Hi Embedded Finance Friend
It was a rather quiet week in European Embedded Finance. That said, I featured three stories I find highly relevant to builders in the space.
Last week, I spoke to David from California after he contacted me through my office hours (see below). David is building Porchlight, a real estate portal with an embedded mortgage service (see buyer's journey here). I am not familiar with this space at all, but if you are into this topic, feel free to reach out to David!
We will be announcing the agenda for our 9th Embedded Finance Review Event on April 15th soon. We currently have 125 registrations. Make sure to get your ticket before it's too late: Register here
And now let’s dive in 👇
UK Restaurant Software Ubsidi Turns Its Platform Into a Financial Hub
What happened: UK restaurant management SaaS adds spend cards and cash accounts ++ Built on Stripe ++ 40% adoption rate two years after launch
Ubsidi started as an EPOS platform in Birmingham in 2018 and has since built out a financial stack on top of its core product, powered entirely by Stripe. Spend cards launched in September 2024, cash management accounts a year later. The 40% card adoption rate is a strong signal that the product is genuinely integrated into daily operations rather than bolted on. Franchise groups can consolidate all incoming revenue into a single account and centralise reporting across all locations. European peers allO in Germany and Nory in the UK have already moved into lending. Ubsidi has not yet, but with Stripe Capital already available to UK businesses on Stripe, it may not be far off.
Read the full story on Embedded Finance Review
Alcohol Commerce Platform City Hive Hits $1 Billion in B2B Payments
What happened: US wholesale alcohol platform crosses $1 billion in annual B2B payments ++ 526 days after launch ++ 54,000 active merchants across 44 states ++ A playbook European regulated verticals have yet to follow
City Hive already owned the ordering workflow for wholesale alcohol transactions across the US three-tier system, where every sale must pass through a licensed distributor with compliance requirements tied to specific licenses and invoices. Before City Hive added payments, the industry ran on paper invoices and batch ACH transfers processed separately from ordering, with manual reconciliation on both sides. Adding payments meant every transaction is now automatically tied to the relevant license, invoice, and compliance record in real time. In heavily regulated industries where every transaction needs a defensible audit trail, the platform that understands the regulatory logic well enough to build payments around it ends up with a structural advantage that is hard to replicate from the outside.
Read the full story on Embedded Finance Review
UK Accounting Platform iplicit Launches Open Banking Payments via Crezco
What happened: UK mid-market accounting platform launches open banking payments ++ Powered by FCA-regulated Crezco ++ First mid-market accounting platform in the UK to offer this
iplicitPay lets customers authorise payments directly through their own bank without leaving the iplicit workflow, closing the gap between invoice approval and payment execution that previously required exporting a file or logging into a separate banking portal. The product supports bulk supplier payments, future-dated scheduling, and real-time status tracking, all within the platform. Crezco provides the regulated layer connecting iplicit to hundreds of UK financial institutions through a single integration, a model it has already proven as Xero's embedded bill payments partner. This is iplicit's first financial product beyond core accounting software. Accounting platforms that go deeper into financial services tend to unlock significant value, and open banking is often how that journey starts.
Read the full story on Embedded Finance Review
In other Embedded Finance news
- Nordea creates dedicated Embedded Banking unit: Nordea has appointed Sanela Dulic to lead a newly created Embedded Banking & Business Development unit within its Transaction Banking division. The unit brings together open banking, APIs, file-based integrations, and business development under one team. (LinkedIn Post) Thanks to EFR reader and friend Mikko for sharing this post with me.
- YouLend secures forward flow facility with Värde Partners: YouLend has announced a new forward flow facility with US credit investor Värde Partners to fund its expansion in the US market. (Source)
- Wolt and finmid expand to Bulgaria: Wolt has extended Wolt Capital, its embedded lending programme for restaurant partners, to Bulgaria via finmid. We covered how Wolt built this product in a podcast episode with Anniina Heinonen last year. (Source)
- Embedded SMB lending keeps scaling: Shopify Capital's outstanding loans and advances hit $1.8 billion at the end of 2025, up from $1.2 billion a year earlier, with $4.2 billion originated during the year. PayPal's merchant finance portfolio grew 23% to $1.8 billion, with Germany cited explicitly as a growth driver alongside the US and UK. Square Loans drove the same pattern at Block. (Source)
- Tide adds embedded mobile to its business banking app: Tide, the UK business banking platform with around 800,000 SME members, has launched a dedicated business phone number service embedded directly inside its app. Powered by Gigs on Vodafone's 5G network, it runs via eSIM with unlimited calls and texts included, plus an optional 5G and EU roaming plan for £15/month. Not embedded finance, but the same logic: one platform, less friction and fewer tools. (Source)
- Klarna and eBay expand embedded resale to six new markets: Klarna users in Belgium, Ireland, Poland, Australia, Canada, and Switzerland can now list eligible past purchases directly on eBay through the Klarna app, with product images and details pre-filled from Klarna's purchase data. The feature launched in the US and UK in December 2024, where over one million listings have been created since. (Source)
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.
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Best wishes from Berlin,
Lars Markull (LinkedIn)
