At FinTech Futures, we know that it can be easy to let funding announcements slip you by in this fast-paced industry. That’s why we put together our weekly In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) funding round-up so you can get the latest funding news.
RateX lands $7m funding round
Margin and spot yield trading protocol RateX has secured $7 million in funding to develop what it describes as the world’s first universal structured finance layer on Solana.
The funding round brings RateX’s total capital raised to $10.4 million, with backing from Animoca Ventures, Gate, Rzong Capital, BGX Capital, Summer Capital, ECHO, GSR, Crypto.com’s venture arm, and additional investors.
Under founder Sean Hu’s leadership, RateX operates as a yield trading protocol on Solana that provides users access to leveraged farming strategies and fixed-income instruments through advanced tokenisation mechanisms that separate principal and yield. The firm positions its long-term objective as becoming the “universal structured finance layer for all on-chain markets”.
The raise follows the company’s launch of RateX V2, named Mooncake, which, according to the company, enables a “permissionless, liquidation-free leveraged token market, expanding the protocol’s existing yield infrastructure into a fully composable leverage ecosystem”.
Kaaj bags $3.8m seed round
AI-powered credit intelligence platform Kaaj has completed a $3.8 million seed funding round led by Kindred Ventures, with participation from Better Tomorrow Ventures, Karman Ventures, Pythia Ventures, Coughdrop Capital, and angel investors.
The San Francisco-headquartered company automates credit analysis processes, including cash flow analysis, asset valuation, credit memo generation, application ingestion, and business verification.
Since launching last year, the Kaaj reports processing over $5 billion in loan applications. The funding will support product development, team expansion, and deeper partnerships with lenders and brokers.
UAE start-up Kingpin secures $3.5m seed round
Kingpin, a UAE-based AI-native Software-as-a-Service fintech, has raised $3.5 million in seed funding to enhance its global distribution platform.
Founded by CEO Harsh Sajnani and COO Guilherme Soares, Kingpin describes itself as “the AI revenue engine for B2B retail”, serving over 300 distributors and brands across multiple retail sectors.
The platform connects “people, products, pricing, and processes within a single ecosystem”, according to a company statement, enabling merchants to manage discovery, sales, and fulfilment operations through AI agents that “validate prospects, access verified contacts, and personalise outreach”.
Infinity Ventures led the round, with managing partner Mario Ruiz noting that Kingpin is “bringing AI-native infrastructure to one of the largest and least-automated sectors of the global economy”. Additional support came from Red Swan Ventures, Mu Ventures, COTU, Outliers, and Hub71.
The cash injection will be used to expand Kingpin’s engineering and product teams, extend operations beyond the Middle East into Europe and North America, and bolster the firm’s AI capabilities.
Tether invests in Web3 infrastructure provider Parfin
Stablecoin cryptocurrency heavyweight Tether has made an undisclosed investment into Web3 infrastructure provider Parfin.
Tether, which also recently backed fellow blockchain infrastructure services start-up Transak, says the investment reflects its commitment to supporting financial institutions in leveraging its stablecoin (USD₮) as a “core settlement asset for high-value use cases”, such as yield-bearing credit markets, global transactions, and real-world asset tokenisation.
Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CEO, emphasises the importance of strengthening the bridge between traditional finance and blockchain technology to achieve “global, unrestricted access to financial freedom and real-world digital asset use cases”. Ardoino notes that Parfin demonstrates a “strong commitment to bridging this gap” and highlights the investment as reflecting belief in Latin America being one of the “global powerhouses for blockchain innovations”.
Established in 2019, Parfin serves Latin American financial institutions with trading, digital asset custody, and tokenisation tools, alongside its private and public blockchain for financial institutions called Rayls, introduced in 2024. The Tether investment comes one year after Parfin completed a $10 million Series A round led by ParaFi Capital to expand its presence in Asian, Latin American, and European markets.
Zengo Wallet lands backing from MoonPay Ventures
Israeli crypto wallet Zengo Wallet has received an undisclosed investment from MoonPay Ventures, the investing arm of crypto payments company Moonpay, launched in 2023, focused on boosting Web3 adoption.
The funding has been earmarked to help the self-custodial cryptowallet, which serves over two million individuals and businesses across more than 180 countries, in upcoming product launches.
The deal has also seen MoonPay become the exclusive payment provider for Zengo’s buy and sell crypto features, enabling users to fund their wallets through bank transfers, cards, and other typical payment methods like Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Venmo.
