Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Agora Data Services Lands $160 Million for Used Car Financing

Agora Data Services Lands $160 Million for Used Car Financing
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Agora Data has landed $160 million in privately placed term financing.
  • The investment marks Agora Data’s fourth privately placed term financing round.
  • While there is no word on total funding, today’s financing adds to the $100 million revolving credit line Agora Data received from Credit Suisse in September 2022.

Agora Data, a company that helps buy here pay here (BHPH) car dealers offer in-house financing, secured $160 million in privately placed term financing this month. The round represents the fourth privately placed term financing the company has received since it was founded in 2017.

“Fueling Agora’s mission to enable any car dealer to be a finance company, this $160 million private term financing provides additional funding capacity and reiterates our commitment to our customers’ future growth,” said company CEO Steve Burke.

While there is no data on the amounts of the company’s previous three privately placed term financing rounds, Agora Data said that each of them performed better than projected. Today’s financing adds to the $100 million revolving credit facility the company received from Credit Suisse last September.

Founded in 2017, Agora Data’s Agora Capital helps car dealerships lend to non-prime customers. Lending to unattractive borrowers ultimately helps dealers sell more cars. To provide a competitive interest rate on these sub-prime loans, the company leverages AI to analyze over $350 billion in loan data. Agora Data also offers Agora Trade, a product that allows investors to buy a portfolio of seasoned auto loans at a lower rate of default.

Texas-based Agora Data targets the underbanked community and its strategy will likely fair well as the cost of living crisis, combined with a high interest rate environment, continues. Competitors in the auto financing space include CreditIQ, Creditas, Caribou (formerly known as MotoRefi), and others.

Photo by Jeerayut Rianwed

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Splitit Lands $50 Million, Plans to Delist from the Australian Stock Exchange

Splitit Lands $50 Million, Plans to Delist from the Australian Stock Exchange
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Funding, SplitIt
  • Splitit is set to receive $50 million from Motive Partners.
  • The funding will be issued in two $25 million installments.
  • Motive Partners stipulates that Splitit must delist from the Australian Stock Exchange and meet certain performance milestones in order to receive the funds.

There is something poetic about a BNPL company receiving private equity funding in installments. One of the first BNPL players in the market, Splitit, has landed a $50 million investment from private equity firm Motive Partners. The funds, which will boost Splitit’s total funding to $325 million, will be paid out in two tranches.

For Splitit, which is a publicly traded company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) under the ticker SPT and also trades on the US OTCQX under tickers SPTTY and STTTF, today’s investment isn’t a straightforward transaction.

Splitit will receive the funds in two $25 million installments in exchange for the issuance of new preference shares. According to the release, Splitit will receive the first installment after two conditions have been met– first, when shareholders approve the company delisting from the ASX and second, after the company moves its incorporation site from Israel to the Cayman Islands. Splitit will receive the second $25 million after achieving certain performance milestones.

Splitit’s board opted to agree to Motive Partners’ transaction terms for five reasons:

  1. The funds offer growth capital in the midst of a difficult fundraising environment.
  2. The partnership with Motive Partners was especially attractive, given the firm’s resources, network, and talent.
  3. The ASX undervalues Splitit’s business and doesn’t appreciate the company’s “differentiated value proposition and prospects.”
  4. The move to become a private, Cayman Islands-based company will offer Splitit more flexibility and less administrative costs.
  5. The move from the ASX will offer existing shareholders the option to choose to retain ownership in Splitit as a private company or to decrease their ownership in the run-up to the delisting.

“Attracting a strategic investor of this calibre is a testament to the quality of our team and our unique, innovative offering– especially given difficult market conditions for raising capital,” said Splitit Managing Director and CEO Nandan Sheth. “This level of investment significantly strengthens our balance sheet, allowing the team to focus on our white-label product strategy, innovation, and our Tier One global distribution partners.”

Splitit was founded in 2012 under the name PayItSimple. The company’s Installments-as-a-Service offering allows merchants to add a white-labeled BNPL option embedded into their checkout flow. Splitit also offers a BNPL tool that works at the physical point-of-sale by pre-qualifying consumers with available credit on their credit card for the value of that available credit.

Earlier this year, Splitit partnered with Atlantic-Pacific Processing Systems to offer BNPL services to their merchants. The company also partnered with Visa to embed a BNPL solution within merchants’ existing credit card processes. Splitit also holds partnerships with Stripe, Shopify, and Alipay to act as an Installments-as-a-Service option for their merchant clients.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

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Say Hello to Finovate Newcomers

Say Hello to Finovate Newcomers
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2023

We are less than one month out from FinovateFall. In true Finovate fashion, we are hosting 52 companies to demo their technology live on stage. Most impressively, this year, 27 of the demoing companies are new to Finovate.

Because more than half of the FinovateFall demo companies are new to us, we figured they might be new to you, as well so we decided to make a formal introduction. You can check out all 27 companies below.

Agtools
Agtools offers supply chain market data and analytics for farmers and agriculture workers.

Alto Solutions
Alto Solutions provides an alternative asset investment platform.

Bits of Stock
Bits of Stock is a consumer rewards platform that drives loyalty through Stock Rewards.

Cashy
Cashy provides gamified consumer engagement for credit unions.

CD Valet
CD Valet is a nationwide marketplace connecting consumers with financial institutions to shop, compare, and open certificates of deposits.

Chimney
Chimney helps banks and credit unions launch modern financial tools that provide personalized answers to customers while generating more loans and deposits.

ClimateTrade
ClimateTrade is a climate-tech company that leverages blockchain technology to facilitate large-scale decarbonization efforts.

DataVisor
DataVisor delivers the world’s most sophisticated AI-powered solutions to keep companies and their customers safe from fraud and abuse.

Effectiv
Effectiv offers a fraud and compliance automation risk management platform for fintechs and community financial institutions.

EQUE
EQUE’s digital security helps banks and card issuers eliminate e-commerce fraud.

eself.ai
eSelf is creating the next generation of client-financial institution interaction, enabling human-like conversations and efficient personalization.

HappyNest
HappyNest is a mobile application for real estate investment.

Inscribe
Inscribe helps clients leverage automated manual document reviews to reduce fraud rates and credit losses while increasing customer win rates.

Jaid
Jaid is an AI-powered platform built to enable the intelligent automation of business communications getting to the right answer faster.

Kard
Kard offers rewards infrastructure for card issuers.

MacroMicro
MacroMicro offers macroeconomic investment information to help investors understand economic trends.

Mahalo Banking
Mahalo Banking provides secure, user-driven, digital banking and analytical solutions.

Regulo
Regulo offers face screening for effective compliance and fraud prevention.

SRM Key Moments
SRM Key Moments help financial institutions who are motivated to build more loyal customers and own the payment moment.

SupraFin
SupraFin is a pioneer in crypto investment and risk intelligence products, which help organizations assess risk and invest confidently in crypto.

Telesign
Telesign provides continuous trust to leading global enterprises by connecting, protecting, and defending their digital identities.

True Digital Group
True Digital Group offers products that serve as conduits in strengthening the relationships FIs have with technology, vendors, and each other.

Trustworthy
Trustworthy is an operating system that secures and organizes all family tasks in one place.

Union Credit
Union Credit’s marketplace for credit unions delivers firm credit approval and one-click loan activation to new members, embedded within their daily lives.

Uprise
Uprise provides AI-powered financial advisory for third party platforms.

Viffy
Viffy ties creator influence through to physical brick-and-mortar sales.

Zerobank Design Factory
Zerobank Design Factory develops and operates digital banking systems.

Be sure to keep an eye out for demo updates leading up to the event, which takes place September 11 through 13 in New York. Don’t miss your chance to register!

Photo by Omar López

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Roger Launches to Help New Military Recruits Enlist in a Modern Banking Experience

Roger Launches to Help New Military Recruits Enlist in a Modern Banking Experience
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, NYMBUS
  • Citizens Bank of Edmond is launching Roger, a new digital bank.
  • Roger is geared to serve military service members and their families.
  • Nymbus is powering the new digital bank.

Citizens Bank of Edmond is launching its new digital bank today. Roger, the new digital-first bank, aims to offer tailored banking services to meet the needs of military service members, their families, and their supporters.

“Our vision is crystal clear,” the bank announced on LinkedIn, “to mobilize financial resources that lay the foundation for unshakeable financial strength and future prosperity for every newly enlisted service member.”

Citizens Bank of Edmond CEO Jill Castilla launched Roger because, as a new military recruit 30 years ago, she couldn’t find a bank designed to meet her needs. “When I enlisted at 19, I had little access to my bank accounts and financial tools,” she explained. Castilla went on to lead Citizens Bank of Edmond, a bank founded in 1901 that now boasts $375 million in assets.

To suit its niche set of users, Roger offers a military-friendly direct deposit form and enables recruits to access their earned funds up to two days faster. Additionally, the Visa debit card is accepted at Armed Forces Financial Network terminals located at U.S. military bases worldwide. Users can also set up savings plans and round-up their transactions to contribute to accounts.

In a unique twist on the round-up savings feature, Roger will match users’ savings. For the first 90 days after opening their account, Roger will match 100% of round-ups, up to $100. After that period, Roger will match 15% of round-ups, up to $20 per month. The round up matching feature restarts every 30 days.

In addition to Citizens Bank of Edmond, which is behind the launch of Roger, the bank is leveraging banking technology provider Nymbus to power the digital banking experience. “We’re extremely proud to partner with Citizens Bank of Edmond on this essential niche bank for the military community,” said Nymbus Chairman and CEO Jeffery Kendall. “With Jill’s leadership and vision, we aim to deliver special-purpose products to help military service members succeed.”

Photo by Pixabay

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PayPal Gets a New CEO

PayPal Gets a New CEO
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, PayPal
  • PayPal has appointed Alex Chriss as its new CEO.
  • Chriss, who will replace current CEO Dan Schulman, will begin his role on September 27.
  • Chriss comes to PayPal after a 19-year tenure at Intuit.

Fintech pioneer PayPal is back in the headlines today. After unveiling the launch of its stablecoin last week, the California-based company announced it has appointed Alex Chriss as new CEO.

Chriss will replace Dan Schulman on September 27 of this year. This comes after, earlier this year, Schulman declared his intention to retire. “I’m at a point in my life where I want to devote more time to my passions outside the workplace,” Schulman said in February. He will remain on the company’s Board until May 2024.

After Schulman’s statement, PayPal’s Board of Directors began a six-month long search for a new CEO who could not only drive growth, but also had extensive global payments, product, and technology experience. After an “extensive engagement and evaluation,” PayPal’s Board unanimously agreed on Chriss to lead the company.

“With his depth of experience in product development, his passion for serving customers and his longstanding commitment to empowering and enabling small businesses, and his proven track record of developing and inspiring his team, Alex is the perfect leader to take PayPal forward and accelerate the company’s growth opportunities,” said Chair of the PayPal Board of Directors John Donahoe. “The Board search committee worked diligently and thoroughly to find the right candidate to take PayPal into its next stage of growth and expansion, and we are confident Alex is that person.”

Chriss will join PayPal and its Board from Intuit, where he served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the company’s Small Business and Self-Employed Group. He has been with Intuit for more than 19 years after starting out as a Group Manager of Business Development and Channel Sales of the Quickbase business unit.

During his tenure at Intuit, Chriss grew the Small Business segment’s customers at a 20% CAGR and its revenues at a 23% CAGR. In 2021, he led Intuit’s successful $12 billion acquisition of Mailchimp.

“PayPal is an extraordinary company that plays a critical role in the lives of consumers and merchants all over the world,” said Chriss. “Throughout my career, I have championed small and medium businesses and entrepreneurs, who are the backbone of every economy in the world. I am proud to take the baton from Dan and thrilled to have the opportunity to work with PayPal’s talented and committed team to build on PayPal’s remarkable history and draw on its unique capabilities to deliver outstanding products and services to businesses and consumers.”

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Sila Ships New Tool to Offer Access to ACH Debits in Real Time

Sila Ships New Tool to Offer Access to ACH Debits in Real Time
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Sila launched Instant Settlement this week.
  • The new tool offers customers real-time access to ACH debits made on the Sila platform.
  • Instant Settlement works with all ACH transactions on the Sila platform and doesn’t require banks to adopt a particular payment rail.

Banking and payment infrastructure-as-a-service company Sila is launching a new product called Instant Settlement this week. The solution offers customers real-time access to ACH debits made with the Sila platform.

As its name suggests, Sila’s new tool offers companies access to funds instantly, without needing to wait the traditional two-to-five day time period of the ACH settlement to clear. Without the need to wait for funds to clear, companies no longer need to pre-fund transactions or rely on their own capital.

With Instant Settlement, Sila pre-funds the consumer’s digital wallet within a matter of seconds. The company’s approach works with all ACH transactions on the Sila platform because it doesn’t rely on any particular payment rail.

“With Instant Settlement, we are revolutionizing the way businesses and individuals access and manage their funds,” said Sila Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer Shamir Karkal. “We understand the importance of transaction speed in today’s fast-paced business landscape, and by offering Instant Settlement, we are providing our customers with a competitive advantage that sets them apart in their respective industries.”

Sila notes that Instant Settlement works best in situations such as payroll processing, back-office money movements, B2B transactions, and physical cash transactions where ACH is preferred, but return risks are low. That’s because it requires customers to maintain sufficient funds in a reserve wallet to cover potential return risks.

The timing of today’s release is notable as it comes shortly after the launch of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s launch of FedNow real-time payments system. Sila differentiates itself from FedNow and other real-time payments companies such as RTP because it doesn’t require banks to adopt a specific rail. “While everyone is rushing to RTP (65% coverage) and FedNow both of those instant payment systems are limited by the number of banks that adopt a particular instant payment rail while Sila’s Instant Settlement doesn’t rely on banks to adopt anything and instead, it is applicable to 100% of ACH transactions on its platform,” the company explained.

Sila was founded in 2018 by Karkal, who was one of the entrepreneurs who co-founded challenger bank Simple in 2009. The Oregon-based company has gone on to raise $20.7 million.

Photo by Ivan Samkov

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Alkami Has a New AI Model that Helps Banks Retain Customers

Alkami Has a New AI Model that Helps Banks Retain Customers
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alkami Technology, Alumni News, Daily news
  • Alkami launched a new Engagement Artificial Intelligence (AI) Predictive Model.
  • The new model helps financial institutions identify accountholders whose behaviors are indicative of retention and account growth.
  • The Engagement AI Model leverages Alkami’s Key Lifestyle Indicators (KLIs) as well as its AI Predictive Modeling technology.

Everyone knows that it is easier (and less expensive) to maintain an existing customer than it is to acquire a new one. So Alkami, which launched a new AI model to help banks retain customers, is likely to garner a lot of attention.

The cloud-based digital banking solutions provider unveiled its Engagement Artificial Intelligence (AI) Predictive Model this week to tackle customer attrition. The solution not only identifies accountholders whose behaviors are indicative of retention and account growth, but it also flags customers who may be at risk of leaving.

The new predictive model leverages Alkami’s Key Lifestyle Indicators (KLIs) as well as its AI Predictive Modeling solution that uses data to identify accountholders’ shifts in spend categories and recognize their financial patterns.

“When we looked at the full spectrum of attrition scoring,” explained Alkami Director of Product Management Mark Leher, “our research showed that attrition is significantly lower among highly engaged account holders, so we developed a model that not only identifies these highly engaged account holders but also layers in Alkami’s KLIs—labels describing the type of transaction or behavior a customer or member engages in—to best predict which behaviors drive incremental engagement.”

The company recently conducted research that found that accountholders who score the highest risk for attrition are, on average, 15 times more likely to leave a financial institution than those who score as highly engaged.

When financial institutions use Alkami’s Engagement AI Model to identify the users that exhibit growth behavior, they can understand where to prioritize spend and what areas they should focus on to grow the customers’ engagement.

“Not only does this save on account acquisition costs, but it also empowers the financial institution to engage with those who are more likely to take action on a targeted campaign,” added Leher.

Alkami was founded in 2009 and went public in 2021. A year later, the company acquired competitor Segmint— and its KLI technology– for $135.5 million. Alkami is currently listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ALKT with a market capitalization of $1.43 billion.

Photo by Trinity Kubassek

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Chargeflow Lands $11 Million for Automated Card Dispute Technology

Chargeflow Lands $11 Million for Automated Card Dispute Technology
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Chargeflow raised $11 million to build chargeback tools that help merchants automate card disputes.
  • The funding was led by OpenView and brings Chargeflow’s total funding to $14 million.
  • Chargeflow will use the funds to accelerate product development, fuel company growth, improve on its customer experience, and ultimately put a halt to fraud and illegitimate chargebacks.

Chargeflow is on a mission to simplify and increase profitability for companies processing online payments. Today, the Israel-based company received a boost toward that goal in the form of $11 million in Seed funding.

The VC funding, which was led by OpenView, brings Chargeflow’s total funding to $14 million. The company will use the investment to accelerate product development, fuel company growth, improve on its customer experience, and ultimately put a halt to fraud and illegitimate chargebacks.

“The funding will also allow us to build new products, just as our newest announcements, Chargeflow Alerts, and our all-new Stripe App, which has already gained amazing momentum and feedback from our customers,” explained Chargeflow Co-Founder, Marketing & Product Avia Chen.

Launched in 2021, the Chargeflow Alerts tool notifies merchants as soon as a customer files a dispute on a transaction, and allows the merchant to proceed with the transaction, offer a refund, or gather evidence for representment. The free Stripe App offers businesses a fully-automated chargeback management service.

Chen, along with his cofounder Ariel Chen originally launched Chargeflow as a Shopify app in 2021. The two have since added more processors, including Klarna, Braintree, Recharge, Stripe, and others. When integrating with these players, Chargeflow establishes a two-way data connection that facilitates the flow of information between the systems. The app offers merchants an overview of all fraud and disputes and autonomously fight chargebacks, disputes, and fraud with just a few clicks.

Photo by Anete Lusina

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Thought Machine’s New Partnership Expands its Presence in Latin America

Thought Machine’s New Partnership Expands its Presence in Latin America
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Thought Machine
  • Thought Machine has partnered with SME lending solutions provider Cordada.
  • Cordada will use the product library of Thought Machine’s Vault Core to offer customized products to SME lenders and fintechs.
  • Today’s tie-up, along with a recent partnership with C6 Bank in Brazil, strengthens Thought Machine’s presence in Latin America.

Core banking technology provider Thought Machine announced this week it is partnering with Chile-based Cordada.

Under the partnership, Cordada will use Thought Machine’s core banking platform, Vault Core, to offer Latin American SME lenders and fintechs access to personalized financial tools. More specifically, Cordada will modify and tailor products in Thought Machine’s global product library that contains pre-built, ready-to-use smart contracts. This customization will enable Cordada to offer localized products to its customer base while supporting multi-currency assets.

“Vault Core will enable us to create highly differentiated financing products quickly and effortlessly without depending on the Thought Machine team,” said Cordada Cofounder and CEO Andrés Prats. “This, in turn, will empower the next generation of SME lenders to develop modern solutions as they tackle the great challenge of bridging the $1 trillion financing gap for SMEs in Latin America.”

Cordada, which currently has partnerships in Chile, Peru, and Mexico, will also use Vault Core to expand its services into new Latin American markets. Since it was founded in 2019, Cordada has deployed $3 billion in capital to lenders via 60 lenders and fintechs, ultimately impacting 5,500 SMEs across Latin America.

U.K.-based Thought Machine has raised $563 million in funding since it was founded in 2014. The company offers two main products: Vault Core, a tool that leverages smart contracts to help organizations design and build new financial products; and Vault Payments, a payments processing platform that enables banks to run all payment types for different payment methods, schemes, and regions across the globe. 

Among Thought Machine’s clients are Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Curve. Today’s partnership further fuels the company’s presence in the Latin American region, following a recent partnership with C6 Bank in Brazil.

Photo by Los Muertos Crew

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Citizens Bank of Edmond Goes National

Citizens Bank of Edmond Goes National
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Julie's Column, Thought Leadership

Citizens Bank of Edmond has a single branch located in Oklahoma– what many people consider a “fly over state.” The town of Edmond, where the building is located, boasts a population of just under 100,000 people. That’s not stopping President and CEO Jill Castilla from pursuing growth, however.

Castilla announced today that her bank– with $400 million under management and just 55 employees– is taking Citizens Bank of Edmond national. Now, U.S. citizens across the country can sign up for a retail bank account at Citizens Bank of Edmond. The move broadens the bank’s reach to around 300 million people.

“In an unprecedented 72 day timeline to implementation, Citizens proves that small banks can be nimble, fast, thorough, sophisticated and still deliver a George Bailey-like experience,” said Castilla in an announcement on LinkedIn. “We love leading the way for other community banks to stay relevant for decades to come!”

Powering the launch is digital banking technology company Narmi. Founded in 2016 by former bankers Nikhil Lakhanpal and Chris Griffin, Narmi has a mission to offer financial institutions the best digital banking platform in the industry. The New York-based company offers both retail and commercial accounts, as well as a digital account opening solution that takes only two minutes and 13 seconds to complete.

Narmi, which has amassed $55 million in funding, counts Radius Bank (now Lending Club), Greater Alliance Federal Credit Union, Berkshire Bank, Freedom Credit Union, and more among its clients.

By opening its digital doors to everyone in the U.S., Citizens Bank of Edmond is breaking down geographical barriers. This shift toward “affinity banking” or “identity-based banking” will enable Citizens Bank of Edmond to take advantage of the brand identity and recognition it has spent the past few years building.

During the pandemic, the bank leaned hard into its focus on community and the small businesses that make up the community. For example, Castilla frequently shared her phone number on public channels as a resource for those in need. She also contacted all of the bank’s business customers to determine their main areas of stress. And when the bank had to close its lobby, its employees met customers at the curb to schedule time slots to serve its customers and maintain a personal touch.

It will be interesting to see how Citizens Bank of Edmond plans to maintain that level of personal touch while scaling up its accounts. Given Castilla’s fastidious determination, however, I do not envision the bank will have an issue maintaining its reputation of offering a top-notch customer experience. To hear Castilla talk about customer experience in person, come to FinovateFall next month and check out her panel.

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Knot Raises $10 Million to Increase Account Interoperability

Knot Raises $10 Million to Increase Account Interoperability
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Knot has raised $10 million for its tool that updates consumers’ card-on-file at the company’s network of merchants.
  • The round was led by Nava Ventures and brings Knot’s total funding to $13 million.
  • Knot also offers a subscription cancelling solution and is currently working on a password updating tool.

With a mission to build an interconnected future online, Knot API has a long road ahead. Nevertheless, the New York-based company received a boost to help it make strides toward that goal with a new $10 million funding round today.

The Series A investment was led by Nava Ventures, with participation from Amex Ventures, Plaid, and more than 20 CEOs and founders. When added to the $3 million Seed round Knot received in 2021, today’s round brings the company’s total funding to $13 million.

Knot was founded in 2019 with an API to enable card issuers to update card-on-file information at Knot’s network of merchants– including Walmart, Netflix, Amazon, Starbucks, and Uber– with just a few lines of code. The company’s technology makes for an easier onboarding experience for consumers while helping the bank retain its customers.

Knot will use the $10 million to scale its services and expand its merchant support. The company’s goal is to “ultimately encompass virtually all online merchants.”

In addition to its card-on-file switching solution, Knot also offers a subscription cancelling tool that helps customers view and cancel their recurring subscriptions. The company is also working on an account creation tool that allows organizations to initiate accounts at third parties on their customers’ behalf, and a password updater that instantly updates customers’ passwords across the web.

“Securing this Series A funding signifies the immense trust our investors have in Knot’s potential to revolutionize the way card issuers manage their customers’ payment methods,” said Knot CEO Rory O’Reilly. “We’re grateful for the chance to further our mission of building a financially interconnected future, and we’re excited about the new opportunities this funding opens up for our team and our customers.”

Photo by analogicus

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Your Foretaste of the Speakers of FinovateFall 2023

Your Foretaste of the Speakers of FinovateFall 2023
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2023, Marketing, Speaker series

Trends in fintech move fast, and one way to stay ahead of each new advancement is to follow the minds of thought leaders in the space. That’s why, for FinovateFall 2023, we’ve gathered an insightful group of speakers to take the stage during the event, which takes place on September 11 through 13 in New York. Be sure to register soon; FinovateFall is typically our largest event.

The diverse group of speakers will offer presentations on a wide range of industry topics, including payments, decentralized finance, lending, open banking, AI, and more. FinovateFall will host almost 130 speakers. And because it’s difficult to feature them all in a single post, we’ve distilled the list to highlight a handful of fintech celebrities that will grace the stage.

Alexa Von Tobel, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Inspired Capital

Alexa Von Tobel is the co-founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital. Prior to Inspired Capital, Alexa founded LearnVest in 2008 with the goal of helping people make progress on their money. 

Matt Harris, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures

Matt Harris is a Partner at Bain Capital Ventures in New York City and focuses on investments in financial technology. He sees a huge amount of revenue, profit, and market cap shifting from regulated financial institutions to entrepreneur-led insurgents, across payments, lending, capital markets, real estate and insurance. 

Jacqueline Baker, Author of The Unexpected Leader

Jacqueline M. Baker is a speaker, author, leadership consultant and advisor known for her unique approach to modern etiquette and leadership. As the author of The Unexpected Leader: Discovering the Leader Within You and Leader by Mistake: Becoming A Leader One Mistake At A Time, she frequently speaks and writes on the leadership-for-all concept.

Sam Kilmer, Managing Director at Cornerstone Advisors

Sam Kilmer leads Cornerstone Advisors’ fintech advisory practice working with industry providers, fintechs, and investors. He also leads select strategy engagements with banks and credit unions.

Jill Castilla, President & CEO at Citizens Bank of Edmond

As President & CEO of Citizens Bank of Edmond, a one-location $350 million community bank in suburban Oklahoma City, and Chairman of Citizens Bancshares, Inc., Jill Castilla is a nationally recognized innovator in banking and financial technology.

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