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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Content and technology company Thomson Reuterslaunched an e-invoicing product called ONESOURCEE-Invoicing this week, a tool that marries e-invoicing and tax compliance.
The new offering will be added to Thomson Reuters’ ONESOURCE software suite. It will not only help users manage global tax compliance– which is already available within the ONESOURCE software line– but will also bring in e-invoicing compliance by connecting financial systems and ERP systems.
Thomson Reuters has partnered with Pagero to leverage its Smart Business Network that connects buyers and sellers to exchange orders, invoices, payment instructions, and other business documents. Pagero will help automate the process and ensure compliance.
“Compliance with e-invoicing mandates is accelerating as a key priority, and historically it has not been an easy task, with regulations varying significantly across regions,” said Thomson Reuters Head of Product, Transactional Compliance Ray Grove. “We’re excited to be able to support businesses in overcoming these challenges with ONESOURCE E-Invoicing. This helps them accurately and efficiently meet compliance obligations – increasing confidence and peace of mind on what can be a daunting and ongoing task.”
ONESOURCE E-Invoicing offers a single location where customers can manage e-invoicing compliance across networks and borders with ERP and API integrations, and save time with automated e-invoice validation. In addition to e-invoicing and tax support, the ONESOURCE software suite also provides tax determination, indirect compliance, and a certificate manager.
The Canada-based firm, which is known for its news and media content as well as for its legal, tax, and compliance support, recently acquired Casetext, an AI-powered legal research technology company, for $650 million.
Thomson Reuters has demoed at two Finovate events– showcasing its App Store solution at FinovateFall 2012 and at FinovateSpring that same year. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol TRI and currently has a market capitalization of $57.33 billion.
The acquisition includes 50,000 policies and boosts Getsafe’s total client roster to 550,000 customers.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Germany-based Getsafeannounced this week it has acquired Luko Insurance’s German customer base, which includes 50,000 policies. Terms of the deal, which was approved by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) in late September, were not disclosed.
Adding Luko’s clients to its own roster, Getsafe now counts 550,000 customers across Germany, the U.K., France, and Austria. Integrating Luko’s clients, which was, as Getsafe CEO and founder explained was “as easy for us as launching a new product,” bolsters Getsafe’s European portfolio.
“Traditional insurance is broken for digitally savvy customers. They would never step into a broker’s office,” said Getsafe CEO and founder Christian Wiens. “We aim to become the go-to platform for 100 million young Europeans who will spend €300 billion on insurance in the next decade.”
Getsafe’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) model, which targets Europeans between 20 to 40 years old, offers liability, legal, drone, contents, health, dental, dog liability, pet health, private pension, and income protection insurance, as well as a children’s savings plan. This DTC model has proven compelling to users. Of the company’s customers, 35% use the app every month, an engagement rate that has resulted in strong growth. In fact, since Getsafe was founded in 2015, the company has doubled its revenue per customer every year.
“By eliminating intermediaries such as brokers and agents, we achieve much higher customer satisfaction scores than the industry average,” Wiens explained. “Additionally, our direct-to-consumer business runs with higher margins and is already operating profitably in our core markets.”
The deal comes four months after France-based Luko was bought by insurance giant Admiral Group, which acquired all but Luko’s German or Spanish operations.
Stockpile is adding a kids debit card as part of its retail investing product suite for minors.
The debit card will be powered by Green Dot’s banking-as-a-service tool.
The card will have built-in parental controls and oversight.
Youth-focused brokerage company Stockpile is adding a new product to its lineup this week. The company will begin offering minors a debit card as part of its retail investing product suite.
The payment card, which will be powered by Green Dot’s banking-as-a-service, will have parental spending controls. Parents can set up debit cards for their kids, set and control the access they’d like their kids to have, and maintain oversight over their spending.
“Green Dot’s depth of experience embedding seamless, innovative and value-driven financial tools into their partner ecosystems, along with their passion for providing accessible financial services to consumers and businesses, make them a great fit for Stockpile’s long-term vision and growth trajectory,” said Stockpile CEO Victor Wang. “Partnering with Green Dot adds a new dimension to Stockpile’s hands-on financial learning and access, and will deliver a seamless and responsible debit card experience as an educational stepping stone to investing.”
Stockpile plans to add more tools and functionality to its product suite in the future. Based on competing payment tools for minors, such as Greenlight and GoHenry by Acorns, Stockpile may add budgeting tools, giving options, and a savings account.
Founded in 1999, Green Dot offers direct-to-consumer digital banking tools as well as a B2B banking-as-a-service offering. According to the release, Stockpile is among the first of Green Dot’s partners to build and operate from its cloud-native banking-as-a-service platform.
“We’re proud to partner with Stockpile to embed powerful financial tools and experiences that fuel engagement and value for their customers,” said Green Dot Head of Enterprise Business Development, Embedded Finance Simran Singh. “We’re passionate about giving people and businesses access to seamless, affordable banking and financial tools that build financial confidence and prosperity, as well as partnering with companies like Stockpile that share our values, purpose and vision.”
Notably, this announcement comes the same week that Acorns unveiled a new premium tier that includes access to GoHenry in the U.S. and two months after Greenlightlaunched a new solution to help teens build credit.
If you were among our audience at FinovateFall last month, then you know what the rest of the fintech world is missing out on. Among everyone’s favorite Finovate experiences is watching the live demos.
Starting today, everyone has the ability to watch the 64 demos from FinovateFall for free. To get you started, we’re featuring a selection of the demos our audience voted Best of Show.
For those not familiar with the process, here’s how it works: companies have seven minutes on stage to demo their new technology, live in front of the audience. If the speaker runs over the seven minute time limit, a gong sounds, their mic is cut, and the MC walks on stage to thank them and introduce the next company.
The company will use the funds to enhance its wealth management platform and expand its reach.
Investors include Moneta VC, iAngels, Guy Gamzu, Jonathan Kolber, and Rafi Gidro.
Wealth management platform Vyzerunveiled today it has received $6.3 million in Seed funding. The New York-based company will use the funds to enhance its platform and expand its reach.
Vyzer was founded in 2020 to offer Limited Partnership investors and family offices with complex portfolios– including alternative assets– a single, holistic view across all of their investments. The company helps users track, analyze, and optimize their investments, view and plan their cash flow, and more. Vyzer’s peer benchmarking tool leverages AI capabilities to offer clients insights into investment strategies, fund managers, and activities of similar investors.
“The funds will enable us to enhance our platform’s AI capabilities, develop new features, and broaden our market presence,” said Vyzer Co-Founder and CEO Litan Yahav. “Our ultimate goal is to simplify and streamline complex wealth processes for our customers, equipping each member with greater insights and control. This, in turn, empowers them to maximize their investment potential and foster wealth growth.”
Today’s funding round marks the company’s first investment and includes contributions from Moneta VC, iAngels, Guy Gamzu, Jonathan Kolber, and Rafi Gidro.
Vyzer’s launch comes amid what is expected to be the largest transfer of wealth in history. Analysts expect that, in coming years, baby boomers will shift $68 trillion to their heirs. This tech-savvy group is increasingly investing in alternative assets, some of which can be difficult to digitize. Vyzer’s technology seeks to fill in that visibility gap. As iAngels Founding Partner Shelly Hod Moyal explained, “Vyzer’s solution provides investors with broad and transparent visibility into their portfolios. It allows them to capitalize on the ever-growing investment landscape by making informed and timely decisions, and it enables them to effectively scale their portfolios at an affordable cost.”
paymints.io has partnered with Cross River Bank, which will facilitate a connection to The Clearing House’s RTP network.
Through the partnership, title insurance companies and real estate brokerages can send and receive digital payments in and out of escrow accounts in real time using paymints.io’s platform.
The RTP network will be available in addition to the payment rails that paymints.io already offers, including ACH and wire.
When it comes to real estate transactions, buyers and sellers have come to expect a slow process. But while appraisals and due diligence take time, the transfer of funds doesn’t have to. That’s why paymints.io has teamed up with Cross River Bank to help title insurance companies and real estate brokerages send and receive digital payments in and out of escrow accounts in real time.
paymints.io will leverage Cross River’s operating system, which will create a streamlined connection between Cross River and The Clearing House’s (TCH’s) RTP network, offering both businesses and consumers real-time access to funds for transactions under $1 million. By bringing in Cross River, paymints.io will not need to rely on a third-party provider for real-time money movement.
paymints.io was founded in 2020 to offer real estate companies a compliant and modern payments tool that sends funds via ACH and wire. The addition of the RTP network as a payment rail will facilitate the the receipt of money deposits, client and vendor disbursements to third parties, and account-to-account transfers between companies.
In addition to providing real estate professionals, buyers, and sellers with immediate access to funds, the company also expects the new partnership will cut down on the inefficiencies of paper checks, reduce settlement times, and mitigate wire fraud.
As paymnts.io CEO and Co-founder Jason Doshi explained, “… we view adding the RTP instant payment capability as more than the addition of a payment rail but a true evolution of our product offering. Allowing real estate industry participants to move funds instantly and securely while providing real-time visibility drastically improves the real estate transaction experience.”
Cross River and paymints.io have worked together before. The two partnered earlier this year to modernize real estate transactions with ACH and domestic wire capabilities.
“One of the most impactful benefits of our proprietary banking core is the ability to scale with our partners, allowing innovative industry leaders like paymints.io to grow and expand product offerings,” said Cross River Head of Payments Keith Vander Leest. “paymints.io is transforming financial transactions within the real estate industry and we’re proud to power their real-time payment capabilities.”
The use of TCH’s RTP has grown immensely since its launch in 2020. In the third quarter of this year, TCH reported that it facilitated 64 million transactions valued at $34 billion. With the addition of FedNow, which just surpassed 100 participating organizations, as another real-time payments option, consumer expectations will change and we will start seeing real-time payments become the rule, rather than the exception in the U.S.
To celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, we wanted to recognize some of the contributions Hispanic entrepreneurs have made in the fintech industry. From the start, Hispanic professionals have played a pivotal role in shaping fintech by using their creativity and unique perspective to build and improve solutions that truly make a difference for both retail and commercial users.
Below is a selection of Hispanic-founded fintech companies that continue to make a transformative impact in the worlds of banking and fintech. Join us in celebrating diversity, inclusion, and the achievements from these individuals during this month of recognition and reflection. Please note that this is simply a conversation starter and is not an all-inclusive list of Hispanic-founded fintechs.
Securitize
Securitize enables digital securities, which are easier to own, simpler to manage, and faster to trade. Founders: Carlos Domingo, Jamie H. Finn, Shay Finkelstein, and Tal Elyashiv
Payjoy
PayJoy is a consumer financing company that allows consumers to buy a smartphone on credit and pay it off in installments. Founders: Doug Ricket, Gib Lopez, Mark Heynen, and Tom Ricket
Finix
Finix develops a payment processing platform for businesses. Founders: Richie Serna and Sean Donovan
Petal
Petal offers three Visa credit card products for underserved consumers. Founders: Andrew Endicott, David Ehrich, Jack Arenas, and Jason Rosen
Flywire
Flywire is a global payments enablement and software company that simplifies complex payments for its clients and their customers. Founder: Iker Marcaide
Octane
Octane offers access to instant financing to fuel their customers lifestyles. Founders: Andre Gregori, Jason Guss, Mark Davidson, Mark Garro, and Michael Fanfant
Origin
Origin is a financial planning platform that manages compensation, benefits, and personal finances for employees. Founders: João de Paula and Matt Watson
Oportun
Oportun is a digital banking platform that puts its 1.9 million members’ financial goals within reach. Founders: Gabriel Manjarrez and James Gutierrez
Brex
Brex is a global spend platform with corporate cards, expense management, reimbursements, and billpay. Founders: Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi
Camino Financial
Camino Financial is an online finance company that offers business loans and wealth-building solutions to help small businesses grow. Founders: Kenneth Salas and Sean Salas
Ontop
Ontop offers streamlined payroll, onboarding, and smooth payments for international teams. Founders: Julian Torres and Santiago Aparicio
Papaya
Papaya develops technology designed to simplify bill payment for consumers. Founders: Jason Meltzer and Patrick Kann
Snowball Wealth
Snowball Wealth offers a mobile app designed to help users tackle debt and build generational wealth. Founders: Pamela Martinez, Pearl Chan, and Tanya Menendez
Paystand
Paystand is a cloud-based billing and payment platform for B2B companies. Founders: Jeremy Almond and Scott Campbell
Listo
Listo offers insurance and loans via retail and mobile experiences. Founders: Alan Chiu and Sam Ulloa
Ripio
Ripio is a bitcoin and digital payments company that provides electronic payment solutions for businesses in Latin America. Founders: Luciana Gruszeczka, Mugur Marculescu, and Sebastian Serrano
InvestCloud
InvestCloud is a global company specializing in digital platforms that enable the development of financial solutions. Founders: Colin Close, John Wise, Julian Bowden, Michael A. Smith, Vincent Sos, and Yaela Shamberg
Novel Capital
Novel Capital provides revenue-based financing to B2B companies. Founders: Carlos Antequera and Keith Harrington
Flow
Flow offers an open architecture that connects investment managers with their limited partners and service providers. Founders: Adrian Ortiz, Brendan Marshall
Milo
Milo is reimagining the way crypto and global consumers access credit and financial solutions. Founder: Josip Rupena
Traive
Traive is a lending platform that connects lenders to farmers to provide financial products and services for the agricultural supply chain. Founders: Aline Pezente and Fabricio Pezente
Finally
Finally helps small and medium-sized businesses automate their accounting and finances. Founders: Edwin Mejia, Felix Rodriguez, and Glennys Rodriguez
Alvva
Alvva offers credit-building loans to pay for immigration expenses. Founders: Jorge Gonzalez and Sergio Torres
Portabl
Portabl offers identity-powered user experiences via a single API. Founder: Nate Soffio
Onyx Private
Onyx offers a modern private bank for the new generation. Founders: Douglas Lopes, Tiago Passinato, and Victor Santos
SMBX
SMBX is a funding portal and public marketplace for issuing and buying U.S. small business bonds. Founders: Benjamin James Lozano, Bhavish Balhotra, Gabrielle Katsnelson, and Jackie Chan
Zoe Financial
Zoe Financial helps its clients find and hire their ideal financial advisor. Founder: Andres Garcia Amaya
OKY
OKY is building technologies that help immigrants to improve their lives by connecting families and sending value home efficiently. Founders: Alejandro Miron, Estuardo Figueroa, Santiago Rossi, and Victor Unda
Caplight
Caplight is a platform that enables institutional investors to buy and sell derivatives of private equity. Founders: Javier Avalos, Justin Moore
Aeropay
Aeropay enables businesses to accept compliant, digital payments. Founder: Daniel Muller
Flourish FI
Flourish FI is a financial wellness and engagement platform for financial institutions. Founders: Jessica Eting, Pedro Moura
Capchase
Capchase provides financial solutions to startups by allowing access to funds as they grow. Founders: Ignacio Moreno Pubul, Luis Basagoiti Marqués, Miguel Fernandez, and Przemek Gotfryd
Chargezoom
Chargezoom is a B2B integrated payments platform. Founders: Matt Dubois and Miguel Avellan
Chipper
Chipper is a student loan app that helps users lower payments, qualify for forgiveness, and chip away debt faster. Founder: Tony Aguilar
Ease
Ease is a corporate card and practice operations software for private practices. Founders: Mario Amaro and Miles Montes
Coinbase has obtained a Major Payment Institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore that allows the company to offer digital payment token services to its retail and commercial users in Singapore.
The official license comes a year after the Monetary Authority of Singapore granted Coinbase initial approval last October.
Coinbase has recently invested heavily in Singapore by launching new region-specific products, boosting relationships with regional groups, and hiring and training at its Singapore tech hub.
Digital currency platform Coinbaseannounced this week that Coinbase Singapore has obtained a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
With its MPI license in Singapore, Coinbase can now offer digital payment token services to its retail and commercial users in the country. Today’s announcement comes a year after the MAS granted Coinbase initial approval for the license last October.
As crypto tolerance and acceptance has developed across the globe in recent years, Singapore has proven an important region for expansion for Coinbase. As the company’s blog states, “… we’ve identified Singapore as a vital market for Coinbase. The nation’s progressive economic strategies and approach to regulation sync well with our global mission and objectives.”
Along with its new MPI license in the region, Coinbase has recently released products tailored specifically for Singapore, to include the addition of new funding options for users. Earlier this year, the company launched the ability for retail customers to fund their accounts using PayNow and FAST bank transfers. Coinbase also introduced no-fee USDC purchases with the Singapore dollar (SGD).
Coinbase has made other investments in Singapore, as well. The company has increased training and hiring at its Singapore tech hub and sparked relationships with industry associations including ACCESS, the Singapore Fintech Association, and the Blockchain Association of Singapore. Additionally, Coinbase’s venture arm has made 15 investments in the region.
“The newly acquired license is not only a validation of Coinbase’s operations but also represents a promise and responsibility to the growing crypto and Web3 community in Singapore,” Coinbase said in its blog post, adding, “As we look ahead, we are enthusiastic about further contributing to and growing alongside the crypto and Web3 community in Singapore.”
This positive news comes after a spate of negative press for Coinbase in recent months. In June, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the U.S.-based company for operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency; and for failing to register the offer and sale of its crypto asset staking-as-a-service program. That accusation came after company CEO Brian Armstrong petitioned the SEC for clear rules and regulations surrounding crypto.
Founded in 2012, Coinbase currently sees $92 billion in quarterly volume traded and has $128 billion in assets on its platform. The company went public in 2021 and now trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker COIN with a current market capitalization of $18 billion.
Micronotes launched Prescreen Acquire, a tool to help community financial institutions reach and acquire new customers.
Prescreen Acquire’s algorithms leverage big data to find creditworthy customers in geographical areas lenders are seeking to reach.
Prescreen Acquire is added to Micronotes’ other products, including Cross-Sell, and Digital Prescreen.
Digital engagement solutions provider Micronotes has launchedPrescreen Acquire, a platform to help community financial institutions (CFIs) acquire new customers and members.
The new technology provides FCRA-compliant credit offers that are personalized to customers’ financial needs. To come up with the most relevant offers, Prescreen Acquire leverages 230 million consumer credit records, pulling credit, email, and direct mail data and delivery data.
The platform combines this big data set with the CFI’s underwriting criteria, rate sheets, and the geographical region they want to target. Prescreen Acquire’s algorithms are able to use this information to acquire new, creditworthy customers that CFIs are looking to reach.
Boston-based Micronotes was founded in 2008 and is privately held. The company’s technologies leverage AI, big data, and machine learning to help financial institutions use their data to better engage their customers, foster involvement, and ultimately build new revenue.
Micronotes’ other products include Cross-Sell, which helps CFIs leverage bank-held data to cross-sell new products using micro-interviews, and Digital Prescreen, which delivers personalized credit offers to customers who hold debt at a competing institution.
Founded in 2008, the company has raised a total of $23.3 million, including a $2 million Series C extension it closed last month. Devon Kinkead is Founder and CEO.
Lloyds Bank has partnered with Visa to leverage the payment firm’s Visa Commercial Pay virtual card program.
Visa Commercial Pay is available to Lloyds Bank’s business customers.
The new tool aims to help businesses control spending, reconcile invoices, and report on expenditures.
In a world where digital banking reigns supreme, digital payment tools are king. That’s likely the motivation behind Lloyds Bank’s recent deal with Visa. The U.K.-based bank has tapped the U.S. payments giant to power its new virtual card solution.
Lloyds Bank’s is launching a new virtual card tool for businesses, Visa Commercial Pay, and is the first bank to launch Visa Commercial Pay in the U.K. The new tool aims to help small businesses to enterprises solve their purchasing and administrative challenges. For example, the solution can help them control spending, reconcile invoices, and report on expenditures.
“Visa Commercial Pay is a next generation payment platform that provides the technology to help businesses simplify and streamline the way they make payments, all in a secure and controlled way,” said Visa Managing Director, U.K. & Ireland Mandy Lamb. “We’re delighted to launch this in the U.K. in partnership with Lloyds Bank, delivering seamless payment experiences for U.K. businesses.”
Visa Commercial Pay works like most typical virtual cards in that it instantly issues virtual card numbers to businesses and their employees, allowing them to make card-not-present purchases right away. Employees can request a single or multi-use card number through their employer’s existing approval workflow and reference fields.
Employers have the option to issue cards individually or by batch and can manage spending via controls based on location, time, purchaser, and merchant.
“We’ve worked hard to create a solution that offers a secure, simplified process that enables businesses to pay their suppliers earlier while protecting their working capital,” said Lloyds Bank Head of Commercial Cards James Sykes.
Virtual card issuance has seen a spike amongst business users in the past few years. Not only has their utility increased with the rise of the digital economy, but the security of the cards has also proven a key benefit. That’s because many cards are issued for one-time or limited use, which reduces the risk for fraud and unauthorized transactions. Additionally, the control, visibility, and reporting capabilities the cards offer employers makes virtual cards a clear choice, especially among small businesses with limited resources.
Invstr launched Invstr Jr., a digital bank and investing account for users under the age of 18.
When they are ready to invest, child users can send their investment proposals to the adult on the account, who can approve or decline the request.
The new Invstr Jr. accounts cost $6.25 to $7.99 per month.
Kids want to do everything their parents do, so why not let them invest… with a little help, of course. Digital banking and investment app InvstrlaunchedInvstr Jr. this week. Invstr Jr. is a custodial account to help users under the age of 18 learn how to earn, invest, and manage their finances.
When parents open an Invstr Jr. account for their child, they can schedule monthly deposits and set allowances for completing goals. Each account, offered by Vast Bank, features a checking and savings account, a debit card, a brokerage account with commission-free fractional investing, and a crypto account. When they are ready to invest, the child user can send investment proposals to the adult, who has the option to approve or decline the requests.
“At Invstr we believe that you’re never too young to start investing,” said Invstr CEO Kerim Derhalli. “We believe everyone can be an investor and can learn to invest in the same way that we learn to play a sport or a musical instrument. Investing is increasingly being recognized as a key life skill. We have made it fun and social for people to build experience and confidence safely and to learn good money habits.”
Invstr Jr. is also focused on bridging the financial health knowledge gap that young users face. Children can receive rewards for completing gamified learning modules in the Invstr Academy. And because many kids learn by doing, Invstr Jr. offers a Fantasy Finance game that allows users to manage a $1 million risk-free, virtual portfolio and create leagues to compete with friends. Within their league, players will see a leaderboard and statistics, and can chat or direct message other users or their adult.
Invstr Jr. accounts, which cost $6.25 to $7.99 per month, can include up to four kids and will have access to Invstr Pro. This solution offers the member tools to find the best investments and provides daily feedback on their portfolio risk and returns, their progress as an investor, and a personal Invstr Score.
The company’s new custodial investment account competes with Acorns, which offers Acorns Early at $5 per month, and with Greenlight, which offers investing tools within its account, that costs $4.99 per month.
U.K.-based Invstr was founded in 2013 to democratize finance. The company’s app has been downloaded more than one and a half million times in over 200 countries.
FinovateFall 2023 concluded earlier this month, but that doesn’t mean that the excitement has died down. The three-day event was packed with valuable content, meaningful conversations, a reunion of familiar faces, and new connections.
And while speakers and attendees were busy talking and learning about all things fintech and banking, Finovate’s photographer was capturing the event in 1,224 pictures.
Women in Fintech panel conversation moderated by Michelle Tran with Akita Somani, Brandis DeSimone, Baanu Ratneswaran, Trish Costello, and Karen Yankovich
Investor All Stars panel, moderated by Ope Runseewe, with Lindsay Fitzgerald, Alexa von Tobel, Matt Harris, and Kabir Kumar
