The 9th annual CB Insights Fintech 100 is here. Meet the startups most likely to shape the future of financial services. Many of this year’s winners are building beneath the products customers see: compliance, data enrichment, tokenization, and cross-border payments. We selected them based on deal activity, industry partnerships, team strength, investor strength, executive interviews, and proprietary metrics. Together, these companies have raised $10.9B in equity funding and have disclosed 330+ partnerships since 2025. These are the startups to watch if you’re investing, acquiring, partnering, or competing in financial services. See the 2026 cohort and market map:

🚀 KAIO/USDT Trading Race on Bitget is LIVE! 💰Ready to slice up a 3000 USDT total prize pool? 🔥@KAIO_xyz is giving away exciting rewards for the next 10 days! The more you trade, the bigger your instant daily share! Don't wait—Start trading $KAIO now! 👉 Join the Race:

Sei Network’s tokenized real-world assets pick up new holders and volume @SeiNetwork now counts 2,510 holders of tokenized real-world assets, up about 24% in 30 days, per rwa.​xyz data. Monthly RWA transfer volume on the $SEI chain nearly tripled to $18.8M, while its total value held steady at about $291M. @Ondo accounts for about $260M (89%) of that through its US Dollar Yield token (USDY), backed by short-term US Treasuries and bank deposits. @Securitize holds about $15.6M through one Apollo credit fund, and KAIO (@KAIO_xyz) holds a similar amount across funds from Hamilton Lane, Brevan Howard, and Laser Digital.

Please welcome @ShreyRastogi1, Co-Founder and CEO of @kaio_xyz, as a Gamma Prime Investing Summit speaker. Join us October 6 at The Fullerton Hotel Singapore. Get the event details and tickets:

KAIO is heading to RWA Summit Singapore 🇸🇬 Our COO, @odang75, will join @rwaweek to connect with the institutions and builders bringing capital markets onchain. 📅 9 October 2026 📍 Marina One, Singapore

One major financial institution choosing Aptos is interesting. When it keeps happening, you should probably ask why. @BlackRock. @FranklnTempletn. @apolloglobal. @BHDigitalAssets. Different businesses. Different products. Different paths onchain. Some assets arrive through different tokenization platforms on Aptos, like @Securitize and @KAIO_xyz. What they share is a hard requirement. Financial infrastructure can't be "almost reliable." When you're dealing with regulated funds, tokenized treasuries, and institutional capital, transactions need to settle quickly, costs need to remain predictable, and the network needs to perform when demand arrives. These firms could deploy anywhere. A growing number have chosen Aptos. Eventually, the logos stop being announcements. They become a pattern.

What will the world's financial system look like in ten years? Solana & Suits. 5 October, London. An invitation-only forum for the decision-makers shaping the future of capital markets. Not a debate about whether change is coming, but how it gets built. Speakers include: Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered Kim Hochfeld, State Street Damien Fontanille, Societe Generale Theo Golden and Stuart Dunbar, Baillie Gifford Ruben Nieto Martin-Vares, Allfunds Join us: