GDP Grew at 4.4%; Datarails Raises $70Mn; Affirm to Partner on BNPL for Rent

U.S. GDP and unemployment numbers. Market turmoil amid Greenland drama. Stream, Datarails announce new funding. Affirm, Klarna announce new features. PayPal partners with April on tax filing. Afterpay says credit quality is holding.

Embedded finance is becoming the "OS of commerce", prediction markets are driving "new payments behavior", and global growth is being rewritten through "partner‑led, cross‑border rails".

Next week, our Cross River leadership team, who sit close to these trends as they build in real time, will break down what these shifts truly mean for 2026. If you want a clear view of what will shape 2026, join the live discussion.

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U.S. GDP Grew at 4.4% in Third Quarter

U.S. unemployment stats barely budged last week. Initial claims ticked up by 1,000 to hit 200,000 in the week ending January 17th, below the consensus forecast of 209,000. Meanwhile, GDP grew at an annualized rate of 4.4% in Q3 2025, revised data shows. Strong exports and consumer spending helped spur the fastest GDP growth in two years.

The data points come amid a week of wider market turmoil. Yields on Japanese bonds spiked, causing renewed concerns about the country’s fundamental demographic and economic challenges. President Trump’s renewed desire for the U.S. to take control of Greenland drove pushback from leaders across the European Union. Trump briefly threatened an additional 10% tariff on a number of E.U. countries, causing markets to swoon, before ultimately announcing that he had reached a “long-term” deal regarding the sparsely populated island and saying the tariffs he had floated would not, in fact, take effect on February 1st.

Stream Raises Series D

Stream, formerly known as WageStream, announced that it has closed on a $90Mn Series D, bringing the company’s total funding to date to $228Mn. The round was led by Sofina, with participation from Smash Capital, Local Globe Latitude, Better Society Capital, Northzone, and other investors. Stream offers an earned wage access-style product, which it first launched in 2018. The company has since expanded to a more holistic employer-delivered financial management platform for employees, including budgeting and savings tools and access to credit. Stream acquired a U.K. pension provider, Zippen, in July 2025 and has begun the rollout of its first pension products in the country. Stream cofounder and CEO Peter Briffett commented on the raise, saying, “This investment will allow us to deepen that impact through pensions and international growth, helping more people build financial security. If we get this right, the benefits extend far beyond individuals - lowering personal debt, reducing risk of employment and boosting productivity.”

Datarails Bags $70Mn In New Funding

FP&A platform Datarails has announced it raised a $70Mn Series C. The round was led by One Peak, with participation from Vintage Investment Partners, Zeev Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Qumra Capital, and ClalTech. The latest round follows a combined $93.5Mn raised across the company’s Series A and B rounds. Datarails’ AI-powered “FinanceOS” offering enables finance teams to more effectively manage company spend, plan for cashflow needs, and do end-of-month closing. Datarails’ goal is to replace every finance team’s classic go-to workhorse: Excel. The company has also begun introducing AI agents to assist finance teams with strategy, planning, and analysis.

Affirm to Partner on BNPL For Rent

U.S. buy now, pay later leader Affirm is planning to offer its service for users to split their rent payments. Affirm will make the feature available through a partnership with Esusu, a financial education and credit reporting app. Affirm is describing the initiative as a “pilot,” with a spokesperson saying, “This pilot with Esusu will give eligible renters a flexible option for managing one of their largest monthly expenses.” Affirm actually isn’t the first BNPL company to offer the service for rent payments, competitor Zip has done so for some time. Affirm’s offering via Esusu will be structured as a 0% loan, repaid in two biweekly installments.

PayPal Partners with April on Free Tax Filing

It’s the start of the year, which means it’s the start of tax season for many consumers, especially those who are anticipating refunds and are eager to get them. In recent years, a number of consumer fintech neobanks have begun offering tax prep/tax filing to their users, with some doing so on a no-cost basis for simple returns. The upshot for neobanks doing this is that they’re more likely to capture that tax refund and make that user more “sticky” and loyal to their app. Now, PayPal is getting in that game. The company announced a collaboration with embedded tax platform April. The partnership lets PayPal Mastercard debit users file their 2025 federal and state taxes through April for no cost. April cofounder and CEO commented to PYMNTS, saying, “By connecting tax filing to where customers already manage payments, we can deliver better outcomes for both PayPal and its customers. Together with PayPal, we’re helping millions of customers simplify an essential and often complicated part of managing their finances.”

Klarna to Offer Post-Purchase BNPL

It’s supposed to be “buy now, pay later,” right? Sweden-headquartered Klarna has announced it will roll out a feature that lets users convert an already-complete debit transaction into a BNPL plan. Klarna will roll out the feature with partner OnePay, the Walmart-majority-owned neobank. The feature, dubbed “Swipe to Finance,” will let users convert qualifying transactions into an installment loan. The capability won’t be restricted to Walmart and will be available anywhere users’ OnePay debit card is accepted, a Klarna spokesperson said. Klarna chief commercial officer David Sykes described the yet-to-be-released capability as “another step in expanding smarter payment options and meeting consumers wherever they choose to pay.”

Afterpay Says Consumers Repaying on Time

With the holiday season firmly in the review mirror, BNPL lender Afterpay, a division of Block, said that most consumers have repaid plans that they took out to finance Black Friday and Cyber Monday purchases. The company said 96% of U.S. consumers repaid those plans on time or early. Separately, Afterpay also said that nearly all (98%) of customers through the third quarter of 2025 had not incurred late fees. The practice of charging late fees on BNPL plans has been something of a dividing line in the industry, with Affirm emphasizing it does not charge late or penalty fees of any kind. Block’s global head of commerce sales said these data points demonstrate the company’s responsible approach to underwriting, saying, “This data is a testament to the discipline and financial responsibility of our customers. During the holidays — a time when spending pressures are at their highest — our customers demonstrated that they can shop confidently and pay responsibly.”