Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Lidya Launches SME Lending Platforms for Poland and Czech Republic

Lidya Launches SME Lending Platforms for Poland and Czech Republic
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Lidya

Digital small and medium enterprise (SME) lender Lidya is launching its platform in Poland and the Czech Republic, marking the Nigerian firm’s first international expansion into Europe since it was founded in 2016 in Lagos, reports Ruby Hinchliffe of Fintech Futures, Finovate’s sister publication.

Lidya’s launch in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region is being led by former CEO of Polish lender Idea Money, Tomasz Sekalski, and the former head of retail banking for ING Bank Czech Republic, Libor Vanicek. Sekalski and Vanicek will become country directors for Poland and the Czech Republic, respectively.

The company’s proposition is to provide loans within 24 hours to SMEs and create 100 million jobs worldwide. To date, it has raised nearly $10 million.

“Through Lidya, we have the opportunity to empower the growth of SMEs in Africa, Europe and around the world,” said Lidya’s co-founder, Ercin Eksin. “SMEs create the most number of jobs and significantly contribute to GDP. We are on a mission to support the creation of 100 million jobs in fast-growing economies.”

The fintech says it has issued more than 10,000 loans in Nigeria, and aims to become the largest lender in the country’s market for SMEs by the end of this year.

“We are planning to disburse €1 billion to small businesses in Poland and the Czech Republic over the next five years,” said fellow Lidya Co-founder, Tunde Kehinde.

Eksin demonstrated Lidya’s credit scoring algorithm at FinovateFall 2016. The demo showcased how the bank helps small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) share or upload their bank data to manage cash flow, customer data, and create and send digital invoices. To help businesses smooth lumpy cashflow held up in invoices, Lidya lends from $500 to $50,000 without requiring the business to visit a physical branch.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Baker Hill, Bill.com, Chetu, DriveWealth, eToro, Insuritas, Larky, Lidya, OurCrowd, Salt Edge, Trustly

On Finovate.com

  • Investment Firm Takes Minority Stake in OurCrowd.
  • Bill.com’s New Release Targets Midmarket Companies.
  • DriveWealth Teams with Nigerian Trading Platform.
  • Lidya Launches SME Lending Platforms for Poland and Czech Republic.

Around the web

  • CU Broadcast features Larky CEO and Co-founder Gregg Hammerman.
  • eToro partners with The TIE to develop unique sentiment-driven investment strategies for traders.
  • Trustly launches Trustly Live to bring instant cashless payments to land-based casinos and sportsbooks.
  • Home Bank renews relationship with Baker Hill, adding Baker Hill NextGen CECL and Baker Hill NextGen Business Loan Origination.
  • Salt Edge to power PSD2 API for Habib Bank AG Zurich.
  • Chetu earns #3 for dollar growth and #15 for percentage growth at the SFBJ technology awards 2019.
  • Insuritas to power bank-owned insurance agency for Signature Bank of Georgia Partners.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Credit Sesame Appoints New Chief People Officer

Credit Sesame Appoints New Chief People Officer
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Credit Sesame

Consumer credit health platform Credit Sesame today announced the appointment of a new Chief People Officer.

Pablo Gaito (pictured), who will be the first to serve in the newly created position, is tasked with scaling Credit Sesame’s “people operations” ahead of the company’s planned IPO. Gaito brings 20 years of experience managing human capital at large companies such as Cargill, Gap, and ServiceNow.

Gaito said he was attracted by “the authenticity of the people” at Credit Sesame” as well as the company’s “noble purpose to improve people’s lives through democratizing credit health.” He added, “Given the recent funding and ongoing growth, Credit Sesame is at a defining moment. I’m thrilled to guide us on our talent and culture roadmap to achieve our goal of scaling a healthy mission-driven company.”

Credit Sesame aims to democratize access to consumer credit scores, and has offered the service for free for almost a decade. The company also offers identity theft protection, savings recommendations, and a complete picture of users’ financial state all in one place.

Last month, Credit Sesame raised $43 million, a round which brought its total funding to $110 million. The company’s investors include Menlo Ventures, Inventus Capital, Globespan Capital, IA Capital Groups, Symantec, Capital One Ventures, and Stanford University.

After Credit Sesame’s most recent funding round in August, the company revealed that its valuation was nearing $1 billion and it planned to IPO soon. There is no word on the exact timing for the public debut, however.

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Nubank’s User Base Soars to 15 Million

Nubank’s User Base Soars to 15 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Nubank

Brazilian fintech Nubank claims to have 15 million customers, representing a 25% increase since August, reports Jane Connolly of Fintech Futures, Finovate’s sister publication.

Reuters reports that Nubank – which provides a free-of-charge credit card along with bank accounts, small business services and individual credit – aims to offer interest rates at 30% to 40% below the normal market rate for Brazilian banks, which typically offer credit cards with 400% APR.

Founder and CEO David Vélez said that 10 million of Nubank’s clients are holders of its credit card. “We have opened many new business fronts in the last 12 months [and] we are growing quickly.”

The announcement comes just three months after the company raised $400 million in a funding round led by TCV.

Founded in 2013 and now valued at $10 billion, Nubank also operates in Argentina and Mexico. Vélez said that operations in the latter country will be accelerated in the coming weeks.

This summer there were also speculations about potential expansion into Colombia, but this has not been confirmed by Nubank.

Founded in 2013, Nubank offers a Mastercard credit card with a companion mobile app that features PFM capabilities, spending alerts, and a card-lock feature.

Nubank Co-founder and CTO Edward Wible, along with Lucas Cavalcanti, lead software engineer, showcased at FinDEVr New York 2016 in a presentation titled Our Money, Our Rulebook, which explored how Nubank deals with real-time, double-entry accounting on a per-customer basis.

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INETCO’s Insight 7 Brings Machine Learning to Fraud Prevention

INETCO’s Insight 7 Brings Machine Learning to Fraud Prevention
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: INETCO Systems

Transaction monitoring and analytics company INETCO recently unveiled Insight 7, fraud detection technology for financial institutions and payment processors.

Insight 7 leverages payment data and machine learning algorithms to discern payment fraud in real time and reduce the number of false positives; keeping the bad guys out while allowing authentic consumers to proceed with their transactions. The new release’s fraud detection capabilities monitors for suspicious activity, including card present, card not present, and card reversal fraud; as well as provides transaction risk scoring, payment outlier detection, “man-in-the-middle” attacks, and more.

“Real-time transaction risk scoring on an individual customer basis is a game changing advancement from existing approaches that only rebuild customer models as part of a scheduled batch ETL (extract, transform and load) process,” said Ugan Naidoo, INETCO CTO. “The result is more precise risk scores for all types of card-present and card-not-present transactions, a streamlined escalation process and less customer friction.”

The real time nature of the technology is made possible through INETCO’s ability to view the entire path of a transaction. When malware or an ATM cash-out attack is detected, banks and payment processors will instantly know that the transaction has been tampered with.

INETCO is primarily distributing Insight 7 via partner sales. The company has strong relationships with NCR, Cognizant, and Fiserv, as well as global partners in Mexico, North Africa, and Eastern Europe.

The recent release builds on INETCO’s existing technology, including the ATM analytics technology the company demoed at FinovateEurope 2015. INETCO’s solutions, which are available in more than 50 countries, range from regulatory compliance to ATM monitoring to payment card analytics. Established in 1984, INETCO is a privately held company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Bijan Sanii is president and CEO.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Credit Sesame, Fiserv, INETCO Systems, Klarna, Nubank, Samsung, TickSmith

On Finovate.com

  • INETCO’s Insight 7 Brings Machine Learning to Fraud Prevention.
  • Nubank’s User Base Soars to 15 Million.
  • Credit Sesame Appoints New Chief People Officer.

Around the web

  • Uwharrie Bank to leverage Fiserv for digital transformation.
  • Klarna to offer buy now, pay later options to Samsung customers.
  • TickSmith’s Marketplace Advanced Insights offers insight into how Nasdaq Basic Canada works in the marketplace.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Revolut Hires JP Morgan to Manage $500 Million Funding Round & Issue $1 Billion Loan

Revolut Hires JP Morgan to Manage $500 Million Funding Round & Issue $1 Billion Loan
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Revolut

Challenger bank Revolut has hired investment bank JP Morgan to conduct its $500 million funding round and issue it a $1 billion convertible loan, which will turn into shares if Revolut receives a U.S. banking license, reports Ruby Hinchliffe of Fintech Futures, Finovate’s sister publication.

Sky News sources revealed that Revolut is trying to achieve a new valuation of between $5 billion and $10 billion from the capital-raising, which could make it the most valuable fintech in Europe if it hits $10 billion, ahead of Monzo, Transferwise, Klarna and N26.

Currently the most valuable fintech in Europe is Adyen, a Netherlands-based data analytics firm valued at $8.3 billion.

It is not clear yet which of Revolut’s existing partners will be participating in the round. The challenger’s most recent partnership with Visa will see it expand to 24 new countries, as well as hire 3,500 new staff.

Having accumulated almost eight million customers since it was founded five years ago, and now on track to have raised almost $2 billion in its lifetime if it secures the full $1.5 billion from investors, Revolut is fast-becoming the top U.K.-based challenger bank.

However such exponential growth, with the bank quadrupling its revenue in 2018 and saying it will triple it again this year, yields greater regulatory warnings.

The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority has targeted faster-growing companies in the U.K. like Revolut, requiring them to have more rigorous stress-testing and prove evidence of greater challenges by board members to business strategy.

Revolut is also undergoing a significant management restructure, following accusations of alleged links to the Kremlin.

Currently gearing up to announce its new chairman Martin Gilbert, vice chairman of Standard Life Aberdeen, the challenger has also lined up former boss at Goldman Sachs, Michael Sherwood, and has already hired a senior executive from Metro Bank.

Revolut debuted at FinovateEurope 2015 in London. The company’s CEO and founder Nikolay Storonsky showed off the app’s money transfer capabilities that help users avoid banking fees without actually using a bank. The company has made recent headlines in fintech news for its partnership with Bottomline and for its appointment of new CEOs in Lithuania and Ireland.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alfa-Bank, Revolut, SplitIt, Stratifyd

On Finovate.com

  • Revolut Hires JP Morgan to Manage $500 Million Funding Round and Issue $1 Billion Loan.

Around the web

  • Alfa-Bank launches cross-border payment pilot project with Novolipetsk Steel Company, Commerzbank, and Vesuvius.
  • Divido and Shopify to offer Splitit’s monthly installment payment solution to customers.
  • Zippia names Stratifyd a great place to work.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Coinbase Pro Goes Mobile

Coinbase Pro Goes Mobile
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Coinbase

There have been mobile apps allowing investors to trade stocks on-the-go for a decade now, but mobile options for crypto traders have been limited. That is, up until today.

Digital currency wallet and crypto management platform Coinbase launched the Coinbase Pro mobile app on iOS today. The company notes it will ship on Android “soon.”

The new app offers much of the same functionality as the desktop platform and allows traders to quickly see prices, check their portfolios, and place orders. Similar to the desktop version, the app features analytical tools such as real-time candles, depth charts, order books, and advanced order types. And, just like the desktop version, orders made via the mobile version are subject to the same fees.

Coinbase Pro launched in May of last year to serve Coinbase’s active crypto traders. Coinbase Pro fees range from 0.50% to 0.0% on trades made in a 30-day period. Similar to Coinbase Pro but for institutional clients, Coinbase offers Coinbase Prime.

After its most recent funding round of $300 million, Coinbase’s total funding hit $525 million and its valuation rose to $800 million. Coinbase demoed InstantExchange at FinovateSpring 2014.

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Pendleton Community Bank Signs Teslar Software for Automation

Pendleton Community Bank Signs Teslar Software for Automation
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: 3E Software

West Virginia-based Pendleton Community Bank has selected 3E Software’s portfolio management system Teslar to improve efficiency and incorporate automation into its internal operations, focusing on the commercial lending process, reports Alex Hamilton of Fintech Futures, Finovate’s sister publication.

With nine bank branches across West Virginia, Pendleton Community Bank needed to support a 30% growth in asset size spawned by a recently completed merger with Bank of Mount Hope.

“We first watched a Teslar demo at an industry event, and we were immediately impressed with the platform’s sophisticated capabilities and ability to solve for common pain points,” said Bill Loving, CEO of Pendleton Community Bank.

“By partnering with Teslar, we will be able to automate document tracking, exceptions, and many other previously time consuming and inefficient aspects of the commercial lending process.”

According to Teslar, the bank’s time on “tedious manual tasks” will now be minimized, and employee resources will be free to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Joe Ehrhardt, CEO and founder of Teslar, added, “Savvy community institutions like Pendleton Community Bank are realizing that they must employ technology to enhance efficiencies if they want to scale and compete with the large national institutions.”

Teslar offers a lending and credit management SaaS solution that offers banks a holistic tool for managing credit and lending operations. At FinovateSpring 2015, Ehrhardt demoed how Teslar serves as a one-stop shop for lenders. And investors are taking notice. Earlier this year Teslar received a $2 million investment led by the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA).

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: 3E Software, Coinbase, PayStand, Swaper

On Finovate.com

  • Pendleton Community Bank Signs 3E Software’s Teslar for Automation.
  • Coinbase’s Coinbase Pro Goes Mobile.

Around the web

  • Paystand surpasses 100,000 businesses on its network.
  • Swaper celebrates its third birthday.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Upgrade Pack Opens Singapore Office, Appoints New COO

Upgrade Pack Opens Singapore Office, Appoints New COO
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Upgrade Pack

Travel upgrades startup Upgrade Pack announced its expansion into Asia Pacific with the launch of a Singapore office and the appointment of a new regional COO.

Toby Berger, Upgrade Pack’s new APAC COO

Toby Berger (pictured) will serve as Upgrade Pack’s new APAC COO. Berger, who has spent the last decade working in the Asia Pacific region, has served in executive roles in Google and Expedia. He will be responsible for overseeing the rollout of customer rewards and loyalty across the Asia Pacific region.

“Singapore represents the perfect base for our first phase of international expansion,” said Upgrade Pack CEO Craig Unsworth. The city-state has firmly established itself as a global technology and finance leader, and with many of our potential banking and corporate clients here, this new office enables us to demonstrate the value Upgrade Pack delivers as a differentiated customer loyalty and employee benefit offering.”

Upgrade Pack offers a way for banks, credit card companies, or employers to enhance and build loyalty among their clients and employees. The company offers access to discounted upgrades on flight and hotel upgrades that are not available to the general public.

To accomplish this, Upgrade Pack is directly integrated with airlines and hotels to offer exclusive access to purchase unbooked upgrade inventory a discount. During the company’s appearance at FinovateEurope earlier this year, Unsworth demonstrated the process of upgrading to a first class ticket on an upcoming flight for a 30% discount.

Upgrade Pack is available in the U.K., the U.S., Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Switzerland. The company is headquartered in London and has raised $3.61 million (£2.9 million).

Upgrade Pack will demo its technology at FinovateAsia in Singapore next week. If you’re in the area, be sure to stop by the Marina Mandarin on October 14 and 15 and check it out. Tickets are still available.

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