May 2026's AI Second Layer: Modal, Exa, Decart, and Why the Smart Money Left Chatbots
May funding shows capital stacking on AI infra — serverless GPU, retrieval search, world models, and enterprise delivery — not another wrapper.
investment-strategies
May 2026 Stablecoin VC Surge: Checker, Fasset, Catena — Banks Finally Buy the Rails
Three May deals show stablecoin capital splitting between EM neobanks, FI orchestration APIs, and AI-native banks — infrastructure, not speculation.
May 2026 Fintech Infrastructure Wave: Mercury, Primer, Sardine, and the End of 'Neobank Only'
One week in May 2026 saw $400M+ in fintech infra deals — banking, payments AI, fraud, stablecoins, and compliance ops, not consumer apps.
Week of May 18–23, 2026: $2.5B+ in Startup Funding — Modal, Decart, Hark Lead
AlleyWatch tracked 34 deals and $2.53B for the week ending May 23 — from Modal's $355M to Hark's $700M Series A, here's what mattered.
Benji's $6.25M Seed: The 'Plaid of Loyalty' Wants to Kill 6-Month Partnership Integrations
NYC-linked Benji raised $6.25M seed from Preface Ventures to standardize loyalty partnership APIs — JetBlue TrueBlue already on the network.
Farther's $150M Series D: NYC Wealth Tech Bets on AI-Native Advisory at Scale
Farther raised $150M Series D as intelligent wealth management platforms attract growth capital — what operators and RIAs should watch.