As Fintech Funding Falls to Seven-Year Low, Founders Debate Bootstrapping vs VC
'It's no longer about who raises the most,' says Dima Kats, CEO and Founder of Clear Junction. 'It's about who builds something that lasts. Bootstrapping forced us to focus on efficiency, product-market fit, and real value – not hype.'
But not all fintech sectors are suffering equally. Payments stood out as a rare bright spot, with global investment rising to $31 billion – up from $17.2 billion the previous year. Analysts point to infrastructure innovation, market consolidation, and improved investor confidence as key drivers.
As fintech's investment landscape shifts from growth-at-all-costs to sustainability, the funding paths chosen by founders are under renewed scrutiny. That question takes centre stage at Money20/20 Europe 2025, where two prominent fintech leaders will go head-to-head in a debate titled: Bootstrapping vs. Backers: The Fintech Funding Showdown.
Dima Kats, CEO and Founder of leading global payments service provider Clear Junction, and Babs Ogundeyi, Founder and Group CEO of Nigerian neobank Kuda, will share radically different perspectives on how to build and scale a fintech under pressure.
Kats built Clear Junction without external capital, scaling it into one of Europe's fastest-growing companies (FT1000, 2025). Ogundeyi, meanwhile, turned to venture funding to rapidly launch and expand Kuda – one of Africa's first challenger banks, now serving millions of customers.
'It's no longer about who raises the most,' says Kats. 'It's about who builds something that lasts. Bootstrapping forced us to focus on efficiency, product-market fit, and real value – not hype.'
'We had no time to lose,' says Ogundeyi. 'Millions were excluded from the financial system. Venture funding helped us build quickly with other knowledgeable and experienced people to meet urgent needs.'
With investor appetite beginning to cautiously return in 2025 – albeit with more conservative deal sizes and heightened expectations – the discussion is expected to resonate with founders, funders, and policymakers alike.
Moderated by Simone Ishikawa, founder of fintech and impact startup consultancy ishikoo, the session will examine:
Would either business have survived on the other's funding path?
The trade-offs between control, speed, and mission
Whether founders can stay true to their purpose under investor scrutiny
How funding models shape strategy in emerging vs. developed markets
What both leaders wish they had known at the start of their journeys
'We're not here to pitch a playbook,' says Kats. 'We're here to show what it really takes.'
'Trust and inclusion are at the heart of both our missions,' adds Ogundeyi. 'But we chose different paths.'
About Clear Junction
Clear Junction helps regulated financial institutions access and manage cross-border payments, with a focus on operational security backed by strong compliance and risk management practices. The Group is licensed and approved by regulators in the UK, EU, and Canada to provide payment and crypto services. Through its extensive bank network and proprietary technology, Clear Junction offers reliable payment infrastructure, correspondent account services, and access to major clearing networks. By filling the gaps left by traditional providers, Clear Junction enables businesses to operate efficiently and expand globally.
For more information, visit:.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Wire
11 minutes ago
- Business Wire
NinjaOne Appoints Geoff Davies as VP and Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand
SYDNEY--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- NinjaOne ®, the automated endpoint management platform, today announced the appointment of Geoff Davies as Vice President and Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Davies brings more than 15 years of experience leading high-performance sales teams across the region. As VP and Country Manager, Davies will be responsible for growing NinjaOne's business across Australia and New Zealand and continuing to make NinjaOne customers and partners wildly successful. As we continue to grow our presence in the region and deliver best-in-class value to IT teams and MSPs, Geoff will bring a unique perspective that will help NinjaOne, our customers, and our partners thrive. Share Prior to NinjaOne, Davies led enterprise sales for ServiceNow in ANZ for more than a decade, scaling the region more than 8X. Under his guidance, his team consistently exceeded annual revenue targets and significantly grew the ANZ customer base. Davies also held senior sales leadership roles in other high-growth SaaS organizations, most recently as Regional Vice President of Commercial and Enterprise Sales for ANZ at Elastic. His leadership style focuses on collaboration, teamwork, and delivering meaningful value for the company and its customers. 'Geoff is a proven sales leader with a deep understanding of the ANZ market and a passion for making his team and customers successful,' said John Sapone, Chief Revenue Officer at NinjaOne. 'As we continue to grow our presence in the region and deliver best-in-class value to IT teams and MSPs, Geoff will bring a unique perspective that will help NinjaOne, our customers, and our partners thrive.' 'Joining NinjaOne at this pivotal moment in rapid growth is the opportunity of a lifetime,' said Davies. 'The company's commitment to fostering community and customer success is unmatched in the industry, and it's clear that the leadership team is relentlessly focused on continuing to identify and solve customer pain points. I look forward to working with my fellow Ninjas and our partners to simplify IT for customers across Australia and New Zealand.' NinjaOne is hiring globally and across all departments. To learn more, visit: About NinjaOne NinjaOne, the automated endpoint management platform, delivers visibility, security, and control over all endpoints for more than 30,000 customers in 130+ countries. The cloud-native NinjaOne platform simplifies endpoint management, patching, and visibility for environments at any scale. It is proven to increase productivity, reduce security risk, and lower costs. NinjaOne is obsessed with customer success and provides free and unlimited onboarding, training, and support. Try NinjaOne for free at
Business Wire
11 minutes ago
- Business Wire
KBRA Assigns Preliminary Ratings to AHPT 2025-ATRM
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KBRA announces the assignment of preliminary ratings to eight classes of AHPT 2025-ATRM, a CMBS single-borrower securitization. The collateral for the transaction is a $653.0 million floating rate, interest-only mortgage loan. The loan is expected to have an initial two-year term with three, one-year extension options and require monthly interest-only payments. The loan will be secured by the borrowers' fee simple and leasehold interests in 14 hotels located in 11 states. In addition, the loan may be secured by the leasehold interest in one additional hotel, which is not expected to be part of the loan collateral as of the origination date, but which may become part of the collateral upon receipt by the related borrower of an executed estoppel certificate from the related ground lessor within nine months of loan closing and satisfaction of certain other conditions. For the TTM 5/2025 period, the portfolio's occupancy was 71.2% with an average daily rate (ADR) of $168.35, resulting in revenue per available room (RevPAR) of $119.82. As of TTM 5/2025, the portfolio achieved weighted average occupancy, ADR and RevPAR penetration rates of 109.4%, 109.5% and 120.5%, respectively. KBRA's analysis of the transaction included a detailed evaluation of the property's cash flows using our North American CMBS Property Evaluation Methodology, and the application of our North American CMBS Single Borrower & Large Loan Rating Methodology. In addition, KBRA also relied on its Global Structured Finance Counterparty Methodology for assessing counterparty risk in this transaction, and its ESG Global Rating Methodology, to the extent deemed applicable. The results of our analysis yielded a KBRA net cash flow (KNCF) for the portfolio of approximately $63.2 million, which is 10.0% below the issuer's NCF, and a KBRA value of approximately $582.9 million, which is 34.7% below the aggregate of the appraiser's individual as-is values for each property. The resulting in-trust KBRA Loan to Value (KLTV) is 112.0%. In our analysis of the transaction, we also reviewed and considered third party engineering, environmental, and appraisal reports, the results of our site inspection of the property, and legal documentation review. To access ratings and relevant documents, click here. Click here to view the report. Methodologies Disclosures Further information on key credit considerations, sensitivity analyses that consider what factors can affect these credit ratings and how they could lead to an upgrade or a downgrade, and ESG factors (where they are a key driver behind the change to the credit rating or rating outlook) can be found in the full rating report referenced above. A description of all substantially material sources that were used to prepare the credit rating and information on the methodology(ies) (inclusive of any material models and sensitivity analyses of the relevant key rating assumptions, as applicable) used in determining the credit rating is available in the Information Disclosure Form(s) located here. Information on the meaning of each rating category can be located here. Further disclosures relating to this rating action are available in the Information Disclosure Form(s) referenced above. Additional information regarding KBRA policies, methodologies, rating scales and disclosures are available at About KBRA Kroll Bond Rating Agency, LLC (KBRA), one of the major credit rating agencies (CRA), is a full-service CRA registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an NRSRO. Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe Limited is registered as a CRA with the European Securities and Markets Authority. Kroll Bond Rating Agency UK Limited is registered as a CRA with the UK Financial Conduct Authority. In addition, KBRA is designated as a Designated Rating Organization (DRO) by the Ontario Securities Commission for issuers of asset-backed securities to file a short form prospectus or shelf prospectus. KBRA is also recognized as a Qualified Rating Agency by Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission and is recognized by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners as a Credit Rating Provider (CRP) in the U.S. Doc ID: 1010558
Business Wire
an hour ago
- Business Wire
Pagaya Closes Upsized $500 Million 8.875% Senior Unsecured Notes Offering, Signaling Strong Investor Confidence
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pagaya Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: PGY) ('Pagaya' or the 'Company'), a global technology company delivering AI-driven product solutions for the financial ecosystem, today announced the successful closing of its upsized offering of $500 million of 8.875% senior unsecured notes due 2030 (the 'notes'). Net proceeds from the offering will be used primarily to refinance the existing higher-cost term loan and other secured borrowings. The transaction marks a significant milestone in Pagaya's evolution as a public company, establishing it as one of the first fintechs to access the high-yield unsecured debt markets. Backed by strong demand from many of the world's leading institutional investors, the deal was upsized and approximately 5 times oversubscribed. 'Executing a $500 million high-yield offering with significant investor demand is a milestone that reflects the strength of our financial profile and the institutional support of our platform,' said Gal Krubiner, Co-Founder and CEO of Pagaya. 'This achievement strengthens our ability to scale, drive sustained profitability, and deliver long-term shareholder value.' By refinancing legacy debt and eliminating associated debt amortization, Pagaya further improves its GAAP Net Income profitability and expects to generate approximately $40 million of annualized cash flow savings, based on first quarter 2025 performance, resulting from the following: ~$30 million in reduced debt amortization (a portion of the annualized first quarter 2025 payments made to secured borrowings and long-term debt) and approximately $12 million in annual interest expense reduction. The transaction is expected to lower Pagaya's cost of debt by nearly 200 basis points, while maintaining generally flat net leverage. This offering builds on Pagaya's capital strategy, establishing repeatable access to public debt markets, enhancing capital flexibility, and broadening its long-term investor base. The Company is now rated by all three major credit agencies: S&P, Moody's, and Fitch. 'This transaction is the result of our disciplined financial strategy designed to strengthen our financial foundation, accelerate profitability, and unlock shareholder value,' said Evangelos Perros, CFO of Pagaya. 'By replacing higher cost secured debt with long term unsecured capital, we are improving our operating leverage, cash generation, and strategic positioning in the marketplace.' About Pagaya Technologies Pagaya (NASDAQ: PGY) is a global technology company making life-changing financial products and services available to more people nationwide, as it reshapes the financial services ecosystem. By using machine learning, a vast data network and an AI-driven approach, Pagaya provides comprehensive consumer credit and residential real estate products for its partners, their customers, and investors. Its proprietary API and capital solutions integrate into its network of partners to deliver seamless user experiences and greater access to the mainstream economy. Pagaya has offices in New York and Tel Aviv. Cautionary Note About Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements give our expectations or forecasts of future events and can generally be identified by the words 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'continue,' 'can,' 'could,' 'estimate,' 'expect,' 'intend,' 'may,' 'opportunity,' 'future,' 'strategy,' 'might,' 'outlook,' 'plan,' 'possible,' 'potential,' 'predict,' 'project,' 'should,' 'strive,' 'will,' 'would,' 'will be,' 'will continue,' 'will likely result,' and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the expected benefits of the notes offering. Actual results may differ from those set forth in this press release due to the risks and uncertainties associated with market conditions and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions related to the offering and the other risks and uncertainties described in the Company's filings with the SEC, included under the heading 'Risk Factors' in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent filings with the SEC. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's views with respect to future events as of the date hereof and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties. The Company cannot provide any assurances regarding its ability to effectively apply the net proceeds of the offering or achieve the benefits described in this press release. Given these uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, reflect the Company's current beliefs and are based on information currently available as of the date they are made, and the Company assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, which is made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
