Author: David Penn

PayPal in Argentina; Temenos Backs African Challenger Bank

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, ArthaYantra, Bluefin Payment Systems, BLUERUSH, Experian, Finovate Global, iSignthis, NCR Corporation, PayPal, Sberbank, Temenos, ThreatMetrix, Tinkoff Bank

Finovate Global 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

  • PayPal invests $750 million in Argentina-based e-commerce company MercadoLibre.
  • First Data to acquire Brazilian electronic funds transfer (EFT) solution provider Software Express.
  • NCR, Bluefin, and Powertranz team up to support POS card processing for Caribbean quick serve restaurants.
  • BlueRush deploys its Individeo platform with a large Colombian bank courtesy of a partnership with Bee Concept.
  • The Wall Street Journal looks at how global FIs are gaining interest in the Latin American alternative lending market.

Asia-Pacific

  • Experian launches Singapore-based incubator, Experian X Labs.
  • South Korean crypto company Kakao raises $90 million via private coin offering.
  • Thai Stock Exchange to launch a digital asset exchange next year.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Front office and core banking technology from Temenos to drive digital revamp for African challenger bank, Vista Bank.
  • Financial Software and Systems takes 46% stake in South Africa’s Ecentric Payment Systems.
  • South Africa’s second largest retail bank, Capitec, extends its partnership with ACI Worldwide.
  • ThreatMetrix teams up with Blue Turtle Technologies to help market its fraud prevention solution to customers in Africa.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Tinkoff Bank reports 2018 highlights including launch of new mortgage app, a joint P2P money transfer offering with Sberbank, and more than 2.7 million new active credit customers.
  • iSignthis Inks Banking and Payments Deal with Ibanera.
  • Bulgaria-based Software Group scores €18 million loan from Europe Investment Bank.
  • EU Startups features lending platform Inlock its look at 10 Hungarian startups to look out for in 2019.
  • Bulgaria’s Municipal Bank to deploy new core and payments solutions from Oracle.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) launches $10 million fund for fintech startups in the MENA region.
  • Commercial Bank of Qatar joins R3.
  • Credit scoring solution provider Creditinfo opens regional hub in Muscat following new strategic partnership with the Central Bank of Oman.

Central and South Asia

  • ArthaYantra wins Fintech of the Year (India) at The Asset Triple A Digital Awards.
  • Africa’s Naspers plans to spend $1 billion on investments in Indian fintechs.
  • Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures division to launch digital platform for Indian SMEs.

Top image designed by Freepik

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Biometric Signature ID, Envestnet, Finanteq, HooYu, IBM, PayPal, Temenos, wipro, WorldPay

On Finovate.com

  • IBM Debuts Blockchain Network for Cross-Border Payments.
  • Finovate Global: PayPal in Argentina; Temenos Backs African Challenger Bank.

Around the web

  • Envestnet to acquire PIEtech, maker of MoneyGuide, in $500 million deal.
  • HooYu partners with online lottery betting operator, Lottomart, to help the Gibraltar-based firm meet AML requirements.
  • Wipro launches its AI and machine learning-powered accounts payable, KYC, and other solutions on Amazon Web Services.
  • Polish neo bank Nest Bank unveils new lifestyle services module, Finanteq’s SuperWallet, to its mobile banking app.
  • FindBiometrics interviews Biometric Signature ID CEO, President, and founder, Jeff Maynard.

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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LendingFront, Veridium, Voca.ai Join Mastercard’s Start Path

LendingFront, Veridium, Voca.ai Join Mastercard’s Start Path
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: LendingFront, MasterCard, Veridium, Voca.ai

LendingFront, Veridium, and Voca.ai are three of the seven companies recently selected to participate in Mastercard’s startup engagement program, Start Path. The accelerator program works with startups from a variety of fields ranging from banking and biometrics to data intelligence and security. Participating companies will access Mastercard’s worldwide ecosystem and leverage their new relationship with Mastercard and its customers to expand into new markets.

“After searching around its presence in 210 geographies and beyond,” a statement from Mastercard Start Path read, “Mastercard and seven startups are descending upon Dublin this week to ignite their collaboration.”

Start Path begins with a kick-off event that helps the program administrators get to know the companies, define goals and introduce startups to Mastercard’s partners, as well as future channels and customers. The majority of the program consists of a six-month virtual engagement that companies participate in from their home location.

Upon successful completion of the Start Path program, companies that have produced what the program referred to as “tangible value” for Mastercard’s partners will be eligible for potential strategic investment.

“The diverse technologies comprising the latest Start Path wave is a snapshot of the nearly 10,000 startups and fintechs connected to Start Path since its founding in 2014,” the program announcement noted. “It also shows how, through Mastercard Labs, we partner successfully to explore new technologies, accelerate new concepts and deliver transformative growth and change to the commerce landscape.”

The full roster of companies also includes Fligoo, mfarmPay, Monsoon CreditTech, and Segasec.

LendingFront demonstrated its Small Business Platform at FinovateFall 2016. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in New York City, the company offers an automated lending platform that consolidates processes typically conducted by disparate systems. The technology features application workflow for loan processing, a data engine, decision engine, offer screens, documentation and booking functionality, as well as servicing. LendingFront raised $4 million in Series A funding at the beginning of the year.

Massachusetts-based identity and access management solution provider Veridium demonstrated its VeridiumID with 4Fingers Touchless ID technology at FinovateEurope 2017. Earlier this month, the company unveiled its InMotion solution that leverages user behavior analytics to help secure online identities and prevent cyberfraud. Also this spring, Veridium partnered with Blue Turtle Technologies to drive adoption of biometric technology in Africa.

Best of Show winner Voca.ai demonstrated its intelligent virtual agent for call centers at FinovateEurope 2019 in February. It was the second Best of Show win for the company, which made its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia last fall. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Herzliya, Israel, the company’s technology provides a flexible, natural-sounding, automated human voice system that improves customer satisfaction, and helps businesses convert and qualify more leads.

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Once SaleMove, Glia Raises $20 Million in Post-Rebrand Funding

Once SaleMove, Glia Raises $20 Million in Post-Rebrand Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Glia, SaleMove

Omnichannel digital customer engagement platform for financial services Glia has raised $20 million in new funding. The Series B round for the Best of Show winning company formerly known as SaleMove was led by Insight Venture Partners, and takes Glia’s total capital to $29 million.

The company will use the funds to get bigger, adding to its product development, sales, solutions, and marketing organizations and infrastructure. Glia co-founder and CEO Dan Michaeli praised Insight’s record of collaborating with “best-in-class SaaS companies” and made a direct connection between the firm’s investment with Glia’s growth plans.

“By adding an investor as strong and experienced as Insight, we are poised to rapidly expand Glia’s market reach,” Michaeli said.

Left to right: Glia’s Jordan Christopher (SVP Sales) and Patrick Yoon (Account Executive) demonstrating Omniguide at FinovateEurope 2019.

Glia specializes in helping companies maximize the way they engage with their customers. Its digital communications platform enables businesses to leverage messaging, video, co-browsing, AI, and voice to communicate with their customers the way they want to communicate and via the channel of their choice – whether between sessions or in the middle of a session.

“Almost every interaction between businesses and customers today involves a screen, yet the main method of getting in touch is still an old-school phone call,” Michaeli explained. “Over the next 3-5 years, the move from phone-first to digital-first communication will define the businesses that win customer experience in their category.”

With Glia, a customer service conversation can begin on a smartphone, transition seamlessly to co-browsing, and then move on to conversational AI with an intelligent agent or live chat with a human representative. And while the technology has strong application for sales teams (hence the company’s original name, SaleMove), the evolution of the technology has led to an evolution in the way the technology can be deployed.

“As we’ve built on (our) initial vision, our customers have found many ingenious uses for our functionality that we didn’t imagine at the time,” Michaeli said. “We realize now that the platform does so much more than move sales, so we’ve made the decision to build a brand which supports that wider vision of the value our customers are achieving.”

A four-time Best of Show winner as SaleMove, Glia picked up a fifth Best of Show award for its live demo at FinovateEurope earlier this year. At the conference, the company showed how its new solution, OmniGuide, enables companies to deploy one or more conversational AI engines across the enterprise.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: CallVU, Doxo, Finastra, Glia, Kony, NICE Systems, OurCrowd, Outsystems, Vera

On Finovate.com

  • Once SaleMove, Glia Raises $20 Million in Post-Rebrand Funding.
  • Doxo to Provide Electronic Billpay Solution to R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company.

Around the web

  • Low code development platform OutSystems reports record revenues for 2018.
  • NICE Robotic Process Automation (RPA) teams up with CallVU.
  • Finastra named a leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide End-to-End Corporate Banking Solution Providers 2019 Vendor Assessment report.
  • Kony named a leader for low-code development platforms by independent research firm.
  • OurCrowd announces it has raised $1 billion to date.

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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Stash Scores $65 Million; Launches Stock-Back Rewards

Stash Scores $65 Million; Launches Stock-Back Rewards
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Stash

With the stock market in rally mode and up significantly from the Christmas Eve lows, micro-investing fintech startup Stash is celebrating the occasion with a $65 million fundraising.

The Series E was led by an unnamed private institutional investor and featured participation from current investors including Union Square Ventures and Breyer Capital. The new capital takes Stash’s total funding to $181.3 million. The company said it will use it to drive product growth as well as marketing.

Stash also announced this week that it was launching a new rewards program, leveraging its Stash debit card, that will provide users with fractional shares of stock whenever qualified purchases at publicly-held companies are made. The Stock-Back rewards program gives consumers a micro-investment in companies like Amazon and Chipotle every time they shop using the Stash card. For privately-held companies that do not have stock available, consumers will get their Stock-Back rewards in the form of fractional shares in a broad-based, global equity exchange-traded fund (ETF).

“During the testing period, we saw an overwhelming positive response from users as they pay ordinary bills like Netflix, and in returned received Netflix stock as well as access to dividends, educational resources and financial advice,” Stash co-founder and president Ed Robinson said.

Stash demonstrated the Stash Retire feature of its mobile-first, micro-investing platform at FinovateFall 2017. Stash Retire offers users a low-fee, self-directed Roth IRA account that can be invested in for as little as $100 to start. Users of Stash Retire can take advantage of all of the options available in their Stash Invest accounts, such as auto-invest and $5 investment minimums.

Named to the Forbes Fintech 50 last month and honored by the FinTech Breakthrough Awards in the Best Robo Advisory Platform category last spring, Stash was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in New York City.

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TickSmith Teams Up with CanDeal to Power DataVault Innovations

TickSmith Teams Up with CanDeal to Power DataVault Innovations
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: TickSmith

TickSmith will power the new market data platform for institutional electronic marketplace for Canadian debt and derivatives trading, CanDeal. The company will leverage the TickSmith Data Pooling Platform in order to support the launch of its DataVault Innovations data-as-a-service (DaaS) offering.

DataVault Innovations aggregates over-the-counter (OTC) data on multiple Canadian assets classes from banks and other sources and distributes it to end users and third-party providers. The DaaS technology also provides pricing, risk, and analytics features to help market participants bolster internal risk modeling and remain compliant with relevant regulations.

“TickSmith provides the well-tuned engine that DataVault Innovations needs for peak performance,” Head of DataVault Innovations Andre Craig said. “As an industry service, DataVault Innovations will not only provide the premium data to fuel more impactful product development; it will lead to more reliable benchmarks, expanded access to quality OTC data, and vastly improved risk management and regulatory compliance for FRTB and other mandates.”

Francis Wenzel, TickSmith CEO, complimented CanDeal’s consolidation of OTC multi-asset class data, and underscored TickSmith’s experience in capital markets. “We’re confident that we can deliver and unmatched service to DataVault Innovations, that will be robust enough to support an array of data, services, and clients for years to come.”

TickSmith demonstrated its TickVault and FIXVault financial big data platforms at FinovateFall 2014. More recently, the Montreal, Quebec, Canada-based company introduced its transaction cost analysis (TCA) solution, and announced a partnership with trading and market access technology provider Vela. TickSmith began the year with news that it had achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Financial Services Competency status.

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First Wave of Demoing Companies for FinovateSpring Revealed!

First Wave of Demoing Companies for FinovateSpring Revealed!
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2019

FinovateSpring returns to San Francisco, California, May 7 through 10. With more than 1,300 attendees, 60+ demoing companies, and 120+ speakers anticipated, we are excited to host some of the most innovative fintechs and insightful industry leaders at our upcoming event.

To whet your appetite, here’s a look at the first wave of demoing companies for FinovateSpring. Whether you are a global financial services provider, a community bank, a fresh new fintech startup or an established tech firm looking for new opportunities, FinovateSpring is for you!

Stay tuned for more information about FinovateSpring in the weeks to come. Our Sneak Peek series, with details about the demoing companies, their innovations, and their presenters, will launch soon here on the Finovate blog.

And remember that FinovateSpring will also feature a pair of special Summit Days on May 7 and May 10. The sessions on these days will feature deep dives and extended conversations on topics such as AI, customer engagement, community and digital banking, as well as payments and lending. Check out our FinovateSpring agenda for more.

Visit our registration page and save your seat today. Discounts are available for for tickets purchased before March 29.

We’ll  see you in San Francisco!

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Aerospike, Dwolla, Fenergo, Gusto, identitii, IdentityMind Global, Insuritas, Onfido, PayPal, Stash, TickSmith

On Finovate.com

  • Stash Scores $65 Million; Launches Stock-Back Rewards.
  • TickSmith Teams Up with CanDeal to Power DataVault Innovations.
  • First Wave of Demoing Companies for FinovateSpring Revealed.

Around the web

  • Aerospike launches suite of add-on modules, Aerospike Connect, to make it easier for businesses to integrate the company’s database.
  • Identitii renews its partnership with HSBC Global Services (UK).
  • Onfido appointed to the FIDO Alliance Board of Directors.
  • ACI Worldwide announces the extension of its partnership with South Africa’s Capitec Bank.
  • IdentityMind Global to support Koi Trading’s AML Compliance-as-a-Service offering.
  • Gusto appoints Square’s former Head of Information Security Fredrick Lee as its new Chief Security Officer.
  • PayPal adds instant transfer feature for bank accounts.
  • Insuritas and ReliaQuote partner to offer ID theft protection to 10 million consumers.
  • Fenergo enables financial firms to digitally visualize risk in fight against financial crime.
  • GroundFloor partners with Dwolla to make payments more efficient for borrowers and investors.

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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Mastercard to Acquire Digital Commerce Fraud Fighter Ethoca

Mastercard to Acquire Digital Commerce Fraud Fighter Ethoca
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Ethoca, MasterCard

Terms were not disclosed, but the announcement today that Mastercard has agreed to acquire real-time anti-fraud solution provider Ethoca is another sign of how seriously financial services firms are taking cybersecurity.

The deal, which is expected to close in Q2 of this year, will allow Mastercard to leverage Ethoca’s network of more than 5,000 merchants and 4,000 financial institutions to fight digital commerce fraud in general and the challenge of chargebacks in specific.

Ethoca’s technology enables merchants to get real-time data when potentially fraudulent transactions are spotted. This empowers merchants to analyze transactions and confirm, stop delivery, and/or reverse transactions before the chargeback process begins.

Calling Mastercard “a natural home,” Ethoca CEO Andre Edelbrock looked forward to extending the reach of the company’s anti-fraud solutions. “For more than a decade, we’ve connected e-commerce businesses with banks to make the payments system simpler and more secure,” Edelbrock said. “We are excited to have the opportunity to bring our service to more places and people, ultimately contributing to the best possible online payment experience.”

In a statement, Mastercard said that it plans to scale Ethoca’s capabilities and combine them with its own cybersecurity protocols, data insights, and AI-powered solutions to help fight e-commerce fraud. The press release noted a report from Juniper Research that indicated that retailers anticipate losing $130 billion over the next five years due to online fraud.

“Ethoca is a strong addition to our multilayered cyber strategy, helping customers take immediate action against fraud and eliminate chargebacks before they can occur,” Mastercard president of cyber and intelligence solutions Ajay Bhalla said. “In turn, consumers are provided with a better checkout experience every time they shop at a participating site.”

Ethoca demonstrated its Ethoca Alerts solution at FinovateEurope 2016. Founded in 2005, and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the company partnered with French payment system Cartes Bancaires in December. In October, Ethoca teamed up with American Express to help merchants better communicate with AMEX Customer Care during service calls.

With investors including Pivot Investment Partners, Spectrum Equity, and Difference Capital, Ethoca had raised $45 million in funding prior to today’s acquisition announcement.

Mastercard demonstrated its Cash Pick-Up solution at FinovateFall 2017. Last year, the company teamed up with Vipera to present mobile payment solution, SME-Pay, at FinovateEurope 2018.

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Fiserv Helps NationalLink Maximize Smart Safe Technology

Fiserv Helps NationalLink Maximize Smart Safe Technology
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Fiserv

Just a few weeks after revealing a pair of new credit union clients, Fiserv is back in the fintech headlines. The company announced that NationalLink will deploy Fiserv’s CorPoint cash supply chain management software to help maximize its use of smart safes. This will include gaining the ability to access smart safe data regardless of location.

Smart safes support the accounting and validation of in-store cash payments, and are typically only able to run on the proprietary cash management software of their manufacturer. Fiserv’s CorPoint can accept data from any smart safe, as well as consolidate data from different smart safes into an all-encompassing view of cash status.

CorPoint also provides real-time access to audit-level views of cash deposits, balances, and pickups. The platform allows users to aggregate and segment data by cashier, denomination, location, and other factors.

“For many consumers, cash remains a preferred form of payment, but cash is labor-intensive for merchants to manage,” Fiserv SVP and GM for Fraud, Risk, and Compliance Shawn Holtzclaw explained. “Merchants are actively seeking ways to improve cash management efficiency, and NationalLink is meeting this demand with a single platform that provides a holistic, hardware-agnostic view of smart safe transactions.”

NationalLink provides cash handling solutions, including complete ATM solutions and armored cash management services. The firm’s network of 16,000 ATMs reaches all 50 states of the U.S., as well as the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa. The company was founded in 1992 as a merchant services acquirer.

Fiserv joined Samsung SDS on the Finovate stage last spring to demo the integration of Samsung SDS’ biometric authentication and collaboration solution into its Commercial Center: Security (CC:S) product. Founded in 1984 and based in Brookfield, Wisconsin, Fiserv announced at the beginning of the year that it would merge with First Data Corporation in an acquisition valued at $22 billion.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ArthaYantra, Ethoca, Fiserv, InComm, Jack Henry, MasterCard, Mitek, PayPal, Sberbank, Stash, ThreatMetrix, Tinkoff Bank, Voleo

On Finovate.com

  • Fiserv Helps NationalLink Maximize Smart Safe Technology.
  • Mastercard to Acquire Digital Commerce Fraud Fighter Ethoca.

Around the web

  • Carsharing firm HyreCar leverages identity verification technology from Mitek for its mobile onboarding app.
  • PayPal invests $750 million in Argentina’s e-commerce company, MercadoLibre.
  • Tinkoff Bank reports 2018 highlights including launch of new mortgage app, a joint P2P money transfer offering with Sberbank, and more than 2.7 million new active credit customers.
  • Best of Show winner Voleo chosen to participate in Netherlands-based fintech research program.
  • ThreatMetrix teams up with Blue Turtle Technologies to help market its fraud prevention solution to customers in Africa.
  • ArthaYantra wins Fintech of the Year (India) at The Asset Triple A Digital Awards.
  • Stash launches Stock-Back, a rewards program to bridge banking and investing.
  • Jack Henry to collaborate with the Zelle Network to launch JHA PayCenter.
  • InComm expands into lottery industry with Linq3 Technologies acquisition.

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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