Author: David Penn

PayPal Acquires Simility for $120 Million

PayPal Acquires Simility for $120 Million
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: PayPal, Simility

Just days after announcing its decision to purchase Hyperwallet, PayPal is back – purse in hand – for another big buy. The company will acquire fraud prevention and risk management specialist Simility for $120 million.

“This acquisition, like the acquisitions of Swift Financial, iZettle, Jetlore, and Hyperwallet that we’ve announced in the last twelve months, is part of a concerted effort to strengthen the suite of services we can provide to merchants in order to become the one-stop solution for global commerce,” Bill Ready, PayPal COO and EVP, wrote at the company blog.

Ready noted that PayPal has long been interested in the company, having invested in them in 2017, and currently owns 3% of the firm. He complemented the Palo Alto, California-based anti-fraud company’s technology and the way it “allow(ed) merchants to adjust individual risk rules to reduce fraudulent payment activity and, in some cases, verify transactions that may have otherwise failed.”

The acquisition is anticipated to close in Q3 of this year. Simility CEO Rahul Pangam, along with his team, will report to VP of Enterprise Services, Platforms Tushar Shah. PayPal will also pick up an office in Hyderabad, India, which Ready said “enhanc(ed) our presence in a key strategic market.”

A veteran of our developers conference FinDEVr, Simility showed how its advanced machine learning technology provides businesses with an adaptive anti-fraud solution. The company’s presentation, Fraud Mutates – Detect, Understand, and Block It, showed how a combination of flexible data ingestion and signal analysis – supported by advanced ML modeling and human analysis can help secure new account originations and wire transfers, support AML efforts, prevent account takeover, and more.

“Our vision for Simility was to create an adaptive risk management platform that empowers organizations operating in a digital world to manage an evolving fraud and risk landscape where data breaches are the new normal,” Simility’s Pangam said. “We are excited to enter the nest phase of our growth with PayPal and are thrilled to join them to help drive the next generation of payment and commerce solutions while scaling our business together.”

Founded in 2014, Simility had raised more than $24 million in funding prior to today’s announcement. The company has spent the summer adding executive talent: hiring Anupam Bagri as Director of Sales and Business Development for India and Asia-Pacific in the first half of June, and appointing Vanita Pandey as Vice President of Marketing and Product Strategy just last week.

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Finovate Favorites: A Baker’s Dozen of Best of Show Winners

Finovate Favorites: A Baker’s Dozen of Best of Show Winners
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Backbase, BancVue, BehavioSec, Best of Show, Dynamics, Envestnet, eToro, EyeVerify, Kasasa, LearnVest, mBank, Meniga, MoneyDesktop, MX, oFlows, SaleMove, Yodlee

Which fintech companies have continued to impress Finovate audiences over the years? The return of Kasasa to FinovateSpring last month, winning its fourth Best of Show award in the process, got a few of us thinking that it was a good time to take a look at which companies have been selected as fan favorites most frequently after demoing their latest technologies live on stage.

We’ve highlighted companies that have been especially popular at certain conferences, such as FinovateAsia and FinovateSpring before. Here is our compendium of the top Best of Show vote-getters to date for all shows combined (minimum of three wins).

The Big Three

The three companies that have won the most Best of Show awards from Finovate audiences reflect three different themes in fintech over the years: the allure of social investing (eToro), the rise of data analytics in banking (MX, formerly Money Desktop), and the persistence of the payment card (Dynamics). What is especially impressive about all three companies in our Best of Show Big Three is their ability to innovate over time. Each alum won their first Best of Show award between 2010 and 2012 and won their most recent Best of Show award between 2016 and 2018.

Dynamics (8) Founded in 2007. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jeff Mullen is CEO.

MX / Money Desktop (6) Founded in 2010. Headquartered in Lehi, Utah. Ryan Caldwell is CEO.

eToro (6) Founded in 2007. Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel and London, U.K. Yoni Assia is CEO.

The Super Six

Of our Super Six – the six companies to have won Best of Show awards four times – what is most interesting is also the way many of them have been proven innovators over a time of major change in fintech. Companies like Kasasa (formerly BancVue) and Yodlee (now Envestnet | Yodlee) made their big splash back in the earliest days of Finovate and, with recent Best of Show wins in 2018 and 2017, respectively, shown that they are still among fintech’s most inspiring solution providers.

Backbase – 4

Kasasa / BancVue – 4

Meniga – 4

oFlows – 4

SaleMove – 4

Yodlee (including Envestnet | Yodlee) – 4

The Fantastic Four

Two of the companies in our Fantastic Four companies that have won Best of Show awards three times have since been acquired. LearnVest, a three-time Best of Show winner from 2011-2013, was acquired by Northwestern Mutual for more than $250 million in 2015. EyeVerify, which won Best of Show awards on three different continents, was acquired by Ant Financial in 2016. The company now operates as ZOLOZ, and is focused on providing digital identity solutions for the underbanked in Asia.

BehavioSec – 3

EyeVerify (now “ZOLOZ”) – 3

LearnVest – 3

mBank – 3

Note: FA: FinovateAsia, FE: FinovateEurope, FF: FinovateFall, FS: FinovateSpring. Audience favorite awards from FinDEVr not included.

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KeyBank Acquires Small Business Lending Platform Bolstr

KeyBank Acquires Small Business Lending Platform Bolstr
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Bolstr, Mergers & Acquisitions

Digital lending platform for small businesses Bolstr has been acquired by KeyBank. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Chicago-based fintech, which takes a crowdfunding approach to helping communities support their local businesses, will help KeyBank provide SMEs with better access to both Small Business Administration (SBA) loans as well as traditional financing. Bolstr’s technology, to be implemented this year, will enable KeyBank to digitally process loan applications faster, saving time and money while providing business borrowers with a better lending experience.

“We are excited to work with an organization that is dedicated to helping communities and small businesses prosper,” Bolstr co-founder Charlie Tribbett said. “By combining our digital expertise and KeyBank’s industry knowledge, business owners will receive exceptional service and the efficient lending experience they need to be successful.”

The move from KeyBank comes as the company continues to execute on its $16.5 billion National Community Benefits Plan, which features a $2.5 billion commitment to small business lending over the next five years. One of the country’s leading lenders to small businesses, KeyBank issued 739 small business loans in 2017 totaling $318 million.

“KeyBank is deeply committed to helping small businesses thrive and to providing them with the funding they need to grow,” Head of KeyBank Business Banking, Jamie Warder said. “Bolstr’s technology transforms the small business lending process and allows us to more efficiently serve small businesses for their SBA and traditional lending needs,” Warder added.

Bolstr demonstrated its crowdfunding platform that enables individuals to invest in small businesses in their communities at FinovateFall 2012. Among the company’s innovations was a deal structure that allowed small business borrowers to repay funders with near-term payouts based on the sales success of the business. This allows small business owners to keep their equity and avoid going into significant debt.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Bolstr’s solution was the first crowdfunding platform designed to provide liquidity to local small businesses in the pre-JOBS Act era. Prior to this week’s announcement, the company had raised $2.3 million in funding from investors including Fusion Fund, DRW Venture Capital, and Montage Ventures.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BBVA, Bolstr, Dashlane, Gusto, IdentityMind Global, Insuritas, Interactions, Klarna, Lendio, Luxoft, NTT Data, Streamdata.io, WorkFusion, Zighra

On Finovate.com

  • KeyBank Acquires Small Business Lending Platform Bolstr.

Around the web

  • Threat detection specialist Zighra announces support for FIDO authentication.
  • BBVA and energy company Repsol collaborate to develop blockchain-based financial products.
  • Etsy partners with Klarna, bringing new payment options to its German website and app.
  • IdentityMind Global inks licensing agreement with KYC2020.
  • Insuritas to launch member-owned insurance agency for Financial Resources FCU.
  • Streamdata.io unveils its API Gallery featuring more than 360 different entities with 14,400+ API paths spanning 420 topics.
  • Interactions wins Customer Contact Week ‘Omnichannel Provider of the Year’ award.
  • Dashlane reaches 10 million users around the globe.
  • WorkFusion wins Awards for Best Application of AI in Financial Services.
  • Lendio’s employee contribution program has funded 2,800 loans in 78 countries through Kiva.
  • Gusto’s Flexible Pay lets employees choose their own payday.

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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SmartAsset Scoops Up $28 Million in New Funding

SmartAsset Scoops Up $28 Million in New Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, SmartAsset

New York-based fintech SmartAsset, which provides personalized, automated financial solutions, has raised $28 million in new funding. The Series C round takes the company’s total equity capital to more than $51 million and featured the participation of Focus Financial Partners, Javeline Venture Partners, TTV Capital, IA Capital, and Citi Ventures, as well as other investors.

The company will use the investment to build its audience as well as expand its platform to help more people improve their finances and connect with qualified personal financial advisors.

“This investment will accelerate our mission of becoming the web’s premier resource for personal finance tools and content,” SmartAsset CEO and co-founder Michael Carvin said. “In doing so, SmartAsset will become the largest marketplace for investors trying to find financial advisors and advisors trying to meet new prospective clients.”

More than 45 million people use SmartAsset’s personal finance information and online resources every month. The company’s automated financial modeling software, demonstrated live at FinovateSpring, powers SmartAsset’s tools, financial calculators, and data-driven research and content to give consumers information on personal finance topics ranging from planning for a first-time home purchase or saving for retirement.

SmartAsset also helps individuals find the right financial advisor based on their specific needs. By answering a series of questions – your location, your preferred retirement timeline, how you currently manage your money, and so on – SmartAsset can assess the individual’s general investment preferences and goals and provide up to three recommendations for financial advisors. All of SmartAssets’ recommended advisors are carefully vetted and registered with the SEC or appropriate state regulator.

A finalist for the 2018 Benzinga Fintech Awards, SmartAsset announced a partnership with CRM software provider Wealthbox in April to integrate its SmartAdvisor lead generation solution into the Wealthbox platform. In February, SmartAsset teamed up with America Saves and the American Savings Education Council to promote positive savings behavior during America Saves Week.

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BILLSHARK and Payrailz Team Up to Help Consumers Save on Monthly Bills

BILLSHARK and Payrailz Team Up to Help Consumers Save on Monthly Bills
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BILLSHARK

Bill reduction specialist BILLSHARK is partnering with digital payments company Payrailz to give banks and credit unions a new money-saving offering for their customers and members. Via the agreement, Payrailz will integrate BILLSHARK’s bill negotiation, subscription cancellation, and curated shopping functionality into its platform, giving small businesses and individuals new tools to lower their monthly bill costs.

“BILLSHARK is excited to partner with Payrailz to bring our convenient, no-hassle approach to lowering monthly bills to their growing network of bank and credit union clients,” BILLSHARK co-founder and CEO Steve McKean said. “We look forward to helping Payrailz deliver on their vision of reinventing the way the banking and financial services industry approaches the payment experience.”

BILLSHARK works by negotiating with service providers to find the best possible terms for your monthly bills. Bill payers send copies of their bills to BILLSHARK through its website, app, or email. The company then investigates to see if there are options to lower the amounts that customers pay and updates the customer on how the bill reduction process is going. And for using the service, BILLSHARK provides customers with a $25 dining or shopping reward as a thank you.

BILLSHARK has an 85% success rate in negotiating and winning reductions in bills for cable and satellite TV subscriptions, internet access, satellite radio, and home security. Through a combination of bargaining and cancellations of unwanted subscriptions on behalf of customers, BILLSHARK has saved consumers more than $3.5 million. The company’s service is risk-free; if BILLSHARK does not save the customer money on bills, no fee is paid. For successful bill reductions, BILLSHARK charges 40% of the realized savings. For example, if BILLSHARK saves a customer $500, the fee is $200.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, BILLSHARK demonstrated its Shark Connect bill reduction API at FinovateFall 2017. The API makes it easy for FIs and fintechs to integrate BILLSHARK’s bill reduction features into their applications. This week’s integration with Payrailz is the second such partnership in 2018 for the company; digital banking platform Narmi integrated BILLSHARK’s API at the beginning of the year.

BILLSHARK also made headlines earlier this year when it reported that investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team Mark Cuban would be joining as an advisor and financial backer of the company. Also this spring, BILLSHARK unveiled its One Bill, One Child program, in which the company will pay for middle-school aged kids to receive an hour of financial education from Ramsey Solutions for every bill submitted to BILLSHARK for negotiation.

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Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Flywire, Kontomatik, MasterCard, Nubank

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

  • Flywire and UnionPay International partner to provide Chinese customers with better rates on cross-border payments.
  • Leading southeast Asian digital cross border money transfer firm InstaReM goes live in Europe with new London office.
  • South Korean payments app Toss raises $40 million in funding.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) teams up with Startupbootcamp as part of an effort to boost Dubai’s status as a regional fintech hub.
  • AME Info asks if Saudi women and UAE crypto can alleviate Bahrain’s debt crisis.
  • VentureBurn features Egyptian savings startup Money Fellows.

Africa

  • Elizabeth Rossiello, CEO and founder of Nairobi, Kenya-based BitPesa, talks about leveraging cryptocurrencies to improve global payments in Africa.
  • South Africa’s ITWeb features features Richard Marsden, co-founder of Johannesburg-based FinChatBot on the rise of chatbot technology in the insurance industry.
  • Branch International reports N1 billion ($2.78 million) in loans facilitated to users in Nigeria.

Latin America

  • Brazil’s Nubank reaches milestone of 1.5 million digital account openings in six months.
  • Latin American Regional Conference sponsored by Swift sees collaboration as fundamental for growth of financial services in Latin America.
  • Brazilian insurtech startup Kakau partners with insurance companies American Life and Generali.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Kontomatik appoints CEO Piotr Warsicki as its new CEO.
  • Poland’s Alior Bank partners with solarisBank, Raisin, and Mastercard to launch pan-EU digital bank later this year.
  • The largest bank in the Czech Republic, ÄŒeská spoÅ™itelna introduces voice biometrics courtesy of partnership with Nuance Communications.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Doxo, Envestnet, FutureAdvisor, Hyperwallet, IdentityMind Global, NCR Corporation, Pindrop Security, SmartAsset

On Finovate.com

  • BILLSHARK and Payrailz Team Up to Help Consumers Save on Monthly Bills.
  • Hyperwallet Sells to PayPal for $400 Million.
  • SmartAsset Scoops Up $28 Million in New Funding.

Around the web

  • Pindrop launches new risk-based authentication solution for call centers, Pindrop Express.
  • NCR and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announce strategic alliance.
  • PayPal acquires Hyperwallet for $400 million in cash.
  • Hancock Whitney Bank picks Envestnet platform to support its broker-deal and trust businesses.
  • U.S. Bank partners with FutureAdvisor to develop Automated Investor, a digital wealth management tool.
  • doxo honored as Gold Stevie Award Winner in 2018 American Business Awards.

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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SigFig Raises $50 Million in Series E

SigFig Raises $50 Million in Series E
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, SigFig

Automated wealth management advisory specialist SigFig has raised $50 million in new funding in a round led by General Atlantic. The Series E round also featured the participation of existing investors UBS, Eaton Vance Corporation, DCM Ventures, New York Life, Nyca Partners, and Bain Capital Ventures.

“For over a decade, SigFig has provided access to premium, tech-enabled financial services for customers, banks, and wealth advisors,” CEO and co-founder of SigFig, Mike Sha said. “We are now aggressively expanding our services and reach to improve how banks utilize technology with their clients and increase the number of everyday people using technology to manage their finances.”

The company said it will use the additional capital to invest in new technology and to expand its service to larger FIs like current partners UBS and Wells Fargo. This week’s investment takes SigFig’s total capital to $117 million.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, SigFig demonstrated its portfolio management service at FinovateFall 2011. The company enables financial service providers to offer their customers a way to build tax efficient, diversified investment portfolios that are personalized, mobile-accessible, and less expensive than using traditional financial advisors. SigFig’s platform provides tax reduction strategies, reinvests dividends, and monitors the portfolio, rebalancing when allocations get out of balance.

SigFig clients get their first $10,000 managed free and accounts can be opened with as little as $2,000. Accounts above $10,000 are charged a 0.25% annual fee. All clients get free portfolio monitoring and analysis, unlimited access to professional investment advisors, and minimized brokerage commissions.  SigFig supports individual and joint accounts, as well as all IRA types.

General Atlantic Managing Partner Paul Stamas, who will join SigFig’s board of directors as part of the investment, praised the company’s B2B2C business model, which he said could help SigFig take advantage of the growing market for “digitally-native investment advisors.” Stamas added that the company “leverages its industry-leading technology alongside its partners’ existing physical infrastructure and human capital to create a best-in-class advice solution.”

The funding for SigFig comes in the wake of a pair of major deployments of its platform. Earlier this year, UBS Wealth Management USA went live with SigFig-powered, robo advisory solution, UBS Advice Advantage. The UBS solution is geared toward clients with $10,000 to $250,000 in investable assets, and follows just a few months after Wells Fargo unveiled its own SigFig-developed robo advisor.

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ThetaRay Partners with ABN AMRO to Boost AML Capabilities

ThetaRay Partners with ABN AMRO to Boost AML Capabilities
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ThetaRay

ABN AMRO, the third largest bank in the Netherlands and one of the leading banks in northwest Europe, has partnered with ThetaRay in a five-year, bank-wide project to improve the Dutch bank’s AML and CTF (counter-terrorist financing) capabilities. ThetaRay is a specialist in leveraging machine learning and sophisticated mathematical algorithms to detect financial crime in its earliest stages. The company will help the bank focus on making its post-transaction monitoring more effective and efficient.

“We are very happy to have ABN AMRO join the distinguished group of leading banks already using ThetaRay’s solution,” SVP of Sales for ThetaRay Shay Dovev said. “Today banks are dealing with complex challenges when facing terrorism and financial crime. They have no option but to use the best technologies based on artificial intelligence and machine learning to protect themselves and meet increasing regulatory requirements.”

ThetaRay’s platform enables financial institutions to build customized solutions to identify anomalies in large, complex data sets in real time regardless of source. The product of more than 15 years of academic research, ThetaRay’s approach to fraud detection is data agnostic and rules-free, leveraging “the wisdom of the algorithm crowd” to deliver a faster, more accurate cybersecurity solution and a new paradigm in anomaly detection.

Founded in 2013, ThetaRay demonstrated its fraud & credit risk analytics platform at FinovateFall 2015.  The company has been especially busy in the first half of this year, partnering with Singapore bank OCBC in March,  and winning the Regulatory Technology Implementation of the Year category at the 2018 Asian Banker Risk Management Awards in May. Earlier this month, ThetaRay won the 2018 ATMIA Global Award for Next Generation ATM Security.

ThetaRay is headquartered in Israel and maintains offices in New York, London, and Singapore. The company has raised more than $30 million in funding, and includes Poalim Capital Markets (PCM), Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), and General Electric among its investors. Mark Gazit is CEO.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Fiserv, Gro Solutions, Payfone, SigFig, Signicat, ThetaRay

On Finovate.com

  • ThetaRay Partners with ABN AMRO to Boost AML Capabilities.
  • SigFig Raises $50 Million in Series E.

Around the web

  • Signicat integrates Belgian digital identity scheme, itsme, into its platform.
  • Australia’s Bendigo and Adelaide Bank selects OneSumX from Wolters Kluwer for regulatory reporting.
  • Fiserv inks deals with Sioux Valley Community CU and Coulee Dam FCU based in Iowa and Washington state, respectively.
  • Payfone collaborates with Canadian telecom EnStream to develop mobile federated authentication service.
  • Indiana-based Elements Financial Credit Union ($1.5 billion in assets) to deploy digital sales platform from Gro Solutions.

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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Finastra Acquires Malauzai

Finastra Acquires Malauzai
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finastra, Malauzai, Malauzai Software

Global financial software provider Finastra, the combination of D+H and Misys that was forged a year ago this month, has added a new major element to its mix. The company announced today that it would acquire fellow Finovate alum Malauzai, a firm that specializes in retail and business banking solutions for community banks and credit unions. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Calling these smaller financial institutions “the fabric of American financial services,” Finastra CEO Simon Paris said bringing Malauzai into the Finastra fold will be a major boon for large and small FIs. “Together, our two companies deliver a fully integrated open core platform for payments, lending, and digital, across Finastra’s 4,500-strong U.S.-based community market customers and Malauzai’s non-core U.S.-based customers.” Paris added that Malauzai’s “leadership” and “open approach” are in “perfect alignment with our open platform vision.”

Malauzai co-founder and Chief Product Officer Robb Gaynor during a live demo of the company’s Conversational Banking for Business solution at FinovateFall 2017.

It’s also worth noting that the acquisition was the consumption of a relationship between the two companies that began years ago. Finastra and Malauzai have been collaboration partners with more than 130 shared customers since 2015. As such it was no surprise to hear Malauzai CEO Tom Shen echo Paris’ praise for the synergies between the two companies. “By combining a best-in-class core experience, backed by leading innovative mobile and Internet banking capabilities and our mobile-only design approach, community financial institutions win,” Shen said.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Malauzai has distinguished itself as a major provider of digitally-innovative products and solutions for local and community-based financial institutions. For the company’s FinovateSpring 2015 demo, co-founders Robb Gaynor and Danny Piangerelli were joined on stage by representatives from six different community banks that were offering Malauzai-powered features including P2P payments, picture bill pay, and debit card on/off to their customers and members.

Solutions like MOX Pay and Conversational Banking for Business, both demoed at recent Finovate events, further distinguished Malauzai has a partner for financial institutions looking to provide their retail and business customers with the same level of digital innovation as the larger banks.

“The acquisition creates a compelling proposition for our existing customer base and enables Finastra’s customers to deliver a seamless banking experience with a robust breadth of services, via a single provider,” Shen said. Malauzai serves more than 350 community financial institutions in the U.S. and has more than one million active users of its solutions.

Malauzai has raised more than $24 million in funding from investors including Wellington Management and Live Oak Banking Company. In May, the company teamed up with its future acquirer to help Horicon Bank launch its digital banking platform . InApril, Malauzai partnered with fellow Finovate alum Geezeo to develop a new mobile app for Axiom Bank, the second-largest community bank in Florida.

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