Knight FinTech Raises $23.6M… and Quietly Becomes India’s First Soonicorn of 2026
Hey Digital Banking Fanatic!
Knight FinTech just raised $23.6M in a Series A led by Accel, pushing total funding past $30M.
That officially makes it India’s first Soonicorn of 2026. Knight sits deep in the infrastructure layer, powering co-lending, digital lending, treasury, and embedded finance.
The scale is already there. Around 70% market share in digital co-lending infrastructure. More than $7B in cumulative disbursements. Over $5B in active AUM.
Founder and CEO of Knight FinTech, Kushal Rastogi, put it this way: “ We chose to keep innovation and client obsession at the centrepiece, while building business with strong unit economics and long-term valued partnerships."
India’s credit and treasury rails keep expanding, and Knight is becoming one of the companies holding that system together...
👉 Airwallex Doubles Down on Europe with €200M Investment
Airwallex said it will invest around €200M in the Netherlands over the next five years, marking a major step in its European expansion.
The Melbourne-founded FinTech plans to grow its Amsterdam team by about 60%, reaching roughly 70 employees by the end of 2026.
The investment follows Airwallex’s stated goal of being IPO-ready by 2026, as the company shifts its growth focus toward Europe and the Americas after years centered on Australia and Asia-Pacific.
If you’re tracking where Digital Banking infrastructure is scaling next, scroll down and catch today’s updates 👇 Tomorrow I'll be back in your inbox with more stories!
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NEWS
🇳🇱 Tencent-backed FinTech Airwallex to invest in the Netherlands. Airwallex said on Monday it will invest around 200 million euros ($233.64 million) over the next five years in the Netherlands, marking a major European expansion as it shifts focus from its Asia-Pacific base.
🇮🇳 Knight FinTech secures $23.6 million in Series A funding. The new capital will be deployed to further strengthen Knight FinTech’s AI-native product roadmap, with a clear focus on outcomes, better risk intelligence, fraud detection, automated credit underwriting, early-warning systems, portfolio monitoring, and debt recovery systems.
🇪🇸 Tuum appoints Renato Cassinelli as Head of Marketing to drive strategic growth. A seasoned B2B FinTech marketing leader, Renato brings over 15 years of experience building high-impact marketing engines across financial services and SaaS.
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🇬🇷 Euronet to buy merchant acquiring biz in Greece, Lloyds to shutter invoice financing biz. Under the terms of the deal, CrediaBank will transfer its merchant acquiring business to Euronet Merchant Services Payment Institution, which operates in Greece as epay.
🇺🇸 OakNorth appoints former Seccl exec Tom Harris as CTO. In his new position, Harris will oversee OakNorth's various technical initiatives, including its partnership with OpenAI, inked last year, and ongoing US expansion. Read more
🇧🇪 Belgium’s itsme® is acquiring the Dutch bank-backed ID service iDIN in a strategic move toward a pan-European digital identity standard, combining iDIN’s reach of about 13 million Dutch users with itsme’s adoption by more than 80% of Belgian adults and operations across 30 countries.
🇪🇬 Bank NXT partners with IBM and Inspire to power next-generation digital banking. This integrated approach is designed to improve resilience, minimize downtime, optimize IT resources, and deliver faster, more reliable digital banking experiences for its customers.
🇺🇸 Axos Bank joins Qualia's Bank Partner Network to enhance digital real estate closings. This strategic collaboration integrates Axos Bank's specialized title and escrow banking services with Qualia's digital real estate closing platform, creating a streamlined transaction experience for settlement service providers nationwide.
🇺🇦 Revolut is closing Ukrainian accounts due to local legislation requirements, notifying users from December 22 and allowing time to withdraw funds. The company continues to operate only EU-based accounts, has informed regulators of its plans to obtain a Ukrainian banking license, and acknowledges that offering hryvnia accounts requires local regulatory approval.
🇺🇸 JPMorgan cut off two stablecoin startups despite using a banking intermediary. JPMorgan’s decision to freeze accounts linked to two crypto payment startups has once again exposed the fragile link between fintech and traditional banking. BlindPay and Kontigo lost access to banking services after the bank flagged compliance risks tied to their operations.
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