🚀 CVC's acquiring Marathon Asset Management for $1.2B, Revolut launched full banking in Mexico, and Norway's sovereign wealth fund made $247B in 2025. Meanwhile, new unicorn Mesh raised $75M at $1B valuation, and software stocks fell on Microsoft-SAP cloud concerns.
Fintech industry moves
CVC bolsters US credit market presence with Marathon Asset Management acquisition
CVC is to acquire Marathon Asset Management, a New York-based credit manager, for a base consideration of up to $1.2 billion.
The deal involves a mix of cash and equity: $400 million in cash and up to $800 million funded through CVC equity. Additionally, the agreement includes earn-out consideration linked to Marathon's future financial performance from FY2027 to FY2029, of up to $200 million in cash and $200 million in CVC equity.
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "CVC's $1.2B Marathon acquisition shows private credit consolidation is accelerating. Banks can't or won't lend to certain segments, so private credit fills the gap. The earn-out structure aligning $400M to performance through 2029 keeps Marathon's team incentivized. For fintech platforms offering embedded lending, this validates that alternative credit infrastructure is valuable and scalable."
Revolut completes Mexico expansion with launch of full banking operations
Revolut reports their official launch in Mexico, going live with its Mexican digital banking division Revolut Bank S.A Institución de Banca Múltiple (Revolut SA IBM). After running an early-access programme with thousands of Mexican customers using beta services, the fintech is now rolling out "a full suite of digital banking services tailored to the needs of the Mexican market." Revolut secured final authorization from the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) to launch as a multiple banking institution in Mexico in October last year.
Oleksandr Koshytskyi, Lead Designer at Lazarev.agency: "Revolut's Mexican banking license is a strategic market entry. Operating as a licensed bank instead of partnering with local banks gives Revolut control over products, pricing, and UX."
Scoro acquires expense management fintech Envoice
Scoro acquired Envoice, a bill and expense management platform based in Estonia, for an undisclosed sum. The deal merges new automation capabilities from Envoice, with integration "already in closed beta." Incorporated in 2014, Envoice provides over 15,000 businesses and accounting firms in 30 countries a bill and expense management platform which utilizes AI to streamline manual tasks like categorization, data extraction, and approval workflows.
Danylo Dubrovsky, Senior UX/UI designer at Lazarev.agency: "Scoro acquiring Envoice is vertical integration, owning both project management and expense management creates stickier customers. When two platforms merge, workflows need to feel seamless. If users experience friction switching between project tracking and expense reporting, the acquisition value erodes. Good integration UX makes the seams invisible."
Saxo Bank fined around $50M by Danish FSA
According to FinTech Futures, the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA) issued an administrative fine of DKK 313,000,000 (approximately $50 million) to Saxo Bank for alleged violations of Denmark's Money Laundering Act. The fine is based on the company's failure to comply with requirements for obtaining information regarding the purpose and intended nature of customer relationships, as well as ongoing monitoring for white label clients (WLC), during January 2021 to May 2023.
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "Saxo Bank's $50M fine shows that regulatory compliance can't be outsourced or ignored. White label platforms carry regulatory responsibility for end customers, even if they never interact with them directly. For fintech platforms offering white-label infrastructure, this means compliance UX is critical: onboarding flows, KYC checks, and monitoring dashboards need to surface compliance gaps before regulators find them."
Sokin lands $100M debt facility to drive global expansion
Sokin secured a $100 million debt facility from Oxford Finance to support expansion across North America, Asia, the Middle East, and South America. Sokin operates offices across nine countries and offers a payments platform enabling businesses to send and exchange more than 70 currencies. Through multi-currency IBAN and local currency accounts, global businesses can hold balances in 26 different currencies.
Oleksandr Koshytskyi, Lead Designer at Lazarev.agency: "Sokin's $100M debt facility is infrastructure for cross-border payments. When you enable 70 currencies, you need capital to maintain liquidity in each."
Lunar bags €46M for Nordics expansion
Nordic digital bank Lunar secured a €46 million capital increase from existing shareholders and new investors, including London-based fintech investor 100A. Lunar says the capital will scale "business banking, develop its lending proposition, and support continued expansion across the Nordics," specifically naming Norway and Finland as target markets. Lunar first expanded into Norway in 2019 and launched Lunar Block, its in-app trading platform, in 2025.
Danylo Dubrovsky, Senior UX/UI designer at Lazarev.agency: "Lunar's Nordic expansion strategy is a smart regional focus. Instead of going global immediately, they're dominating adjacent markets with similar characteristics."
Float lands $73.5M in debt facilities to expand business finance offerings
Float secured $73.5 million ("nearly $100 million CAD") through two debt facilities from Silicon Valley Bank and an unnamed Canadian bank to enhance its business account product. Launched in September 2025, the business account combines "chequing account flexibility with savings account returns." The product supports ACH/EFT transactions, allows Canadian firms to receive and hold USD payments, and facilitates currency conversions between USD and CAD.
What Float is building: Hybrid business accounts that pay interest like savings but work like checking. For Canadian businesses dealing with USD, it simplifies currency management.
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "Float's $73.5M debt facility is capital to fund the float, the gap between when businesses deposit funds and when they withdraw. Float needs to design an account UX that makes hybrid functionality feel natural."
World's largest sovereign wealth fund made $247 billion
According to Reuters, Norway's $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, made $247 billion in 2025. The fund holds stakes in many of the world's biggest companies, including Apple, Nvidia, and JPMorgan Chase. CEO Nicolai Tangen said: "Stocks in technology, financials and basic materials stood out, making a significant contribution to the overall return."
Why fintech notices: When the world's largest fund makes $247B primarily from tech and financials, it validates that fintech and technology infrastructure are driving global returns.
Investing and stocks news
Software stocks fall premarket as Microsoft and SAP results weigh
Software shares fell sharply in premarket U.S. trading Thursday after updates from Microsoft and SAP raised fresh questions about the durability of cloud and AI spending. Microsoft slid about 7% despite posting stronger-than-expected quarterly results. The company reported adjusted earnings of $4.14 per share on revenue of $81.3 billion, both ahead of analyst forecasts. But investors focused on slowing momentum in Azure, where revenue rose 39%, only marginally above expectations and slightly weaker than the prior quarter's pace.
Oleksandr Koshytskyi, Lead Designer at Lazarev.agency: "Microsoft dropping 7% despite beating earnings shows that markets care about growth trajectory. Azure growing 39% is impressive, but investors expected acceleration. For fintech product teams building on Azure, this doesn't change functionality, but it signals that cloud pricing might stabilize instead of dropping as growth slows."
Dow's 230-point drop led by losses for Microsoft, Salesforce shares
Dragged down by declines for shares of Microsoft and Salesforce, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down Thursday morning. Shares of Microsoft (down 12.36%) and Salesforce (down 7.59%) contributed to the blue-chip gauge's intraday decline, with the Dow most recently trading 230 points lower (-0.5%).
Why Salesforce dropped: Cloud software growth concerns are spreading beyond Microsoft. When market leaders decelerate, investors question whether entire sectors are overvalued.
Venture capital fundings
New unicorn Mesh raises $75M Series C
According to CoinDesk, Mesh officially entered the fintech unicorn club after securing $75 million in a Series C funding round led by Dragonfly, propelling the crypto payments startup to a $1 billion valuation. Paradigm, Moderne Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, SBI Investment, and Liberty City Ventures supported the round, which follows an $82 million Series B in March last year.
What Mesh does: Based in San Francisco, Mesh operates proprietary SmartFunding technology enabling merchants and consumers to transact using both fiat currencies and cryptocurrency.
Danylo Dubrovsky, Senior UX/UI designer at Lazarev.agency: "Mesh's $1B valuation shows that crypto payments work when UX hides blockchain complexity. Merchants don't want to manage wallets, gas fees, or network congestion. They want 'accept crypto' to work like 'accept Visa.'"
Zocks lands $45M Series B to expand agentic AI capabilities
US-based fintech Zocks secured $45 million in a Series B funding round, bringing total funding to $65 million since its 2024 launch. The round was co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and QED Investors. Founded in 2022 by CEO Mark Gilbert, Zocks offers an AI-powered assistant for financial advisors. The platform automates manual tasks such as client onboarding, meeting preparation, and document processing, while providing actionable data and insights from client communications.
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "Zocks's $45M for agentic AI shows that automation for financial advisors is a real market. Advisors are paid to advise. But the UX challenge is trust, advisors need to verify that AI completed tasks correctly without rechecking everything manually. When agentic AI requires constant verification, it doesn't save time. Zocks needs to design transparency that builds confidence without creating oversight burden."
What's coming next week
More private credit consolidation, more neobank geographic expansions, and probably another cloud software stock dropping despite beating earnings. We'll keep tracking where fintech infrastructure meets capital efficiency. If you're building fintech that bends categories, we're the design team that provides:
- UX/UI design for AI & ML products
- Fintech product design with real-world constraints in mind
🔥 Stay sharp. Stay with Lazarev.agency, your AI design agency for fintech.
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