Thought Pieces

On the Heels of Fund III: Fintech’s Next Chapter

With the announcement of BTV Fund III, I wanted to share a few thoughts on fintech and the opportunity ahead.

Timing Is a Funny Thing

In some ways, timing doesn’t matter. As we’ve said for years, the demand for better financial infrastructure has always been there and always will be. But make no mistake: the timing for BTV Fund III couldn’t be better.

2025 has been a breakout year for fintech, both in sentiment and in market conditions. By nearly every measure, activity has surged: billions in acquisitions, a wave of IPOs, and a strong return of growth-stage capital.

Strategics Are Buying Again

Large incumbents are back in the M&A game, using acquisitions to expand product breadth and capture market share. A few examples below:

Melio acquired by Xero for $2.5B
Bridge acquired by Stripe for $1B
Best Egg acquired by Barclays for $800M
Brigit acquired by Upbound for $460M
MANTL acquired by Alkami for $400M

The IPO Window Has Reopened

Public markets are once again receptive to scaled fintech businesses. Circle, Chime, Klarna, Navan, and eToro have all gone public, while Wealthfront and Ethos have filed.

The Fintech Public Debutants 🔔

Company	Key Financials
Circle	EV ~ $33.7B Annualized revenue (Q2’25) → $2.12B Annualized growth rate → 53%
Klarna	EV ~ $10B Annualized revenue (TTM) → $3B Annualized growth rate → 21%
Chime	EV ~ $6.8B Annualized revenue (TTM) → $1.94B Annualized growth rate (Q2 2025) → 37%
Navan	EV ~ $5.1B LTM revenue → $613M Annualized run rate → 32%
eToro	EV ~ $2.3B Annualized revenue (2024) → $931M Annualized growth rate → 45%

* All financials as of EoD October 30th, 2025

Those Getting Ready to Go 🥊

Company

Key Financials

Wealthfront

AUM → $88.2B

LTM revenue → $339M

Annualized growth rate → 26%

Ethos

LTM revenue → $320M

Annualized growth rate → 57%

Adj EBITDA → $81M (25% margin)

* All financials as of EoD October 30th, 2025

Scale & Validation

We’ve learned more about what true scale looks like for fintech’s breakout companies.

Deel → $1.2B+ run-rate revenue; 16% EBITDA margins on $100M September revenue; profitable for 3+ years
Ramp → $1B gross run rate; +110% YoY; positive cash flow (as of September 2025)
Airwallex → $720M in annualized revenue, up 90% YoY, and > $130B in global annualized payments volume (as of May 2025)
Brex → $700M run rate; +50% YoY (as of September 2025)
Monzo → £1.2bn in annualized revenue (12 month period ended 31 March 2025) & £113.9m adjusted profit before tax

Growth Funding Is Flowing Broadly

Capital isn’t chasing just one “hot” corner of fintech. It’s flowing across payments, spend management, compliance, consumer, infrastructure, and vertical operating systems.

2025 Deal Highlights

Series G

Upgrade → $165M (Neuberger Berman) at a $7.5B valuation
Rippling → $450M at a $16.8B valuation

Series F

Ramp → $200M (FF) at a $16B valuation (June 2025) and then $500M (Iconiq) at a $22.5B valuation (July 2025)
Plaid → $575M at a $6.1B valuation
Airwallex → $300M at a $6.2B valuation

Series E

Wealthsimple → $535M (Dragoneer & GIC) at a $7.1B valuation
Deel → $300M (Ribbit) at a $17.3B valuation
Aven → $110M (Khosla) at a $2.2B valuation
Kin → $50M (QED) at a $2B valuation

Series D

Bilt → $250M (GC + GID) at a $10.75B valuation
Vanta → $150M (Wellington) at a $4.15B valuation
Ethic → $64M (State Street)

Series C

Mercury → $300M (Sequoia) at a $3.5B valuation
WeTravel → $92M (Sapphire)
Sardine → $70M (Activant)
Cardless → $60M (Spark)
Anrok → $55M (Spark)
Rogo → $50-$100M (Sequoia) at a $750M valuation

Series B

Highnote → $90M (Adams Street)
Rain (EWA) → $75M (Prosus) at a $340M valuation
Monarch → $75M (FPV + Forerunner)
Savvy Wealth → $72M (Industry Ventures)
Lead Bank → $70M (Iconiq + Greycroft) at a $1.5B valuation
Rillet → $70M (a16z + Iconiq)
Campfire → $65M (Accel + Ribbit)
Rain (stablecoin) → $58M (Sapphire)
Tabs → $55M (LSVP)
Taktile → $54M (Balderton)
Arch → $52M (Oak HCFT)
Yendo → $50M (FPV, Pelion, and others)
Rogo → $50M (Thrive)
Liberate → $50M (Battery) at a $300M valuation
Numeral → $35M (Mayfield) at a $350M valuation
Allocate → $30.5M (Portage)
ModernFi → $30M (Capani)
Aleph → $29M (Khosla)
Rainforest → $29M (Matrix + Infinity)

Looking Forward: Fintech × AI

While many of the milestones above validate fintech’s past decade, our focus is on the next one. We see massive opportunity at the intersection of financial services and AI.

AI is transforming technology faster than anyone expected, and we believe financial services are among the most compelling industries for AI application.

Why?

Trillions in aggregate market cap
Data-rich, regulated, document-heavy workflows
Massive cost-takeout opportunities
Incremental uplift yields outsized impact

Financial services require deeply vertical solutions. Many opportunities depend on regulatory or licensing advantages, areas general-purpose AI companies are unlikely to pursue. They will not, for example, obtain brokerage licenses, manage databases requiring specialized access, or handle state-specific filings. These are high-liability, low-scale problems that horizontal models are structurally unsuited to solve.

Similarly, regulated verticals require bespoke integrations and partnerships that are typically negotiated one by one, which diverges from the scalable, generalized approach large AI platforms are built for. That’s where vertical fintech builders will thrive.

The Next Chapter

We’re excited to see this new wave of fintech innovation, where AI and financial infrastructure compound to unlock businesses and opportunities we haven’t even thought of yet.

If you’re building at this intersection, we’d love to hear from you.

Onward.