From $5B to $11B in 60 days: inside the most aggressive valuation jump in FinTech history 🤯📈; Stripe’s strategic bet on becoming the financial backbone of the AI economy 💸🤖

FinTech is Eating the World, 3 December

Hey Everyone,

Good morning & happy Wednesday! Today’s issue is really hot as we’re diving into Kalshi, which just showed arguably the most aggressive valution jump in FinTech history (latest $1 billion fundraise & what it indicates, what to expect next + bonus deep dive into Robinhood and how it’s building the Nasdaq of Reality), and Stripe’s another M&A that signals its strategic bet on becoming the financial backbone of the AI economy (what the acquisition of Metronome is all about & how it stacks into Stripe’s bigger strategy, why the FinTech giant wants to own the full AI stack of financial services + bonus dives into Agentic Payments/Finance & the ultimate list of M&A resources to save you $$$). So let’s just jump straight into the finnovative stuff 🌶️

From $5 billion to $11 billion in 60 days: inside the most aggressive valuation jump in FinTech history 🤯📈

The news 🗞️ FinTech heavyweight Kalshi, the federally regulated prediction market platform, just closed a landmark $1 billion Series E funding round, reaching a whopping $11 billion valuation.

The crazy part? It more than doubled its worth in just under 2 months 🤯

Led by Paradigm with participation from Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and CapitalG, the raise represents one of the most aggressive funding trajectories in recent FinTech history and further validates prediction markets both as a valid vertical and as an emerging asset class.

Let’s take a closer look at this, understand why it matters, and what to expect next.