FinTech IPO Index Surges 4.9% as Open Lending Leads Platforms Higher

As is often the case, platforms were the determinant of how the FinTech IPO Index fared this week, and as several of those firms posted double digit growth, the Index gained 4.9%.

Open Lending was the standout here, leaping 24.9% in a week that saw sell-side research firm Needham upgrade the name from hold to buy, with a $7 price target.

OneConnect followed up with a 19.4% advance, and was trailed by XP, which gained a bit more than 14%. The latter name has seen a boost in its share price on the heels of reports, such as by Reuters, that XP is among two parties — the other is named as BTG Pactual — to have made separate offers to buy the Brazilian unit of Julius Bear, a lender based in Switzerland.

Affirm shares gained 9.5%.

As detailed here, Affirm said that its newly expanded capital partnership with Liberty Mutual Investments (LMI) will increase consumers’ access to Affirm’s flexible payment options. The companies began their long-term capital partnership in 2019, added a forward flow loan purchase program in 2023 and upsized that program so that through June 2027, LMI will purchase Affirm’s installment loans on a forward flow basis, in amounts up to $750 million outstanding. LMI expects to invest up to $5 billion in the program over time, according to the announcement.

SoFi’s Stocks Slips After Earnings

SoFi shares sank 8.8% in the wake of earnings.

As PYMNTS reported this week, SoFi technology platform accounts were up 15% year on year to 168 million. The technologies and API connectivity offered across the platform enable payments processing and financial crime mitigation, among other services.

CEO Anthony Noto said on the conference call with analysts that the company’s current membership roster of more than 10 million individuals is up 34% year over year and a multiple of 10x through the past five years. Fourth-quarter new additions were 785,000 members. And net additions of 1.1 million new products represented 32% year-over-year growth.

Lending continues to be strong; throughout 2024, originations topped $23 billion, up 33% from the previous year. In looking ahead, the company expects to see 2.8 million member additions in the current year, which would represent 28% growth, according to SoFi CFO Chris Lapointe. Net revenue growth should be at least 28%.

Robinhood’s stock tacked on 5.2%. As reported by Cointelegraph, Robinhood is launching futures trading for bitcoin and futures trading for the S&P and oil as well.

Also this week, AMTD announced that one of its subsidiaries will look for a U.S. stock market listing.  World Media and Entertainment Universal (the subsidiary) and Black Spade Acquisition II Co (BSII) have announced a business combination agreement valued at approximately $488 million. WME owns L’Officiel fashion magazine and other properties.

The transaction is expected to close in mid-2025. Shares in AMTD gave up 3.5%.

In Janover-related news, the company launched advanced artificial intelligence (AI) search capabilities within Janover Pro, its multifamily and commercial property financing B2B SaaS marketplace.

The new AI-powered search functionality enables multifamily and commercial real estate professionals to efficiently identify suitable lenders by simply describing their loan scenarios in natural language with the AI triaging millions of data points in seconds to deliver critical results, per the announcement.

Shares of Janover were 7.1% lower.