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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Chimney announced partnerships with two banks, Farmers & Merchants Bank and Northwest Bank, that will deploy Chimney’s embeddable financial tools to boost customer engagement.
Formerly known as Signal Intent, Chimney won Best of Show at FinovateSpring in 2021.
Courtesy of this week’s agreements, Chimney now boasts a total of 15 bank partnerships.
In a bid to boost customer engagement, Farmers & Merchants Bank and Northwest Bank have teamed up with Chimney and will deploy the New York-based company’s financial calculators to help their customers make better decisions about their financial futures.
“In the last two years, we’ve seen greater investments into digital experiences that put customers first,” Chimney co-founder and CEO Matthew Covi said. “Consumers no longer want to be pushed products and services; they want experiences that add value to their everyday life and improve their financial health.”
Previously known as Signal Intent – and winning a Best of Show award in its Finovate debut a year ago at the all-digital edition of FinovateSpring 2021 – Chimney offers embeddable modern financial calculators that can be launched quickly and require no coding to set up and deploy. Chimney has developed more than 35 financial calculator templates, covering a variety of financial categories. Whether a business is looking for tools to better engage homebuyers, automobile shoppers, or simply consumers looking to improve their investment portfolios or savings and budgeting habits, Chimney provides organization with the kind of embedded turnkey digital experiences that help turn website visitors into customers.
“F&M Bank has grown slowly and safely since 1907, earning its reputation as ‘California’s Strongest,'” F&M Bank CEO and board chairman Daniel K. Walker said. “We have supported the communities we call home for more than 100 years, and we aim to continue that. By working with Chimney, we will build deeper relationships with customers by transforming and personalizing their banking experience with the help of meaningful data. We believe this will be incredibly valuable to our customers.”
F&M Bank serves customers in South California and has more than $11 billion in assets. Iowa-based Northwest Bank has 70,000 customers and $2.3 billion in assets.
Chimney began 2022 with a pre-seed investment from the ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator and a seed investment from Anil D. Aggarwal, founder and chairman of Fintech Meetup, as well as Fin Venture Capital and Converge. The company rebranded as Chimney in February, in a shift that Covi said reflected a commitment to move beyond “providing outstanding products and services” and toward “delivering not just the products consumers want, but the experiences they expect.”
Modern card issuing platform Marqeta has come a long way since its Finovate debut in 2016. Back then, Marqeta was a six-year-old company, presenting the world’s first fully-documented, open API issuer processor platform, and emphasizing the company’s commitment to producing payments solutions that were “developer-friendly.” In fact, it was at Finovate’s developer conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley in 2016 that Marqeta led a presentation “Democratizing Issuer Payment Processing with Just-In-Time (JIT) Funding.”
In the years since then, the Oakland, California-based fintech has forged partnerships with fellow Finovate alum Token (2017); with CashFlows, Visa, and Mambu (2019), with Mastercard, Afterpay, and Uber (2020) and, last year, with companies including Bill.com, Coinbase, and Square. The company also has raised more than $530 million in funding, and launched as a public company a year ago, trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker MQ.
Most recently, Marqeta returned to the fintech headlines with news of its partnership with Alviere. An embedded finance platform, Alviere is currently in the process of expanding across Europe, where it plans to operate as an Electronic Money Institution and Principal Member Card Issuer in the region. By partnering with Marqeta, Alviere will be able to issue branded cards to customers in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the U.K.
“Access to financial services is continuing to evolve, and consumers are constantly opening up to new ways of moving, storing, spending and saving money,” Alviere co-founder and CEO Yuval Brisker said. “For brands in Europe, and around the world, providing financial services means uncovering vast untapped opportunities. Embedding financial products under their existing business, products, and to their existing customer base, has quickly emerged as an important strategy for growth and customer retention.”
Marqeta’s platform supports issuance of both physical and virtual payment cards, as well as tokenization, card management, and fulfillment. Processing and settlement are also included, along with authentication and 3DS (3-D secure authentication), just-in-time (JIT) funding, and dynamic spend controls. Marqeta’s reliance on open APIs and webhooks enables institutions to create customizable card experiences, and seamless interaction with other applications, while providing visibility and transparency via notifications and card monitoring.
Alviere hopes to take advantage of what Simon Torrance forecasts to be a $7.2 trillion global opportunity in embedded finance by 2030. To empower non-financial brands with the ability to offer financial products and solutions to their customers, Alviere offers a suite of solutions including branded bank accounts and cards, global payments, payment processing, as well as crypto wallets and exchanges. The New York-based company’s partnership news with Marqeta arrives in the wake of Alviere receiving an investment of $70 million and the appointment of its first Chief Financial Officer.
“Financial services open up a new avenue of consumer engagement for brands and allow them to deepen the consumer experience massively,” Marqeta Chief Operating Officer Vidya Peters said. “We’re excited that Alviere will be able to allow its brand customers to build in new payments experiences using our platform.”
The funding round featured the participation of U.K. pension fund giant Railpen. This week’s funding brings TransferMate’s total capital raised to $130 million and gives the company a valuation of more than $1 billion.
“By combining our technology and our global license network, we empower software providers, banks, and fintechs to deliver payments dramatically faster and cheaper than the traditional SWIFT system,” TransferMate co-founder and Executive Chairman Terry Clune said. “We will use this investment to continue to recruit senior financial talent who can help broaden our customer base.”
A global B2B payments infrastructure-as-a-service company, TransferMate specializes in streamlining, digitizing, and automating the manual operations required in order to facilitate the payments process. Used by banks, software companies, and fintechs alike, TransferMate’s embedded payments technology enables businesses to grow globally and pay locally. The company’s world-class compliance program, powered by a sizable portfolio of payment licences, features embedded security tools to defend against fraud and money laundering, and provides predictive risk assessments and real-time response solutions.
“Our commitment to deliver real-time transparency and speed when businesses are conducting cross border payments has resulted in TransferMate becoming the global B2B payment infrastructure of choice for the world’s leading procure-to-pay and spend management platforms,” TransferMate CEO and co-founder Sinead Fitzmaurice said. “This investment will allow us to accelerate our mission to drive innovation as businesses seek to digitize their B2B payments within the core software that they use to conduct their day-to-day activities.”
Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Kilkenny, Ireland TransferMate is a subsidiary of Clune Technology Group. Last fall, the company announced a partnership with ComplyAdvantage, a specialist in customer onboarding and transaction screening and monitoring.
For the first time since 2019, FinovateSpring was held before a live audience of more than 1,000 fintech professionals, analysts, entrepreneurs, and observers. The energy at the San Francisco Hilton in Union Square was palpable. Attendees arrived early and stayed late – even on a sunny Friday afternoon with the delights of the City by the Bay beckoning.
With the event concluded, what did we see, what did we learn, and what do we know now about the state of fintech that we did not know a week ago? Here are a few thoughts on where we are as an industry and where we might be going.
Embeddable You (Me and Everything Else)
If there was one theme that dominated an event as diverse in ideas as FinovateSpring it was: “embeddedness”. Companies are looking to leverage embedded finance to make banking and investing more streamlined and accessible. Futurists are predicting the rise of smart technologies – including intelligent toilets (!) – that would use embedded technology to help users better manage their physical wellness. The ability to bring both intelligence and connectedness to an ever-growing range of products and services is a trend that looks likely to dominate both technology in general and fintech in specific for years to come.
As more than one main stage presenter noted, the embedded finance revolution brings new heat to a handful of fintech trends that arguably were in danger of cooling down. On the demo side, FinovateSpring featured companies committed to helping banks and businesses alike maximize the embedded opportunity with solutions that will enable them to pursue new customers, launch new lines of business, and grow revenues in new ways.
Among our presentations were deep dives into who was likely to benefit the most from embracing embedded finance (Daniel Haisley of Apiture’s Embedded Banking – Debunking the Myths), as well as strategies that banks can follow in order to make money from the embedded finance phenomenon rather than be disrupted by it (Sam Kilmer of Cornerstone Advisors’ How Embedded Finance Can Generate Over $100 Billion in Revenue for Banks).
What We Know from Best of Show
Our FinovateSpring attendees awarded Best of Show trophies to six companies at this year’s event. Is there anything in their selections that we can use to learn more about what fintech enthusiasts are enthusiastic about when it comes to the latest in fintech innovation?
Every one of the six companies that won Best of Show honors last week was innovating in a different aspect of fintech. Embedded finance and data management (Array and FinGoal). Financial wellness and alternative financing (Spave and QuickFi). Innovations in employee training, education, and retention (Horizn and Keep Financial Technology). This year’s FinovateSpring Best of Show winners paint a picture of fintech innovation that is, in some ways, a little different from and more diverse than what we tend to see everyday in the fintech headlines.
Who’s right: the fintech “buzz” or the Finovate Best of Show winners? On one hand, continued carnage in the crypto space may help moderate the voices of digital asset partisans and steer their efforts toward more in-demand solutions. After all, as one clever fintech observer noted, no one believes that the president of El Salvador had planned to risk his country’s economy on a cryptocurrency that has behaved like an overvalued tech stock. On the other hand, the top picks from our attendees demonstrate a combination of perennial challenges – safe, affordable financing, data access and cleanliness, improving workplace conditions via training and incentives – as well as novel, innovative responses that have always been the hallmark of fintech in general and of Finovate in specific.
Crypto and the Metaverse: The Dogs That Didn’t Bark
Fintech analyst Glenn Sarvady of 154 Advisors made an insightful observation last week when he noted an absence of demoes looking to leverage the current buzz surrounding the metaverse. There was a keynote address from an actual Metaversean – namely, Deepanjan De, Head of Industry, Financial Services, with Meta (formerly Facebook). De discussed how financial services companies can leverage the “creator renaissance” to future-ready their businesses on the final day of FinovateSpring. But that presentation aside, there was precious little to be said about the metaverse even, as Sarvady pointed out, from companies that looked pretty obviously like they were based on the metaverse.
The relative absence of cryptocurrency-related conversations and live demonstrations was also noteworthy. Certainly recent events in the cryptocurrency world have dampened much of the enthusiasm for digital assets that has characterized the fintech conversation for the past few years. But with the exception of Cion Digital, Coinme, and Polymesh, the demoing companies of FinovateSpring 2022 were more focused on solutions to problems that, in some respects, have been long-standing ones. These include access to credit, access to data, access to wellness and financial self-improvement. If cryptocurrencies – and the metaverse for that matter- are able to respond to these core financial concerns, we yet may see a lasting, more enduring place for these technologies on the agendas of fintechs and financial services companies.
The Palmer Report: “Worry Cripples Activity”
Finovate VP (and host of the Finovate Podcast) Greg Palmer set the tone on the very first day of FinovateSpring with an inspiring address on worrying. Mindful of the difficult times we have been going through in recent years – from political polarization and the pandemic to the war in Ukraine and economic uncertainty around the globe – Palmer also urged us to be mindful of the dangers of living life in what amounts to a defensive crouch.
“The innovators and thought leaders you’re about to hear from aren’t worrying,” Palmer announced from the stage on the morning of Day One of FinovateSpring. “Well, they’re not just worrying. They’re building. They’re looking forward. They’re focused on what’s possible now that wasn’t possible before. And we all need to join them.”
Financial enablement platform Array announced a partnership with Jack Henry Associates to embed its credit management and identity protection solutions into Jack Henry’s Banno Digital Platform.
Among the institutions to adopt the technology is Washington-based Timberland Bank.
Array is a two-time Finovate Best of Show winner, earning its most recent award at FinovateSpring 2022 last week.
Array, a financial enablement platform that specializes in embeddable solutions for financial institutions, announced a partnership with fellow Finovate alum Jack Henry. The partnership will integrate Array’s credit management services, identity protection tools, and offer engine into Jack Henry’s Banno Digital Platform. The combination of technologies will give customers personalized credit and financial insights via their preferred financial institution partners.
“The financial services ecosystem exists to enable consumers to improve their financial health,” Array Director of Strategic Partnerships Jacob Bouer said. “This movement is both necessary and urgent. If financial institutions do not offer credit monitoring and identity protection products, consumers will find them elsewhere.”
By leveraging the Banno Digital Toolkit, Array has been able to help financial institutions better serve their customers and members by enabling them to securely access and monitor their credit directly from their bank or credit union. Not only does the integration give better service to customers, it also helps banks boost digital engagement, grow revenues, and expand opportunities for both new lending and credit. Among the institutions to take early advantage of Array’s technology is Timberland Bank, headquartered in Washington. The bank’s EVP and COO, Jonathan Fischer, praised the partnership for providing “the tools necessary to engage and educate customers on their credit health, which strengthens relationships and ultimately improves our community’s well-being.”
Among the solutions available to bank customers via the collaboration are customized credit score simulators, score factors, debt analysis, alerts, and more. The technology helps educate bank customers by giving them greater awareness of their credit information and history, and enables them to make better decisions on how to improve their financial lives.
Founded in 2019 and headquartered in New York, Array demoed its technology last week at FinovateSpring in San Francisco. At the conference, the company earned its second Best of Show award for its platform that democratizes data accessibility while simultaneously protecting privacy and ensuring consent. Martin Toha is founder and CEO.
The votes have been cast and counted! Meet the winners of Best of Show for FinovateSpring 2022:
Array for its financial enablement platform, specializing in embeddable tools and white label solutions, used by leading financial institutions. Demo.
FinGoal for its insights platform that cleans, enriches, and analyzes personal financial data to better understand users and provide actionable insights. Demo.
Horizn for its platform that helps banks globally accelerate digital banking knowledge, fluency, and adoption with both customers and employees. Demo.
Keep Financial Technology for its innovation that solves the hiring and retention challenges of companies by introducing a new form of employee compensation called Cash Vesting Plans. Demo.
QuickFi for its 100% digital, self-service, mobile equipment financing platform that enables business equipment financing in minutes. Demo.
Spave for its all-in-one financial wholeness app that allows users to effortlessly save and give as they spend. Demo.
Our thanks to all of our demoing companies, our sponsors, our partners, and – of course – our attendees – for continuing to make FinovateSpring such a success. Thank you for being a part of our annual spring fintech conference. We’ll see you again next year!
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 2022 conferences are below:
TechCrunch and Pitchbook are reporting that HR innovator Gusto has raised an extension on its Series E round.
The company’s Series E round, launched in 2021, was led by T. Rowe Price Associates, and totaled $175 million.
The amount of the extension was not disclosed, but it is believed to be in the neighborhood of $55 million.
TechCrunch is reporting that HR technology company – and Finovate alum – Gusto has secured an extension of its 2021 Series E funding round. That round featured an investment of $175 million and was led by T. Rowe Price Associates. The amount of capital in the extension announced this week has not been disclosed, but TechCrunch suggests that the sum “appears to be around the $55 million mark.” Ahead of this week’s extension announcement, Gusto had a valuation of nearly $10 billion, and now has more than $746 in total funding.
Gusto offers an all-in-one platform to enable businesses to successfully automate and manage their HR operations. This includes a full-service payroll capability, as well as employee benefits management, hiring and onboarding, talent management, and timecards and attendance. The platform also provides insights and reporting that support anonymous team surveys, customizable reports, automatic compliance alerts, and more.
The company, launched in 2012, made its Finovate debut as ZenPayroll in 2014. Rebranding one year later as Gusto, the company has since grown into a fintech unicorn with more than 200,000 business customers nationwide. Gusto processes tens of billions of dollars in payroll every year while providing employee benefits – including health insurance and 401(k) accounts – that help companies provide an optimal environment for their workers.
“We are excited to partner with Gusto, a leader in the people management platform,” Engagedly President and co-founder Sri Chellappa said. “As a partner, Gusto will help our joint clients leverage the vast power of Engagedly for employee engagement, people development, learning and performance management, and providing a seamless and holistic employee experience.”
Gusto is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Co-founder Joshua Reeves is CEO.
A $50 million investment will help Egyptian digital payments company Paymob expand into new markets in both the Middle East and Africa. The round was led by Kora Capital, PayPal Ventures, and Clay Point, and represents the largest ever Series B round in Egyptian fintech history.
“Central Bank of Egypt initiatives that are continuously being introduced in the market to support fintech companies were key to Paymob’s growth,” company founder and CEO Islam Shawky said. “The Central Bank has created a regulatory framework to help fintech flourish and participate in making Egypt’s digital financial inclusion ambitions a reality.”
Processing more than 85% of the market share of transactions in Egypt with its mobile wallet technology, Paymob serves customers in five markets including Palestine, Pakistan, and Kenya. The investment comes as Paymob reports strong 2021 growth, including year-on-year growth in merchant partners and monthly volumes of 4x as of December. The company has onboarded more than 10,000 merchants in less than two years en route to a goal of onboarding one million SMEs.
This week’s funding brings Paymob’s total capital to more than $68.5 million.
South African bank Capitec announced that it was teaming up with two Finovate alums, Entersekt and nCino.
“Capitec has embraced an agile and innovative approach to growth,” nCino CEO Pierre Naudé said. “We’re glad Capitec saw a partner in nCino and look forward to providing the bank with industry-leading technology and a flexible platform that will help drive the sustainability and growth of its business banking operations.”
nCino made its Finovate debut in 2017 at FinovateEurope. The company’s flagship offering, its cloud-based Bank Operating System, provides a complete end-to-end banking solution that combines CRM, loan origination, workflow, ECM, business intelligence, and reporting all in a single location. nCino’s technology replaces disparate point solutions and manual processes with a modern, digitally-optimized experience.
The technology will enable Capitec to spot high risk e-commerce transactions in real-time, enhancing security without interfering with the customer experience. Entersekt’s EMV 3D Secure solution is pre-integrated with NuDetect from NuData Security – also a Finovate alum – which leverages behavioral biometrics and machine learning to help tell the difference between authentic users and potential fraudsters.
“We are constantly looking for ways to offer the best security possible without impacting our customers’ experiences,” Capitec Bank Marketing and Communications Executive Francois Viviers said. “By implementing Entersekt’s EMV 3D Secure solution with behavioral analytics from NuData Security, we are able to provide an additional level of protection for our e-commerce transactions. This also allows our team to continue to innovate, keeping our customers secure and Capitec at the forefront of digital banking innovation in South Africa.”
Entersekt demonstrated its technology as part of our developers conference, FinDEVr, in San Francisco in 2014. The company, headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, finished 2021 with a “significant investment” from Accel-KKR. This spring, Entersekt announced partnerships with edtech Mindjoy and the MiDO Foundation to promote financial literacy, as well as a collaboration with credit union service organization (CUSO) Bonifii to bring context-aware authentication solutions to credit unions.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
FIS has partnered with Treasury Prime to launch a new embedded finance offering.
The new solution will give FIS’ banking customers additional options for managing deposits, AP, and other critical bank processes.
The collaboration with Treasury Prime is FIS’ second big embedded finance play of the year, having acquired embedded finance solution provider Payrix in February.
FIS has launched a new embedded finance offering, built in partnership with Treasury Prime, to help community and regional banks take advantage of the most modern digital capabilities and create new distribution channels. The new API-based solution will give FIS’ banking customers and their business clients new options when it comes to managing deposits, accounts payable, and other key banking operations.
The new offering will also enable community and regional banks to potentially create new revenue streams by expanding their client base, especially among highly digitally-active consumers.
“Embedded finance is a growing trend in the market because it allows businesses to bring innovative ideas quickly to market by combining financial services with user experiences right at the point of need,” FIS Head of Payments Kelly Beatty explained.
A leading technology solutions provider for merchants, banks, and capital markets firms – and a Finovate alum since 2010 – FIS processes more than $75 billion in transaction value for than 20,000+ clients globally. Treasury Prime offers APIs that enable companies to embed a range of banking services onto their platforms to boost revenues, increase customer loyalty, and offer rewards. Writing about the partnership on the Treasury Prime blog, Vice President of Banking Jeff Nowicki noted that the collaboration will enable banks to focus on their core strengths “rather than trying to compete with fintechs.” The partnership will also create new opportunities for business lines or revenues “(in) the same way community banks have for ages added lenders or business banking teams to target specific segments.”
The technology already has been integrated by digital commercial bank Grasshopper. The firm, in partnership with Web 3 blockchain company HUMBL, will deploy FIS’ embedded finance services across both its consumer and commercial divisions.
“Our vision has been clear from the start,” Grasshopper Chief Digital Officer Chris Tremont said,. “We wanted to better serve the needs of fintechs, small and medium-sized businesses, and the venture community. This BaaS platform and sophisticated set of APIs allows us to leverage technology and provide an enhanced banking experience for our clients.”
2022 has been a year in which FIS has paid particular attention to opportunities in embedded finance. A Finovate alum since 2010, FIS began the year with an acquisition of embedded payments solution provider Payrix. The deal will bolster FIS’ e-commerce, embedded payments, and finance experiences for small and medium-sized merchants via SaaS-based platforms.
“The acquisition of Payrix is an excellent proof point of FIS’ ability to unlock the value of our broad portfolio of solutions as companies of all sizes rely on FIS as a destination for innovation to advance how the world pays, banks, and invests,” said FIS President Stephanie Ferris.
Three credit unions – VyStar CU, BCU, and Reseda Group – have invested in credit risk management specialist AKUVO.
Terms of the funding were not disclosed.
The new capital will help AKUVO further develop its credit risk and delinquency management platform, Aperture.
Credit risk and delinquency management specialist AKUVOannounced a new investment not from the world of venture capital, but from the land of membership-powered credit unions. The amount of the investment was not disclosed, but the names of the credit unions involved in the funding have been: VyStar Credit Union, BCU, and Reseda Group, a wholly-owned CUSO (credit union service organization) of Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU).
The funding will enable AKUVO to further develop its collection and credit risk platform, Aperture. The cloud-based, API-enabled portfolio risk and delinquency management solution provides streamlined information for quick and easy research and leverages robotic processing to offer businesses a 20% improvement in collector efficiency, a 15% reduction of effort for speciality processes, a 10% reduction in collection workload, and a 10% increase in manager efficiency.
“Our goal is to empower members to discover financial freedom, and I am optimistic AKUVO’s data science solutions will help us accelerate our ability to do just that,” BCU EVP and COO Jim Block said. “We anticipate rapid growth over the next decade, and the Aperture platform has the promise to scale with our membership.”
With $5.5 billion in assets, BCU is based in Vernon Hills, Illinois, in the greater Chicago area. BCU is the smallest (by assets) of the three credit unions involved in AKUVO’s funding this week. Reseda Group is part of $6.8 billion MSUFCU and this investment represents the second time the institution has invested in AKUVO (the first being in January of this year).
“AKUVO’s Aperture platform will change the way we provide members with individual credit solutions that maximize recoveries,” MSUFCU Chief Risk Officer Jim Hunsanger said. “Aperture’s data-based decisioning also ensures we meet regulatory and legal requirements. We’re excited to be an AKUVO client and early investor.”
VyStar Credit Union, based in Jacksonville, Florida, has $12 billion in assets, and is one of the 15 largest credit unions in the country. Speaking on behalf of the firm, VyStar’s SVP of Loan Administration Eric Weatherly said that the investment in AKUVO will “allow us to be a greater force for change for our members and the credit union community.”
Courtesy of the investment, each of the three credit unions involved will have a representative on AKUVO’s board of directors. Headquartered in Pennsylvania, AKUVO was founded in 2019.
FinovateSpring 2022 goes live next week. From Wednesday, May 18 through Friday, May 20, FinovateSpring returns to San Francisco, California for three days of innovative fintech demonstrations, insightful mainstage presentations, and lively debates and panel discussions on the most critical topics in fintech today.
To help get you ready for next week’s event, here’s an opportunity to get to know some of the companies that will be making their first-ever appearance at a Finovate conference. From innovators in credit decisioning and data management to specialists in cybersecurity and financial wellness, this year’s cohort of FinovateSpring newbees promises something for everyone.
Click on the buttons below to learn more about each of the companies making its Finovate debut next week at FinovateSpring. Then visit our FinovateSpring 2022 hub to pick up your ticket today!
Be sure to catch our Finovate first-timers next week at FinovateSpring 2022 in San Francisco, California, May 18 through May 20. Tickets are still available, so visit our registration page today and save your spot.
Current launched its platform API today and introduced Plaid as its first partner.
The collaboration between Current and Plaid will enable Current members to access digital financial services from more than 6,000 apps and services on the Plaid network.
Current earned a valuation of $2.2 billion after securing $220 million in Series D funding last spring.
Fintech platform Currentlaunched its platform API today. The new offering is designed to bring seamless integrations and embedded banking experiences to fintechs and financial services companies. The product launch is being accompanied by news that Current has secured its first partner, API-first data network Plaid. The partnership will enable Current members (totaling nearly four million) to access an even wider range of innovative digital financial solutions to help them better manage their finances. These solutions, available via the Plaid network, range from digital payments to financial planning to investment tools.
“Our new platform API gives open banking partners the capability to embed our core banking technology,” Current CTO Trevor Marshall said. “We’re thrilled to be working with Plaid, the industry leader in open banking, as our first partner. We enabled this integration in response to feedback from our members. With Plaid, our members can access experiences that can help improve their financial lives with control and security.”
In working with Plaid, Current will provide its members with a credential-less open finance experience, leveraging both Current’s API as well as phone number and device authentication to reduce friction.
“We’re thrilled to enable a simple, secure on-ramp to digital financial services for Current members, who are often banking for the first time in their lives,” Plaid Partnerships Lead for Universal Access Raja Chakravorti said. “The integration ensures that consumers are in control of where and how their financial data is permissioned and shared, information that is essential to setting up a healthy financial life.”
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in New York, Current offers a variety of solutions to help its members change their lives by creating better financial outcomes. The company offers up to 4.00% APY via its Savings Pods solution, provides overdraft protection of up to $200, enables early wage access for members who use direct deposit, and gives consumers up to 15x the points on qualifying transactions made via the Current debit card.
Current secured $220 million in Series D funding last spring in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The investment gave the company a valuation of $2.2 billion. Stuart Sopp is CEO.
