This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.
Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Financial data platform MX announced a collaboration with 1.2 million-member BECU (Boeing Employees Credit Union) to build a new mobile app feature called Quick Save that will help members boost their savings. Piloted last year with BECU members that had low savings account balances, Quick Save helps increase savings via an easy-to-use “slide to save” module that enables frequent, small dollar amount transfers.
“BECU is continually innovating and leveraging technology to improve our members’ experience and empower them financially,” BECU Director of Digital Strategy Liz Wagner explained. “It’s been inspiring to see Quick Save go from a concept to a fully functioning tool that members in this pilot are using to build their savings.”
The pilot project was conducted – and evaluated – in coordination with the Financial Health Network (FHN). Over the course of five months, FHN determined that BECU members using the new solution had transferred more than $2 million into savings accounts, representing an 18% increase in savings balance for the credit union’s low-balance savers, and a 26% increase in money movement via mobile transfers. Wagner credited the “combined power” of all three parties involved for both helping build and measure the effectiveness of the Quick Save offering, adding that the solution would “meaningfully improve our members’ financial health.”
Quick Save is only the latest example of the relationship that the Utah-based fintech and BECU have cultivated. More than five years ago, BECU went live with Helios by MX, a cross-platform framework that enables device- and platform-agnostic, full-featured digital banking.
“When it comes to mobile banking, every option we looked at functioned about the same,” BECU VP of Digital Banking Howie Wu said after the technology had been implemented. “We saw Helios as a chance to stand out and provide a very different experience.” Wu highlighted digital money management, aggregation, budgeting, and alert notifications among the offerings available via the framework – “all features that would enable our members to be financially strong,” Wu explained. Within 18 months of its deployment, BECU reported a 170% increase in billpay, a 56% increase in money transfers, and a 22% increase in check deposits.
Headquartered in Tukwila, Washington (a suburb of Seattle) and founded in 1935, BECU has assets of more than $26 billion. The institution is the largest credit union in Washington State and the fourth largest credit union in the U.S.
“BECU and MX have been aligned partners for years, both resolute in our determination to help strengthen the financial well-being of BECU members and their community,” MX Chief Customer Officer Nate Gardner said. He called Quick Save “yet another example of BECU’s wholehearted commitment to financial strength” as well as delivering “intelligent and personalized money experiences for the hundreds of thousands of members they serve.”
This summer, as part of our Finovate Fintech Halftime Review, we helped make the case for the U.S. midwest as an under-recognized source of fintech innovation.
Today, our conversation with Nicole Lorch of the First Internet Bank is a reminder of what “America’s Heartland” has to offer in terms of leveraging technology to make online banking a reality for small businesses and families. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Indiana, First Internet Bank was the first state-chartered, FDIC-insured financial institution to offer exclusively online banking services. At the same time, First Internet Bank has continued to emphasize the importance of personal connection and service to the community.
We caught up with Ms. Lorch recently to talk about First Internet Bank, the evolution of online and digital banking, and her goals as the institution’s new President and Chief Operating Officer.
You joined First Internet Bank as Director of Marketing at its launch in 1999. How has the idea of an “Internet bank” changed over the years?
Nicole Lorch: At the time of our launch, we operated as a direct-to-consumer bank with a fairly standard lineup of products: checking, savings, CDs, and credit cards.
While we actually were the first state chartered, FDIC-insured bank to operate entirely online, a number of competitors quickly emerged. However, many of them couldn’t make it work or were absorbed into another entity:
Compubank (Acquired by NetBank)
Netbank (Closed by OTS, 2007)
Wingspan Bank (Closed by its parent, BankOne, in 2001)
ING Direct (Divested U.S. operations, sold U.S. relationships to Capital One)
Security First Network Bank (Acquired by Royal Bank of Canada)
Telebank (Acquired by E*Trade)
Even with our early successes, many industry pundits believed that moving to more complex banking services, like mortgage and real estate lending, could not be done on a direct-to-consumer, nationwide basis. While we considered ourselves trailblazers in the new world of digital banking, it was critical that we created processes that allowed us to function in a sustainable, repeatable, and compliant way. As a result, we were able to efficiently – and profitably – become leaders in lending.
Imagination has always been fundamental to our existence. Our innovative approach to banking has continued to play an essential role in the development of First Internet Bank – and with it our ability to build a national lending platform with digital DNA behind it.
How has the challenge of educating the public about the Bank’s offerings changed from a time when there were very few if any “Internet banks” to now when the idea is more commonplace?
Lorch: One thing is certain: it is much easier for people I meet to wrap their heads around the concept of a branchless bank now than it was 22 years ago! The world has changed, and consumers have adapted and embraced the digital realm. From shopping and ordering food to conducting financial transactions, it’s all available instantly at our fingertips. But we need to remember, this is a very human business, not one that should be labeled “contactless.” We still pride ourselves in delivering the personal service our customers deserve.
Consumer demand and the way people want to access their money has moved in the direction we predicted: more electronic transactions, fewer cash-based transactions … with so few paper checks these days.
What are your first priorities as President and Chief Operating Officer?
Lorch: My new role with First Internet Bank is evolving. But our strategic agenda remains unchanged – which is good for our team because we move fast and get a lot of things done! We continue to concentrate on improving the customer experience by creating new solutions that foster greater efficiency and ease of use, strengthening our existing business and personal banking relationships, and diversifying our revenue streams. We have a great team that responds to challenges head-on, which makes achieving all our priorities much easier.
What are some of the bigger challenges that financial institutions like First Internet Bank are facing right now?
Lorch: Disruptive fintechs will continue to challenge our industry, bringing with them new consumer expectations and innovation. Fintechs have the ability to disrupt four primary categories of any traditional bank’s business: market share, margins, information security/privacy, and customer churn. However, financial institutions still maintain a greater sense of consumers’ trust.
Many fintechs do not face the same regulatory demands that chartered, insured depositories do, nor do they face the shareholder expectations of a publicly-traded company. Having a leaner virtual operation, more flexibility through not being regulated as a deposit-gathering institution and, in many cases, significant venture capital cash allows fintech startups to attract customers with competitive pricing and to move in a more nimble fashion when market conditions dictate.
We must continue to evolve and look for opportunities where they exist, to meet the changing demands of consumers. There is, however, one important area where we can continue to win: by providing great, high-touch (human) service that backs up our customer-facing technology.
What do your small business customers need most from First Internet Bank? And what kind of help do your retail customers most frequently request?
Lorch: Our customers need us to be creative. Sometimes they think they need a line of credit when they really need a term loan. Sometimes they think that they need a conventional product, when they need an SBA loan. We listen to their needs and customize our responses to their situation, instead of talking at them or selling them something they don’t need or want. If we can’t help them, we go so far as to make introductions to other financial institutions that can help them.
Most importantly, we have always believed that customers need surety of execution and respect for their time. On a loan request, a fast “no” is better than a long, drawn out “maybe.” Whether they are buying a business or a home, they need to know they can count on us to get them to the closing table – and closed – on time.
What of the popular enabling technologies have been most effective in helping First Internet Bank grow its top-line and better engage customers?
Lorch: AI allows us to leverage the data we have to acquire new customers as well as enhance our relationship with existing ones by identifying and offering products, services, features, and partnerships better tailored to their evolving needs. It also assists in fraud prevention.
APIs allow us to extend our platform and rapidly integrate new features, partnering with best-in-class service providers to create a robust, constantly-improving user experience while limiting the burden of legacy technologies and in-house coding.
What are some of the bigger initiatives the bank is pursuing this year?
Lorch: The last eighteen months have really tested our nation’s small business owners. We are poised to help entrepreneurs rebound and accelerate their growth. The pandemic pulled forward consumer acceptance of digital delivery of services by several years. We have a small window, albeit brief, to capitalize on the opportunity to layer our more than 20 years of direct-to-consumer know-how, with a next-generation user-interface, to give consumers a better way to bank.
We are growing our small business lending team while we overhaul the customer experience and our back office processes. It’s like flying the plane while we’re tuning the engine and refurbishing the cabin, but it’s necessary to ensure that our customers receive the level of service they expect from us.
In a round led by Sequoia Capital Global Equities, Chime Financial has raised $750 million in new funding. The investment gives the San Francisco, California-based company a valuation of $25 billion and likely anticipates the firm’s debut as a publicly listed company next year.
Also participating in the Series G round were SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, along with existing investors Dragoneer Investment Group, General Atlantic, and Tiger Global Management. Chime CEO and co-founder Chris Britt said that the new funding would help support the company’s growth as well as the launch of new services. Chime also introduced a trio of independent directors to its board: Cynt Marshall, CEO of professional basketball team the Dallas Mavericks; Jimmy Dunne, Vice Chairman of investment bank Piper Sandler; and Sue Decker, founder and CEO of community building platform Raftr.
Founded in 2013 by Britt and current Chief Technology Officer Ryan King, Chime gives consumers a digital-first alternative to traditional banks. Chime offers an online checking account with no hidden fees or overdraft charges, and a spending account with a Visa debit card with no minimum balance or monthly fees. The company has an early payday service for customers who choose direct deposit, no fee money transfers, and a “credit builder” program with a secured, Visa-branded credit card to help customers improve their credit scores.
Chime’s banking services are provided courtesy of a partnership with The Bancorp Bank or Stride Bank (issuer of Chime’s Visa Credit Builder Card). With more than eight million account holders – and on track to reach more than 13 million account holders this year – Chime reached EBITDA profitability last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to CNBC.
From the snap election called by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the country’s recently expressed eagerness to accept refugees in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, there have been more than a few reasons for the Great White North to make news headlines of late.
Now fintech fans in particular have another reason to pay attention to what’s going on in the chronically under-discussed nation. FreshBooks, a cloud accounting software company based in Toronto, Ontario, has raised $130 million in new funding. This gives the firm a valuation of more than $1 billion, becoming Canada’s latest fintech unicorn.
FreshBooks CEO Don Epperson said that the funding, which included $50 million in debt financing, was an “injection of confidence” in the company’s mission to help small businesses digitize their accounting operations. Epperson added that the capital will fuel investment in markets that are experiencing significant increases in regulation and help those small business owners better “manage their finances” by “simplifying workflows.”
The Series E round was led by long-time FreshBooks investor Accomplice. Also participating in the funding were J.P. Morgan, Gaingels, BMO, and Manulife. New investor Barclays, one of FreshBooks’ platform partners, was also involved in the financing.
Founded in 2003, FreshBooks is active in more than 160 countries, including Croatia, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the U.S. – as well as its native Canada. The company’s technology has helped more than 30 million people better manage their finances, billing operations, and payments, while increasing customer engagement with its ten-time Stevie award-winning customer support. In July, the company announced that it was teaming up with the Ontario government in a data-sharing partnership to help understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on small businesses. In May, FreshBooks co-founder Mike McDerment was featured in Profiles in Leadership where he discussed the company’s origins from its humble beginnings in “his parents’ basement” to the 500-employee company that is now among the top cloud accounting software firms in the world.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
It seems like only yesterday when Finovate VP and host of the Finovate Podcast Greg Palmer was introducing his first guest (Jim Bruene, founder of Finovate, by the way). Nearly two years later, having sat down with fintech innovators and influencers from Jim Marous and Louise Beaumont to Brett King and Tosin Agbabiaka – Palmer is celebrating the 100th episode of the Finovate Podcast.
In this centennial edition, Palmer discusses the Three Gold Rules of Fintech that he has learned from his years in the industry and the conversations he’s had – both on-air and at our Finovate conferences – with professionals from every corner of the fintech and financial services ecosystem.
Launched in 2019, the Finovate Podcast began as a way to continue and extend the conversation beyond the live demoes and insightful observations of our fintech conferences. In the months and years since, the program has grown into one of the key forums for fintech’s most visionary entrepreneurs and thought leaders to discuss the most important trends in our industry – from the rise of challengers and neobanks to the growing emphasis on financial inclusion and bringing banking to underserved communities around the world.
Check out the 100th episode of the Finovate Podcast featuring the Three Golden Rules of Fintech – and then visit the Podcast archives for hours of great conversation and valuable insights into trends driving one of the fastest growing fields in technology today.
From partnership to acquisition, the Buy Now Pay Later revolution shows few signs, if any, of abating any time soon.
Apple, one of the Big Tech companies that has been aggressive in its expansion into fintech and financial services, recently announced that it is teaming up with BNPL company Affirm Holdings to offer new, interest-free financing options for qualifying Apple customers in Canada. The new program enables consumers to finance iPhone purchases over a 24-month period and iPad and Mac purchases over a 12-month period, both with 0% APR.
The new initiative comes a month after Apple announced that it was teaming up with Goldman Sachs to help introduce its own Buy Now Pay Later service – ostensibly to rival companies like the aforementioned Affirm. The offering will reportedly be called Apple Pay Later.
And filed in the “if you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em” folder is the news from London, U.K.-based Buy Now Pay Later company Zilch. The firm agreed this week to acquire San Francisco, California-based debt funding platform Neptune Financial as part of setting up shop in the U.S. “We’ve been exploring growth options in the U.S. for some time and following the additional funding,” Zilch founder and CEO Philip Belamant said. “Now was the perfect time to take another meaningful step towards our U.S. launch.”
Zilch’s acquisition news comes less than a month after the company secured $110 million as part of an extension of its Series B round. One of the first Buy Now Pay Later firms in the U.K. (founded in 2018), Zilch enables consumers to pay for purchases using their virtual Zilch card by splitting their transaction into four, interest-free payments over a six week period. The company has raised more than $200 million and boasts 150,000 new sign-ups a month for its BNPL services.
One of the more interesting pivots in the BNPL space of late was an internal one as Canada’s Scotiabank announced that it will convert its credit card repayments into BNPL plans. The new arrangement will give cardholders the ability to pay off their debt balances in fixed installments over three-, six-, or 12-month periods.
“Our customers told us that they’re looking for more options to help them manage their finances,” Scotiabank SVP for Credit Cards and Lending Brett Mooney explained. “This new credit card feature offers our customers more flexibility in how they pay for purchases, in addition to the convenience, rewards and lifestyle benefits that our credit cards already provide.”
The new service is called Scotia SelectPay and can be accessed via the Scotia mobile banking app as well as online. Purchases of more than $100 are eligible for the new financing option, which requires no additional credit check or application.
Financial planning software company RightCapital unveiled new dynamic retirement spending strategies on its platform this week. The new offering gives investors the ability to better plan their finances once their working days are done.
“The industry has been using a rather simple retirement expense approach in the financial planning process for many years,” RightCapital CEO Shuang Chen said. “The ability to offer multiple options for retirement spending within our comprehensive planning tool is a significant step forward.”
Traditionally, financial planners have relied on an inflation-adjusted retirement spending model which focuses on a single input – the rising cost of living – to anticipate an increase in retirement spending each year. One criticism of this approach is that it does not account for changes in an individual’s portfolio that might significantly affect how much they are able to spend in retirement. RightCapital’s new offering factors in changes in portfolio value, reducing retirement spending projections when the portfolio loses value and giving investors the option to spend more in retirement should their portfolio significantly increase in value. The two dynamic strategies – referred to as guardrail and floor and ceiling – enable retirement spending to adjust in sync with portfolio performance and investment strategy parameters rather than being limited to tracking the rate of inflation.
Dynamic strategies such as those now available on the RightCapital platform more accurately reflect how individuals respond to changes in their investments in the real world. As Michael Kitces, Chief Financial Planning Nerd for Kitces.com and Head of Planning Strategy for Buckingham Wealth Partners explained, “as advisors, we cannot eliminate the uncertainty of markets themselves, but tools like RightCapital’s dynamic spending can help eliminate the uncertainty for clients of what they’d have to do in response to those market events, facilitating better client conversations about how to keep their retirement on track.”
Other features of RightCapital’s dynamic retirement spending strategies include the ability to customize spending levels by age, anticipating a higher level of spending early in the investor’s retirement life and tapering off as the investor ages. The strategies can also incorporate changes in healthcare expenditures over the course of the investor’s retirement, as well.
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Shelton, Connecticut, RightCapital demonstrated its technology most recently at FinovateSpring in 2019. At the conference, the RightCapital team demonstrated the company’s API/Enterprise solution, which gives financial advisors the ability to offer their clients access to custom applications ranging from PFM to account aggregation to secure document sharing. In June, RightCapital announced that it would “enhance (its) integration” with partner Riskalyze, a specialist in risk alignment and portfolio analytics. Also that month, RightCapital and a coalition of fintechs including fellow Finovate alum Bettermentlaunched the RIA Tech Suite to provide financial advisors with services and tools to automate back-office operations.
“Our mission has remained steadfast to help financial institutions of any size succeed with impactful, intentional innovation,” Nymbus CEO and Chairman Jeffery Kendall said. “OFG Ventures’ investment is an added vote-of-confidence to the value our strategy brings to an industry widely in need of immediate and sustainable business growth opportunities.”
Most recently demonstrating its technology two years ago at FinovateFall, banking-as-a-service innovator Nymbus provides financial institutions with both the technical and operational tools necessary to digitally transform their businesses. The company’s solutions – ranging from its flagship SmartCore, SmartDigital, and SmartPayments offerings to its full-service, standalone digital banking alternative SmartLaunch – give banks, credit unions, and other financial services-based companies greater ability to streamline processes and offer new digital services – without requiring a major core conversion or significant additional human resources.
This week’s investment is only the latest infusion of capital the Miami Beach, Florida-based fintech has received this year. The company picked up $15 million in funding from private equity firm Financial Services Capital this spring and, in February, Nymbus announced a $53 million Series C round led by Insight Partners. The company’s total funding now stands at more than $121 million, according to Crunchbase.
Nymbus has been one of the busier banking-as-a-service innovators of late, partnering with a variety of fintechs and financial institutions in the past year. These partnerships have included collaborations with fellow Finovate alums like Plaid and Segmint, credit unions and challenger banks like VyStar CU and PeoplesBank’s ZYNLO Bank, as well as with innovators in open finance and cryptocurrencies like Red Hat and NYDIG. The company also launched a new credit union service organization (CUSO) in March, Nymbus CUSO, to help credit unions take better advantage of fintech offerings that can enable them to create new revenue opportunities and boost engagement with their members.
“Our CUSO signifies a commitment to credit unions by providing strategic partnerships and flexible technology that will create sustainable growth and loyal members,” Kendall said when the new organization was introduced earlier this year. “For those wanting to innovate, Nymbus CUSO moves past traditional vendor thinking to create supportive structures for credit unions ready to grow and reach new niche markets.”
London-based financial services technology provider FintechOS secured $10 million in funding from the IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. The investment is part of the company’s $60 million Series B round, announced in April, and will support FintechOS’ goals of promoting financial inclusion by helping FIs expand access to financial services to un- and underbanked communities.
Many fintechs talk the financial inclusion talk. But even those companies committed to serving overlooked individuals and communities, often discover that actually “walking the walk” on financial inclusion can be more difficult than it seems at first. Speaking to this conundrum, FintechOS co-founder and CEO Teodor Blidarus said, “today financial technology is too often an inhibitor rather than an enabler of inclusion. Financial institutions both large and small simply don’t have the right tools at the right price point to meet market demands.” Blidarus highlighted enabling technologies like low-code, but lamented that these solutions remain under-utilized. “And this impacts those at the bottom of the (financial) pyramid most acutely,” he added.
For financial institutions eager to undergo digital transformation, FintechOS offers an alternative to what it calls “painful rip-and-replace” approaches to the transformation journey. Instead, FintechOS provides a low-code, plug and play strategy that enables banks and insurance firms to take advantage of digital end-to-end services, automated processes, and personalized, customer-centric solutions “in weeks, not months.”
FintechOS made its Finovate debut in 2018, demonstrating its platform at FinovateEurope in London. More recently, the company released its Configuration Management update, which boosts FintechOS’ scalability and helps pave the way for full Git integration. Git is a change-tracking software that helps developers collaborate during the source code writing process. The technology enables distributed teams to write code, test new functionalities, and securely deploy new versions.
“Configuration Management will make life easier for developers and streamline the wider operation of the FintechOS platform,” Blidarus explained. He added that full Git integration “will help our clients self-serve and customize their enterprise-grade solutions based on our technology.”
Recognized last month as the 2021 Microsoft Romania Partner of the Year, FintechOS includes Reliance Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, Societe General, and Vienna Insurance Group among its more than 40 partners around the world. This spring, the company’s founders, who hail from Romania, became the first Romanians to join Endeavor’s global community supporting “high-impact entrepreneurs.”
“For the Romanian entrepreneurial ecosystem, the selection of FintechOS in the Endeavor Network is a confirmation of the value and the huge development potential of Romanian companies in a truly global setting,” Endeavor Romania board chair Marius Stefan said. “We are eager to discover together other innovative companies and other entrepreneurs as focused and enthusiastic as (co-founders) Teodor and Sergiu (Negut) and enhance their development with the help of Endeavor.”
A strategic partnership between digital lending solution provider CuneXus and lending technology company Origence will give more than 1,100 credit unions the ability to offer their members access to personalized, pre-approved financing offers.
“We are focused on changing the way credit unions interact with their members, and this means tearing down old, and painful banking experiences” CuneXus co-founder and President Dave Buerger said. “We’re empowering people with unrivaled transparency and convenience, and this partnership with Origence makes that easily accessible to many more credit unions and consumers. Together we can provide the modern seamless lending experience that members deserve, one that equips them for financial excellence.”
The partnership allows credit unions to access CuneXus’ digital storefront, which leverages a proactive, “Perpetual Approval” approach that continuously analyzes hundreds of internal and external data points to ensure that qualified borrowers can get personalized loan offers, while simultaneously helping keep the credit union “top of mind” whenever one of its members has expressed an interest in securing financing. The methodology exchanges the typical credit application process for an ongoing automated credit approval that make the financing process less complicated for credit union members.
VP of Strategic Alliances at Origence, Aleks Bogoeski, said that the partnership with CuneXus comes at an opportune moment as consumer behavior and spending begins to rebound in the wake of COVID-19. “Our partnership with CuneXus provides a timely opportunity for credit unions to implement a dynamic digital experience that further simplifies the lending process, as member spending returns to a normal, post-pandemic pace,” Bogoeski said. “We are happy to have partnered with CuneXus to bring this service to our credit unions.”
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, CuneXus made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2014. In the years since, the company has grown to serve more than 145 of the biggest lenders in the U.S. with its digital storefront, helping these institutions increase wallet share, generate branch revenue, and grow non-interest income. CuneXus clients represent more than $400 billion in combined assets and serve 20 million customers and members.
CuneXus was acquired by CUNA Mutual Group in the fall of last year. Announcing the move, CUNA Mutual president and CEO Robert N. Trunzo highlighted CuneXus’ “growth trajectory” – as well as its expertise and products – as features that would enhance CUNA Mutual Group’s opportunity for growth. “We are continuing our journey into a more diverse, digital-first world,” Trunzo said. “Our company is committed to using technology to enhance consumers’ access to financial solutions that work for them and create a more equitable financial system and society. This is a top priority for all of our core businesses.”
Fintech companies from Chile made headlines this week, taking their rightful place alongside the innovators in neighboring countries like Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, which have tended to dominate conversations about the surge in financial technology in Latin America in recent years.
Xepelin, a Chilean company that offers a financial services platform designed especially for small businesses, raised $30 million in equity along with another $200 million in debt facilities. The equity financing was led by Kaszek Ventures, a Latin American VC fund, and featured participation from DST Global and a number of angel investors. The company’s debt facility were provided by asset managers and hedge funds based in Latin America as well as the U.S.
Xepelin focuses on enabling small businesses to secure organize their financial data in real time, as well as apply for – and receive – short-term financing easily and quickly. The company says that SMEs can apply for working capital loans “with three clicks” and receive their funding “in a matter of hours.”
With a monthly growth rate of 30%, Xepelin said it has more than 4,000 clients in Mexico and Chile, and has loaned more than $400 million to small businesses in those countries. The company said that the new capital will help it ensure that all small businesses in Latin America will have access to both financial services and financial capital. Xepelin also noted that it is looking to expand beyond the B2B space to provide a broader range of services to small businesses and companies in the region.
Helping employers improve the financial health of workers is the mission of Quansa, another Chilean fintech that raised $3.6 million in new capital this week. Quansa combines financial education with financial management tools to give companies in Chile the ability to offer their employees a more holistic benefits package. Quansa’s platform provides personalized financial guidance, access to flexible salaries, and debt management resources to more than 2,000 workers currently.
The seed funding round was led by Valor Capital Group and featured participation from Pear VC, Norte, Magma Partners, Sequoia Scouts, as well as a number of angel investors.
Quansa co-founder Mafalda Barros pointed to the challenge of debt that many Chilean workers struggle with, and noted that 70% of workers say that they feel as if they have little control over their finances. “It’s just as important to understand how to manage your money as it is to have access to these services,” Barrros said. “We teach users how to organize and manage their bills, use financial tools, start saving and, of course, to spend better.”
Not all big fintech headlines out of Latin America were related to funding and venture capital. EBANX, a payments solution provider based in Brazil, and Amazon have teamed up to enable Amazon Prime Video customers in Peru to subscribe to the service and make payments in local currency rather than in U.S. dollars.
“Localized solutions deeply improve the online purchasing experience for Peruvians and all Latin Americans, helping them to access the best services around the world – in addition to broadening the total addressable market of companies in the LatAm region,” EBANX co-founder and CEO João Del Valle said. “And this two-way street of access is precisely what we work for everyday at EBANX. That is why we are very excited about this collaboration with Amazon Prime Video in Peru.”
Founded in 2012, EBANX is among the leading payment platforms in Latin America. The company offers more than 100 local payment methods and brought access to financial products and services to more than 70 million Latin Americans. Last month, the company secured $430 million in funding from Advent International. This spring, EBANX launched operations in Central America, expanding its total reach to 15 countries. The company has said it plans to offer shares to the public via IPO “in the coming months.”
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Solarisbank, a banking-as-a-service platform based in Berlin, Germany, secured $225 million (EUR 190 million) in Series D funding and announced an acquisition of rival BaaS platform Contis.
How do companies keep pace with rising consumer expectations in a post-COVID, digitally transformed world? What role do flexibility and adaptability play in explaining why some companies succeed in engaging their customers while other companies struggle to do so?
Our latest Finovate webinar tackled these issues and more in an hour-long conversation with a quartet of fintech and financial services professionals. Check out our panel discussion – Keep Your Friends Close and Your Data Closer– now available for free On Demand and learn how fintechs are successfully leveraging “people, process, and culture” to achieve their goals.
Here are some excerpts from the conversation:
“What’s interesting is that 60% of the marketing decision-makers say that their budgets will increase in the next six months, and this was during a time when many companies were still struggling with the previous wave of the pandemic. What’s even more interesting is that the top three areas that brands are intending to invest in are customer engagement, customer satisfaction measurement, and mobile optimization and apps.” Chye Yien, Senior Strategic Business Consultant, Braze
“We saw a major shift from people talking about things to actually doing things. And there have definitely been some very clear trends that we saw towards not only just getting an app out there – which a lot of people have done – but actually making sure that app works well. So when you talk about that dichotomy between the smaller players, the startups that are coming in, and the legacy players in fintech, what we really saw was the people that came from a digitally native position really had strong applications with greater users experiences.” Julio Bermudez, VP APAC and LATAM with Amplitude
“Brands and companies really need to kind of focus on trust and be forward-looking when it comes to permissions, which are only going to get stricter. Customers are only going to want to manage their data more and more. Personalization has been around forever, but I think it’s only getting more and more important; even if it’s in a soft advertising context like an in-app message or something like that, if it’s not relevant to you then why would you care?” Alex Bird, Product Manager, Openpay
“I think it’s very important for you to be able to marry everything together, everything sing(ing) in the same language, and that’s when the first part of collecting data gets done, that’s when you are able to get data in a clean, organized manner. The next part, which I feel is the challenging part, is taking that data into insights, that’s where the goldmine is, that’s where business or your product will be able to make or create an impact for your customers.” Alka Gupta, Director of Data & People, BukuWarung.
