Author: David Penn

Best of Show Winner Solda.AI Raises $4 Million

Best of Show Winner Solda.AI Raises $4 Million
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Funding, Solda.ai
  • AI-powered sales technology provider Solda.AI has raised $4 million in seed funding.
  • The round was led by Accel and included participation from AltaIR Capital.
  • Solda.AI won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego, California.

Solda.AI, an innovator in AI sales for fintech that won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring last week, has announced $4 million in new funding. The seed round was led by Accel and featured participation from AltaIR Capital. The company will use the capital to further develop its fleet of AI agents, forge partnerships with more businesses around the world, and continue to transform international sales processes.

“At Solda.AI, we believe that the future of telesales is AI,” Solda.AI CEO and Co-Founder Sergey Shalaev said. “Our vision is for voice agent-powered sales that generate revenue and provide real ROI, and we believe that we’re the first and only company to deliver this. We have already seamlessly integrated our agents into 20 partners’ sales channels, and are delighted to announce this seed funding led by Accel to help us collaborate with more businesses and take phone sales into the age of AI.”

Solda.AI offers fully autonomous, AI-powered voice agents that can operate a business’s entire telesales cycle at scale, processing 10,000 leads a day to make sales calls, follow-up calls, return calls, and close deals. The agents can engage leads after two weeks of sales call and script training, which compares favorably with human call center agents, only 10% of whom achieve proficiency in less than two months.

Solda.AI’s agents have a 1% AI detection rate and, at peak hours, can manage 100 phone lines simultaneously. The agents are multilingual, and can currently conduct sales-based conversations in both US and UK English, French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese. The agents can even distinguish between European and Latin American versions of Spanish (as spoken in Mexico, for example) and Portuguese (as spoken in Brazil). Companies deploying Solda.AI’s technology have benefited from a 30% cost efficiency gain compared to call centers. Solda.AI reports that its agents generated $7 million in incremental revenue for clients last year and are on target to deliver $30 million in 2025.

“When we first met Sergey and the Solda.AI team, we were blown away by the AI voice agents’ human-like attributes and ability to not only handle complex conversations, but also close deals on the spot,” Accel partner Zhenya Loginov said. “Solda.AI’s technology has the potential to completely revolutionize the telesales market, with the team using AI to redefine sales automation from scratch.”

Headquartered in Middletown, Delaware, Solda.AI demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2025 in May, winning Best of Show. At the conference, the company showed how its AI sales agents automate the sales process while delivering human-like, personalized, on-brand interactions that produce conversion rates up to twice those of traditional methods. Solda.AI’s technology helps fintechs and banks automate onboarding, upsell, KYC, and retention calls with less than 1% AI detection at 60% of the cost.

Photo by Petr Macháček on Unsplash

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Credit Risk Analytics Provider Carrington Labs Partners with Decisioning Platform Oscilar

Credit Risk Analytics Provider Carrington Labs Partners with Decisioning Platform Oscilar
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Carrington Labs
  • Credit risk analytics provider Carrington Labs teamed up with real-time decisioning infrastructure company Oscilar.
  • The partnership will make Carrington Labs’ explainable AI-powered, advanced credit risk and cash flow underwriting models available via Oscilar’s decisioning platform.
  • Headquartered in Sydney, NSW, Australia, Carrington Labs made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024 in New York.

Credit risk analytics provider Carrington Labs has announced a new partnership with real-time decisioning infrastructure company Oscilar. The partnership will shorten integration times for lenders and enhance credit risk workflows for banks, credit unions, and fintechs alike.

“Lenders want to improve how they assess credit risk, but many are limited by legacy systems and long implementation cycles,” Carrington Labs CEO Jamie Twiss said. “Partnering with Oscilar makes it significantly easier for lenders to access and act on better credit risk insights and improve their underwriting using infrastructure they already have.”

Courtesy of the partnership, Carrington Labs’ advanced credit risk and cash flow underwriting models will be accessible via Oscilar’s real-time decisioning platform. Carrington Labs’ models leverage a combination of transaction level data, credit bureau data, and behavioral insights to provide smarter credit risk insights. Combined with Oscilar’s no-code platform, the models promote broader inclusivity in lending by more accurately assessing the creditworthiness of thin-file borrowers and borrowers with non-traditional incomes.

“Carrington Labs brings a strong capability in credit risk analytics and alternative data,” Oscilar CEO and Co-Founder Neha Narkhede said. “Together, we’re helping lenders build a more complete picture of creditworthiness, without adding complexity.”

Founded in 2021, Oscilar emerged from stealth two years ago with its AI-powered technology to help businesses better defend online transactions from fraud. The Palo Alto, California-based company uses real-time data, AI, and decisioning to create an advanced credit and fraud detection platform that enables firms to assess the risk of every online transaction in a matter of minutes. The company values the market for risk protection at more than $200 billion and noted that credit and fraud risk currently cost businesses more than $48 billion a year. For their part, consumers are on the hook for $8 billion a year due to credit and fraud risk.

“During my time leading engineering teams at Meta, I found that data and AI played a huge role for making risk decisions—but this technology was hard to build and not easily accessible to our business teams,” Oscilar Co-Founder and CTO Sachin Kulkarni said. “We built Oscilar so that companies could have a thorough risk decisioning solution but wouldn’t have to use their engineering teams’ valuable time to achieve that.”

Carrington Labs empowers lenders to be more inclusive while at the same time boosting revenues, lowering default rates, and improving margins. Founded in 2024, Carrington Labs made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024 in New York. At the conference, the Sydney, Australia-based company demoed its technology that leverages explainable AI to provide alternative credit risk assessments and loan limit recommendations based on the lender’s unique loan products. Carrington Labs’ credit risk models have been trained on more than one billion data points to provide precise insights; the company boasts that it can pilot a tailored risk model for a lender in days and onboard a new lender in weeks.

The company’s partnership announcement comes as it unveiled new research that underscored the importance of identifying behavioral changes in loan applications. The study showed how behavioral changes can predict loan risk and supported Carrington Labs’ decision to adjust the behavioral factor weighting in its risk model to 36%, a record weighting for the firm’s model.

“While we’ve always looked at a range of behavioral factors, this latest generation of cash flow underwriting models tests a wider range of attributes than ever before, and we were surprised to see how many behavioral elements ended up in this particular model,” Twiss said. “This finding underlines the value of behavioral data in assessing a loan applicant’s risk levels.”

Photo by Road Trip with Raj on Unsplash

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“We Want to Do More with Less” — Credit Unions Speak in FinovateSpring Spotlight

“We Want to Do More with Less” — Credit Unions Speak in FinovateSpring Spotlight
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Credit Unions, FinovateSpring 2025, List series

FinovateSpring showcased credit unions and the fintechs that innovate for them in its Credit Union Spotlight last week. The closed-door session—”a safe space for credit unions” in the words of CURQL’s Nick Evens—was exclusively to provide credit union executives with a unique opportunity to discuss their challenges directly with fintech providers. The forum also gave these executives an opportunity to meet and network with each other to discuss common issues and new solutions.

Below is a sample of some of the most common concerns raised by credit union executives during the session, and a sense of what they need fintechs to offer in return.

“We want to do more with less”

The desire to maximize resources to accomplish more for customers and members is not unique to the credit union industry. The promise of enabling technologies like AI and the persistent competition for human talent make companies in virtually every industry today pursue efficiency as a way not only to keep costs low, but to offer more products and services faster and more seamlessly.

For credit unions, this challenge is all the more acute. These member-driven organizations face competition from larger rivals in the banking industry, as well as new entrants from technology and retail who are leveraging embedded finance to offer a widening range of financial services, including payments and lending. Further, these institutions often face pressure from their own members, whose lives are becoming more digitally oriented and who want more digital solutions when it comes to managing their finances and investing for the future.

Through technologies like AI, innovations like embedded finance, and strategic, third-party relationships, credit unions can do more faster, offering new products and services, and growing their membership communities.

“More automation”

There are few better examples of technology enabling companies to do “more with less” than automation. Whether driven by machine learning or agentic AI, automation is a key driver in technological modernization—and it is no different in financial services.

For credit unions, automation offers the ability to convert labor-intensive, manual, and relatively more error-prone human tasks into processes that are completed with technical tools. As these technical tools evolve—from apps and APIs to agents and AI bots—so does their capacity to operate increasingly complex workflows and customer lifecycles.

Many businesses stand to gain from automating many internal processes. But institutions like credit unions could disproportionately benefit from the ability of automation to “liberate” human workers from mundane tasks and enable them to participate in more higher-order activities. These include delivering better, more personalized engagement to members.

“Better authentication for diverse memberships”

How do the authentication needs differ for a credit union with a sizable number of members over the age of 70+? What about a credit union with a large number of Spanish-speaking members? How about a credit union with a special commitment to serving members with disabilities?

Unlike many other financial institutions, credit unions are often as unique as the members who make them. In case after case, we can draw a straight line from the communities of farmers, teachers, and small business owners who first launched their financial cooperatives decades ago directly to the present-day communities benefiting from the growth and success of those institutions right now.

Fintechs that help credit unions carry out their unique missions are the kind of partners that credit unions are looking for. Beyond avoiding one-size-fits-all approaches to providing solutions, fintechs should strive to understand not only what their credit union partner does, but what it values most. One fintech’s niche offering could be a decisive ingredient in helping a credit union fulfill its mission to its members.

“Better support for third-party integrations”

The opportunities—and challenges— of third-party integrations have become all too clear for most in fintech and financial services. While the rewards of getting it right have almost become table stakes, the penalties for getting it wrong remain powerful—and painful. The prospect of a less aggressive regulatory environment for financial services companies in the US only adds another level of uncertainty.

Along with empowering technologies like AI and AI-powered automation, third-party partnerships and integrations are a key way for credit unions to leverage creativity, hard work, and good decision-making to “punch above their weight” and compete with larger rivals. Additionally, providing better support for third-party integrations helps ensure that credit unions stay on the right side of regulatory scrutiny, and remain their community’s trusted financial partner.

“Better technology / credit union culture compatibility”

Underscoring the diversity of credit unions, one industry representative highlighted the fact that not every credit union wants every new fintech product or service. This credit union executive was referring specifically to Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products, and his concern that offering the products could be considered a more general endorsement of BNPL by the credit union.

Whether it is alternative lending solutions, innovative payout services, digital assets, or other new fintech products, providers should be mindful of the culture of the credit union they are seeking to partner with. Even when the potential feature or service appears uncontroversial—such as a new, gamified interface designed to engage younger users—there is the possibility of a poor fit if the culture and current goals of the credit union are not just taken into consideration, but put front and center.

Photo by Jonathan Cooper on Unsplash

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Investing App Stash Raises $146 Million

Investing App Stash Raises $146 Million
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Funding, Stash
  • Investing app Stash has raised $146 million in Series H funding. The oversubscribed round was led by Goodwater Capital.
  • Stash will use the funds to drive subscriber growth, accelerate product innovation, and enhance the firm’s AI capabilities.
  • Founded in 2015, New York-based Stash made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2017.

Investing platform Stash secured $146 million in Series H funding. The oversubscribed round was led by Goodwater Capital and featured participation from existing investors Union Square Ventures, StepStone Group, Serengeti, and the University of Illinois Foundation. Funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc, were also involved in the round.

The investment will help the New York-based fintech bring its financial guidance to a broader range of customers and boost the firm’s investment in AI to enhance its advisory capabilities.

“This new funding is a resounding vote of confidence in Stash’s vision for the future of personal finance,” Stash Co-Founder and Co-CEO Ed Robinson said. “For a decade, Stash has helped millions take control of their financial futures. Now, we’re doubling down—transforming how people save, invest, and build long-term wealth with AI-powered intelligence at the core. We’re just getting started.”

The centerpiece of Stash’s growth strategy is Money Coach AI, the company’s advanced financial guidance platform. Money Coach AI converts investing strategies into real-time, personalized recommendations for investors. Stash reports that the offering already has 2.2 million users who have put Money Coach AI to work helping select their first investments, generating personalized diversification suggestions, and more. Further, Stash notes that one in four Money Coach AI customers have taken proactive steps—making an investment, depositing funds, diversifying, or initiating Auto-Stash automatic payments—within 10 minutes of interaction with the platform.

“For too long, financial advice has been out of reach for everyday people. Stash’s mission has always been to change that,” Co-Founder and Co-CEO Brandon Krieg said. “Now, by leveraging the power of AI, Stash is helping people take control of their money, understand their options, build real wealth, and secure their financial future, no matter where they’re starting from.”

Celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year, Stash made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2017. At the conference, the company unveiled its low-fee, self-directed Roth IRA accounts as part of its Stash Retire offering. Today, Stash has 1.3 million paying subscribers and $4.3 billion in assets under management. The company’s funding announcement follows the launch of its Learn & Earn initiative, which offers users short, actionable financial lessons combined with stock rewards and personalized next-step guidance. Stash also reported recently that the platform has added the AIS ETF from Jon McNeill and Adam Patti VistaShares. The exchange-traded fund provides exposure to 80 public stocks that reflect the entire AI supply chain, from chip manufacturers and data centers to storage and high-voltage electrical equipment providers.

“For our community of Stashers this means participating in the AI revolution the Stash way—regularly investing small amounts into a diversified portfolio for long-term growth,” Krieg noted in a LinkedIn post last month. “Tech advances should create opportunities for all of us, not just the privileged few. The AIS ETF is one other way we’re making that happen, letting our community build wealth by being part of the AI supercycle.”

Photo by Yashowardhan Singh on Unsplash

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FinovateSpring 2025 Best of Show Winners Announced

FinovateSpring 2025 Best of Show Winners Announced
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Best of Show, Bits of Stock, Finalytics.ai, FinovateSpring 2025, Herd Security, Illuma Labs, Penny Finance, Solda.ai

As I write this, Finovate’s first fintech conference in San Diego has one more day of content left. But if the first two days of FinovateSpring 2025 are any indication, it’s already a good bet that we will be back.

From the California-based fintechs that made the short trip south to innovative startups that traveled from as far away as New Zealand, FinovateSpring 2025 featured a diverse and exciting range of fintech innovations designed to solve pain points for banks, credit unions, and financial services providers, as well as for their customers and members.

Whether leveraging AI to create efficiencies and automate workflows or putting embedded finance to work improving lending for small businesses, our demoing companies continue to represent the cutting edge of what’s new, what’s novel, and what works.

With this in mind, here are the winners of Best of Show for FinovateSpring 2025.

Bits of Stock for its solution that gathers deposits and drives non-interest income by helping financial institutions stay top of mind and top of wallet with the next generation of investors.

Finalytics.ai for its technology that enables financial institutions to instantly unleash the power of AI by offering digital experiences informed by behavioral, transactional, and third-party data.

Herd Security for its technology that gives financial organizations visibility and protection from voice fraud.

Illuma for its innovations in deepfake detection that enable community financial institutions to keep their members and customers connected with their funds in a convenient and secure manner.

Penny Finance for its solution that connects the dots between an FI’s products and services and a member’s needs, all while creating efficiency for their marketing organizations.

Solda.ai for its technology that enables businesses to better engage their customers with instant scalability.

Thanks to our demoing companies, our sponsors, speakers, and delegates for making our first fintech conference in San Diego such a success.

Next up on the Finovate tour is FinovateFall 2025, September 8-10, at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, New York. Find out more about the conference at our FinovateFall hub and we look forward to seeing you in “The City That Never Sleeps”.

Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three favorites.
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”
4. The six companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named “Best of Show.”
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2025 conferences are below:
FinovateEurope 2015
FinovateSpring 2015
FinovateFall 2015
FinovateEurope 2016
FinovateSpring 2016
FinovateFall 2016
FinovateAsia 2016
FinovateEurope 2017
FinovateSpring 2017
FinovateFall 2017
FinovateAsia 2017
FinovateMiddleEast 2018
FinovateEurope 2018
FinovateSpring 2018
FinovateFall 2018
FinovateAsia 2018
FinovateAfrica 2018
FinovateEurope 2019
FinovateSpring 2019
FinovateFall 2019
FinovateAsia 2019
FinovateMiddleEast 2019
FinovateEurope 2020
FinovateFall 2020
FinovateWest 2020
FinovateEurope 2021
FinovateSpring 2021
FinovateFall 2021
FinovateEurope 2022
FinovateSpring 2022
FinovateFall 2022
FinovateEurope 2023
FinovateSpring 2023
FinovateFall 2023
FinovateEurope 2024
FinovateSpring 2024
FinovateFall 2024
FinovateEurope 2025

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Finovate Global: Meet the International Alums of FinovateSpring 2025

Finovate Global: Meet the International Alums of FinovateSpring 2025
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: APIMatic, Cinareo Solutions, Finovate Global, Hyperdesk

If our European fintech conference, FinovateEurope, is our most international event, then FinovateSpring—which kicks off next week in San Diego, May 7 through 9—is our most homegrown. This year, for example, only three of the 40+ companies that will be demoing their innovations live on stage are headquartered outside the United States.

This week’s edition of Finovate Global leads off with an introduction to these three fintechs. Hailing from New Zealand, Canada, and Mexico City, respectively, these innovators will provide insights into the kinds of financial challenges faced and solutions sought by businesses and consumers alike.

APIMatic – Auckland, New Zealand

Founded in 2014, APIMatic is a developer experience platform for APIs that enables organizations to drive fast, widespread adoption of their APIs. The platform supports every stage of the API journey, from design and dynamic SDKs to code sample generation and end-to-end automation. Adeel Ali is Founder and CEO.

Cinareo Solutions – Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Cinareo Solutions offers a capacity planning platform that provides pro-active resource planning and financial analysis to cost-efficiently manage front- and back-office team members, as well as support staff. Launched in 2022, the company is a winner of Finovate’s Sustainability & Inclusion Scholarship Program. Karen Elliott is CEO.

Hyperdesk – San Francisco, California and Mexico City, Mexico

Founded in 2025, Hyperdesk provides an AI-powered search engine that helps credit unions and community banks grow their loans and deposits by better engaging with local businesses. Eric Yáñez is Founder and CEO.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Mongolia-based digital lender LendMN secured $20 million in debt financing from Lendable.
  • TBC Uzbekistan launched its new SME lending product this week.
  • Business Today India profiled Indian fintech Nucleus Software.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian fintech and microfinance bank, Bankly, has been acquired by C-One Ventures.
  • Fintech startup Djamo raised $17 million to boost financial inclusion in French-speaking Africa.
  • The Central Bank of Nigeria imposed a $190,000 fine on Paystack for operating its latest solution, Zap, without the appropriate licensing.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Slovenian payment processing company Bankart partnered with Iliad Solutions as its payment testing provider.
  • Berlin, Germany-based corporate card platform Pliant raised $40 million in Series B funding.
  • Polish fintech BidFinance raised €1.6 million in seed funding from 4growth VC, FundingBox, and a group of business angel investors.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • UAE-based Islamic bank Ruya introduced a new service to enable customers to trade cryptocurrencies via its mobile app.
  • The MENA Fintech Association (MFTA) welcomed Iraq-based digital payments and identity services provider International Smart Card (ISC).
  • Alfardan Exchange partnered with iPiD to launch Qatar’s first real-time payee verification service.

Photo by Gaël Gaborel – OrbisTerrae on Unsplash

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Clearwater Analytics Acquires Risk Analytics Firm Beacon

Clearwater Analytics Acquires Risk Analytics Firm Beacon
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Beacon Technology, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Clearwater Analytics has completed its acquisition of risk analytics and developer infrastructure company Beacon.
  • The acquisition will boost Clearwater’s capabilities in complex portfolio management for both public and private markets.
  • Beacon made its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia in Hong Kong in 2018. The company is headquartered in New York.

First announced in March, investment management technology platform Clearwater Analytics reported this week that it has completed its acquisition of enterprise risk analytics and developer infrastructure company Beacon. Clearwater acquired the company for approximately $560 million. The company paid 60% of the purchase price in cash and the balance in shares of Clearwater Class A common stock.

The acquisition enhances Clearwater’s capabilities in complex portfolio management—including structured products, private credit, and derivatives—for both public and private markets. Clearwater will integrate Beacon’s cross-asset risk modeling with the front-office capabilities and alternative asset intelligence from its acquisitions of Enfusion Inc. and Blackstone’s Bistro platform, respectively.

This will enable Clearwater to offer a unified platform that covers the entire investment lifecycle from trading and modeling to accounting and regulatory reporting. The platform eliminates front-, middle-, and back-office siloes to provide real-time data, transparency, and scale without the hindrance of legacy software and infrastructure.

“With Beacon, we’ve expanded our platform to deliver end-to-end support across the entire investment lifecycle—from front-office modeling to middle- and back-office operations,” Clearwater CEO Sandeep Sahai said. “Together, along with Enfusion and Bistro, we’re transforming a fragmented industry landscape with a unified platform built for today’s institutional investors—streamlining complexity, accelerating decision-making, and driving performance across public and private markets.”

Founded in 2014, Beacon provides a unified, cross-asset trading and risk management solution for investment and risk management teams. The company’s platform offers pre-built trading and risk applications, as well as the flexibility to build and scale custom analytics and models quickly and efficiently. Beacon’s technology is used by banks to improve risk management and visibility, by investment managers to optimize position and portfolio management, and by energy and commodities firms, as well as alternative asset management firms, to adapt to new markets and more efficiently operate in illiquid markets.

“Beacon’s mission has always been to bring transparency and control to the most complex parts of financial markets,” former CEO and Co-Founder of Beacon Kirat Singh said. Singh is now President, Risk & Performance at Clearwater. “By joining Clearwater, we can now deliver these capabilities at scale. Together, we’re helping investors move beyond reporting to real-time action, with the infrastructure global institutions need to succeed.”

Headquartered in New York, Beacon made its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia 2018 in Hong Kong. The company secured its first banking clients the following year, forging partnerships with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, SMBC Capital Markets, and others. Beacon announced its first European energy clients in 2020 and, in 2021, secured Series C funding in a round led by Warburg Pincus. More recently, Beacon reported that UK-based long-term savings and retirement firm Phoenix Group had deployed Beacon as its first quantitative development platform.

Photo by energepic.com

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Backbase Unveils AI-Powered Banking Platform

Backbase Unveils AI-Powered Banking Platform
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Backbase
  • Backbase unveiled its new, AI-powered banking platform this week.
  • The new offering combines Backbase’s unified data foundation, Intelligence Fabric, with Agentic AI technology.
  • Headquartered in Amsterdam, Backbase is a four-time Finovate Best of Show winner. The company most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2021.

Calling the launch of its new, AI-powered banking platform “the next phase” of its vision, Backbase pledged that its latest offering will help bankers take advantage of the opportunities in technologies like Agentic AI.

Backbase’s banking platform enhances customer engagement with AI-powered self-service and real-time support, and hardwires AI into employees’ daily operations to maximize productivity and improve decision-making. The technology streamlines and helps scale sales efforts thanks to intelligent activation and end-to-end automation, and provides up-sell and cross-sell pathways, driven by AI, that can grow revenues and deepen customer relationships.

“This isn’t proof-of-concept AI,” Backbase CEO and Founder Jouk Pleiter said. “This is a packaged, production-ready, operating model to move banks from experimentation to execution, fast. AI waits for no bank. It’s not a wait-and-see—it’s here, now, and it’s rewriting the rules of the industry. The time to act is now.”

Backbase’s platform combines the company’s unified data foundation, Intelligence Fabric, with Agentic AI. Intelligence Fabric converts behavioral signals, transactional data, and operational insights into real-time, actionable intelligence. Agentic AI delivers modular, intelligent, purpose-built agents designed specifically for banking and financial services. These agents embed into a variety of operations to automate tasks, indicate next-best actions, and increase productivity.

Backbase also announced the availability of AI Factory, an embedded delivery model to help financial institutions bridge gaps in their AI skills. AI Factory integrates Backbase’s AI experts directly into development teams, enabling them to quickly co-create and then execute innovative use cases and solutions.

“Banks do not need more pilots—they need outcomes,” Pleiter added. “With our AI-powered Banking Platform, we’re going all-in on the AI opportunity and empower banks to boost productivity, automate intelligently, and unlock unprecedented growth faster than ever.”

Founded in 2003, Backbase is headquartered in Amsterdam and maintains offices in Atlanta, Singapore, London, Sydney, Toronto, Dubai, Kraków, Cardiff, Hyderabad, and Mexico City. The company has been a Finovate alum since 2009, has won Best of Show four times, and most recently demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2021 in New York.

Backbase’s announcement comes one month after the company teamed up with fellow Finovate alum Salt Edge in a strategic partnership designed to help banks accelerate compliance with open banking regulations and pursue new revenue opportunities. Also in March, Backbase forged partnerships with Albania-based Tirana Bank and with financial services consulting firm Synpulse.

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

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FinovateSpring 2025: Women in Fintech, Financial Inclusion, and the State of Community Banking

FinovateSpring 2025: Women in Fintech, Financial Inclusion, and the State of Community Banking
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2025, List series

This year, FinovateSpring will feature a trio of Executive Briefings offering insights into key topics in fintech and financial services.

Featuring panels of industry professionals and moderated by veteran analysts and entrepreneurs, FinovateSpring’s Executive Briefings are an excellent opportunity for attendees to participate in deep-dives and extended discussions on specific issues—and take away significant insights and strategies for action.

Tickets for FinovateSpring are still available. Visit our registration hub today and save your seat!

Wednesday morning, FinovateSpring will host its Women in Fintech Executive Briefing. Titled “How we can solve fintech’s gender diversity problem,” this session will look at the current state of gender diversity in fintech and offer insights into strategies to ensure greater participation by women in financial services and foster female leadership in the industry.

Moderated by Liang Zhao, CEO and Founder of Vansary, this session will feature:

Wednesday afternoon, FinovateSpring will feature its Financial Inclusion Executive Briefing, “How can banks capture the huge growth opportunity offered by this new customer base?”

This session will examine the challenges faced by the unbanked and review ways that banks and other financial institutions can help more individuals and small businesses improve their financial wellness by establishing a positive banking relationship.

Moderated by Jim Perry, Senior Strategist, Market Insights, this session will feature:

  • Priscilla O-lyari, Regional Marketing and Communications Outreach Officer, FACE Coalition

Thursday afternoon, FinovateSpring will present its Community Banking Executive Briefing, “The Common Storm for Community Banks: How can they find a path to change and compete in the new digital world?”

In this briefing, panelists will discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by community banks in America today, and where these key financial institutions should turn in terms of growing their customer bases, introducing new technologies, and competing with larger rivals in finance and even Big Tech.

Moderated by Jason Henricks, CEO, Alloy Labs, this panel will feature:

  • Pam Kaur, Head of Bank Technology, BankTech Ventures

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Trust & Will Raised $4.5 Million from Credit Union Collective Curql

Trust & Will Raised $4.5 Million from Credit Union Collective Curql
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Credit Unions, Funding, Trust & Will
  • Digital estate planning company Trust & Will raised $4.5 in funding from credit union collective Curql.
  • The investment takes the company’s Series C round total to $32 million.
  • San Diego, California-based Trust & Will won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023 in New York.

Digital estate planning innovator Trust & Will secured an investment of $4.5 million from collaborative credit union ecosystem, Curql. The funding adds to the company’s Series C funding round, announced last month, bringing the total raised to $32 million.

“This partnership with Curql is incredibly meaningful, not just strategically, but personally,” Trust & Will CEO and Founder Cody Barbo said. “Curql represents a network of mission-driven credit unions committed to innovation, member service, and values that deeply align with ours. From our first credit union partnership in 2018 to today, we’ve seen the power of integrating estate planning into holistic financial wellness. This investment validates the work we’ve done and accelerates our ability to scale solutions that directly benefit millions of credit union members.”

Trust & Will will use the capital to expand estate planning access. Since inception in 2017, Trust & Will has helped more than one million Americans begin legacy planning. The San Diego, California-based company offers secure, attorney-approved online solutions to empower users to build wills, trusts, healthcare directives, and other critical estate planning documents—all in compliance with state-specific regulations. Trust & Will’s platform supports more than 17,000 financial advisors, as well as 150+ enterprise partners and financial institutions.

The company will also leverage the funds to launch a credit union service organization or CUSO that is designed to serve credit union members nationwide. Trust & Will has been a friend to the credit union industry from the beginning, announcing its first credit union partnership in 2018. Today, the company counts more than 200 credit unions among its partners.

“Forming a CUSO is a natural next step,” Barbo explained. “Over the past several years, we’ve built trust and traction with more than 200 credit union partners. Establishing a CUSO allows us to deepen those relationships, tailor our offerings, and collaborate in a structure credit unions are familiar and comfortable with. This isn’t just about scalability, it’s about alignment. A CUSO enables shared investment, shared values, and shared outcomes.”

Curql is a collaborative ecosystem consisting of more than 130 credit unions who jointly invest in fintechs with a goal of bringing innovative new technologies and solutions to credit union members. Launched in 2020, Curql includes former founders, operators, and leaders from both the fintech and investment worlds. The collective’s flagship—Curql Fund I—invests in firms that develop financial services technology that “revolutionizes and innovates” the way people deal with their finances.

Nick Evens, President and CEO of Curql, underscored Trust & Will’s innovation, calling the firm “the rare fintech that’s both mission-aligned and market proven.” He added:

“Estate planning is one of the most overlooked components of financial wellness, yet it touches everyone. What impressed us was not just their growth or technology, but their understanding of the credit union ethos. They’re not just selling a service; they’re providing peace of mind, generational planning, and value that strengthens the member relationship. That’s the kind of value that makes a difference.”

Trust & Will’s funding announcement and CUSO launch come at a pivotal time for credit unions. These membership-based financial institutions continue to grow—topping 143 million total members as of the end of 2024—but from technological change to policy uncertainty, credit unions are facing new challenges to attract new members and better engage current members.

“Credit unions are navigating a lot: rapid digital transformation, increasing member expectations, and pressure to stay competitive while remaining values-driven,” Evens said. “At Curql, our role is to be the bridge; to identify, invest in, and help scale fintech solutions that address those challenges. Whether it’s digital estate planning, cybersecurity, or fraud prevention, our job is to help credit unions deliver the tools their members want today and tomorrow, without compromising who they are—doing it with the speed and relevance of today’s market demands.”

For more from Evens on the state of credit unions today, check out his recent podcast interview with Finovate VP and podcast host, Greg Palmer.

Trust & Will won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023 in New York. At the conference, the company showed how its platform provides easy-to-use solutions to help individuals create their estate plans, as well as access affordable, online probate services. More recently, Trust & Will introduced Delegate Access for Trust & Will Advisors. This enhancement will enable advisors to grant trusted assistants the ability to manage tasks on the advisor’s behalf. Delegate Access promotes seamless collaboration, improves client communications, and helps advisors save time. Also this month, Trust & Will announced that they have been selected to join Moderne Ventures’ 2025 Passport Class. A strategic venture capital and growth equity firm, Moderne Ventures offers a six-month industry immersion program—the Moderne Passport Program—that provides “education, exposure, insight, and relationships to drive customer growth.” Trust & Will was one of six companies selected for this year’s cohort.

“2025 is a big year for us,” Barbo said. “With this new capital, we’re focused on expanding our enterprise offering, continuing to grow our partner network, and investing in the tools that make estate planning even more intuitive and accessible for consumers and advisors alike. Expect to see deeper integrations with financial institutions, more personalization for users, and continued leadership in bringing trust, transparency, and simplicity to an area of finance that has long been overlooked.”

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

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Pinwheel Integrates with Q2’s Digital Banking Platform

Pinwheel Integrates with Q2’s Digital Banking Platform
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Q2
  • Account activation company Pinwheel announced an integration with Q2’s Digital Banking Platform.
  • The integration will make it easier for Q2 customers to facilitate direct deposit switching as part of the account onboarding process.
  • Q2 won Best of Show at Finovate’s all-digital FinovateSpring event in 2021.

Frictionless account activation and engagement product provider Pinwheel announced an integration with Q2‘s Digital Banking Platform. The integration comes courtesy of Pinwheel’s participation in Q2’s Partner Acceleration Program, and will enable financial institutions to access income and employment data from Pinwheel’s data network of payroll providers. This coverage includes 1,800 platforms, representing up to 100% of US workers paid through direct deposit. The integration will empower banks and credit unions to offer their customers and members instant direct deposit switching as part of the account onboarding process.

“Removing friction from the deposit switching process is critical for financial institutions to boost activation rates and secure primacy,” Pinwheel Head of Revenue Brian Karimi-Pashaki said. “We’re thrilled to help Q2 customers take advantage of Pinwheel Deposit Switch by making it available through Q2’s Partner Acceleration Program. We are committed to helping credit unions and banks offer the best possible customer experience.”

In a statement, the companies highlighted research that indicated that 40% of newly opened accounts are never activated. One reason for this, according to the study by veteran banking analyst Jim Marous, was friction in the direct deposit switching process. By contrast, integrating Pinwheel’s technology with the Q2 Digital Banking Platform will give all Q2 customers the ability to embed one-click deposit switching.

Pinwheel began the year teaming up with digital banking provider Narmi to help Berkshire Bank launch its new service that enables customers reroute their direct deposits to their Berkshire accounts. Last month, Pinwheel partnered with human capital management software solutions provider Paychex to expand its PreMatch coverage to 45 million Americans.

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Q2 made its Finovate debut in 2011, won Best of Show at our all-digital conference in 2020, and most recently demoed their technology on the Finovate stage at our all-digital FinovateSpring event in 2021. The company provides digital transformation solutions for banks, credit unions, fintechs, and other financial services companies in the US as well as around the world.

Earlier this month, Q2 announced that Signature Bank had selected the company as its new digital banking partner. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Illinois, the bank went live with Q2’s Digital Banking Platform as part of its overall digital banking transformation. In March, United Federal Credit Union reported that it had tripled member engagement within 12 months of deploying Q2 Composable Dashboard. Part of Q2 Engage, the company’s suite of consumer banking solutions, Q2 Composable Dashboard gives financial institutions curated dashboards and the ability to build personalized experiences.

Q2 is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker QTWO. The company has a market capitalization of $4.9 billion. Matthew Flake is CEO.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

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People Get Ready: FinovateSpring 2025 Comes to San Diego Next Week

People Get Ready: FinovateSpring 2025 Comes to San Diego Next Week
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2025

FinovateSpring 2025 launches next week, May 7 through 9, at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina in San Diego, California. The event will be Finovate’s first conference in Southern California and we can’t wait to share what we have in store.

Registration is still open. If you have not picked up your ticket yet, then be sure to stop by our FinovateSpring 2025 registration hub and save your spot.

There’s so much going on in fintech right now, from the rise of AI-powered banking solutions to the challenge of managing a dramatically shifting regulatory environment. Here are some last-minute details to help you make the most of your visit to this year’s FinovateSpring.

Get Connected

Our ConnectMe app is a great way to track the conference agenda, set up your schedule, and network with your fellow attendees. Download the ConnectMe app and build your profile today.

What, Where and When

Each day of FinovateSpring begins at 8am with registration, breakfast, and networking. A light breakfast will be served in the exhibition hall, and sponsor booths will be open for networking.

The general sessions for all three days begin at 9am with remarks from Finovate Vice President Greg Palmer.

Demos will be presented on Wednesday, May 7 (Day One) and Thursday, May 8 (Day Two) of FinovateSpring. The Best of Show winners will be announced at 5pm on Day Two.

Special highlights

FinovateSpring will hold its special, invitation-only, Leaders+ event on Tuesday, May 6th. This session, curated for senior executives from banks, credit unions, insurers, and asset management offices, will feature keynotes, fireside chats, special addresses, and a networking opportunity at the end of the evening. To learn more about the program, including eligibility requirements and opportunities to apply, contact our event VIP Relationship Manager at [email protected].

Interested in learning more about deploying AI in financial services? FinovateSpring is hosting an exclusive, closed door AI Business Briefing for banks and financial institutions Wednesday afternoon, May 7th. Featuring experts from VASS Intelygenz, VASS FSI, Banco Popular, and McKinsey & Company, this session will discuss how banks and fintechs are leveraging AI-powered solutions to unlock new revenue streams and cut costs. Contact [email protected] for eligibility and invitation information.

Also on Wednesday afternoon, FinovateSpring will feature its Credit Union Spotlight. This special event is a unique opportunity for our credit union attendees to meet with fintechs who are building solutions specifically designed for credit unions and their members. Credit union attendees will also have an opportunity to meet, learn, and network with each other at the end of the session.

Interested? Reach out to [email protected] for details on eligibility.

Last-minute reminders

Bring your badge / Wear your badge. Make sure you’ve got your badge on when at the conference. It’s your key to entry and the easiest way to be recognized by your fellow attendees!

Business casual to business formal is the dress code for the event. Save the shorts, sandals, and sunglasses for poolside.

We look forward to seeing you next week in San Diego for FinovateSpring! Travel safe—and don’t forget your sunscreen!

Questions? Reach out to us at [email protected].

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