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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Founders are what make the fintech world go around. Without their grit, willingness to take risks, desire to enhance the status quo, and determination to bounce back after failure, fintech wouldn’t be here.
At FinovateSpring earlier this year, we spoke with four fintech leaders– Robbie Heeger, President and CEO and Endaoment; Alexandra McLeod, CEO and Founder at Parlay Protocol; Gwyneth Borden, Founder and CEO and Remynt; and Christian Widhalm, CEO and Bloom Credit– shortly after they stepped off the Finovate demo stage. We asked each of them for advice on pitching a product through a demo approach, refining presentations, and communicating their company’s value proposition.
Lessons from Finovate – Shaping your fintech showcase approach
Evolution through Feedback – Refining Fintech Presentations for Future Success
Unlocking Demo Success – Key Strategies for Communicating Fintech Value Propositions
PayPal is launching Fastlane, a one-click guest checkout experience for online merchants.
Fastlane automatically recognizes shoppers based on their phone number or email address, and autofills information forms in the checkout flow.
PayPal first unveiled Fastlane in January, and has been testing the solution with select merchants and ecommerce sites, including BigCommerce.
Fintech pioneer PayPal is launchingFastlane, its guest checkout tool, for all U.S. merchants this week. Fastlane aims to accelerate the guest checkout experience to help users complete their purchase in as little as one click.
Merchants can integrate Fastlane into their existing online checkout flow to create a simpler, faster checkout experience for the 43% of consumers who prefer a guest checkout experience. By using the customer’s email, Fastlane recognizes shoppers early in the guest checkout process and allows them to access their saved information with a one-time passcode sent via email. After entering their passcode, users can autofill the information in the checkout flow and complete their purchase in as little as one click.
When Fastlane does not recognize a shopper, it allows them to create a Fastlane profile by opting in during their purchase process, enabling faster transactions in the future.The tool does not require users to fill out forms or remember passwords.
“Fastlane by PayPal significantly reduces the time consumers spend using guest checkout – making for a more seamless checkout experience,” said PayPal President and CEO Alex Chriss. “With Fastlane, we are bringing an accelerated guest checkout to businesses of all sizes helping them to drive more sales.”
PayPal unveiled Fastlane in January and has since tested the technology with select businesses, including merchant SaaS provider BigCommerce, which is among the first ecommerce sites to test PayPal’s Fastlane. Over the past several months of trialing the technology, BigCommerce saw a 32% reduction in time it took for customers to check out. Additionally, as company CEO Brent Bellm noted, “Results from early-adopting test customers show that Fastlane users convert more than 80% of the time, which is up to a 50% improvement over guest shoppers who do not use Fastlane. For BigCommerce enterprise customers using PayPal, the Fastlane experience further improves on our checkout conversion rate of 71%.”
Fastlane is available for U.S. merchants on PayPalComplete Payments and PayPal Braintree, as well as via platforms including Adobe Commerce, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and others.
Ready to level up your networking game at FinovateFall? We’re here to help! At FinovateFall 2024, which is taking place September 9 through 11 in New York, we’re launching a new, personalized meeting platform called LevelUp.
Introducing LevelUp
LevelUp, Finovate’s new meeting program, is designed to help banks and financial institutions participate in tailored, valuable meetings. The goal of the meetings is to help our financial institution attendees efficiently find providers offering solutions that suit their requirements and ultimately meet critical business needs.
Seamlessly Integrated
LevelUp will be embedded into the FinovateFall agenda. We will offer time slots throughout the event to allow you to meet six solutions providers in an efficient, quickfire meeting format. To ensure you are meeting with companies offering real solutions to your challenges, we have hand-selected the best fintechs to optimize your time.
How It Works
Personalized Matches: Upon registering for FinovateFall, you’ll have the opportunity to detail your specific business challenges and needs. Our platform will then match you with the most relevant fintech providers.
Efficient Scheduling: LevelUp slots are strategically placed within the event agenda, ensuring that you have ample time to participate without missing other key sessions and presentations.
Focused Interactions: Each meeting slot is designed to be quick and focused, allowing you to get straight to the point and determine if the provider’s solution is right for your institution.
Why LevelUp?
Targeted Networking: Meet only with providers who are pre-vetted and matched to your specific needs, saving you time and effort.
Optimized Agenda: The seamless integration of LevelUp within the event schedule ensures that you maximize your time at FinovateFall.
Enhanced Collaboration: By focusing on relevant matches, you can build meaningful partnerships that drive real business results.
Join Us at FinovateFall 2024
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to revolutionize your networking experience. Whether you’re looking to explore new fintech innovations, solve specific business challenges, or simply expand your professional network, LevelUp is here to make it happen.
Register now for FinovateFall 2024 and take the first step towards leveling up your networking game. We can’t wait to see you there!
Bilt Rewards received $150 million in a funding round led by Teachers’ Venture Growth.
The new round brings the company’s total funding to $710 million.
The funding comes six months after Bilt Rewards’ January investment round, which valued the company at $3.1 billion.
Bilt Rewards, a rewards program that allows renters to earn points for paying rent on time, announced it has received $150 million in funding this week. The venture round was led by Teachers’ Venture Growth, while existing and new investors, such as Vanderbilt University Endowment and the University of Illinois Foundation, also participated.
Bilt Rewards was founded in 2021 to help landlords collect on-time rent payments by incentivizing residents with tailored benefits. In addition to rewarding on-time rent payments, Bilt’s platform also offers rewards when residents spend at partner merchants, enabling merchants to drive more business from local customers and acquire new customers as new residents move to the area. The company will use today’s investment to further expand its neighborhood loyalty program with merchants across the U.S.
“Bilt Rewards has created a unique loyalty program to empower renters,” said Teachers’ Venture Growth Senior Managing Director Rick Prostko. “We’ve seen the positive reaction from both customers and all those involved as part of their ecosystem. We are excited about the opportunity to work with Ankur and the full management team and find ways to support them as a value-add partner.”
Today’s investment, which boosts Bilt’s total funding to $710 million, comes about six months after Bilt’s last investment round led by General Catalyst and Eldridge. The $200 million raise, which closed in January, valued the company at $3.1 billion. As part of the January round, Bilt appointed Ken Chenault, former American Express CEO, as company chairman.
“In January, we recognized Bilt’s unique capture of loyalty in the previously untapped rental payments space,” said Chenault. “Today, Bilt is rapidly becoming the leading platform for driving neighborhood commerce. By connecting residents, property owners, and local businesses, we’re creating a powerful ecosystem that benefits all parties involved.”
Bilt Rewards is currently partnered with seven of the 10 largest multifamily housing owners in the country. The fintech, which is expanding to single-family homes and condominiums, plans to scale its resident loyalty program to include mortgage payments later this year.
“This funding accelerates our vision of rewarding Americans for how they live and spend in their communities,” said Ankur Jain, CEO of Bilt Rewards. “We’re rapidly growing our neighborhood loyalty program, expanding into essential categories like healthcare, gas, and groceries. With members in all 50 states, we’re building a comprehensive platform that benefits residents, property owners, and local businesses across the country.”
B2B payments facilitator Monto is exiting stealth with a $9 million funding round.
The Seed funding round was led by Scale Venture Partners.
The company plans to use the funds to scale its growth in the U.S.
There’s a new entrant in the B2B payments space. B2B payments facilitator Montoemerged from stealth this week, simultaneously announcing a $9 million Seed round.
Scale Venture Partners led the investment, while Verissimo Ventures, F2 Venture Capital, Firsthand Alliance, Room40 Ventures, and individual investors also participated. “Our investment in Monto is the result of years of work focusing on the CFO suite and the intersection with procurement. We are very well aware of the evolution of and pain points in this trillion-plus dollar market,” said Scale Venture Partners’ Alex Niehenke. “Monto is the only company that solves the one-off workflow problem for AR teams. It is the missing piece for any AP platform, without it, suppliers suffer.”
Monto will use today’s funds to further invest in technological improvements, as well as to fuel its U.S. expansion. As a starting point, the company is opening its first U.S. office in New York City.
Founded in Tel Aviv, with offices throughout the globe, Monto seeks to help make ACH and RTP B2B payments collection as easy as tapping a card. Business finance teams can use the company’s payments tool to receive payments from their customers’ third-party payment platforms, AP portal, or supplier portal, including Workday, QuickBooks, SAP, and Microsoft Dynamics. The payments simplification helps companies reduce Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and eliminate manual work by consolidating financial data from numerous sources.
Monto’s clients include large enterprises from various industries, including Shutterstock, TechTarget, Miro, and G2. Since launch, the company has helped its customers facilitate nearly $1 billion to buyers in more than 300 portals.
Monto’s founders, Maya Cohen and Nitsan Yerushalmi, previously worked implementing ERP systems in finance departments. “Monto is a strategic decision for CFOs, future-proofing them against a landscape where most, if not all, customers will soon use portals,” said Cohen, who now serves as the company’s CEO. “With Monto, getting paid by customers will be fully automatic, a concept we call ‘zero-touch,’ and we succeed in achieving that by working with, not against, the portals, an important distinction.”
equipfi is launching Plan Your Purchase, a BNPL solution that offers consumers financing for their purchase before they make the transaction.
Consumers can use Plan Your Purchase to take out loans ranging from $500 to $2,000.
Plan Your Purchase is integrated directly into a bank’s existing digital banking app, offering more control over the user experience.
BNPL-as-a-Service provider equipfiunveiled a new solution this week called Plan Your Purchase. The new tool empowers banks and credit unions to allow their account holders to take out pre-qualified installment loans from their bank before they make a purchase.
equipfi calls Plan Your Purchase a “pre-purchase BNPL solution,” meaning that the bank offers the consumer financing for their purchase before they make the transaction. Plan Your Purchase is integrated into a bank’s existing digital banking app to provide personalized BNPL offers directly to the customers. This makes it easy for users to get the financing they need to make a qualified purchase without a credit check, additional applications, new logins, upfront cost, or dependency on merchant integration.
Using Plan Your Purchase, pre-approved consumers can take out loans ranging from $500 to $2,000. The consumer can view and accept the loans immediately, and the funds are available within moments.
“There are many moments in an account holder’s lifetime when timely access to small loans make a big difference,” said Bryce Deeney, co-founder and CEO of equipifi. “By streamlining the loan acceptance process and positioning it in the digital banking experience, Plan Your Purchase helps financial institutions give account holders access to cash flow they already qualify for wherever and whenever they need it.”
By delivering the tool through banks, equipfi puts the bank in control, allowing them to leverage consumer data to provide more personalized offers. Putting the bank in the driver’s seat also allows the bank to control credit pre-approvals to suit their own risk tolerance and offers them more control over the user experience.
The integrated approach also can help banks maintain their top-of-wallet position by offering split payments using existing debit cards. This is different from traditional BNPL providers, which rely on a credit-focused approach. This integration can also help banks drive engagement and loyalty by leveraging transaction data to generate personalized offers and streamline the user experience within their familiar banking app.
Arizona-based equipfi was founded in 2021 to bring the benefits of BNPL financing directly to banks and credit unions. Among the company’s clients are Kane County Teachers Credit Union in Illinois, SunWest Credit Union in Colorado, FedFinancial Federal Credit Union in Washington, D.C., and Eagle Community Credit Union, which is one of the first to go live with Plan Your Purchase.
EarnUp is launching AI Advisor, an AI-powered chatbot to help banks promote financial wellness among their consumers.
AI Advisor accesses and instantly analyzes a user’s real-time banking and credit data to offer personalized, actionable answers to their financial questions.
By working with the consumer to help them improve their financial situation, AI Advisor can help banks build and maintain existing customer relationships.
Debt pay down platform EarnUpannounced the launch of its AI-powered financial wellness tool, AI Advisor, today. The new solution will help financial institutions offer their consumers personalized financial guidance.
AI Advisor is a chatbot that offers users hyper-personalized insights and guidance to help them make informed financial decisions to ultimately achieve their goals. It does this by accessing and instantly analyzing the user’s real-time banking and credit data to offer personalized, actionable answers to their financial questions regarding HELOCs, cards, consolidation loans, and more. By combining a user’s current financial situation with their questions, AI Advisor is also able to offer tailored product recommendations.
Using an approachable chatbot as the communication engine, EarnUp seeks to ensure that every user, regardless of their financial background, benefits from its advice to power a more financially resilient future.
“In today’s competitive landscape, banks must leverage AI to deliver real value to customers,” said KeyBank Chief Financial Officer Clark Khayat. “EarnUp’s AI Advisor goes beyond traditional budget-tracking apps by analyzing financial accounts and providing personalized, actionable insights. This empowers financial institutions to engage in more meaningful interactions, ensuring customers receive the guidance they need to achieve their financial goals.”
Using AI Advisor, banks may be able to retain borrowers, cross-sell loans and other products, capture deposits, and close more loans. That’s because banks can use AI Advisor as a tool to advise consumers on how to improve their financial situation so that they are ready to take out a loan or apply for a credit card. By working with the consumer instead of rejecting them outright, banks will also build relationships with them.
“Our mission is to democratize access to actionable information that will improve financial wellness,” said EarnUp Co-Founder and CEO Nadim Homsany. “This is especially critical as interest rates remain high and borrower debt repayment capacity diminishes. In fact, a recent Bankrate survey found that over half of applicants have been denied for a loan or credit since the Fed began raising rates.”
Since it was founded in 2015, EarnUp has helped nearly three million borrowers reach financial freedom. The company views its AI Advisor tool as a next step to assist individuals in achieving their financial goals.
Texas-based Vantage Bank announced this week it has tapped financial risk control platform Cable to facilitate the bank’s compliance and risk management program.
This partnership comes as Vantage Bank seeks to grow its fintech program and partnerships in today’s tightened regulatory environment. In recent years, there have been multiple banks offering embedded banking that have faced regulatory action over their offerings.
Given this heightened oversight, Vantage Bank has enhanced its compliance program by engaging with embedded banking experts to ensure it meets current standards. The bank said that it chose Cable because it offered an all-in-one tool to help firms keep up with evolving regulatory requirements in the U.S.
“Embedded Banking is under intense scrutiny from regulators,” said Cable CEO Natasha Vernier. “Vantage Bank is incredibly smart to get ahead of that scrutiny by building a best-in-class compliance program right at the outset. We are delighted that they chose Cable as part of that program, and we are excited to work with them and learn from them over the coming years.”
U.K.-based Cable was founded in 2020 to offer a financial risk control platform with automated effectiveness testing and real-time alerts that help clients manage, track, and have full oversight of the controls. The company’s initial value proposition was to help firms manage financial crime. Since then, Cable has doubled down on helping partner banks, including Axiom Bank, Quaint Oak Bank, and Griffin, manage their fintech programs. Last November, Cable unveiled Transaction Assurance, a new tool to automate effectiveness testing and ensure that all transactions are monitored and tested for potential regulatory breaches or control failures.
“Vantage believes there is tremendous opportunity to grow and diversify our customer base by leveraging embedded banking,” said Vantage Bank President and CEO Jeff Sinnott. “This opportunity requires that we have a robust risk management program and strong controls to ensure regulatory compliance. Vantage Bank believes Cable is the best platform to help manage our risk and compliance for our embedded banking program.”
Vernier, along with Cable’s Sales Lead Julian Brophy, demoed the company’s technology at FinovateFall 2022 in New York. The company started the year by launching a new integration option with identity risk management platform Alloy. The move allows Cable to seamlessly retrieve essential data from Alloy that feeds into Cable’s effectiveness testing checks.
Stripe is acquiring merchant of record service company Lemon Squeezy.
Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.
Lemon Squeezy will help Stripe add merchant of record capabilities, which will help it differentiate itself and may help attract a more global client base.
Financial infrastructure company Stripe is adding to its expertise this week with the acquisition of merchant of record (MoR) service company Lemon Squeezy. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Lemon Squeezy was founded in 2020 to help companies selling digital products globally with its subscription billing plans, payments tools, online storefront builder, checkout overlays, and more. The fintech, which has been processing payments on Stripe since it was founded, serves as an MoR. This means that it takes on responsibilities pertaining to processing cross-border customer transactions. MoR responsibilities can include payment processing, risk management, legal and financial responsibility, tax compliance, customer service and support, and fraud prevention.
Today’s buy marks Stripe’s 16th acquisition since it was founded in 2010. Stripe’s payment products serve companies of varying sizes in a range of industries. The San Francisco-based company’s offerings include online and in-person payment acceptance tools, embedded payments tools such as virtual card issuance, and revenue and finance automation tools such as billing, invoicing, and tax automation.
“It’s no secret that we (like many) have always admired Stripe,” said Lemon Squeezy CEO and Co-founder JR Farr. “When we began discussions about a potential acquisition, it was immediately apparent that our values and mission were perfectly aligned. Lemon Squeezy and Stripe share a deep love for our customers and a commitment to making selling effortless. Now imagine combining everything you love about Lemon Squeezy and Stripe — we believe it’s a match made in heaven.”
Looking ahead, Lemon Squeezy will continue to serve its customer base with its existing MoR services. The only difference is that, going forward, it will do so having the backing of Stripe.
For Stripe, adding MoR services will help it provide a more comprehensive suite of financial solutions. This may attract businesses looking for an all-in-one platform to handle not just payment processing, but also compliance, tax, and customer support. The addition may also help Stripe differentiate it in the crowded market of payment processors, including Square, Adyen, and PayPal. That’s because the MoR capabilities will help businesses seeking global expansion overcome regulatory and tax hurdles by managing complexities including local tax collection and remittance, currency conversion, and regulatory compliance.
As we enter into the last few days of July, there’s a lot to think about. The days are slowly getting shorter, but the list of tasks needed to complete 2024 objectives by the end of the year isn’t shrinking. Fintech news is set to pick up its pace as summer slows down, and we’ll be here to cover it. Stay tuned throughout the week to read the latest news this week as we post updates and evolutions.
Payments
Marqetabecomes certified to enable Visa flexible credential.
Cybercrime analytics company and Finovate Best of Show winner SpyCloudaddsConsumers’ Risk Module to its Check Your Exposure tool for banks and financial institutions.
Everyone in our industry sits in a unique place. Because of this, there is immense value in taking the time to listen to others’ perspectives. At our FinovateSpring conference earlier this year, we spoke with Akita Somani, SVP of BNPL and Lending at U.S. Bank, and Bhavana Prathipati, Managing Director, Payments Product Manager at Silicon Valley Bank.
Both experts offered their insights on two key themes in the payments world. Somani discussed how U.S. Bank’s own buy now, pay later point of sale lending solution can help consumers pay for essentials such as home repairs. “It’s all about providing options, and therefore opportunities,” she said. Somani also highlighted regulatory issues in the BNPL arena.
On the opposite side of the traditional bank space, where U.S. Bank sits, Prathipati has a wide view of the fintech payments scene. In her interview, Prathipati discusses how real time payments has changed the lives of consumers by, for example, making real-time insurance claim payouts possible. She also touches on some of the challenges and risks involved in real-time payments.
Revolut has received its banking license from the U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority.
The license comes three years after Revolut initially applied for a license in 2021.
Revolut currently holds a E.U. banking license, as well as a banking license in Mexico.
International challenger bank Revolut has now received its official banking license in the U.K. The London-based company first applied for the banking license in 2021, and today, after three years of patiently waiting, the U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) granted the license.
With its new banking license, Revolut can now take and hold deposits for its 9 million U.K. customers. It can also sell financial products such as loans, credit cards, overdraft protection, and savings accounts to U.K. consumers. The PRA has set initial restrictions on the license, however. Revolut is currently in what the regulator calls a mobilization period. During this period, the fintech cannot hold more than £50,000 in customer deposits. This limit will allow Revolut to test its systems and flag any issues before it begins to scale.
“Today’s announcement is a significant step forward for Revolut and for our customers. It is a tremendous responsibility to be a bank in the UK and we will work relentlessly to offer products and services that improve the financial lives of everyone who uses Revolut,” Revolut’s UK CEO Francesca Carlesi said in a statement.
Revolut’s end consumers will not see much will change. They will, however, benefit from having $109,500 (£85,000) in deposit insurance if the bank fails.
Revolut initially launched in 2014 and has since been operating as an e-money payments company in the U.K. The company received its E.U. banking license in Lithuania in December 2018 and since then has begun expanding its banking services across Central Europe. The company also has a banking license in Mexico. In other regions where Revolut operates, it relies on partner banks to hold customer deposits.
According to CNBC, one reason why it has taken Revolt three years to obtain the license is that Revolut’s share structure did not align with the PRA’s rules. Revolut had six classes of shares and ended up having to leverage SoftBank last October to restructure its ownership into ordinary shares. Another source, Banking Dive, said that faulty IT controls were to blame for the delay.
From a competitive standpoint, this is a big deal for Revolut. With its 45 million customers across the globe, the company joins fellow London-based competitors Monzo, N26, and Starling, which all have U.K. banking licenses. Other competitors Wise and Monese still do not have their banking licenses.
“We are incredibly proud to reach this important milestone in the journey of the company and we will ensure we deliver on making Revolut the bank of choice for UK customers,” said Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky.
