FinTech IPO Index Surges Nearly 14%, Driven by Crypto and BNPL Momentum

The majority of names in the FinTech IPO Index traded lower through a tumultuous five sessions of stock market activity that was dominated by tariffs.

But, when you have a company whose shares spike more than 820%, that’s enough to move the whole group upward. That was the case this last week, as the overall Index surged 13.8%.

Janover was the standout here, leaping a staggering 827%.

Janover’s Transformation

Janover’s shares soared on the heels of news that, as PYMNTS detailed, the real-estate focused firm plans to accelerate its acquisition of digital assets after raising $42 million. The company will start by acquiring digital assets in the Solana ecosystem through U.S. public market.

Janover also disclosed that majority ownership in the company has been acquired by a team of former leaders of crypto platform Kraken, who are “dedicated to bridging the liquidity gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi),” according to the release.

Two members of the group that acquired Janover have been appointed by the board of directors to roles at the company: former Kraken Chief Strategy Officer Joseph Onorati is now chairman and CEO of Janover, and former Kraken Engineering Director Parker White is now chief investment officer and chief operating officer.

The board has adopted a treasury policy in which the principal holding in its treasury reserve on the balance sheet will be allocated to digital assets, starting with Solana (SOL), and the company will consider acquiring Solana validators and acquiring and staking SOL through them. The firm will continue operating its core real estate platform, and plans to change its name to DeFi Development Corp.

BNPL Names Gain Ground

Affirm shares gathered 6.4% alongside Sezzle’s 13% gain, as BNPL stalwarts proved a safe haven. The conventional wisdom holds that even in an uncertain inflationary environment, paying over time will continue to hold some appeal for consumers mulling how to pay for everyday expenses.

As reported this week, Affirm and Shopify have expanded their pay-later offering beyond U.S. borders. Shopify merchants in Canada who have signed up for early access can begin offering the Affirm-powered Shop Pay Installments program, marking its first availability outside the U.S. Shop Pay Installments will be made available in general access to Shopify merchants in Canada and the U.K. this summer.

Among names that led to the downside, Asia-based companies in the FinTech IPO Index fared poorly (along with whipsaw trading seen on exchanges in the region). Huize and Futu were down a respective 24.6% and 23%. Open Lending, which is focused on the automotive finance market, plunged 28.5%. The auto industry is among the most vulnerable to tariffs and trade wars, and supply chain and pricing shocks too.

In an announcement, Flywire said it had deployed integrations with Ellucian, a software firm focused on the higher education space. The firms said that Flywire’s new integration pathway with Ellucian Ethos, Ellucian’s API layer, enables institutions to accelerate their implementations of Flywire’s solutions.  Flywire shares were down 9.5%.

SoFi lost 1%. The company’s Galileo Technology said that its new Galileo Deposit Sweep facilitates the data exchange and reporting framework for FinTechs that collaborate with a deposit sweep provider and participating banks. The product identifies customer accounts designated for deposit sweeping, automates funds transfers above a defined threshold and ensures the transfer of excess funds into designated high-yield accounts.