Braintri

Kreditech Looks to India for Expansion; Mexico’s Klar Scores $57.5 Million in Funding

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Braintri, Finovate Global, Kreditech, MasterCard, mBank, Neontri

Join us in October as our annual Asia-Pacific fintech conference returns to Singapore! FinovateAsia is one of the best ways for fintech startups and innovative industry veterans from the region and around the world to showcase their latest technologies before an audience of C-level decision-makers, venture capitalists, all-star analysts, and more.

For information on how to participate in FinovateAsia as a demoing company, partner, or sponsor, send us an e-mail and we’ll tell you everything you need to know.

Asia-Pacific

  • Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) partners with proptech innovator SoReal to launch SME property valuation solution.
  • Bank of China and IBM announces plans to collaborate on digital transformation, customer experience enhancement, and other innovations in financial services.
  • North Korea announces plans to develop its own cryptocurrency.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • United Bank of Africa (UBA) inks deal with U.S.-based fintech Ovamba Solutions.
  • FairMoney picks up nearly $11 million in funding to help build a new digital bank in Nigeria.
  • Angolan e-commerce platform Roque Online wins Seedstars Luanda pitch contest.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Bulgaria’s third largest bank by assets, Fibank, teams up with Mastercard and Garmin to launch new pay watch.
  • Commerzbank announces plans to sell Polish subsidiary mBank.
  • Warsaw, Poland’s The First News profiles Neontri (formerly Braintri).
  • National Bank of Romania unveils new fintech innovation hub.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • The first digital business bank in the UAE, E20, goes live after 18 months in development.
  • Fintech Abu Dhabi announces strategic partnership with UAE Banks Federation.
  • Turkey’s Takasbank introduces blockchain-based, gold-trading platform.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Courtesy of a partnership with Amazon and Financial Software and Systems, United Bank of India launches voice-powered banking.
  • Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank introduces new virtual teller machines in the country’s capital city of Colombo.
  • German online lender Kreditech looks to expand operations in India in the wake of $22 million equity fundraising.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Mexican alternative credit and debit services provider Klar raises $57.5 million in funding.
  • Mastercard brings its Tap on Phone payment acceptance solution to Costa Rica.
  • Brazilian fintech Creditas looks to lure away British technology talent disenchanted by Brexit.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Access Softek, Braintri, Cinchy, ClickSWITCH, Exate, Neontri, Wealthify

Around the web

  • Cinchy earns finalist spot in 2019 Global Venture Challenge sponsored by Connecticut Innovations. See them demo their technology at FinovateFall 2019 this week!
  • Digital marketing firm DeepTarget and Access Softek extend partnership.
  • Warsaw, Poland’s The First News profiles Neontri (formerly Braintri).
  • ClickSWITCH appoints Eric Edwards as new Chief Revenue Officer.
  • BusinessCloud features Exate Technology and Wealthify in its look at 10 U.K. Female-Led Fintech Firms to Watch.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Braintri Rebrands as Neontri En Route to U.S. Debut

Braintri Rebrands as Neontri En Route to U.S. Debut
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Braintri, Neontri

North Carolina is the location of the first U.S. sales office for mobile banking and payments solution provider Neontri. The company, which demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2017 as Braintri, added that its new business strategy will focus on proprietary B2B solutions developed by its internal R&D team. These solutions include the company’s mobile banking development platform, its core banking system offload engine, Biffee; and its white-label, Best of Show-winning, mobile payments and authorization solution, Jiffee.

Calling the U.S. expansion and rebranding, “the beginning of a new stage” in the company’s growth, Neontri CEO and co-founder Maciej Stepien elaborated on the fintech’s next steps. “After six years of dynamic business growth on our home market and the acquisition of iCompass, we now seek to gain a strong foothold abroad,” he said. “Our American Office is the first bridgehead on the road to realizing this goal. In the long term, we plan to expand to the U.K. and the Middle East.”

In locating their office in Raleigh, North Carolina, the company is seeking to leverage the city’s status as home to one of the largest and fastest growing technology and research hubs in the U.S. The proximity of Charlotte, a major financial center that is also experiencing significant growth, is another plus for the Warsaw, Poland-based company.

Founded in 2013, Neontri (as Braintri) announced earlier this year that IKO, the mobile app it co-developed for PKO Bank Polski, had won first place in a global ranking of mobile apps from British Retail Banker International. It was the second consecutive year the app had won the recognition. The company began the year with news that its insurance subscription platform, hiPRO Connector, was going live with Benefia, a division of Vienna Insurance Group.

Our sister publication Fintech Futures profiled Braintri over the summer, discussing how banks are exploring ways to leverage real-time data.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Akamai, Arkose Labs, BodesWell, Braintri, Chatbots.Studio, Datanomers, Ephesoft, INETCO Systems, InterGen Data, Neontri, P2BInvestor, Pinkaloo, Revest, SpyCloud, Trulioo

On Finovate.com

  • Trulioo Accepts Another $53 Million in Funding.
  • Braintri Rebrands as Neontri En Route to U.S. Debut.

Around the web

  • SpyCloud launches new automated tools to support checking and maintaining password security in Microsoft Active Directory.
  • Marketing Technology Insights interviews Arkose Labs VP of Marketing Vanita Pandey.
  • P2Binvestor wins Best Small Business Solution at the 2019 Best of FinXTech Awards.
  • Hired names Akamai a top 10 employer in Boston.
  • INETCO launches INETCO Insight 7, a payment fraud detection platform.
  • Ephesoft and Infor partner to demonstrate new cloud-based document capture solution.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Fintechs Merge and Rebrand in Vietnam; Tinkoff Launches New Voice Assistant Oleg

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Braintri, Finovate Global, Tinkoff Bank

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Cross-border digital payments company PPRO acquires Latin American payments provider allpago.
  • Executives from financial cooperatives in Latin America meet with Denver, Colorado-area credit union leaders as part of immersion program sponsored by the World Council of Credit Unions’ Pasantia Tecnica.
  • Brazilian government and bank and insurance regulators agree to establish a regulatory sandbox to support fintech and insurtech development.

Asia-Pacific

  • Vietnam-based payments firms Vimo Technology and Vietnam MPOS Technology merge to become NextPay.
  • Learn more about Vietnam’s fintech ecosystem in this Fintech Startup Vietnam Map.
  • Indonesian fintech provider Achiko announces plans for direct listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • African Development Bank launches £100 million fintech fund focused on growing financial inclusion.
  • Ventureburn takes a look at the Nigerian fintech startup scene.
  • African payment service provider (PSP), DPO Group, introduces Africa’s first B2B prepaid, virtual and physical payment card: the DumaCard.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • “Hi Oleg!” Russia’s Tinkoff launches new voice assistant for its banking app.
  • Fintech Futures features Poland’s Braintri in a discussion of how fintechs are leveraging real-time data to help banks improve the customer experience.
  • Are regulations in Hungary an obstacle to fintech innovation? BNE Intellinews considers the case of Hungarian payments company Barion.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • S&P Global Ratings gives Gulf Cooperation Council countries the edge over their neighbors in the Middle East and Africa when it comes to the fintech adoption rates.
  • PayU acquires Turkish fintech Iyzico for $165 million.
  • Citi launches its MENA 2019 Challenge.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Indian challenger bank, Payzello, goes live.
  • Tez, a digital, non-bank microfinance startup based in Pakistan, took home $100,000 in prize money after winning the FinTech Challenge at the inaugural Visa Everywhere Initiative for Women.
  • Inc42 looks at the how India’s current fintech boom is contributing to financial inclusion.

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Finovate Global: Braintri Wins App Prize; Featurespace in Singapore

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq, Braintri, Featurespace, Finastra, Finovate Global, Fiserv, Temenos

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Austrian division of private banking and asset management group, LGT, partners with Avaloq.
  • Bank of Lithuania announces updates to its position on virtual assets and ICOs.
  • IKO, the mobile app co-developed by Braintri for PKO Bank Polski, wins first place in worldwide ranking of mobile apps published by British Retail Banker International for second consecutive year.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Finastra brings its core banking technology to Saudi Arabia.
  • Cryptocurrency brokerage based in Kuwait, YallaBit, raises $925,000 in Series A.
  • Arabian Gazette highlights Bahrain’s Manama, Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh, as well as both Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE in its look at Four Arabian Gulf Cities Where Fintech is Thriving.

Central and South Asia

  • Temenos acquires Bangalore-based big data and analytics firm, hTrunk.
  • National Bank of Pakistan introduces its first contactless debit card.
  • Anirban Mukherjee appointed CEO of PayU India.
  • QR code-based payment app BharatPe raises $17 million in round led by Sequoia Capital India.
  • Pan Asia Bank and TerraPay partner to provide instant cross-border payment access to bank accounts in Sri Lanka.
  • Halyk Bank teams up with Fiserv to centralize its cash management process.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Digital challenger bank C6 goes live in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
  • Mexico looks at the possibility of forming a digital payments system, run by the central bank, to help make financial services more accessible for the underbanked.
  • PYMNTS.com features Argentine digital challenger bank, Wilobank.

Asia-Pacific

  • Ping An’s fintech subsidiary OneConnect sets up shop in Indonesia.
  • Hong Kong Exchange acquires minority stake in Shenzhen-based fintech.
  • Featurespace goes live in Singapore.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • South African digital lender Payabill announces equity stake investment from Johannesburg-based business challenger bank, Sasfin.
  • Kenyan Capital Markets Authority Chief Executive Paul Muthaura speaks about the need for a “conducive environment” for fintech innovation in the country.
  • Nigerian Lagos state government to launch e-procurement platform within the next three weeks.

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Finovate Alumi News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Braintri, Ellie Mae, Featurespace, ID.me, Lending Club, OmniSci, Sberbank, Swych

On Finovate.com

  • ID.me Teams Up with VA to Bring Identity Proofing Options to Vets.
  • OmniSci Reports Wide-Ranging Growth in Wake of Rebrand.

Around the web

  • Sberbank customers can now make instant transfers between Sberbank cards and WebMoney wallets courtesy of new partnership.
  • Mobile gifting platform Swych announces it will accept payment in cryptocurrency.
  • Ellie Mae introduces the early adopters of its Integrated Partner Program.
  • Lending Club and U.K. data vendor Brismo team up to provide standardized performance metrics for lending.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq, Baker Hill, BBVA, Braintri, CardFlight, Finastra, IDology, NetGuardians, Strands

On Finovate

  • UK-based GBG Acquires IDology in $300 Million All-Cash Deal.
  • NetGuardians Teams Up with Swiss Wealthtech Pictet to Fight Fraud.
  • Finastra Brings its Core Banking Technology to Saudi Arabia.

Around the web

  • BBVA unveils first blockchain-supported structured green bond.
  • Strands introduces Engager 2.0, the newest edition of its AI and machine learning powered financial insights generator.
  • Avaloq’s banking suite goes live with the Austrian division of international private banking and asset management group, LGT.
  • IKO, the mobile app co-developed by Braintri for PKO Bank Polski, wins first place in worldwide ranking of mobile apps published by British Retail Banker International for second consecutive year.
  • Baker Hill earns nomination for The Best Tech in Indiana in TechPoint’s 20th annual Mira Awards.
  • CardFlight’s SwipeSimple now enables more than 50,000 merchants across all 50 states of the U.S.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Braintri Drives Insurtech Innovation in Europe

Braintri Drives Insurtech Innovation in Europe
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Braintri

Braintri announced this week that its insurance subscription platform, hiPRO Connector, is going live as part of a new agreement with Benefia, a division of Vienna Insurance Group. The launch follows a successful deployment of the platform with Allianz, and builds on the Polish company’s recent partnerships with PKO Bank Polski and fellow Finovate alum, mBank.

The platform, developed in collaboration with Polish fintech hiPRO, enables customers to pay for their car insurance in monthly installments – a relatively new option in the industry. Customers provide information such as earnings, employment type, and number of dependents. The Connector randomly selects a participating bank which then reviews the customer’s credit in real-time.

The loans are financed by a bank, rather than the insurer – in this instance, Estonia’s Inbank and Poland’s Alior Bank. Braintri CEO Wojciech Zatorski pointed out that this means insurers are exposed to less risk, and gives banks the ability to sell micro loans. The platform launch will take place over several Benefia sales channels, including mobile.

Braintri’s announcement comes after a year of significant achievements, including the company’s merger with Finovate alum, iCompass, announced in November. Earlier in the year, the company was recognized for its contribution to PKO BP’s IKO mobile app.

“We entered 2019 with the feeling we achieved most of our goals,” Zatorski said in a statement. “Winning over new big brands proves that our efforts in providing the current customers with world-class IT services are noticed and appreciated.” With a nod toward the company’s yet-to-be completed merger, as well as planned expansion internationally, Zatorski added, “This will surely be the busiest year in Braintri’s six-year history.”

Braintri demonstrated its Jiffee payments solution at FinovateFall 2017, earning Best of Show honors. Based in Warsaw, Poland, and founded in 2013, the company returned to the Finovate stage in 2018 to demo its technology as part of FinovateEurope.

Interested in learning more about the latest fintech innovations from Europe? Join us for FinovateEurope 2019, February 12 through the 14, at London’s Tobacco Dock.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Akamai, BBVA, Braintri, Cardlytics, FICO, Ondot, Plaid, Quovo, Salt Edge

On Finovate.com

  • Braintri Drives Insurtech Innovation in Europe.
  • Plaid Acquires Quovo in $200 Million Deal.

Around the web

  • Salt Edge joins Temenos Marketplace as the community’s first data aggregator.
  • BBVA leads $12 million Series A round for payments startup Grabango.
  • Cardlytics CEO Scott Grimes appointed board chair of FinTech Atlanta.
  • FICO awarded five new patents for fraud, AI, and advanced analytics technologies.
  • PYMNTS.com interviews Ondot CEO Bharghavan Vaduvur.
  • Akamai Technologies reveals plans to acquire customer identity access management firm, Janrain.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Braintri, Clinc, Finastra, Finovate Global, MasterCard, Ripple

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Asia-Pacific

  • Singapore-based InstaReM announces new multi-currency feature to make overseas payments easier for SMEs.
  • Myanmar’s biggest privately-owned bank, Kanbawza (KBZ) Bank picks Finastra’s treasury management solution, Fusion Treasury.
  • Government ministries in South Korea partner for joint blockchain project to improve marine logistics and shipping.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity (FRP) invests $2.9 million three companies from Burundi, Malawi, and Uganda to support financial inclusion.
  • Nigerian Stock Exchange extends partnership with Nasdaq to continue using its matching engine technology.
  • Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority releases its “FinTech Sandbox Guidance Note” with an initial focus on robo advisors and blockchain technology.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Intelligent CIO looks at the merger of Polish fintechs, Braintri and iCompass.
  • Mastercard partners with Polish Payment Standard to provide contactless payments.
  • New report from Deloitte and ID Finance analyzes the growth of Russia’s private fintech sector.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Iraq’s Hammurabi Commercial Bank to deploy ICS Banks Universal Banking Software Suite.
  • Ripple and UAE Exchange team up to launch blockchain-powered cross-border remittance payment services in Asia in early 2019.
  • Egypt’s Commercial International Bank introduces nation’s first fintech-focused venture capital fund.
  • Clinc Brings Conversational AI to Turkey’s Isbank.

Central and South Asia

  • Obopay teams up with Federal Bank and Mastercard to offer new pre-payment card in India.
  • Indian digital payments firm ePayLater teams up with Cashfree to bring its credit-based payment option to merchants.
  • YourStory features Pune-based fintech startup, Phi Commerce.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazilian lender Creditoo announces $1.2 million in new funding.
  • IDB, Finnovista report notes that four out of ten Peruvian fintechs has a female founder.
  • Costa Rica unveils new virtual currency, Ecolones, to encourage recycling.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq, Braintri, Citi, Clinc, Envestnet, Experian, Feedzai, TransferWise

On Finovate.com

  • Citi Forges Strategic Partnership with Feedzai.

Around the web

  • Clinc Brings Conversational AI to Turkey’s Isbank.
  • FinTech Futures sits down with TransferWise’s Stuart Gregory to talk about the power of partnerships.
  • Intelligent CIO looks at the merger of Polish fintechs, Braintri and iCompass.
  • Experian launches Experian Boost, an online platform that enables consumers to instantly improve their credit scores by providing additional financial information.
  • Envestnet president Bill Crager is featured in Financial Planning’s 19 People Who Will Change Wealth Management in 2019.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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