NetGuardians and Intix Merge to Form Vyntra

NetGuardians and Intix Merge to Form Vyntra
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, NetGuardians
  • NetGuardians and Intix have merged to form Vyntra, a new company focused on unifying transaction observability and financial crime prevention for banks and financial institutions.
  • Vyntra will deliver real-time transaction intelligence to help over 130 financial institutions across 60+ countries detect fraud, ensure AML compliance, and resolve payment issues before they impact customers.
  • Vyntra aims to strengthen operational resilience and support instant payments by offering a more transparent, secure, and intelligent financial infrastructure.

Fraud and risk protection company NetGuardians is joining forces with financial messaging platform Intix. The two announced this week that they have merged to form Vyntra, which aims to bring transaction intelligence to financial institutions.

Vyntra combines NetGuardians’ expertise in financial crime prevention with Intix’s transaction observability. Vyntra will help its more than 130 financial institution clients in 60+ countries receive real-time intelligence about their customers based on their transactions.

“Vyntra represents a new chapter—not just for us, but for the financial institutions we serve,” said Vyntra CEO and former Group CEO of both Intix and NetGuardians Joël Winteregg. “Whether it’s monitoring transactions and payment flows, ensuring anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, or detecting fraud as it happens, Vyntra unifies transaction observability and financial crime prevention under one roof. Our mission is simple: to help financial institutions navigate complexity with clarity and protect the integrity of every transaction.”

Vyntra is launching at a time when financial institutions need real-time, full observability of transactions to enhance compliance, reduce risk, and strengthen operational resilience. The company will leverage fraud prevention, AML compliance, and transaction observability to help financial institutions see, secure, and optimize every transaction in real time. The intelligence will also help firms protect instant payment networks and detect and resolve payment issues before they impact customers.

“The merger of NetGuardians and Intix was designed to support a safer and more transparent financial system,” said Gisle Glück Evensen, Partner at Summa Equity. “Now, as Vyntra, this vision becomes a reality. We’re proud to support the team as they lead the way in transaction observability and financial crime prevention.”

Switzerland-based NetGuardians offers tools to help companies reduce payment and internal fraud and monitor transactions to meet AML requirements. The company also provides its own NetGuardians Community Scoring and Intelligence service that generates actionable insights to help firms expand their risk signals.

Photo by Lance Grandahl on Unsplash

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The GENIUS Act Passes: 4 Things This Means for Banks and Fintechs

The GENIUS Act Passes: 4 Things This Means for Banks and Fintechs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: List series, Thought Leadership

The GENIUS Act passed in the US Senate yesterday with a 68 to 30 vote. The bill now moves to the House, where it’s up against the STABLE Act. This means that the House will need to choose between passing the GENIUS Act at face value or passing and reconciling the STABLE Act. 

For financial services, the GENIUS Act is a big deal. That’s because it is not only the first stablecoin legislation to gain real bipartisan traction, but it will also serve as a foundation for the US to begin a digital asset ecosystem. Overall, there are four major implications the bill has on banks.

Stablecoins gain legitimacy and clarity

As a decentralized finance tool, stablecoins have long been grouped together with their crypto cousin bitcoin. Because of this, many traditional financial institutions in the US have shied away from associating themselves with stablecoins.

The GENIUS Act, however, offers both banks and fintechs a clearer legal framework to issue and use stablecoins since it outlines requirements for licensing, reserves, and oversight. Having regulation on their side reduces regulatory uncertainty and will encourage financial institutions to adopt the new payments tool and leverage stablecoins for new use cases. Reducing ambiguity around compliance and risk will also benefit firms exploring tokenization.

Banks may face new competition from Special Purpose Depository Institutions

The Senate version of the bill includes a controversial provision allowing Special Purpose Depository Institutions (SPDIs), such as Kraken, to operate across US states without the approval of each host state’s banking regulator.

If the bill is successful, it will allow fintechs with SPDI licenses to gain a regulatory shortcut because they do not need to comply with capital and liquidity requirements. This may erode the role of traditional banks in certain payment and custody markets and may not be a positive change.

“That is a pretty significant expansion of special purpose depository institutions,” Klaros Group Partner Michele Alt told American Banker. “I would ask, what else could you create as a special depository institution? How could this be used?” 

Notably, however, even though the bill has passed through the Senate, the House’s version of the stablecoin bill doesn’t include a similar provision. This means that if the bill does pass through the House, the House and the Senate will need to convene for a conference to come to an agreement. 

Rising expectations for real-time money movement

While consumers already expect many things in real-time, the GENIUS Act adds more pressure for banks and fintechs to deliver faster, more programmable payments. The bill will enable regulated stablecoins and essentially facilitate real-time settlement, 24/7 money movement, and programmable financial interactions.

This method of funds transfer won’t rely on traditional rails like ACH, wires, or even FedNow. If end users and businesses get accustomed to real-time, programmable payments, their expectations may be permanently shifted, requiring banks to keep up.

This adjustment would be tricky for banks, as many would need to invest in infrastructure that supports tokenized payments, smart contracts, and on-chain compliance.

Banks need to stay agile

If the House does not pass the GENIUS Act, it can advance its own bill in the form of the STABLE Act or negotiate a compromise. Either way, regulatory change is clearly in motion. Banks and fintechs should closely monitor the developments and begin scenario planning now. Whether it’s the GENIUS Act, the STABLE Act, or a hybrid outcome, stablecoin regulation is on the horizon. Those who prepare early will be best positioned to compete in a tokenized financial future.

Photo by Andrew George on Unsplash

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Grifin Lands $11 Million to Help Users Invest as they Shop

Grifin Lands $11 Million to Help Users Invest as they Shop
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Grifin raised $11 million in Series A funding to grow its investing app that allows users to invest where they shop, bringing its total funding to $20 million.
  • The app uses Adaptive Investing to automatically invest $1 per purchase into companies users buy from, helping them build daily investing habits.
  • Grifin targets underserved investors, especially women ages 40 to 60.

Approachable investing app Grifin announced that it raised $11 million this week to help users invest where they shop. The Series A funding round, which brings the company’s total raised to $20 million, was led by Nava Ventures with participation from TTV, Draper Associates, Gaingels, Nevcaut Ventures, and Alloy Labs.

Grifin will use today’s funding to hire employees, partner with HR platforms and consumer brands, build family plans, and build out more tools and experiences to add to the app.

“We are thrilled to partner with Grifin in their mission to make investing fit into the daily lives of people across the country,” said Freddie Martignetti, Partner at Nava Ventures. “With more than 178 million uninvested Americans, Grifin has the potential to make a remarkably positive impact by helping their app users lay the foundation for long-term wealth building.”

Martignetti will join Grifin’s Board of Directors.

Grifin was founded in 2017 to make investing fun by allowing shoppers to invest in a portion of the brands they purchase from. The company removes complexity and fear associated with investing by building an investment portfolio based on the consumer’s purchasing habits. Grifin automatically transfers $1 for every transaction the user makes during the week, then invests the funds into their portfolio that is comprised of companies from which the user purchases. Grifin calls this approach Adaptive Investing.

With Adaptive Investing, Grifin creates a dynamic investment portfolio that is uniquely personalized to the user and their everyday habits. As the user’s shopping habits change, Grifin adapts the portfolio. The company also offers users full control on how much and in which companies they invest, allowing them to block companies and manually adjust their investment amount.

“We have always believed that investing should be positive and fun. Where it doesn’t feel like a second job, it simply feels like second nature,” said Grifin CEO and Cofounder Aaron Froug. “Unlike traditional investing, Grifin instills confidence through action and connection. Our goal with Grifin is to build daily investment habits, different mindsets and change the relationship people have with the brands they love. This new funding enables us the fuel to scale a product that’s already proven its power to increase investing habits in a whole new way.”

Grifin is targeting the 86% of Americans that don’t directly own any stock, and says that its primary investor group is women between the ages of 40 and 60. The company has added 500,000 registered users and has seen more than 100,000 new app installs in the last month alone.

Grifin differs from investing companies like Acorns by focusing on emotional connection and brand loyalty rather than rounding up spare change. While Acorns emphasizes passive micro-investing based on leftover change, Grifin actively builds a portfolio based on where users actually shop, which turns consumer behavior into their personalized investment strategy. This approach not only builds financial habits but also helps users feel more connected to their investments, making the process more engaging and meaningful.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

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Icon Solutions Secures Investment from UBS

Icon Solutions Secures Investment from UBS
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Funding, Icon Solutions
  • Payments company Icon Solutions has secured a new equity investment in a round led by UBS. Citi and NatWest, existing Icon Solutions investors, also participated.
  • The investment will help Icon Solutions bring its Icon Payments Framework (IPF) to more banks to enable them to develop and deploy new payment processing solutions faster.
  • Headquartered in the UK, Icon Solutions made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2017.

UK-based paytech Icon Solutions announced a new equity investment led by Swiss bank UBS. Citi and NatWest, current Icon Solutions investors, also contributed funding. The amount of the total investment was not disclosed.

“This investment round is further endorsement of our founding belief that banks should be empowered to lead their own payments transformation,” Icon Solutions Co-Founder and Director Tom Kelleher said. “With IPF now internationally proven and increasingly adopted by major financial institutions, we look forward to continuing our close partnerships with Citi, NatWest, and UBS to build on this global momentum and deliver truly innovative and ground-breaking payments solutions.”

Both Citi and NatWest have deployed Icon Solutions’ Icon Payments Framework (IPF) to enhance their respective payments programs. IPF offers banks a payments development framework that enables them to build, test, and deploy payment processing solutions faster, allowing them to accelerate the transformation of their own payments infrastructure.

“This investment reinforces our partnership with Icon and confirms our commitment to deliver faster to market, future-ready payment solutions for our clients,” UBS Head of Group Operations and Technology Office for Personal & Corporate Banking and GWM Switzerland & International Pieter Brouwer said. “The collaboration helps us drive innovation at scale and enhances our capabilities for seamless instant payments and advanced transaction processing.”

Founded in 2009, Icon Solutions demoed its technology at FinovateEurope 2017 in London. The company’s core solution—the Icon Payments Framework—is a payment development framework relied upon by tier 1 banks around the world including Citi, NatWest, BNP Paribas, and UBS. Built to integrate seamlessly with multiple payment schemes, IPF helps financial institutions accelerate transformation of their payment infrastructure, while maintaining control of both timeline and costs. Cloud and ISO 20022-native, IPF reduces cost of ownership by up to 50%, accelerates speed to market by up to 4x, and enables real-time payments adoption in six months.

This spring, Icon Solutions introduced new Director of People Hannah McKechnie. Formerly Head of HR for the company, McKechnie, in her new role, will oversee Icon’s ‘People and Purpose’ programs, including support for Icon’s partnerships with the Social Mobility Foundation and with purpose-led technology training and services company Digital Futures.

Photo by Heidi Fin on Unsplash

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Pendo Unveils AI Agent Performance Analytics Solution

Pendo Unveils AI Agent Performance Analytics Solution
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Pendo
  • Software experience management platform Pendo launched its Pendo Agent Analytics solution today.
  • The new offering enables companies to analyze and review the performance of their AI agents as well as measure the adoption rates of the technology.
  • Pendo made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022. The company is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

How effective are your AI agents really? A new offering from software experience management platform Pendo is designed to answer that question.

Pendo Agent Analytics, introduced today, enables companies to measure the performance of their AI agents and to measure the adoption of their agentic AI technology as readily as they do for their SaaS applications.

“The shift to intelligent software is happening faster than we could ever imagine, and enterprises are faced with improving their SaaS applications, while accelerating agent and AI innovation,” Pendo CEO and Co-Founder Todd Olson said. “I’m proud that we are supporting customers wherever they are on their transformation journey.”

The new offering is designed to provide companies with systems to help them better understand and optimize the way AI agents have become a part of org charts, workflows, and product roadmaps. From IT teams that have compliance and productivity concerns, to R&D teams focused on business outcomes, achieving greater transparency in AI agent operations is a critical step in the road to broader and more effective adoption of the technology.

To this end, Pendo Agent Analytics provides metrics and reports that track both homegrown and third-party agent operations along with usage of traditional software. The technology also provides insight into how users act before and after they interact with an agent, analyzes conversations with agents to identify prompt trends, and maps agent usage to task completion to help measure ROI.

Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, Pendo made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022. At the conference, the company demonstrated how its platform helps firms analyze, assess, and act to enhance software investments across online, mobile, SaaS, AI, and agentic applications. With more than 14,000 companies in 163 countries around the world using Pendo’s technology, the company has collected a total of 23 trillion events, providing a wealth of insights for training conversational AI and agentic software systems.

Pendo’s new product offering comes as the company announced a raft of platform enhancements designed to meet the needs of the “agentic era” of AI. These included AI agent deployment tools, optimized user acquisition tools, enhanced support analysis and AI-powered bug reporting, and improved data cleanliness and insights integration.

“Nearly every week our teams are showing me new prototypes and ideas for the future of Pendo. Our summer release includes so much of that work, new features and products that will improve your SaaS foundation and set you up with a strong AI foundation,” Olson said.

Photo by Brandon Griggs on Unsplash

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Grammarly Taps Gr4vy to Power Modular, Scalable Payments

Grammarly Taps Gr4vy to Power Modular, Scalable Payments
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Grammarly is partnering with Gr4vy to streamline its checkout experience using no-code, cloud-based payment infrastructure, giving it access to 400+ payment service providers without requiring custom integrations.
  • The move reduces development time, lowers transaction costs, and improves approval rates, while also automating recurring billing and maintaining PCI compliance.
  • This partnership highlights a growing trend of software companies using modular payment orchestration to boost agility, conversion, and retention.

Payments infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) company Gr4vy announced today that AI writing assistance platform Grammarly has selected to use it to enhance its checkout experience. Grammarly will use Gr4vy’s no-code cloud system to create bespoke checkout experiences for its users.

Gr4vy will offer Grammarly access to multiple payment service providers (PSPs) without having to directly integrate them into its checkout. This will not only save Grammarly time in the form of development and maintenance, but it will also allow the company to select from the more than 400 different PSPs in Gr4vy’s network. Eliminating the need for Grammarly to use custom-built PSP connections will lower transaction costs, increase approval rates, and speed up time-to-market.

“Grammarly’s decision to use our platform is a testament to the simplicity and flexibility we offer, as well as our ability to deliver efficient and scalable solutions that will drive customer growth and retention,” said Gr4vy’s Founder and CEO John Lunn. “We are thrilled to empower Grammarly with the flexibility it needs to optimize payment processes while focusing on its core mission of helping people and teams do their best work.”

Gr4vy is cloud-native, PCI Level 1-compliant, and enables merchants to set up dedicated instances in specific regions to improve transaction speed and comply with data localization laws. Founded in 2020, the company provides businesses access to a range of PSPs, offers anti-fraud tools, and helps payment service providers optimize their payment stack without the need for IT expertise. In 2022, the California-based company was awarded Top Emerging Fintech Company at the Finovate Awards. Earlier this year, Gr4vy partnered with bike manufacturer Trek to power an online-to-offline payment experience and offer consumers accurate inventory checks and simplified checkout.

In addition to leveraging Gr4vy’s PSP network, Grammarly will also use the payment fintech’s hosted payment fields to securely collect sensitive card data and ensure PCI compliance. Additionally, Grammarly will use Gr4vy’s Account Updater to handle recurring billing transactions efficiently, automating the management of expired cards and ensuring uninterrupted subscription service.

Today’s payments partnership mirrors a broader trend of software companies embracing modular, cloud-native infrastructure to stay agile. When creating a frictionless user experience is paramount and when recurring revenue models are increasingly common, enabling payments orchestration can directly impact conversion rates and retention. The partnership is a good example of how smart payment orchestration is evolving from an operational function into a strategic advantage.

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

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Plaid Partners with Experian; Launches Fraud Prevention Solution Plaid Protect

Plaid Partners with Experian; Launches Fraud Prevention Solution Plaid Protect
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni profile, Experian, Plaid

Financial data network Plaid has been in the fintech headlines of late for its new partnership with data and technology company Experian, and for the launch of its Plaid Protect fraud prevention solution.

“Today we’re launching Plaid Protect: a real-time fraud intelligence system that helps detect and prevent fraud from the moment a user first interacts with your app or service,” Plaid Head of Fraud Alain Meier wrote on the company blog. “By drawing on fraud signals across a billion devices in the Plaid network, Protect goes beyond what any single company can see—surfacing fraud patterns that exist between linked bank accounts, connections to financial apps and services, and more.”

Plaid Protect is built on an adaptive, machine learning-powered risk engine that provides real-time risk scores and attributes that evolve as the user context changes—from initial contact during onboarding through account linking to ongoing user activity. Calling their fraud model Trust Index (Ti), Plaid’s first production model can access 10,000 high-signal attributes including cross-app patterns, device history, bank account risk signals, and more. The Trust Index leverages network intelligence, bank account risk, consortium feedback, and advanced identity intelligence, keying in on fraud signals that are difficult for criminals to manipulate or fake. Plaid reported that one of the solution’s early adopters found in testing that enhancing verification for just 5% of its users would have intercepted nearly 40% of first-party fraud.

Currently available in beta, Plaid Protect provides an intuitive dashboard that uses semantic search powered by natural language. This means that users can ask questions about the data in plain English (i.e., “all users who opened new accounts in the last 30 days”) instead of needing to use SQL or custom queries.

“With this new lens on fraud, companies can reduce fraud losses, dramatically improve conversion, and make smarter decisions from the very first user interaction and every step thereafter,” Meier wrote.

Plaid’s new product announcement comes days after the company reported that it had partnered with fellow Finovate alum, Experian. The two firms have entered into a strategic collaboration designed to help businesses access cashflow solutions and expand financial inclusion.

“This is just the beginning of what we believe will be a very powerful relationship with Plaid,” Group President Financial Services of Experian North America Scott Brown said. “Together, we’re helping to accelerate the adoption of cashflow insights to drive faster decisions, stronger portfolios, and new financial opportunities for consumers. We’re achieving this while delivering an experience that is transparent and provides consumers with control every step of the way.”

Courtesy of the collaboration, financial institutions can access Plaid’s secure connectivity capabilities—used by 50% of all US bank account holders—and Experian’s expertise in advanced credit analytics and decisioning from a single solution. Once a borrower agrees to share cashflow data from their bank account as part of the loan application process, Plaid’s consumer reporting agency generates a Consumer Report on their behalf. The report is delivered securely to Experian which analyzes the applicant’s data, produces a predictive Cashflow Score or set of Cashflow Attributes, and delivers it to the lender in near real time.

The report features up to two years of historical data and cashflow information from 12,000+ financial institutions. Experian reports that its Cashflow Score provides an increase of as much as 25% in predictive performance compared to scores that rely on more conventional credit data. The new offering will empower banks, credit unions, and consumer lenders to accelerate decision-making, make more accurate risk assessments, and improve borrower outcomes.

“Our work with Experian is about removing long-standing barriers, making it easier for lenders to access consumer-permissioned data and make better decisions,” Plaid Chief Operating Officer Eric Sager said. “Together, we’re building a more inclusive, intelligent, and competitive financial system.”

Founded in 2013 by Zach Perret and William Hockey and headquartered in San Francisco, Plaid introduced itself to Finovate audiences at our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2014. In the years since, the company has grown into a major financial data network covering more than 12,000 financial institutions in the US, Canada, UK, and Europe. With partners including Venmo and fellow Finovate alums SoFi and Betterment, Plaid works with fintechs, Fortune 500 companies, and leading banks to enable their customers to connect their financial accounts to the apps and services they count on every day.

Photo by Marek Ruczaj on Unsplash

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Big Brands Are Leveraging Stablecoins– Are You Next?

Big Brands Are Leveraging Stablecoins– Are You Next?
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Julie's Column

Stablecoins are blowing up the financial ecosystem. They are quickly evolving from a crypto-native concept into a mainstream financial tool. As proof, we saw news last week that major retailers Walmart and Amazon are exploring leveraging their own stablecoins.

If retailers are jumping onto the stablecoin bandwagon, should your firm or fintech be considering doing so, too? To answer that, let’s take a look at the benefits of leveraging proprietary stablecoins. We’ll consider Amazon’s and Walmart’s possible strategy and discuss pros and cons of doing so.

Walmart

Walmart filed a patent for a USD-backed digital currency in 2019. The retailer would use the stablecoin for internal settlement, supply chain payments, employee payroll, and in-store consumer purchases. As an additional benefit of leveraging stablecoins, Walmart would be able to provide a direct-to-consumer financial product geared toward underbanked customers that would offer a low-fee, efficient alternative to traditional banking.

Amazon

While not officially confirmed, Amazon has also explored blockchain-based payments. The Wall Street Journal revealed (paywall) that Amazon has listed job postings hinting at its crypto ambitions. The retailer could use stablecoins to power consumer incentives such as rewards programs, marketplace settlements, and cross-border payments.

Benefits of stablecoin usage

Both retailers have massive internal ecosystems that stand to benefit by reducing interchange fees by eliminating or reducing third-party payment processing fees from traditional players such as Visa and Mastercard. They would also benefit from the real-time settlement that stablecoins offer, which would save costs on both sides of the transaction. Additionally, stablecoins could foster more loyalty if customers are incentivized by rewards built into stablecoin usage. Control would be another benefit, as stablecoins could offer retailers full control over the payment rail and user data, and they could leverage stablecoins to enhance fraud detection efforts and improve analytics.

It is worth noting that neither retailer has officially announced plans to issue a stablecoin, as that hinges on the passage of the Genius Act, which, if passed, would offer a regulatory framework for stablecoins.

Should you issue your own stablecoin?

These benefits sound appealing, but does all of this mean that your firm should launch its own stablecoin? The answer is likely, “no,” but here are three major things to consider before launching your own.

1) What is your use case?

If your business processes a high volume of payments or regularly encounters steep interchange fees, issuing a stablecoin could help lower transaction costs. For companies that move money across borders or between vendors, stablecoins offer the advantage of near-instant settlement. And for consumer-facing businesses that offer rewards or loyalty programs, stablecoins present an opportunity to merge loyalty and payment into a single, seamless digital currency.

2) What is your level of consumer trust?

If customers already trust you with financial transactions or stored value (such as gift cards or mobile wallet accounts), you may already have the trust foundation needed to support a proprietary token. Additionally, you’ll need some sort of ecosystem that facilitates spending, saving, and earning that customers trust and frequently engage with in order to facilitate stablecoin transactions.

3) Are you prepared for regulatory implications?

Firms with skilled, in-house blockchain capabilities are best poised to succeed when it comes to launching their own stablecoin. Make sure you have resources in place to engage with regulators on stablecoin licensing, AML/KYC, and reserve requirements and that you can support one-to-one asset backing.

Alternatives to issuing

As with many things in financial services, the majority of firms will have more success partnering with an existing stablecoin provider when it comes to leveraging stablecoins. If your firm can’t rationalize issuing your own stablecoin using the framework above, consider working with established issuers like Circle, which issues USDC, or Paxos, which issues PYUSD, or another alternative. This will reduce development cost and time, eliminate legal requirements, and reduce operational costs. It can also facilitate a faster time-to-market without the need to build infrastructure or receive regulatory approvals.

Alternatively, offer multi-stablecoin support by enabling wallet use for USDC, PYUSD, or other popular stablecoins. Leveraging this existing infrastructure can help reduce risk while still reaping the benefits of stablecoin usage.

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SmartStreamAir Expansion Takes Company into the Insurance Business

SmartStreamAir Expansion Takes Company into the Insurance Business
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, SmartStream
  • Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM) solutions provider SmartStream is entering the insurance business with the latest expansion of its reconciliation and data management platform, SmartStream Air.
  • SmartStream Air leverages AI and machine learning to automate the process of reconciling and managing large volumes of data.
  • Founded in 2000 and headquartered in London, SmartStream made its FinovateEurope debut in 2022.

London-based financial Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM) solutions provider SmartStream is bringing its technology to the insurance sector. The company announced an expansion of its AI-powered reconciliation and data management platform, SmartStream Air, that will help insurers deal with rising transaction volumes, data quality challenges, and an increasingly complex regulatory environment.

For companies that have front office systems that need to report to back office systems or are transitioning from legacy infrastructures to new technologies, SmartStream checks and assures data integrity throughout the process. SmartStream Air enables institutions to reconcile and manage large volumes of data, leveraging AI and machine learning to automate this process.

In the insurance business, this means identifying and resolving discrepancies in data such as payments, reimbursements, claims, policyholder transactions, or investment operations. SmartStream Air can serve numerous insurance-specific use cases including premium collection and processing, commission payments, claims management, financial reporting, reinsurance settlements, policyholder refunds, investment account reconciliation, data validation, risk and reserve management, expense tracking, and fraud detection.

SmartStream’s announcement comes as regulations like IFRS 17 and DORA create new challenges for insurance companies when it comes to accounting and operational resilience, respectively. These challenges—and others—have exposed both operational inefficiencies and compliance risks. And while analysts such as Celent’s Karlyn Carnahan expect this to be a “transformative year in insurance,” there is still a sense that “getting arms around AI from a compliance and use case perspective is difficult.” To this, SmartStream’s AI-powered solution serves as opportunity, in Carnahan’s words, to deploy “proven technologies from other industries” that will help insurers grow effectively and efficiently.

SmartStream Global Head of Reconciliations Robin Hasson highlighted this point. “Our heritage and experience in working with the world’s top 100 banks gives us a strong foundation to support the insurance sector as firms identify use cases for increased automation.” Hasson added, “We’re already partnering with leading insurers to implement AI-powered solutions that enable data-driven agility. In today’s environment, insurers must respond swiftly to market shifts and customer expectations, or risk falling behind due to inefficiencies and increased exposure.”

Founded in 2000, SmartStream made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022. At the conference, the company demonstrated how SmartStream Air provides fast AI and machine learning data quality analysis without requiring training or an IT skillset. The company has more than 2,000 customers and analyzes more than one billion SaaS transactions monthly.

This spring, SmartStream launched its RegRegistry Service as part of its Reference Data Services (RDS) business. The company’s RegRegistry Service identifies counterparty and trading venues as required by regulatory authorities such as ESMA, FCA, GLEIF, CFTC, and ISO MIC. Also this year, SmartStream announced a partnership with fellow Finovate alum Finastra to extend collateral management workflows across treasury and capital markets.

Photo by Chris Panas

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Autobooks Taps Fundbox to Launch Autobooks Capital

Autobooks Taps Fundbox to Launch Autobooks Capital
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Autobooks, Daily news
  • Autobooks is launching Autobooks Capital, a short-term working capital tool embedded directly into its platform and powered by Fundbox.
  • The embedded lending experience helps financial institutions retain small business clients by offering fast, flexible funding without requiring third-party apps or extra accounts.
  • By partnering with Fundbox, Autobooks is enabling over 2,000 financial institutions to deliver capital access seamlessly inside their digital banking platforms.

Small businesses often face a frustrating gap between sending an invoice and getting paid. Payment and accounting platform Autobooks is seeking to change that with the launch of Autobooks Capital, a funding product embedded within the Autobooks platform. The new short-term working capital tool is powered by embedded capital infrastructure provider Fundbox.

With fast underwriting, competitive rates, and flexible repayment options, Autobooks Capital is designed to complement traditional lending programs by helping small businesses access working capital. By embedding Fundbox’s funding tools directly into its platform, Autobooks enables financial institutions to retain customers, compete with alternative lenders, and serve as the primary operating hub for small business clients.

“While Fintech 1.0 tried to sidestep financial institutions, we believe that working with banks where small businesses already manage their finances is critical to addressing the trillion-dollar SMB capital opportunity,” said Fundbox CEO Prashant Fuloria.

Teaming up with Fundbox will allow Autobooks to offer flexible funding directly within its platform without redirecting the borrower or requiring extra accounts. By placing Autobooks Capital within the Autobooks product suite, the company is able to offer small business owners working capital right when and where they need it. Autobooks’ product suite also includes digital invoicing, payment acceptance, automated bookkeeping, and financial reporting.

The embedded aspect of Autobooks Capital is key. Embedding lending tools directly into digital banking platforms helps turn lending products into seamless, context-aware experiences. Instead of sending small businesses to third-party lenders or apps, Autobooks Capital meets business owners where they already manage cash flow tasks such as invoicing, payments, and bookkeeping.

“The launch of Autobooks Capital gives financial institutions a powerful new way to support small business growth with fast, flexible funding, delivered right inside digital banking,” said Autobooks CEO Steve Robert. “By partnering with Fundbox and leveraging our distribution network of over 2,000 financial institutions, we’re embedding capital access directly into the banking experience—in a way that complements and does not compete with financial institutions. It’s seamless, intuitive, and built to help bridge short-term cash flow gaps for small businesses.”

Founded in 2013, Fundbox is a digital-first provider of capital infrastructure for small businesses. Its platform enables customers to seamlessly embed financial tools into their own user experiences. To date, Fundbox has helped over 150,000 small businesses access more than $6 billion in capital.

With more than 2,000 financial institutions in its distribution network, Autobooks is well-positioned to scale this offering rapidly. As embedded finance continues to mature, embedded products like Autobooks Capital will be a successful way for small businesses to access capital from inside their banking app.

Autobooks was founded in 2015 and now serves more than 60,000 small businesses with a range of tools including digital payment acceptance, online invoicing, online enrollment, accounting, bookkeeping, financial reporting, billpay, and now lending. The company white labels its technology to firms including TD Bank, Alkami, Bottomline, CSI, FIS, Jack Henry, NCR, and Q2.

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Autobooks, Experian, Fintech Rundown, Salt Edge

With Father’s Day behind us and the first official day of summer ahead, we keeping our eye on the fintech headlines as the summer news slump approaches. Be sure to check in with Finovate’s Fintech Rundown all week long for the latest announcements in the industry.

Open banking

Crypto / DeFi

Credit unions

Payments

Fraud prevention

Lending

  • Baker Hill unveils enhancements to its platform to help financial institutions better manage commercial real estate, CECL compliance, AI-driven compliance, agricultural spreading and financial analysis.
  • Vine Financial secures seed funding, forms Board of Directors.
  • African remittance startup LemFi buys UK card issuer.
  • AKUVO automates repossessions and adds RDN.
  • Finastra’s Filogix boosts Gen AI capabilities to empower mortgage brokers.

Digital banking

  • Digital banking solution provider for small businesses, Autobooks, introduces Autobooks Capital, powered by Fundbox, integrating business lending directly within the Autobooks platform.

Regtech

Photo by Josh Willink

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Finovate Global Southeast Asia: Payments, Lending, and the Rise of Islamic Digital Banking

Finovate Global Southeast Asia: Payments, Lending, and the Rise of Islamic Digital Banking
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AMLYZE, Finovate Global, Mambu, MoneyGram, Revolut, VISA

This week’s edition of Finovate Global showcases recent fintech news from three countries in southeast Asia: Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Visa brings Click to Pay to Vietnam

A growing number of Vietnamese banks have become early adopters of Visa’s Click to Pay service. Click to Pay provides a faster, more secure, and convenient checkout experience for online transactions by enabling cardholders to make their purchases with fewer clicks—including relieving them of the need to manually enter card and shipping details. Instead, Click to Pay allows users to identify themselves through their email address or mobile phone number. The service uses advanced security technology—including the Visa Token Service—to keep transaction data secure and is designed to meet EMVCo standards for digital checkout.

“With e-commerce being so prevalent in Vietnam and aligning with the Vietnamese government’s digitization objectives, we are pleased to introduce this solution through our banking partners,” Visa Country Manager for Vietnam and Laos Dung Dang said. “Click to Pay with Visa has the potential to transform online shopping and support the development of a more connected digital economy.”

Cardholders with Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) and Vietnam Prosperity Joint-Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) can enroll in the Click to Pay service through their banking apps or with participating online merchants. Visa has also teamed up with Vietnamese payment platform Payoo, which will integrate Click to Pay across its merchant ecosystem. Visa announced that cardholders using Click to Pay at Payoo-affiliated merchants will be eligible for exclusive promotional offers “in the near future”. Additional merchants are expected to be added in the coming months.

BNPL provider Atome secures $75 million to support Philippines operations

Singapore-based Buy Now, Pay Later fintech Atome has received an asset-back financing facility of $75 million. The financing, from Lending Ark Asia Secured Private Debt Fund, will help support Atome’s expansion in the Philippines.

“The Philippines is a key growth market for Atome,” Atome Chief Commercial Officer Andy Tan said. “This financing reflects the continued confidence in Atome’s ability to deliver inclusive, risk-managed credit at scale.”

Atome is part of Advance Intelligence Group, a fintech and AI platform backed by investors such as SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Warburg Pincus, Northstar, and Singapore-based EDBI. This week’s funding comes as the company has been expanding its BNPL offering throughout Southeast Asia, bringing alternative credit solutions to unbanked and underbanked populations in the region. The financing also arrives one year after Atome secured a three-year term loan facility from EvolutionX Debt Capital.

“The launch of innovative and fit-for-market solutions like the Atome Card (PayLater Anywhere) and lending products demonstrates their ability to expand offerings while leveraging local market expertise,” EvolutionX Partner Rahul Shah said.

Malaysia’s KAF Digital Bank goes live with Temenos

The growth of Islamic digital banking is one of the most underappreciated developments in international fintech. Helping power this trend are companies like Temenos which recently partnered with Malaysia’s KAF Digital Bank as the institution launches its new Islamic digital bank in the country.

“Powered by Temenos SaaS, KAF Digital Bank is redefining Shariah-compliant banking with smarter, simpler financial solutions and a seamless, customer-first digital experience,” KAF Digital Bank CEO Rafiza Ghazali said. “The successful go-live and early access customer launch marks a key milestone in our journey, enabling Malaysians to take control of their financial futures with greater confidence.”

Temenos SaaS will enable KAF Digital Bank to offer a range of Shariah-compliant financial solutions that make financial management easier for customers who require or simply prefer Islamic banking. The offering includes comprehensive core and digital banking services with payments, analytics, and Temenos Data Hub on Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure. In a statement, Temenos APAC Managing Director Will Dale noted the growth and importance of the Islamic banking customer in the country.

“This go-live not only strengthens Temenos’ regional footprint in SaaS, but also shows the unique breadth of functionality and advanced technology we deliver,” Dale said. “With proven capabilities tailored to the Malaysian market and Islamic banking, Temenos SaaS empowers KAF Digital Bank to achieve faster time-to-market, greater efficiency, and drive future growth.”

KAF Digital Bank secured approval to operate as a digital bank at the beginning of the year, and will be the fourth digital bank to operate in the country. The bank was launched by KAF Investment Bank Berhad, in partnership with Carsome, MoneyMatch, Jirnexu, and StoreHub. KAF Investment Bank Berhad was established in 1975.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Saudi Arabian finance app tiqmo partnered with global payments network MoneyGram.
  • Revolut reported that it has entered talks with the Bank of Israel to expand operations in the country.
  • MENA-based financial institution Mashreq launched its NEO PLUS Saver Account.

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazilian fintech Matera partnered with Circle to integrate stablecoins as a payment method.
  • Cross-border payment platform dLocal teamed up with payment infrastructure solutions provider JusPay.
  • Tether announced an investment in Chiliean crypto exchange Orionx to support financial inclusion and digital payment adoption in Latin America.

Asia-Pacific

  • Visa launched its Click to Pay solution in Vietnam.
  • Buy Now, Pay Later provider Atome secured a $75 million asset-backed financing facility to support its expansion to the Philippines.
  • A new trading platform, moomoo, has gone live in New Zealand.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Africa.com profiled African fintech giant Paystack.
  • Online payment service provider PayU GPO launched account-to-account payments in Nigeria.
  • Critics warn that Kenya’s 1.5% tax on crypto transactions could hamper the development of the country’s fintech industry.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Berlin-based paytech Payrails raised $32 million in Series A funding.
  • Lithuania’s largest credit union, Lietuvos centrinė kredito unija (LCKU), inked a long-term agreement with regtech AMLYZE.
  • German SaaS cloud banking platform Mambu announced that Sweden-based Marginalen Bank has migrated to its core.

Photo by Pixabay

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