Has PayPal soured on crowdfunding?

AI Innovation, Business of Fintech

The new M&A logic of owning the workflow before AI does

• The recent wave of fintech deals suggests companies are taking ownership of the infrastructure powering future AI-driven commerce.
• That theme runs through the recent acquisition moves by NMI, Anthropic, Coupa, and SoFi.

Business of Fintech, Member Exclusive, Numbers with Narrative

Capital is flowing again, just not where the consensus says

• US fintech funding jumped 47% in Q1 2026, led by a surge in early-stage capital as investors shift focus to AI infrastructure.
• Massive influxes in Parallel Web and Rogo underline a flow of capital into agentic solutions.

Banking as a service, Business of Fintech, Member Exclusive

The infrastructure layer is still up for grabs as firms compete to establish its architecture

• Fintechs are moving from partners to principals — applying for charters, building proprietary rails, and underwriting from their own data
• The sponsor bank model isn't dead, but it's under pressure as firms like Affirm and SoFi bet that owning the infrastructure beats renting it

Artificial Intelligence, Business of Fintech, Member Exclusive, Payments

In the world of Stripe: Acquisitions, agentic AI, and stablecoins

• Stripe is making moves to dominate every layer of payments, from a potential PayPal acquisition to AI billing tools and stablecoin infrastructure.
• Stripe processed $1.9T in volume, its new AI billing tool tracks LLM usage in real time, and its x402 integration lets AI agents send and receive stablecoin payments autonomously.

Banking, Business of Fintech, Payments

Micro case studies: The feud over interest rate caps and the murky future of agentic commerce

• We dive into two stories. First, how Trump's proposed credit card rate cap benefits fintechs like Affirm and Bilt, who target consumers seeking alternative credit sources.
• Second, Amazon and Perplexity clash over AI shopping agents, revealing uncertainty about guardrails and customer relationship ownership in agentic commerce.