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
MUFG’s new digital bank will feature the cloud-based banking system developed and operated by Zerobank Design Factory (ZDF), a subsidiary and the technological development arm of Fukuoka Financial Group (FFG). The announcement was made by Minna Bank, a fellow subsidiary of FFG that runs on ZDF’s core banking technology. In collaboration with Accenture and operating on the Google Cloud, the MUFG deployment will be the first time Zerobank Design Factory will see its solution used by an organization outside of FFG.
“Since its inception (Minna Bank) has accumulated and updated its technologies and expertise related to systems, functionalities, and design required for a digital bank,” Minna Bank and ZDF President and CEO Kenichi Nagayoshi said. “As a result, we believe that the recent first external provision of our system marks a valuable milestone. Moving forward, we hope to contribute, even if just a little, to the development of the digital banking market both domestically and internationally through the provision of this system.”
Japan’s first digital bank, Minna Bank was founded in 2021 and currently boasts 1.3 million accounts. The name means “a bank for everyone” and the institution posits that its mission is to “deliver valuable connections to everyone.” In 2022, ZDF announced that it would offer its technology to both local and international financial institutions. Non-financial organizations looking to add banking services are also eligible to deploy the system.
The MUFG deployment is designed to meet the need for faster management speed, greater efficiency, and lower costs. Banking systems that leverage multi-cloud, microservice architecture, DevSecOps, and other advanced technologies offer an effective way to meet these goals. The core banking system designed by ZDF offers a modular design capable of partial integration with existing systems to give banks, non-bank financial institutions, and non-financial entities a range of versatile applications to better serve customers and clients.
“Our collaboration with Minna Bank reinforces that cloud-based technology can deliver flexibility, speed, and reliability for core systems within global banks,” Google Cloud Global Managing Director, Regulated Industries, Toby Brown said. “Minna Bank’s use of Google Cloud’s advanced technologies—like Google Kubernetes Engine for elastic scale, Spanner for global data consistency, and Vertex AI for intelligent insights—is a blueprint for accelerating digital transformation far beyond banking, enabling industries from retail to mobility to seamlessly embed financial services and create new value for their customers.”
A wholly-owned subsidiary of FFG, ZDF is the system development company that built Minna Bank’s core system. ZDF is also a pioneer in cloud banking, having been among the first developers in Japan to build a core banking system on a public cloud. The company made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023.
The largest regional financial group in Japan, FFG was established in 2007. FFG’s network covers the entire Kyushu region, which is home to more than 10% of the country’s population and includes cities such as Fukuoka and Nagasaki.
Finance ERP provider Sage has acquired Delaware-based expense management platform Fyle. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Fyle’s technology will enable Sage to offer additional tools that leverage AI to automate workflows in accounting, finance, human resources, and payroll operations.
Founded in 2016, Fyle made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023 in New York.
Expense management platform Fyle has agreed to be acquired by finance ERP provider Sage. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“Our mission has always been to make expense management intuitive—so that our users never have to actively think about the task in any meaningful way, and so that their finance departments have the data transparency and assurance they need during close,” Fyle CEO and Co-Founder Yashwanth Madhusudan said. “As a longtime partner of Sage, we know the company shares our focus on delivering great software experiences, and we are excited about the collective impact we can have.”
The acquisition will enable Sage to add further AI-powered tools to simplify and automate financial workflows in accounting, finance, HR, and payroll operations. Fyle provides accounting and finance teams with real-time notifications on transaction data and enables end users to submit and reconcile expenses with a simple text. With more than 150 employees, the Delaware-based company has 1,600 direct customers in the US and thousands more via white-label agreements.
Post-acquisition, Fyle will continue to integrate with third-party accounting and financial systems. The technology is already integrated with Sage Intacct and Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate, with a broader rollout throughout North America “and beyond” to follow.
“In 2025, financial leaders are expected to play much more strategic roles than ever before and are looking for every way to get a high-performance edge. We know expense management is a key workflow for finance. Fyle streamlines and automates the entire process, further simplifying SMB finances with AI. I look forward to working as one team to create real and immediate impact for our customers,” Sage EVP Financials and ERP, Dan Miller said.
UK-based Sage provides software and services to help small and medium-sized companies conduct and enhance their payroll, human resources, and financial operations. Among the company’s flagship solutions, its Sage Intacct solution provides cloud accounting and financial software management for medium-sized businesses, while the company’s Sage 50 Accounts provides similar accounting, inventory, and payments management for smaller firms.
Founded in 2016, Fyle made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023. At the conference, the company demonstrated how its technology integrates with text messaging, email (including Gmail and Outlook), and meeting platforms like Slack and MS Teams to give companies and employees a unique and user-friendly way to submit and manage expenses. The technology instantly codes and categorizes expense data and syncs the data with commonly used ERPs such as Sage Intacct, NetSuite, QuickBooks Online, and Xero.
The first month of Q3 is in the books, “Crypto Week” was declared in the US last week, and corporate earnings reports are dominating the conversation on Wall Street.
To start off the week of fintech news here on Finovate’s Fintech Rundown, we have word of new C-suite appointments, collaborations in payments and fraud prevention, as well as new solutions for identity protection.
Appdomelaunches customer identity protection solution for mobile apps, IDAnchor.
MastercardintroducesA2A Protect in the UK to help defend consumers against account-to-account payment fraud.
Digital banking
Finovate Best of Show winner 10x Bankingintroduces new Chief Revenue Officer Tom Bentley.
Nubankappoints Ethan Eismann as its first Chief Design Officer.
Crypto
Blockchain startup Bitzerosecures $25 million for its sustainable blockchain and HighPerformance Compute (HPC) data centers.
African paytech Peach Payments and South African crypto payments solution provider MoneyBadgerteam up to bring crypto payments to South African merchants.
High-growth companies like those involved in cutting-edge technologies face a wide range of challenges. Effective cash management is one of them. From the appearance of cash flow gaps between cash collection and realizing revenues to the necessity of making significant initial capital outlays for operations, infrastructure, and talent before revenues catch up, high-growth companies often have banking needs that many financial institutions struggle to respond to.
This week, our Streamly Series interview features Christopher Hollins, Global Head of Product Sales and Design at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank. Hollins outlines some of the tactics high-growth companies can rely on in order to better manage cash and make the most of technologies like automation. Hollins also explains how solutions like SVB Go offer these businesses essential insights and streamline cash forecasting and management.
“The challenge is that innovators, entrepreneurs want to do what makes them passionate. And for most people, just like in high school and college, accounting, cash management, managing finances … not exactly the oversubscribed classes. In all seriousness, what companies need to do as they are growing very fast, they’re very focused on revenue-generation, satisfying clients, etc. But in doing that, two other things are happening: cash is moving in and out, and some of that cash could be better used in a number of different circumstances, maybe it could be invested in a different way. There is a lot of ‘lack of discipline,’ but I wouldn’t say that’s because people are purposely trying to do that. They are focused on running their businesses.”
Silicon Valley Bank brings more than 40 years of experience as a financial partner for the innovation economy. The company serves innovation economy companies and investors with business banking, liquidity management, global business solutions, and fund banking. With deep sector expertise in enterprise software, frontier tech, cleantech and sustainability, as well as fintech, SVB counts 60% of all fintechs on the 2025 Forbes fintech list and 40% of the Forbes 2025 AI list among its clients.
Head of Global Product Sales and Delivery at Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank, Christopher Hollins has played a key role in transforming the platform’s solution delivery model to ensure that SVB’s Commercial Bank Innovation economy clients have access to the best partners and solutions to solve business challenges and have optimal banking relationships along their journey. Hollins has been a part of SVB since 2021.
Financial wellness firm Addition Wealth has launched its B2B financial wellness platform for enterprises.
Available as either a white-label or co-branded solution, the new offering combines expert human guidance, AI-powered personalization, and intelligent financial tools to enable businesses to provide financial wellness experiences to their employees.
Addition Wealth made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateFall 2024 in New York.
Available as a white-label or co-branded solution, Addition Wealth’s platform helps financial services companies such as insurance providers, asset managers, retirement companies, private equity firms and others provide financial wellness experiences that are based on their specific business objectives.
“One of my core beliefs is that everyone should have access to the tools and support they need to feel confident about their finances,” Addition Wealth Founder and CEO Ana Mahony wrote on her LinkedIn page. “That’s why I’m incredibly excited to share something we’ve quietly been building for the last few years: Addition Wealth’s B2B financial wellness platform. While it’s not a brand-new product, this is the first time we’re publicly announcing it, and we couldn’t be more proud of what it’s become.”
Already live with financial institutions in the Fortune 500, Addition Wealth’s platform combines expert human guidance, AI-powered personalization, and intelligent financial tools. The platform enables businesses to support their employees through a number of financial decision-points from budgeting and paying down debt to retirement planning, buying a home and more. Addition Wealth leverages AI to help employees explore financial topics, learn more about managing their money, and get real-time, actionable insights to improve their financial wellbeing.
The technology supports the integration of financial solutions including student loan assistance, emergency savings, and tax filing services. Enterprise users of the platform can deploy their own financial wellness products, content, and advisors, or rely on those from Addition Wealth.
“By partnering with organizations with significant distribution, we’re able to reach, impact, and improve the lives of millions of individuals,” Mahony said in a statement. “Our AI-powered platform is flexible and configured to each business and user, delivering dynamic, tailored financial guidance, matching each person’s unique situation and goals with the tools and insights they need, whether planning for retirement, having a baby, or paying off student debt.”
Headquartered in New York and founded in 2021, Addition Wealth made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024 in New York. At the conference, Addition Wealth’s Mahony and VP of Marketing Hally Peck showed how the company’s Financial Wellness Platform helps employees make smarter decisions about their money. The platform leverages a hybrid strategy toward financial wellness, deploying both human experts as well as digital tools, resources, and content that provides a stronger foundation than either an all-human or all-digital approaches alone.
Fraud and dispute process management innovator Quavo Fraud & Disputes has raised $300 million in funding from Spectrum Equity.
Quavo said it will use the capital to support further investment in the company, drive innovation, and create value for its customers.
Quavo Fraud & Disputes most recently demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego.
Quavo Fraud & Disputes has announced a $300 million investment from growth equity investment firm Spectrum Equity. Quavo, which provides cloud-based solutions to enable financial institutions to automate and manage fraud and dispute processes, will use the capital to accelerate investments throughout the business, drive innovation, and create even greater value for customers.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Spectrum Equity on the next chapter of growth at Quavo,” company Co-Founder and CEO Joseph McLean said. “With this new investment, we intend to accelerate our AI-led product development initiatives and expand our go-to-market and client success teams to meet growing market demand and drive exceptional client outcomes. Our vision to restore financial trust and simplify fraud and disputes is unwavering, and this partnership allows us to achieve these goals faster and at even greater scale.”
Quavo’s technology empowers financial institutions—from large banks to credit unions—to better manage the consumer transaction dispute process. The company’s flagship offering, QFD, automates intake, investigation, chargeback, recovery, and client communications workflows across all payment and dispute types. Financial institutions using Quavo’s technology have been able to automate as much as 80% of the tasks involved in resolving typical consumer disputes, and recapture 85% of potentially lost funds. The average Quavo customer has experienced a reduction of 37% in write-offs and was able to reduce the time it took to issue consumer credit from 11 days to one day.
“Fraud and dispute management is a massive business-as-usual problem for financial institutions and fintechs alike, and we believe that Quavo is uniquely positioned to drive automation benefits and better outcomes in this space,” Spectrum Equity Managing Director Adam Margolin said. “Quavo’s highly configurable platform, scaled transaction data powering its decisioning engine, and mission-driven approach to solving costly and time-consuming problems for its clients set the company apart.”
As part of the transaction, existing investor FINTOP Capital will sell its ownership stake in the company. Quavo’s co-founder and strategic investor and technology partner Pegasystems will continue as significant shareholders.
Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, Quavo has recovered more than $1.4 billion for 10.8+ million victims. The company has grown revenues 60% annually since 2022 and today automates more than 12.5 million consumers disputes a year. Quavo serves a broad range of financial institutions, from global issuers and fintechs to regional banks and credit unions. Founded in 2016, Quavo Fraud & Disputes made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024 in New York and returned to the Finovate stage the following year for FinovateSpring in San Diego.
Earlier this year, Quavo published a report showing the impact of fraud resolution on customer loyalty. Quavo’s Q4 2024 Consumer Survey analyzed feedback from 1,000 recent victims of credit card fraud to learn about their experiences and how their experiences may have impacted their sense of trust and brand loyalty. The survey revealed that the quality of the fraud resolution process had a greater impact on trust than the actual fraud itself, and that the fraud resolution experience has a ripple effect on customer trust in other banking services.
“Trust is a bank’s most valuable asset, and fraud resolution is a defining moment in the customer relationship,” McLean said. “Our research proves that a seamless, transparent, and timely fraud resolution process isn’t just about compliance; it’s about building trust that strengthens long-term customer relationships.”
Regtech Blee has teamed up with New York-based multi-asset investing platform Public.
Public will embed Blee’s AI-powered review engine directly into its marketing workflows to ensure that all customer-facing messaging and communication meets regulatory compliance standards.
Founded in 2022, Blee made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2024. Guy Shahar is Founder and CEO.
New York-based regtech Blee has announced a partnership with multi-asset investing platform Public. The company will leverage Blee’s AI-powered compliance platform to enhance and streamline its marketing review process as it scales its offering.
“Public is a platform for long term investors looking to build a diversified portfolio. We’re focused on creating a multi-asset platform that’s transparent and built to support informed decision-making,” Public Chief Compliance Officer Emily Verlinde said. “As we scale how we connect with current and prospective members, partnering with Blee helps us move quickly while ensuring everything we share meets the highest regulatory standards.”
Public enables investors to create portfolios using stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), cryptocurrencies, options, and bonds, as well as contribute to retirement accounts. In teaming up with Blee, Public will embed the company’s AI-powered review engine directly into its marketing workflows. This will enable real-time risk detection for content across all asset classes and establish approval flows for different products. The technology also provides a complete audit trail for every review to help ensure compliance.
“This customer announcement is very special to me,” Blee Founder and CEO Guy Shahar wrote on the company’s LinkedIn page. “I’ve been a huge fan of Public’s mission. They’re not just building a product; they’re changing the culture of investing.”
Shahar noted that companies like Public face significant challenges when it comes to offering such a wide range of investment products. Chief among them is a need to communicate clearly and fairly to customers about the products they offer—including the risks involved—and to ensure that those communications meet regulatory standards.
“We’re proud to be the compliance infrastructure that will help the Public team continue to meet this challenge head-on,” Shahar added. “Our platform will provide the guardrails that enable them to educate their members and grow their offerings with confidence and speed.”
New York-based Public offers a multi-asset investment platform for investors in stocks, options, bonds, digital assets, and more. In addition to its investment tools, Public also offers a proprietary AI layer, Alpha, that gives investors fundamental data and custom analysis to guide their investment decisions. Founded in 2019, the company has raised more than $300 million from investors including Accel, Tiger Global, and Will Smith’s Dreamers VC.
Founded in 2022, Blee made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2024. At the conference, Shahar showed how Blee’s AI-powered marketing compliance review technology automatically identifies and flags potential compliance issues and risks before they reach customers.
Blee’s partnership with Public comes a month after the regtech announced that it was working with fellow Finovate alum, Marqeta. Marqeta will integrate Blee’s real-time risk detection, configurable approval flows, and monitoring capabilities into its internal go-to-market process. The company will also use the risk detection technology to support third parties and partners in its ecosystem.
“Our customers are building what’s next in financial services, and trust is at the core of that work,” Marqeta Marketing Compliance Officer Annia Prado said. “With Blee as our compliance partner for marketing reviews, we’re able to share new programs fast—and stay true to the standards that matter.”
Digital banking solutions provider Infinant has partnered with Vantage Bank and announced an extension of its collaboration with Customers Bank.
Vantage Bank leveraged Infinant’s platform to power its embedded banking business, Vantage Collabs. Customers Bank has worked with Infinant to automate balance mirroring with its deposit partners.
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina and founded in 2020, Infinant made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024.
Six months later, we are picking up the thread with word that the company has recently inked a partnership with Vantage Bank and announced an extension of its collaboration with Customers Bank.
First, Vantage Bank has teamed up with Infinant for its Interlace Platform, which it will use to power its embedded banking business, Vantage Collabs. The bank’s new offering provides embedded banking services to fintech brands, payment infrastructure providers, and other financial institutions.
“We have seen the expansion of banks finding success in the embedded finance space to grow deposits, lending, and fee income while reducing their operating expenses driven by legacy systems,” Infinant CEO Riaz Syed said. “We are motivated about the partnership we have with Vantage Bank and our aligned strategies to advance the banking market in a responsible and sustainable manner.”
Infinant provides financial institutions with technology that enables them to launch and scale their own digital channels, embedded banking programs, and embedded payments. Infinant’s platform gives banks operational and regulatory control over their programs, enabling institutions to keep control of the ledger, operations, and compliance. The company’s APIs will facilitate fast integrations between Vantage and third-party services including Visa DPS for card issuance and processing, Sardine for KYC/KYB and AML, NICE Actimize for fraud management, and Cable for automated control testing.
“Infinant and the Interlace platform is strategic to Vantage Bank,” Vantage Bank CEO Jeff Sinnott said. “Riaz and the team at Infinant have the vision and expertise to enable Vantage to innovate to meet customer expectations.”
With $4.5 billion in assets, Vantage Bank serves businesses, families, and financial institutions in diverse communities throughout Texas. The family-owned bank is headquartered in San Antonio and maintains regional operation centers in Fort Worth and McAllen.
Second, Infinant recently reported that Customers Bank is deepening its partnership in order to automate balance mirroring with deposit partners such as Raisin US. The move will enable full, end-to-end automation, improved partner reporting, and enhanced oversight. The partnership will also help ensure that Customers Bank has technology that is flexible enough to accommodate deposit and fee income growth while also providing the necessary regulatory controls.
Founded in 2009, Pennsylvania-based Customers Bank is a self-described “super-community bank.” The institution provides banking and lending services to professionals, individuals, and families in Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Texas. Customers Bank has more than $22 billion in assets, making it one of the largest US bank holding companies.
Infinant made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024 in New York. At the event, the company showed how its Interlace platform and launch-acceleration tools empower banks to distribute financial products via non-financial institution providers as well as products and services from fintechs through their banking channels.
A new partnership between WealthAI and AI-driven investment solutions provider MDOTM will bring new portfolio construction, rebalancing, and automated reporting capabilities to financial advisors and wealth managers.
Courtesy of the partnership, MDOTM’s AI platform Sphere will be offered via the WealthAI Marketplace as a seamless integration into the WealthAI platform. This will enable wealth managers and financial advisors to access Sphere’s advanced AI tools for both portfolio construction and optimization from directly within their current WealthAI workflows.
“This partnership with WealthAI is a natural step in our mission to empower investment professionals with the most advanced technology available,” MDOTM Ltd. Chief Operating Officer Federico Invernizzi said. “By integrating Sphere into the WealthAI ecosystem, we are expanding access to our AI-driven investment platform, enabling a broader range of advisors and wealth managers to benefit from its capabilities. This collaboration reinforces our commitment to helping institutional clients make impactful, data-driven investment decisions at scale.”
Sphere enhances the investment process for wealth managers and financial advisors with three primary solutions. First, the platform delivers unbiased, AI-driven investment insights that transform complex market inputs into actionable ideas for portfolio and risk alignment. Second, Sphere’s Portfolio Studio offers mass customization and scalable portfolio rebalancing. Based on the manager’s or advisor’s strategies and objectives, Portfolio Studio enables users to scale the creation, personalization, and rebalancing of thousands of portfolios with controlled tracking error. Third, the platform’s StoryFolio capability allows managers and advisors to generate automated, portfolio-specific commentaries and reports that leverage Gen AI in order to turn complex information into customized investment narratives.
“We are thrilled to partner with MDOTM Ltd to bring Sphere’s powerful AI capabilities to our clients,” WealthAI Chief Executive Officer Jason Nabi said. “This partnership reinforces our commitment to providing wealth managers with the most advanced AI tools to deliver personalized, compliant, and efficient investment solutions.”
WealthAI offers an AI operating system for wealth managers, family offices, private banks, and asset managers. The company’s WealthAI Assistant is an agentic front-end that works like an intelligent co-pilot, using reasoning skills and the ability to adapt and take initiative to help relationship managers, portfolio managers, operations managers, and compliance officers become more productive and perform better. Founded in 2023, WealthAI is headquartered in London.
Based in London and maintaining offices in both New York and Milan, Italy, MDOTM made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2025. At the conference, the company demonstrated how Sphere enables users to access AI-driven insights and build and manage portfolios at scale. Sphere also provides personalized, easy-to-understand portfolio commentaries and reports featuring both macro and market analysis on the current financial environment.
Speaking of reports, this spring MDOTM teamed up with EY to produce a report that examined the impact and value of AI in the wealth and asset management sector. The report Artificial Intelligence: The Value is in Scale, reviews the primary use cases for AI in wealth management and highlights deployment of the technology for document analysis, back-office automation, advanced search, personalized advisory, and market forecasting.
The report notes that wealth managers and financial advisors have been slow to embrace AI. A 2024 survey by EY European Financial Services indicated that more than 40% of investment managers believed they were “lagging behind” when it came to using AI, with only 5% referring to themselves as “at the forefront” in terms of AI use in their daily operations. In response to this, the report encourages firms to move from an “experimental” approach to AI and instead embrace a “continuous learning mindset.”
“Operators must build the infrastructural foundations, AI governance, and recognition of the value generated to base their transformation journey,” EY Wealth & Asset Management Leader, Italy, Giovanni Andrea Incarnato said. “Furthermore, it is of fundamental importance to recognize the value of external partners in creating these foundations in an ecosystem logic in order to accelerate adoption and leverage the economies of scale and experience already gained, proceeding with progressive internalization.”
Interestingly, the report reinforces findings from other European experts in AI implementation in financial services. This includes the “experimentation to execution” transition many see as key to successful and evolving use of AI in wealth management specifically and in financial services in general.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from France.
Spiko secured $22 million in Series A funding
French fintech platform Spiko has raised €18.9 million ($22 million) in Series A funding. The round was led by Index Ventures and featured participation from White Star Capital, Frst, Rerail, Bpifrance, and Blockwall. Spiko will use the funds to power its go-to-market strategy and to make investments in sales, marketing, product development, and new partnerships.
Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Paris, Spiko offers a cash management platform designed to democratize access to money market funds and treasury yields. Spiko leverages tokenization technology to enable individuals and businesses to earn interest on their cash by investing in Treasury bills.
“In Europe, there’s a mistaken belief that your money won’t earn interest unless you lock it away or take on risk,” Spiko Co-founder Paul-Adrien Hyppolite said. “But as long as central bank rates are above zero, sitting on idle cash means European businesses are missing out on returns that US competitors routinely receive. With Spiko, we’re changing the game by making it easy for anyone to put their cash to work.”
Spiko’s business is based on what the company says is €21.5 trillion in European bank deposits that are “missing out” on higher yields. These funds also lack essential capital protection and contribute to capital inefficiency. This is unlike in the US where systems for managing liquidity are more sophisticated, enabling both small companies and large enterprises to earn interest on their cash holdings without fear of losing liquidity. Meanwhile in Europe, more and more companies have been seeking better cash optimization strategies, as well as ways to diversify their cash deposits. As a former economist at the French Treasury, Hyppolite—and his co-founder Antoine Michon, who was a technology advisor to France’s Minister of Public Sector Transformation—have had a front-row seat to this challenge.
After a year in operation, Spiko has more than €344 million ($401 million) in AUM and has processed more than €775 million ($902 million) in working capital from 1,000+ businesses. Spiko anticipates achieving €862 million ($1 billion) in AUM by the end of the year.
“SMEs need comprehensive financing solutions, and while we already serve many customers through partnerships and our Pay Later service, a banking license will enable us to expand these capabilities with complete independence,” Qonto CEO and Co-Founder Alexandre Prot said. “This application builds on our proven financial performance, having achieved profitability ahead of schedule in 2023, and supports our mission to create financial freedom for two million SMEs and freelancers across Europe by 2030.”
Qonto offers a B2B account for finance management that provides businesses with automated tools to help them manage their finances, adhere to regulations, and make better financial decisions. Businesses can use Qonto to make and receive payments, send invoices, manage expenses, seek financing, and monitor cash flow. Currently operating in eight European markets including France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, Qonto could also be positioning itself before new payment regulations in the EU—specifically Payment Services Directive 3 (PSD3) and Payment Services Regulation (PSR)—become fully implemented.
Founded in 2017 by Prot and Steve Anavi, Qonto has raised more than €600 million in funding.
Skarlett raises €8 million to bring financial services to seniors
To this end, Skarlett offers a number of products—such as personalized health insurance, mortgage, and credit options—that are designed for the unique circumstances of older borrowers and savers. The company also offers senior-focused life insurance through a partnership with Generali.
The round also featured participation from Raise Seed for Good and Alven, which led Skarlett’s pre-seed funding round in 2023, the year the company was founded. Skarlett will leverage the proceeds of its latest capital infusion to launch its own tailor-made financial solutions for adults over the age of 60 and to invest in AI to enhance the customer experience with more personalized recommendations.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Asia-Pacific
Singaporean fintech Chocolate Finance integrated transaction enrichment technology from Snowdrop Solutions into its mobile app.
Mobile payments platform QwikPay launched in Australia.
Philippine National Bank (PNB) partnered with Japan’s Digital Wallet Corporation to enhance its money transfer services.
Sub-Saharan Africa
MoneyBadger, a bitcoin payments startup based in South Africa, raised $400,000 in pre-seed funding.
South African fintech Stitch has acquired digital payments company Efficacy Payments.
Network International teamed up with Ghanian fintech and mobile money aggregator Blu Penguin.
Central and Eastern Europe
Lithuanian Electronic Money Institution Genome teamed up with Huch for real-time payment alerts.
French fintech Silvr announced plans to enter the German market.
Walletto, a payments platform based in Lithuania, announced a partnership with financial consultancy Fintech Poland.
Paytech Global Payments renewed its partnership with Banamex to enhance payment solutions for the Mexican acquiring and banking services market.
The Trump Administration has called for an investigation into Brazil’s digital trade practices, including its instant payment system Pix, over alleged unfair treatment to US companies.
Financial crime prevention innovator BioCatch has launched its behavior-based scam-fighting solution, BioCatch Scams360.
The new offering helps financial institutions deal with social engineering-based scams such as authorized push payment (APP) fraud.
Founded in 2011, BioCatch made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014 in New York.
Financial crime prevention company BioCatch recently unveiled the latest edition of its behavior-based scam-fighting solution: BioCatch Scams360. Designed especially to deal with the challenge of authorized push payment (APP) fraud, BioCatch Scams360 enables financial institutions to spot and stop most APP fraud in real time.
APP fraud leverages psychological manipulation to entice victims into transferring their funds to accounts owned by fraudsters. These sophisticated social engineering-based scams can range in tactics from romantic overtures and investment pitches to business email compromise and impersonation of friends or loved ones. To fight this, BioCatch Scams360 uses behavioral and device intelligence to give financial institutions the contextual knowledge they need to distinguish legitimate user behavior from indications that the user may be under some form of manipulation by a nefarious party.
Examples of this can include the rate of the user’s typing, the speed with which they respond to prompts, prolonged periods of in-session inactivity, and/or making a phone call during an online banking session. BioCatch is able to track up to 3,000 different behavioral and device-based datapoints to help distinguish behavior that is genuine from behavior that may be criminally manipulated.
“Already we’re seeing a 50% improvement in our ability to detect non-impersonation scams,” BioCatch Chief Product Officer Ayelet Eliezer said. “Scams360’s current alert rate—the percentage of total transactions requiring banks to intervene—is also best-in-class, helping banks deploying Scams360 to keep their operational costs low while stopping more scams in real time, before any money leaves the would-be victim’s account.”
The new offering builds on the company’s previous success in combatting impersonation-based scams; BioCatch noted that it had helped a regional bank stop $100 million in impersonation scam payments in 2024 alone. BioCatch recently teamed up with The Knoble, a Tennessee-based alliance of financial service professionals, law enforcement, and regulators dedicated to fighting crimes such as human trafficking, financial scams, child sexual exploitation, and elder exploitation. Together, the two organizations launched an anti-scam guide and cost calculator that underscores the fact that the cost of fraud often exceeds direct financial losses to include customer churn, reputational risk, compliance exposure, and more.
“We are excited to see more innovation out of BioCatch to combat the global increase in scams,” The Knoble Founder and Board Chair Ian Mitchell said. “BioCatch is leading a growing list of solution providers working to protect banking customers and communities from the increased complexity of scams.”
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in New York, BioCatch made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014. Today, the company counts more than 250 financial institutions—including 34 of the world’s largest banks—among its customers. BioCatch’s technology analyzes 15+ billion user sessions every month, helping more than 525 million people worldwide defend themselves against fraud and cybercrime.
BioCatch’s product news comes at the same time that the firm reported topping $160 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in Q2 of this year, the best second quarter in the company’s history. In May, BioCatch announced that it was partnering with identity and fraud prevention platform provider Alloy to integrate its account opening solution into Alloy’s platform. Alloy is an alum of Finovate’s developer conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016.
“You only get to that space where you are jumping from experimentation to execution if you align three major skills: one, deep knowledge of the technology … the second is knowledge of financial services, something the financial entities already have covered. But they don’t have enough experience, this is the third skill, of deploying AI. Why is this important? You might decide the right use case, but maybe you don’t have enough data, maybe the expectations that have been generated inside the organization are too high … You need the experience of someone else to help you … to define and identify if that investment is going to come in the first weeks of the project.”
VASS is an international digital transformation company that helps people, organizations, and businesses around the world provide best-in-class digital solutions to customers in banking, insurance, telecommunications, retail, media, public administration, and more. Founded in 1999, the company is based in Madrid, Spain.
