Hi there and welcome to Funded, where we spotlight the early-stage bets on the future of tech. Today, we look at Layer, a San Francisco-based AI-enabled financial accounting platform that enables SMBs to integrate accounting into the software platforms they already use to run their daily operations. The co announced a $6.6 million seed round […]
To many — if not most — fintechs, data is a lifeblood that powers innovative underwriting, analytics, product development, and other progressive processes that help a burgeoning subsector viably square off against large incumbents. But many consumers have traditionally banked with these large incumbents, who hold much of this needed data. Open banking, which grants […]
“What we are hearing in the marketplace, and what we feared all along, is that without this rule being finalized and codified, you will start to see some anti-competitive behavior.” — FTA CEO Penny Lee To many — if not most — fintechs, data is a lifeblood that powers innovative underwriting, analytics, product development, and […]
June saw a who’s who of corporate ventures submit bank charter applications to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, including Nissan (filing for Industrial Loan Company status); stablecoin operators Circle, Ripple, BitGo, and Protego; and paytech stalwart Wise. Some of these applications are clear attempts to gain direct access to federal payments rails […]
It’s easy to get lost in the doom loop around AI—job loss, deepfakes, copyright battles, the slow erosion of critical thinking. No shortage of headlines there. But in all the talk of AI’s existential risk, it’s just as easy to overlook its existential opportunity: the chance to fundamentally reshape how we solve some of our […]
AI agent sprawl is coming — how can enterprises keep them all in line? If you caught that viral clip of an AI tool running dozens of X accounts at once, you saw more than a stunt — you saw the future. Enterprises are now betting big on AI agents — bots that can perceive, […]
“The people who always see a door, and if there isn’t a door, draw a door, and it turns into one, because they can manifest it through sheer will —that type of thing is what I look for.” Asking venture investor Kanyi Maqubela to describe the throughlines that render his hodge-podge-y gamut of investments at […]
How sales and marketing teams can tap into AI to predict pricing pushback. A priority of Future Nexus, like many firms, is exploring where we can put AI to work on real business challenges. How to price products, build better workflows, and scale without outsourcing the work that defines us (critical thinking in writing, anyone?). […]
Hi there and welcome to Funded, where we spotlight the early-stage bets on the future of tech. This week, we’re looking at Paraform’s $20 million Series A, a sharp counterpoint to the wave of AI-first recruiting tools focused on outreach automation and resume screening. Paraform is doubling down on the value of human expertise, and […]
As a massive omnibus makes its way through the US Congress amid massive cuts to government programs, care-adjacent fintechs weigh their options–and futures In its current iteration, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — an all-encompassing omnibus projected to add $2.4 trillion to the US budget deficit over the coming decade — includes substantial cuts […]