Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

U.S. Bank’s Innovation Team Unveils the Future at CES 2024

U.S. Bank’s Innovation Team Unveils the Future at CES 2024
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Interview, Speaker series

U.S. Bank’s innovation team recently attended the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week on what it called a “Future Safari.” After attending the show in 2023, the team was back on the lookout for emerging tech trends with the potential to impact the financial services industry, emphasizing AI, autonomy, embedded financial services, and the intersection of physical and digital realms.

We interviewed U.S. Bank’s innovation team to get a view of CES under a fintech lens, as well as to get a peek at U.S. Bank’s tech-forward initiatives in 2024 and beyond.

U.S. Bank’s innovation team attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. What was the team looking for?

U.S. Bank Innovation Team: We look for several things. First and foremost, we are looking for emerging tech and trends that may have an impact on the financial services industry and/or our customers.

We also look at trends and activity across several technology verticals to see if there is technology that we need to get ahead of.

Another thing we look for is specific new tech we might be able to test and pilot. And, of course, it’s great to see what other industries are doing with the technology that is coming to market.

In general, what are some fintech trends U.S. Bank is currently exploring or excited about?

U.S. Bank Innovation Team: At U.S. Bank, we cover a broad range of technologies, domains, client segments, and industries as part of how we try to develop and deliver the future now. Some of the broad trends we’re exploring at the show include AI and autonomy, of course, and how these technologies can change peoples’ lives; the embedding of financial services into all manner of products, services, experiences; how devices are proliferating and what that means for how we help people optimize their financial lives; and how the physical and digital parts of life are changing thanks to new technologies. We’re exploring dozens of trends in many sectors, but those are a few at a high-level that our Future Safari to CES helps us to gauge.

As a large bank, how does U.S. Bank make the decision whether to build or buy new technologies?

U.S. Bank Innovation Team: As a large bank, we like to focus on our core competencies and make decisions that reduce risk. Particularly in tech areas outside of our expertise (technical or business), we will look first to partner.

For example, we aren’t going to try to build our own quantum computer any time soon. We did build our award-winning mobile app, and we do build the majority of our digital customer facing experiences. Some components of those experiences may be provided by fintechs that we partner with when there is a time to market/cost/economic advantage or they have expertise outside of the banking/financial services realm that will improve our customers’ experience. At the end of the day, it is all about the customer experience.

What are some tech-forward initiatives we can expect to see U.S. Bank come out with this year?

U.S. Bank Innovation Team: While I can’t preview any planned announcements for later this year, we use Future Safaris like these to inform insights that help us create amazing experiences for our clients.

One example of how we’ve used these Future Safari insights in the past is that we were able to be the first bank to integrate with all three virtual assistants – Siri, Google, and Alexa. That work later informed the launch of our own industry-leading virtual assistant, U.S. Bank Smart Assistant, which built the foundation for when we created our Spanish Smart Assistant – the nation’s first Spanish-language voice assistant for banking. All of these were informed by early innovations in voice technology that we were seeing at CES. It gave us early signals into what would be important to people and allowed us to envision how we might integrate these kinds of emerging technologies into how we serve our clients.

What was your favorite non-fintech innovation you saw at the show?

U.S. Bank Innovation Team: We really liked the Genesis Systems WaterCube 100. It is a cube about the size of an air conditioner that pulls water from the air. It runs on low enough power to operate on solar panels and can be dropped in to emergency areas in need of clean water, or it can be used for off-grid and remote applications for both commercial and consumers.

The Federation of International Drone Soccer League out of Korea was very cool! The drone soccer league had a big space where they were demonstrating drone soccer – for Harry Potter fans, it looks a lot like quidditch. We thought it was great as it turns a fun solo activity that kids are into these days into an in-person competitive event. Also, it looks like tons of fun!

We are always amazed by the advances in big farm technology. In the John Deere booth, we saw their latest line of tractors that can be operated manually, remotely, or autonomously. They showed their custom GPS, which can get the behemoth tractors to plow and deliver seeds within one-inch accuracy.

We also noticed a trend of high-end, battery powered campers from the super-luxury concept at LG with built-in bars and entertainment, to Jackery and Goal Zero camper concepts with built-in solar batteries and rooftop tents with low-power fridges and a plethora of glamping features. Going off-grid and connecting to nature may also have plurality creature comforts in the future.

Companies and innovators are raising the bar across all industries, and we continue to push ourselves to do the same.

Group photo left to right: Todder Moning, Head of Applied Foresights; Rosa Dunn, Assistant Vice President, Digital Innovation; Cynthia A. Jackson, Vice President, Digital Innovation; Andrew Cantrell, Sr. Applied Foresights Strategist; Don Relyea, Chief Innovation Officer

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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: Alumni News, Daily news

There was a lot of news week in the payments world, where we saw announcements from large firms such as Visa and PhonePe, as well as smaller players like Cleva.

Across the board, there also seem to be a fair number of C-level job shifts, which makes sense for the start of the year.

Challenger Banking

Nubank’s Nu Colombia receives formal approval to operate a financing company in Colombia.

Payments

Cleva raises $1.5 million pre-seed funding to help non-U.S. residents open a U.S.-based account to receive USD payments.

PhonePe appoints Ritesh Pai as CEO – International Payments.

Allied Payment Network receives undisclosed amount of funding from RF Investment Partners.

Optty’s merchant clients and partners to leverage Link Money’s Pay by Bank solution.

Finix launches Payouts for fast and secure money movement.

Bluefin launches new ShieldConex capability with enterprise security proxy service.

Visa Direct adds more digital wallets through Simplii and CIBC.

Currencycloud inks partnership with cashflow management platform multi.

Andaria partners with Mastercard to empower its embedded finance initiatives.

Rivero raises $7 million in Series A funding to supercharge growth.

ACI Worldwide forges payments technology partnership with U.K. retailer Co-op.

Financial management

MSU Federal Credit Union’s Reseda Group launches Ever Green Financial Wellness Center to help credit unions promote financial literacy and education.

Brazil-based expense management and corporate card company Conta Simples raises $41.5 million in Series B funding.

Intuit integrates TurboTax into Credit Karma and QuickBooks.

Wealth Management

Kinecta Federal Credit Union announces an integration with cloud-based wealth management solutions provider FusionIQ.

Bits of Stock’s Stock Rewards Checking Account is now accessible through Jack Henry’s Banno digital banking platform.

InvestCloud appoints Jeff Yabuki as Chairman and CEO.

DeFi

E-commerce company Mercari to allow Bitcoin payments.

NoahArk Tech Group secures $2.4 million in a strategic investment from EOS Network Ventures (ENV).

USDC stablecoin issuer Circle files confidentially for an IPO.

Nayms Launches an Institutional Tokenized (Re)insurance marketplace on Base.

Lending

Qashio and CredibleX launch Qashio Financing.

Owners Bank expands partnership with Biz2X to include partner origination oprtal.

Identity Management

Digital signature firm Videosign partners with digital identity verification company OneID.

Socure’s Socure ID+ platform earns authorization from the State Risk and Authorization Management Program (StateRAMP).

Digital Banking

Redwood Capital Bank taps Apiture for digital banking platform.

KlariVis reaches 100-customer milestone, secures $11 million in Series B funding.

Compliance and Regtech

Inspire Legal selects First AML to increase confidence and autonomy in AML compliance.

Photo by Viridiana Rivera

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Danske Bank Taps Backbase to Enhance Digital CX

Danske Bank Taps Backbase to Enhance Digital CX
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Backbase, Daily news
  • Danske Bank has signed a deal with engagement banking solutions provider Backbase.
  • Danske Bank will tap Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform to help tailor its digital experience to suit its users’ needs and preferences.
  • Among Backbase’s most recent partnerships are FrankieOne and SavvyMoney.

Engagement banking solutions provider Backbase inked a deal with Denmark-based Danske Bank this week.

“This engagement is a testament to our customer focus and our commitment to ensuring the best digital banking experience for the future,” said Danske Bank Chief Operating Officer Frans Woelders. “A new platform that works across the web, mobile apps, and our adviser tools is one of the ambitions in Danske Bank’s Forward ’28 strategy, and the agreement with Backbase is the next step towards achieving that ambition.”

Under today’s deal, Danske Bank will leverage to Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform, allowing the bank to enhance the customer experience by tailoring the digital experience to suit the user’s needs and preferences.

Specifically, Backbase cites four aspects of digital banking that its Engagement Banking Platform can enhance, including:

  1. A mobile-first model that guides customers between automated and expert advice.
  2. A modernized and simplified IT landscape that reduces the number of siloed applications.
  3. A unified platform that consolidates data, business logic, and workflows into a single platform for customers and bank employees.
  4. More agility, thanks to enhanced flexibility that allows for swift implementation of business capabilities.

Expounding on the last point, Danske Bank Head of Personal Customers and Financial Crime Risk and Prevention Christian Bornfeld said, “This platform will allow us to take our interaction with customers through our digital solutions to the next level and to introduce enhancements at greater speed than ever before. It will thus enable us to provide market-leading convenience and personalization for our customers with great insights, increased proactivity, and easy access to assistance and advice.”

Backbase, which is on a self-described mission “to re-architect banking around the customer,” was an early entrant to the fintech space. Founded in 2003, the Amsterdam-based company offers a range of digital banking solutions, including onboarding, lending, investing, and customer support. Among Backbase’s existing partnerships are FrankieOne, which signed with the fintech last September, and SavvyMoney, which initiated its partnership last August.

Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA

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Mastercard Taps 4thWave’s Supply Chain Finance Platform

Mastercard Taps 4thWave’s Supply Chain Finance Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MasterCard
  • Mastercard is partnering with 4thWave to leverage its supply chain financing and collections platform for its commercial clients based in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA).
  • Mastercard will integrate 4thWave’s technology into Mastercard’s InControl for Commercial Payments solution that uses virtual account numbers to make supplier payments more flexible and secure.
  • The payments technology aims to help the 72% of organizations that experience strained vendor relationships.

Payments technology giant Mastercard is partnering with BaaS digital platform provider 4thWave to leverage its supply chain financing and collections platform. Mastercard will use 4thWave’s technology for managing B2B payments to facilitate cashflow for corporate buyers and suppliers in the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) region.

More specifically, the technology will be integrated into Mastercard’s InControl for Commercial Payments (ICCP), a B2B payments solution that streamlines payments using virtual account numbers to make supplier payments more flexible and secure. Further increasing virtual card account acceptance, Mastercard’s straight through processing (STP) will help deliver funds for approved transactions to suppliers’ bank accounts.

“In line with our commitment to helping businesses worldwide transform the way they pay and get paid, we are investing in enhanced capabilities in the commercial B2B payments space,” said Mastercard Senior Vice President of Commercial Solutions, EEMEA Clyde Rosanowski. “Our partnership with 4thWave, a result of our continued focus on solving for B2B accounts payable and receivables, will allow us to jointly provide enhanced value to all participants in the supply chain.”

Mastercard is pouring its efforts into the supply chain finance sector because of the difficulties that often arise over vendor-supplier relationships. In fact, IBM found that around 72% of organizations experience strained vendor relationships due to inefficient invoice and payment processing, leading to sub-optimal supplier relationships. Offering a supply chain financing and collections tool to its commercial clients may smooth some of these issues and allow companies to focus on their core business.

“The B2B businesses, especially in the SME & MSME segment, have been severely impacted by the slowness in collections of receivables,” explained 4thWave Chairman Dan Mishra. “This has led to severe liquidity crunch that has negative consequences for the survival of these businesses. Our combined solution with Mastercard addresses this need by providing an easy and innovative financing platform that will rekindle and spur the much-needed growth in the economies.”

Photo by Pixabay

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Fintech Funding Surges This Week: 10 Deals in 3 Days

Fintech Funding Surges This Week: 10 Deals in 3 Days
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Allied Payment Network, Funding, List series, Thought Leadership

We are only three days into this week, and we’ve already seen a huge wave of fintech funding announcements come in. In fact, there have been not one, not three, not five, but 10 fintech companies that have secured substantial funding rounds this week.

This surge signals a promising comeback, hinting at a possible resurgence of venture funding in the fintech sector for 2024. Here’s a look at the funding announcements so far this week.

  • Financial software and technology provider Computer Services, Inc. (CSI) landed a strategic investment from private equity firm TA. The amount of this week’s round was undisclosed.
  • Asset and wealth management software specialist Zilo raised $31.8 million (£25 million) in Series A funding. The round was co-led by Fidelity International Strategic Ventures and Portage.
  • Unbox, a value exchange network, closed $13.2 million (€12 million) in a funding round led by HSBC. Unbox will use the majority of the funds to fuel talent recruitment.
  • Investment portfolio company Allied Payment Network received additional strategic investment from growth capital firm RF Investment Partners. The amount of this week’s round was undisclosed.
  • B2B subscription commerce platform AppDirect secured an additional $100 million investment from global investment group CDPQ. The funds will be used to support financing options for technology advisors through the company’s AppDirect Capital Invest program. 
  • Maalexi, a risk management platform assuring payment and performance for small agri-businesses in cross border trade, raised $3 million in a round led by Global Ventures.
  • Singapore-based BNPL firm Atome raised $31 million from parent company Advance Intelligence Group.
  • Digital asset custodian Finoa brought in a $15 million investment led by Maven 11 Capital and Balderton Capital. The company’s valuation remains flat at $100 million.
  • Brazil-based Conta Simples brought in $41.5 million (R$200,000,000) for its expense management technology. The company will use the funds to grow its team and expand its client base.
  • Africa-based fintech Cleva raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding for its technology that enables African users to receive USD payments.

Overall, the 10 rounds add up to more than $237 million. This might not seem like a lot when compared to 2021 funding levels. However, it is impressive when juxtaposed against last year’s first quarter funding numbers. When looking at the funding raised by Finovate alumni, we found that 13 companies raised a total of $453 million in the first quarter of 2023. Considering this benchmark, fintechs are off to a good start in 2024.

But don’t get too excited. This week’s brisk pace of fintech funding may not be completely indicative of a comeback. The ten rounds in three days can likely be attributed to the buildup of deals that were almost complete in the fourth quarter of last year, but were put off after the holidays.

Regardless of the reason, let’s hope that 2024 is a happy and healthy year for fintech funding.

Photo by César Couto on Unsplash

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Trust & Will Closes Earned Equity Investment Deal with Comcast’s Forecast Labs

Trust & Will Closes Earned Equity Investment Deal with Comcast’s Forecast Labs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Trust & Will
  • Trust & Will has landed an earned equity investment with Comcast’s venture arm, Forecast Labs.
  • Under the agreement, Forecast Labs will promote Trust & Will nationally via TV advertisements to reach new audiences.
  • Trust & Will was founded in 2017 and has raised $48 million.

Digital estate planning and settlement platform Trust & Will is adding to its resources this week. The California-based company has inked an earned equity investment deal with Comcast’s venture arm Forecast Labs.

Unlike a traditional equity investment, the earned equity investment is not a cash investment. Instead, under today’s agreement, Trust & Will will benefit from non-monetary resources from Forecast Labs. For example, Forecast Labs may contribute expertise, services, or assets, in exchange for equity ownership in Trust & Will. In other words, instead of providing cash upfront, Forecast Labs will earn its equity stake by delivering a specified value to the business.

Specifically in this case, Forecast Labs will promote Trust & Will nationally via TV advertisements to gain brand awareness in fresh market segments of consumers who may be less likely to have a will. As Forecast Labs Managing Director Arjun Kapur explained, “With this investment, we will play a pivotal role in introducing Trust & Will to people who have otherwise been priced out of estate planning or have had to deal with outdated ways of managing their wills and trusts.”

Trust & Will, which won Best of Show accolades at FinvoateFall last year and has raised $48 million across eight rounds of funding, was founded in 2017 as a digital-first way for users to create wills and trusts inexpensively online. Since launch, the company has helped 700,000+ families plan their own future and settle the estates of loved ones. There is plenty of room for growth in the U.S. market, however. More than 60% of Americans do not have a will.

“As we look ahead at our goals for growth in 2024,” said Trust & Will CEO and Founder Cody Barbo, “I am excited to start working with Forecast Labs to put our business in front of more Americans who have otherwise been left out. Estate planning is too important of a topic for so many people to neglect until it’s arguably too late.”

Trust & Will’s marriage of fintech and legaltech isn’t unique to the fintech world, but it is not all that common. While the fintech sphere often focuses on financial transactions and management, the incorporation of legaltech solutions like those of Trust & Will is a promising convergence of sectors. This year, we will likely see growth of fintechs in the regtech and legaltech arenas, as startups seek green pastures for innovation.

Photo by Melinda Gimpel on Unsplash

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TaskPay Offers Escrow-Like Contracts for Payouts

TaskPay Offers Escrow-Like Contracts for Payouts
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Startups

Every once in a while, I like to highlight a fintech I’ve never heard of. Today’s candidate is TaskPay.

Founded in May of last year, TaskPay is on a mission to build trust into contracts and talent payouts. What does that mean, exactly? TaskPay has built a platform to allow users to create instant, escrow-like milestone contracts for gig workers or to send peer-to-peer payments.

By serving as a middle-man, TaskPay secures funds from the party making the payment, while waiting to release the funds until the recipient has completed the contract requirements. This protects both parties by ensuring that the payer isn’t receiving work and refusing to pay, and also ensuring that the payee isn’t taking the funds without completing their end of the contract.

Taskpay facilitates payments made using cryptocurrency, debit or credit card, PayPal, ACH transfers, or wire transfers. It also helps users without a bank account to withdraw funds onto a prepaid Mastercard or Visa card.

What’s more, Taskpay members can use the platform to find talent. The company’s AI connects users with the right gig worker for the job by analyzing chat data, disputes, ratings, reviews, job timelines, and more.

TaskPay’s emergence aligns with today’s digital-first era, offering a fundamental solution to solve trust issues in contractual agreements and gig worker payments. In the growing gig economy, TaskPay safeguards both parties from potential exploitation or non-compliance. In a world where digital interactions are commonplace, TaskPay is well-positioned to succeed as a player in the evolving fintech arena.

Taskpay is headquartered in Wyoming and was founded by Aaron Andrew and Kerim Eravci.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

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Arc Technologies’ Venture Debt Lending Platform Reaches $100 Billion in Committed Capital

Arc Technologies’ Venture Debt Lending Platform Reaches $100 Billion in Committed Capital
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Arc Technologies now counts more than $100 billion in committed capital on its venture lending platform.
  • Arc Technologies has closed more than 350 transactions since it was founded in 2021.
  • Last year’s Silicon Valley Bank crisis launched Arc Technologies into a period of growth, with more startups seeking alternative capital sources.

Arc Technologies revealed through an exclusive interview with TechCrunch today that it now has more than $100 billion in committed capital on its lending platform.

Founded in 2021, Arc has raised $181 in funding across three rounds of funding– including a $20 million Series A round the company landed in August of 2022. The California-based company’s venture debt marketplace offers startups a capital alternative to equity funds.

Arc’s capital markets debt marketplace enables startups to onboard in as little as 10 minutes and receive debt terms for up to $250 million from the network of participating lenders. After underwriting each borrower using historical financial data, the company pre-qualifies borrowers and matches them to a lender within five days.

Notably, Arc’s rise in committed capital comes after the fall of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last year, when many startups found themselves scrambling to find sources of alternative capital so that they could meet day-to-day business requirements and make payroll.

The SVB crisis served as a growth period for the company. “In 2023, Arc onboarded more than 4,000 new users, while the deposits managed through our platform grew by a factor of more than 12x,” said company CEO Don Muir. “Specific to capital, we have completed more than 350 transactions and have made available $100B+ in AUM to deploy through our lending partners.”

In the future, Arc plans to build out more banking products into its platform, the first of which can be expected later this year.

Photo by Mathias Reding

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Talus Pay Makes Two Acquisitions to Boost Growth

Talus Pay Makes Two Acquisitions to Boost Growth
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Talus Pay has acquired home services fintech infrastructure company Jobox.ai and B2B payment solutions company Clarus Merchant Services.
  • Combined, the new entity will process more than $9 billion for 22,000+ merchant customers annually.
  • Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Texas-based Talus Pay announced two major purchases this week. The payments processing company has acquired home services fintech infrastructure company Jobox.ai and B2B payment solutions company Clarus Merchant Services. Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Combined with the two new companies, Talus Pay now processes more than $9 billion a year for its more than 22,000 merchant customers. The fintech expects the acquisitions will help it grow its client base within the home and facility services verticals.

“We are excited to welcome both Jobox and Clarus to the Talus Pay team,” said Talus Pay CEO Kim Fitzsimmons. “We have tremendous end-to-end technology infrastructure and sales and service platforms. Adding Jobox and Clarus gives us additional proprietary software and scale in complimentary business-to-business industry verticals.”

Jobox was founded in California in 2016 to offer job matching, scheduling, payments, customer communications, and inventory management technology to U.S. home services professionals. The company currently serves more than 5,000 home services professionals across 39 U.S. states. Talus Pay will leverage its direct and reseller channels to scale Jobox’s open-source architecture across more industries, including auto repair, beauty, hospitality, non-profit, and service retail, among others. 

“Jobox is a terrific tool for underserved home and facility services professionals to help them efficiently run their businesses and increase their bottom lines,” said Jobox Co-founder and CEO Shay Bloch. “By joining forces with Talus Pay, we can accelerate our market share in the home services end market while having the opportunity to accelerate entry into new market verticals.”

Maryland-based Clarus, which has been providing payment services since 1999, currently processes more than $2 billion in annual card volume each year for a wide range of businesses, credit unions, wholesale distribution groups, and building materials distribution companies. After the acquisition is finalized, Clarus will be able to offer its merchant clients new solutions from Talus Pay.

Logistically, Clarus President Eric Pottebaum will join Talus Pay’s leadership team, serving as general manager of its Clarus portfolio. Bloch has been named Talus Pay’s chief strategy officer and Jobox Kaushik Pendurthi, also from Jobox, has been named chief technology officer.

Talus Pay, which itself was acquired by private equity firm A&M Capital Partners in 2017, processes 67.8 million transactions on an annual basis via sales agents and its network of financial institutions, independent sales organizations, independent software vendors, and value-added resellers. 

Photo by Lech Naumovich on Unsplash

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Bumper Pulls in $48 Million to Drive Growth in BNPL for Car Repair

Bumper Pulls in $48 Million to Drive Growth in BNPL for Car Repair
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding
  • Bumper received $48 million in funding for its BNPL tool for vehicle repairs.
  • The funding round was led by Autotech Ventures and comprised of $18 million in equity and $30 million in debt.
  • Bumper’s partner dealers have facilitated BNPL payments for more than 250,000 repairs in the past 12 months. The company hopes to double that this year.

Bumper, a payment platform for car dealerships, landed $48 million (£40 million) in Series B funding today. The funds consist of $18 million (£15 million) in equity and $30 million (£25 million) in debt.

Autotech Ventures led the round, which saw contributions from Shell Ventures, JLR’s InMotion Ventures, Porsche Ventures, and Revo Capital. The investment, which boosts the U.K.-based company’s total funding to $64 million, will help Bumper expand the reach of its buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform for car repair bills.

Bumper plans to use today’s funds to expand across Europe, specifically in the U.K., Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Ireland.

Bumper was founded in 2013, well before the BNPL boom of 2020. The company is currently partnered with 5,000 car dealerships that offer car repair services. In the past 12 months, these dealerships have provided BNPL payments for more than 250,000 repairs for Volvo, Ford, Nissan, VW Group, JLR, Porsche, and more.

Customers begin engaging with Bumper before they ever enter the dealer. The car owner applies for a credit limit of up to $6,300 (£5,000) at home and receives an instant decision. If they are pre-approved, they receive a unique Bumper Code that they show to their service provider, who then sends the customer a link to set up their payment plan. The customer can select to spread their payment over the course of one month to six months, interest free.

Bumper offers a suite of payment options– both digital and physical. Customers can opt to pay using open banking payments, card payments, or at card terminals located in the dealership. All payment methods can be fully integrated into the dealer’s existing infrastructure.

Looking ahead, Bumper wants to double the number of BNPL transactions it has facilitated in the past year. “We want to be the dominant payment platform for car dealers across Europe,” explained company Co-founder and CEO James Jackson. “We’ll do it by providing a no-brainer solution, one that gives their customers the ultimate flexibility in making the necessary payments to keep their cars on the road.”

The timing for this growth objective is favorable. The cost of living crisis is driving up the use of BNPL across sectors. High-ticket auto repairs, which often catch consumers off-guard, are an ideal use case for BNPL. “There has never been a more important time for a business like Bumper, with consumers across Europe feeling the pinch amidst high inflation, rising bills and escalating rent or mortgage costs,” said Jackson. “The need for a flexible way to pay for car repairs is vitally important for drivers, and dealers want to ensure they can provide customers every reason to book them in there and then.”

While the number of merchants offering BNPL options for high-ticket goods has expanded around the globe, there are not many providing the new payment option for services, such as auto repair. That said there are a handful of BNPL companies that specialize in travel experiences and some, including Sunbit, that offer BNPL for medical services, vet bills, as well as auto repair bills.

Photo by DS stories

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Top 10 News Pieces You Missed Over the Holiday Break

Top 10 News Pieces You Missed Over the Holiday Break
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: List series

While many people unplugged from their work computers last week to enjoy holiday festivities, the news in the fintech world didn’t stop moving. As you sift through the backlog of emails, voicemails, and meetings post-vacation, here’s a handy news digest we’ve curated for you.

Dive into the latest in fintech news as we unpack the biggest headlines from the past week, making it easier for you to catch up on what you missed.

1

December 18: Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Spiff
Utah-based compensation platform Spiff has agreed to be acquired by Salesforce. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed. Salesforce will integrate the Spiff team into its Sales Cloud team, a group that aims to enhance Salesforce’s Sales Performance Management solutions.

2

December 19: Walmart Taps Affirm to Offer BNPL Option at Self-checkout
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) heavyweight Affirm has extended its partnership with Walmart to offer its BNPL solution at select Walmart self-checkout stands. Shoppers can use Affirm to pay for non-grocery purchases ranging from $144 to $4,000 in monthly installments.

3

December 21: Circle Secures Conditional Digital Asset Service Provider Registration
Massachusetts-based Circle received a conditional registration as a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) with the French Financial Markets Authority. The company’s goal is to have its European operations brought under comprehensive EU oversight with both a full DASP and Electronic Money Institution license. Circle also appointed Coralie Billmann as head of French operations.

4

December 21: Saudi Arabia-based Tabby Lands $700 Million Credit Facility from JP Morgan Chase
Saudi Arabia-based BNPL platform Tabby received a $700 million credit facility from JP Morgan Chase. Since it was founded in 2019, Tabby has brought in a total of $1.7 billion in combined debt and equity funding. The news comes before the company’s planned listing on the Saudi Stock Exchange.

5

December 22: Blackstone Agrees to Acquire Sony Payment Services
Private equity group Blackstone has agreed to acquire Sony Payment Services. The firm is acquiring Sony Payment Services from Sony Group’s Sony Bank, which will still support Sony Payment Services as a minority investor. The acquisition marks Blackstone’s first investment in a Japan-based fintech company.

6

December 25: Libyan Islamic Bank taps Backbase to Enhance Customer Experience in Digital Channels
Libyan Islamic Bank partnered with Backbase to “streamline its customer service operations and enhance its customers’ digital banking experience.” The move, which is expected to reduce Libyan Islamic Bank’s friction in both onboarding and servicing, will revamp the bank’s existing mobile app for retail customers and introduce new digital apps for business users.

7

December 26: Grayscale Chair Barry Silbert Resigns
CEO and Founder of Digital Currency Group Barry Silbert resigned as Grayscale Investments chairman. Digital Currency Group, which is Grayscale Investments’ parent company, is currently caught up in lawsuits from U.S. regulators. Digital Currency Group Chief Financial Officer Mark Shifke is replacing Silbert as chairman.

8

December 27: OakNorth Brings on Lord Adair Turner as New Chairman
U.K. neobank OakNorth has appointed Lord Adair Turner as its Chairman. Lord Turner has previously served as Vice-Chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe, has been a Board Director of Standard Chartered, was Chair of the Financial Services Authority, and is a founding member of the Financial Policy Committee.

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December 28: Saudi Fintech Tameed Closes $15 Million Series A Funding Round
Small business lending platform Tameed received $15 million in funding. The round was led by Alromaih Group in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia-based Tameed will use the funding to fuel its growth to meet demand for its Shariah-compliant financing products. 

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January 1: HSBC Launches Money Transfer and Currency Conversion App Zing
HSBC launched a new money transfer and currency conversion app with companion debit card. The new tool, called Zing, is available for both iOS and Android. With Zing, users can hold up to 10 different currencies and make transactions in local currency, avoiding point of sale currency conversion fees.

Photo by olia danilevich

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Blackstone Agrees to Acquire Sony Payment Services

Blackstone Agrees to Acquire Sony Payment Services
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Blackstone has agreed to acquire Sony Payment Services.
  • The firm is acquiring Sony Payment Services from Sony Group’s Sony Bank, which will still support Sony Payment Services as a minority investor.
  • The acquisition marks Blackstone’s first investment in a Japan-based fintech company.

Private equity group Blackstone has agreed to take a majority stake in Japan-based Sony Payment Services (SPSV). The firm is acquiring SPSV from Sony Group subsidiary Sony Bank. Sony Bank will continue to support SPSV as a minority investor.

The acquisition marks Blackstone’s first investment in a Japan-based fintech company. The firm’s other Japan-based acquisitions have centered around the pharmaceutical industry. In 2002, Blackstone acquired AYUMI Pharmaceutical and Alinamin Pharmaceutical, a deal that marked the largest healthcare transaction in the market ever.

“We are thrilled to invest in SPSV… and expand our Japan Private Equity portfolio in ‘good neighborhoods’ – sectors with strong secular growth,” said Blackstone Japan Head of Private Equity Atsuhiko Sakamoto. “Digitization of the economy is a key trend around the world including Japan, and SPSV is exceptionally positioned to benefit with its sophisticated technology and robust customer base. We’re committed to bringing our operational and technology expertise and scale to support SPSV’s growth.”

Sony established its payment services group in 1995, and the group became a standalone company when it established SPSV in 2006. Headquartered in Tokyo, SPSV offers infrastructure for online payments processing.

“For the past 30 years, SPSV has led Japan’s cashless evolution, making payments safe and secure for customers,” said Sony Group Chairman and CO Kenichiro Yoshida. “We believe Blackstone, a long-standing partner of Sony Group, can help continue the legacy that SPSV has formed and support its next phase of growth.”

Combining Sony’s legacy and Blackstone’s expertise brings potential for SPSV to further innovate in Japan’s cashless evolution. This collaboration suggests there may be room for more strategic partnerships between traditional industry players and investment firms to foster innovation and drive advancement in the payments industry.

Founded in 1985, Blackstone counts more than $1 trillion in assets under management. The firm serves both institutional and individual investors with a wide range of portfolio companies and investment vehicles including private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets, and secondary funds.

Photo by Daniel Absi

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