Author: David Penn

Leeds Building Society Partners with Mambu to Pilot Digital Savings Offering

Leeds Building Society Partners with Mambu to Pilot Digital Savings Offering
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Mambu
  • Leeds Building Society, the fifth largest building society in the UK, has gone live on Mambu’s cloud banking platform.
  • The financial institution has launched a pilot digital savings solution and expects to add its mortgage offering to the modernization initiative.
  • Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Mambu has been a Finovate alum since 2013.

After operating on a legacy core system for more than two decades, Leeds Building Society—the fifth largest building society in the UK—has gone live on Mambu’s cloud banking platform. The first step for the institution, in what it is calling a multi-year core modernization project, has been to launch a pilot digital savings solution.

“Our partnership with Mambu continues to go from strength to strength. We’ve spent the past year building the engineering foundations for the complete overhaul of our technology and we are delighted to see the technology being used for live savings accounts,” Leeds Building Society Chief Operating Officer Rob Howse said.

In a statement, Leeds Building Society praised Mambu for the speed with which the institution was able to launch its new savings offering. The building society noted that the savings products launched less than a year after starting the build. Leeds Building Society anticipates eventually adding its mortgage offering to its modernization plan thanks to Mambu’s composable architecture and cloud technology.

Composable banking enables financial services companies to leverage the fast and flexible assembly of independent, best-for-purpose systems to design and deliver new solutions and services. Composable banking allows firms to apply agile principles to build, test, and release new solutions; select and combine technologies in unique ways to design a competitive advantage; build both off-the-shelf and customized cloud solutions; and avoid the potential delays and dependencies of relying on single vendor partners.

Mambu’s cloud banking platform enables financial institutions to take advantage of these features, empowering firms to offer configurable deposits and lending products, collaborate with third-party technology providers, and more. To date, the platform has delivered 400 successful go-lives, served more than 260 customers and 114 million end users, and provided cost savings of up to 50% on implementation, integration, customization, infrastructure, and maintenance.

“Partnering with Mambu provides us with a solution that brings the best composable architecture and cloud technology coupled with innovative functionality that matches the very best in the industry,” Howse added. “This strategic move will mean we can spend more time improving the lives of our members and less worrying about our legacy technology.”

Established in 1875, Leeds Building Society has one million members across the UK. Operating as a mutual, Leeds Building Society offers mortgage, savings, insurance solutions, as well as financial wellness and financial literacy content. The partnership with Mambu coincides with the institution’s 150th anniversary and the “Year of the Cooperative”—a global effort launched by the United Nations to promote the work of cooperative financial institutions and their contributions to sustainable development.

“Leeds Building Society’s move to Mambu is a landmark moment for both the organization and the building society sector at large, reflecting our strengthening presence in the sector and our strong track record of providing transformative solutions to banks, fintechs, and other financial services organizations across the United Kingdom,” Mambu Chief Revenue Officer Mark Geneste said.

Berlin, Germany-based Mambu made its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia 2013. The company most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage in New York for FinovateFall 2021 and in London at FinovateEurope 2022 (in partnership with Persistent Systems). Mambu began 2025 announcing a partnership with Money DD, a subsidiary of Thailand’s Government Savings Bank (GSB), in support of its new digital lending platform Good Money. The fintech also teamed up with Spain’s Ibercaja Banco, helping the institution launch a dedicated consumer finance entity. Last month, Mambu announced a pair of additions to its C-suite, introducing Ellie Heath as Chief People Officer and Semhal Tarekegn O’Gorman as Chief Customer Success Officer.

Photo by Rodolfo Quirós

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Celebrating Earth Day: Finovate Alums Champion Sustainability

Celebrating Earth Day: Finovate Alums Champion Sustainability
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni profile, ClimateTrade, Cloverly, Connect Earth, ecolytiq, Energy Shares, Green Portfolio, Little Blocks

Today is Earth Day. Established in 1970, the holiday is widely recognized as the start of the modern environmental movement. First proposed by peace activist John McConnell in 1969, the holiday has grown into an international commemoration with millions of participants all over the world.

In fintech and financial services, many companies have developed solutions to help banks, financial services firms, and their customers deal with issues such as climate change and environmental sustainability. From carbon tracking to investing in sustainable industries, these innovators are helping companies and individuals better understand the impact of their actions on the environment and, importantly, are showing them specific ways they can take action.

Finovate has been proud to showcase many of these companies in recent years. As part of our Earth Day celebration, we’re featuring below some of these innovators as well as the technologies they have brought to market to promote sustainability and minimize negative impacts on the climate.

ClimateTrade

Headquartered in Valencia, Spain and Miami, Florida, ClimateTrade is a climate tech company that leverages innovative technology—including a blockchain-based climate marketplace—to support large-scale decarbonization.

Founded in 2018, ClimateTrade made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023. Francisco Benedito is Co-Founder and CEO.

Cloverly

Cloverly is a climate action platform that provides solutions to help buyers and sellers of carbon credits, connect, transact, and scale their impact. The company’s API enables companies to embed climate action into their own customer’s digital experiences.

Cloverly made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2023 and returned later that year for FinovateFall. The company was founded in 2018 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Jason Rubottom is CEO.

Connect Earth

Connect Earth is an environmental data startup that democratizes access to sustainability data. The company offers carbon tracking API technology, Connect Insights, that financial institutions can embed in their apps to provide customers with a carbon impact estimate for every spend-based transaction.

Headquartered in London, Connect Earth made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023 and returned to the Finovate stage in New York later in the year for FinovateFall. The company was founded in 2021. Alexander Lempka is Co-Founder and CEO.

ecolytiq

ecolytiq offers a Sustainability-as-a-Service solution that uses payment transactions to calculate individual environmental impacts, including CO2 footprint.

Berlin, Germany-based ecolytiq participated in Finovate’s developer conference, FinDEVr 2021. The company was founded in 2020. David Lais is Co-Founder and Managing Director.

Energy Shares

Energy Shares is a FINRA-registered, broker-dealer and equity crowdfunding platform for utility-scale, renewable energy projects throughout the US. The company’s platform expands access to investment opportunities in the renewable energy space that have historically been available only to institutional, corporate, and other privileged investors.

Energy Shares made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York. Headquartered in Pasadena, California, the company was founded in 2021. Daniel Kim is Founder and CEO.

Green Portfolio

Green Portfolio offers a climate-first, AI-powered scoring system and platform that enables individuals to align their investing and banking decisions with their attitudes toward environmental sustainability and climate change.

Green Portfolio made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023. Founded in 2020, the company is headquartered in New York. Bonnie Gurry is Co-Founder and CEO.

Little Blocks

Little Blocks is a fintech platform for micro-, small-, and medium-sized (MSME) manufacturers built around industrial IoT data. The firm helps companies secure access to risk capital for machinery upgrades that make factories more productive while minimizing environmental costs and impacts.

Making its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023, Little Blocks was founded in 2022. Based in Hyderabad, India, the company was co-founded by CEO Hanu Panchakarla.

Photo by Valentin Antonucci

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Trulioo Teams up with Cross-Border Embedded Payment Solutions Provider PingPong

Trulioo Teams up with Cross-Border Embedded Payment Solutions Provider PingPong
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Trulioo
  • Identity verification platform Trulioo has partnered with cross-border payments solutions company PingPong.
  • PingPong will deploy Trulioo Business Verification and Watchlist Screening to enhance onboarding and improve payment experiences for customers worldwide.
  • Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, Trulioo won Best of Show at FinovateEurope 2022. The company most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateEurope 2023.

Identity platform Trulioo has teamed up with cross-border embedded payment solutions company PingPong. The company has selected Trulioo Business Verification and Watchlist Screening to reduce manual processes during onboarding and to provide fast, compliant payment experiences to customers around the world.

The partnership comes at a time when cross-border payments are expected to grow at 5.9% CAGR, reaching $50 trillion by 2032. At the same time, there are a range of hurdles experienced by businesses when it comes to cross-border payments. These include managing country-specific regulations, dealing with fraud and financial crime, as well as cumbersome onboarding processes. By deploying Trulioo’s advanced Business Verification and Watchlist Screening technology, PingPong will improve its ability to quickly verify individuals and companies worldwide while shortening onboarding time and reducing other operational challenges.

“The digital payments boom creates an abundance of growth opportunities and a broad attack surface for fraud, meaning enterprises can no longer rely on rigid verification methods,” Trulioo CEO Vicky Bindra said. “Fast, flexible, and scalable verification capabilities deliver the trust and security that form the foundation of global commerce. We’re proud to partner with PingPong to help drive growth and compliance in the cross-border payments industry.”

Trulioo’s Business Verification, or Know Your Business (KYB), features many of the same checks as Know Your Customer processes do. Nevertheless, Trulioo’s offering adds a number of additional verification processes due to the complexity of business registration, ownership data, and, at times, business structure. Business Verification offers easy integration, maximized accuracy, minimal to no manual processes, verification in any language, and continuous performance optimization that evolves its data engine and network of interconnected data sources.

The company’s Watchlist Screening checks individuals and businesses against more than 6,000 international watchlists and 20,000+ adverse media sources. Users can deploy the technology to screen against sanctions lists, check for politically exposed persons, and access print, digital, and broadcast media to gain insights into potential customers, including past criminal activity. The technology provides for fewer false positives, continuous monitoring, and simple integration with existing systems.

“Ensuring compliance while providing world-class, digital-first onboarding for businesses is critical to our global payments infrastructure,” PingPong Global Compliance Officer Julia Yao explained. “As we continue to scale and power cross-border payment services for enterprises of all sizes, automation and smart technology are fundamental to delivering fast, secure payment services. Trulioo is a vital partner as we combine our regional expertise and cutting-edge technology to automate business verification around the world.”

Founded in New York in 2015, PingPong is a leading cross-border payments platform, processing more than $250 billion in cumulative transaction volume. The company’s API-first cross-border payments platform integrates with businesses to send, manage, and receive money faster worldwide. PingPong holds more than 60 financial licenses, operates 32 offices in 15 countries, and employs more than 1,500 employees.

A Finovate alum since 2014, Trulioo won Best of Show at FinovateEurope 2022 and most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateEurope 2023. At the conference, the Vancouver, Canada-based company demonstrated its identity platform for individual and business verification. The technology features a no-code Workflow Studio and an educational resource hub called Navigator.

Trulioo’s business and individual verification platform covers 195 countries. The platform can verify 14,000+ identity documents and 700 million business entities, and access more than 6,000 watchlists. The company’s technology puts hundreds of predictive risk signals, consortium data, and industry-specific machine learning models to work helping businesses fight fraud and financial crime.

Trulioo’s partnership news comes just weeks after the company introduced Vicky Bindra as its new Chief Executive Officer. Bindra succeeds Steve Munford, who served as CEO since 2020. Bindra comes to Trulioo having worked as Chief Operating and Product Officer at Nuvei and, before that, as Group President and Chief Product Officer at FIS.

“My focus will be on accelerating product innovation, enhancing our global reach and delivering best-in-class solutions to the market,” Bindra said in a statement earlier this month. “I look forward to working with the talented team at Trulioo to advance the company’s position as The World’s Identity Platform.”

Photo by nappy

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Plumery Announces Strategic Partnership with Darien Technology

Plumery Announces Strategic Partnership with Darien Technology
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Plumery
  • Digital banking platform Plumery has forged a strategic partnership with financial services consulting firm Darien Technology.
  • The partnership combines Plumery’s technology with Darien Technology’s consulting and software development expertise to empower banks to accelerate their digital transformations.
  • Headquartered in Amsterdam, Plumery made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2025 in London.

Amsterdam-based digital banking platform Plumery announced a strategic partnership with Darien Technology. A consulting and technology firm that specializes in South America and Spain, Darien Technology will combine its consulting, software development, and UX/UI design expertise with Plumery’s developer-friendly, API-driven architecture to help banks and other financial institutions accelerate their digital transformations.

“This partnership allows us to extend Plumery’s reach into markets that are undergoing rapid digital change but are often held back by rigid legacy systems,” Plumery Founder and CEO Ben Goldin said. “Our platform provides the foundation for financial institutions to deliver seamless digital banking journeys that are easy to launch, fully customizable, and designed to scale. Through a focus on speed, cost-efficiency, and customer experience, we’re giving institutions the autonomy to evolve continuously without being tied to expensive vendor lock-ins or slow, professional service-heavy delivery models.”

Combining Plumery’s technology and Darien’s acumen will provide financial institutions with a digital banking stack that integrates seamlessly with existing core systems to enable them to offer digital banking experiences across both online and mobile channels. The collaboration will drive frictionless onboarding, KYC compliance, personalized engagement, and full loan origination journeys. Financial institutions will benefit from real-time responsiveness thanks to Plumery’s event-driven platform architecture and cloud-native infrastructure. At the same time, firms will be able to leverage regional delivery capabilities and expertise in guiding firms through their digital transformation journeys courtesy of Darien.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Plumery,” Luis Salazar, Digital Transformation Director & CDO, EMEA, at Darien Technology, said. “Their flexible, cloud-native, event-driven architecture and developer-friendly approach to digital banking, coupled with their ability to support progressive modernization without the need for large-scale core transformations aligns perfectly with our mission to help financial institutions innovate with speed and confidence.”

Headquartered in Panama, Darien Technology is a digital transformation and technology consulting firm that specializes in accelerating innovation, modernizing legacy systems, and delivering digital experiences for banks and financial services companies. The company’s capabilities include software development, systems integration, UX/UI design, cloud infrastructure, digital onboarding, document management, identity verification, and AI-driven data insights. Daniel Sepe is CEO.

Founded as a private consultancy in 2016, Plumery grew into an independent product company in 2022. The company made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2025 in London, where it demoed its Super App Accelerator, which empowers financial institutions to launch a comprehensive Super App in weeks rather than years. The solution helps financial institutions transition from traditional banking apps to lifestyle-integrated platforms that serve a wider range of consumer financial demands.

Learn more about Plumery in my conversation with Ben Goldin from earlier this year. We discuss the growth of lifestyle banking as well as trends such as AI and hyper-personalization in banking.

Photo by Luis Quintero

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Finovate Global Brazil: Debt Management, BNPL, and Building a Bigger Bitcoin Reserve

Finovate Global Brazil: Debt Management, BNPL, and Building a Bigger Bitcoin Reserve
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Nubank

This week’s edition of Finovate Global features the latest fintech news and headlines from Brazil.

Nubank unveils Recomeço to help borrowers renegotiate debt

Brazilian fintech Nubank unveiled its latest and largest campaign to help customers with outstanding payments renegotiate their debts. The program, Recomeço, enables eligible customers to receive discounts of up to 99.9% for a limited time. These customers will be notified via the Nubank app, where they will be provided personalized details about their renegotiation options and next steps.

“At Nubank, our customers and their financial well-being are our priority,” CEO of Nubank in Brazil, Livia Chanes, said. “This was the main reason for creating Nubank: to combat complexity and empower people. We are committed to providing personalized solutions with the best possible conditions, contributing to long-term financial health. We want to support our customers, who have trusted Nubank, to start over.”

Eligible customers will need to have a “generally good credit history” and engagement with Nubank. The fintech hopes that the program will benefit those customers who do not tend to have recurring debts, but may have recently experienced financial difficulties. Recomeço also features resources and tools to support credit recovery and smart financial decision-making. These resources include a blog with tips on financial wellness and education.

Nubank’s Recomeço news comes less than a week after the fintech unveiled NuScore, a credit rating tool for its customers. NuScore provides customers with a score from 0 to 1,000, a classification—very high, high, average, low, and very low—and access to the behavioral and historical factors that guided the scoring. These factors include credit card usage, savings patterns in Nubank’s personalized digital savings accounts called Caixas, the amount of debt in the market, and the customer’s score analysis from credit bureaus. Customers will also benefit from recommendations on how they can improve their credit profile and overall financial health.

“Our goal is to establish a solid partnership with our customers to build a robust credit profile, promoting satisfaction, increasing eligibility and engagement with credit products that meet their needs in a responsible manner,” said Arthur Valadão, general director for Nubank’s Roxinho (credit card) segment.

Founded in 2013, Nubank is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. The company is an alum of Finovate’s developer conference, FinDEVr, having participated in the event in New York in 2016. Today, Nubank offers one of the region’s and the world’s biggest digital banking platforms, with more than 100 million customers in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.

Brazilian BNPL provider raises $26.7 million in series A funding

Capim, a startup that offers a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) payment option for Brazilians paying for dental services, has secured $25.7 million in Series A funding. The round, which consisted of two parts, featured Valor Capital and QED Investors as co-leads. Existing investors ONEVC, Canary, and NXTP also participated, along with new investors Endeavor, Saison, and Actyus. The Series A takes Capim’s total capital raised to $29 million. Valuation information was not disclosed.

A vertical SaaS company specializing in the dental sector, Capim helps dentists leverage digital technology to better manage their offices. In addition to providing payment options like BNPL, Capim helps dental patients schedule their appointments digitally at connected clinics. The funding will help Capim expand its offerings to include a point-of-sale (POS) terminal that will offer dentists lower merchant discount rates. Terminals will accept credit and debit cards, and payments from Brazil’s real-time payment system, PIX. The terminals will be fully integrated with Capim’s SaaS financial management module.

“At Capim, we know that being a dentist is much more than taking care of smiles—it is transforming lives every day,” the company noted on LinkedIn when the investment was announced. “With our verticalized software, we develop, with our customers, incredible products, ensuring resources and all the support that really make a difference.”

Founded in 2021, Capim is headquartered in São Paulo.

Méliuz proposes expanding bitcoin reserves

Brazilian fintech Méliuz is considering an expansion of its Bitcoin holdings and making the digital asset a strategic asset on the company’s ledger. The company initiated its bitcoin strategy earlier this year, devoting 10% of the company’s cash to purchase 45.7 Bitcoin worth $4.1 million. According to the Brazil Crypto Report, this marks the first time a Brazilian, publicly listed company used cash funds from its treasury to buy Bitcoin for investment purposes.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Belo Horizonte, Méliuz provides digital solutions via a platform that integrates marketplaces and financial services. With more than 800 partner stores, Méliuz promotes discounts, services, and coupons through its website, app, and browser extension. The company also builds special cashback programs for its marketplace and financial services partners.

The final decision on expanding Méliuz’s Bitcoin holdings will be based on a shareholder meeting and vote on May 6, the company noted in a securities filing.

Earlier this year, Méliuz reaffirmed its strategic alliance with Banco Votorantim (banco BV), initially forged in 2022. Also that year, Méliuz announced a partnership with Liqi, a blockchain-based asset tokenization startup.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Emirates NBD teamed up with Visa to enhance international money transfers.
  • Egyptian fintechs Basata Holding for Financial Payments and Connect Money launched a new card to boost payment security.
  • CTech interviewed Israeli fintech entrepreneur-turned-investor Alon Huri.

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazilian fintech Nubank launched its credit rating tool, NuScore, for Nu customers.
  • Latin American Open Finance platform Belvo raised $15 million in funding.
  • Chilean acquiring network Klap went live with Visa and Mastercard acquiring services in partnership with BPC.

Asia-Pacific

  • Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) launched phase two of their cross-border QR payment scheme.
  • Australia-based lender Bizcap brought its same-day funding solution to Singapore.
  • The Bank of Thailand (BOT) approved three new digital banks led by Krungthai Bank, SCBX, and Ascend Money.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Photo by F Cary Snyder on Unsplash

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Currency Risk Management Firm Argentex Partners with French Paytech Numeral

Currency Risk Management Firm Argentex Partners with French Paytech Numeral
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Numeral
  • Currency risk management and alternative banking specialist Argentex announced French fintech Numeral as its strategic payment technology partner.
  • The partnership will help Argentex optimize payment execution and give the firm advanced reconciliation capabilities.
  • Headquartered in Paris, France, Numeral made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023 in London.

Currency risk management and alternative banking specialist Argentex has chosen Numeral as its strategic payment technology provider. The designation means that Argentex will leverage technology from the French fintech to transform its payments and FX infrastructure. Argentex will be able to streamline its connectivity with banks via a single integration point, supporting operations across 140 currencies in the UK, EU, UAE, and Australia.

Implementing Numeral’s technology will give Argentex three chief benefits. First, the deployment supports comprehensive banking integration coverage through a single platform. This optimizes payment execution efficiency across multiple banking partners for Swift, SEPA, and UK Faster Payments. Second, Argentex will leverage advanced reconciliation capabilities to ensure accurate financial record-keeping and operational accuracy of both cross-border payments and associated FX trades. Third, Numeral’s platform provides a flexible architecture that supports parallel instances for different geographical regions and business units. This helps maintain strict control and compliance standards.

“By selecting Numeral’s payment technology, we are reinforcing Argentex’s position at the forefront of multi-currency payment processing,” Argentex Chief Operating Officer Tim Rudman said. “The platform’s ability to centralize banking access through a single integration significantly reduces operational complexity while enabling us to uphold the highest standards of security, control, and compliance across our global payment operations.”

Headquartered in London, Argentex is a currency risk management and alternative banking specialist for businesses and financial institutions. The firm provides FCA-registered relationship managers and access to wholesale exchange rates from Tier 1 banks. Argentex clients further benefit from the ability to pay in and out of ring-fenced accounts and hedge their exposure using a wide variety of financial products. With more than 5,500 corporate and institutional clients, Argentex has transacted more than $200 billion for its clients since 2012.

“Argentex’s sophisticated requirements leverage the full potential of the Numeral platform and expertise—from managed multi-bank connectivity to the management of dozens of settlement accounts across multiple currencies and automating FX trade reconciliations,” Numeral Co-Founder and CEO Édouard Mandon said. “We are proud to support a global currency expert like Argentex in their ongoing pursuit of efficiency and innovation.”

Headquartered in Paris, France, Numeral made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023. At the conference, the company showed how financial institutions use its platform to automatically send, receive, and reconcile SEPA payments. Numeral also demonstrated how they can manage payment errors via SEPA R transactions using the platform.

Earlier this year, Numeral announced that Societe Generale went live with Numeral’s SEPA instant credit transfer integration for its indirect participants. In less than four months, three banks have launched SEPA instant payments by connecting their core banking systems to Societe Generale’s infrastructure and deploying Numeral’s instant payment capabilities.

Numeral began this year as a Mambu company, announcing its acquisition by the core banking system provider—and fellow Finovate alum—in December 2024.

Photo by Boris Ulzibat

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Meet 5 Companies Demoing at FinovateSpring That Promote Financial Literacy

Meet 5 Companies Demoing at FinovateSpring That Promote Financial Literacy
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: CoHome, Express Wages, FinovateSpring 2025, Kaian, List series, Penny Finance, SuperMoney

April is Financial Literacy Month. While we are all getting an education in trade policy these days, making sure we’re up to speed when it comes to financial wellness is just as important.

With that in mind—and with FinovateSpring less than one month away (May 7 – 9)—we wanted to highlight those demoing companies that have financial literacy and inclusion at the heart of their mission.

CoHome

Based in San Francisco and founded in 2025, CoHome offers a real estate co-ownership marketplace and management app that makes owning property more accessible for college students and their parents, reducing rent to zero.

How they support financial literacy: CoHome introduces parents to the concept of co-investing in student housing for their child.

Express Wages

Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, Express Wages offers Earned Wage Access (EWA) services to enable employees to receive some or all of their wages as they earn them.

How Express Wages supports financial literacy: Express Wages features a Financial Literacy blog on its website with articles and guides on budget-making, saving for a first home, and strategies to pay back student loans.

Kaian

Los Angeles, California-based Kaian provides a billpay support system that ensures that credit union members never have to worry about missing a payment due to temporary cash flow issues. The company was founded in 2022.

How Kaian supports financial literacy: Kaian’s AI-powered assistance provides personalized, on-demand financial guidance, including insights on budgeting, saving, and long-term financial planning.

Penny Finance

Founded in 2020 and based in Boston, Massachusetts, Penny Finance describes its mission as “closing the wealth gap.” The company offers an online financial planning engagement engine for credit unions and small banks.

How Penny Finance supports financial literacy: Penny Finance provides tailored education, resources, and perks to credit union members and customers of small banks.

Supermoney

Headquartered in Santa Ana, California and founded in 2013, SuperMoney offers a comprehensive financial services comparison website providing recommendations on products from personal loans and savings accounts to tax preparation firms and brokerages.

How SuperMoney supports financial literacy: SuperMoney offers financial tools and resources—as well as industry studies—to help individuals make better financial decisions.

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CCBank Turns to Tyfone as its Digital Transformation Partner

CCBank Turns to Tyfone as its Digital Transformation Partner
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Tyfone
  • CCBank has chosen Portland, Oregon-based digital banking provider Tyfone.
  • As part of the partnership, CCBank will deploy Tyfone’s nFinia Digital Banking Platform in order to offer new digital banking solutions to its business and retail customers.
  • Tyfone made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2008.

Utah-based CCBank has partnered with digital banking provider Tyfone. The financial institution will deploy the fintech’s nFinia Digital Banking Platform to bring innovative digital solutions to both its small- and medium-sized businesses and retail account holders.

An open, API-driven platform, Tyfone’s nFinia empowers financial institutions to select their preferred third-party providers and integrate them into their digital experience. This provides a single access point and log-in for consumer and business loan originations, credit cards, wealth management, and more. This seamless, single-sign-on experience will be available to all CCBank customers via mobile app, online banking, and in-branch services.

“We wanted to take a leap forward in terms of user experience to better compete with larger institutions and tech-forward providers,” CCBank Chief Operating Officer Eric Wright said. “We were looking for a partner with the resources that give us the ability to offer robust technology and third-party integrations while also enabling us to configure our platform to meet our specific needs. Tyfone fits these criteria perfectly, and we cannot wait to present our new platform to our customers.”

A community-focused financial institution with assets of more than $1 billion, Utah-based CCBank serves businesses and retail customers via branches in Salem, Provo, Orem, Pleasant Grove, Sandy, and St. George, as well as through its mobile app and online channels. Founded in 1993, CCBank partnered with Federal Home Loan Bank Des Moines earlier this month to invest in Utah communities by providing financial support to local organizations involved in affordable housing, community development, and other social needs.

“Community banks are the lifeblood of local businesses and jobs, and CCBank’s culture of service and collaboration with the customers is also reflected in their interactions with vendor partners,” Tyfone CEO Siva Narendra said. “We are honored to work alongside CCBank and its visionary team to continue to advance our commercial digital banking capabilities and empower the bank to provide differentiating digital services to its customers.”

One of Finovate’s earliest alums, Tyfone demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2008. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, the company provides digital banking services for both consumers and businesses via partnerships with community financial institutions across the US. Tyfone’s partnership news with CCBank comes just a few weeks after the company announced that Partners 1st Federal Credit Union has selected its nFinia Digital Banking Platform. Partners 1st FCU is headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and maintains 20 branches across five states.

Photo by Zack Spear on Unsplash

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Embedded Finance Solutions Provider Pipe Acquires Glean.ai

Embedded Finance Solutions Provider Pipe Acquires Glean.ai
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Glean AI, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Embeddeed finance solutions company Pipe has acquired spend management innovator Glean.ai.
  • The acquisition will enable the combined entity to respond to two main pain points for small- and medium-sized businesses: access to capital and effective spend management.
  • New York-based Glean.ai made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022.

Embedded finance solutions provider Pipe announced its strategic acquisition of AI-powered spend management innovator Glean.ai. Founded in 2020, Glean.ai offers a spend management solution for small- and medium-sized businesses that provides one-click access to spending trends, billing mistakes, and opportunities to uncover savings. Glean.ai’s solution also features real-time, cross-functional budgeting and billpay tools, and leverages AI to examine spending patterns over time to help business owners and managers make better decisions.

“Today, I’m thrilled to share that Glean.ai is joining forces with Pipe, a fintech company that offers embedded financial solutions within the software platforms business owners use every day to manage their operations,” Glean.ai CEO Howard Katzenberg said in a statement. “This is a huge milestone—not just for us, but for every finance team we’ve had the privilege to support. Pipe shares our vision for intelligent finance infrastructure and their commitment to innovation makes this partnership even more exciting.”

The acquisition comes at a time when many small businesses (nearly half according to the U.S. Small Business Administration) are relying on personal credit cards to help fund their businesses. Moreover, in many instances, these business owners are not separating their personal from their business expenses. With this acquisition, Pipe is seeking to serve small- and medium-sized businesses with the kind of spend management tools they typically have not been able to access. The acquisition will complement Pipe’s embedded capital and business charge fraud solutions, which are made available via the company’s payments and vertical software partners. Pipe noted that Glean.ai will continue to be available to current and new customers directly from Glean.ai.

Pipe CEO Luke Voiles called the acquisition a strategic move that “empowers us to address the two biggest pain points faced by small businesses today—access to capital and effective spend management.” Voiles added, “by combining Pipe’s innovative technology, resources, and expertise with Glean, we’re giving business owners the precise tools they need to thrive.”

Founded in 2019, Pipe builds embedded finance solutions for growing businesses that reside inside the software those firms are already using. With partners ranging from vertical SaaS companies to payments platforms, Pipe’s technology integrates seamlessly into existing platforms, enabling companies to easily launch customer-friendly solutions, go to market in weeks rather than months, and drive growth. The company’s flagship offerings include an embedded working capital solution, Capital, and a branded business card to optimize spend management.

New York-based Glean AI made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, the company demonstrated its strategic Accounts Payable (AP) platform that leverages automation and deep insights to help firms pay the right vendors the right amounts at the right times.

Photo by Rock Staar on Unsplash

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FinovateSpring 2025: From AI and Crypto to Deregulation and the Customer Experience

FinovateSpring 2025: From AI and Crypto to Deregulation and the Customer Experience
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2025

When it comes to fintech conference content, our keynotes are king.

From the growing role of AI in financial services to the deregulation trends in the US, this year’s FinovateSpring will offer a variety of insightful keynotes and special addresses on the most pressing issues in banking and fintech.

Below we’re highlighting some of the presentations that will be delivered from the main stage over the three days of FinovateSpring, May 7 – 9, in San Diego. Visit our FinovateSpring hub to learn more, check out the full agenda, and reserve your seat!

Keynote Addresses: Deregulation, Crypto, AI, and More

What will the Trump Administration Mean for Banking, Fintech, and Innovation? What are the Risks and Opportunities of Deregulation? How Will Consumer Protection be Affected? Will We See More Bank M&A Activity as a Result of Deregulation? Featuring James McCarthy, Founder and Chairman, McCarthy Hatch. Wednesday / 10:15am

The Crypto Craze: Does it Matter? Rather than the Crypto Lottery, Should We Focus on Stablecoins as the Real Game Changer as They Become a Major Cross Border Payment Type? Featuring Michael Rihani, Director of Product, Coinbase. Wednesday / 4:05pm

The Inexorable Move from AI to GenAI to Agentic AI: What Challenges and Opportunities will Agentic AI create for FIs? What Does Agentic AI Promise and What Are the Risks? Featuring Nick Fok, Venture Partner, Erez Capital. Wednesday / 4:20pm

The Global Economic and Geopolitical Outlook and the Direction of Travel for the US Economy. Featuring Manas Chawla, Founder and Chief Executive, London Politica. Friday / 2:20pm

Additional scheduled keynotes include:

  • The intersection of Quantum and AI and What it Means for Financial Services. Friday / 3:25pm
  • Global Fintech Trends: Where are the Most Exciting Innovations and What Can US Banks Learn from Asia, Africa, and Latin America: How Collaboration between Traditional Banks and Fintechs in Emerging Markets is Fostering Innovation Enhancing CX and Driving Financial Inclusion. Friday / 9:05am
  • Where Next for Banking-as-a-Service Following the Collapse of Synapse? Thursday / 3:50pm

Special Addresses: Agentic AI, Credit Management, and Modernization

How Banks and Fintechs Are Using AI to Modernize, Automate, and Drive Profitability Now. Featuring Javier Pérez García – Global Director, VASS FSI (A Digital Transformation Company specializing in Financial Services). Wednesday / 10:00am

How AI-Enhanced Credit Management Elevates Creditworthiness, Trust, and New Revenue. Featuring Adrian Nazari, Founder & CEO, Credit Sesame. Wednesday / 1:50pm

The Age of Agentic AI: Financial CX at the Edge of Autonomy. Featuring Alan Ranger, VP of Marketing, Cognigy. Wednesday / 3:05pm

Out of the Box Keynotes: Cybersecurity, Culture Fluidity, and CX

Cybersecurity and Your Business—How to Protect Your Customers’ Money and Data, Plus Your Brand. Featuring John Iannarelli, The Voice of Cyber & Security, FBI John. Wednesday / 10:30am

Culture Fluid: A New Mindset in an AI-Driven Age. Featuring Sharon Gai, Author, Culture Fluid. Thursday / 10:35am

Creating Trust and Loyalty Through AI-Enhanced CX. Featuring Jon Lakefish, Founder, Lakefish Group. Friday / 9:50am

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AMLYZE, Fintech Rundown, nCino, PayPal, Personetics

Happy Monday! If you need to step away from the fintech news to finish your income taxes this week, then don’t worry. Finovate’s Fintech Rundown will be here when you get back to make sure you’re informed and updated on the latest in fintech and financial services news.

Digital banking

Zions Bancorporation selects nCino as its technology platform.

Personetics introduces new Chief Revenue Officer Puneet Malhotra.

Payments

Pay by Bank platform Banked acquires consumer payments app VibePay.

PayPal forges a strategic partnership with money movement company TerraPay.

Paysera announces strategic partnership with payee verification solutions provider iPiD.

On-demand pay provider Tapcheck raised $225 million in combined equity and debt financing.

Digital payment network Paysend teams up with Tink to enhance its open banking capabilities.

Identity verification and fraud prevention

AI-powered fraud platform Sift unveils updates to its Partner Program.

Anti-financial crime solutions company AMLYZE unveils its open knowledge initiative to standardize the fight against money laundering, AMLTRIX.

AU10TIX announces new CEO Yair Tal.

Regtech

Ozone API introduces guide to help banks and PSPs navigate Verification Of Payee (VOP) ahead of new regulations from the EU expected in October.

Crypto

Digital asset trading platform Currency.com appoints Konstantin Anissimov as its new CEO.

Bitcoin self-custody platform Theya launches Theya for Business, a bitcoin management solution.

Neonomics integrates its open banking payments solution into Ovoro’s crypto platform.

Financial wellness

Smart money app Plum raises £15m in debt financing from global financial group BBVA.

Investing and wealth management

Apex Fintech Solutions introduces new Chief Technology Officer Andrew Glenn.

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich

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Finovate Global Spain: Payments, Mortgagetech, and Leveraging AI for CX in Banking

Finovate Global Spain: Payments, Mortgagetech, and Leveraging AI for CX in Banking
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Hawk:AI

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from Spain.

Payments and liquidity solutions company Wannme raises €7M

Wannme, a Madrid-based fintech that specializes in payments and liquidity solutions, announced a €7 million strategic financing from IDC Arena Credit Ventures, a division of IDC Network, with Arena Investors also participating in the funding.

The company will use the financing to continue providing marketplace sellers with instant payment advances. This allows them to secure earnings on a daily basis instead of having to wait more than 14 days, as is typically required by marketplaces. Wannme Founder and CEO Jaime de Villa said that the credit facility will enable the company to “empower more sellers with the liquidity needed to sell more and grow.”

“This partnership marks an important milestone for Wannme as we scale our impact in the marketplace ecosystem in Europe,” de Villa added. “IDC Arena Credit Ventures understood our business model and structured a financing solution aligned with our growth strategy.”

Founded in 2017, Wannme facilitates e-commerce by automating and optimizing payment flows to help solve payments and liquidity issues for online merchants. The company provides merchants with advances of up to 90% of their net sales daily, and also offers an online payment gateway that enables them to accept a wider variety of payment methods, including recurring and automated payments. These methods also include both Apple Pay and Google Pay, which Wannme integrated into its platform in February.

Mortgage platform Wypo partners with financial app Plazo

Wypo, a Spanish mortgagetech platform that helps would-be homeowners locate and sign customized mortgages online, has struck a strategic partnership with financial wellness app Plazo. A division of Spanish fintech ID Finance, Plazo will offer Wypo users access to credit lines of up to €5,000 through its Plazo Credit solution directly from the Plazo app.

“This partnership is a great opportunity to deliver complete and accessible financial solutions to our users,” Wypo CEO Elena Ansótegui said. “At Wypo, we are committed to offering resources that meet real needs. The alliance with Plazo strengthens our focus on continuously improving the customer experience and enables us to go a step further in offering key financing options when users need them most.”

Wypo customers will benefit from digital access to both debit and credit solutions courtesy of the partnership with Plazo. Also included are the ability to participate in an extensive cashback program and access to free, online legal and medical advice through a service called MeetingPros.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Wypo and to provide added value to new homeowners, helping them cover initial expenses for refurbishments or repairs, buy furniture, appliances, home decor items, and more,” Plazo CMO Carlos Martín said. “They’ll also benefit from all the additional features offered by Plazo, designed to bring greater financial peace of mind.”

Founded in 2021, Wypo is headquartered in Torrelavega, Cantabria. The mortgagetech’s partnership news comes amid a significant increase in home purchase loans in Spain, reflecting an 11% year-over-year gain. This has been accompanied by a comparable rise average housing prices in the country. Wypo’s partnership with Plazo will help the firm provide additional services to its customers, further differentiating its offering from competitors.

CaixaBank and Salesforce team up to leverage AI to personalize CX in banking

A newly signed agreement between Spain’s CaixaBank and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution provider Salesforce will help “jointly advance artificial intelligence projects for the digital transformation of banking services.” More specifically, CaixaBank will leverage Salesforce technology to enhance its customer relationship channels to improve the customer experience.

This technology includes solutions such as AI-based Agentforce—the integrated AI assistants on the Salesforce platform—as well as Salesforce Data Cloud for data management and analysis. Agentforce enables the deployment of AI agents to offer specialized assistance to CaixaBank employees and customers alike. These agents operate proactively and continuously across apps, chatbots, physical offices, and call centers, processing large amounts of data quickly to optimize decision-making and improve the efficiency of task execution.

By implementing Salesforce Data Cloud, CaixaBank will leverage the cloud data management and analysis technology to manage the transmission of data produced by the institution to ensure it is immediately available for any query. The data will be recorded securely and will allow for real-time consultation.

Based in Valencia, CaixaBank is the leading financial group in the Spanish market. With a digital customer base of nearly 12 million, the company provides banking, insurance, and investment services. CaixaBank’s partnership with Salesforce is part of the firm’s overall digital transformation strategy, which has enabled the institution to earn recognition as the Best Bank in Western Europe and Best Bank in Spain in 2024 by Global Finance.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Munich-based, AI-powered anti-money laundering and fraud prevention firm, Hawk, raised $56 million in new funding.
  • Nets, a division of European payment technology company Nexi Group, teamed up with Latvian financial institution, BluOr Bank.
  • Turkish embedded finance company Sipay secured $78 million in funding at a valuation of $875 million.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

  • National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), the country’s central bank, joined the Regional Payment Connectivity (RPC) initiative.
  • Bank payment company GoCardless forged a partnership with Australian payments API platform Optty.
  • Philippines-based financial institution, Security Bank, selected Identity-as-a-Service innovator Entrust to enhance its eKYC processes.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Photo by Aleksandar Pasaric

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