Hey from San Francisco, fintech fam! 💜

I’m on the West Coast today speaking at Fiat Ventures’ Fintech Summit — a quick trip, but always energizing to be back in the Bay.

Behind the scenes, the last few weeks have been deep in 2026 planning mode. In addition to our first digital course drop (incoming!!) and closing out the year with our private membership community, The Academy of Fintech, we’re building what I’m calling our core four — the anchor events shaping next year’s Fintech Is Femme programming:

• Fintech Meetup Las Vegas (March 30–April 1, 2026)

• New York Fintech Week, featuring the Fintech Is Femme Leadership Summit + Fintech Security Summit (April 29, 2026)

• SF Fintech Week (September 30–October 2, 2026)

• Money20/20 (October 18-21, 2026)

We’re also developing custom content, series, and partner activations with our core sponsors — and inventory will run out.

If you’re in your own 2026 planning cycle, now’s the moment to connect. I’m locking in partner conversations before year-end and would love to make sure you’re part of it.

For today, I’ve got three stories that showcase how women in fintech are pushing boundaries — from embedded finance to creator-led product development to the new era of strategic distribution.

Let’s get into it.

#TRENDING

#1 Upward Raises $8M to Power the “Next 100 Neobanks” — and Partners With Mastercard

This week, my latest Forbes article dropped: Upward, a Seattle-based embedded finance startup serving creators, gig workers, immigrants, and small-business operators, raised $8 million co-led by Dundee Venture Capital and Breakwater Ventures.

That brings its total funding to $12 million — and marks a strategic moment for where embedded finance is heading.

A Different Kind of Infrastructure Play

The embedded finance market is worth $185 billion, but Upward isn’t trying to be another generic BaaS player.

Its mission is to power platforms built for people excluded by traditional systems.

As co-founder & COO, Danielle Hill told me: “We’re not trying to be the next neobank — we’re powering the next hundred of them.”

And the startup’s traction reflects it:

• 21x user growth

• $2 million annual revenue run rate

• $10M+ monthly payment volume

• 15+ partners serving nontraditional earners

They serve companies like Solo (gig workers), TipHaus (hourly earners), and Scout (student-athletes).

Why It Matters for Fintech

The next decade of fintech won’t be won by who builds the prettiest API.

It’ll be won by who builds infrastructure for the people traditional banks still abandon.

Upward is carving out that lane.

Their new Mastercard partnership now lets partners launch card programs without stitching together 5–7 vendors — a massive differentiator in a tightening regulatory landscape.

Read the full breakdown on Forbes: Fintech Startup Upward Raises $8 Million, Partners With Mastercard

#2 SoFi Hires Creator Vivian Tu Into the C-Suite

One of the most essential fintech news stories came from SoFi as the publicly traded fintech giant named creator and financial educator Vivian Tu (Your Rich BFF) as its Chief of Financial Empowerment.

This honorary yet high-impact executive role signals a massive shift in how fintech thinks about trust and the role creators play in the future of our industry.

As creator-economy strategist Monica Khan put it: “A creator just got a C-suite title at a $10B company,” she wrote on LinkedIn. “This isn’t another sponsored post deal. It’s a creator in the C-suite.”

The Old Model Is Dead

For the past decade, fintechs have thrown millions at influencers and Super Bowl ads hoping to “reach the next generation.”

But young consumers — especially women, first-gen wealth builders, and communities historically left out of finance — trust people, not institutions.

Vivian Tu didn’t grow her audience of 10 million by soft-selling savings accounts. She grew it by doing what banks failed to do: teach money like a friend, not a lecture.

SoFi finally stopped fighting that reality.

Instead of buying attention, they hired it.

So What Does a Chief of Financial Empowerment Actually Do?

According to the company’s announcement, Tu will:

• Co-create SoFi’s financial literacy content

• Build new educational resources across channels

• Lead a Generational Wealth Fund initiative launching in 2026

• Shape messaging and decisions inside the building — not just outside it

Let me be clear: this is not an honorary title.

This is distribution, cultural insight, and trust being brought directly into the product and strategy rooms.

It’s the same downstream effect Fintech Is Femme talks about every week:

Trust is the new fintech infrastructure.

And creators are the modern trust layer.

Why This Matters for Fintech (and Why This Was Inevitable)

Fintech has spent years trying to solve for two impossible problems:

1. Consumer trust

2. Consumer attention

Creators — the right creators — solve both.

Tu represents an audience that traditional finance abandoned:

first-gen wealth builders, women who’ve been mansplained out of investing, and young people navigating money without inherited guidance.

She didn’t just build content.

She built economic identity for millions of people.

By bringing her into the C-suite, SoFi isn’t “chasing TikTok.”

They’re acknowledging a power shift: the future of financial services is co-created with the people it serves.

What Happens Next

Khan called it too: “Your next CMO might have more TikTok followers than MBA credentials.”

And she’s not wrong.

But here’s where most fintechs will fail:

They’ll slap creators into “executive” roles with no influence, no access, no real seat at the product table.

The winners will be the fintechs that:

• Give creators decision-making power

• Integrate creators into product strategy

• Let creators advocate for the communities they represent

• Co-develop education, not just ads

• Build audience-first products, not the other way around

This isn’t influencer marketing.

This is community infrastructure.

This is the creator-to-C-suite pipeline.

This is what the next decade of distribution looks like in financial services.

And Yes — This Is Exactly What Fintech Is Femme Has Been Building Toward

For years, I’ve been saying:

Your audience is your economic engine.

And the leaders who understand how to translate trust into technology will define the future of fintech.

SoFi didn’t hire “a creator.”

They hired a cultural translator.

A trust architect.

A distribution engine in human form.

Every fintech founder should take note.

Every B2B fintech should be thinking about how creators inform the product, not just marketing.

And every brand in this industry is about to reassess how community is built — and who gets to lead it.

This isn’t a gimmick.

It’s a blueprint.

And it’s long overdue — and Fintech Is Femme is at the forefront of the B2B movement that’s coming next.

#3 Visa x Karat Team Up: The Creator Economy Is Now a Fintech Economy

Visa dropped its 2025 Creator Report this week at Web Summit — and it’s one of the clearest signals yet that fintech and the creator economy are now officially intertwined.

Visa surveyed creators across five regions — U.S., Brazil, UAE, UK, and Australia — and the findings show a global sector maturing fast:

Key Stats:

• 88% of creators expect revenue to grow next year (85% make $100K a year)

• 52% are paid by global audiences

• Most fund their work through personal savings & crowdfunding

• Payment delays are still one of the biggest pain points

• 94% say their families support their creator careers (a major cultural shift)

The Move That Matters: Visa x Karat

Visa is exploring a creator agent pilot in partnership with Karat, the fintech known for creator underwriting (credit cards based on engagement + revenue).

This pilot aims to solve the unsexy but essential problems creators face (I know from experience):

• Accounts payable/receivable automation

• Invoice reminders & follow-ups

• Smarter global payments

• Fraud protection via verified buyer/supplier databases

If SoFi validated creators at the executive table,

Visa is validating creators as small-business operators — at global scale.

Why It Matters

The creator economy isn’t “the future.”

It’s here.

And fintech is the layer that makes it viable:

• Creators need global payouts

• Creators need automated compliance

• Creators need business banking

• Creators need credit built on nontraditional data

Visa stepping in confirms the obvious:

Creators aren’t influencers — they’re micro-enterprises.

And the next decade of fintech will be defined by how well platforms serve them.

_{MARK YOUR CALENDARS}

Join us every Thursday to stay up to date on our fintech events! We are working on our next event, but until then…

[COMMUNITY] THE ACADEMY OF FINTECH 

We’re cooking up a ton of new events, content, courses, and moments to close out the year strong and set you up for an incredible 2026. One of our core initiatives — and truly the heart of our work — is our private membership community.

I created The Academy of Fintech last year with a simple intention:

to get real skin in the game with the readers who want to build alongside me.

To give you direct access to my resources, my team, and a community that’s committed to helping you grow your business, your influence, and your brand.

As we refresh and level-up the program heading into 2026, I’m excited to reopen applications and welcome a new wave of members. We’re growing — fast — and I want the right people in the room with us.

Here’s what you get inside the Academy:

✨ Two live virtual events each month

✨ Discounted tickets to all Fintech Is Femme summits

✨ Access to me, my team, and a powerful member community

✨ A trusted network of women (and allies) who truly want you to win

Our first members-only event of 2026 launches in February — and you won’t want to miss it.

More details soon, but for now…

_FINTUNES

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📚 Increase your expertise by ordering your copy of my book, Fintech Feminists: Increasing Inclusion, Redefining Innovation, and Changing the Future for Women Around the World.

⭐️ P.S. If you’ve read Fintech Feminists (or listened to the audiobook!), I’d be so grateful if you could take 30 seconds to leave a review or rating on Amazon here. Your support means the world to me. A million thanks in advance!

That wraps up today’s edition—thanks for reading!

Until next week, keep innovating and challenging the status quo. See you Tuesday!

Love,

Nicole 💜