In late November 2025, Soulpower Acquisition Corporation and SWB LLC, the company behind SOUL WORLD BANK
, announced a merger agreement that would bring the business public on the NYSE at an estimated $8.1 billion valuation, backed by $5 billion in committed funding, pending shareholder and regulatory approval.
Soul World Bank was formed in response to a financial system that remains fragmented, border-dependent, and difficult to access for many individuals and businesses operating across markets. The company intends to offer a range of international financial services, built around newer technologies such as artificial intelligence, stablecoins, and tokenization. To make this happen, the company lists technology partners that are designed to make financial services more accessible and efficient for everyday users, rather than only large institutions.
Through this collaboration — alongside partners such as Animoca Brands — NewCampus brings its community and systems building experience into finance, extending the same mission into a larger and more complex arena.
Justin Lafazan, CEO of Soulpower and founder and managing member of SWB, underscored the importance of that partnership, saying, “We are all in on Will Fan and the NewCampus team and could not imagine building SOUL WORLD BANK without them. Our partnership with NewCampus means we are starting with a proven team and in-place network across Southeast Asia.”
NewCampus, an innovation firm based in Singapore, focuses on community building and operational infrastructure for emerging institutions. Its involvement in Soul World Bank reflects a broader recognition that technology alone is no longer sufficient to build complex financial systems. This article examines how ecosystem-building principles developed in one sector can translate effectively across others.
A decade of building communities, now building for finance
NewCampus’ core mission focused on rethinking how leaders in Asia learn, grow, and work together. NewCampus has built over a decade of experience as one of the top “challenger universities in Asia” – an alternative model to traditional universities that focuses less on formal degrees and more on practical learning, community, and real-world outcomes. Working with over 500 companies worldwide and reaching more than 130,000 learners, NewCampus continues their mission that real progress begins when people are seen fully, not just as account holders, but as workers, parents, builders, and dreamers.
That experience is now being applied in a new context in an unusual pairing between education and banking. NewCampus has repeatedly built institution-like systems from scratch where participation, trust, and empathy support leadership pipelines and more efficient operational structures, including its partnership with Open Campus to invest in more than 140 edtech companies, impacting over 20 million learners globally.
Their multi-country, stakeholder approach has built a systems-first legacy that applies to old industries that need disruption. While core expertise lies in learning infrastructure and leadership development, NewCampus also boasts an impressive track record building ecosystems that scale.
Soul World Bank is built on the premise that the next chapter of global banking must be built with the communities it serves. These same capabilities – building engaged communities, creating operational infrastructure, and enabling peer networks – are exactly what new financial institutions need.
As CEO Will Fan has shared publicly, “The past decade, I’ve been building a challenger university to reimagine how leaders in Asia learn, grow, and build. Today, I’m bringing those lessons into a new arena: launching a challenger world bank.” He is excited about joining forces with the Lafazan Brothers and Animoca Brands to help build SOUL WORLD BANK calling it the “same mission, bigger playground (and) reshaping access to opportunity.”
More is expected to come as NewCampus helps shape this next chapter of global finance, specifically, one rooted in technology, humanity, and the courage to reimagine what’s possible through new economy banking for frontier markets.
Also read: Bring your most authentic self to the table whether at home or work: Will Fan of NewCampus
An $8.1 billion bet on new economy banking
An $8.1 billion valuation is notable for an Asia-linked institution listing in the United States. Historically, most companies from the region debut on the New York Stock Exchange at significantly smaller sizes, often well below the $1–3 billion range (compared to Singapore Carro’s predicted $3bn valuation last August). In this context, the scale of Soul World Bank’s proposed listing stands out, particularly as it enters the public markets with substantial capital commitments already in place.
The transaction follows a SPAC merger designed to form a new economy financial services group with a global footprint. Based on publicly disclosed information, the venture combines an $8.1 billion valuation with a $5 billion committed equity facility, an uncommon pairing at the point of listing. The structure also includes a partnership with Animoca Brands to support stablecoin development, as well as plans to acquire a British Virgin Islands banking license, subject to regulatory approval. Its portfolio spans a range of real-world assets, including land and mineral resources, and is built around an AI-native banking model with stablecoin denomination.
Within this structure, NewCampus is engaged as an independent contractor providing what it describes as operational infrastructure. Rather than functioning as a traditional vendor, NewCampus is positioned as a longer-term partner, contributing to how the organization is set up to operate as it develops. The collaboration reflects a broader approach to building new financial institutions—one that pairs capital and technology with operational systems designed to support scale from the outset.
Beyond vendor relationships: The ecosystem builder approach
Most financial institutions operate through a network of vendors such as technology providers, and service firms, with each being responsible for a defined function. In that model, tools are delivered, frameworks are recommended, and implementation is often left to the organization itself.
NewCampus’ role differs in scope to traditional models. Rather than delivering short term advisory and execution, NewCampus partners with organizations at the operational level, focusing on how people, systems, and processes are designed to function as institutions scale.
One area of focus is community infrastructure. For financial institutions—particularly challenger banks serving underserved or cross-border markets—growth depends on trust and sustained participation, not just customer acquisition. NewCampus designs systems that support long-term engagement, peer networks, and leadership pathways,
For newer or challenger banks, trust and participation cannot be assumed. It needs to be deliberately designed. NewCampus brings experience in building community infrastructure that encourages long-term engagement, supports peer networks, and moves relationships beyond purely transactional interactions. This approach treats users as participants in a broader ecosystem—an important distinction for financial institutions operating across markets where trust, inclusion, and sustained engagement are critical.
A second focus is operational systems for innovation. As institutions combine traditional financial services with newer technologies such as blockchain and tokenization, NewCampus helps design internal processes that allow legacy systems and new infrastructure to coexist. The emphasis is on enabling teams to move quickly while remaining within regulatory constraints.
With experience operating across Asia and multiple regulatory environments, the company brings a cross-border perspective to expansion, shaped by building distributed communities and organizations. The underlying insight is straightforward: the skills required to build and scale a learning ecosystem—coordination, trust and adaptability—translate directly to building a financial ecosystem.
Also read: Southeast Asia’s marketing renaissance: How up-and-coming marketers are leading the charge
Building for what comes next: what this partnership signals for fintech and enterprise partners
The NewCampus–Soul World Bank collaboration reflects a broader convergence between sectors that were once treated as separate.
For fintech partners, it points to collaboration models that extend beyond pure SaaS offerings, where technology is paired with partners focused on operations, governance, and community design.
For enterprise solution providers, it highlights an opportunity to move upstream—from selling tools to helping shape how institutions are structured and operated. Soul World Bank’s partnership with Chainstarters, an AI and real-world asset firm based in Connecticut, reinforces this trend toward complex ventures being built through multiple specialized partners working in concert.
Looking ahead, the Soul World Bank transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, with all milestones subject to regulatory approval. Beyond the timeline, the partnership raises a larger question about the types of partners new economy institutions will require as they take shape.
NewCampus’ positioning reflects a track record of building operational infrastructure for complex ventures, first in education and now applied to finance, offering a collaboration model that may become increasingly relevant at the intersection of finance, technology, and community. Overall, NewCampus is expected to navigate cross border complexity with the same defensible formula: community creates the system that scales.
The transferable skill: Building ecosystems that last
The same skills that enabled NewCampus to build a challenger university are now being applied in a new context: the formation of a challenger bank. At its core, ecosystem-building is a transferable competency—one rooted in designing systems where participation is intentional, trust can form, and operations are able to scale without breaking.
As finance continues to evolve, the partnerships that shape the next generation of institutions may be defined less by technology alone and more by the ability to build durable communities and operational infrastructure. In that sense, the NewCampus–Soul World Bank collaboration offers a glimpse into how complex, multi-stakeholder ventures may increasingly be built—through collaboration, specialization, and shared institutional design.
Technology partners interested in exploring operational infrastructure collaborations for new economy ventures can reach out to NewCampus to discuss potential partnerships.
—
Want updates like this delivered directly? Join our WhatsApp channel and stay in the loop.
The e27 team produced this article sponsored by NewCampus
We can share your story at e27 too! Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. You can reach out to us here to get started.
Featured Image Credit: NewCampus
The post Why the future of finance needs ecosystem builders, not just technology vendors appeared first on e27.