treasury, embedded payments — the building blocks that fuel modern businesses.

These aren’t flashy categories, but they’re incredibly powerful. And they’re especially impactful when built by diverse operators who understand the overlooked friction points in systems and workflows. The next breakout fintech might not be a consumer app — it might be an API.

6. Content x Community = The Growth Engine Fintech Needs

This one’s not in the report — but it should be.

Some of the strongest fintech brands aren’t just building great products. They’re creating ecosystems of trust through smart, intentional content and community. That’s how you win in an era where customer acquisition costs are sky-high and attention is the most valuable currency –you create built-in distribution. 

The next wave of scaled fintechs will be built by founders who don’t just know how to code — they know how to tell a story, start a conversation, and rally a community around a shared mission. That’s where loyalty is forged — and that’s where growth becomes sustainable.

Where Fintech Goes From Here

What the BCG x QED report shows — and what I see every day — is that fintech is stabilizing, growing, and maturing in meaningful ways. The momentum is real.

But if we want to make the most of this moment, we need to stay focused on a few core truths:

• Inclusion is a driver of innovation.
  

• Financial education should be baked in from the start.
  

• Trust has to be built — through design, delivery, and consistency.
  

The $13 trillion opportunity ahead isn’t going to unlock itself. It’s going to take vision, bold execution, and a broader commitment to building a financial system that actually works — for more people, in more places.

This is fintech’s new era. And if you’re here for that future? You’re right on time.

#2 Brex Reimagines Treasury—And Redefines the Fintech Playbook

In a market where most fintechs are still dependent on rented infrastructure, Brex is raising the bar.

This week, the 8-year-old company with a reported $12.3 billion valuation announced what it calls “the highest-returning and lowest-risk treasury product on the market,” offering up to 4.37% APY, same-hour liquidity, and zero hidden fees.

It’s a bold claim—and one that marks a clear turning point not only for Brex, but for how treasury services are built and delivered across the industry.

Brex co-founder and CEO Pedro Franceschi framed the launch as more than a product release. “We’re raising the bar for what a business account should deliver,” he wrote on LinkedIn. And crucially, “no one else can match what we do.”

The Long Road to Differentiation

Brex’s advantage doesn’t stem from cosmetic features. It comes from five years of building its own broker-dealer (Brex Treasury LLC), a direct partnership with Dreyfus at BNY Mellon, and eliminating layers of financial intermediaries that typically eat into customer returns. 

Franceschi put it plainly: “Most fintechs rent financial infrastructure. It’s fast to launch, but impossible to control.”

By taking the longer, more complex route, Brex controls both the trade and settlement processes, enabling cash to move in same-hour windows—far faster than the industry norm of next-day settlement.

Importantly, Brex avoids risky yield-generating strategies like commercial bonds that can expose businesses to principal loss. Instead, it relies on government money market funds (MMFs), using its direct model to pass the full return to customers. “And the more you deposit, the more you earn,” Franceschi added.

A Broader Shift Toward Profitability and Scale

The announcement comes on the heels of Brex’s enterprise momentum.

The company now serves over 150 public companies, including Robinhood, Arm, Anthropic, and ServiceTitan. According to reports from TechCrunch, Brex projects $500 million in net revenue in 2025, reflecting a 3x year-over-year revenue growth. Enterprise growth alone is up 80% over the past year.

Brex also closed a $235 million revolving credit facility in January—adding to the over $1.5 billion it has raised in primary and secondary transactions since its founding.

Why This Matters

Brex’s latest move offers a glimpse into what fintech’s next chapter could look like—one where infrastructure ownership becomes a competitive advantage, and where safety, yield, and liquidity are not mutually exclusive.

For founders and CFOs, this product reframes treasury as a strategic lever—enhancing runway, preserving capital, and providing faster access to funds.

For the broader fintech ecosystem, it challenges the status quo. Control over infrastructure isn’t just about margins—it’s about trust, resilience, and the ability to innovate without constraint.

And for the market? It’s a signal that Brex isn’t playing for growth at all costs. It’s building for longevity, with the foundations to prove it.

As fintech matures, the companies that take the hard path—owning their stack, protecting their customers, and thinking years ahead—are the ones that will lead.

Brex is making a compelling case that it’s one of them.

#3 Agentic AI Gets Real—And Accountable—with Anonybit

The race to integrate AI agents into enterprise workflows is officially on. But as adoption accelerates, one essential question is finally demanding serious attention: Can we trust the agents acting on our behalf?

This week, identity startup Anonybit announced an answer—and a major first for the market. In partnership with no-code AI platform SmartUp, the company has launched the first live deployment of agentic commerce secured by decentralized biometrics.

If you’ve been following the rise of agentic AI (think AI agents handling end-to-end business tasks), you know the promise is massive. McKinsey estimates trillions in potential productivity unlocked through agent-led automation. Gartner predicts that by 2026, 80% of digital workers will rely on these agents. But until now, one foundational challenge has held the space back: identity.

Who—or what—is really behind each AI action? And how do we verify that in a way that’s secure, private, and scalable?

Anonybit CEO Frances Zelazny puts it plainly:

“Agentic commerce holds incredible promise for efficiency and scale, but without identity, it also introduces serious risks around trust, fraud, and control.”

The company’s decentralized biometric and identity infrastructure changes that. It ties agent actions directly to authenticated users, creating a verifiable identity layer for agent-driven systems. It’s a foundational architecture for the future of AI-powered enterprise operations.

Why This Matters

AI agents aren’t just coming—they’re already here. From procurement to payroll, agents are being deployed to replace manual tasks with intelligent automation. But without a way to bind those agents to real people, companies face serious risks: fraudulent approvals, data breaches, regulatory noncompliance.

Anonybit’s platform is designed to solve this, without compromising privacy. It uses decentralized biometrics across multiple modalities (face, voice, iris, etc.) without storing that data in one place—eliminating a single point of failure. It also integrates a data vault for sensitive information and a token management system that scopes and authorizes what agents can do, and when.

It’s zero-trust meets real-time AI execution—and it works.

This architecture is already replacing manual processes across procurement and supply chain workflows. As SmartUp Co-founder Moishe Shemtov noted:

“With Anonybit’s identity infrastructure, we ensure our agents are not only autonomous, but accountable.”

What Comes Next

This tech isn’t just for back-office automation. The same identity-bound agent model can power:

• Open banking and payment approvals

• Customer service agents that actually know who you are

• HR flows from onboarding to payroll

• Regulatory and compliance enforcement in real time

The truth is, AI automation doesn’t work without trust—especially in fintech, where money, identity, and risk intersect. Anonybit isn’t just securing the future of agentic AI.

It’s proving that ethical innovation is a growth strategy.

As our ecosystem shifts toward intelligent automation, startups that build with transparency, security, and accountability at the core will lead.

Identity isn’t a feature. It’s the foundation. And for fintech builders watching the agentic wave rise, this might be your blueprint.

_{MARK YOUR CALENDARS}

Join us every Thursday to keep up with fintech events!

As we wrap up NY Tech Week, I figured I’d take a break from live events this week to share one of my favorite #throwback episodes of Fintech Mavericks.

[PODCAST] Leading with Purpose: The Next Chapter of Ellevest with Emily Green

When Emily Green joined Ellevest in 2017, the fintech startup was managing just $40 million in assets—a bold player in a male-dominated industry with an even bolder mission: get more money into the hands of women.

Fast forward to today, and Ellevest has surpassed $2 billion AUM. But scaling isn’t the most impressive part of this story—it’s how they’ve done it.

Rooted in purpose, led by values, and unafraid to pivot when the market (and their clients) demand something different.

In this episode of Fintech Mavericks, we sat down with Emily, Head of Wealth Management at Ellevest, to unpack one of those pivotal decisions: sunsetting their robo-advisory product and transitioning clients to Betterment.

It’s a move that raised eyebrows—but for Ellevest, it’s all about focus.

By stepping away from the crowded robo space, they’re doubling down on what they do best: high-touch wealth management and financial planning designed specifically for women.

Our conversation dives deep into:

• How Ellevest is helping women navigate the Great Wealth Transfer,

• why today’s investors are demanding values-aligned financial strategies,

• and what it really takes to lead through industry shifts without losing sight of your mission.

Emily also shares candid stories from her leap out of corporate finance, the early days of building alongside Sallie Krawcheck, and the leadership lessons that come with scaling a company designed to change not just portfolios, but lives. Listen now on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

_FINTUNES

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That wraps up today’s edition—thanks for reading! Until next week, keep innovating and challenging the status quo. See you Tuesday!

Love,

Nicole 💜