Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

PNC Teams with Coinbase to Offer Digital Asset Solutions

PNC Teams with Coinbase to Offer Digital Asset Solutions
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Coinbase, Daily news
  • PNC Bank has partnered with Coinbase to offer crypto services to its banking clients, institutional investors, and corporate treasurers, using Coinbase’s Crypto-as-a-Service (CaaS) platform.
  • The collaboration enables PNC clients to securely buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies while Coinbase gains access to PNC’s banking services.
  • The partnership follows the passage of the GENIUS Act, which brings regulatory clarity to stablecoins and is prompting traditional banks like PNC and JPMorgan to explore crypto-powered financial products.

PNC Bank announced it has teamed up with crypto exchange platform and wallet Coinbase to expand access to digital asset solutions for its banking clients, institutional investors, and corporate treasurers exploring onchain settlement.

Under the agreement, PNC will also provide banking services to Coinbase. The $557 billion bank will leverage Coinbase’s Crypto-as-a-Service (CaaS) platform to offer secure, scalable crypto access for its clients. With CaaS, Coinbase provides the underlying crypto infrastructure while allowing PNC to maintain full control over the client experience, brand, and compliance framework. At launch, PNC’s new crypto offering will allow clients to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies.

“PNC is a market leader in delivering best-in-class products for their clients,” said Head of Coinbase Institutional Brett Tejpaul. “We’re thrilled to support their entry into the digital asset market with our leading Crypto-as-a-Service platform, which provides PNC with a powerful set of tools to develop a scalable, high-growth business, built on a foundation of uncompromising security.”

Coinbase was founded in 2012 and has proved resilient in offering crypto capabilities that make it easy for people to engage with crypto assets by trading, staking, safekeeping, spending, and making global transfers. The company provides infrastructure for onchain activity and seeks to support builders who want to build onchain.

“Partnering with Coinbase accelerates our ability to bring innovative, crypto financial solutions to our clients,” said PNC Chairman and CEO William S. Demchak. “We will also provide PNC’s best-in-class banking services to Coinbase. This collaboration enables us to meet growing demand for secure and streamlined access to digital assets on PNC’s trusted platform.”

Until recently, Coinbase was under fire from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), for allegedly operating as an unregistered securities exchange. The company fired back, engaging in a legal battle by suing the SEC and FDIC over the need for more regulatory transparency in crypto. In February, Coinbase and the SEC jointly filed to dismiss the enforcement action and end the lawsuit. The lawsuit with the FDIC, however, is still ongoing, as the FDIC is still refusing to fully comply with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests concerning “pause letters” sent to banks.

Despite historical and present legal battles, Coinbase’s tenacity may soon pay off. The company will likely see a boost from the recently passed GENIUS Act as it creates regulatory clarity and certainty around stablecoins. The Act will even go as far as allowing Coinbase to apply for a banking license, which would enable Coinbase to obtain Fed master accounts and connect directly to Fedwire.

Notably, PNC isn’t the first traditional bank to make moves in the crypto segment after the passage of the GENIUS Act last week. The Financial Times reported this morning that JPMorgan is considering offering loans backed by clients’ Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings. If JPMorgan follows through, its clients could leverage their crypto holdings as collateral for cash loans, which would offer them liquidity without requiring them to sell their digital assets. The GENIUS Act’s clear federal framework for stablecoins may be giving traditional banks like PNC and JPMorgan new confidence to enter the crypto arena with clarity on compliance and risk boundaries.

Photo by RDNE Stock project

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Clover Launches Clover PracticePay for Healthcare Providers

Clover Launches Clover PracticePay for Healthcare Providers
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Clover Network

Fiserv-owned point-of-sale (PoS) system Clover unveiled Clover PracticePay today. The new solution is an all-in-one payments platform to support small and medium-sized healthcare providers. 

To optimally tailor the tool to the healthcare field, Clover partnered with healthcare payments solutions company Rectangle Health. The new solution aims to simplify the way healthcare practices manage payments while providing them with digital tools to help enhance their practice efficiencies.

Launching in 2026, PracticePay combines Rectangle Health’s Practice Management Bridge technology with Clover’s PoS hardware and is compliant with HIPAA and PCI requirements. Designed for providers across primary care, dental, behavioral health, and other specialties, the payments solution features financing options, recurring billing, text-to-pay, QR codes, and online payment portals that can be integrated into customers’ existing practice management software.

For Clover, launching PracticePay will help it expand beyond its core verticals, which include restaurant, retail, and personal services. Adding healthcare payments will allow Clover to extend into the high-demand healthcare industry in which providers are seeking to modernize operations to meet expanding patient expectations, increasing administrative complexity, and digitization requirements. PracticePay will help Clover meet these needs while capturing a segment of the $4.5 trillion US healthcare economy.

“As we continue to evolve Clover to meet the needs of small and medium-sized businesses, trusted partners like Rectangle Health play a critical role in delivering specialized solutions for key industries,” said Fiserv SVP, Head of Merchant FI Channels & Small Business Strategy Katie Whalen. “Healthcare is an important vertical for the banking industry, and with this new solution, we are enabling our financial institution partners to better serve a critical customer base within their communities. By uniting Clover’s leading technology with the strength and security of Rectangle Health’s purpose-built software, we are extending our reach into healthcare and enabling providers to operate more efficiently, improve payment flows, and enhance the patient experience.”

A pioneer in the payments space, Rectangle Health was founded in 1992 to create payment solutions for the healthcare industry. The company provides healthcare organizations with a suite of services that streamline payments, enhance patient relationships, and comply with regulatory standards.

“Together with Clover, we are proud to set a new standard for practice management and payment solutions in the healthcare space,” said Rectangle Health CEO Dominick Colabella. “This collaboration will enable providers to enhance their financial systems while remaining focused on what matters most—their patients.”

Clover was originally founded in 2010 to help small businesses accept payments. Today, the company serves as a one-stop shop for multiple payment needs. In addition to offering a range of payment acceptance terminals, Clover also has software to help businesses with online orders, accounting, loyalty programs, staff management, inventory, and more. Clover was acquired in 2012 by First Data, which was acquired by Fiserv in 2019.

Photo by Pixabay

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Stripe Acquires Orum for Undisclosed Amount

Stripe Acquires Orum for Undisclosed Amount
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Stripe is acquiring payment orchestration startup Orum to enhance its real-time payments capabilities, including FedNow, RTP, and AI-driven instant payouts.
  • Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The move follows Stripe’s earlier acquisitions of stablecoin platform Bridge and user data API company Privvy.
  • The acquisition reflects Stripe’s broader strategy to lead in modern, fast, and seamless payment infrastructure amid growing global demand for real-time payments.

Payment acceptance and financial services platform Stripe has agreed to acquire payment orchestration startup Orum for an undisclosed amount.

“Today, I’m excited to share the next step in our journey: Orum will be joining Stripe,” said Orum Founder and CEO Stephany Kirkpatrick in a blog post announcement.

Orum was founded in 2019 to serve as a single solution for accessing RTP, FedNow, Same Day ACH, ACH, and wires. The company’s payment API orchestrates instant payouts, using AI to predict the availability of funds within an account and pre-authorize transactions. In addition to its payment orchestration tools, Orum also verifies bank accounts and delivers payments 24/7 with its Direct to Fed solution that’s built on a connection to the US Federal Reserve’s payment rails as a service provider.

Since Orum was founded in 2019, the company has raised $82.2 million from investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Accel, and Canapi Ventures.

“Over the past six years, our incredible team at Orum has built innovative solutions that transform payment technology for businesses—revolutionizing payment speed, certainty, and orchestration,” added Kirkpatrick. “Businesses and consumers should not have to think about how their money moves from point A to point B—they should just know that it will happen with speed and certainty.”

Kirkpatrick said that combining with Stripe offers a “rare” opportunity to help Orum accelerate its mission to power a better financial system where everyone has the opportunity to build their potential.

For Stripe, which processed more than $1.4 trillion in total payment volume in 2024, the Orum purchase is just the latest in a string of acquisitions. The San Francisco-based company has also recently picked up user data API company Privy for an undisclosed amount and stablecoin platform Bridge, which cost $1.1 billion.

Today’s announcement comes at a time when real-time payments are beginning to ramp up across the globe. Conversations have been spurred by the launch of FedNow in the US in 2023, as well as growing interest in stablecoins, which are favored for their real-time settlement. Stripe’s acquisition of Orum is an example of how the company is committed to pursuing modern payment infrastructure and enabling faster, more reliable money movement for its global user base. As the payments landscape continues to evolve, this move positions Stripe as a leader in an ecosystem where speed, certainty, and seamless orchestration are table stakes.

Photo by Diva Plavalaguna

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Fintech Rundown, Socure, ThetaRay

Last week, fintech woke up from its summer slumber with the news that JPMorgan plans to increase the fees it charges aggregators. The news spurred conversations from banks, fintechs, and analysts, and discussions have been heated. What will this week bring? We’ll continue adding news to this post throughout the week, so stay tuned!

Payments

PhotonPay launches physical Mastercard commercial credit card to empower global business payments.

PairSoft and Finexio extend B2B payments partnership.

Block set to join the S&P 500.

Airwallex and Arsenal form multi-year global partnership.

Fraud and security

ThetaRay unveils Self-Service Rule Builder and Simulator to enhance its transaction monitoring solution.

Socure introduces its Dispute Abuse Score to help prevent serial abusers from exploiting dispute processes.

Nasdaq Verafin announces launch of its Agentic AI workforce.

Digital banking

Payment processing and orchestration platform Solidgate turns to Finovate Best of Show winner Tuum to power its global money movement solution Solidgate Treasury.

Incent rebrands as Nuuvia, reflecting the company’s expanded mission to provide a full lifecycle engagement platform for community financial institutions.

Wealth management

JP Morgan Markets announces enhancements to its platform for institutional investors.

Lending

Embedded lending solutions provider Momnt forges strategic collaboration with residential and commercial roofing products manufacturer IKO.

Photo by Cliford Mervil

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Paddle Raises $25 Million for Payments Infrastructure

Paddle Raises $25 Million for Payments Infrastructure
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Paddle raised $25 million in debt financing to support global expansion, product development, and executive growth.
  • The funds, which come from CIBC Innovation Banking, bring Paddle’s total funding to $318 million.
  • Along with the investment announcement, Paddle also unveiled new hires and plans to open an office in Austin.

Payments infrastructure company Paddle announced this week it has raised $25 million in debt financing from CIBC Innovation Banking and others. The investment, which follows a $293 million round in 2022 from FTV Capital, KKR, 83North, and Notion Capital, brings Paddle’s total funding to more than $318 million.

“We are delighted to fund Paddle as it continues on an impressive growth trajectory,” said CIBC Innovation Banking UK & Europe Managing Director Sean Duffy.

Paddle plans to use the funding to support global expansion, accelerate growth, and promote product development.

Paddle was founded in 2012 as a Merchant of Record (MoR) to handle payments, sales tax, refunds, fraud, and compliance for its clients. The UK-based company’s payment infrastructure replaces SaaS companies’ complex payment stacks by managing global payments, currencies, refunds, and sales tax compliance for 6,000 SaaS, AI, and app companies.

Along with today’s funding, Paddle also announced key executive hires. The company is adding to its 300+ employees with the appointments of Rich Mason as CRO International, Stephen Wilcock as CTO, and Ben Aronsten as CMO. Paddle is also opening a new office in Austin, adding to the company’s existing offices in London, Lisbon, Toronto, and New York City. 

“In an ever-connected world, it’s important that digital product companies can receive payment from customers in any location without the hassle of navigating multiple payment processes in different geographies. We are excited to support Paddle as it continues expanding its global footprint,” Duffy added.

Paddle has seen rapid growth in 2025, which it attributes to growth in new AI products and Apple opening its app ecosystem to web payments. The company has also recently unveiled new capabilities through a partnership with Vercel and integration with RevenueCat. Previously, the company has experienced 40% year-over-year growth and these factors will build on that.

“We are incredibly excited about the momentum Paddle has experienced so far in 2025,” said Paddle CEO Jimmy Fitzgerald. “We only win when those we serve win, and the growth we’re seeing across the market reflects that shared success. We are seeing a huge increase in the number of consumer app businesses choosing Paddle to manage their web monetization, and will continue to invest in this space with the new financing and strengthened leadership. We look forward to building on these achievements through the rest of the year and beyond as we continue to serve thousands of digital product companies worldwide.”

Paddle’s growth and fresh funding is an indication that SaaS and digital product companies are taking a new approach to global payments. As Gen AI and mobile-first implementation accelerate, companies need flexible infrastructure that handles compliance, tax, and localization without adding complexity. Paddle’s MoR approach is emerging as an alternative to fragmented payment stacks, especially as regulations tighten. Ultimately, today’s funding round and executive expansion show how Paddle is positioning itself not just as a payment provider, but as a strategic player in SaaS payments.

Photo by Andre Furtado

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Paychex Delivers SoFi Personal Finance Tools

Paychex Delivers SoFi Personal Finance Tools
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, SoFi
  • Paychex is partnering with SoFi to offer employees access to personal finance tools like loan refinancing and debt management through its digital benefits marketplace.
  • Employees cover the cost of the tools via payroll deduction, which means the employer gets to offer the tools at no cost.
  • This move helps even small businesses stay competitive in a tight labor market by delivering enterprise-grade perks that support employee financial well-being and retention.

Human capital management (HCM) company Paychex announced this week that it is teaming up with financial platform SoFi to bring end users access to SoFi’s personal finance tools.

Specifically, users of Paychex Flex Perks can connect to SoFi’s solutions via Paychex’s digital employee benefits marketplace. With this access, employees of Paychex customers can use SoFi’s solutions to support their journey to financial independence, including personal loans, student loans, loan refinancing, and more.

“Employees today expect their employer to help support their financial well-being—it’s no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ benefit,” said Paychex Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Business Development, and Investor Relations Cory Mau. “Businesses that provide access to financial wellness benefits often increase employee productivity, recruit and retain talent more effectively, and ultimately drive positive business outcomes.”

Paychex Flex Perks is available in Paychex Flex, a cloud-based HCM SaaS platform that makes it easy for employees to enroll in benefits. Paychex Flex Perks allows even small businesses to offer enterprise-level benefits to entice and retain employees. Launched in 2024, the marketplace has helped more than 230,000 employees purchase at least one benefit from the marketplace.

Employees can use Paychex’s benefits marketplace to select additional benefits based on their own needs. The employees pay for the additional benefits via payroll deduction, meaning they do not pose additional cost to the employer.

The benefits are made possible by SoFi at Work. Launched in 2016, SoFi at Work aims to help employers offer their workforce student loan refinancing, repayment options, a debt navigator tool, financial education resources, and more.

“Our partnership with Paychex marks a major milestone in SoFi at Work’s mission to help more Americans achieve financial independence,” said SoFi EVP for Spend, Invest, Protect, and Save Kelli Keough. “Financial tools and top-tier benefits should be available to everyone, not just employees of large companies. That’s why we’re partnering with Paychex, to make it easier for companies of all sizes, to support their workforce with meaningful and actionable benefits. Embedding SoFi’s financial well-being tools directly into Paychex will help millions of users nationwide take more control of their financial futures.”

As more employers recognize that financial stress impacts productivity and retention, embedding financial wellness tools directly into HR platforms is nearly becoming table stakes rather than a differentiator. The integration between Paychex and SoFi allows small and medium-sized businesses to offer the kind of high-quality financial tools and benefits that were previously only accessible at enterprise scale. In a tight labor market, that is a big deal where benefits can make or break acquiring quality talent.

Photo by Katie Harp on Unsplash

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Anthropic Launches Claude for Financial Services

Anthropic Launches Claude for Financial Services
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Anthropic launched a Financial Analysis Solution for its LLM Claude.
  • The Financial Analysis Solution will enable finance professionals to analyze markets, automate workflows, and make investment decisions using integrated data from platforms like Databricks and Snowflake while keeping user data secure and private.
  • With strategic partnerships spanning data providers and consulting firms, Claude is positioning itself alongside industry-specific LLMs like BloombergGPT to become an indispensable enterprise tool in financial services.

Anthropic announced this week that it is bolstering the resume of its LLM Claude. The California-based AI research company launched a solution for financial analysis that helps finance professionals analyze markets, conduct research, and make investment decisions.

Rather than require users to manually type details in to Claude, the Financial Analysis Solution creates a portal that unifies users’ financial data such as market feeds and internal data stored on third party platforms like Databricks and Snowflake. Analysts can use the new solution to modernize trading systems, develop proprietary models, automate compliance, and run complex analyses. Teams can monitor portfolios and compare performance and do not need to worry about inputting data into the platform, as users’ financial data is kept secure and is not used to train generative AI models.

The move into financial services tools lowers the barrier for mid-sized banks, asset managers, and even fintechs to build sophisticated tools without needing to hire large internal data science teams.

“Our strategic partnership with Anthropic is foundational to our success and our strategy to become a global leader in AI innovation in banking,” said Commonwealth Bank of Australia Chief Technology Officer Rodrigo Castillo. “Claude’s advanced capabilities, combined with Anthropic’s commitment to safety, are central to our purpose of harnessing AI responsibly, as we drive for transformation in critical areas like fraud prevention & customer service enhancement.”

With this launch, Claude is differentiating itself by forming partnerships with data providers that offer users access to the latest financial information via Box, Daloopa, Databricks, FactSet, Morningstar, Palantir, PitchBook, S&P Global, and Snowflake. Additionally, the new tool offers data access and implementation expertise through consultancy partners that provide tailored solutions across compliance, research, and enterprise AI adoption. These partners include Deloitte, KPMG, PwC, Slalom, TribeAI, and Turing.

Claude said that Financial Analysis Solution gives users a leg up on both speed and quality. The partnerships help analysts identify opportunities faster than traditional methods. And, when its client FundamentalLabs deployed it to build an Excel agent, Claude passed five out of seven levels of the Financial Modeling World Cup competition and scored 83% accuracy on complex Excel tasks.

“Claude has fundamentally transformed the way we work at NBIM. With Claude, we estimate that we have achieved ~20% productivity gains, equivalent to 213,000 hours,” said Norwegian sovereign wealth fund (NBIM) CEO Nicolai Tangen. “Our portfolio managers and risk department can now seamlessly query our Snowflake data warehouse and analyze earnings calls with unprecedented efficiency. From automating monitoring of newsflow for 9,000 companies to enabling more efficient voting, Claude has become indispensable.”

Anthropic isn’t the first LLM-owner to create an industry-specific solution. Others have launched AI specialization tools for industry verticals, including OpenAI’s GPTs, Google’s Gemini 1.5 for code and finance, and domain-specific LLMs like BloombergGPT. With its Financial Analysis Solution, Anthropic is making the move to compete more directly with its enterprise use cases.

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5 Global Trends That Banks Can’t Ignore in H2 2025

5 Global Trends That Banks Can’t Ignore in H2 2025
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: List series, Thought Leadership

With the first half of 2025 behind us, it’s a good time to look forward to what the second half of the year will bring. The first two quarters were packed with change: from the stablecoin frenzy and cuts to the CFPB in the US, to new regulatory crackdowns across Europe and the reversal of Section 1033, reshaping the future of open banking. Meanwhile, banks and fintechs are ramping up their use of AI, navigating new regulatory requirements, and adapting to global momentum around real-time payments and digital identity.

With all of this change, it’s hard to imagine the surprises that the next two quarters will bring. And while I can’t predict all of the surprises, there are five trends that banks and fintechs should not ignore as we move into the second half of the year.

The open banking conversation evolves

In the EU, PSD3 and the Financial Data Access (FIDA) framework are being finalized and the UK is moving forward with Open Banking 2.0 under the Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC). In contrast, the US is in a period of regulatory uncertainty. The CFPB is pulling back from Section 1033 and JPMorgan revealed to data aggregators that it plans to increase the cost for them to pull consumer data. Banks need to keep a close eye on the evolving conversations around open banking as ripple effects take place across the globe.

AI becomes an arms race in financial services

AI is quickly becoming table stakes for financial services organizations. AI-native fintechs are setting new expectations around service, automation, and personalization. And firms are no longer stopping at chatbots and GenAI technologies. Instead, banks across Europe, the US, and Asia are increasingly integrating agentic AI, and even hiring AI agents for tasks like underwriting, compliance, and customer service. Expect the second half of the year to bring a continued rise in AI literacy programs and internal tooling as firms upskill teams and reduce reliance on third-party vendors by turning instead to agentic AI.

Tokenization takes over

In the first half of 2025, we saw major pilots for tokenized deposits, treasuries, and real-world assets (RWAs). In the latter half of the year, we can expect to see real world implementations, particularly in wholesale payments, interbank settlement, and liquidity management. Regulatory clarity is also beginning to transpire. Jurisdictions like the EU, Hong Kong, and Singapore are starting to define legal frameworks for tokenized financial products. This may prompt US regulators to clarify the treatment of tokenized deposits and securities.

Identity verification becomes a battleground

With rising fraud, easy-to-create deepfakes, and an increase in embedded finance, financial institutions are shifting from one-time identity checks to continuous, context-aware identity verification. The second half of this year will bring increased adoption of reusable digital IDs, decentralized identity frameworks (DID), and advanced biometrics tied to behavioral signals. As always, the challenge will be balancing a low-friction user experience with high security.

Real-time payments reshape expectations

FedNow is gaining traction in the US, ISO 20022 began rolling out earlier this week, and stablecoin-powered cross-border projects are on the rise. All of these aspects, plus an increase in stablecoin adoption are making real-time payments the norm and are raising customer expectations. Banks that can’t meet those expectations risk losing ground to more nimble players.

Photo by Pixabay

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Streamly Snapshot: Revolutionizing Audit Processes with AI

Streamly Snapshot: Revolutionizing Audit Processes with AI
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2025, Speaker series, Streamly

Artificial intelligence is reshaping every corner of the financial services world, and auditing is no exception. As firms look for smarter ways to manage repetitive, manual processes, AI-powered tools are stepping in to reduce risk, save time, and improve accuracy.

Filmed at FinovateSpring earlier this year, this Streamly video features Aman Kaur, Sales Director at DataSnipper, discussing how DataSnipper transforms how auditors work. Kaur shares how the company is helping audit teams evolve their workflows through embedded automation. By eliminating repetitive tasks like copying data, matching documents, and performing manual verifications, DataSnipper frees up auditors to focus on higher-value analysis, which results in a smarter, faster audit process.

“We’re seeing that finance and audit professionals are spending too much of their valuable time on very repetitive, very menial tasks,” said Kaur. “So our mission at DataSnipper is to resolve that with automation, and we want to meet them where they’re spending that time, which is in Excel. So we’re working in building tools that are going to help eliminate a lot of the repetitive work and give them time back to focus on more strategic work.”

Founded in 2017, DataSnipper is a smart automation platform built directly into Excel that helps auditors, finance teams, and consultants work more efficiently. The company’s AI-powered tools automatically match and extract data from supporting documents such as invoices, contracts, and bank statements to save time and reduce human error. Today, DataSnipper is used by over 500,000 professionals in 125+ countries, including the Big Four and top-tier audit firms around the world.

Aman Kaur brings experience in enterprise SaaS sales, working across industries to introduce transformative technologies. At DataSnipper, she focuses on helping audit and finance teams embrace automation and rethink what their workflows can look like.

Photo by Kindel Media

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Spanish AI Debt Collection Startup Murphy Raises $15 Million

Spanish AI Debt Collection Startup Murphy Raises $15 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • AI debt collection startup Murphy raised $15 million in pre-Seed and Seed funding to scale its autonomous, multilingual AI agents that help organizations recover hard-to-collect debt across sectors like banking, BNPL, utilities, and healthcare.
  • Murphy differentiates itself with agentic AI that offers human-like, behavioral, and empathetic voice interactions that operate 24/7 in over 30 languages.
  • Murphy plans to use the new capital to expand into the US, grow its team, and further disrupt the $300 billion global collections industry.

Debt collection startup Murphy announced this week that it closed $15 million in pre-Seed and Seed funds. The investment was led by Northzone, while ElevenLabs, Lakestar, Seedcamp, and existing investors also participated.

Founded in 2024, Murphy seeks to transform debt servicing by leveraging autonomous AI agents to help debt collection agents from utility companies, telcos, banks, BNPL companies, microlenders, healthcare firms, and more recover debt that would have otherwise been untouched or written off. The company uses voice agents and behavioral personalization techniques that work across channels, 24 hours per day and in more than 30 languages.

“We’re building AI-native infrastructure that replaces traditional call centers with a scalable, multilingual solution,” said Murphy Co-founder and CEO Borja Sole. “It helps companies recover more, faster, and more cost-efficiently, while staying compliant and treating debtors with respect.”

Murphy is tackling an often overlooked industry, as there has long been a disconnect between consumers’ digital behavior and how collections are handled. Bringing AI into the equation may help organizations collect previously unrecoverable debt, especially in high-volume, low-value cases. Murphy differentiates its product by taking a unique approach to AI implementation. It doesn’t simply use chatbots and scripted voice technologies, but rather employs agentic AI that is capable of multilingual, empathetic, and behavioral interactions that bring a human-like nuance to conversations that can scale without adding labor costs.

Since launching less than a year ago, Murphy is already managing hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. The company has acquired clients across Europe and plans to use today’s funding to accelerate its expansion across Europe and the US, scale its product, and expand its team.

“Debt servicing is a $300+ billion global industry that is ripe for disruption. After reviewing countless verticals, this stood out as a space where AI can make a major impact,” said Northzone Partner Jeppe Zink. “Given their experience and relentless development speed, Borja and his team are uniquely positioned to transform this space.”

Murphy is part of a larger wave of AI-powered services in the financial services space. Investors are pouring money into these companies in anticipation that AI-native vertical SaaS companies like Murphy will replace legacy systems in high-friction industries such as collections, compliance, and insurance.

Photo by Aleksandar Pasaric

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JPMorgan Chase to Charge Data Aggregators for Consumer Data Access: What It Means for US Open Banking

JPMorgan Chase to Charge Data Aggregators for Consumer Data Access: What It Means for US Open Banking
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Julie's Column, Thought Leadership

Late last week, news was released that has the potential to disrupt the trajectory of open banking in the US. JPMorgan Chase has been in discussions with data aggregators, telling them that it plans to charge them to access customer data.

Traditionally, data aggregators like Plaid, Finicity, and MX have been able to access consumer banking data at no cost by using login credentials provided through third-party services. Introducing fees for this access raises important questions around consumer data rights, portability, and the future of financial innovation—and could significantly reshape the economics of open banking in the U.S.

In the US, open banking has largely been shaped by the private sector rather than by government regulation. This means that banks, fintechs, and data aggregators have had to create their own frameworks for sharing consumer financial data, often without clear, standardized rules. Yet consumer demand for data connectivity has grown rapidly. With the rise of third-party fintech apps offering budgeting, investing, and lending services, individuals expect these tools to connect seamlessly to their bank accounts and deliver real-time balances and transaction data. To support this, banks have traditionally allowed data aggregators to access account information either free of charge or for a relatively low cost.

JPMorgan’s rationale

While JPMorgan’s decision to charge for data access may not be unreasonable, it did catch many by surprise. The bank argues that aggregators are profiting from its infrastructure without contributing value in return. Citing rising infrastructure and security costs, as well as a desire for greater control over how consumer data is accessed and used, JPMorgan framed the move as a necessary step toward a more balanced data-sharing ecosystem

“We’ve invested significant resources creating a valuable and secure system that protects customer data,” JPMorgan spokeswoman Emma Eatman told Bloomberg, which broke the news. “We’ve had productive conversations and are working with the entire ecosystem to ensure we’re all making the necessary investments in the infrastructure that keeps our customers safe.”

Impact on aggregators

For data aggregators, the news is far from welcome. As one spokesperson noted, their cost of goods sold has essentially been zero. They charge fintechs for data access but haven’t had to pay banks to obtain the data itself. If banks like JPMorgan begin charging for that access, aggregators will likely pass the added costs to fintechs, which could ultimately trickle down to consumers.

Implications for open banking

JPMorgan’s announcement comes at an interesting time for open banking in the US. Section 1033 of the Dodd Frank Act was supposed to be finalized this October, and many were looking forward to the clarity that centralized open banking rules would provide the industry. Earlier this year, however, the CFPB announced plans to rescind 1033.

Regardless of whether or not formal rules are in place, however, the argument centralizes around an age-old question in fintech–who owns the customer data? While many banks claim that the consumer data belongs to them, some advocacy groups and aggregators claim that consumers should be able to do what they want with their data freely.

Introducing new costs to access consumer financial data could have several ripple effects on the future of open banking in the US:

  • It may create barriers for fintechs offering services that consumers can’t get from traditional banks. This could slow innovation and reduce incentives for new entrants to build products that meet unmet financial needs.
  • Consumers may face higher costs as fintechs pass on the fees associated with data access. Services that were once free or low-cost could become more expensive, prompting some users to reconsider their primary financial institution if their bank can’t match the functionality they previously enjoyed via third-party apps.
  • It could accelerate the adoption of more secure, standardized data-sharing protocols, such as those developed by the Financial Data Exchange (FDX), which aim to replace legacy methods like screen scraping with tokenized, API-based access.
  • It might also incentivize more screen scraping, as aggregators seek ways to avoid new costs. While most aggregators treat screen scraping as a last resort, increased financial pressure may push some to lean more heavily on automated tools such as AI agents to extract data through less secure channels.

What’s next?

While JPMorgan was the first to notify aggregators that it plans to begin charging, we can expect more financial institutions to make similar announcements. And while the CFPB seems unwavering in its decision to rescind the open banking rule as it was stipulated in 1033 last October, JPMorgan may shape or pressure new regulatory frameworks moving forward.

If more banks adopt similar policies and create uncertainty for fintechs and aggregators, we may see renewed momentum for a revised version of 1033, especially under a new administration. As consumers, banks, fintechs, and aggregators all begin to seek greater clarity and consistency, the US could shift toward a more structured, regulated model of open banking.

Photo by Altaf Shah

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Signicat Acquires Digital ID Verification Company

Signicat Acquires Digital ID Verification Company
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Signicat
  • Signicat has acquired Dutch identity verification provider Inverid for an undisclosed amount.
  • Inverid’s flagship product, ReadID, uses NFC on smartphones to securely verify ID documents, making it ideal for high-assurance use cases like banking, government, and cross-border compliance.
  • The acquisition positions Signicat to meet growing regulatory and fraud prevention demands across Europe.

Fraud prevention solutions provider Signicat announced this week that it is bolstering its identity authentication and orchestration tools with the acquisition of the Netherlands-based Inverid.

Signicat is purchasing Inverid from its founders and the company’s majority shareholder, Main Capital, both of which have agreed to reinvest a portion of what they receive back into Signicat. This indicates that they believe in the potential of the combined company and want to retain a financial stake in its future.

Inverid (formerly known as InnoValor) was founded in 2013 and has a team of 75 developers working on solutions that increase digital trust. The company’s flagship solution, ReadID, helps organizations verify identity documents leveraging NFC on users’ smartphones. Inverid counts 50 clients, including Rabobank, the UK and Danish governments, and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex).

NFC-based document verification is one of the most accurate and tamper-resistant ways to validate identity documents. This is because it pulls data directly from the chip inside a passport or ID, rather than relying on OCR or a camera scan. This makes ReadID a powerful addition for high-assurance use cases like onboarding for banks, insurers, or government services.

Signicat will integrate the ReadID capabilities into its own set of solutions, which include identity proofing, trust orchestration, authentication, and electronic signing.

“By adding Inverid’s unique NFC-based solution to our platform, we can offer our customers the best possible document verification technology and unmatched identity solutions,” said Signicat CEO Asger Hattel. “This transaction demonstrates our commitment to remaining at the forefront of digital identity innovation, constantly striving to offer our customers still more effective tools to fight fraud while improving digitization journeys for their end users.”

Signicat has been in the identity industry for nearly two decades, having launched its identity verification tools in 2006. Today, the Norway-based company supports 240+ data sources to identify businesses and individuals. Signicat offers national eID and biometric verification, ID document scanning, data verification AML/KYC checks, and more. In 2019, Signicat was acquired by private equity investor Nordic Capital for an undisclosed amount.

“The acquisition of Inverid is an important step to further strengthen Signicat’s offering to deliver even better digital identity solutions to the market,” said Nordic Capital Advisors Managing Director Rolf Torsøe. “Building on a successful partnership between the companies and a strong cultural fit, this transaction will unlock immediate synergies. Nordic Capital is enthusiastic about supporting Signicat’s continued growth journey in Europe.”

This acquisition comes at a time when fraud is evolving rapidly, and governments and financial institutions across Europe are doubling down on strong identity verification. By integrating NFC-based document checks, Signicat is closing a key gap for high-assurance use cases like government onboarding and cross-border compliance. This is especially true in an era when regulations surrounding identity verification are shifting, creating a moving target for organizations.

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