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IndustryUpdate

ANNOUNCEMENTS OatFi raises $24M to build modern
B2B credit network
Alkami, MANTL among OatFi, a fintech focused on modernizing B2B payment
'Best Places to Work in Fintech" financing, raised $24 million in Series A funding led
by White Star Capital, with continued support from
Alkami Technology and its newly acquired subsidiary, Portage and QED. OatFi embeds underwriting, origina-
MANTL, were named to American Banker's 2025 Best tion and funding capabilities into B2B payment plat-
Places to Work in Fintech list. This recognition, Alkami forms through deep API integrations, enabling seamless
stated, highlights their shared commitment to innova- financing within accounts payable, accounts receivable,
tion, collaboration and employee growth. The award and commercial card workflows, the company stated,
celebrates top fintech employers across sectors like adding that its solution addresses the long-standing ten-
banking, payments and insurance. sion between buyers' and suppliers' cash flow needs by
providing real-time, behind-the-scenes credit infrastruc-
Alkami's acquisition of MANTL united two cultur- ture. With over 25 platform integrations and partners,
ally aligned, mission-driven companies, enhancing their OatFi plans to expand its modern credit network sup-
ability to help financial institutions onboard and grow porting the $35 trillion U.S. B2B payments market.
customer relationships through a comprehensive digital
platform, Alkami noted. Leaders from both companies Restive opens applications for
emphasized their people-first cultures and shared vision 9th Fintech Founder cohort
to build a transformative workplace and deliver indus-
try-leading solutions. Restive Ventures is now accepting applications for its
ninth cohort, targeting early-stage fintech founders,
Bluefin wins 2025 Fortress Cybersecurity Award especially those leveraging AI to transform financial ser-
vices. Open through July 15, 2025, the program offers at
Bluefin, a provider of payment and data security, won least $500,000 in funding, plus tailored support from top
a 2025 Fortress Cybersecurity Award from the Business fintech operators, regulators and investors. Since 2018,
Intelligence Group for its ShieldConex Orchestration Restive-backed startups have raised over $800 million in
platform. Honored in the Leading Cybersecurity follow-on capital and generated $5 billion in enterprise
Products and Services category, ShieldConex enables value, the firm stated, noting that it seeks technical, engi-
enterprises to securely manage payment and sensi- neering-led teams rethinking legacy financial workflows
tive data across platforms without vendor lock-in. The across payments, infrastructure, compliance and more.
processor-agnostic solution features vaultless, real-time Previous cohorts drew global applicants, with over 70
tokenization and point-to-point encryption, supporting percent being AI-native companies, Restive added.
both card-present and card-not-present transactions.
Vanguard releases book on future global economy
The awards recognize innovation and leadership in
cybersecurity. Bluefin CEO John M. Perry said the honor Vanguard recently released Coming Into View, a new
reflects the company's commitment to giving organiza- book by Joseph H. Davis Ph.D., the firm's global chief
tions control, flexibility and resilience amid rising cyber- economist. The book introduces a data-driven approach
security threats. to evaluating how megatrends like AI, fiscal deficits and
demographic shifts will reshape the global economy.
Embracing AI officially launches Davis challenges conventional economic assumptions
and explores how AI-driven productivity may coun-
Embracing AI, a new alliance of tech leaders including teract challenges like declining population growth and
Tintri, Silicon Sky, Accure and Pix Force, launched to
help organizations accelerate and simplify AI adoption. rising debt. Backed by decades of Vanguard research,
Coming Into View provides insights into navigating
The group offers a full-stack, production-ready solution
that unifies infrastructure, automation, AI models and uncertainty and preparing for a future that will likely
diverge sharply from the past.
expertise—addressing common barriers to operational-
izing AI, the alliance stated.
RESEARCH
With a focus on security, scalability and real-time
insights, Embracing AI aims to turn enterprise data into ABI finds cyberattacks spur
actionable intelligence. Highlighting its values of preci- rapid adoption of tokenization
sion and performance, the alliance was the title sponsor
in the recent Champ Car "Double Down at The Glen" Payment tokenization is gaining momentum as a vital
race symbolizing AI's transformative speed and impact. security solution in digital transactions, with ABI
Research projecting token service provider revenue to
surpass $1 billion by 2031. Fueled by rising cybersecu-

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