Author: David Penn

Natural Language Analytics Innovator SESAMm Locks in $37 Million in New Funding

Natural Language Analytics Innovator SESAMm Locks in $37 Million in New Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, SESAMm
  • Paris-based natural language analytics data provider SESAMm raised $37 million (€35 million) in Series B2 funding this week.
  • The company will use the investment to grow its workforce and fuel global expansion.
  • A Best of Show winner at FinovateEurope 2022, SESAMm culls billions of web articles and other content to provide organizations and businesses with sentiment and ESG data on public and private companies.

Natural language analytics data provider SESAMm has raised $37 million (€35 million) in Series B2 funding. The investment will help accelerate the Paris, France-based company’s growth and plans for global expansion. SESAMm also will use the capital to add to its workforce in sustainability, technology, sales, and marketing.

“We are happy and grateful to close this €35 million Series B2 round to continue our growth journey and expand to new international markets such as Singapore,” SESAMm CEO and co-founder Sylvain Forté said. “Raising a significant amount during challenging market conditions highlights the relevancy of SESAMm’s focus on two key trends: AI and sustainability. In turn, these tools enable organizations to make better decisions and fill the data gaps, particularly in ESG, on both public and private companies.”

SESAMm’s funding comes almost a year after it won Best of Show at FinovateEurope in London for the live demo its TextReveal solution. Powered by SESAMm’s natural language processing engine, the platform analyzes over 20 billion web articles and messages to deliver daily sentiment and ESG data. The company serves top private equity firms, hedge funds, and other asset management companies, as well as both small and large corporations, with services ranging from controversy detection and private equity due diligence to ESG and SDG sentiment scores and suppliers monitoring.

This week’s round was co-led by deep tech VC firm Elaia and BNP Paribas’ venture capital arm, Opera Tech Ventures. The funding takes SESAMm’s total equity funding to $53 million (€50 million). Also participating were asset manager Unigestion, Raiffeisen Bank International’s venture capital arm Elevator Ventures, AFG Partners, and CEGEE Capital. Investors in SESAMm’s previous Series B1 round, including Carlyle and New Alpha Asset Management, also participated.

Founded in 2014, SESAMm finished last year as the recipient of the Real Deals ESG Tech Award, which recognizes both demonstrated customer and revenue growth, as well as the impact of the recipient’s work on businesses and clients. In November, SESAMm announced a partnership with EthiFinance to help the European risk analysis and ESG rating specialist launch its EthiMonitor solution. The technology provides ESG controversy analysis “for any SME universe.” Also late last year, SESAMm teamed up with South Korea-based Kyobo AXA Investment Managers to develop machine learning models based on SESAMm’s NLP alternative data.

Photo by Pixabay

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BankProv Partners with Intelligent Cash Management Platform MaxMyInterest

BankProv Partners with Intelligent Cash Management Platform MaxMyInterest
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news, MaxMyInterest
  • Massachusetts-based BankProv has inked a partnership with cash management platform MaxMyInterest to offer BankProv Max Savings, a new high-interest savings account.
  • No minimum balance is required to open the account, which is available exclusively on the MaxMyInterest platform.
  • MaxMyInterest users can earn up to 4.55% APY on their cash deposits compared to the national savings average of 0.35%.

Future-ready commercial bank BankProv has teamed up with intelligent cash management platform MaxMyInterest. The partnership will give customers and clients of both companies access to a new, high-interest savings account, BankProv Max Savings. The new account will be offered exclusively on the MaxMyInterest platform. No minimum balance will be required to open the account.

“From quickly opening an account to maximizing returns on deposit balances, the BankProv Max Savings account on the MaxMyInterest platform will further enhance the banking experience for our clients,” BankProv co-CEO Joe Reilly said. “We believe our partnership with Max will provide benefits as more consumers continue to seek digital banking options and keep a closer eye on interest rates.”

Additionally, courtesy of the BankProv partnership, the deposits to the new account will be 100% insured. The FDIC covers the first $250,000, and remaining funds will be covered under a special private, industry-sponsored insurance fund called DIF.

Headquartered in New York and founded in 2013, the company has nearly 1,500 wealth management firms registered to use the MaxMyInterest platform with their clients. Max’s platform enables clients to allocate their cash holdings to the highest yielding accounts without having to change their existing bank relationship. The technology determines the optimal allocation of the client’s cash balances on a monthly basis, enabling customers to earn up to 4.55% APY on FDIC-insured deposits versus the national savings average of 0.35%. Max also offers embedded finance solutions that empower financial services companies to offer Max’s intelligent cash management technology from their own websites.

“We are proud to partner with BankProv, an innovative bank that has a long history of serving clients in Massachusetts and across the country,” MaxMyInterest founder and CEO Gary Zimmerman said. “Together with BankProv, we can help clients ensure that all of their funds remain fully-insured, while earning market-leading rates.”

Massachusetts-based BankProv is a commercial bank that provides Banking-as-a-Service and technology-based solutions for corporate clients. The 10th oldest bank in the U.S., BankProv is a subsidiary of Provident Bancorp, which trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker PVBC. In December, BankProv announced that Carol Houle, who had been serving as CFO, and Reilly, who had been serving as Board Chair, had been named co-CEOs and co-Presidents.

MaxMyInterest made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014. More recently, the company has announced integrations with modern CRM platforms Wealthbox and Redtail Technology, as well as with Morningstar and fellow Finovate alum Envestnet. Last fall, the company appointed Ateet Adhikari as Chief Operating Officer. Adhikari was previously the COO of ShopRunner, which was acquired by FedEx in 2020. In a statement Adhikari praised MaxMyInterest as having created “the most innovative solution in the market in a way that helps depositors, wealth managers, and banks.”

Photo by RODNAE Productions

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CoreLogic Acquires Digital Mortgage Platform Roostify

CoreLogic Acquires Digital Mortgage Platform Roostify
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Roostify

Almost a decade after the company made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring, digital mortgage platform Roostify has agreed to be acquired by property information, analytics, and data-enabled solutions provider CoreLogic. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We believe that this is an important transaction for the industry,” Roostify co-founder and CEO Rajesh Bhat said. “From inception, Roostify’s mission has been to accelerate and streamline the home lending journey. Bringing together the power of CoreLogic’s data and analytics suite with the Roostify digital lending platform allows us to accelerate the journey towards a truly data driven digital origination experience in one single platform.”

The integration of the two technologies will help clients secure key data about both borrowers and properties at the beginning of the lending process. This not only saves time and money, but the transparency also helps ensure that lenders receive the information they need as early as possible – before processing and underwriting – in order to minimize errors and make loan conditions clear to all parties. The result is an improved customer experience with less processing and lower underwriting expenses.

Founded in 2012, Roostify currently helps home lenders process more than $50 billion in loans every month. With clients ranging from TD Bank and Santander to CIS Home Loans and First American Mortgage Solutions, Roostify helps lenders close more loans, improve margins, increase the ability to scale their operations, and maximize customer satisfaction. The San Francisco, California-based company offers a 45% decrease in time to close for a customer within 90 days of go-live, an application submission rate of 85%, and only 14 days on average between submission and delivery to underwriting.

“We sit on an incredible amount of data, analytics, and essential workflow solutions that when properly integrated to the loan lifecycle, can deliver a better mortgage experience for borrowers as well as lenders,” CoreLogic President of Mortgage Solutions Jay Kingsley said. “The Roostify acquisition will unlock our ability to quickly execute on this mission.”

Roostify has raised $65 million in total equity funding, securing investments from Mouro Capital, Cota Capital, and USAA among others. Ten Coves Capital led Roostify’s most recent fundraising, a $32 million Series C round in January 2021. Dan Kittredge, Managing Partner at Ten Coves Capital praised Roostify as “well-positioned to accelerate the digitalization of home lending infrastructure,” especially given the fact that “the mortgage lending industry has been relatively slow to embrace digital technologies.” Kittredge added, “the opportunity to re-design the future of home lending through technology cannot be overstated.”

Photo by Pixabay

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Payment Intelligence Company Pagos Locks in $34 Million in New Funding

Payment Intelligence Company Pagos Locks in $34 Million in New Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Payment intelligence company Pagos has raised $34 million in Series A funding.
  • The capital, which takes the company’s total equity funding to $44 million, will be used to expand the company’s engineering team and advance Pagos’ enterprise product suite.
  • Pagos was founded in 2021 by veterans of Braintree, Venmo, PayPal, Stripe, eBanx, Klarna, and Apple.

In a round led by Arbor Ventures, payment intelligence company Pagos has secured $34 million in Series A funding. The oversubscribed round also featured participation from Point 72 Ventures, Infinity Ventures, and Underscore VC. The investment will enable the company to grow its engineering team and advance Pago’s enterprise product suite.

“Our platform helps companies understand and act on the data that already exists within their payments environment, allowing them to better support changing consumer behavior and demands, reduce their operating costs, increase their revenue, and mitigate unnecessary customer friction — all without having to change their current payments infrastructure,” Pagos co-founder and CEO Klas Bäck explained in a statement.

Pagos’ total funding now stands at $44 million, according to Crunchbase. The Wilmington, Delaware-based company raised $10 million in seed funding in October 2021.

Many of the largest online brands in the world – including Adobe, GoFundMe, and Eventbrite – rely on Pagos’ platform. The company’s technology analyzes more than one billion transactions a year, providing real-time payment transaction monitoring to help companies detect potential issues, trends, and opportunities – all without having to change their existing payment stack. Via solutions like Peacock, Pagos provides businesses with a dashboard that provides full visibility into payments data across vendors, channels, and markets. This enables them to build a flywheel of payments optimization which leads to improved customer conversions and identification of optimal payment methods, as well as the ability to conduct A/B testing and more.

“Payment processing is fundamental to customer relationships, revenue, and a business’s bottom line, but most companies don’t have the data, knowledge, or tools to develop and execute on a best-in-class payments performance strategy,” Bäck said. “Even the small number of companies that do have those resources are leaving money on the table.”

Founded in 2021 by former Braintree, Venmo, PayPal, Stripe, eBanx, Klarna, and Apple veterans, Pagos began 2023 with news that the company had crossed the one billion transaction events threshold for the first time.

Photo by NAUSHIL | SKYHAWK. ASIA

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eToro Teams Up with Sentifi to Launch Social Sentiment Portfolio

eToro Teams Up with Sentifi to Launch Social Sentiment Portfolio
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, eToro, Sentifi
  • eToro launched its SocialSentiment portfolio of stocks with high ESG and social sentiment criteria this week.
  • The new offering was made possible courtesy of a partnership with alternative data provider – and fellow Finovate alum – Sentifi.
  • Sentifi’s technology analyzes more than 500 million tweet – and two million news articles, forums, and blog – in order to create its social sentiment rating (sentScore) for positive social chatter.

eToro has unveiled a new solution for investors looking for exposure to U.S. companies with strong ESG performance. The social investing network has teamed up with alternative data provider Sentifi to launch SocialSentiment, a new portfolio offering that features the top 10 stocks in the S&P 500 that meet ESG and social sentiment criteria. Rebalanced monthly, the initial roster of stocks in the SocialSentiment portfolio are: Verisign, Teradyne, Northern Trust, Mid-America Apartment Communities, Intuitive Surgical, Fifth Third Bancorp, F5 Networks, Equity Residential, Dollar Tree, and Allstate.

‘With this portfolio, we aim to offer retail investors exposure to stocks that are being discussed in a positive light on social and digital channels, adding an extra layer of insights,” eToro Head of Investment Portfolios Dani Brinker said. “We look forward to partnering with the Sentifi team, and working together to harness the power of social networks.”

Sentifi made its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia in Hong Kong in 2016, and returned to the Finovate stage a year later for FinovateEurope in London. The company’s AI-enabled technology analyzes more than 5,000 stocks, currencies, commodities, and indices – as well as passive and active mutual funds. Sentifi combines market metrics with social sentiment (sentScore) and an ESG score to create a roster of stocks that have both high ESG credentials and positive social chatter and awareness. Sentifi builds its sentScores by analyzing more than 500 million tweets, as well as two million news articles, forums, and blogs.

“The events over the past several years relating to the meme stock rallies are evidence of how the herd can change direction, and where these changes happen, which is largely in social networks and forums,” Sentifi CEO Marina Goche said. “Social networks, news, blogs, and forums are also a valuable source of changing risk for asset classes and offer dynamic views on ESG performance appreciation and degradation for companies globally — essential for constructing portfolios that outperform a benchmark.”

Investors can buy into the SocialSentiment portfolio with as little as $500. Investors can access tools and charts to track the portfolio’s performance, as well as monitor eToro’s social feed to stay up-to-date on developments in the sector. At this time, the portfolio is not available to investors in the U.S.

eToro’s SocialSentiment portfolio is the latest addition to the company’s suite of Smart Portfolios that give investors exposure to a variety of market themes. The portfolios are for long-term investments, feature unique investment strategies, are curated by eToro analysts, and give investors a way to gain exposure to a diverse range of major market trends without having to pay portfolio management fees.

Founded in 2007, eToro has more than 30 million registered users on its social investing network. Among Finovate’s earliest alums, the company won Best of Show in its debut at FinovateEurope in 2011.

Photo by Leeloo Thefirst

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Finovate Global Canada: Paytech M&A, Mobile Top-Ups, and New Rules for Crypto Exchanges

Finovate Global Canada: Paytech M&A, Mobile Top-Ups, and New Rules for Crypto Exchanges
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, ThetaRay, Western Union

Canada Inks New Guidelines for Crypto Exchanges

In the wake of the FTX scandal and the so-called “crypto winter,” the Canadian Securities Administration (CSA) has issued a set of new regulations for cryptocurrency exchanges. The new guidelines involve both commitments to investor protection as well as a registration mandate. The mandate requires “crypto asset trading platforms” (CTPs) operating in Canada to provide a pre-registration commitment to Canada’s security regulators within 30 days – and begin a full registration process. Announced this week, CTPs in Canada will have until late March to comply. Those institutions that do not comply will not be allowed to legally serve Canadian clients. The regulations also institute a significant crackdown on the trading of stablecoins. Defined as “securities and/or derivatives” by the CSA in 2022, these digital assets can no longer be purchased or stored on cryptocurrency exchanges without written permission from the CSA.

“Recent insolvencies involving several crypto asset trading platforms highlight the tremendous risks associated with trading crypto assets, particularly when conducted on unregistered platforms based outside of Canada,” CSA Chair and Chair and CEO of the Alberta Securities Commission Stan Magidson said.

The new rules will undoubtedly make life tougher for cryptocurrency exchanges in the near-term. Nevertheless, the new regulations may provide more room for these businesses to operate than it may seem at first glance. From the multi-part registration process to the ability to secure permission to offer stablecoins, it seems clear that Canadian regulators are taking a relatively cautious approach to correcting the course of cryptocurrencies in the Great White North.

Ding and Western Union Bring Mobile Top-Up to Canadian Customers

The international mobile top-up platform Ding has teamed up with one of the leaders in the money transfer business. Ding has reached an agreement with Western Union that will enable customers in Canada to send international top-up payments to the mobile phones of more than five billion prepaid customers worldwide.

“We are thrilled to be teaming with one of the largest money transfer operations in the world,” Ding Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Rockett said. “The launch of Ding Checkout with Western Union will give consumers access to a complimentary service which they can use to support their friends and families around the globe. We are excited to unveil our capabilities as a digital value transfer platform and drive growth in both new and existing customers for Western Union.”

The partnership between Ding and Western Union will launch in Canada first. The partnership will give Western Union customers access to Ding’s network of more than 600 mobile operators across 140+ countries, covering 95% of the world’s population. The collaboration also gives Western Union customers a new way to add minutes and data quickly to their mobile plans.

Nuvei Completes $1.3 Billion Acquisition of Paya

At the beginning of the year, Canadian paytech Nuvei announced that it had agreed to acquire U.S. integrated payments and commerce solutions provider Paya for $1.3 billion. This week, Nuvei reported that the transaction has been completed.

“This is an important milestone for Nuvei as we continue to build a preeminent payment technology provider with strong positions in global eCommerce, Integrated Payments, and B2B,” Nuvei Chair and CEO Philip Fayer said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to officially welcome our new colleagues form Paya to the Nuvei family. We have been working diligently on our integration planning, and we are ready to begin the next step on this exciting journey as a single, unified team.”

Paya processed $50 billion in annual payment volume in 2022, with much of that amount coming from companies in verticals such as healthcare, non-profit, government, utilities, and other B2B end markets. Nuvei paid $9.75 per share for the NASDAQ-listed company, which went public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) FinTech Acquisition Corp III in 2020.

Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Nuvei was founded in 2003. The company also made headlines this year in forging new partnerships with enterprise digital commerce platform VTEX, Colombian payment processor Redeban, and online business marketplace platform Le Panier Bleu.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Swiss software firm Netcetera acquired Slovenian mobile app and digital identity development company Kamino.
  • Saldo Bank launched in Lithuania.
  • Germany-based business financial management (BFM) company finway secured $10 million (€9.2 million) in Series A funding.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Remittance processor Remitly went live with its outbound remittance solution in the UAE.
  • Morocco-based fintech Gwala raised pre-seed funding to support its on-demand payment solution for employees and employers. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.
  • Saudi Arabia-based fintech Hala acquired UAE payments company Paymennt.com – previously known as PointCheckout.

Central and Southern Asia

  • India-based banking-as-a-service platform Decentro launched in Singapore this week.
  • Pakistani digital lending platform AdalFi announced a $7.5 million investment led by UAE-based COTU Ventures, Chimera Ventures, Pakistan-based Fatima Gobi Ventures, and Zayn Capital.
  • Indian payments solution provider PayU launched its 3D Secure 2.0 SDK.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Mexican mobile banking app Tudi selected ThetaRay as its AML/transaction monitoring partner.
  • Brazil-based fintech Celcoin announced its $16.3 million acquisition of open finance company Finansystech.
  • Refresh Miami interviewed Juan Pablo Jiménez, Chief Sales Officer of Ecuador’s first unicorn, Kushki.

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • South African mobility fintech company, Planet42, raised $100 million in combined equity, debt, and a credit facility.
  • WorldStage profiled Nigeria-based Islamic fintech startup HalalVest.
  • Kenya-based micro-lender Power Financial Wellness secured $3 million in seed funding.

Photo by Andre Furtado

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BMO Teams Up with Agent IQ to Enhance Digital Customer Engagement

BMO Teams Up with Agent IQ to Enhance Digital Customer Engagement
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Agent IQ, Alumni News, Daily news
  • BMO has partnered with digital customer engagement solutions company Agent IQ.
  • The bank will deploy Agent IQ’s Lynq secure chat platform to enable customers to easily access both AI chatbots and human bankers.
  • Agent IQ most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall in New York last September.

BMO announced a partnership with digital customer engagement solutions provider Agent IQ this week. Courtesy of the collaboration, BMO will deploy Agent IQ’s secure chat platform Lynq, which enables customers to engage bankers in real-time, blending human-centered customer service with the efficiency of computer intelligence. The technology gives customers the ability to query a chatbot to answer basic account and banking-related questions, while maintaining the option to readily access a banker for a one-on-one conversation.

“With Agent IQ’s Lynq, BMO customers can engage a banker for all their financial needs across any digital channel, making digital banking easier and quicker than ever before,” Agent IQ co-founder and CEO Slaven Bilac said.

Lynq offers 24/7 chatbot support as well as direct video communication with a banker, including screen sharing. Answers to frequently asked questions are available instantly, and customers can connect to human bankers both during and outside of office hours. BMO Head of U.S. Digital Channels Brianna Elsass said that the partnership was an “example of BMO’s Digital First strategy” to provide future-ready solutions that deliver “loyalty, growth, and efficiency” for customers.

Left to right: Agent IQ COO Soren Bested and CMO Matt Phipps demoing Lynq at FinovateFall 2022.

With total assets of $1.14 trillion as of October 2022, BMO is the eighth largest bank by assets in North America. Operating via three primary groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth Management, and BMO Capital markets, the financial services provider offers a range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management, and investment products and solutions to its 12 million customers.

Agent IQ made its Finovate debut in 2019 at FinovateSpring and most recently demoed its technology live at FinovateFall in New York last fall. At the conference, the San Francisco, California-based company demoed its Lynq platform, which leverages augmented intelligence to help bankers better connect with, engage, and support banking customers. “Put simply, Aqent IQ makes personal digital engagement simple,” company CMO Matt Phipps explained from the Finovate stage back in September. “We make it easy for you, and easy for your customers.”

Agent IQ has raised $18.5 million in funding from investors including Acronym Venture Capital and Mendon Venture Partners. The company was founded in 2015.

Photo by Anete Lusina

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Six “Can’t Miss” Features of FinovateEurope Next Month

Six “Can’t Miss” Features of FinovateEurope Next Month
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2023, List series

There are plenty of reasons why FinovateEurope 2023 next month will be one of the year’s biggest fintech events. With just over a week left to take advantage of early-bird savings on your FinovateEurope ticket, we thought we’d share a handful of our favorite reasons why we hope to see you in London, March 14 and 15.

New Keynote Speakers!

FinovateEurope 2023 will feature the return of many of our favorite keynote speakers. But this year’s event will also showcase a number of newcomers. At the top of the list is Leda Glyptis, veteran banking professional and author of the book Bankers Like Us. With a mainstage keynote on Day One of FinovateEurope titled “The Problem with Digital Transformation Is You,” Glyptis will examine the key role that financial services professionals play in helping – or hindering – the process of digital transformation in their own businesses and institutions.

Also making their Finovate debuts as keynote speakers at FinovateEurope are John C. Hulsman, President and Managing Partner, John C. Hulsman Enterprises, who will speak on the global economy; and Adam Lowe, Chief Product & Innovation Officer, Arculus by CompoSecure, who will discuss securing digital platforms and optimizing the customer experience.

FinovateEurope will also present a series of Quick Fire Keynotes. Leading these 10-minute presentations are Matt Bullivant, Director of ESG Strategy, OakNorth, who will speak about climate change, ESG, and financial services; Martin Hyde, EMEA Payment Partnerships Lead, J.P. Morgan Payments, who will talk about the power of embedded payments in financial services; and Dhaksha Vivekanandan, founder of Daylight Robbery, who will discuss bitcoin and the relationship between traditional and decentralized finance.

New Demoing Companies!

Of the 30 fintech innovators demoing their latest solutions live on stage next month, nearly half will be making their Finovate debuts. Representing countries as diverse as Scotland, Austria, Estonia, India, Switzerland, Israel, Sweden, and Bulgaria – as well as the U.S. and U.K. – these newcomers include:

Pre-Funk for FIs

The official name of the session is “Pre-Event Briefing for Financial Institutions.” But we know a pre-funk when we see one! On March 13 – “FinovateEurope Eve” if you will – we are hosting a special, invite-only occasion featuring expert insights into top fintech trends, a special address, and a fireside chat with keynote speaker, Steven Van Belleghem. We’ll top off the evening with drinks and networking to allow attendees to spend quality time with fellow professionals from banks and other financial institutions.

Alumni Alley: How the Best Have Won

Alumni Alley is our opportunity to showcase some of the biggest brands in fintech that have demoed their innovations live on the Finovate stage. For our upcoming conference next month, the focus will be on FinovateEurope alums. Check out our coverage of some of FinovateEurope’s most storied alums.

If you’re working with a bank, an established fintech innovator, or a bold, new startup, Alumni Alley is a unique chance to gain insights and ideas that can help you grow your organization, improve partner relationships, and take your business to the next level.

“If You Start Me Up”: Finovate’s Startup Booster Program

Our Startup Booster program is designed to enable early-stage startups to take advantage of the full Finovate experience – at a price point appropriate for their early-stage status. Held on March 15, participants in our Startup Booster Program will hear from successful founders about partnership strategies, insights into the investment process, tips on how to land your first bank customer, and more.

Following the presentations, startups will have two hours of networking time with investors from across the U.K. and Europe.

What’s Hot? What’s Not? The GameShow!

Think you know what’s hot and what’s not among fintech’s competing trends and passions? Join us for our special event – What’s Hot? What’s Not? The Gameshow! – where we’ll pit veteran fintech analysts and insiders against the wisdom of the crowd to find out who really knows where fintech is headed!

Our unique gameshow format – in which you the audience get to play judge and jury – will bring a little lighthearted fun to the discussion of fintech trends, and add a little healthy competition to the endless debate: HOT? Or NOT!

Early-bird savings for FinovateEurope end on March 3rd. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today and save your spot!

Photo by John-Mark Smith

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DirectID Secures $9.5 Million in New Funding

DirectID Secures $9.5 Million in New Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Direct ID, Funding
  • DirectID, a credit risk assessment and decisioning platform based in Scotland, has raised $9.5 million (€9 million) in funding.
  • The funding was led by Ingka Investment, the investment arm of Ingka Group – which is the world’s largest IKEA retailer.
  • DirectID will use the new capital to accelerate the launch of its predictive credit and risk models built using open banking data.

Credit risk assessment and decisioning platform DirectID has raised $9.5 million (€9 million) in funding from Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group. The company will use the additional funding to help fuel the launch of its predictive credit and risk models built using open banking data. DirectID also plans to bring its credit risk solutions to new markets, as well as accelerate its development of models for each stage of the credit lifecycle – from originations to portfolio management to collections.

“We are excited to be shaping a new global standard in credit scoring that enhances people’s lives by enabling access to products they need in an affordable way,” DirectID founder and CEO James Varga said. “Our coverage, advanced insights, and predictive models provide a unique opportunity to achieve this by creating the world’s first real-time, inclusive, credit score based on open finance data.”

The funding takes DirectID’s total equity capital to more than $23 million. No valuation information was provided in the company’s funding announcement.

Headquartered in Scotland, DirectID is the current incarnation of a project that began in 2016, when Varga rebranded his company miiCard to The ID Co. The move was intended to reflect the growth of the company’s B2B embedded, integrated verification solution, DirectID. Four years later, the company took the Direct ID name in a move Varga said was necessitated by the fact that “data has become such an important part of our offering.”

Ingka Group is the world’s largest IKEA retailer, representing approximately 90% of IKEA’s retail sales. Ingka Investments, the company’s investment arm, has $21.2 billion (€20 billion) in assets under management. The firm’s investment activity is oriented around three “key strategic movements”: financial resilience, business development, and sustainability. Peter van der Poel, who is the managing director for Ingka Investments, credited DirectID for its ability to “complement and disrupt the traditional credit and risk market”. He noted that the company’s efforts promote greater financial inclusion for consumers and will “add value to Ingka’s financial services proposition” going forward.

DirectID closed out 2022 by forging a partnership with U.K.-based SME capital provider Got Capital. The alliance will facilitate the digitalization of the application process for small businesses seeking financing. Since inception, Got Capital has provided more than $362 million (£300 million) to more than 12,000 small businesses in the U.K. Also late last year, DirectID’s Varga was one of 13 business leaders named as the first “Scottish Export Champions” by the Department for International Trade (DIT). The organization also named DirectID as the new “FinTech Champion for Scotland.”

“Whether it’s working with other industry figures to promote the U.K. as a place to do business, or sharing knowledge of our experience exporting to multi-national organizations, I’m proud to be supporting the growth of the £11 billion U.K. fintech economy,” Varga said.

Photo by Isaque Pereira

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Breaking Barriers: FinovateEurope’s Women in Fintech Breakfast Briefing

Breaking Barriers: FinovateEurope’s Women in Fintech Breakfast Briefing
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Diversity in Fintech, FinovateEurope 2023, Women in Fintech

The number of female entrepreneurs and founders in fintech and financial services has grown significantly in recent years. Nevertheless, there is still some distance between where we are now and the kind of gender-neutral future that so many are fighting for.

As of 2019 women in finance are better represented in many C-suite leadership positions – including CIO, CTO, CMO, and CHRO – than they are in most other industries. Only in the CEO and CFO roles does female representation lag behind that of other industries. Overall, according to analysis by Korn Ferry, women in finance have outperformed their peers in other industries in achieving executive leadership – and it’s not especially close.

At the same time, according to the Global Gender Gap Report published by the World Economic Forum, women make up more than 50% of the entry-level finance workforce in the United States. Yet only 6% of the “top financial institutions” in the country have women in senior positions.

On the morning of Day Two of FinovateEurope next month, we will host our Women in Fintech Breakfast Briefing to discuss how women and their allies can work together to help close this gender gap. Moderated by Magdalena Krön (LinkedIn), Global Head of Rise Digital Innovation & CTO Group Innovation for Barclays Bank, our special morning session will discuss the key questions on the state of gender diversity in fintech and financial services: How much progress has been made? What can we do to pave the way for the next generation of female founders and executives in our industry?

Joining Magdalena Krön are a distinguished panel of industry professionals including:

Martha Mghendi-Fisher, Founder, European Women Payments Network (EWPN). Mghendi-Fisher is a fintech and payments professional, social entrepreneur and philanthropist with years of experience in cards and payments, NGOs, and entrepreneurship. LinkedIn.

Veronique Steiner, Head of High Growth Tech and Head of Technology, Media, and Telecom for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), J.P. Morgan. Steiner represents J.P. Morgan across the global payment industry, positioning the institution as a leading bank for the tech companies in EMEA. LinkedIn.

Nitzan Solomon, Head of Transaction Monitoring, AML, and Fraud, Revolut. Passionate about regtech and financial crime, Solomon was named 2020 best regtech practitioner and one of the U.K. Top 100 Women in Tech. LinkedIn.

Chantal Swainston, Founder, The Heard. Launched in 2022, The Heard profiles and showcases women and non-binary talent in the fintech industry. Swainston brings nearly a decade of experience in journalism and public relations covering both fintech startups and established companies. LinkedIn.

The FinovateEurope 2023 Women in Fintech Breakfast Briefing is scheduled for Wednesday, March 15 from 8:15am – 9:00am. To learn more visit our FinovateEurope hub. Take advantage of big savings by registering by March 3rd.

Photo by Christina Morillo

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Experian Teams Up with Envestnet | Yodlee to Bring the Benefits of Open Data to Lenders

Experian Teams Up with Envestnet | Yodlee to Bring the Benefits of Open Data to Lenders
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Envestnet, Experian, Yodlee
  • Experian announced a partnership with Envestnet | Yodlee to help lenders in Australia take advantage of open data.
  • The collaboration will help Experian manifest its open data strategy in the country following its application to be an Accredited Data Recipient.
  • Both Experian and Envestnet | Yodlee have been Finovate alums since 2012 and 2016, respectively.

Information services company Experian has picked a partner as its official Open Data API provider in Australia. The company is teaming up with data aggregation and analytics platform Envestnet | Yodlee in an alliance that will allow Experian to access data under the Consumer Data Right (CDR) from data holders including Australia’s Big Four banks and more than 70 Australian FIs.

“Open Data solutions have the capability to solve two of the biggest challenges for Australian lenders: the accuracy of data to support responsible lending and streamlining the customer experience to get a faster decision,” General Manager of Experian Digital Simone Jemmett explained. “The more consumers that opt in to share data through Open Banking, the faster it will deliver the value it has in more mature data markets spurring innovation and greater competition among lenders,” Jemmett said.

The partnership news comes in the wake of Experian’s application to the Australian Competition ad Consumer Commission (ACCC) to become an Accredited Data Recipient under the CDR back in December. This is key step in becoming a part of Australia’s open banking ecosystem, and enabling Experian to focus on delivering fast and accurate affordability assessments. By leveraging Envestnet | Yodlee’s APIs, Experian will be able to help lenders shift to an emphasis on using Open Data sources rather than the traditional credit application process that requires manual uploads and data entry, as well as other inefficient practices.

“Lending is a valuable use case for Open Data with tangible benefits for lenders and borrowers,” Envestnet | Yodlee A/NZ Country Manager Tim Poskitt said. “With Experian coming into the CDR ecosystem, Australian Open Banking is reaching a tipping point and we’re ready for adoption to accelerate in 2023.”

A Finovate alum for more than a decade, Experian made its most recent appearance on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall in 2018. More recently, the company has partnered with fellow Finovate alum Zopa, which integrated Experian Boost into its credit-decisioning process. Experian began the year teaming up with decentralized and secured lending portfolio provider Credefi, and launching a new solution called CreditLock. This new feature enables customers to lock their Experian Credit Report to defend themselves against fraud and identity theft. “Our goal is to create products that help improve people’s financial wellbeing and give them more control over their finances,” Experian Head of Product Management Jayne Sankoh-Beacom said. “With this new feature we can now give our customers that extra layer of protection against identity fraud.”

Making its most recent Finovate appearance at FinovateFall 2021, Envestnet | Yodlee finished 2022 with news of a “deeper integration” between its Redi2 BillFin client billing solution and Schwab Advisor Services. This deeper integration gives advisors on Schwab’s platform who are using BillFin to access capabilities such as flexible billing setup and standardized templates, as well as reminders and alerts. “This deeper level of integration will allow even more data to seamlessly flow back and forth between the BillFin and Schwab platforms,” Envestnet Head of Billing Technology Fermin Garcia explained.

Photo by Catarina Sousa

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Digital Asset Platform Bakkt Bets on B2B, Pivots from Consumer Crypto

Digital Asset Platform Bakkt Bets on B2B, Pivots from Consumer Crypto
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Bakkt, Daily news

The decision by digital asset platform Bakkt to pivot toward B2B technology solutions and away from consumer-based crypto products appears to be part of the greater re-evaluation that many fintechs are doing in the wake of the crypto crash of 2022. The company, which made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall last September, announced this week that it was turning the page on its consumer-facing app, launched in March 2021. Instead, the Alpharetta, Georgia-based fintech will focus on helping businesses provide crypto and loyalty experiences to its customers via SaaS and API solutions.

“As we continue to gain traction with our B2B2C strategy, we are laser focused on providing our partners and clients with seamless solutions that best serve their needs,” Bakkt President and CEP Gavin Michael said. “The discontinuation of the app ensures we are supporting the relationship our partners and clients have with their customers. With this move, we are focusing our investment on our core solutions that have product-market fit and are positioned to scale quickly.”

Bakkt’s decision to shutter its consumer-based crypto app comes in the wake of the company’s agreement to acquire crypto trading platform Apex Crypto from Apex Fintech Solutions back in November 2022. With more than 30 fintech partners and more than five million customers, Apex Crypto is expected to help support Bakkt’s B2B2C strategy of bringing more crypto-based solutions to clients in a range of verticals.

Bakkt’s consumer crypto app is set to sunset just over one month from now, on March 16. Current users of the app will continue to be able to access their crypto and cash on the platform courtesy of a new online, device-agnostic solution. The new experience will enable users to check crypto balances, as well as access transaction reports for tax purposes.

Founded in 2018, Bakkt demoed its Crypto Connect technology at FinovateFall last year. The solution helped consumers use their current financial services institution’s mobile app to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies in a secure, trusted environment. In December, Bakkt laid off 15% of its exempt employee base in a bid to better control costs as the cryptocurrency downturn and FTX scandal soured the much of the public – as well as investors – on the space.

A publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange since the fall of 2021, Bakkt is listed under the ticker “BKKT.” The firm has a market capitalization of $433 million.

Photo by RODNAE Productions

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