Hi Embedded Finance Friend
Before you dive into today's stories: I'm offering one company from our community a free GTM workshop with someone I trust.
My embedded finance buddy Michael Pierce, who many of you might know from his time at Mambu, FintechOS, and Toqio, has been running MPath, helping fintech and embedded finance startups with GTM, revenue execution, and scaling. He's already worked with nearly 10 companies through critical commercial moments.
He's now partnered with Peakora, a Swiss firm whose commercial frameworks have been used by 200+ companies, combining deep experience as embedded finance operators with proven, repeatable revenue systems.
To kick things off, Michael is offering a free GTM workshop to one company from the Embedded Finance Review community to define their top commercial priorities for 2026.
And before you dive into today's stories: tomorrow's my birthday. No need to send gifts, but if you want to make my day, forward this newsletter to a friend or colleague who's building in embedded finance 😄
And now let’s dive in 👇
Adyen and Fresha launch embedded lending across seven markets
What happened: Fresha launches Fresha Capital with Adyen ++ $5.5M already issued to beauty and wellness SMBs ++ Live in seven markets, including the US, UK, Australia, and three European countries
Fresha, a marketplace platform for beauty and wellness serving 140,000 businesses globally, has launched Fresha Capital with Adyen. The product offers loans from $500 to $50,000, pre-approved based on payment data from the Adyen integration, with repayments collected as a percentage of daily sales. Over $5.5 million has already been issued across seven markets: the US, UK, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Finland, and Sweden. The simultaneous multi-market launch highlights Adyen's global regulatory infrastructure, which most embedded-lending providers cannot match. For vertical SaaS providers, the logic is clear: if you process payments for SMBs, you are sitting on the data needed to underwrite them.
Read the full story on Embedded Finance Review.
Deliveroo launches merchant funding in the UK with Liberis
What happened: Deliveroo launches Deliveroo Capital powered by Liberis ++ Pre-approved funding for UK restaurants inside Partner Hub ++ Every major food delivery platform now offers embedded lending
Deliveroo has launched Deliveroo Capital in the UK, a merchant funding product powered by Liberis. Restaurants receive pre-approved offers directly inside the Partner Hub, with repayments flexing as a percentage of future Deliveroo sales. The DoorDash connection is notable: Deliveroo was acquired by DoorDash in 2025, which operates DoorDash Capital with Parafin in the US and Wolt Capital with finmid in Europe. Rather than forcing a single lending stack, DoorDash is choosing specific partners for each brand and market. With this launch, every major food delivery platform in Europe now offers embedded lending to its restaurant partners.
Read the full story on Embedded Finance Review.
MrBeast acquires teen banking app Step
What happened: Beast Industries acquires Step, a teen banking app with mor than 7M users ++ Previously valued at $1B, likely acquired at a steep discount ++ The Feastables playbook applied to financial services
MrBeast's Beast Industries has acquired Step, a fintech app for teens that offers fee-free banking, a Visa card, and credit-building tools, serving over 7 million users. Step raised $175 million at a $1 billion valuation in 2021, but the acquisition price has likely dropped significantly. The playbook mirrors Feastables, his chocolate brand that generated $250 million in revenue in 2024: take a commoditised product, wrap it in massive distribution (466 million YouTube subscribers), and bet that near-zero customer acquisition costs make thin margins work. The question is whether creator-led distribution can genuinely fix teen banking economics, especially given that Step is still operating at Evolve Bank & Trust, which is currently under a Federal Reserve consent order.
Read the full story on Embedded Finance Review.
In other Embedded Finance news
- A new Oliver Wyman survey of more than 150 SMEs in France, Germany, and the Netherlands finds that 46% already use embedded finance. But there is still a significant gap with the US: embedded finance accounts for roughly one-third of SME payment volumes in Europe, compared to two-thirds in the United States. The demand is growing fast. 79% of SMEs now consider embedded finance a key buying criterion when choosing their software, and 64% plan to adopt new embedded finance products through their software provider in the next 12 months (Oliver Wyman).
- German employee benefit provider Hrmony acquires its local competitor HelloBonnie. Hrmony was one of the few providers in the space without an integrated card solution for employees, but since HelloBonnie offered one via Swan, it is likely being rolled out to Hrmony customers as well (LinkedIn).
- Starbucks has selected Adyen to power in-store payments across 943 stores in the UK, Austria, and Switzerland, rolling out 2,375 terminals in just seven weeks. While this is a payments infrastructure deal rather than embedded finance, it is a notable European win for Adyen, which has been expanding its embedded financial services through products such as Adyen for Platforms and its Balance lending offering (FFNews).
- US-based Bottomline and Koxa have partnered to embed banking capabilities directly inside ERP systems. The integration allows Bottomline's bank clients to offer payments, reconciliation, and reporting within their corporate customers' ERP workflows, replacing older file-based processes with an API-driven approach (Crowdfund Insider).
- Treasury Prime argues that discovery, not due diligence, is the real bottleneck in embedded finance in the US. Finding fintech partners that align with a bank's strategy, risk appetite, and operating model remains slow, manual, and opaque. Treasury Prime is now using AI-powered matchmaking to connect sponsor banks, such as Missouri-based OMB Bank, with fintech partners, including the university payments company Backpack (Tearsheet).
That's it for this edition. If you enjoy my newsletter, podcast, or events, the best way to support me is to share them with others in your network. Feedback is always welcome, too.
Need help with an embedded finance project? Visit my website and let's talk.
Best wishes from Berlin,
Lars Markull (LinkedIn)
