Today in FinTech: Bridging Fiat, Crypto; Adaptive Infrastructure; Flexible Architecture, Complex Journeys

In Tuesday, May 31’s FinTech news, buy now pay later (BNPL) platform Affirm is teaming up with financial infrastructure firm Stripe to drive growth with Affirm’s Adaptive Checkout. BNPL startup Tranch is coming out of stealth after raising £3.5 million in funding and also partnered with cloud-based FinTech Yobota to drive fast and flexible payments to businesses, while FinTech startup Merge is striving to bridge the gap between fiat and crypto.

Merge Notches $9.5M Seed Funding to Bridge Fiat, Crypto

FinTech infrastructure startup Merge is emerging out of stealth and using its seed funding to further build out its application programming interface (API)-based banking and payments platform. The company is striving to bridge the gap between fiat and crypto ecosystems. The seed round was led by Octopus Ventures with participation from Hashed, Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research, Ethereal Ventures and several angel investors.

Affirm Teams with Stripe to Drive Growth

Buy now pay later (BNPL) firm Affirm is bringing its Adaptive Checkout tool to financial infrastructure firm Stripe. Adaptive Checkout uses Affirm’s smart decision engine to make real-time underwriting decisions and provide consumers with optimized bi-weekly and monthly installment options side-by-side.

BNPL Startup Tranch Raises £3.5M, Partners With Yobota

Tranch partnered with cloud-based FinTech Yobota to drive fast and flexible payments to businesses. Tranch also landed £3.5 million in pre-seed equity and debt funding as the startup comes out of stealth. Together, Tranch will tackle complex consumer journeys in the U.K. while Yobota offers flexible architecture and API capabilities.

Open Banking Firm Tarabut Gateway Partners With Four Saudi Banks

Bahrain-based open banking platform Tarabut Gateway is expanding into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) with four new banking partnerships — Riyad Bank, Saudi British Bank (SABB), Alinma Bank and Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF). The KSA has a population of 35 million, one of the largest in the Middle East. The region has a 98% internet penetration and 97% smartphone penetration for people aged 18 to 75.

Big Tech in the US Could Have Its Own Regulator Under New Bill

The U.S. Digital Platform Commission Act of 2022 proposed by Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Peter Welch would establish a new five-person commission tasked with protecting consumers in the age of Big Tech. The bill gleans ideas from around the world, in particular from other bills introduced in the U.S., Europe and the U.K.