Meet fintech's next generation | PitchBook News Summary

1. Key Themes

Theme: Agentic workflow companies will become fintech's next generation of dynasties

Financial operations are a massive TAM ripe for AI-agent automation

The author argues AI can now automate advanced human work, and the financial services opex pool is enormous. Roughly half of it is personnel cost that agents can increasingly absorb.

"US banks and credit unions spend $700 billion on operational expenditure annually, half on personnel, whose work AI agents can increasingly take over. Europe is even larger at about $800 billion."

Enterprise contract sizes and ARR trajectory are large

Winners are expected to sell to large banks and insurers with eight-figure contracts, reaching $1B+ ARR within the decade.

"Leading workflow automation fintechs will grow to $1 billion-plus ARR by the early 2030s by pursuing large bank and insurance customers, with single contracts eclipsing $10 million per annum and some $50 million-plus."

Theme: Retail-focused alternatives marketplaces are consolidating and escalating

iCapital leads but CAIS is arming for a land-grab

iCapital is the clear leader and a serial acquirer, while CAIS is now funded to pursue M&A for the first time after years of organic growth.

"Since 2022, iCapital has made over a dozen acquisitions, backed by $1.5 billion raised over the years, according to PitchBook data. For its part, CAIS has focused on organic growth since it was founded in 2009. But it's ready to shop for more firepower, having freshly bulked up its war chest with a $170 million round to help fund acquisitions."

Wealth-channel demand for private markets is driving growth

"Both marketplaces have seen rapid growth in the past few years, reflecting the wealth channel's growing interest in private market alternatives."

Theme: The secondaries/continuation fund market is structural, not cyclical

Secondary growth has historically been decoupled from exit conditions

Secondary buyers cite 2021 as evidence that volume and exits can both boom at once.

"He pointed to 2021, when secondary volume jumped 110% year over year to $126 billion, according to Lazard, even as PE-backed exits hit a record $1.7 trillion globally, per PitchBook data."

Theme: Physical AI and frontier tech attract large rounds

Capital is concentrating in physical AI, space, fusion, and AI labs

The deals section shows large checks across robotics, satellites, navigation infrastructure, fusion, and AI research.

"AI research lab Flapping Airplanes secured a $1 billion Series A led by Index Ventures and Lux Capital at a $6 billion valuation."

"Tractian, the developer of a physical AI platform for industrial infrastructure, secured a $130 million Series D led by Sapphire Ventures and M&G's Catalyst at a $1.4 billion valuation."

"Helion, a nuclear fusion startup building its first power plant, signed a letter of intent to receive $175 million in federal funding."

China's AI champions are heading toward public markets

"China-based AI model developer DeepSeek raised a 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) round from investors including Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. and Tencent, Bloomberg reported."

2. Contrarian Perspectives

Continuation funds are not a fad, and a recovering exit market won't kill them

The consensus view is that continuation funds filled a liquidity hole and will shrink when IPOs and sponsor-to-sponsor exits normalize. Secondary buyers push back on both the premise and the timeline.

"'I think that's a false narrative,' said Amyn Hassanally... 'The secondary market is operating and growing on a trajectory that's quite independent from market conditions and the exit environment.'"

Supporting reasoning from Adams Street's Jeff Akers: GP-led deals are a "market-driven opportunity" for managers to double down on businesses they know well, and a brief liquidity upswing doesn't clear the backlog.

"Historically, one or two years of better liquidity does not solve the problems in the market … Market dislocation requires several years of secondary selling and market recovery to solve the problem."

Counter-evidence to weigh: the piece notes that "Recent PitchBook research suggests a recovery in M&A might already be eating into the continuation fund market."

3. Companies Identified

Veritus

Description: AI-powered consumer loan servicing platform that expanded into AI loan application conversion tools.
Why mentioned: Held up as the archetype of a winning agentic fintech.
Quotes: "Veritus is the perfect example. The company built a leading AI-powered consumer loan servicing platform and soon after built AI-powered loan application conversion tools, in response to customer asks."

iCapital

Description: Leading alternatives marketplace platform for advisors.
Why mentioned: Category leader and serial acquirer; $7.5B valuation.
Quotes: "ICapital is still the category's clear leader"; "iCapital had over 3,300 firms on its platform."

CAIS

Description: No. 2 alts marketplace, focused on independent RIAs, founded 2009, New York-based.
Why mentioned: Raised $170M to fund acquisitions; valued above $2B.
Quotes: "CAIS says it currently serves over 2,500 wealth management firms that support over 65,000 financial advisors."

DTCC

Description: Post-trade infrastructure business.
Why mentioned: Strategic partner and investor in iCapital.
Quotes: "Last month, iCapital struck a strategic partnership with post-trade infrastructure business DTCC, which invested an unspecified sum in the company."

Apollo Global Management and Hamilton Lane

Description: Alternative asset managers.
Why mentioned: Investors in both CAIS and iCapital.
Quotes: "Alts giants Apollo Global Management and Hamilton Lane are investors in both CAIS and iCapital."

Pantheon

Description: Secondaries investor.
Why mentioned: Its secondaries head rebutted the continuation-fund-as-fad narrative.
Quotes: "'I think that's a false narrative.'"

Adams Street Partners

Description: Private markets investor with a secondary investments practice.
Why mentioned: Its secondaries head framed GP-led deals as market-driven opportunities.
Quotes: "GP-led deals aren't just a response to weak exits but a 'market-driven opportunity.'"

DeepSeek

Description: China-based AI model developer.
Why mentioned: Raised $15B ahead of a planned IPO; framed as China's Anthropic analog.
Quotes: "The AI model developer just raised a $15 billion round ahead of a planned IPO, Bloomberg reported."

Anthropic

Description: US AI developer.
Why mentioned: Awaited IPO; PitchBook analyzes what it would take to reach a $2T valuation.
Quotes: "See what it would take for Anthropic to notch a $2 trillion valuation in our IPO Impact analyst note."

Flapping Airplanes

Description: AI research lab.
Why mentioned: $1B Series A at $6B valuation.
Quotes: "secured a $1 billion Series A led by Index Ventures and Lux Capital at a $6 billion valuation."

Apex

Description: Satellite maker.
Why mentioned: In talks to raise $500M at a $4B valuation.
Quotes: "in talks to raise a $500 million round at a $4 billion valuation led by Washington Harbour Partners."

Xona

Description: Builds global navigation infrastructure in Low Earth Orbit.
Why mentioned: $250M Series D at $2.45B valuation.
Quotes: "raised a $250 million Series D led by Future Ventures at a $2.45 billion valuation."

Warp Sciences

Description: Infrastructure for drug discovery research teams.
Why mentioned: Emerged from stealth with $215M.
Quotes: "emerged from stealth with $215 million in funding in a round led by Lightspeed."

Helion

Description: Nuclear fusion startup building its first power plant.
Why mentioned: $175M federal funding letter of intent.
Quotes: "signed a letter of intent to receive $175 million in federal funding."

Tractian

Description: Physical AI platform for industrial infrastructure.
Why mentioned: $130M Series D at $1.4B valuation.
Quotes: "secured a $130 million Series D led by Sapphire Ventures and M&G's Catalyst at a $1.4 billion valuation."

Blacksmith

Description: Code writing and testing platform developer.
Why mentioned: $66M Series C at $1B valuation led by Sequoia.
Quotes: "raised a $66 million Series C led by Sequoia at a $1 billion valuation."

Formic

Description: Physical AI commercialization startup.
Why mentioned: Raised $50M (Series B plus debt).
Quotes: "raised $50 million, which includes a Series B led by Mercato Partners and debt financing from S2G Investments."

Coherence Neuro

Description: Developer of an implant to detect and treat brain cancer.
Why mentioned: $45M round backed by Founders Fund and The OpenAI Startup Fund.
Quotes: "raised a $45 million round led by Founders Fund and The OpenAI Startup Fund."

Coast

Description: Payment cards and spending software for trade businesses.
Why mentioned: $35M round led by Thomvest Ventures.
Quotes: "secured a $35 million round led by Thomvest Ventures."

Enact Intelligence

Description: Zurich-based physical AI startup.
Why mentioned: $30M pre-seed.
Quotes: "raised a $30 million pre-seed round from investors including Redalpine, Notion Capital and Firstminute Capital."

Beyond Vision

Description: Lisbon-based autonomous drone maker.
Why mentioned: Raised €28M+.
Quotes: "secured over €28 million in a round led by Índico Capital Partners and Lince Capital."

Slingshot Insurance

Description: Embedded insurance startup.
Why mentioned: Emerged from stealth with $27M seed.
Quotes: "emerged from stealth with a $27 million seed round led by Rally Ventures and Skyward Group."

Fort Robotics

Description: Developer of a safety layer for physical AI.
Why mentioned: $20M from Tiger Global and Mark Cuban Companies.
Quotes: "secured $20 million from Tiger Global and Mark Cuban Companies."

Octus

Description: New York-headquartered credit intelligence, data and workflow provider.
Why mentioned: Permira agreed to sell it to LSEG for $3.5B.
Quotes: "Permira agreed to sell... Octus to the London Stock Exchange Group for $3.5 billion."

Noetix Robotics

Description: Beijing-based humanoid robot developer backed by CATL.
Why mentioned: Confidentially filed for a Hong Kong IPO.
Quotes: "confidentially filed for a Hong Kong IPO, Bloomberg reported."

The FSE Group

Description: Launched the Future London Growth Fund, a debt fund for London scale-ups.
Why mentioned: Fundraising news.
Quotes: "launched the Future London Growth Fund, a debt fund designed to support the growth of scale-ups across London."

Masia

Description: Barcelona-based early-stage fund.
Why mentioned: Closed debut fund.
Quotes: "closed its debut fund on €18 million, investing at pre-seed and seed across AI and frontier tech."

Tesla

Description: EV and autonomy company.
Why mentioned: Expanding its Cybercab robotaxi service to more cities.
Quotes: "The autonomous vehicle could rival Waymo's dominance of robotaxi services."

4. People Identified

James Ulan

Description: Director, Industry & Technology Research at PitchBook.
Why mentioned: Author of the agentic fintech thesis.
Quotes: "As a result, the next 20 years will spawn generational fintech dynasties, consisting largely of agentic workflow companies."

Alexander Davis

Description: Head of Enterprise Reporting at PitchBook.
Why mentioned: Author of the alts marketplace rivalry piece.
Quotes: "Competition is already fierce among the top marketplace platforms that give advisors access to private market alternatives."

Jessica Hamlin

Description: Senior Funds Columnist at PitchBook.
Why mentioned: Author of the continuation fund piece.
Quotes: "In recent years, continuation funds and portfolio sales have stepped in to fill the liquidity hole left behind by sluggish traditional exit routes."

Amyn Hassanally

Description: Partner and global head of private equity secondaries at Pantheon.
Why mentioned: Rebutted the notion that continuation funds are a fad.
Quotes: "The secondary market is operating and growing on a trajectory that's quite independent from market conditions and the exit environment."

Jeff Akers

Description: Partner and head of secondary investments at Adams Street Partners.
Why mentioned: Argued GP-led deals are market-driven and that recovery takes years.
Quotes: "Market dislocation requires several years of secondary selling and market recovery to solve the problem."

Carlos Gutierrez

Description: Former Kellogg's CEO.
Why mentioned: Says top leadership roles suit people with ADHD (diagnosed at 65).
Quotes: "He says that top leadership roles are good for people who have the condition, explaining how it became one of his strengths."

5. Operating Insights

Land and expand by following customer asks

Veritus began with loan servicing and then built application conversion tools because customers requested them. The author says the best startups "will land and expand, automating several client workflows."

"The company built a leading AI-powered consumer loan servicing platform and soon after built AI-powered loan application conversion tools, in response to customer asks."

Embed with customers, build forward-deployed engineering, and treat compliance as a moat

Enterprise financial buyers reward proximity and rigor, so go-to-market and onboarding speed matter as much as the product.

"They'll live onsite with customers, develop exceptional forward-deployed engineering programs, craft fast, compliant onboarding, maintain deeply rigorous compliance standards, and of course be led by formidable founders."

Be AI-native internally

Selling automation while running manual operations is a credibility gap and a cost disadvantage.

"Also, their own internal ops will be fully AI-native."

6. Overlooked Insights

iCapital's DTCC tie-up could deepen infrastructure lock-in

The DTCC investment and partnership is mentioned in passing, but a post-trade infrastructure incumbent taking equity in the category leader may widen iCapital's moat versus CAIS.

"Last month, iCapital struck a strategic partnership with post-trade infrastructure business DTCC, which invested an unspecified sum in the company."

Strategic and corporate capital is anchoring China's AI and robotics build-out

Both DeepSeek and Noetix Robotics are tied to battery giant CATL, suggesting industrial strategics are bankrolling China's AI and humanoid champions ahead of public listings.

"Noetix Robotics, a Beijing-based humanoid robot developer backed by Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., confidentially filed for a Hong Kong IPO."