Ant International raised $1.2 billion in Series A equity financing. The company plans to use the capital to expand cross-border payments and agentic commerce, and to strengthen merchant payments and account management capabilities.
9:43 AMPYMNTS8 stories from 6 sources
Payments infrastructure attracts the day’s biggest startup capital
Day’s Recap
Supporting Articles
Ant International closed a Series A equity financing of about $1.2 billion. The round adds fresh capital to its global payments and fintech expansion plans.
5:25 AMFinextraAugustus, previously Ivy, raised $180 million in Series B funding to expand a federally chartered banking platform that gives financial institutions direct access to US dollar accounts and payment rails. The company plans to scale its services for fintechs and banks, with a focus on customers in Latin America and Southeast Asia.
8:42 PMPYMNTSNatural, a US fintech building a payments stack designed for AI agents, raised $30 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Kirsten Green at Forerunner.
8:01 PMFinextra9:43 AMPYMNTS
Ant International Raises $1.2 Billion to Boost Cross-Border Payments
Summary
Ant International raised $1.2 billion in Series A equity financing. The company plans to use the capital to expand cross-border payments and agentic commerce, and to strengthen merchant payments and account management capabilities.
Why it matters
A $1.2 billion Series A signals renewed investor appetite for scaled FinTech infrastructure and raises the bar for cross-border payment competitors.
5:25 AMFinextra
Ant International raises $1.2 billion in Series A round
Summary
Ant International closed a Series A equity financing of about $1.2 billion. The round adds fresh capital to its global payments and fintech expansion plans.
Why it matters
A $1.2 billion raise signals Ant can keep investing aggressively in global payments infrastructure while others retrench.
8:42 PMPYMNTS
Augustus Raises $180 Million to Build Clearing Bank for Stablecoins
Summary
Augustus, previously Ivy, raised $180 million in Series B funding to expand a federally chartered banking platform that gives financial institutions direct access to US dollar accounts and payment rails. The company plans to scale its services for fintechs and banks, with a focus on customers in Latin America and Southeast Asia.
Why it matters
A scaled, chartered clearing bank for stablecoins could rewire how non US institutions access dollars and settle payments, shifting power from intermediaries to regulated stablecoin plumbing.
8:01 PMFinextra
Natural raises $30 million to build AI agent payments stack
Summary
Natural, a US fintech building a payments stack designed for AI agents, raised $30 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Kirsten Green at Forerunner.
Why it matters
Whoever owns the agent payments layer can capture the fastest-growing transaction flow as AI agents begin buying and moving money on users’ behalf.
Other Developments
A curated list of other prominent stories from this day.
Zalando invested in robotics and physical AI company Sereact, bringing Sereact's Series B total funding to $116 million. The bet targets automation capabilities that can improve warehouse and logistics operations.
6:00 PMWWDFactory-built housing startup Boxabl began trading on Nasdaq as BXBL after completing a merger with SPAC FG Merger II. The listing followed shareholder approval and moves the company into public markets.
11:56 AMHousing WireSkyPilot raised $20 million to help organizations source and run GPU workloads across whatever cloud or provider has capacity. The pitch is neutral infrastructure that arbitrages availability and cost without locking customers into one compute vendor.
7:08 AMFortuneGritt emerged from stealth with $34 million to build robots that automate the hardest, most failure prone tasks on construction sites, starting with solar plant construction. The company is positioning solar as the wedge into broader construction automation.
6:00 AMTechCrunch6:00 PMWWD
Betting On the Future of Physical AI, Zalando Invests In Sereact
Summary
Zalando invested in robotics and physical AI company Sereact, bringing Sereact's Series B total funding to $116 million. The bet targets automation capabilities that can improve warehouse and logistics operations.
Why it matters
Retail logistics is moving from software optimization to robotics execution, and strategic investors can accelerate winners by guaranteeing real world deployment.
11:56 AMHousing Wire
Boxabl starts Nasdaq trading after FG Merger II SPAC deal
Summary
Factory-built housing startup Boxabl began trading on Nasdaq as BXBL after completing a merger with SPAC FG Merger II. The listing followed shareholder approval and moves the company into public markets.
Why it matters
A public listing raises the stakes on whether prefab can scale fast enough to matter in the housing shortage without collapsing on manufacturing and margin realities.
7:08 AMFortune
SkyPilot, from Databricks’ cofounder, raises $20M to be the Switzerland of AI compute
Summary
SkyPilot raised $20 million to help organizations source and run GPU workloads across whatever cloud or provider has capacity. The pitch is neutral infrastructure that arbitrages availability and cost without locking customers into one compute vendor.
Why it matters
A credible compute broker could lower AI infrastructure costs and reduce vendor lock in at the moment GPU scarcity is shaping who can build and ship.
6:00 AMTechCrunch
Gritt exits stealth with $32 million for robots to build solar plants — then, everything else
Summary
Gritt emerged from stealth with $34 million to build robots that automate the hardest, most failure prone tasks on construction sites, starting with solar plant construction. The company is positioning solar as the wedge into broader construction automation.
Why it matters
Construction robotics that actually ships could remove a major constraint on solar buildouts and open a large new market for venture backed automation.
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