🚀 Revolut hit $75B valuation, Fifth Third's partnering with Brex for commercial cards, and the Fed just delivered a hawkish rate cut with three dissents. Meanwhile, Goldman's betting $200M on software delivery at a $5.5B valuation.
Finance moves
Fifth Third signs deal making fintech firm Brex the provider of its commercial cards
Fifth Third struck a deal with Brex to make the fintech firm the provider of its commercial cards and expense management tools for business clients. The program will run on Brex's embedded payments platform and be backed by AI tools.
What this signals: Traditional banks are outsourcing fintech capabilities instead of building them internally. Fifth Third recognizes Brex's platform is more advanced than what they could build in-house. It's a win for embedded finance, fintech companies powering legacy bank infrastructure.
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "Banks partnering with fintechs instead of competing with them is the new normal. Fifth Third's deal with Brex shows that building payment infrastructure from scratch takes too long and costs too much."
Nexus isn't going all in on AI, keeping half of its new $700M fund for India startups
While many venture firms seem to only have eyes for AI these days, Nexus Venture Partners is deliberately splitting its focus for its new $700 million fund. The firm will back AI startups and seek out India-focused startups in consumer, fintech, and digital infrastructure.
Why this strategy matters: Most VCs are going all-in on AI. Nexus is betting that India's consumer, fintech, and infrastructure markets still offer massive opportunities independent of AI hype. That's disciplined capital allocation.
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "Nexus's split strategy shows conviction in non-AI opportunities. India's fintech market is still underserved: digital payments, credit scoring, and identity infrastructure have room to grow. While everyone else chases AI, Nexus is betting on fundamentals. That's smart diversification when AI valuations are frothy."
SoFi's stock drops on $1.5 billion share sale announcement
SoFi announced the public offering of $1.5 billion in stock. The share sale comes after the fintech company's market cap almost doubled so far in 2025. Stock prices often fall when companies announce offerings because the share sale dilutes the value of existing holders' stakes.
The pattern: Fintech companies that raised capital at high valuations during the boom years are now either doubling down on growth or shoring up balance sheets. SoFi's raise suggests they're still in growth mode, but dilution always hurts existing shareholders short-term.
Oleksandr Koshytskyi, Lead Designer at Lazarev.agency: "Stock dilution announcements always trigger selloffs, but the real question is capital allocation. If SoFi's using $1.5B to acquire users or expand product lines profitably, the dilution pays off long-term. If they're burning cash to defend market share, it's a warning sign."
5 big takeaways from Wednesday's Fed rate decision
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved a much-anticipated quarter percentage point interest rate cut at a meeting packed with intrigue and surprises.
The five takeaways:
- The hawkish cut is real, kind of. Wall Street anticipated the Fed would deliver caution along with the cut. Markets didn't mind: stocks posted solid gains while Treasury yields fell.
- Three dissents is a lot. While a 9-3 vote might suggest broad support, three dissents are significant — the most since September 2019. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee voted "no," along with two others. Six of 19 participants said they wouldn't have voted for the cut.
- The dots held. The "dot plot" of individual officials' rate views remained largely unchanged, with the median indicating just one cut in 2026 and another in 2027 before the fed funds rate settles around 3%. Markets mostly took the committee at its word, though futures pricing pointed to a 38% chance of two cuts next year.
- Bond buying is back (kind of). The Fed will buy $40 billion of short-term bills starting Friday as part of a monthly program aimed at stabilizing funding markets. Some market participants viewed this as stealth easing positive for risk assets.
- Chair Jerome Powell was upbeat about growth. "We have an extraordinary economy," said Powell, who has just three meetings left as chair. FOMC officials raised their 2026 GDP outlook by half a percentage point to 2.3%.
Why this matters for fintech: Interest rates directly impact lending margins, deposit rates, and customer behavior. Slower rate cuts mean higher borrowing costs persist longer, which pressures fintech lenders but benefits neobanks offering high-yield savings accounts.
Investments, fundings, valuations
Goldman Sachs leads investment in software delivery startup Harness at $5.5 billion valuation
Harness is raising $200 million in a round led by Goldman Sachs, and is planning a $40 million tender offer to cash out longtime employees. The software delivery startup co-founded by Jyoti Bansal now brings in more revenue than AppDynamics at the time he sold the company to Cisco for $3.7 billion in 2017.
Why Goldman's investing: Software delivery is critical infrastructure for every tech company, including financial institutions. Goldman's betting that companies will pay premium prices for reliable deployment tools. At a $5.5B valuation, they're betting big.
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "Software delivery infrastructure is unglamorous but essential. Banks and fintech companies can't afford deployment failures, downtime costs millions. Harness solves a painful, expensive problem. That's why Goldman's investing. When infrastructure companies hit these valuations, they're already printing money."
Wall Street funds back Ripple in the deal with rare investor protections
Ripple secured about $500 million in funding from major Wall Street firms in November, lifting its valuation to roughly $40 billion. The deal includes uncommon investor exit protections that now influence market risk models.
What's unusual: Investor exit protections are rare in venture deals. They give investors guaranteed liquidity windows, reducing their risk if Ripple doesn't IPO or get acquired on expected timelines.
Oleksandr Koshytskyi, Lead Designer at Lazarev.agency: "Exit protections signal that investors don't fully trust the path to liquidity. Ripple's $40B valuation is impressive, but if Wall Street's demanding guaranteed exit windows, they're hedging against downside. For product teams, this means pressure to prove revenue growth and path to profitability accelerates. You can't stay private forever at these valuations."
Venture investing highlights
Vatn Systems banks $60 million Series A
Vatn Systems, a defense technology company building autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for the US military, allied nations, and commercial customers, raised $60 million in Series A funding.
Why this matters: Defense tech is attracting serious capital. Autonomous underwater vehicles serve military, surveillance, and commercial applications. When Series A rounds hit $60M, it signals high capital requirements and massive contracts in the pipeline.
Channel3 secures $6M seed funding
Channel3, the company building the connected database of every product on the internet, announced its $6 million seed round led by Matrix, with participation from Ludlow Ventures, Paul Graham, Sri Batchu, and Matteo Franeschetti. The investment underscores growing momentum around agentic commerce, a new channel of AI-driven shopping experiences.
Why it matters: AI shopping assistants need structured product data. Channel3 is building the layer that makes agentic commerce possible. If AI shopping takes off, Channel3 becomes essential infrastructure.
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "Agentic commerce depends on data infrastructure. AI shopping assistants can't work if they can't access accurate, structured product information. Channel3 is betting on becoming the product data layer for AI commerce. If they succeed, they own a chokepoint in the future of shopping. That's why Paul Graham and Matrix are backing them."
Surf banks $15M funding
Surf, the AI intelligence platform for digital assets, raised $15 million led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and DCG. The funding will support the development of Surf 2.0 and expand Surf's enterprise offering.
Why crypto VCs are betting on it: Institutional crypto adoption depends on professional-grade tools. Surf is building Bloomberg Terminal for crypto and crypto VCs want to own the infrastructure.
Danylo Dubrovsky, Senior UX/UI designer at Lazarev.agency: "Crypto tools have historically been retail-focused and poorly designed. Surf's betting that institutional adoption requires professional-grade UX."
Bobyard seals $35 million Series A
Bobyard, the AI platform transforming how contractors perform construction takeoffs and estimates, announced a $35 million Series A led by 8VC, with participation from Pear VC, Primary Venture Partners, Tishman Speyer, RXR, Caffeinated Capital, and Merrick Ventures.
Oleksandr Koshytskyi, Lead Designer at Lazarev.agency: "Construction tech is ripe for disruption because the workflows are painful and error-prone. Bobyard's $35M Series A shows investors believe AI can finally solve problems that have plagued contractors for decades. The UX challenge is building for users who aren't tech-savvy, construction workers need tools that work in the field."
What's coming next week
More fintech partnerships, more rate decisions, and probably another neobank hitting a valuation that makes traditional banks nervous. We'll separate sustainable growth from inflated valuations.
🔥 Stay sharp. Stay with Lazarev.agency, your AI design agency for fintech.
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