Stacks Secures $10M to Automate Financial Close with AI

Stacks Secures $10M to Automate Financial Close with AI
Stacks Secures $10M to Automate Financial Close with AI

Hey FinTech Fanatic!

Amsterdam-based Stacks has raised $10 million across two funding rounds to expand its AI-powered accounting platform. The startup, founded last year by former Uber and Plaid product manager Albert Malikov, aims to eliminate the manual work of closing books—often a ten-day process involving spreadsheets—by providing a faster, automated solution.

EQT Ventures led a $3 million pre-seed round last April, followed by a $7 million round six months later, led by General Catalyst with participation from s16vc and angel investors like Gusto CFO Mike Taylor and Taktile CFO Simone Rüschenberg.

Great to see a startup from my hometown making moves in this space—especially one tackling such a real pain point for finance teams. Fun fact: Martijn Mulders, who works at Stacks, also organizes the Amsterdam chapter of my FinTech Running Club. We had a great run and coffee last Sunday, and I’m looking forward to the next one—though this Monday, it’ll be in San Francisco. Will I see you there?

Cheers,

Marcel


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FINTECH NEWS

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🇨🇦 How a once-hot FinTech’s AI bet led to bankruptcy. Bench Accounting, aiming to revolutionize bookkeeping for small businesses in an attempt to improve, turned to AI, introducing automation and laying off staff, including a bot named BenchGPT. However, the company's efforts culminated in a disastrous 2023 tax season, leading to bankruptcy in January 2024.

🇳🇬 Kuda and CEO face allegations of sex discrimination and unfair dismissal. An employment tribunal case has placed the digital bank under scrutiny over allegations of workplace discrimination, harassment, and wrongful dismissal. Rosemary Hewat, Kuda’s former Group CPO, filed a complaint accusing the company and its CEO.


PAYMENTS NEWS

🇺🇸 Solidgate introduces Verifi RDR Decision API (beta): Smarter, faster dispute resolution for merchants. This is an innovative dispute resolution tool that helps merchants handle disputes instantly and automatically without manual intervention. This solution is currently in beta, allowing early adopters to experience the benefits of real-time dispute management before full-scale rollout. 

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🇦🇪 Mastercard is launching One Credential, a single digitally connected credential that provides consumers and businesses with a multitude of scheduled payment options spanning debit, installments, prepaid and credit. Consumers can tailor their payment preferences, choosing to pay for daily expenses under $100, and pay for the occasional larger purchase via installments.

🇺🇸 Mastercard launches new product innovation. Mastercard Mid-Market Accelerator is its latest suite of small and medium-sized (SME) solutions designed for financial providers to meet the unique needs of their middle-market customers. Initially launching in the U.S., the new offering is expected to scale globally.

🇺🇸 Lili launches International Payments. This will enable its small business customers to both receive and send international payments in dozens of countries across North America, Europe, and Asia, helping them manage their operations and grow their businesses internationally.

🇨🇿 Eurowag debuts new Visa Card for fleet management. Once linked to a specific vehicle, the Eurowag Visa card offers contactless, cashless payment capabilities for refreshments and accommodation, while ensuring security against fraud. Customers can also pay for traffic violation fines using the card.


REGTECH NEWS

🇪🇺 eToro secures MiCA license for crypto offerings in Europe. The company stated that this authorization allows it to operate within Europe’s unified crypto regulatory environment, subject to submitting the relevant notification to each member state. Continue reading

🇬🇧 FCA and PSR report on digital wallets. Given the growth, the FCA and PSR engaged extensively with businesses and representative groups to assess the impact of digital wallets, finding significant benefits to consumers through greater convenience, enhanced security measures, and more.

🇨🇳 Hong Kong expands virtual asset push with new licensing and trading options. The Securities and Futures Commission will establish new licensing regimes for over-the-counter trading in virtual assets and for custody services, aiming to boost market efficiency and investor protections. 

🇪🇺 Sumsub launches next-gen ‘eSignature’ QES Verification throughout Europe. The innovative solution is designed to enhance security, compliance, and efficiency in remote user onboarding across the European Union and Norway, fully compliant with all national laws and eIDAS framework regulations.

🇳🇬 Nigeria suing Binance for $81.5 billion in economic losses and back tax.  Authorities blame Binance for Nigeria's currency woes and detained two of its executives in 2024 after cryptocurrency websites emerged as platforms of choice for trading the local naira currency.


DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

🇺🇸 Revolut's road to IPO will test FinTech’s hype. For neobank Revolut, the FinTech hype looks set to be tested, with co-founder Nik Storonsky recently flagging that backers will want an initial public offering “sooner or later” and that the US looks a preferable listing destination.

🇬🇧 Lanistar hit with second winding-up petition in less than six months. The latest petition application was filed by Accomplish Financial Limited, a payments solution provider working with Lanistar. The new filing follows a previous winding-up petition in September by its London landlord over unpaid rent. 

🇺🇸 HSBC sees $1.8 billion in revamp-related costs. The bank expects to incur these expenses by the end of next year related to an overhaul initiated by its new CEO to cut long-term costs and boost profits while navigating diverging interest rate policies and geopolitical turmoil.

🇪🇸 CaixaBank is launching the “Cosmos” plan. The plan proposes to articulate the bank's technological strategy in the upcoming years around four major objectives: enhancing agility and commercial capability, developing new services through innovation and simplification, boosting efficiency, and strengthening its platform with top-tier security.

🇲🇽 Openbank launches in Mexico. The bank is now up and running across all of Mexico with a comprehensive suite of everyday banking products that includes interest-bearing accounts, debit and credit cards, and cash withdrawals at 10,000 Santander ATMs.

🇬🇧 BNP Paribas' Securities Services Business adopts Broadridge's Global Class Action Solution to help clients identify and act on asset recovery opportunities. This includes a seamless process for identifying, filing, and recovering investment losses, backed by Broadridge's industry expertise.

🇷🇴 FinTechOS launches Evolv, bringing advanced AI capabilities to banks and insurers. Evolv enables institutions to leverage the power of Agentic AI, Generative AI, and advanced automation to deliver unique customer experiences, modernize administrative processes, and drive smarter business decisions.

🇮🇩 GoTyme Indonesia offers flexible financing for MSMEs with Danabijak and Olsera. The program allows eligible merchants using the Olsera point-of-sale platform to access business loans without needing collateral. The application process is fully digital and can reportedly be completed in under 10 minutes. 


BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS

🇨🇭 Curve Finance founder raises funds at $50 million token valuation for new project Yield Basis. The project aims to initially help tokenized bitcoin and ether holders earn yield from market making by mitigating impermanent loss, according to a pitch deck obtained by The Block. 

🇺🇸 Crypto custody firm BitGo adds OTC trading as it mulls IPO. The expansion comes as demand for cryptocurrencies from institutional investors such as hedge funds increases with prices rising. BitGo is considering an initial public offering. Read more


PARTNERSHIPS

🇸🇪 Nordic FinTechs Two and Avarda team on white-label payments service. Through this collaboration which combines Two’s expertise in BNPL for B2B with Avarda’s leading B2C payment capabilities, businesses across the Nordics, can offer both B2B and B2C payment options within a single, customizable, and branded checkout experience. 

🇬🇧 Salad Money seeks to make loan repayments simple with NatWest’s Payit. Salad Money customers can link their bank accounts to enable digital loan payments which is supported by Strong Customer Authentication for an added layer of security. Payit provides customers with an additional payment method that allows them to manage their loan repayments. 

🇩🇪 Aevi and IXOPAY partner to unify global payment systems for merchants. This collaboration addresses the growing complexity merchants face in managing payments across multiple channels, providing a streamlined, flexible solution that helps businesses adapt to an evolving payments landscape.

🇬🇧 Planixs partners with Finastra to deliver real-time liquidity solutions for banks. This partnership offers Finastra customers the option to implement Realiti’s real-time capabilities, supporting compliance with the BCBS 248 intraday reporting requirements while delivering significant benefits in cash management, funding efficiency, and liquidity risk management, all in real-time. 

🇪🇬 XPay partners with Huawei Cloud Services to back digital payments. The collaboration aims to strengthen XPay’s role in Egypt’s digital payment sector by using Huawei’s advanced cloud technology. Read more


DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS

🇺🇸 Stacks raises $10 million for AI-Powered financial close solution. The company says the funding will help Stacks advance its effort to let finance teams and artificial intelligence (AI) agents collaborate to close books faster and eventually with one click. Click for more info


M&A

🇺🇸 LexisNexis Risk Solutions completes IDVerse acquisition. This acquisition expands LexisNexis’ capabilities in risk and fraud solutions and enhances digital identity onboarding and identity verification through AI-powered technology. Continue reading


MOVERS AND SHAKERS

🇬🇧 Former Revolut UK CEO James Radford takes over the reins at Volopa. Radford will lead the development of the business, alongside a senior management team, which was strengthened in 2023 when Volopa acquired the UK branch of the American Express FX team.


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