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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Zilvinas Bareisis is Head of Retail Banking at Celent. Based in London, Bareisis specializes in consumer and card-based payments, as well as identity and authentication. He is especially interested in payments innovation, and what he calls “the perfect storm” of competitive, regulatory, and technology developments that are shaping the present and future of consumer payments.
Embracing the open ecosystem is a really big topic right now – from open banking to embedded finance. How do you innovate around products and how do you differentiate yourself? Banks are starting to talk about their purpose, how they embrace different communities they may be serving, and how they tailor their products to those communities. Even things like crypto (are important). Twelve months ago I didn’t think retail banks should be interested in crypto, and here we are talking about that now.
On the role of enabling technologies in financial services
You really need to have the right set of technology tools – and those tools are diversifying. It’s easier now to have composable building blocks that might be coming from different parties, platforms like low code and no code that do not require much IT capability so that business users can start developing applications and, of course, the cloud. A lot of our clients are looking into how to migrate to the cloud and how fast.
On the promise and potential of embedded finance
At the heart of embedded finance is the idea that customers are out there, doing their own things and, as they do those things, they realize that there might be a need for a financial services product, which is something they can acquire right there and then. The idea itself is not new; you and I have probably bought car insurance at the same time we bought our car at the dealership. What’s changing is that there are nice, big, sophisticated digital experiences, first of all, and it’s easier now for financial services to plug into those experiences because now the technology is catching up.
Check out the rest of our conversation with Zilvinas Bareisis from FinovateEurope 2022 on what’s next in the “new normal” in fintech and financial services.
Digital identity verification and fraud prevention innovator Mitek has agreed to acquire KYC technology company HooYu.
Mitek will pay $129 million (£98 million) for the U.K.-based company.
Both firms are Finovate alums. Mitek made its most recent appearance at FinovateFall 2017. HooYu demoed its technology on the Finovate stage most recently at FinovateEurope 2018.
Mitek’sagreement to acquire KYC technology specialist HooYu will help businesses verify their customer’s identity via a combination of biometric verification and real-time bureau and sanction database checks. Enabling institutions to leverage biometrics, ID document validation, geolocation, and identity confidence scoring with bureau checks and sanction list reviews will help them secure a more complete picture of their consumers.
HooYu’s ability to coordinate these features will not only enhance the identity verification process for Mitek’s customers, the technology will also enable them to optimize workflows and empower companies to deploy identity solutions across channels faster.
“Having a single platform that easily orchestrates and configures a KYC journey to manage identities and identify bad actors is becoming a prerequisite for any business transacting digitally,” HooYu CEO Keith Marsden said. “Bringing together Mitek’s lead in identity, liveness, and biometrics, with our orchestration, configuration, and journey services simplifies identity management for financial institutions.”
Mitek’s acquisition of HooYu comes in the context of a global digital identity solutions market that is expected to grow from $23.3 billion in 2021 to $49.5 billion by 2026, a compound annual growth rate of 16.2%. MarketsandMarkets, whose digital identity solutions report was cited by Mitek in this week’s acquisition announcement, credited the rise in both identity-related fraud and data breaches, as well as the need to keep pace with new regulations, for the growth in this market.
Additionally, the rise of the cryptocurrency and NFT (non-fungible token) markets – and the new regulatory regime that will accompany them – puts a further strain on the compliance requirements of businesses. For all the legitimate activity in crypto and NFTs, there is no doubt that these growing markets also represent new opportunities for illicit and criminal behavior.
“Our current geopolitical, commercial, and technological environment represents a perfect storm for bad actors,” Mitek CEO Max Carnecchia said. “Mitek is leading the fight against fraud by providing the technology that businesses need to stamp out digital money launderers and sanctioned individuals.”
Two Finovate alums, Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee are teaming up to help financial institutions better serve their customers.
The collaboration will offer pre-built integrations with Envestnet | Yodlee’s Data Aggregation, Account Verification, and Transaction Data Enrichment solutions.
Both Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee made their most recent Finovate appearances at FinovateFall in New York in September.
A newly announced partnership between Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee will enable financial institutions to offer their customers a holistic view of their finances, as well as an improved customer experience. Specifically, the partnership will bring account data aggregation, account verification, and transaction data enrichment from Envestnet | Yodlee to the Backbase Engagement Banking platform. The move enhances Backbase’s financial wellness capabilities and intuitive customer journeys, and supports the company’s goal of becoming a category leader in the engagement banking platform space.
Backbase CPO Karan Oberoi called the collaboration a “major milestone” in the company’s efforts to “bring value to every step of the full customer lifecycle on a single, unified platform.” Oberoi highlighted the ability of the Backbase Engagement Banking platform to help financial institutions leverage technologies from innovative fintechs like Envestnet | Yodlee “while limiting implementation, procurement, and risk assessment time.”
Adding Account Data Aggregation to the platform will enable customers to combine and maintain all of their financial accounts in a single application. In addition to making it easier for customers to better understand their financial status, the feature also increases stickiness – as well as the potential for cross-selling opportunities – as customers spend more time on the bank’s app. Account Verification allows customers to add and verify their financial accounts in a single app without requiring the use of micro-deposits. Both KYC and AML compliance are also enhanced by the addition of the account verification capability. Lastly, by providing transaction data enrichment, the platform will lower the cost- of-serve for financial institutions and improve customer engagement.
“Entering into this strategic partnership with Backbase is another proof point on how industry leaders are relying on quality data, comprehensive coverage, and intelligent insights from Envestnet | Yodlee to meet fast-growing banking demands,” Envestnet Data and Analytics Group Head Farouk Ferchichi said.
Both multiple-time Finovate Best of Show winners, Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee made their most recent appearances on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall in New York last September. Backbase demoed a customer onboarding solution that consolidates customer finances via direct deposit, billpay auto linking, and debit card account opening. Envestnet | Yodlee showed how Conversational AI technology can be deployed to deliver hyper-personalized financial insights and goals-based micro-savings applications.
FintechOS has launched a pair of accelerators – for mobile lending and mobile onboarding – to enable institutions to support small businesses.
The new offerings are built for speed, enabling companies to lower account opening times to less than 15 minutes.
Headquartered in London and founded in 2017, FintechOS made its Finovate debut last September at FinovateFall in New York.
Digital banking and insurance solution provider FintechOSunveiled a pair of new accelerators to help financial institutions better serve their SME clients. The offerings, announced this week, support SME mobile lending and onboarding, and enable institutions to reduce the amount of time required to open a current/checking account to less than 15 minutes.
Calling SMEs “the backbone of the global economy”, FintechOS CEO and co-founder Teo Blidarus decried the “lending gap” that has kept many small businesses from being able to secure the critical funding they need in order to grow. “Our high productivity fintech infrastructure, digital and core financial technology blocks combine here with a low-code approach to help institutions close the gap by rolling out tailored financial services experiences at speed.”
FintechOS’ accelerator for mobile onboarding gives financial institutions the ability to implement a modern UX. This will enable them to readily configure both design and content, as well as journey sequence and product logic. The accelerator for mobile lending allows SMEs to access the financing solutions they need in minutes with an out-of-the-box loan origination journey that can be easily configured and requires no technical expertise. Both accelerators embrace a mobile-centric approach that allows small businesses to use their device of choice for both onboarding and financing, which will help lower abandonment risk during the account opening and lending process.
The launch of FintechOS’ account onboarding and mobile lending accelerators comes just days after the company announced a collaboration with digital transformation consultancy Tesselate Group. Together, the two companies will work to bring innovative lending solutions and strategic planning to financial institutions. The partnership will focus on product verticals including digital journey accelerators, ecosystem connectors, and lean core components.
“We’re on a mission to enable companies to build innovative financial services and products at the speed the market requires,” FintechOS VP of Ecosystem Todi Pruteanu said. “Our ecosystem is fundamental to achieving this objective, and FintechOS is investing significantly to build an industry-leading partner infrastructure.”
In February, FintechOS forged a global partnership agreement with fellow Finovate alum Onfido. The pact integrates Onfido’s identity verification solution into FintechOS’ customer onboarding, lending, and claims management journeys. Two of FintechOS’ customer-centric platforms for banks and insurers – Lighthouse and Northstar – feature Onfido’s identity verification and liveness technology.
Among Finovate’s newer alums, FintechOS demoed its technology on the Finovate stage for the first time in September at FinovateFall. At the conference, FintechOS’ Paula Costea and Steve Rooney demonstrated Sunglow, the company’s “super app for banking.” Sunglow enables consumers to finance and book vacations in a seamless, end-to-end customer experience that factors in every component of the lending and booking processes.
FinovateEurope 2022 is a wrap. Our first European fintech conference in what we all hope is truly the post-pandemic era was an excellent opportunity for Finovate veterans and newcomers alike to meet and share insights on the most critical issues in fintech today.
In many ways, the two keynotes that began each day of our two-day event served as reminders of both the accomplishments of fintech to date, as well as the challenges that innovators in fintech and financial services will face going forward.
From commodity products to intelligent services
In his keynote address on how fintech trends in 2022 will drive transformation in financial services, David Brear contextualized his remarks by describing the journey financial services has traveled from analog through digitization en route to becoming truly digital. CEO and co-founder of fintech consultancy 11:FS, Brear underscored the notion that this journey was defined by the evolution of financial services from “commodity products to intelligent services.” He suggested that many companies in financial services were still essentially bringing digital tools to enhance analog solutions – not unlike attaching a carriage to a Clydesdale. As such, he sees the transition toward truly digital banking as “only 1% finished” with plenty of room to go.
For Brear, the current moment is one of execution rather than ideas. Entrepreneurs and companies in financial services have a better idea than ever of what their customers want, and now is the time for firms in this space to ambitiously act to meet those needs. Interestingly, and foreshadowing the themes of the next day’s keynote from AI scientist Inma Martinez, Brear observed that fulfilling these needs will help banks and financial services companies gain or regain the kind of intimate, personalized relationships that are more reminiscent of the kind of connections that smaller, more community-based versions of these institutions historically have enjoyed with their customers and members.
Solving complexity to better serve humanity
Creating an appropriate role for artificial intelligence (AI) was the topic of our Day Two keynote address – How To Use Data Analytics & AI To Create Human Centric Financial Products – from AI scientist Inma Martinez. As someone with decades of experience with artificial intelligence, Martinez has a healthy respect for the capacity of AI to do things that human beings cannot. At the same time, however, Martinez insists that these capacities need to be harnessed in a way that enables AI’s complexity-solving abilities to respond to human needs for “safety, enjoyment, and purpose.” Reminding her audience that the world is not merely “computational,” Martinez said that AI needs to be imbued with EQ, or emotional intelligence, that prioritizes rather than simply includes the role of human cognition. This would support an evolution in design thinking from the basic objectives of “usability, functionality, and convenience” to the more satisfying, emotional, and human-centered goals of being “memorable, assuring, and wholesome.”
Martinez also emphasized the importance of a modern approach to data and data management called the data mesh. This concept calls for leveraging distributed architecture to give end users the ability to readily access and query data where it lives rather than having to deal with a singular, centralized location such as a data lake. Improving the ability to access data is critical, Martinez explained, in a world in which data is both the key to a deeper, more meaningful understanding of customer behavior and the primary source of insights that can streamline the process of creating and innovating new products and services.
Alkami has entered a definitive agreement to acquire financial analytics company Segmint for $135.5 million in cash.
The acquisition will combine Segmint’s data insights with Alkami’s digital account opening and digital banking technology.
Both companies are Finovate alums. Alkami made its Finovate debut as iThryv in 2009. Segmint made its most recent Finovate appearance at FinovateFall in 2012.
Another day, another big acquisition in the fintech space. Today we learned that cloud-based digital banking solutions provider Alkami Technology has agreed to acquireSegmint, a financial data analytics and transaction cleansing specialist. Alkami will pay $135.5 million in cash for the Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio-based company, and expects its total addressable market to grow by $1 billion courtesy of the acquisition.
“Our customers want to deepen their customer relationships and grow revenue,” Allkami CEO Alex Shootman said. “To do so, they must transform raw account and transaction data into insights that lead to highly personalized communications. Segmint applies machine learning to transaction data to help FIs better understand their account holders and automates messaging with incredible precision and personalization across multiple channels.”
The acquisition will enable financial institutions partnered with Alkami to benefit from the combination of data sets from both Alkami and Segmint. In addition to providing a more comprehensive view of account holders, the combination also will bring greater precision and additional use cases to Segmint’s data models. Further, financial institutions will be able to use this data to leverage digital banking to better target, engage, and build customer relationships.
Approved by the boards of directors of both companies, as well as Segmint stockholders, the acquisition is expected to close in Q2 of this year – assuming regulatory approvals and customer closing conditions are met.
As we noted, the Alkami/Segmint acquisition is the second big fintech acquisition involving a Finovate alum this week. We reported yesterday that Canadian identity verification company – and Finovate Best of Show winner – SecureKey – agreed to be acquired by digital security and privacy company Avast.
Day One of FinovateEurope is in the books. The demos are done and, now that the votes of our attendees have been counted, we are happy to introduce the winners of Best of Show for FinovateEurope 2022.
Dreams for its engagement banking platform, rooted in cognitive and behavioral science, that offers a unique way to engage your customers. Demo.
Finshape for its technology that helps banks win the race for digital customers through ready-made digital products and custom delivery services. Demo.
mmob for its technology that makes embedded finance easy and empowers consumer-facing fintechs to supercharge their growth through embedded finance partnerships. Demo.
SESAMm for its technology that leverages big data and artificial intelligence to provide investment signals to investors. Demo.
Trulioo for its global identity verification technology that helps organizations mitigate risk, reduce fraud, and scale compliance programs globally. Demo.
Thanks to all of our demoing companies, our speakers and presenters, our sponsors and partners, and our outstanding audience of both in-person and digital attendees. Be sure to stay connected to the Finovate blog and social media @Finovate to keep up with the latest from our FinovateEurope companies and presenters.
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 five 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 2021 conferences are below:
In September, we celebrated Finovate’s triumphant return to live events with FinovateFall in New York. Six months later, it’s time to cheer once again as Finovate returns to London for our first live event in Europe since 2020.
FinovateEurope 2022 begins today, March 22, in London, and continues through March 23. This week’s conference will feature two days of live demonstrations, inspiring keynotes, and rousing discussions and debates on the latest innovations in financial technology.
Day One also will feature our European Women Payments Network (EWPN) event from 2:00pm to 5:00pm. This special afternoon session will feature a panel of experts discussing the role of ESG in fintech and financial services, followed by a dynamic hackathon, and a networking opportunity for attendees.
Here is what we have in store for today on Day One of FinovateEurope 2022. All times GMT.
8:15am – 9:00am | Registration & Networking
9:00am – 9:05am | Welcome from Finovate
9:05am – 9:20am | Keynote Address: The Biggest Trends in Fintech and How They Will Drive Transformation in Financial Services
As more and more fintechs add their support to the people of Ukraine and create new pathways for individuals and organizations to contribute financially, the Ukrainian government has had to adapt in order to make some of these contributions not just possible, but legal.
This week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed month-old legislation to provide a legal framework for the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies in the country. Per the new legislation, cryptocurrency exchanges and other companies dealing in digital assets will be able to register with the Ukrainian government in order to operate in the country. Additionally, the new law will allow banks to open accounts for cryptocurrency companies.
Going forward, Ukraine’s National Securities and Stock Market Commission will set the country’s policies on cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, issue licenses, and serve as a regulatory watchdog over the fledgling industry. The law is the second bite of the apple for Ukraine’s cryptocurrency advocates; the Ukrainian parliament voted to legalize cryptocurrencies last fall, but the legislation was vetoed by Zelenskyy, who cited the cost of creating a new regulatory entity to govern cryptocurrencies.
Ukrainian interest in cryptocurrencies certainly predates the Russian invasion of the country; a New York Times feature in November 2021 ran the headline “The Crypto Capital of the World” with the subhead “It has to be somewhere. Why not Ukraine?” But that interest has spiked since then as the country reportedly has received “tens of millions of dollars” in cryptocurrency donations to help Ukrainians cope with the devastation of their country at the hands of the Russian military.
Nordigen partners with French fintech Saveengs, U.K. lender Mallard Finance
Latvian open banking platform Nordigen has announced a pair of new partnerships this week. Saveengs, a French startup that specializes in helping people with little or no savings build a strong financial foundation, will work with Nordigen to help users find ways to save better. Nordigen’s technology will enable the Saveengs app to analyze the user’s finances to find opportunities to save in small amount, typically in increments of 20 euros.
“While the amount of money saved seems small at first, it definitely adds up,” Saveengs CEO Mourad Ketir said. “Open banking enables the app to perform financial analysis on our users’ existing funds and transactions quickly and easily, allowing the process of saving to start as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile across the channel, U.K.-based independent lender Mallard Finance has chosen Nordigen as its Account Information Service Provider (AISP). A specialist in providing financing for automobile purchases, Mallard Finance will leverage its new partnership with Nordigen to access financial data directly from borrower bank accounts during the application process. This will give the lender, which serves both individuals and businesses across the credit risk spectrum, a more exacting and accurate view of the applicant’s financial status.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Mallard Finance,” Nordigen CEO and co-founder Rolands Mesters said. He praised both the company’s professional team and its success in serving its customers since 1995. “We are happy to see companies continuing to choose open banking to further enhance their already existing services and internal assessment procedures,” Mesters added.
Nordigen most recently demonstrated its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateEurope 2019 in London. At the conference, the company demoed its Nordigen Report, which enables banks and lenders to access loan applicant account histories and verify income and other important insights.
Efigence teams up with Polish bank Getin Noble
Getin Noble, a Warsaw, Poland-based banking and financial services company, has partnered with Polish digital banking solutions providerEfigence to help it launch new online banking services. The enhancements, to be introduced modularly, include new functionalities as well as modernization of its online presence.
“Today’s online banking is much more than a financial tool,” Director of Getin Noble Bank’s Electronic Banking Department Marta Dałkiewicz said. “Customers often have contact with it many times a day, so the solutions we propose must be affordable and easy to use.”
Efigence President and CTO Marek Lesiak said that increasing the accessibility of online banking was a major goal for the collaboration. This included design elements for both the web and mobile apps to make banking more convenient for the customer regardless of which channel they used. “Today, finance is connected with almost every sphere of our life,” Lesiak said, “and the use of online banking should be as easy, intuitive and pleasant as if it were part of our DNA.”
A two-time Best of Show winner, earning the honor in both its Finovate debut as well as at our second Dubai-based event in 2019, FinovateMiddle East, Efigence demonstrated the latest improvements to its digital banking platform at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Founded in 2012, SmartAsset is an online hub for consumer-focused financial information and advice. The company reaches approximately 75 million people each month via its educational content, personalized financial calculators, and other tools. SmartAsset also powers SmartAdvisor, a nationwide marketplace that helps connect consumers with financial advisors.
We caught up with Ms. Lapides to discuss her goals as Chief People Officer, the evolution of human resources and talent management in the tech industry, and how a smart “People strategy” can help companies grow.
Why did you decide to take the opportunity to be Chief People Officer for SmartAsset?
Meghan Lapides: SmartAsset’s mission of helping people get better financial advice really spoke to me. Planning for your future is incredibly important and many people start late. Being part of a company that helps people think smartly and early about financial planning is something that aligns with my personal mission of helping people. When I met the leadership team and members of the People team, I knew this was the place for me. Their passion and intelligence combined with our CEO’s vision was the right combination of factors that confirmed my decision to join SmartAsset.
Is SmartAsset your first fintech? Is there anything unique about building a People strategy in fintech compared to other tech companies you have worked for?
Lapides: Yes, SmartAsset represents my first professional experience in the fintech space! One of the things I love about Human Resources is that when you change companies you get the opportunity to learn an entirely new industry. I love what I do, so I find it exciting to be doing what I love and applying my expertise in a completely new environment. I’ve been lucky to work in multiple different industries, including enterprise SAAS, consumer, and professional services, as well as different fields, such as advertising, public relations, technology, and fashion, so I’ve embraced these opportunities to learn something new. When I was considering my next move, I was interested in companies that were in the fintech space and also mission driven – SmartAsset was both of those things! I also wanted another professional opportunity to be a part of building something great, impactful, and meaningful. I’m thrilled that SmartAsset checked all of those boxes and honored that they selected me to oversee and scale their People department.
How has talent acquisition and management changed over the years that you have been involved in human resources?
Lapides: It’s wild to think about it now, but in my first recruiting coordinator role, we didn’t have an Applicant Tracking System. We used paper files to track candidates and I typed the labels for those files on a typewriter! We went from antiquated processes like that to new intelligent systems that help source great candidates and mitigate bias while offering data collection and analysis to iterate and improve on processes that make the most impact. “Data Fuels Our Decisions” is one of SmartAsset’s core values, and I’m happy that today’s HR systems allow us to make informed decisions in an efficient and timely manner.
When I was thinking of going into HR after studying to be a Marriage & Family Counselor in college, I spoke to a family friend who was the COO of a huge company about whether or not it was the right move. He told me that “Personnel was not for me. I was too creative for that.” We still joke that I have spent the last 20 years proving him wrong.
I’ve been lucky to work for progessive, people-centric organizations, but I’ve seen a huge increase in flexibility and creativity when it comes to managing talent. But more than that, especially post-pandemic, the People team not only has a seat at the table, but also we are key influencers in setting the strategy for the company’s most valuable resource: its people. The intersection of the business and our people is where our team sits and the two can’t be successful without the other. Highly engaged, happy and healthy employees build strong businesses. Businesses that allow people to make an impact internally and externally are the ones that attract the best talent. I am energized by being able to spend my time focusing on building a strong business and a culture that gives our Assets the best chance of success and allows our employees to grow.
What is most important to you in terms of leadership development within a company?
Lapides: Openness and shared vision. We all know how important mission, vision, and values are in building culture – but it’s very important for leadership to have a shared vision on what leadership looks like and how you can support each other to be successful from both the top down and the bottom up. I also think in order for a company to be truly successful – and have a highly engaged workforce – you need to have the openness to create a place where people can come as they are, lead as they are, and celebrate diversity in all forms.
What role can diversity and inclusion policies play to help drive growth and expansion?
Lapides: When you are creating products and services for the world, you need to look like the world you are creating it for. Studies show that the more diverse companies are, typically the more successful they are. But DEI is way more important than financial success. It helps DEI and company expansion to remove barriers to entry, reduce bias, open your recruiting pipeline, and create a safe, open, and equitable culture. When it comes to retaining your best talent, companies must ensure that their workplace allows people to be themselves, engage in real world events and issues, and also create a culture of belonging.
SmartAsset made the decision to remain a remote-first company. This helps our DEI strategy because it removes geographical barriers and helps us to be more accommodating of diverse work styles. Being a remote-first company further allows us to hire talent more quickly to support our rapid expansion given the fact that there are fewer geographic barriers.
What are some of the challenges a People strategy faces as businesses get bigger? How do companies overcome or manage them?
Lapides: Scaling a company is a huge challenge. Processes that worked at 50, 100, or 200 employees don’t always hold up at 500, 1,000, or 2,000. People teams also tend to run lean at a startup, so it’s really important to put talent behind that team – especially as you scale – to ensure the needs of your employees are met and you can get ahead of big projects and initiatives.
Are there any other issues you think might be worth highlighting about your new role?
Lapides: SmartAsset is a remote-first company, which is incredibly exciting because it allows us to hire the best talent wherever they are in the country. However, that comes with challenges as well. We are looking for opportunities to focus on asynchronous workflows to allow people to do their best work in their own time zones, but also have the ability to collaborate across different teams. We are focused on allowing the flexibility for both independent work and cross collaboration, and creating an environment that allows people to build relationships, focus on what is important, further build our culture, and continue to do great work.
Billpay platform doxo has raised $18.5 million in Series C funding.
The round was led by Jackson Square Ventures and featured participation from existing investors.
Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, doxo will use the capital to grow its platform and expand its team.
In a round led by Jackson Square Ventures, billpay platform doxo has secured $18.5 million in Series C funding. The capital will help the Seattle, Washington-based company further expand its platform, grow its workforce, build out its billpay provider directory, and accelerate its doxoDIRECT platform to enable billers to receive swift and cost-free direct electronic payments.
Valuation information was not immediately available. The Series C investment takes the company’s total funds raised to $37.3 million according to Crunchbase.
“People are shifting to more customer-centered, secure payment methods and billers are looking for ways to improve their payment experience and boost customer engagement,” doxo co-founder and CEO Steve Shivers said. “By meeting these needs, doxo’s growth has accelerated significantly this past year. We’re very pleased to have Jackson Square Ventures as our partner as we continue to scale to meet demand and expand the benefits we deliver to consumers and billers alike.”
doxo’s flagship solutions, doxo and doxoPLUS, enable consumers to send payments to more than 120,000 partnering billers from a single account. Consumers can use a variety of payment methods including credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, as well as their bank account, and payment information is not shared with billers. The technology enables users to set bill reminders, get real-time status updates, and monitor all of their payment history from a single location.
Available as both a free service and as a premium version for $4.99 a month that adds doxo’s Five Protections package (identity protection, overdraft protection, late fee protection, credit protection, and Private Pay protection), doxo’s technology helps consumers save money as well as improve their financial health.
doxo also offers doxoDIRECT for businesses that do not have billpay on their websites, compelling their customers to use other channels – such as mail, bank payments, and cash payments. doxoDIRECT for businesses enables companies to enhance customer engagement and payment convenience by closing this “gap” with a service that enables fast, free direct deposit payments. The company also publishes doxoINSIGHTS, an analysis of U.S. billpay statistics and bill payer behavior.
“We see doxo not just as a best-in-class billpay solution for both consumers and billers, but as an integral part of the overall ecosystem that will modernize the $4.61 trillion billpay industry,” Jackson Square Ventures co-founder and Managing Director Greg Gretsch said.
A Finovate alum since 2011, doxo most recently demonstrated its latest innovations at FinovateSpring 2019. At the conference, doxo showed how its doxoPay with overdraft protection – powered by fellow Finovate alum Plaid – enables users to track their bank account balance as they pay their bills. This helps consumers to better manage their cash flow and avoid overdrafts. Since then, the company has forged partnerships with energy delivery company National Grid, and payments technology company InComm Payments, and earned spots on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500, and Inc. Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies rosters.
Financial crime compliance firm Silent Eight raised $40 million in Series B funding.
The investment gives the Singapore-based company $55 million in total capital.
Led by TYH Ventures, the Series B round featured participation from HSBC Ventures, Silent Eight’s latest customer.
Silent Eight, an AI-based financial crime compliance company, has secured $40 million in Series B funding. The round was led by TYH Ventures and included top-up investments from OTB Ventures, Wavemaker Partners, Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures, Aglaia, as well as chairman and general partner of Altara Ventures, Koh Boon Hwee. Also participating in the round was HSBC Ventures, Silent Eight’s most recent customer.
“HSBC has been pleased with the progress made by Silent Eight’s AI platform,” HSBC Ventures’ Ore Adeyemi said. “We look forward to continuing to strengthen our partnership through this investment, and we are excited that my colleague Tom Caine is also joining as a Board Observer to help drive this investment partnership.”
Announced in January of last year, the multi-year partnership between Silent Eight and HSBC will enable the bank to enhance its compliance operations. HSBC will integrate Silent Eight Alert Resolution which investigates and resolves compliance issues as well as a human analyst, but with greater speed, precision, and accuracy.
The Series B investment gives Silent Eight $55 million in total capital and quadruples the company’s previous valuation reported in October 2020. Over the same time period, Silent Eight has realized revenue growth of 6x and tripled its workforce.
“We are here to support our customers and the policy makers of the world by ensuring that the benefits of the most advanced Artificial Intelligence systems are available on the frontlines of crime fighting,” Silent Eight CEO and founder Martin Markiewicz said.
Silent Eight builds compliance platforms for many of the world’s leading financial institutions. Deployed in more than 150 markets, the company’s AI-powered platform enforces economic sanctions and investigates all other financial crime risks – including suspicious transactions, beneficiaries, and customers – in real time. Silent Eight helps businesses understand the risks that may be present in both new and existing customer relationships, identify the payment stakeholder in every transaction, and monitor all transactions for potentially fraudulent behavior.
Silent Eight plans to use the capital to expand technology functions in order to support rapid growth in its customer base. The company also plans to hire additional talent, including more than 150 data scientists, developers, and engineers this year. Headquartered in Singapore, Silent Eight maintains global hubs in New York, London, and Warsaw.
