Author: David Penn

Have Cryptocurrency Firms Reached a Moral Crossroads Over Ukraine?

Have Cryptocurrency Firms Reached a Moral Crossroads Over Ukraine?
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, MasterCard, VISA

While much of the financial world is united in its efforts to distance itself from Russia as the country’s leader, Vladimir Putin, orders his forces continue their invasion of neighboring Ukraine, many of those in the cryptocurrency world are decidedly more ambivalent.

Is this a function of the underlying libertarian spirit that powers much of the enthusiasm for digital assets? Or is this just a reflection of a relatively young industry that is not yet ready to take on the responsibilities that its growing role in the financial world will eventually demand?

First, the ask. At the beginning of the week, Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov took to social media to ask cryptocurrency exchanges to block transactions from Russia. Federov’s request was not just directed at the Russian government, or the country’s notorious oligarchs, but for everyday Russian users of cryptocurrencies, as well.

“It’s crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians,” Federov wrote on Twitter, “but also to sabotage ordinary users.”

In the same way that some people have criticized the international sanctions regime against Russia for allowing a loophole when it comes to energy – specifically banning oil and gas exports from Russia – Federov and others have warned that not restricting, if not outright eliminating, Russian access to cryptocurrencies is a critical flaw in the effort to financially squeeze the Russian economy.

In response to this request, many nations have taken action. France’s Finance Minister, Bruno le Maire, said that the EU would include cryptocurrencies in its sanctions. The Financial Conduct Authority in the U.K. has reminded its U.K.-based and regulated cryptocurrency companies of their obligations to respect the sanctions policy against Russia. Even those cryptocurrency firms that are not regulated have been encouraged to support the sanctions regime. “We would urge unregulated member(s) to take action to ensure your platforms do not become a loophole for sanctioned Russians,” U.K. cryptocurrency organization Crypto UK said in a statement.

In the U.S., while some lawmakers have encouraged the government to help ensure that Russians are not using cryptocurrencies to skirt sanctions, the Biden Administration appears less concerned about that threat – at least on the large scale. Carol House, director of cybersecurity for the National Security Council said this week that “the scale that the Russian state would need to successfully circumvent all U.S. and partners’ financial sanctions would almost certainly render cryptocurrency as an ineffective primary tool for the state.” If anything, it seems that U.S. authorities are somewhat more concerned about potential theft and cybersecurity issues surrounding cryptocurrency companies than they are of Russians using these firms and exchanges for what would otherwise be legitimate purposes.

The response from cryptocurrency companies – including some of the largest firms like Binance and Kraken – have suggested that while they are comfortable blocking the accounts of sanctioned Russians, banning all Russians from their platforms is, for these companies, a bridge too far. At least for now.

“We are not political, we are against war, but we are here to help the people,” Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao said, explaining his company’s position. “There are a few hundred individuals that are on the international sanctions list in Russia, mostly politicians, and we follow that very, very strictly.” But Zhao added that Binance draws a line “between the Russian politicians who start wars and the normal people, many normal Russians do not agree with war.”

Similarly, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell tweeted, “I understand the rationale for this request (to block Russians from Kraken’s platform) but, despite my deep respect for the Ukrainian people, Kraken cannot freeze the accounts of our Russian clients without a legal requirement to do so.”

That said, Powell noted, “Russians should be aware that such a requirement could be imminent.”

Additionally, it should be added many cryptocurrency companies are not agnostic to the conflict in the Ukraine and have lent their support to the Ukrainian cause. Federov expressed his, and his country’s, appreciation for the efforts of firms like Polkadot, which donated $5 million, as well as Solana and Everstake, which have created a joint effort called Aid for Ukraine in partnership with the country’s Ministry of Digital Transformation.

“This will certainly contribute to the Ukrainian victory as well as support civil people,” Federov said on Twitter earlier this week. “We will win – the best people (are) with us.”

FinovateEurope 2022 is only a few weeks away. Register today to save your spot at our annual European fintech conference: March 15 digitally and live in London on March 22 and 23.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

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Social Investing App Shares Announces $40 Million Series A Investment

Social Investing App Shares Announces $40 Million Series A Investment
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Shares, a new social investment app based in Paris, has raised $40 million in Series A funding.
  • The app combines fractional share investing with features that enable users to observe the investing behavior of others, as well as collaborate on investment strategies.
  • The app is available to investors in the U.K. The company plans to bring the solution to investors in other European countries “in the future.”

In a round led by Valar Ventures, social investment app Shares has raised $40 million in Series A funding. The investment comes as the Paris-based fintech goes live with its app on both the Apple App Store and Google Play, and lifts the company’s total capital to $50 million.

Shares’ technology enables investors to buy and sell shares in public companies, and adds the ability for friends and colleagues to collaborate when it comes to investing and building investment strategies. The app allows for fractional share investing, users can open accounts with as little as £1.00, and there are no fees for buying and selling shares. What helps distinguish Shares from other mobile-first investment platforms is the ability to create discussion groups to facilitate information-sharing with other investors and traders on the app. Shares also features an investment activity feed that enables users to see when their friends are buying and selling shares.

The app is currently available only to investors in the U.K.; the company has provided a waitlist for interested individuals in the E.U. Shares is partnered with Alpaca Securities LLC, which is serving as the company’s execution broker.

Headquartered in Paris, France, Shares was co-founded by Benjamin Chemia (CEO), François Ruty (CTO) and Harjas Singh (CPO) and maintains offices in London and Krakow, as well. The goal of the company was to reduce barriers to investing, especially for first-time investors. With fractional share investing and a social component that makes it easy to learn, share, and collaborate, Shares seeks to counter the notion that investing is “boring and lonely” and, instead, show that investing is “something everyone can enjoy.”

“Despite having worked in finance, I know from my own experience as a retail investor how inaccessible the world of investing can be even with today’s lower barrier, commission-free apps,” Singh said last fall. “There is a real consumer demand for a social-first app like Shares designed to level the playing field so anyone can join the conversation and become an investor.”

Joining Valar Ventures in the funding round were existing investors Singular, Global Founders Capital, and Red Sea Ventures.

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Women and FinovateEurope: Delivering the Message of Fintech Innovation

Women and FinovateEurope: Delivering the Message of Fintech Innovation
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2022, Speaker series, Women in Fintech

From the very first FinovateEurope, women have led and helped lead live demonstrations of how companies were using new technologies to tackle the financial challenges faced by businesses, families, and communities. As part of that inaugural event in 2012, women from Cardlytics, ETRONIKA, Figlo, Ixaris Systems, Kabbage, Liqpay, Mootwin, Striata, and ValidSoft were on stage delivering the message of fintech innovation.

As Women’s History Month gets underway – and with International Women’s Day, March 8, right around the corner – we wanted to highlight some of the women who will be demoing their company’s latest fintech innovations this month at FinovateEurope 2022. Catch all of our FinovateEurope demoes during our Digital Kickoff on March 15, and on March 22 and March 23 for the live event in London.

Liron Diamant

Fintech Executive, Anodot. A payments expert with more than ten years’ experience in fintech startups, Diamant has a focus on building payments platforms and managing relationships with international banks and payments companies.

Daria Dubinina

CEO and Co-founder, Crassula. A strategist and entrepreneur as well as a CEO and founder, Dubinina has spent more than ten years specializing in payments, e-commerce, and business development.

Patrycja Karwat

IT Security Specialist, BNP Paribas Poland. Presenting in partnership with Secfense, Karwat has more than five years of experience in cybersecurity and banking. Previously, she spent more than four years in various technical roles with Deloitte including as Senior Analyst and Quality Assurance Tester.

Katalin Kauzli

Co-founder, Business Development Director, Partner HUB. With experience on both the principal and advisor side of business operations, Kauzli has 10+ years experience in a variety of roles, including assisting startups seeking equity in Hungary and managing corporate finance assignments.

Mariam Malwand

Product Owner, Topicus.Finance. Educated at Amsterdam’s Hotelschool Den Haag, Malwand brings founding and managing director experience to her work as Product Owner at Topicus Finance.

Yasmina Siadatan

Sales and Marketing Director, Dynamic Planner. With knowledge and experience across core marketing areas from analysis and communication to digital content and sales, Siadatan has helped drive awareness of Dynamic Planner and its brand throughout the retail investment industry.

Ana Luísa Silva

Head of Marketing, ebankIT. Silva brings more than seven years of experience in marketing and communications to her role at Finovate Best of Show winner ebankIT. She holds advanced degrees from the EAE Business School and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

FinovateEurope 2022 is only a few weeks away. If you are an innovative fintech company with new technology to show, then there’s no better time than now and no better forum than FinovateEurope. To learn more about how to demo your latest innovation at FinovateEurope 2022 in London, March 22 and 23, visit our FinovateEurope hub today!

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Innovation Credit Union Teams Up with VeriPark for its New Digital Banking Experience

Innovation Credit Union Teams Up with VeriPark for its New Digital Banking Experience
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, VeriPark
  • Canadian financial institution Innovation Credit Union (ICU) teamed up with digital banking solutions provider VeriPark to launch a new digital banking experience.
  • VeriPark made its Finovate debut in 2019 at our Dubai conference, FinovateMiddleEast.
  • With more than 57,000 members, ICU is the third largest credit union in the province of Sasakatchewan.

VeriPark, a London-based digital banking solutions provider that made its Finovate debut at FinovateMiddleEast in Dubai in 2019, has been selected by Canada’s Innovation Credit Union (ICU) to help it launch a new digital banking experience.

“Innovation has grown to become one of the leading credit unions of Canada,” Innovation Credit Union CEO Daniel Johnson said. “With this enhanced simplified look, our goal was to modernize our visual identity and further align to our purpose of simplifying banking for our current and future members.”

ICU will deploy VeriPark’s VeriChannel internet banking and mobile banking solutions, enabling the Saskatchewan-based credit union’s 57,000+ members to enjoy omni-channel banking experiences with seamless, multi-device functionality. The new platform provides a more convenient digital banking experience along with a new and improved website and a mobile app that is both faster and more intuitive. Savings and mortgage calculators are among the tools available with the new offering, along with other features to help members open and manage their accounts, transfer money, and track requests.

The partnership with VeriPark is no small matter for ICU, which described the collaboration as part of its goal of becoming Canada’s first fully digital credit union. Founded in 2007 by way of a merger between Southwest Credit Union and BCU Financial, ICU is the third largest credit union in the province and the 21st largest credit union in the country with more than $2.4 billion in assets. The institution began its journey to became the third, federally-regulated credit union in Canada after 82% of its members voted in favor of a special resolution in 2017 promoting federalization. This move will enable the credit union to operate nationwide and fulfill its goal of bringing “responsible banking to all of Canada.”

Founded in 1998, VeriPark maintains offices in the U.K., the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The company’s technology helps businesses improve customer acquisition, retention, and cross-selling capacities with the goal of guiding financial institutions on their digital transformation journeys. With secure and scalable solutions for customer engagement, omni-channel delivery, branch automation, loan origination, and more, VeriPark leverages Microsoft’s cloud platforms and Microsoft Dynamics 365 to serve customers in more than 30 countries around the world.

VeriPark began the year earning recognition from Gartner in its 2022 Market Guide for Digital Banking Multichannel Solutions. Last fall, the company leveraged the Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services to create three new apps: a complaints and service requests solution, a financial transactions app, and a Customer 360 app that provides insights into customer balances, transactions, utilized solutions, and more. Özkan Erener is CEO.

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MX Teams Up with Embedded Banking Platform Rize

MX Teams Up with Embedded Banking Platform Rize
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MX
  • Multiple-time Finovate Best of Show winner MX announced a partnership with embedded banking platform Rize.
  • Together the two fintechs will make it easier for developers to build and launch new financial services and products through a single API.
  • Virginia-based fintech-as-a-service innovator Rize was founded in 2015 and has recently partnered with Walnut Insurance and TrueNorth.

A partnership between financial data and modern connectivity company MX and embedded banking platform Rize will enable fintech and other developers to build, launch, and scale new financial solutions via a single API.

The collaboration, announced late last month, will provide access to Rize’s banking infrastructure and compliance program. Both current and new clients also will be able to securely link bank accounts from 16,000+ financial institutions and fintechs by way of MX’s data connectivity network, which leverages machine learning to clean and enrich transaction data.

“Our partnership with Rize is all about developing new financial products and services through one API,” MX EVP of Partnerships Don Parker said. “By cutting the associated time and costs of development, we’ll open up MX functionality to a wider range of fintech companies and organizations already working to improve financial strength and access to quality financial tools.”

Powering 85% of digital banking providers and thousands of banks, credit unions, and fintechs, MX most recently demonstrated its technology on the Finovate stage last fall in New York for FinovateFall. At the conference, the multiple-time Best of Show winner showed its Open Finance portal that improves the data sharing experience between providers and recipients for the benefit of the customer. The technology relies on modern, token-based connectivity to give financial institutions the ability to monitor and manage how customer data is shared.

In the months since its appearance at FinovateFall, MX has forged partnerships with Deposits.com to promote financial inclusion in underbanked communities, and with H&R Block, where the Lehi, Utah-based fintech will help the tax preparer provide customers of its Spruce mobile banking platform with greater transparency. In February, MX teamed up with Cadence Bank, a regional financial institution based in Tupelo, Mississippi with more than $50 billion in assets and 400+ branches in the American South, Midwest and in Texas. MX began the year with the appointment of Shane Evans as Interim Chief Executive Officer. Evans took over the top spot from MX founder Ryan Caldwell, who transitioned to the role of Executive Chair.

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Digital Banking Solutions Provider Bankjoy Announces 16 New Credit Union Partners

Digital Banking Solutions Provider Bankjoy Announces 16 New Credit Union Partners
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Bankjoy, Daily news
  • Michigan-based banking solutions provider Bankjoy announced 16 new credit union partners.
  • Combined, credit unions represent more than 350,000 members and more than $3.3 billion in assets
  • The partnership news follows the company’s launch of a new small business banking platform.

Digital banking solutions provider Bankjoy has added 16 credit unions to its digital service ecosystem. The new partners combined represent more than 350,000 members and more than $3.3 billion in assets. Additionally, they serve members in states ranging from New Mexico, Texas, and Nevada, to Ohio, Illinois, and Alaska.

The credit unions newly partnering with Bankjoy include:

  • Cooperative Teachers Credit Union
  • Directions Credit Union
  • Elko FCU
  • Estacado FCU
  • Firelands FCU
  • Fremont FCU
  • Glass City FCU
  • Impact Credit Union
  • Las Colinas FCU
  • Lone Star Credit Union
  • Midwest Community FCU
  • OU FCU
  • Streator Onized Credit Union
  • Trius FCU
  • True North FCU
  • Pyramid FCU

“Credit unions like Estacado, Cooperative Teachers Credit Union and others are partnering with fintechs like Bankjoy to provide modern digital banking platforms that keep pace with members’ needs,” Bankjoy CEO Michael Duncan said. He highlighted growth in deposits in credit unions across the country, adding “as these trends continue, we’re adding more credit unions to our platform and look forward to helping them deliver a superior experience.”

Bankjoy’s partnership news comes in the wake of the company’s addition of a modern business banking platform to its offering. The platform, introduced in December, gives banks the tools its small business customers need and include solutions for invoicing, payroll, company formation, wire transfers, and entitlements.

Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, and founded in 2015, Bankjoy also reported late last year that it had been chosen as the first official Corelation Certified Partner. The partnership enables credit unions who use Corelation’s Keystone core to efficiently integrate with Bankjoy. It also makes it easy for Bankjoy’s credit union partners to migrate their core to Corelation without disrupting the member experience.

“To support the credit union movement, it is critical for fintechs to partner with likeminded organizations who are committed to a member-centric approach,” Duncan said. “Our collaboration with Corelation has been incredibly successful, delivering tremendous value to credit unions.”

A Finovate alum since 2016, Bankjoy has raised $1.8 million in funding from investors including SixThirty and CheckAlt.

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Innovation in the Face of Invasion: Flying the Flag of Ukrainian Fintech

Innovation in the Face of Invasion: Flying the Flag of Ukrainian Fintech
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: David's column, Finovate Global

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent shockwaves around the world – and the fintech industry has not been immune to the reverberations. As Axios noted last week, fintechs such as money transfer giant Wise and financial services company Brex have limited or halted fund transfers altogether to Russia and Ukraine. The reasons given for the service changes have varied, with some organizations emphasizing solidarity with Ukraine and others citing operational challenges. But the fact remains that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced many fintechs, in Europe especially, into scramble mode is impossible to deny.

The crisis in Ukraine also has brought renewed interest in the role of cryptocurrencies. As economic sanctions – including the expulsion of a number of Russian banks from global financial messaging service SWIFT – take their toll on the Russian economy, the idea that Russia and the country’s elites could turn to cryptocurrencies to limit the financial damage may be edging from possibility to probability. The Ukrainian government has asked cryptocurrency exchanges to freeze the accounts of Russians and Belarusians and, at this point, it appears that some of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges are moving in that direction.

Ukrainian fintechs are also committing their technology and talent to the cause of defending their country from Russian aggression. For one, the country’s leading neobank Monobank is accepting SEPA transfers to help fund the Ukrainian army, and announced that it has raised more than 11 million Ukrainian hryvnia ($395,830) to date.

That said, one of the biggest concerns from Ukrainian tech companies in general and fintech companies in specific is panic from these companies’ customers. TechUkraine’s Nataly Veremeeva urged clients of Ukrainian firms to maintain their relationships, noting that the income from these partnerships helps support both the Ukrainian economy and the Ukrainian military. Importantly, the fact that Ukraine has been under threat from Russia for nearly a decade has helped Ukrainian companies develop a resiliency that is being brought to bear today, Veremeeva explained.

This point was underscored by Senka Hadzimuratovic, spokesperson for one of the more famous Ukraine-founded tech companies, Grammarly. Backup communications and temporarily transferring certain critical business responsibilities to Grammarly team members living outside of the country have been among the precautions taken by the company.

Ivan Kaunov, Head of Growth and co-founder of Finmap.online, a Ukraine-based financial management app for SMEs, spoke for many of his fellow Ukrainians late last week. “Today Russia (has) invaded Ukraine. All our teammates (are) in safe places, We, as a nation, unite(d) and ready to resist.”

A brief primer on fintech in Ukraine

There is a wide variety of fintech companies in the Ukraine. These firms range from neobanks like Monobank, a five year old financial institution with more than four million customers, to payments companies like IBox and EasyPay, to financial services technology companies like Neofin and Wallet Factory, to cryptocurrency exchanges like Kuna. One way to get a broad cross-section of the country’s fintech sector is via the Ukrainian Association of Fintech and Innovation Companies (UAFIC). The organization, founded in 2018, is a membership-based NGO designed to support the development of Ukraine’s fintech industry. Approximately 66% of the association’s members are fintechs, with another 14% representing IT companies and MFOs, and banks making up 6%.

Last fall, the UAFIC announced a collaboration with leading financial sector associations in Ukraine- including the Independent Association of Banks of Ukraine (NABU), the Association of Financial Institutions, the All-Ukrainian Association of Credit Unions, and the Insurance Business Association. The goal of the alliance is to help design legislation to support the development of open banking and payment services in the country.

“Recently, fintech companies and banks have realized that working on the basis of OpenBanking technologies is much more profitable than competing with each other,” UAFIC Board Chairman Rostislav Duke said. “The financial ecosystemn is receiving new signals of openness and willingness to cooperate and partner in the market. Our work will promote greater access to information for all financial market participants.”

Another way to learn more about the Ukraine fintech industry is via TechUkraine, a platform dedicated to supporting the country’s technology ecosystem. A spin-off from the Export Strategy of Ukraine for ICT Sector, TechUkraine is geared toward encouraging what Director Veremeeva called “a great story of government and business working together to achieve a truly significant goal – Ukraine (as) an innovation-driven, universally recognized tech destination that delivers high value for the global economy.”

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Fintech in India: Neobanks, Crypto Exchanges, and Google Pay Loans

Fintech in India: Neobanks, Crypto Exchanges, and Google Pay Loans
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Finovate Global, Nordigen, Salt Edge, Temenos

This week’s Finovate Global takes a look at developments in the Indian fintech industry. Leading off is news that Indian neobank Niyo has secured $100 million in Series C funding. The round was led by Accel and Lightrock India and also featured investment from Beams Fintech Fund, Prime Venture Partners, and JS Capital, among others. Niyo, founded in 2015 by Vinay Bagri and Virender Bisht, will use the capital to support product innovation, marketing, and branding, as well as increasing its distribution footprint and adding talent.

“We have always strived to offer tangible value and a delightful experience to our customers,” Bagri said in a statement. “In the process we are transforming the way India banks.” Co-founder Bisht highlighted the impact of the pandemic on the pace of digitization of financial services in the country. “We are seeing massive tailwinds for digital products since COVID,” he noted.

Niyo collaborates with banks to offer digital savings accounts and other banking services. The neobank serves four million customers via its banking and wealth management operations and says that it is adding customers to its platform at a rate of 10,000 new users a day. With more than $3 billion in transactions, Niyo claims it is the biggest consumer-based neo-banking platform in India.

Earlier this month Niyo introduced the country’s first, fully digital salary account. Over the next three months, the company plans to offer additional banking products including personal loans, credit cards, and integrated forex.

The soaring interest in cryptocurrencies is another trend that has accelerated in recent years. To help more institutions take advantage of the opportunities in digital assets, Indian crypto exchange WazirX has unveiled new tools to help institutions build cryptocurrency exchanges.

“We can relate to you when you say – Building a crypto exchange is difficult,” WazirX co-founder and COO Siddharth Menon wrote on the company’s blog earlier this week. “While we have learned it the hard way, we want to simplify it for you.”

WazirX’s BUIDL with WazirX program will enable organizations to build their own crypto exchanges leveraging WazirX. The program includes tools, support, guidance, access to angel and VC investors, and more. The exchanges built via WazirX’s new offering will feature access to 300+ of the highest liquidity markets, and the ability to leverage WazirX’s custody and exchange infrastructure for cryptocurrency withdrawals and deposits.

“To be the world leader, we believe that India should build more for Web3,” Menon added. “This is a billion-dollar opportunity, and that is why we at WazirX are here to support you.”

Founded in 2017, and recognized as India’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, WazirX enables cryptocurrency traders and investors based in India to buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, and many other digital assets. The company was acquired by international cryptocurrency exchange and blockchain ecosystem Binance in 2019. Nischal Shetty is CEO.

From neobanks to cryptocurrencies to embedded finance, we now turn to news that Google Pay users in India are now able to apply for and receive personal loans in their bank accounts via the Google Pay app. Loans of up to $1,332 (100,000 rupees) are available and can be repaid over a period of as many as 36 months.

The new service is being offered in partnership with India-based digital finance company DMI Finance, who also will determine eligibility for the financing. The loans will be processed in “near real-time” and are geared toward supporting financial inclusion by helping Indian consumers access short-term credit.

“Our teams have worked closely together to bring transparent and seamless credit to millions of Google Pay users,” DMI Finance co-founder and joint Managing Director Shivashish Chatterjee said. “We look forward to scaling this new partnership in the years to come and make the promise of financial inclusion a reality for many millions more.”

FinovateEurope 2022 is less than one month away. If you are an innovative fintech company with new technology to show, then there’s no better time than now and no better forum than FinovateEurope. To learn more about how to demo your latest innovation at FinovateEurope 2022 in London, March 22 and 23, visit our FinovateEurope hub today!

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

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Signal Intent Rebrands as Chimney and Secures Seed Investment

Signal Intent Rebrands as Chimney and Secures Seed Investment
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Chimney, Daily news, Signal Intent
  • New York-based Signal Intent has rebranded as Chimney.
  • The company won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring last year.
  • The rebrand announcement accompanied news that Chimney had raised seed funding that “exceeded its investment goals.”

Signal Intent, which won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2021, has rebranded as Chimney. The company develops financial calculators for banks, credit unions, insurers, and mortgage companies that are “built for the digital age.” The New York-based fintech’s rebrand, announced last month, was accompanied by a seed investing round with participation from individual investor Anil Aggarwal, as well as investment firms Fin VC, and Converge.

“Banking is fundamentally changing as consumer behaviors shift,” Chimney CEO Matthew Covi said. “To compete, banks must change their digital strategy. It is no longer about providing outstanding products and services. It’s about the value they provide through digital experiences. As consumers increasingly make financial decisions online, they expect experiences that are embedded in their everyday life. Chimney is committed to delivering not just the products consumers want, but the experiences they expect.”

More than 60 financial institutions in 30 states use Chimney’s financial tools and technology to better engage their customers and fund more loans. The company said that its financial institution clients have experienced a 15% boost in conversions since deploying Chimney’s technology that helps connect customers to the right solution at the right time. Chimney also helps FIs reduce acquisition costs while growing their loan portfolios.

Selected for the 2022 ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator program, Chimney plans to add to its team, including multiple “key positions” over the next several months. The company’s co-founders include Chief Technology Officer Ryan F. Salerno, former Technical Co-founder of equity management platform Finta (previously Equity Token); and Chief Revenue Officer Chase Neinken, former VP of Global Sales at B2B media company Industry Dive.

“We created Chimney to build the future of financial guidance,” Neinken said. “We believe in a world where people are empowered to make better financial decisions through technology – it’s about confidence and understanding. The demand so far has exceeded expectations and we’re thankful to our clients, partners and investors. Big things are coming ahead.”

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Best of Show: Catching Up with the Faves of FinovateEurope

Best of Show: Catching Up with the Faves of FinovateEurope
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Best of Show, FinovateEurope 2022, List series

FinovateEurope 2022 is less than a month away, and innovative fintechs from all around the world are gearing up to demonstrate their latest technologies live on the Finovate stage. Find out more about our annual European fintech conference, including how to register and save your spot as Finovate returns to live events in Europe for the first time since 2020 next month on March 22 and 23.

One of the goals of every company demoing their solutions at Finovate is to win a coveted Best of Show award. This honor is granted exclusively by our Finovate attendees who evaluate every company on stage and select only those innovators whose technology is most impressive and, potentially, impactful. To give you a sense of the kind of companies to win this award, here’s a look at the FinovateEurope Best of Show winners from the previous two years – as well as an update on what they’ve accomplished since winning their award.

2021

Dbilia earned a Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2021 for its platform that enables creatives and influencers to sell digital memorabilia. The New York-based company was featured in the July edition of MarTech in a look at the rising NFT trend.

Property investment platform Proptee, also a Best of Show winner in its Finovate debut last year at FinovateEurope, raised more than $57,000 in seed funding in December from Lebenheim Capital and Steep VC.

Continuous product design innovator Quantum Metric was among the Finovate newcomers to earn a Best of Show award at FinovateEurope 2021 last March. Since then, the Colorado Springs, Colorado-based company has announced the availability of its solution on Salesforce AppExchange, and forged partnerships with Korea Air, iGaming operator BetVictor, luxury fashion brand La Perla, experience management software company Qualtrics, and video-based human insight innovator UserTesting.

2020

If 2021 was the year Finovate audiences showed their appreciation for conference newcomers, 2020 marked the year when veteran Finovate alums earned their place in the spotlight. Four of the companies that won Best of Show at FinovateEurope in that pre-pandemic year – Dorsum, Glia, iProov, and W.UP – picked up their second awards in a row (or more) having taken home Best of Show honors at the previous year’s conference in 2019.

Investment software provider Dorsum followed up its second, FinovateEurope Best of Show award in 2020 with the formation of a new business consulting unit a few months later. In the fall of 2020, the company introduced a new Chief Business Development Officer Bálint Fischer, and launched a new subsidiary in Poland in July of the next year. This month, Dorsum announced that it had joined Fintech Belgium, a community of financial services and fintech professionals as part of what the company called its “next step (toward) venturing into Western Europe.”

Digital customer service innovator Glia has been one of Finovate’s most popular demoing companies in recent years, with multiple Best of Show wins in Europe and in the U.S. Earlier this month, the company announced a partnership with insurtech leader Sureify, integrating its capabilities into Sureify’s Lifetime platform. In 2021, Glia reeled in $78 million in funding, and earned recognition from Deloitte with a spot on the firm’s Technology Fast 500 for the second consecutive year. Among the company’s new partnerships forged in 2021 were collaborations with Kasisto, Posh, Apiture, Liberty Bank, fellow Finovate alum Clinc, and Zensar.

Horizn, which specializes in helping financial institutions and their employees maximize and accelerate their digital transformation efforts, earned the first of its Best of Show awards at FinovateEurope in Berlin in 2020. The company announced a partnership with Pacific Western Bank at the beginning of this month, powering the Los Angeles, California-based financial institution’s newly launched digital learning platform.

Biometric authentication company and FinovateEurope veteran iProov earned its third Best of Show award at our European fintech conference in 2020. The company secured $70 million in funding from Sumeru Equity Partners to start this year and, earlier this month, was granted a patent to extend its Genuine Presence technology to include driver’s license and government ID verification. Named to the Deloitte Fast 50 of the fastest growing technology firms in the U.K. last year, iProov reported a record 2021 in which the company achieved revenues that were 3x the previous year’s results.

Sonect demonstrated its global platform for cash transactions during its Finovate debut in Berlin in 2020, winning a Best of Show award. The company, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, enables users of its technology to withdraw cash via smartphone at any one of its 2,500 partnering retailers. Last summer, the company announced that its service would be available to customers in the U.K., following its participation in the U.K. Finance Community Access to Cash Pilots Initiative. In October, Sonect announced that it had raised more than $5 million (EUR 4.65 million) in funding from Italian Angels for Growth to bring its cash access solution to Italy.

Budapest, Hungary-based digital banking solution provider W.UP is another FinovateEurope favorite, having been awarded Best of Show in each of the last three FinovateEurope events. The company offers a personalization platform which leverages data to help institutions offer better banking services. In October of 2021, the company merged with BSC of Czechia to form a new company Finshape that is dedicated to driving digital transformation in banking in Europe.

Photo by Nicole Rathmayr from Pexels

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Identity Verification Specialist OCR Labs Secures $30 Million in Series B Funding

Identity Verification Specialist OCR Labs Secures $30 Million in Series B Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, OCR Labs
  • OCR Labs, an identity verification company founded in Australia and headquartered in London, announced a $30 million Series B round.
  • The funding takes the company’s total capital to $46 million and will be used to help OCR Labs expand further in North America and EMEA.
  • Making its Finovate debut in 2016, the company won Best of Show at FinovateAsia a year later.

In a round led by Equable Capital, a New York-based family office, identity verification specialist OCR Labs has raised $30 million in a Series B round. The investment will be used to help the London, U.K.-based company grow its team in North America and EMEA, and gives the firm $46 million in total capital.

“2021 was an incredible year for OCR Labs, with continued validation from customers who have chosen us as their provider for online digital identity verification,” OCR Labs CEO John Myers said in a statement. “This investment provides us with the capital to continue our growth while bringing a value-added investor on to our board.”

Boasting a 5x increase in new clients and 3x growth in the size of its team over the past 12 months, OCR Labs offers automated identity verification via ID document validation, facial biometrics and other techniques. OCR Labs’ approach removes the need for human intervention in the customer identification process, and gives companies the tools they need to meet AML and KYC requirements and reduce fraud.

The company made its Finovate debut at our developers conference FinDEVr Silicon Valley in 2016 and returned one year later to win Best of Show at FinovateAsia in Hong Kong. Securing Series A funding last year, OCR Labs also recently opened a new office in North America, added a direct sales force, and hired a global Chief Revenue Officer.

“Our vision remains unchanged,” Myers said, “we strive to be the leading technology provider of digital identity verification, globally. The market opportunity continues to grow, and with our expansion in the U.S., and investment in our global sales effort, we’re in a phenomenal position to grow our customer base.”

The first private company to earn accreditation as an identity provider under the Trusted Digital Identity Framework (TDIF) of the Australian government, OCR Labs serves customers in a wide variety of verticals including financial services companies, brokerages, insurers, telecoms, and gaming companies.

Photo by Ksenia Chernaya from Pexels

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Virgin Money Partners with HooYu to Boost Success of Customer Onboarding Process

Virgin Money Partners with HooYu to Boost Success of Customer Onboarding Process
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, HooYu

If making a great first impression is important, then Virgin Money’s decision to partner with customer onboarding and KYC technology specialist HooYu should make a pretty good impression of its own.

“Our smart digital tools put our customers in control and the HooYu journey helps our customers to successfully pass KYC where traditional name and address checks fail,” Virgin Money Head of Digital Customer Experience Linda Robertson said. “We chose to work with a regtech partner like HooYu because their platform enables us to easily build a range of digital onboarding journeys that are simple for our new customers to complete.”

A two-time FinovateEurope alum, HooYu combines a variety of KYC tools and technologies to ensure the success of the customer onboarding journey. This includes giving companies confidence that their customers are who they say they are. HooYu’s identity verification service leverages selfie capture, liveness detection, ID document capture and validation, facial biometrics, address proofing, and geolocation in a seamless process that reduces abandonment and increases conversions. Features such as dynamic customer prompts, white label customization, and flexible customer journeys help reduce friction and streamline the account opening experience.

Calling the emphasis on the digital customer experience an “obsession” with banks like Virgin Money,” HooYu Marketing Director David Pope said it was HooYu’s role to help these institutions “refine their new account journeys and achieve the origination goals.”

Virgin Money serves 6.5 million customers in the U.K. A full-service digital bank, the institution offers current, savings, and business accounts; credit cards and insurance; mortgages and personal loans; as well as pensions and investments. Originally launched as Virgin Direct in 1995, the company secured its banking license 2010 and rebranded as Virgin Money two years later.

“It’s our job to help banks like Virgin Money to orchestrate KYC services and easily configure and deploy with a great customer journey,” Pope said.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in London, U.K., HooYu began the year by leveraging open banking to support identity and affordability checks. The new offering, Bank Connect, enables users to establish their identity or affordability by logging into their bank account during the KYC process. With the user’s consent, Bank Connect provides identity, account overview, transaction, and card data. This information is analyzed, scored, and presented in a HooYu report. HooYu deletes all the user’s Bank Connect data once the client has reviewed the results of the report.

The technology is currently being rolled out to gaming operators, who benefit from the insights into customer affordability and use the information to make more accurate customer risk assessments. In fact, one month after announcing Bank Connect, HooYu introduced new partner MrQ, one of the U.K.’s growing number of online casinos.

Want to meet companies like FinovateEurope alum HooYu? Check out our FinovateEurope 2022 Sneak Peek series and learn more about the companies demoing their latest technologies next month at FinovateEurope in London, March 22 and 23.

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