The fintech roller coaster—after a few years of barrel rolls and corkscrews—is on a solid upward swing, says Immad Akhund, fintech Mercury’s cofounder and CEO. “It’s been a real roller coaster,” he said. “Fintech was super hot in 2020, 2021, and by the end of 2022, 2023, it was kind of dead…I feel like this year has seen a big resurgence, and so many companies and ideas from the 2020 era have reached significant maturity.” Akhund points out that some of 2025’s most successful IPOs, from Circle t...