Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz), Author at Finovate

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 29, 2024
Categories: Daily news, Fintech Rundown

Explore the latest and most pertinent fintech news in our weekly digest. Stay informed as we continuously update this post with breaking news throughout the week. Check back for real-time updates on how the fintech landscape evolves this week.

Lending

Rapid Finance partners with LoanPro to provide Lending-as-a-Service to small businesses across the U.S.

Union Bank selects Baker Hill NextGen consumer loan origination and TruStage compliance doc prep.

Lendica and CSG Forte partner to deliver an embedded business credit solution to small and medium sized businesses in the U.S.

YouLend secures deal with J.P. Morgan to extend £4 billion in additional financing to SMEs.

SellersFi launches a financing solution with Amazon to provide Amazon sellers with access to credit lines of up to $10 million through Amazon Lending.

CarGurus partners with Chase to expand consumer financing options.

Investing

Alinea Invest brings in $3.4 million to leverage AI for virtual assistant.

Payments

TrueLayer teams up with Worldline to offer instant payouts, deposits, and signups via Worldline Payment Orchestration.

Adyen partners with SME financial operations platform BILL.

B2B blockchain-enabled payment platform Paystand integrates with cloud-based ERP business management system Acumatica.

Brite Payments partners with Swedish EV charging platform Northe EV.

Kantox launches Kantox In-House FX to centralize FX management for global businesses.

PayPal and Venmo launch suite of new product updates.

PXP Financial becomes a Google Pay payment service provider.

Kueski Pay is now available on Amazon Mexico.

REPAY integrates with Lexop to provide seamless payments for credit unions.

BentoBox introduces its new Marketing & Commerce platform for restaurants.

First Bank selects CorServ’s Comprehensive Credit Card program.

TIFIN Give acquires Giving Place to expand its philanthropy platform for wealth enterprises.

CardFlight’s SwipeSimple now allows merchants to create and send invoices from their mobile devices.

Shopify makes 100+ updates.

Loyalty/ Rewards

Bilt Rewards receives $200 million equity investment led by General Catalyst.

Fraud & Security

Financial crime and risk management solution provider Abrigo launches its new AI-powered Fraud Detection platform.

Silverfort raises $116 million for its identity security platform.

Emirates NBD partners with Silent Eight to automate alert disposition and enhance compliance efficiency.

Digital Banking

Lloyds to end mobile banking van service.

KlariVis unveils new product and features within its enterprise banking analytics platform.

i2c partners with The Bank of Missouri to empower fintechs to rapidly launch digital banking products.

BNY Mellon launches virtual account-based solutions.

Challenger Banking

KOHO advances into phase two of Canadian banking license.

DeFi

PayPal Ventures invests in digital asset startup Mesh.

Compliance

Fintech Galaxy launches Open Banking compliance services in the UAE.

Card Issuance/Management

First Bank teams up with CorServ to implement its new credit card program.

Taxation/Accounting Solutions

Intelligent automation platform Xceptor partners with KPMG UK to offer advanced tax solutions for financial services companies.

Identity Verification

Digital identity verification specialist IDVerse teams up with GeoComply.

Photo by Markus Winkler

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A Look into PayPal’s 6 New Releases

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 26, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, PayPal

PayPal CEO Alex Chriss released a video yesterday unveiling the company’s six new planned launches for the year.
PayPal’s new launches include a faster checkout experience, Fastlane, Smart Receipts, advanced offers, CashPass, and updated Venmo business profiles.
PayPal will release all of these in the U.S. this year and plans to roll them out across the globe in the future.

Yesterday, PayPal released an Apple-like launch video in which the company’s new CEO Alex Chriss unveiled six of the company’s newest initiatives. In the 17-minute video, which has already received 2.1 million views on YouTube, the payments company unveils the six new innovations it plans to bring to market this year.

Here’s a look at what PayPal expects to release this year:

Faster checkout

To help reduce cart abandonment at checkout, PayPal said it will accelerate the checkout process to get customers to choose PayPal and leverage passkeys to enable customers to log in with their face or fingerprint with one tap. The company says that the implementation of biometrics will not only reduce latency by as much as 50%, but it will also enable customers to check out twice as fast.

Fastlane

Fastlane by PayPal is the company’s new, one-click guest checkout tool that PayPal merchant clients can implement into their online checkout flow. When customers are ready to checkout, they are offered the option to save their information with Fastlane to check out in a single tap. With Fastlane, shoppers do not need to remember their username or password, nor do they have to update personal information or share their credit card credentials with each merchant.

PayPal partner BigCommerce has been piloting Fastlane with its merchant customers, and has reported that Fastlane can recognize 70% of guest checkout users.

Smart Receipts

Smart Receipts will leverage AI to help merchants show consumers personalized product suggestions along with a cashback reward offer on the receipt. When a consumer opens their email receipt– which 45% of PayPal customers do– they will see a new product recommendation at the bottom. The offers help merchants open the door to repeat purchases from customers they have already worked hard to acquire.

Advanced offers

Advanced offers shows consumers more relevant ads by showing them products based on the SKU data of their actual purchases, not just their browsing history. The advanced offers capability will also allow merchants to customize the offers. And PayPal will only change merchants based on performance, not just impressions or clicks.

On the consumer side, PayPal’s use of purchasing data means that they will see more relevant offers based on product details such as type and color. The company has also implemented privacy controls that allow users to opt out of data sharing.

CashPass

Launching this March, CashPass will offer consumers personalized cash back offers from top brands. To redeem an offer, users tap on the offer, shop at the business, and check out using PayPal. Shoppers can stack the savings with other rewards, such as the PayPal Cashback Mastercard.

PayPal’s CashPass launch partners include Best Buy, eBay, McDonald’s, Priceline, Ticketmaster, Uber, and Walmart.

Updated Venmo business profiles

Venmo first introduced business profiles in 2021 in an attempt to capture more revenue from small businesses using their personal Venmo account to accept payment. This year, Venmo will enhance business by allowing them to add subscribe buttons, offer promotions to consumers, and show profile rankings.

All of these updates will begin rolling out in the U.S. this year, though PayPal only offered more specific timing on CashPass, which it said will launch this March. The company also made note that it plans to launch all of these features in more geographies at some point.

Founded in 1998, PayPal handles nearly 25 billion transactions a year for nearly 400 million consumer accounts and 35 million merchants in more than 200 markets around the world. Despite the number of announcements, the market is reacting poorly to PayPal’s release this week. At the time of publishing, the company’s stock is down 0.12%.

Photo courtesy PayPal

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Klarna Launches New Subscription Service– Is It Worth It?

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 25, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Klarna

Klarna launched Klarna Plus, a subscription tool that offers users premium benefits and access to exclusive offers.
For $7.99, users receive extra rewards points, a waived service fee for purchases made at retailers that are not in the fintech’s network, and exclusive discounts at retailers.
Klarna counts 150 million active users who make two million transactions every day using its platform.

The subscription economy has been gaining steam since Netflix was founded in 1997. With news this week that buy now, pay later (BNPL) player Klarna is jumping on board, it is apparent the subscription trend is not dying out any time soon.

Yesterday, the fintech unveiled Klarna Plus, the company’s subscription service for its U.S. users. For $7.99 per month, users receive premium benefits that offer Klarna shoppers access to a variety of offers and deals.

“Today marks an exciting milestone for Klarna with the introduction of our first-ever premium subscription service, Klarna Plus,” said Klarna Chief Marketing Officer David Sandstrom. “Our research indicates that dedicated Klarna users are looking for an enhanced shopping experience through a subscription model. Klarna Plus addresses this demand, allowing us to deepen our engagement with 37 million loyal U.S. consumers, while also further diversifying a portfolio of payment and shopping solutions.”

What do users receive for $7.99?

Rewards points
Users accrue two rewards points for every $1 spent on purchases with Klarna Rewards Club. This is double the 1 point for every $1 spent that rewards club members traditionally receive.
Waived service fees
The service fees that users incur at retailers outside of Klarna’s network are waived when they pay using their Klarna One Time Card.
Exclusive deals
Users gain access to special discounts at retailers including Nike COACH, Macy’s, Instacart, and GOAT.
Sign-up offer
Users receive $8 off their first Klarna Plus purchase.

Like all subscriptions, this one is only worth the price tag if the user actually uses the service. Here’s a breakdown of each incentive:

Rewards points
The rewards points are valued at $0.02, and they can only be exchanged for gift cards at a limited number of brands, including Starbucks, Sephora, Foot Locker, and Uber. Receiving an extra point per dollar under Klarna Plus would require spending around $400 each month to make up for the $7.99 monthly fee.
Waived service fee
As far as having the service fee waived, Klarna users face a $1 to $2 transaction fee when they make purchases outside of Klarna’s retailer network. This means users would need to transact at these outside retailers anywhere from four to seven times each month to make the monthly fee worth the cost.
Exclusive deals
It is difficult to place a dollar number on the value of exclusive deals, since people have varying relationships with high-profile brands such as Nike and COACH. That said, this benefit may be the most effective in attracting users. Loyalty program members will receive monthly deals valued at $6 at five selected stores for a maximum benefit of $30 per month.
Sign-up offer
For users who are not brand-forward, the more thrifty shoppers may be drawn in by Klarna’s $8 coupon. It is essentially allowing them to trial their first month for free.

Klarna has built up its shopping marketplace to compete with that of Amazon. The company works with more than half a million retail partners who list goods across a range of categories, including health, clothing, toys, beauty, photography, and more. Klarna counts 150 million shoppers– 40 million of which are U.S. based– who make two million transactions using its platform each day.

Klarna was founded in 2005 and has been transforming itself from strictly a BNPL company into a shopping ecosystem with goods from more than 500,000 retailers across the globe. Last year, the Sweden-based company extended its partnership with Adyen, announcing that it will leverage Adyen’s acquiring capabilities to power card payments for its end users.

Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash

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Europe’s Financial Future: 5 Key Agenda Topics

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 24, 2024
Categories: FinovateEurope 2024, List series, Thought Leadership

The European financial services scene is continuously evolving thanks to the pulse of innovation, technological shifts, and advances in consumer expectations. As we stand on the cusp of next month’s FinovateEurope conference, it’s not merely the agenda that awaits, but deep-diving discussions surrounding the pressing issues and new developments waiting to change the continent’s trajectory.

Here, I’m taking a look beyond the conference halls and delving into five agenda items to consider why the topics matter in 2024, how they fit into the landscape, and why I’m excited about them.

Will AI Be More Profound Than The Invention Of The Internet? What Do Financial Institutions Really Need To Understand About Generative AI?

It’s not difficult to understand why Generative AI (Gen AI) is on the top of the agenda for FinovateEurope this year. The topic spiked in conversations following the release of Chat GPT in late 2022 and hasn’t receded since. Gen AI has applications across every financial services sub-sector (and beyond) and holds the potential for major cost savings opportunities. I’m eager to hear what the speaker, Nina Schick, has to say about applications of the technology within financial services and the relatively new threat of deepfakes.

Keynote Address: From Crypto Ice Age To Crypto Winter To Crypto Spring?

For those who still feel like we are in the middle of crypto winter (the downturn in the crypto space) it may seem irrelevant to bring up the topic to a roomful of bankers. However, we started to see a rise in activity surrounding decentralized finance (DeFi) late last year. This session’s speaker, Jillian Godsil, is an award winning journalist, author and broadcaster at Coin Telegraph. She’ll be offering her take on risks and opportunities in the space; what it will take to build a new, internet-native financial system; and how regulators are feeling about crypto. DeFi holds immense potential for financial services and I’m excited to hear Godsil’s inside view.

From Competition To Collaboration & Co-Creation – Why Financial institutions Need More Than Ever To Build Strategic Partnerships.

Whether you’re a bank or a fintech, you don’t need me to explain to you the importance of partnerships. The fintech industry has shifted its mentality from coopetition to collaboration and today, the financial services realm is completely reliant on partnerships. New to the discussion– and much of why I am interested in this age-old topic– is the threat that increased regulatory scrutiny may pose. Moderating this panel discussion is Rashee Pandey, Associate Director of Membership at Innovate Finance.

Digital Payments Are Eating The World – How Will New Competitors & New Business Models Shape The Future?

Regardless of your location, income, or social status, payments are– and always will be– relevant. And with the entire globe as your potential user base, getting into the payments game can be lucrative if done correctly. With new technologies and fresh consumer expectations, however, the payments landscape is changing. I am eagerly anticipating the discussion, led by Andrew Steele, Partner at Activant Capital, around new competitors and business models.

Transforming Lending In The Cost Of Living Crisis

Europe’s cost of living crisis is no secret. The cost of housing, combined with the cost of basic necessities such as groceries and medications, have caused both end consumers and large corporations alike to adjust their habits. Lending has always been an integral element to consumers’ lives, and today’s high interest rate environment, combined with consumers’ increased use of credit, complicates this scene. I’m looking forward to hearing from Jack Spiers, U.K, Banking and Lending Sales Director at Tink, on how traditional affordability models are cutting consumers short and how data can repair the issues.

Now that you have a sneak peek at the FinovateEurope agenda, consider this your formal invitation to join us at the conference, taking place 27 and 28 February at the Intercontinental O2 in London. Register today to save.

Photo by ANIRUDH on Unsplash

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Visa’s Cybersource and Ingenico to Create a Global Commerce Solution

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 24, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, VISA

Visa’s Cybersource is partnering with payment acceptance company Ingenico.
The two will leverage Ingenico’s Android-based AXIUM system, along with Cybersource’s open payment platform, to launch an all-in-one global commerce solution.
The aim of the new commerce solution is to reduce costs and complexities associated with technical integrations, increase speed to market, and provide omni-channel capabilities.

France-based payment acceptance company Ingenico announced it has partnered with Visa’s Cybersource. The two are leveraging Ingenico’s Android-based AXIUM system, combined with Cybersource’s open payment platform, to create a unified global commerce solution.

Ingenico’s AXIUM offers a range of point-of-sale (POS) terminals, along with a suite of business applications. The new unified commerce solution will be available on all AXIUM devices, which will allow for an easy way to scale without having to go through a certification process for each new device.

Cybersource, Visa’s agnostic global payment and fraud management platform, is part of Visa Acceptance Solutions, a connectivity hub that provides acquirers, independent software vendors, and merchants with access to what they need to create scalable commerce experiences. Crafting a global solution with real-time transaction visibility and data analytics helps acquirers focus on card clearance and settlement. Because the solution leverages both Ingenico’s and Cybersource’s ecosystems, it also allows acquirers to expand into new merchant segments.

“Combining the global reach of Visa and Ingenico and using the Ingenico Android technology stack, will accelerate innovation and reduce complexity,” said Ingenico Chief Customer Officer Nigel Lee. “We believe together we can reduce time to market for customers and allow our clients and partners to realise the benefits of a truly unified omnichannel solution. This is a significant step in our vision to move commerce forward by harnessing the collective strengths of our combined technologies and networks.”

Under today’s partnership, Cybersource will be able to provide a ready-to-use commerce solution that can authorize in-store card transactions across international borders. Ultimately, the two companies aim to use the new global commerce solution to reduce costs and complexities associated with technical integrations, increase speed to market, and provide omni-channel capabilities that suit both consumers and businesses.

Founded in 1980, Ingenico works with more than 1,000 banks and acquirers in more than 37 countries. With 4,000 employees, the company helps power 2,500 payment apps and 40 million terminals across the globe. Last year, Ingenico partnered with Fujitsu Frontech to launch a new solution that authenticates customer identities and facilitates payment using the palm of their hand for in-person transactions.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

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ModernFi Raises $18.7 Million for its API-Driven Deposit Network

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 23, 2024
Categories: Daily news, Funding

ModernFi raised $18.7 million, boosting its total to $23.2 million.
Canapi Ventures led the round, which ModernFi will use to market its platform to community and regional banks.
ModernFi’s API-driven deposit network helps banks raise, maintain, and manage their deposits.

API-driven deposit network ModernFi boosted its funding total to $23.2 million today after landing $18.7 million in Series A funding. The company will use the funds to market its platform to community and regional banks.

Canapi Ventures led the round, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Remarkable Ventures. Three banks, including Huntington National Bank, First Horizon, and Regions, also contributed.

ModernFi’s deposit growth solutions offer an API-driven approach that helps financial institutions efficiently raise and manage deposits. The company helps banks identify and entice potential depositors using personalized marketing campaigns, easy onboarding experiences, competitive interest rates, flexible account options, and by offering depositors extended insurance.

The company reduces reliance on manual processes and built its deposit network on a modern tech stack, which reduces friction for end users and facilitates integration for banks.

Today’s high interest rate environment, combined with the shift toward real-time money movement in the U.S., have changed both the speed and stability of consumer deposits. These factors, combined with increased regulatory scrutiny on liquidity and funding, have required financial institutions to change how they manage their deposits. “Deposit management is a key priority for the banking sector right now,” explained First Horizon Bank Director of Transformation – Fintech & Emerging Technology Tyler Craft. “ModernFi’s technology to streamline onboarding and operations for depositors and banks provides an innovative additional way for our industry to serve clients.”

“Community and regional banks form the foundation of the American economy, providing an outsized amount of credit and banking services to critical industries and areas that might otherwise be overlooked,” said ModernFi CEO and Cofounder Paolo Bertolotti. “Faced with fundamental shifts in the behavior of deposits, institutions benefit from modern tools to manage and grow their funding. ModernFi has been privileged to help institutions of all sizes protect their deposit base, and the team looks forward to continuing its support of the sector.”

Bertolotti and his co-founder Adam DeVita founded ModernFi in 2022.

Photo by Monstera Production

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Bite-Sized Budgeting: Can it Help a New Generation of Savers?

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 22, 2024
Categories: Thought Leadership

I had an interesting conversation last week with two of fintech’s brightest minds, Theo Lau and Barb Maclean. The discussion, which was around personal financial management (PFM) and budgeting, shed light on the financial habits of Generations Z and Alpha.

The issue

As a bit of context, these generations are faced with high student loan debt and a high cost of monthly rent. In my town, the cost to rent a studio apartment is more than double the cost of the mortgage on my five bedroom, two bath home. This is only part of the problem, however.

The other half of the issue for these young adults is the lack of, or even poor, financial education. Not only is this generation growing up without Mint.com, but the best tools fintech has to offer them are buy now, pay later (which can be a useful tool but is just bad advice in general) and early paycheck advances. Perhaps the worst part of the equation is that many of these young people are heavily swayed by impulse purchases promoted by influencers on Instagram and TikTok.

Bite-sized budgeting

While it may be difficult to get folks to regularly engage in actively managing their budget, fintech may have an answer to this problem. The good part is that it already exists.

Bite-sized budgeting is a concept built to suit users with short attention spans. The PFM tools that fit into the bite-sized budgeting category have three attributes– they don’t require much input from the user, they are straightforward and easy to understand, and they only require a small amount of follow-up.

Here are a few examples of bite-sized budgeting tools already on the market:

Subscription management tools that highlight users’ recurring expenses to check for fraud, flag forgotten subscription expenses, and ensure the user is still benefitting from the subscription.
Discretionary spending tools that analyze users’ transactions, identify non-essential expenditures, and offer insights into where their money is going.
Automated savings widgets that allow users to schedule automatic money transfers into savings accounts on a regular basis.

According to a 2015 Microsoft study, the average attention span of Gen Z individuals is about eight seconds. That is four seconds less than Millennials’ attention span. By breaking the chore of budgeting down into manageable tasks, younger users are more likely to look at their budget.

What’s next for bite-sized budgeting?

The missing piece in this de novo budgeting method is offering an aggregated approach. Many of these tools, such as subscription management and automated budgeting exist either as standalone apps or as an added feature of an existing fintech. However, each of these needs to be brought under a single hub that is either standalone or offered by an existing fintech or bank.

As with the pie chart PFM budgeting technology of 2012, bite-sized budgeting will face the issue of miscategorized transactions. When users’ transaction data is incorrect, the tools may flag the purchase incorrectly or offer poor follow-up advice. Both of these issues will make users less willing to rely on them to help manage their finances.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

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Crédit Agricole Acquires 7% Stake in Worldline

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 22, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Credit Agricole, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Worldline

Credit Agricole is taking a 7% minority stake in Worldline.
The announcement comes six months after the two initiated their partnership in July of 2023.
Credit Agricole is making the move to “reaffirm confidence” in Worldline, which was hit with scrutiny over its AML practices last year.

French bank Credit Agricole announced this morning it has taken a 7% minority interest in payments services company Worldline.

Today’s agreement comes six months after the two first partnered in July of last year. According to Credit Agricole, today’s move to deepen this relationship will help strengthen the partnership to create “a major player” in the French merchant payment services market.

“Through this transaction,” the bank said in its press release, “Crédit Agricole Group is reaffirming confidence in its partner: a strong franchise, leading-edge technologies, and proven innovation capabilities, at the service of its customers.”

Credit Agricole’s other aim in taking a minority interest is to demonstrate its intention to not only support Worldline’s development, but also to implement its strategy as a player in the European payments sector. In the long-term, Credit Agricole seeks to remain a minority shareholder in Worldline.

France-based Worldline, which faced scrutiny over its AML practices last year, saw its shares cut in half after the allegations arose regarding its AML safeguards. After today’s announcement, Worldline’s shares jumped 5%.

Worldline began facilitating card transactions in 1973 and currently has 18,000 employees in more than 50 countries and counts annual revenue of around $4.4 billion. Gilles Grapinet is CEO.

Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope in London next month? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.

Photo by Anna Shvets

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 22, 2024
Categories: Daily news, Fintech Rundown

Lending

Moody’s Analytics partners with Numerated to boost its lending capacity.

Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe to acquire EquiLend.

LoanDepot experiences cyberattack with 16.6 million customers’ personal information stolen.

Payments

Mastercard and The Clearing House announce an extension of their real-time payments partnership.

International payments and digital card platform BlinkSky secures $1.5 million in funding.

Bluefin announces global availability of PCI validated P2PE SmartPOS payment devices.

Thomson Reuters fronts $626 million cash bid for Pagero.

Viamericas partners with 24Xoro to expand real-time cross-border remittances to Mexico.

Visa inks partnership with Pesaflow to offer customers in Kenya better access to digital payment solutions.

Torpago and Marqeta launch Sunwest Bank’s Visionary card program.

Chris Cordes is named Head of People at ClassWallet.

Members of Fiserv’s uChoose Rewards program can now use their card rewards balances towards fuel purchases at bp and Amoco stations.

Mondu raises additional €30 million in debt financing from German bank Vereinigte Volksbank Raiffeisenbank.

Regtech

Regtech solution provider AQMetrics partners with CMC Markets.

European digital banking provider Satchel taps regtech AMLYZE to enhance its compliance standards.

Identity management

Automated identity verification specialist Onfido launches its Compliance Suite.

Identity security platform Silverfort secures $116 million in Series D funding at a valuation “around $1 billion”.

ATB Ventures’ Oliu teams up with Flinks to deliver frictionless digital ID verification using bank connectivity.

SF Fire Credit Union deploys Illuma’s Illuma Shield voice verification technology in its call center.

Digital banking

Varo to offer free tax prep and filing.

Pinwheel adds to its direct deposit solution courtesy of a partnership with Jack Henry.

Grow Financial Federal Credit Union streamlines, enhances self-service banking through partnership with NCR Atleos.

CSI appoints Roxanne Martinez as Chief People Officer.

Jack Henry’s Banno unveils Banno Business, a business banking solution for community and regional financial institutions.

Challenger banking

Starling Bank unveils new brand platform, The Bank Built for You.

Wealth management

Personal finance hub Plannix partners with open banking solution provider Salt Edge.

Objectway acquires digital wealth solutions provider Nest Wealth.

TIFIN announces the spin-off of TIFIN AG, an AI platform to help wealth enterprises drive net new assets.

Digital investment and wealth planning firm Marstone raises an $8 million Series B financing round led by Mendon Venture Partners and South Rose Capital.

Insurtech

Ansel, the insurtech previously known as Brella, raises $20 million in funding in a round led by Portage.

Cybersecurity/Fraud Prevention

Fraud prevention and AML platform SEON introduces new Chief Technology Officer Björn Heckel.

Fenergo appoints Andrew Brandman as Chief Customer Officer.

Photo by Pixabay

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Luma Financial Technologies Taps Yieldstreet for Alternative Investments

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 19, 2024
Categories: Daily news

Luma Financial Technologies is deepening its partnership with Yieldstreet.
Luma Financial Technologies will bring Yieldstreet’s alternative investment offerings to Luma’s customers.
Yieldstreet provides access to alternative investments, including real estate, private equity, art, supply chain financing, and more.

Investment technology company Luma Financial Technologies announced it plans to deepen its partnership with alternative investments platform Yieldstreet.

Under the partnership, Luma will bring Yieldstreet’s alternative investment offerings to Luma’s customers. The move broadens the access that Luma’s RIA clients have to alternative investment products that play a role in building a diversified portfolio for end customers. Among the diversified assets Yieldstreet provides access to are real estate, private equity, art, supply chain financing, and more. The partnership will also offer Luma users educational training, post-trade advisor management, and reporting tools.

“Undoubtedly, technology stands as the pivotal factor in democratizing access to alternative investments, empowering financial advisors to construct portfolios for their clients that include a wider range of diversified solutions,” said Luma Financial Technologies CEO and President Tim Bonacci.

Yieldstreet launched its alternative investment platform in 2015 to provide access to a wide range of asset classes– including art, real estate, legal, corporates, consumer, and commercial– via single investments or funds. The company also offers short-term notes on offerings with terms between three and six months. Since launch, Yieldstreet has enabled over 450,000 members to access its alternative assets, which are traditionally accessible only to institutions and high-net-worth individuals.

“Through the combination of Luma’s pioneering product data and analytics with Yieldstreet’s extensive array of premium private market alternative options, our users gain greater access and transparency to products that can play a key role in building multifaceted portfolios on behalf of their clients,” said Yieldstreet CEO Michael Weisz. “We’re excited to continue building upon our synergies with Yieldstreet and to take yet another step forward in making alternative investments accessible to all investors.”

Founded in 2018, Luma offers broker/dealer firms, RIA offices, and private banks access to its fintech software. The customizable technology platform helps financial teams more efficiently research, purchase, and manage alternative investments and annuities.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

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Digital Onboarding Raises $58 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 18, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Digital Onboarding, Funding

Digital Onboarding announced a $58 million growth round, boosting its total funding to $62.6 million.
Today’s funds come from Boston-based private equity firm Volition Capital.
Digital Onboarding will use today’s investment to accelerate its product roadmap, improve support for existing customers, drive awareness in new markets, and increase its headcount.

Digital Onboarding, a financial services onboarding service provider, announced a $58 million growth investment today. The funds come from Boston-based private equity firm Volition Capital and boost Digital Onboarding’s total funding to $62.6 million.

Digital Onboarding will use today’s investment to accelerate its product roadmap, improve support for existing customers, and drive awareness in new markets. The company also notes it plans to double its headcount by the end of this year.

Digital Onboarding offers a SaaS tool to help banks remove friction during the onboarding process. The company’s digital engagement platform helps financial services companies deliver compelling services that keep customers around for the long-term. The company is especially effective in helping motivate accountholders to take action because it aggregates data across banks with similar business objectives.

“Banks and credit unions are pushing further into digital maturity, with many providing online banking and developing robust campaigns for customer acquisition. However, digital transformation often stalls at the onboarding stage of the new customer or member lifecycle,” said Digital Onboarding CEO Ted Brown. “Financial institutions have a significant opportunity to make enrolling in and setting up deposit, payment, and other services simple and seamless. Making these as accessible and easy to complete as possible has a measurable positive impact on customer retention and loyalty.”

Brown founded Digital Onboarding, originally known as SalesBrief, in 2015, along with his co-founder Jonathan Crossman. The company pivoted to the financial services realm in 2017 after participating in a credit union’s fintech accelerator.

Last November, East Cambridge Savings Bank selected Digital Onboarding to increase its checking account activation rates, and Buckeye State CU tapped the Boston-based company to better inform its members and cross-sell product offers. Earlier in 2023, Digital Onboarding also signed Jack Henry, Legacy CU, and others.

Today’s announcement is part of a wave of fintech funding that has surged in the past couple of weeks.

Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

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U.S. Bank’s Innovation Team Unveils the Future at CES 2024

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 18, 2024
Categories: Interview, Speaker series

U.S. Bank’s innovation team recently attended the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week on what it called a “Future Safari.” After attending the show in 2023, the team was back on the lookout for emerging tech trends with the potential to impact the financial services industry, emphasizing AI, autonomy, embedded financial services, and the intersection of physical and digital realms.

We interviewed U.S. Bank’s innovation team to get a view of CES under a fintech lens, as well as to get a peek at U.S. Bank’s tech-forward initiatives in 2024 and beyond.

U.S. Bank’s innovation team attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. What was the team looking for?

U.S. Bank Innovation Team: We look for several things. First and foremost, we are looking for emerging tech and trends that may have an impact on the financial services industry and/or our customers.

We also look at trends and activity across several technology verticals to see if there is technology that we need to get ahead of.

Another thing we look for is specific new tech we might be able to test and pilot. And, of course, it’s great to see what other industries are doing with the technology that is coming to market.

In general, what are some fintech trends U.S. Bank is currently exploring or excited about?

U.S. Bank Innovation Team: At U.S. Bank, we cover a broad range of technologies, domains, client segments, and industries as part of how we try to develop and deliver the future now. Some of the broad trends we’re exploring at the show include AI and autonomy, of course, and how these technologies can change peoples’ lives; the embedding of financial services into all manner of products, services, experiences; how devices are proliferating and what that means for how we help people optimize their financial lives; and how the physical and digital parts of life are changing thanks to new technologies. We’re exploring dozens of trends in many sectors, but those are a few at a high-level that our Future Safari to CES helps us to gauge.

As a large bank, how does U.S. Bank make the decision whether to build or buy new technologies?

U.S. Bank Innovation Team: As a large bank, we like to focus on our core competencies and make decisions that reduce risk. Particularly in tech areas outside of our expertise (technical or business), we will look first to partner.

For example, we aren’t going to try to build our own quantum computer any time soon. We did build our award-winning mobile app, and we do build the majority of our digital customer facing experiences. Some components of those experiences may be provided by fintechs that we partner with when there is a time to market/cost/economic advantage or they have expertise outside of the banking/financial services realm that will improve our customers’ experience. At the end of the day, it is all about the customer experience.

What are some tech-forward initiatives we can expect to see U.S. Bank come out with this year?

U.S. Bank Innovation Team: While I can’t preview any planned announcements for later this year, we use Future Safaris like these to inform insights that help us create amazing experiences for our clients.

One example of how we’ve used these Future Safari insights in the past is that we were able to be the first bank to integrate with all three virtual assistants – Siri, Google, and Alexa. That work later informed the launch of our own industry-leading virtual assistant, U.S. Bank Smart Assistant, which built the foundation for when we created our Spanish Smart Assistant – the nation’s first Spanish-language voice assistant for banking. All of these were informed by early innovations in voice technology that we were seeing at CES. It gave us early signals into what would be important to people and allowed us to envision how we might integrate these kinds of emerging technologies into how we serve our clients.

What was your favorite non-fintech innovation you saw at the show?

U.S. Bank Innovation Team: We really liked the Genesis Systems WaterCube 100. It is a cube about the size of an air conditioner that pulls water from the air. It runs on low enough power to operate on solar panels and can be dropped in to emergency areas in need of clean water, or it can be used for off-grid and remote applications for both commercial and consumers.

The Federation of International Drone Soccer League out of Korea was very cool! The drone soccer league had a big space where they were demonstrating drone soccer – for Harry Potter fans, it looks a lot like quidditch. We thought it was great as it turns a fun solo activity that kids are into these days into an in-person competitive event. Also, it looks like tons of fun!

We are always amazed by the advances in big farm technology. In the John Deere booth, we saw their latest line of tractors that can be operated manually, remotely, or autonomously. They showed their custom GPS, which can get the behemoth tractors to plow and deliver seeds within one-inch accuracy.

We also noticed a trend of high-end, battery powered campers from the super-luxury concept at LG with built-in bars and entertainment, to Jackery and Goal Zero camper concepts with built-in solar batteries and rooftop tents with low-power fridges and a plethora of glamping features. Going off-grid and connecting to nature may also have plurality creature comforts in the future.

Companies and innovators are raising the bar across all industries, and we continue to push ourselves to do the same.

Group photo left to right: Todder Moning, Head of Applied Foresights; Rosa Dunn, Assistant Vice President, Digital Innovation; Cynthia A. Jackson, Vice President, Digital Innovation; Andrew Cantrell, Sr. Applied Foresights Strategist; Don Relyea, Chief Innovation Officer

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