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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
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.
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 Technologiesrevealed 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.
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 Payannounced 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.
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.
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.
9
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.
10
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.
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.
Affirm has extended its partnership with Walmart to offer buy now, pay later (BNPL) tools at self-checkout stands.
Shoppers can use Affirm to pay for non-grocery purchases ranging from $144 to $4,000 in monthly installments.
Affirm also recently landed partnerships with Amazon and Google.
BNPL heavyweight Affirm ended 2023 announcing an expansion of a partnership with one of its major customers. The California-based company announced that Walmart will use its buy now, pay later (BNPL) technology at select self-checkout locations.
Reuters reported late last year that more than 4,500 Walmart stores in the U.S. will offer Affirm’s BNPL as an option to shoppers whose non-grocery purchases range between $144 to $4,000. Consumers will have the option to pay back their purchases in monthly installments spanning three months to 24 months.
To keep things simple at the point-of-sale kiosks, the BNPL onboarding process will take place on the user’s phone. Shoppers that opt to use BNPL to pay for their purchase will need to use their phone to log into Affirm’s mobile app or website and enter credentials, including the last four digits of their social security number. Once Affirm approves the customer, they will receive a barcode on their phone that they scan at the physical self-checkout register to complete the sale.
Walmart, which ended its layaway program in 2020, has offered Affirm’s BNPL technology to U.S. shoppers since 2019 at in-person checkout locations. Expanding the alternative payment option to the self-checkout and moving the onboarding process to the customer’s own mobile device reduces the friction that may occur when shoppers onboard to BNPL with the help of a cashier. This may result in an increased use of Affirm’s BNPL at Walmart’s point-of-sale.
The expansion of its collaboration with Walmart is the latest in a string of major partnerships for Affirm. Amazon tapped Affirm for Amazon Pay option in June of last year, and five months later, the ecommerce giant launched Affirm’s BNPL as a payment option for small businesses. Additionally, last month, Google announced it is using Affirm and its competitor Zip to provide BNPL options for shoppers using Google Pay.
Affirm is one of a handful of Walmart’s existing financial services partners. The retailer is also teamed up with Capital One, which offers a rewards credit card; Western Union, Ria, and MoneyGram for money transfer services; and Green Dot for its prepaid card. Interestingly, Walmart has been in the process of building its own neobank, One, since 2022, and many of One’s offerings compete with those of Walmart’s current partners.
Headless checkout company Bold Commerce launched a dynamic payment feature for Bold Commerce.
The feature allows merchants to show only the payment options relevant to therm.
Bold Commerce has raised $44 million and is headquartered in Canada.
Headless checkout company Bold Commerceannounced the launch of its dynamic payment feature for its Bold Checkout product this week.
Bold Checkout is the company’s tailored checkout solution that aims to help businesses increase conversion, lifetime value, and average order value, ultimately driving more revenue. The newly launched dynamic payment feature offers companies the ability to expand and manage multiple different payment options, including digital wallets, buy now, pay later (BNPL) and account-to-account payments. By offering a wider range of payment methods, brands can reach more consumers and convert shoppers into buyers.
The dynamic payment feature complements Bold Checkout’s Payment Booster, which helps brands deliver payment options tailored for individual shoppers based on their profiles, the device they’re using, and past purchasing behavior. Bold Checkout harnesses extensive data to enable brands to deliver hyper-personalized experiences to their customers. By displaying only the payment methods pertinent to each individual, it ensures a tailored approach, preventing information overload by streamlining the available options at checkout.
“The only way to offer shoppers flexibility in payment methods–without going overboard on options–is to carefully curate and personalize options to them based on who they are, how they shop and where they’re shopping from,” said Bold Commerce CEO Peter Karpas. “The ability to personalize payments for individual shoppers rounds out a fully tailored checkout experience powered by Bold–from when shoppers enter the checkout to payment to even post-purchase. This not only increases conversion for brands, but increases average order value and customer lifetime value as well.”
Bold Commerce was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Canada. Earlier this year, the company teamed up with PayPal to offer the payment technology among its options at checkout. And last month, Bold Commerce partnered with open banking technology company Link Money to help its merchant clients offer more payment options in the checkout experience for their end customers.
Bold Commerce has raised $44 million and has been named to Deloitte’s Tech Fast 50, E&Y’s Entrepreneur of the Year, and CBInsights’ Retail Tech 100.
Much of our behind-the-scenes work at Finovate is determining what’s hot and what’s not in fintech and banking. But given the ever-evolving regulatory landscape, volatile consumer preferences, and fast-changing enabling technologies, it can be hard to keep up on current trends.
And while we like to consider ourselves experts on the fintech landscape, it is always important to consult external thought leaders to gauge their thoughts on industry themes. That’s exactly what we’ve done in our recent Hot or Cold Video Series. We talked with eight experts to glean their insights on a range of current industry trends. Check out the videos below to delve into topics such as embedded finance, BNPL, regtech, automation, decentralized finance, generative AI, the metaverse, and open banking.
Jonathan Alloy, VP Design Thinking at Credit Suisse
Barry D’Souza, VP Digital Strategy at Inerra Credit Union
CJ Conrad, SVP Innovation & Operations at Middlesex Federal
Eric Sorensen, Director Digital Services
Catherine Porter, Chief Business Officer at Tillia
Rachel Muench, Security and Biometrics Lead at Nuance
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Author of I, Human: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique
Luke Williams, Professor of Innovation at NYU’s Stern School of Business
Meniga has raised $16.5 million (€15 million) in Series D funding, bringing its total raised to $60.5 million (€55 million).
The round will be used to fuel the company’s new strategy that focuses on creating hyper-personalized insights and enabling payments capabilities that leverage open finance ecosystems for financial services companies.
Meniga is pursuing the new strategy after appointing Raj Soni as new CEO earlier this year.
Personal finance solutions fintech Meniga has landed $16.5 million (€15 million) in Series D funding.
Today’s round boosts the U.K.-based company’s total funding to $60.5 million (€55 million). Contributors include major European banks, Groupe BPCE and Crédito Agrícola, Omega ehf, and several existing shareholders.
Just as notable as the investment is what the funds will be used for. Meniga plans to use the round to fuel the company’s new strategy that focuses on creating data enrichment and hyper-personalized insights for financial services companies. Meniga will also shift to emphasize enabling payments capabilities that leverage open banking and open finance ecosystems for financial services firms.
The new strategy hatched after the company appointed Raj Soni as the new CEO earlier this year. Soni’s aim to simplify Meniga’s product portfolio, diversify into verticals beyond banks, target new customers in emerging markets, and create new operational hubs to drive growth and offer customer support.
“We are looking forward to seeing [Meniga’s] continued focus on enrichment as well as personalized insights,” said Groupe BPCE Chief Digital Officer Emmanuel Puga Pereira. “These capabilities are critical for all BPCE banks to effectively engage with their end users and we have seen firsthand how Meniga’s solution is a key component for banks to succeed.”
Meniga notes that part of today’s funding will also be used for clearing the company’s debt, which will make Meniga almost debt-free.
Founded in 2009, Meniga empowers digital banking experiences for 10 million end users and serves more than 100 million banking customers across 30 countries in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. Among the company’s clients are UOB, UniCredit, Groupe BPCE, Crédito Agrícola, Swedbank, and Commercial Bank of Dubai.
Meniga is among many fintechs and financial services firms that are shifting their focus to operate in the new open finance economy, where accessibility, data-driven insights, and personalized experiences reign supreme. Meniga’s strategic pivot underscores the industry-wide recognition that open banking and open finance will transform financial services for the better. It also sets a precedent for customer-centric developments going forward into 2024.
Google Pay is partnering with both Affirm and Zip to offer BNPL at checkout.
The BNPL option will launch with select merchants in the first quarter of next year in a pilot phase.
Google’s move into BNPL follows Apple’s launch of Apple Pay Later and Amazon’s integration with Affirm, both of which began this fall.
As buy now, pay later (BNPL) rises high on analysts’ lists of hot trends for 2024, today’s news of Google adopting the technology may make the BNPL trend climb to the top next year.
Affirm and Zip announced separately (Affirm’s and Zip’s) that their BNPL technology will be available to U.S. consumers transacting online using Google Pay at select merchants. The integration will roll out in a pilot phase in the first quarter of next year and will roll out to more merchants after that.
During the pilot phase, shoppers at select merchants will see a promotional banner at the top of the Google Pay online checkout page promoting Zip’s and Affirm’s BNPL options. If the user chooses BNPL as their payment method and are approved, they can spread out their payments in installments for purchases over $35.
“With Zip available in the Google Pay checkout experience, we are bridging a gap and providing a flexible credit product for the many consumers overlooked by traditional credit products,” said Zip Co-founder and U.S. CEO Larry Diamond. “By offering Zip payment solutions through Google Pay, we’re empowering consumers with more choices while providing merchants with a powerful tool to increase conversion rates and build lasting customer relationships. It’s a win-win scenario where convenience meets commerce, fostering a more dynamic and responsive shopping experience.”
Zip’s Pay-In-4 BNPL tool is limited to four installments spread across six weeks, while Affirm offers consumers repayment terms that range from four interest-free payments every two weeks to monthly installments.
“By integrating Affirm into Google Pay, we are making it easier for consumers to take advantage of Affirm’s flexible and transparent payment options and for merchants to drive growth,” said Affirm Director of Strategic Partnerships Jamie Cunningham. “This is an exciting step forward in our distribution strategy, as roughly half of shoppers are using digital wallets more frequently than they did before the pandemic and mobile commerce is growing faster than overall e-commerce.”
Google’s use of two vendors in this area is unusual. It is possible that it plans to test which offering is most popular among users during the pilot phase and then limit its partnership to one BNPL player for the official launch. However, it’s more likely that Google aims to expand its customer base by targeting users familiar with either Zip or Affirm, enhancing its reach across different customer segments.
Also worth noting is how closely Google is following its competition. Apple Pay rolled out its own BNPL tool, Apple Pay Later, in October and Amazon entered the BNPL space last month in partnership with Affirm. With Google Pay joining the ranks and making BNPL more accessible for consumers, the use of BNPL is likely to skyrocket in 2024, especially as consumers recover from holiday spending while fighting cost of living increases.
Risk management and compliance solutions provider Ncontracts has acquired Quantivate this week. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Quantivate, which provides governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions for banks and credit unions, was founded in 2005. Quantivate’s flagship offering is its Business Continuity Software. Today, the company has a suite of governance, risk, and compliance management solutions, including ERM Intelligence, Compliance, Operational Resilience, IT Risk, Procurement, Audit, and more.
“Quantivate has always believed in the power of innovative technology and exceptional people to help banks and credit unions thrive,” said Quantivate Founder and CEO Andy Vanderhoff. “Ncontracts shares this mission, and I’m excited to watch as the strength and experience of our united teams take risk management solutions to the next level.”
With today’s acquisition, Ncontracts aims to position it as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) and knowledge-as-a-service (KaaS) leader. Quantivate’s GRC solutions and broader suite covering areas like ERM Intelligence, Compliance, IT Risk, and more, strengthen Ncontracts’ portfolio by enhancing its capabilities in addressing the complex needs of financial institutions.
This acquisition not only expands Ncontracts’ workforce to 350 employees and customer base to 4,000 financial services companies, but it also emphasizes the industry’s increasing reliance on sophisticated risk management solutions.
Ncontracts was founded in 2009 and specializes in risk, vendor, and compliance management software for financial services companies. The company currently serves more than 4,000 financial services organizations, including Tinker Federal Credit Union, Columbia Bank, Security Bank of Kansas City, and more. Earlier this fall, Ncontracts teamed up with fellow Finovate alum True Digital to enhance banks’ vendor data.
Ncontracts most recently demoed at FinovateFall 2022 where the company debuted Nrisk, an online risk management solution that strengthens compliance controls in real time. Tools like these are especially imperative to financial services firms in today’s regulatory environment in which regulators have increased their scrutiny of enterprise risk management practices.
“We are thrilled to join forces with Quantivate,” said Ncontracts founder and CEO Michael Berman. “We are both mutually committed to helping financial institutions reduce risk, improve compliance, and control costs, so combining our resources empowers us to be an even better provider of software and services for our customers and the financial industry.”
