This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.
Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
A few months ago we opined here on the Finovate blog that the funding woes that had plagued fintech in the first half of 2023 might abate in the second half.
If Q3 is any indication, then it will have to be the fourth quarter of the year when that happens.
Eight Finovate alums raised more than $293 million in Q3 of 2023. The number of alums raising funding was consistent with last year’s total. But the overall level of funding for Finovate alums was down from previous third quarters. In fact, the last time Q3 alum funding was less than $1 billion was in 2018, when 19 alums raised $400 million.
Admittedly, two of the eight alums to report funding in the third quarter of 2023 did not disclose funding amounts. This means that the total investment for Finovate alums in Q3 could be significantly higher than what is known today. And it was interesting to note how many fintechs that did secure investment over the summer months were headquartered in developing markets. But that aside, for markets in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe, in particular, the fintech funding drought continues to define the terrain.
Previous Quarterly Comparisons
Q3 2022: More than $1 billion raised by eight alums
Q3 2021: More than $1.1 billion raised by 14 alums
Q3 2020: More than $1.2 billion raised by 14 alums
Q3 2019: More than $1 billion raised by 21 alums
Top Equity Investments for Q3 2023
The top equity investment of the quarter among Finovate alums was clearly the $110 million raised by SpyCloud. The company, which won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in 2017, specializes in helping businesses fight account takeover fraud, as well as other types of cybercrime.
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, and founded in 2016, SpyCloud gives organizations visibility into exposed credentials actively traded on the dark web. In response, SpyCloud’s platform not only uncovers these stolen credentials, but also leads to the capture of 40 million exposed assets every week. The company’s Q3 investment takes its total equity funding to more than $168 million.
Also noteworthy in the third quarter were the investments secured by Tradeshift ($70 million), ThetaRay ($57 million), and Splitit ($50 million).
Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q3 2023.
July 2023: More than $4.5 million raised by three alums
If you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the third quarter of 2023 and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at research@finovate.com. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.
Payments platform Paysend announced a partnership with Western Union this week.
The partnership will enable consumers to send money via Western Union directly to Visa and Mastercard debit cards.
Paysend made its Finovate debut in 2016 at FinovateEurope.
International payments platform Paysendinked an agreement with Western Union today. The partnership will enable consumers to send money via Western Union’s branded digital solution directly to both Visa and Mastercard debit cards. Paysend will provide a single API that ensures seamless processing of these Western Union customer payments at live FX rates, 24/7, 365 days a year.
“Paysend’s mission is to make money transfer easier for everyone,” Paysend Executive Chairman and co-founder Abdul Abdulkerimov said. “We are thrilled to join forces with Western Union, a company known for its global reach and commitment to financial inclusion. Together, we will empower millions with accessible cross-border money transfer services.”
The remittance market continues to be a major source of economic growth for communities around the world. The World Bank estimated that remittances grew 5% to more than $800 billion last year. This week’s partnership comes in the wake of a pilot program recently launched by the two companies. The program will help customers send money from the U.S. and U.K. to Pakistan, the U.K., and Spain easier -with additional locations coming soon. The news also follows strategic collaborations between Paysend and Visa and between Paysend and Mastercard that were announced last month. These partnerships are part of the company’s effort to expand its ability to improve cross-border payments for SMEs and individuals. “Our mission at Paysend is simple,” Abdulkerimov said, “to deliver the world’s simplest money transfer service.”
Founded in 1851, Western Union today serves as one of the largest money transfer businesses in the world. The company is active in more than 200 countries and territories, and facilitates fund transfers in nearly 130 currencies. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Western Union offers wire transfer, mobile money transfer, and other fund transfer services. These offerings include Western Union Connect, which facilitates fund transfers between the U.S. and China. Last week, Western Union reported Q3 results that, according to company President and Chief Executive Officer Devin McGranahan, “exceeded our expectations and demonstrate a continued positive trajectory against our ‘Evolve 2025’ goals.”
Paysend made its Finovate debut in 2016 at FinovateEurope, and returned to the Finovate stage two years later for FinovateSpring. Headquartered in London, the company this year has forged partnerships with global onboarding and payroll platform RemotePass, payroll platform Ontop, and Spanish-language content and media company, TelevisaUnivision.
Paysend has raised more than $272 million in funding. Global PayTech Ventures and InfraVia Capital Partners are among the company’s investors.
Arguably the premier fintech hub in Asia, Singapore has benefitted from its own strong growth, the emerging economies of its neighbors, and a robust regulatory regime in the form of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
According to the 2022 FinTech State of Play report from the Singapore Fintech Association, Singapore has more than 1,000 fintech firms in its jurisdiction. The majority of fintechs in Singapore are involved in payments, financial services infrastructure, regtech, lending, and money management. Payments is considered the most mature sector within the industry. At the same time, observers have highlighted regtech as an area of potential opportunity for growth.
This week in Finovate Global we take a look at handful of recent developments in Singapore’s fintech industry. These items include a new investment, positive signs for AI adoption in financial services, and new regulatory guidance from the MAS.
Singapore-based multi-currency mobile wallet company YouTrip has secured $50 million in funding. The Series B round was led by venture capital firm Lightspeed. The investment takes YouTrip’s total capital raised to more than $105 million. The company plans to use the funding to launch new products and features, invest in technology, and expand into new markets. YouTrip also expects to offer GooglePay later this year.
“YouTrip launched in 2018 with the bold vision to empower everyone with a smarter and more convenient way to pay in foreign currency,” YouTrip CEO Caecilia Chu said. “The latest funding round is a testament to our strong potential in the B2C and B2B payment spaces.”
YouTrip is a mobile financial platform that offers a multi-currency mobile wallet and a contactless Mastercard. Users can make fee-free payments in more than 150 currencies. YouTrip also features 10 selected currencies that are available for in-app exchange. This enables users to lock in favorable exchange rates when they become available.
In a blog post at the company’s website, YouTrip thanked its customers for not abandoning the company during the pandemic. “You stuck with us through thick and thin – supporting us when we expanded to e-commerce to help you continue saving on FX transactions as you stayed safe indoors,” the company noted.
YouTrip achieved profitability in April. The company processes $10 billion in payments annually. These payments come largely from the consumer side of YouTrip’s business. This includes facilitating payments for users traveling overseas, transactions on international websites, and corporate spending by SMEs that use YouTrip’s YouBiz service.
How eagerly are financial services companies embracing AI? OCBC Bank Singapore announced this week that it is making a new AI-powered chatbot available to its 30,000-member staff across 19 countries. The bot, OCBC ChatGPT, was developed in partnership with Microsoft Azure, and operates similarly to Open AI’s ChatGPT.
The solution will be used to help bank employees with writing, research, and ideation, and comes to OCBC Bank after a six-trial. Approximately 1,000 OCBC employees participated in the trial, and reported completing their tasks twice as fast with the bot – including fact-checking – compared to without.
OCBC Bank is currently working with four specific generative AI functions. These roles are: Wingman, which helps coders write code; Whisper, which transcribes and summarizes voice calls; Buddy, which retrieves data from company documents and records staff meetings; and Document AI, which provides summaries of documents like financial reports.
“We are excited to be one of the first banks in the world to deploy generative AI tools at scale,” OCBC Head of Group Data Donald MacDonald said. “We believe that these tools have the potential to transform the way our employees work by automating a wide range of time-consuming tasks, freeing up their time to focus on more strategic and value-added work.”
Looking for someone to blame when it comes to phishing scams? The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) have weighed in with a new paper proposing a Shared Responsibility Framework (SRF) for phishing scams. The framework points to specific actions both financial institutions and telecommunications companies need to take in order to mitigate the damage from phishing scams. The SRF also requires these entities to pay affected scam victims when these actions are not carried out.
“This incentivizes vigilance by all parties in the ecosystem to uphold safety in e-payments,” MAS Deputy Managing Director Ho Hern Shin said. Additionally, the two entities proposed heightened standards in the E-payments User Protection Guidelines (EUPG) to strengthen anti-scam efforts. IMDA Deputy Chief Executive Aileen Chia praised the involvement of telecommunications companies in the effort to fight phishing. “The inclusion of Telcos in the Shared Responsibility Framework as supporting infrastructure providers serves to strengthen the ecosystem against scams,” Chia explained.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Central and Eastern Europe
Turkish invoice financing marketplace Figopara partnered with Provenir to automate risk decisioning.
Payments platform Payoneer has collaborated with Etsy’s seller offering, Etsy Payments.
The partnership will enable Etsy to streamline payments to sellers, empowering entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
Payoneer made its Finovate debut ten years ago at FinovateAsia 2013.
Etsy Payments has a brand new partner. The company, the bespoke seller offering from global online marketplace Etsy, has announced a collaboration with payments platform Payoneer. The partnership will help Etsy streamline payments to sellers. It will also give entrepreneurs in emerging markets better opportunities to grow their businesses. This includes the ability to offer a broader range of services and to make payouts to sellers in their preferred currency.
The collaboration will launch in the Ukraine and Thailand initially. By the end of the year, the service will be live in India, Japan, Argentina, Chile, and Peru, as well.
“Through this partnership, we are able to leverage Payoneer’s global reach and world-class payment technology to bring efficiencies at scale and provide seamless payouts to sellers in their local markets and the currency of their preference,” Etsy VP & GM Payments and Risk, Chirag Patel said.
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, Etsy launched its Etsy Payments service in 2017. The option was previously called Direct Checkout and payments were processed by PayPal rather than Etsy. Etsy Payments enables sellers on the marketplace to offer buyers a wide range of payment options. These choices include Visa, PayPal, and Mastercard, as well as ApplePay, GooglePay, and Klarna, and buyers can transact in local currencies.
“This collaboration will help create opportunities for the often-underserved sellers in emerging markets, giving them better access to global demand,” Payoneer SVP Americas Ya Wen explained.
New York-based Payoneer made its Finovate debut in 2013 at FinovateAsia. The company returned to the Finovate stage two years later to present its technology at our developers conference FinDEVrNewYork. In the years since, Payoneer has grown into an international business payments platform with millions of customers, support for 70 currencies and 22+ languages, and coverage of more than 190 countries.
Payoneer began 2023 with a new Chief Financial Officer, Bea Ordonez. A few months later, the company introduced a new Chief Executive Officer, John Caplan, as well. So far this year, Payoneer has forged partnerships with software company Zoho, remote work outsourcing platform INSIDEA, Egyptian marketing firm Stllr, and cryptocurrency startup belo. The company acquired Israel-based data platform Spott in August and, in September, expanded its long-term relationship with Airbnb.
Payoneer is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker PAYO. It has a market capitalization of $2 billion.
WealthBlock offers a white label platform for private asset management firms and crowdfunding portals. The company’s technology streamlines investment presentation, investor onboarding and document e-sign, as well as investor reporting. The partnership will empower clients to build and launch customized digital journeys that will engage investors and boost conversions.
Praxent CEO and founder Tim Hamilton praised WealthBlock as an industry leader in the investor management technology space. “WealthBlock is powering the future of funding deals,” Hamilton said. “Together, we are creating and integrating bespoke, secure user experiences that drive revenue and growth for companies looking to raise capital.”
WealthBlock CEO Trilliam Jeong underscored the importance of self-service in the capital raising space, calling it critical to success. Additionally, Jeong credited Praxent’s experience in financial services – and with the company’s platform – for making Praxent “the ideal partner.” He added, “By joining forces, we enable clients to accelerate the secure launch of custom experiences that allow them to more effectively onboard and serve investors.”
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Praxent helps financial services companies develop differentiated fintech solutions that yield quantifiable results. The company has assisted more than 400 organizations as they enhanced their customer relationships via a combination of human-centered design, front-end engineering, and product integration.
Founded in 2000, Praxent made its Finovate debut at our developers conference, FinDEVr, in 2021. In August of this year, the company announced partnerships with Insurance Systems Inc. and small business lender NEWITY. In September, Praxent introduced new Chief Revenue Officer Robin Smith. Smith previously served as Vice President of North America for Finovate alum Mambu.
Featurespace unveiled its generative AI-powered, Large Transaction Model (LTM), TallierLTM, this week.
The technology uncovers hidden transactional patterns typically undetected by current methods that may be indicative of criminal activity.
Featurespace made its Finovate debut in 2016, appearing at both FinovateEurope and FinovateFall that year.
Fraud and financial crime prevention company Featurespaceunveiled its Large Transaction Model (LTM), TallierLTM, this week. A foundational technology for payments in specific and the financial services industry in general, TallierLTM is a large-scale, self-supervised, and pre-trained model built to power the next generation of AI apps to protect consumers from financial crime.
The technology marks the first time financial professionals in the fraud fighting space have been able to leverage a generative Large Transaction Model. Featurespace noted in a statement that TallierLTM has provided improvements of as much as 71% in fraud value detection compared to the industry standard.
“What OpenAI’s LLMs have done for language, TallierLTM will do for payments,” Featurespace founder David Excell said. “There is widespread concern about how deep-fakes and generative AI have been used to deceive consumers and our financial systems. We plan to reverse this trend by utilizing the power of generative AI algorithms to create solutions that protect consumers and make the world a safer place to transact.”
Connecting to FIs via its enbedding API, TallierLTM analyzes billions of transactions, identifying hidden transactional patterns that current methods often cannot detect. The technology’s insights are based on time sequencing, discovering unusual spending patterns over a short period of time, for example, or between a consumer and a merchant. This increased ability to distinguish legitimate activity from potentially criminal behavior will not only enable data scientists to improve their model’s performance faster, Featurespace Chief Innovation Officer Dr. David Sutton said. It will also allow institutions to “realize the value of machine learning investments more quickly.”
“We know that smarter technology helps financial institutions better understand their consumers,” Sutton added. “We have taken this to the next level by pairing cutting-edge generative AI algorithms with huge volumes of data, enabling a machine to efficiently comprehend the relationships between different customer transactions.”
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Cambridge, U.K., Featurespace made its Finovate debut in 2016, appearing at both FinovateEurope and FinovateFall. An innovator in adaptive behavioral analytics and automated deep behavioral networks for risk management, Featurespace serves more than 80 direct customers and 200,000 institutions. In recent months, the company announced partnerships with digital payment platform Clip and fellow Finovate alum Zeta. In August, Featurespace launched its ARIC Scam Detect solution to help protect financial services companies and their customers from scams – especially Authorized Push Payment (APP) scams – in real-time.
“As scammers become increasingly sophisticated in their tactics, with the use of Generative AI and machine learning, FIs need an adaptive solution that can protect from changing scam types in real time and monitor both inbound and outbound payments,” company Chief Product Officer Pat Hinchin said.
Featurespace has raised nearly $108 million in funding from investors including Chrysalis Investments, MissionOG, and Insight Partners.
Swiss retailer/wholesaler Coop has turned to embedded finance company additiv to launch its new superapp, Coop Finance+.
Coop Finance will go live initially with banking services, payments, and pension solutions.
Headquartered in Switzerland, additiv most recently demoed its technology at FinovateAsia in 2017.
One of the largest retailer/wholesaler companies in Switzerland, Coop, has turned to embedded finance company additiv to power the launch of its new app, Coop Finance+.
A financial services superapp, Coop Finance+ initially will go live with banking services, payments, and pension solutions. Hypothekarbank Lenzburg will power banking services. Vanguard, OLZ, Liberty Vorsorge and Glarner Kantonalbank will support the app’s pension solutions. App users can open accounts with debit cards, make online payments, and invest in Pillar 3a retirement programs.
“At additiv, we believe that embedding financial products into everyday consumer channels will help improve convenience and financial inclusion,” additiv founder Michael Stemmle said. Company CEO Nils Frowein, who joined additiv in June, praised the new offering as a “transformative project” that will have a “profound impact on the user experience of Coop customers.”
Coop Finance+ offers competitive terms, above-average interest rates on retirement accounts, and loyalty benefits. Additionally, the superapp provides access to free cash withdrawals at all 1,000 Coop supermarkets and Coop City warehouses. The launch of Coop Finance+ makes Coop the largest provider of free cash withdrawals in Switzerland.
“At Coop, we are committed to providing our customers with digital services that are tailored to their needs,” Coop Head of Digital/Customer Thomas Schwetje said. “With Coop Finance+, we are expanding this strategy to offer straightforward and easily accessible account and payment solutions, household budget management, and pension solutions.”
A Finovate alum since 2013, additiv most recently demoed its technology at FinovateAsia 2017 in Hong Kong. In the years since, additiv has grown from a software development firm into a major digital investment and financial solutions platform and finance-as-a-service provider. A leader in orchestrated finance, additiv has offices in Zurich, Frankfurt, Dubai, and Singapore and 300 employees worldwide.
Earlier this month, additiv announced a strategic partnership with SELISE. The collaboration will enable additiv to leverage the company’s expertise in software management to enhance its wealth platform. In June, additiv was named a leading AI innovator within AI Fintech100’s 2023 roster.
Embedded finance company Finotta has teamed up with banking software provider ebankIT.
The partnership will integrate Finotta’s Personified Personalized Financial Guidance platform with ebankIT’s digital banking solution.
Both Finotta and ebankIT are Finovate alums. ebankIT most recently demoed its technology at FinovateEurope in March. Finotta made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022.
Embedded finance company Finotta has forged a new partnership with omnichannel banking software firm ebankIT. The partnership will integrate Finotta’s Personified platform with ebankIT’s digital banking solution in order to deliver better financial wellness tools and Personlized Financial Guidance (PFG) to customers worldwide.
Finotta’s Personified platform provides an automated and personalized mobile banking experience. Personified includes a financial coach, a financial health leveling system, automated financial guidance, predictive product referrals, digitized relationship building, the ability to make internal and external transfers, and more. The suite of solutions helps financial institutions address customer needs and respond to them from within the digital banking platform.
Personal finance is often treated as a local concern. However, Finotta founder and CEO Parker Graham put this week’s integration in an international context. “Financial wellness is a global imperative that transcends borders, affecting individuals and communities everywhere,” Graham said. “In partnering with ebankIT, we’re not just future-proofing financial institutions, we’re elevating the financial well-being of users and underscoring innovation as the bedrock of customer loyalty.”
ebankIT CEO Renato Oliveira said that delivering “humanized, personalized, and accessible digital experiences” is a priority for ebankIT “from day one.” He added, “At ebankIT, we recognize that the future of digital banking hinges on seamless omnichannel capabilities and enriched user experiences.” Oliveira called the partnership with Finotta “an extension of that commitment.”
Founded in 2014, ebankIT is headquartered in Portugal. The company has been a Finovate alum since winning Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2015. The company most recently demoed its technology at FinovateEurope earlier this year. At the conference, ebankIT introduced a new range of features on its digital banking platform. Among these features was a tool to help banks and credit unions better anticipate customer needs.
Over the summer, ebankIT announced a strategic partnership with digital transformation and cybersecurity consultancy, Online Business Systems. More recently, the company teamed up with Home Trust. Via the partnership, ebankIT helped the Canada-based mortgage broker launch its new digital banking platform.
Founded in 2018, Finotta is a newcomer to the Finovate stage. The Overland Park, Kansas-based company made its debut last year at FinovateFall 2022. Finotta announced in August that its Personified platform increased user engagement to an average of 13 minutes per month. Graham credited the difference between Finotta’s Personalized Financial Guidance platform and traditional personal finance management solutions.
“To better capitalize on existing digital banking investments and increase share of wallet all while lowering acquisition costs, banks need to shift their focus away from PFMs and instead embrace Personalized Financial Guidance,” Graham said. “By focusing on guiding customers through their financial journey, they increase the amount of time users spend in the app.”
Philippines-based digital bank Tonik has entered the insurance business. The neobank announced a new strategic partnership this week with life insurance company Sun Life Grepa Financial, Inc. (Sun Life Grepa).
The partnership will enable Tonik to offer its customers Payhinga, a credit life and disability insurance product. Payhinga gives policyholders access to life and disability insurance with coverage of up to 120% of the loan amount. Further, policyholders can use a two-month payment holiday to reschedule upcoming loan payments in the event of financial difficulty.
“The partnership with Sun Life Grepa will significantly expand our suite of products, and insurance is a highly sought-after addition our customers have been requesting,” Tonik Country President Long Pineda said.
The Philippines’ first, digital-only neobank, Tonik offers loan, deposit, and payment products to consumers via its digital banking platform. The bank teamed up with FC Home Center, launching its Shop Installment Loan with the retailer in August. In June, Tonik announced that it had reached the one million customer milestone. Greg Krasnov (CEO) founded Tonik in 2020.
Speaking of digital banks based in the Philippines, UNO Digital Bank is teaming up with Collabera Digital. A digital engineering services provider, Collabera Digital will help the bank develop and integrate a mini app within superapp GCash.
Collabera Digital provided the strategy to address key issues such as AML and KYC, and built an integrated API platform. The leading superapp in the Philippines, GCash provides a wide range of financial services including money transfer, billpay, savings, investments, insurance, lending, and more. UNO Digital Bank’s integration into GCash will boost access to financial services to individuals across the socio-economic spectrum. The integration also supports the growth of the digital economy via services like mobile banking and digital wallets.
“Our partnership with GCash is significant in scaling and increasing our customer reach,” founder and CEO of UNO Digital Bank Manish Bhai said. “As a greenfield bank, built independently of a larger traditional institution, we have to be innovative in identifying opportunities to grow and expand. GCash, with their 90+ million users and active thrust towards financial inclusion, is a great partner leading to a win-win proposition for both the entities.”
UNO Digital Bank was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in Taguig, a city in the Manila metropolitan area. The institution had total assets of $29 million (PHP 1.78 billion) as of end of year 2022.
What are fintechs in the Philippines doing for small businesses? Merchant fintech platform yufinannounced a series of partnerships this week designed to bring new services to Philippines-based merchants. The new additions to yufin’s partnership ecosystem include wholesaler Lots for Less, delivery firm Transportify, and streaming content company Vivamax.
Shubhrendu Khoche, President and co-founder of yufin Philippines, noted that the new partnerships will drive greater digital adoption by businesses throughout the value chain. “As the financial growth engine for small merchants, these new partnerships will create more reasons for digital payment for our small merchants, their shoppers, and suppliers,” Khoche explained.
Founded in 2021, yufin aims to raise the income of 10 million households at least by 50% in the next five years. The company’s partnership ecosystem helps turn small, corner shops into preferred banking and credit hubs for their customers. With a goal of partnering rather than competing with local banks, yufin offers assisted digital financial services that enable underserved communities to leverage technology to improve financial outcomes.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Sub-Saharan Africa
South Africa’s Lipa Payments secured full SDK certification for Tap to Phone from both Visa and Mastercard.
Kenyan fintech and mobility solutions company Data Integrated won approval to operate as a Payment Service Provider from the country’s central bank.
Stitch, a business payments company based in South Africa, raised $25 million in Series A funding.
Central and Eastern Europe
German B2B Buy Now Pay Later payments provider Mondu registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Polish fintech Verestro integrated the Quicko Wallet money transfer service within the Slack application.
Cloover, a climate-based fintech based in Germany, raised €7 million in pre-seed funding.
Middle East and Northern Africa
ACI Worldwideforged a partnership with MENA-based payments and BaaS enabler NymCard.
Payments infrastructure company Finzly secured $10 million in Series A funding this week.
The round was led by TZP Growth Equity. Finzly will use the capital to accelerate expansion.
Finzly won Best of Show for its demos at FinovateWest and FinovateFall in 2020.
Payments infrastructure innovator Finzly has raised $10 million in funding. The Series A round was led by TZP Growth Equity. Finzly, which won Best of Show at FinovateWest and FinovateFall in 2020, will use the investment to accelerate expansion.
“Throughout Finzly’s history, we have carefully invested in disciplined and organic future growth by developing products and solutions that deliver value to our customers by simplifying their operations,” Finzly founder and CEO Booshan Rengachari explained. “This capital raise will enable us to further invest in our product roadmap built around the theme of providing real-time financial services demanded by today’s real-time economy, scaling our product delivery to maintain our high customer satisfaction rate.”
Finzly made its Finovate debut in 2019 and returned to the Finovate stage the following year. The company won Best of Show in the spring of 2020 and again in the fall. Finzly’s technology connects FIs with customers through a modern, digital banking experience and an efficient, real-time payments hub. The company’s “payments core” is a single platform that consolidates all payment rails, simplifying back-office operations and the customer journey. Finzly’s high automation rates enable banks to reduce operating expenses and offer friction-free payments. The company was among the first to offer an API connection to FedNow, the Federal Reserve’s new instant payment service.
Shamit Mehta, TZP’s lead partner on the investment called Finzly “a catalyst in the transition towards more agile and customer-centric banking experiences.” Further, Mehta added that Finzly was “well-positioned to drive significant advancements in how banking and financial services operate and will become a category-defining company.” As part of the funding, Mehta will join Finzly’s board of directors.
Finzly’s investment news comes in the wake of the company’s latest partnership. Metropolitan Commercial Bank, a New York-based financial institution with assets of more than $6 billion, turned to Finzly to enhance its payment operations for ACH, Fedwire, and FedNow. Earlier this year, banking platform Mode Eleven partnered with Finzly to transform its wire and ACH operations.
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Finzly was founded in 2012.
Fraud prevention platform Darwinium raised $18 million in Series A funding this week.
The company positions its fraud detection processes on the network perimeter to provide better visibility, coverage, and agility.
Recently relocated to San Francisco, California, Darwinium made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope earlier this year.
Digital security and fraud prevention platform Darwiniumraised $18 million in Series A funding this week. The investment was led by U.S. Venture Partners, and featured participation from seed investors Blackbird, Airtree Ventures, and Accomplice. The Series A takes the San Francisco-based company’s total funding to $26 million. Darwinium will use the additional capital to scale its solution globally.
“AI capabilities have given fraudsters the upper hand of speed, scale, and greater efficiency,” Darwinium CEO and co-founder Alisdair Faulkner explained. “This is why we designed Darwinium to deliver the visibility and coverage of a security tool, the context and insight of fraud solutions, with the agility of AI. It’s the platform that will future-proof organizations against the most complex attacks.”
Darwinium offers two innovations to help companies fight fraud. First, Darwinium moves fraud detection processes to the network perimeter, to “the edge,” as the company refers to the strategy. This gives businesses a comprehensive view of the customer journey at every digital touchpoint, making it easier to distinguish trusted from risky behavior. This approach also gives the technology an advantage over API-based fraud protection solutions. These solutions, according to Darwinium, are not sufficiently agile and lack the context to adequately respond to evolving fraud threats.
Second, Darwinium leverages a SaaS approach to data protection, encrypting and anonymizing data on “the edge.” Any customer data that is subjected to analysis is stored within the business’ own infrastructure with their own digital keys. Darwinium’s technology then uses the anonymized version of this customer data. This enables the information to be processed without being exposed to fraudsters. Darwinium’s approach to securing customer data makes it easy for businesses to comply with consumer privacy regulations such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Founded in 2021, Darwinium made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope earlier this year. At the conference, the company previewed its fraud prevention platform that leverages individual digital signatures to make sure that website visitors and customers are who they say they are. The company introduced its Continuous Customer Protection platform this spring, simultaneously announcing the firm’s expansion to the U.S. and relocation of its corporate headquarters to San Francisco.
