Finovate Global Pakistan: Profits in E-Commerce, Investment in Logistics, and Partnerships in Cybersecurity

By David Penn Posted on August 8, 2025
Categories: Finovate Global

This week’s edition of Finovate Global features news on recent fintech developments in Pakistan.

Fintech Deal Draws Bazaar Technologies Closer to Profitability

A report in Bloomberg indicates that Pakistan’s most well-funded startup, Bazaar Technologies, is closing in on profitability. The company, which was founded in 2020, offers a B2B e-commerce platform that connects small retailers with suppliers. This digitization of traditional supply chains has been credited with empowering thousands of smaller merchants, known as “kiryana” shops, to participate in the digital economy.

It is the company’s recent acquisition of digital payments platform Keenu that has observers believing that Bazaar could achieve profitability in the coming quarters. Keenu offers payment services, including point-of-sale (POS) solutions, an online payment gateway, and a mobile wallet app, via a merchant acquiring network that spans more than 150 cities throughout Pakistan. A licensed Electronic Money Institution (EMI), Keenu processes more than $1 billion in annual payments.

The acquisition marked the first time a major Pakistan-based e-commerce company integrated payments into its operations, and has been seen as part of the State Bank of Pakistan’s National Payment Strategy to advance digital transformation and financial inclusion in the country.

“This is more than an acquisition—it’s a strategic alignment that redefines what it means to serve households and businesses in Pakistan,” Bazaar Technologies Co-Founder Saad Jangda said.

Bazaar has raised more than $100 million in funding from investors including Dragoneer Investment Group, Tiger Global, and Indus Valley Capital. The company is headquartered in Karachi.

Logistics Fintech Trukkr Secures Funding from UAE’s Yango Group

Via its investment arm, Yango Ventures, UAE-based technology company Yango Group announced an investment in Trukkr, a fintech platform in Pakistan that provides financial services to companies in the trucking business. The amount of the investment was not disclosed, but the funding does represent the first Pakistan-based investment for Yango Ventures. The investment will also provide Trukkr with Yango Group’s product expertise and insights from its operations in more than 30 markets around the world.

“We are excited to partner with Yango Group, in addition to their strategic equity investment, we find that their experience in building state-of-the-art logistics tech and deploying it in over 30 countries will allow us to strengthen our offerings in Pakistan and beyond,” Trukkr CEO Sheryar Bawany said.

Founded in 2019 by Hisham Adamjee, Mishal Adamjee, Kasra Zunnaiyyer, and Ali Haji, Trukkr is digitizing and modernizing Pakistan’s logistics market—a market alued at more than $35 billion. The company’s integrated SaaS platform and embedded finance solutions help trucking companies better conduct fleet management, trip coordination, invoicing, and lending operations. Recently securing a Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) license from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Trukkr also provides working capital and fleet financing solutions, as well as a robust loan management suite.

“Pakistan’s logistics sector is full of potential, and Trukkr is helping move it forward—by giving operators the financial tools they need to scale and succeed in a competitive market,” Yango Group CEO Daniil Shuleyko said. “We’re here to support that transformation with our experience and technology. This is the kind of local innovation we want to help grow, and it’s just the start of our work in Pakistan.”

Pakistan Bolsters Cybersecurity in Fintech as NIBAF Teams Up with Risk Associates

In a bid to enhance cybersecurity for the financial sector, the National Institute of Banking and Finance-Pakistan (NIBAF Pakistan) partnered with Risk Associates to deliver training on the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). The training featured cybersecurity professionals and representatives from leading Pakistan-based banks and financial institutions, and was led by Risk Associates, an internationally recognized certification body and PCI Qualified Security Assessor (QSA).

The training included discussion on payment security architecture, cardholder data protection, and compliance lifecycle management. The partnership between NIBAF Pakistan and Risk Associates was made official via a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in June.

“Together with NIBAF Pakistan, we are delivering forward-looking training that empowers banking professionals to anticipate, adapt, and respond to dynamic threats with operational precision and confidence,” Risk Associates CEO Aftab Rizvi said in a statement. NIBAF Pakistan Co-CEO Lubna Farooq Malik noted that insofar as the financial industry is at the “forefront of profound digital transformation,” it must also lead the way in developing solutions that keep the financial industry and its customers safe.

Headquartered in Bella Vista, NSW, Australia and founded in 2004, Risk Associates assess and certifies businesses in order to establish their commitment to maintaining high security standards and complying with regulatory requirements. The company offers a variety of robust preventive, detective, and corrective cybersecurity solutions, and is a specialist in cybersecurity, risk, compliance, information governance, strategy, and training.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

Latvian fintech Handwave secured $4.2 million in seed funding for its palm-based payment and identity platform.
Deutsche WertpapierService Bank (dwpbank) agreed to acquire Berlin-based brokerage-as-a-service platform lemon.markets.
Dutch paytech Mollie launched in Hungary, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Alaan, an AI-powered corporate spend management platform based in the UAE, secured $48 million in Series A funding.
Israel-based startup QuamCore raised $26 million to build one million qubit quantum computer.
Open banking and embedded finance platform Tarabut secured in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE).

Central and Southern Asia

Uzbekistan-based fintech and digital bank Uzum locked in $70 million in equity financing at a valuation of $1.5 billion.
Logistics fintech Trukkr secured investment from UAE-based tech company Yango Group.
Indian debt collections platform DPDzero raised $7 million in Series A funding.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Mexican fintech platform Finsus acquired the technology of merchant cash advance platform Anticipa.
Stablecoin-based financial infrastructure company VelaFi forged a strategic partnership with stablecoin-powered payment network Noah.
Clip launched its all-in-one (AIO) point-of-sale (POS) device in Mexico.
Cross-border payment platform dLocal unveiled its SmartPix solution that enable merchants to process tokenized Pix payments including recurring and on-demand charges.

Asia-Pacific

New Zealand-based digital wallet Dosh announced a strategic collaboration with Visa and Pismo.
Indonesian fintech Monit secured $2.5 million for its AI-powered spend management platform.
South Korean quantum fintech Orientom initiated its expansion into Southeast Asia.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Global issuer-processor Paymentology launched its mobile-first card management platform, PayoCard, in South Africa.
South Africa’s largest bank, Capitec Bank, teamed up with remittance fintech Mama Money.
South African crypto platform Luno announced the listing of 44 tokenized blue-chip US stocks.

Photo by Abuzar Xheikh on Unsplash

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Streamly Snapshot: Startup Success, Financial Management, and the Innovation Ecosystem

By David Penn Posted on August 7, 2025
Categories: Speaker series, Streamly

This week’s Streamly Snapshot features our final interview from FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego, California.

What does it take for a startup to be successful? In today’s innovation ecosystem, one increasingly important skill is not just building innovative solutions, but also managing the finances—the investment capital, the debt financing, the cash flow—that support a growing enterprise. In this interview, Christopher Hollins, Global Head of Product Sales and Design at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a Division of First Citizens Bank, talks about the challenges that startups face when it comes to optimizing financial operations, scaling businesses, and managing cash flow. Hollins also shares his insights on the digital tools and platforms that are available to startups to help them grow and scale their businesses.

“Even in this environment, which is short on IPO exits, the innovation is not showing that it’s short of anything other than tremendous creativity, driving for positive results, and actually managing through all of the change that is happening in the macro economy and within the innovation ecosystem, itself.”

In his role at SVB, Hollins has been instrumental in transforming the platform’s solution delivery model to ensure that SVB’s Commercial Bank innovation economy clients can access the best partners and solutions to solve their challenges as they grow. Hollins joined SVB in May 2021, bringing more than 20 years of international marketing, sales, and strategy experience in financial services, mobile telecom, and technology to the firm.

Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, SVB was founded in 1983. Acquired by First Citizens Bank in 2023, the firm today is the bank of choice for many of the world’s most innovative technology companies and investors. SVB provides commercial and private banking services to individuals and companies in technology, life sciences, healthcare, private equity, venture capital, and premium wine industries. The institution reports $99 billion in total client funds and counts 40% of the Forbes 2025 AI list among its customers.

Photo by Alexas_Fotos on Unsplash

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FinovateFall 2025 Sneak Peek Series: Part 2

By Madeline Clines Posted on August 7, 2025
Categories: FinovateFall 2025, FinovateFall 2025 Sneak Peek, LemonadeLXP, LendAPI, Quavo Fraud & Disputes, TurmaFinTech, WNSTN AI

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 8 – 10. Register today using this link and save 20%.

LemonadeLXP

LemonadeLXP is an all-in-one learning and knowledge platform built specifically for banks and credit unions.

Features

Automates training from existing resources
Delivers instant answers to staff
Cuts costs by streamlining content creation and knowledge sharing so that teams work smarter, faster

AI-powered financial services platform Uptiq has forged a strategic partnership with and received a minority investment from Broadridge Financial Solutions. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.
Courtesy of the partnership, Uptiq will integrate its technology into Broadridge’s Wealth Lending Network (WLN) to give financial advisors access to AI-automated, securities-based lending workflows.
As Cion Digital, Uptiq made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022. The company rebranded the following year.

AI platform for financial services, Uptiq, announced a new strategic partnership with and a minority investment from Broadridge Financial Solutions. The company, which made its Finovate debut as Cion Digital at FinovateSpring 2022, will integrate its technology into Broadridge’s Wealth Lending Network (WLN). This will give financial advisors and banks working with Broadridge access to turnkey, agentic AI applications to automate securities-based lending workflows. The amount of the minority investment was not disclosed.

“Uptiq was purpose-built to remove the heavy lifting from lending,” Uptiq CEO and Founder Snehal Fulzele said. “Our AI-driven platform surfaces the most relevant loan options, actively guiding advisors so they can focus on serving clients instead of wrestling with process complexities. By connecting directly with Broadridge’s Wealth Lending Network banks, we’re making it easier than ever to provide securities-based lending as a compelling and compliant liquidity solution.”

Via its Wealth Lending Network, Broadridge provides a digital platform that connects wealth managers, financial advisors and their clients with a network of lenders that offer securities-based lines of credit. This streamlines access to securities-based lending solutions, especially for those financial advisors and wealth management firms that are not affiliated with a bank. The Uptiq integration will make it easier for financial advisors to source and compare loan options, as well as automate a range of manual tasks including referral submission, loan processing, and covenant tracking. The partnership helps financial advisors provide more credit options for clients, enhances client service and compliance, and streamlines the process of providing lending solutions to wealth management customers.

“This strategic partnership helps modernize wealth management, addressing the growing demand for artificial intelligence in financial services, as well as a need to develop a better wealth lending process that is efficient, compliant, and personalized,” Broadridge President of Wealth Management Mike Alexander said. “With Uptiq’s AI-powered tools and Broadridge’s Wealth Lending Network, we’re enabling advisors to deliver smarter lending recommendations, save time, and ultimately help their clients access the liquidity needed to achieve their financial goals. Our investment demonstrates our commitment to driving innovation in the wealth lending ecosystem.”

Broadridge serves clients in asset management, capital markets, wealth management, and related industries. The company’s technology and operations platforms process and generate more than seven billion communications a year, and support the trading of more than $10 trillion of securities internationally. Broadridge was founded in 1962 as a part of Automatic Data Processing (ADP), and was spun off as an independent company in 2007. Headquartered in Lake Success, New York, Broadridge employs more than 14,000 associates in 21 countries, and is publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker BR. The company has a market capitalization of $31 billion.

Making its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022 as Cion Digital, Uptiq rebranded the following year in an effort to underscore the company’s commitment to serving wealth managers and financial advisors. The company’s platform combines deep domain expertise with AI to streamline operations and produce better outcomes across financial workflows. Uptiq’s agentic AI-powered apps automate lending, banking, and wealth management workflows, while the firm’s AI Workbench provides a no-code platform to facilitate both workflow deployment and future growth.

Photo by Morgan Housel on Unsplash

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Fab Five: FinovateFall Scholarship Program Showcases Female-Led Fintechs

By David Penn Posted on August 6, 2025
Categories: FinovateFall 2025, List series, Women in Fintech

This year at FinovateFall 2025, our Sustainability & Inclusion Scholarship program will bring five female-led fintechs to the Finovate stage. Designed to help expand the Finovate demo line-up to feature more voices, more perspectives, and more cutting-edge innovation within fintech, our Sustainability & Inclusion Scholarship program helps shine a light on the next generation of fintech founders and startups.

Below are five companies, all female-founded and/or owned, that earned Sustainability & Inclusion Scholarships for this year’s autumn conference in the “Female Owned/Founded” category. Be sure to check them out live on stage next month at FinovateFall in New York, September 8 through 10.

Gentreo

Headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts, and founded in 2018, Gentreo meets customers where they are and helps them get to where they want to be to create non-balance sheet recurring revenue. The company offers comprehensive life and estate planning to help families plan for life’s inflection points with accessible, affordable digital life and estate planning solutions. Renee Fry is Founder and CEO. LinkedIn.

Kaaj AI

Founded in 2024 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Kaaj AI empowers banks and credit unions to deeply understand small business needs, serve them faster, grow their loan portfolio, and manage risk more effectively. The company provides an AI-powered platform to help lenders and brokers close more small business loans. Shivi Sharma is Co-Founder and President. LinkedIn.

Krida

Based in New York and founded in 2024, Krida reduces cycle times, manual tasks, and borrower drop-off, thereby giving banks a faster path to funded loans, higher throughput, and stronger community relationships. Krida automates application data intake, insights, and document generation to enable bankers to focus on building their businesses. Shivangi Khannais is Co-Founder.

MoneyPlanned

Launched in 2021, MoneyPlanned is headquartered in Bengaluru, India. The company empowers institutions to offer intelligent, automated financial planning—boosting advisor efficiency, reducing cost-to-serve, and delivering personalized client experiences at scale. MoneyPlanned’s end-to-end system uses automation, behavioral modeling, and machine learning to provide personalized financial planning in real time. Nikhila Putcha is Co-Founder. LinkedIn.

Warrant

Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, and founded in 2024, Warrant accelerates compliant marketing, reducing review cycles from days to minutes. The company helps financial institutions see 3x gains in marketing revenue opportunities and reduce churn with faster customer communications. Austin Carroll is Founder and CEO. LinkedIn.

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Digital Bank Grasshopper Bank Raises $46.6 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 6, 2025
Categories: Daily news, Funding

Grasshopper Bank raised $46.6 million in a funding round led by Patriot Financial Partners to support its April merger with Auto Club Trust SDB and expand its digital banking platform.
The investment was led by Patriot Financial Partners LP with additional participation from Glendon Capital Management.
The bank plans to scale its tech and broaden offerings, adding four new board members to help guide its next phase.

Digital small business bank Grasshopper Bank announced it landed a $46.6 million round of funding. The investment was led by Patriot Financial Partners LP with additional participation from Glendon Capital Management.

The digital bank will use the funds to support its merger with Auto Club Trust SDB, completed in April of this year. Following the deal, Grasshopper’s total assets grew 53% to $1.33 billion, its total deposits increased 81% to $2.37 billion, and its $961.8 million in loans were up 49% from December 31, 2024 to June 30, 2025.

The New York-based company also plans to use the investment to scale its technology and expand its product offerings to create digital banking solutions that meet its clients’ evolving needs.

“The backing from this seasoned group of investors is a powerful vote of confidence in our mission, our strategy, and our team,” said Grasshopper CEO Mike Butler. “We’re incredibly proud of the momentum we’ve built, and we’re just getting started. This capital gives us the opportunity to continue pushing boundaries, broaden our reach, and unlock new possibilities in how we deliver meaningful, future-ready digital banking experiences that meet people where they are and anticipate where they’re headed next.”

Grasshopper Bank was founded in 2016 as a full-service digital bank that tailors its products and services to specific industries, including small businesses, startups, venture capital, private equity firms, BaaS and commercial API platforms, lending, and white-labeled consumer banking.

“From the beginning, our vision has been to redefine what digital banking can do for entrepreneurs, modern businesses, and the ecosystem that supports them. With our recent acquisition, we are excited to expand that vision to serve consumers through our affinity banking partnership with The Auto Club Group,” added Butler.

In addition to the funding announcement, Grasshopper also revealed that it has added four new members to its board, including James Fitzgerald, retired former Chief Administrative and Chief Financial Officer of Eastern Bankshares Inc. and Eastern Bank; Brian Graham, co-founder and partner in the Klaros Group; Karen Solomon, a bank regulatory lawyer with more than three decades of experience spanning the public and private sectors; and John M. Surgent, Founder of GMS Surgent CPAs, Surgent Professional Education, and JM Surgent Capital.

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Bluefin Forges Strategic Partnership with Cassa Centrale Raiffeisen, ICIT, and Worldline

By David Penn Posted on August 6, 2025
Categories: Alumni News, Bluefin

Payment and data security company Bluefin has teamed up with Cassa Centrale Raiffeisen, ICIT, and Worldline to enhance payment and data security to All-in-One (AIO) payment devices.
The partnership will focus initially on serving businesses in Italy’s prosperous South Tyrol region.
Bluefin demonstrated its technology at Finovate’s developer’s conference, FinDEVR, in 2014.

Payment and data security innovator Bluefin announced a strategic partnership with Cassa Centrale Raiffeisen, ICIT, and Worldline. The partnership is designed to deliver enhanced payment and data security to All-In-One (AIO) payment devices throughout Italy’s South Tyrol region.

“At Bluefin, we are excited to collaborate with leading players and ISVs to deliver validated P2PE solutions across Europe and all global regions,” Bluefin SVP for Europe, Cheng Chieh Chen said. “Together with Cassa Centrale Raiffeisen, ICIT, and Worldline, we are committed to transforming the payment landscape in South Tyrol by delivering payment innovation, security, and enhanced customer experiences to this vibrant market.”

South Tyrol is Italy’s northernmost province—with Austria to the north and Switzerland to the west. With an official title of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano—South Tyrol, the province has a significant degree of self-governance and is among the wealthiest provinces in the EU, to say nothing of being the wealthiest province in Italy. Located in the Italian Alps mountain range, South Tyrol is a major regional tourist destination, and its growing hospitality and retail sectors make it an increasingly compelling environment for innovative payment solutions.

“As the main provider of banking services for Raiffeisen Banks in South Tyrol and as corporate banking experts, we are constantly trying to find new products and solutions to better meet the needs and requirements of our corporate clients and to optimize their work processes,” Cassa Centrale Raiffeisen General Director Simon Ladurner said. “Thanks to our partnership with Bluefin, ICIT, and Worldline we provide innovative and state-of-the-art payment systems to gastronomic businesses in South Tyrol. Thus, we contribute to the economic development of our province.”

Cassa Centrale Raiffeisen (officially known as Cassa Centrale Raiffeisen dell’Alto Adige) is headquartered in South Tyrol’s capital, Bolzano. The organization is the central banking institute for the 39 independent cooperative banks in the South Tyrolean Raiffeisen Group. The partnership, which also includes Independent Software Vendor (ISV) ICIT and payment services giant Worldline, will not only facilitate the rollout of AIO devices, but will also support future innovation in the unattended and e-commerce payment solutions space.

“This ISV partnership, in which Worldline is providing secure and robust payment processing services, will enhance the delivery of an expanded, competitive, and innovative payment offering tailored to the Italian market,” Worldline Head of SMB Central Sales Management Julia Rachor said. “Thanks to the partner’s combined international experience and local Italian expertise, merchants are ensured to receive payment solutions that effectively meet their needs.”

Founded in 2007, Bluefin introduced itself to Finovate audiences as part of our developers conference, FinDEVr in 2014. Today, the company has a network of more than 300 partners and secures more than 2.5 billion records a year. Bluefin serves 35,000 clients in 60 countries, protecting cardholder data, personally-identifiable information, and more. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. John Perry is CEO.

Photo by Francesco Ungaro

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2025 Finovate Awards Finalists Announced!

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 5, 2025
Categories: Finovate Awards

The finalists are in! We have just announced the finalists of our 2025 Finovate Awards! Now in its seventh year, the Finovate Awards celebrate the best in fintech across a wide range of categories—from digital banking and payments to sustainability, AI, and consumer lending. The awards aim to spotlight the companies and individuals driving the future of financial services.

This year’s finalists represent a diverse mix of startups, established players, and forward-thinking financial institutions and individuals. There are 30 categories in this year’s awards, including Best Embedded Finance Solution, Executive of the Year, Most Impactful AI-Based Solution, Best Banking-as-a-Service Provider, plus many more.

The bar to become a finalist has never been higher. We saw a huge number of high-quality nominations, and that’s reflected in the quality of the finalists. Check out the list of organizations and individuals who made the cut. Congratulations to this year’s finalists!

What’s next?

Winners will be chosen by a panel of esteemed industry judges who will spend the next month deliberating. The winners will be unveiled on September 9 at FinovateFall in New York City. If you’re attending FinovateFall, you won’t want to miss it!

If you have any questions about the awards, please let us know [email protected].

Photo by Ivan Samkov

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EverC Announces Merger with G2 Risk Solutions

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 5, 2025
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Ever Green 3C, Mergers & Acquisitions

AI risk classification platform EverC revealed today that it is joining forces with G2 Risk Solutions (G2RS). The two are combining to pursue a collective mission to protect global digital payments and defend e-commerce from threats. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

Moving forward, the two will leverage EverC’s AI capabilities and bring G2RS’s risk and compliance capabilities to the payments risk ecosystem. When the deal is finalized, the two companies will collectively serve most major payment providers across the globe, including banks, merchant acquirers, marketplaces, and online platforms.

EverC was founded in 2015 to help marketplaces and online sellers grow by bringing trust and security to the ecommerce ecosystem. The company combines AI with its expertise in risk intelligence, data science, fintech, payments, and financial risk. In addition to its Risk Insights solution, EverC also offers two products, MerchantView, a merchant onboarding and monitoring platform; and MaketView, an automated, AI-driven solution that identifies and eliminates hazardous, counterfeit, and illicit products in online marketplaces.

G2RS offers risk and compliance management for financial institutions and online platforms. The California-based company offers a suite of solutions covering merchant risk, digital commerce monitoring, transaction laundering detection, identity verification, bankruptcy risk, and regulatory data services. Founded in 1989, G2RS leverages data, analytics, and human-curated insights to help its clients navigate evolving regulatory landscapes and complex risk challenges. Today’s deal isn’t G2RS’s only change to its operations this year. In the first quarter, the company acquired WebShield owner ZignSec AB for an undisclosed amount.

“G2RS and EverC have long traveled toward the same North Star, safeguarding digital commerce and the people who depend on it,” said G2RS CEO Brian Longe. “We move forward as one team with a shared vision to redefine what market leadership looks like in the merchant risk space. Leveraging each other’s strengths as a unified force on a singular track, we will accelerate to deliver faster, smarter business outcomes and solutions for our clients and the global digital economy. We’re poised to achieve more together than we ever could apart, aligned in our commitment to root out fraud and illegal activities and help our customers grow with confidence and integrity.”

Logistically, Longe will serve as CEO of the combined company, while EverC CEO Ariel Tiger will serve as an adviser through the end of the year as the companies transition into a single entity. Employees of both companies will continue to operate globally with offices in the US, Europe, India, and Israel.

“We share a purpose to stop the increasingly sophisticated global threats from bad actors who seek to exploit the payments ecosystem,” said Tiger. “With our two teams working together, our impact can be exponential. This elevates our game in every facet of the business, pushing the envelope technologically and setting new standards for merchant portfolio performance.”

At FinovateFall 2021, EverC demoed how MerchantView helps mitigate transaction laundering by identifying illicit activity in order to help clients reduce and avoid fines, maintain regulatory compliance, and protect their brand.

Photo by DS stories

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InvestiFi Brings Digital Investing to Illiana Financial

By David Penn Posted on August 5, 2025
Categories: Alumni News, CryptoFi, InvestiFi

Investing platform InvestiFi has announced a partnership with Illinois-based credit union Illiana Financial.
The partnership will enable Illiana Financial’s 25,000 members to access InvestiFi’s digital investing offerings via Illiana Financial’s online portal.
Founded in 2020, InvestiFi made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 as CryptoFi.

Digital investing platform InvestiFi has teamed up with Illiana Financial to bring new digital investing options to the credit union’s members—from directly within the institution’s online banking portal. The partnership will enable the credit union’s 25,000 members to trade and invest in more than 8,500 stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and more than 25 cryptocurrencies. Members will also be able to use the solution to create guided investment portfolios, and take advantage of financial educational resources to help them make better decisions on their investments.

“Investing shouldn’t be intimidating or complicated. Our platform is designed to remove traditional barriers and make investing accessible, informed, and safe,” InvestiFi CEO and Co-Founder Kian Sarreshteh said. “By embedding our solution into Illiana Financial’s online banking platform, we are enabling their members to seamlessly manage their finances and investments side-by-side, creating a holistic financial experience.” Sarreshteh cited research from Cornerstone Advisors that indicated that retail investors prefer to use platforms that are integrated within their banking apps, which Sarreshteh said “reflected a strong demand for convenience and trust in a single, unified interface.”

InvestiFi’s digital investing technology integrates into existing digital banking platforms to enable investors to buy and sell stocks, ETFs, funds, and cryptocurrencies directly from their checking accounts. This helps keep deposits inside the credit union’s or community bank’s ecosystem rather than going to an external party. In this way, InvestiFi helps credit unions and community banks deepen engagement with accountholders by becoming a more integral part of members’ financial lives for years to come.

“We are committed to supporting our members at every stage of their financial journey. Integrating InvestiFi’s investing solutions is a natural progression in how we serve our community, offering safe, secure, and straightforward ways for members to engage with the market,” Illiana Financial CEO Jim Henmuller said. “With this new digital investing partnership, we are confident the credit union will continue to innovate, providing modern tools that truly empower every member to take control of their financial futures.”

Illiana Financial was organized in 1936 by a small group of Illinois Bell Telephone Company workers. Today, the institution has four locations: Calumet City, Chicago Heights, Naperville, and Bourbonnais, and more than $278 million in total assets.

Launched in 2021 as CryptoFi—an embedded crypto trading solution for credit unions and community banks—the company pivoted in 2022 to develop a stocks, ETFs, and robo advisory offering in the wake of the FTX crisis. The company rebranded as InvestiFi in 2024, going live with three credit union partners. Picking up a fourth credit union partner later that year, the company also acquired a Broker Dealer, launched a wholly owned RIA, and introduced its stocks and ETFs product.

InvestiFi’s partnership with Illiana Financial comes shortly after the Chicago, Illinois-based fintech announced that it had teamed up with Ocala Community Credit Union (OCCU) to enable its 2,900 members in Central Florida to trade and hold cryptocurrencies. Serving Ocala, Belleview, Silver Springs, Anthony, Dunnellon, Marion Oaks, Ocklawaha, and Marion County, OCCU is InvestiFi’s first partner in Florida. Established in 1953, OCCU has total assets of $51 million.

“We are thrilled to have joined forces with InvestiFi to offer our members crypto investment directly from checking,” Ocala Community Credit Union CEO Steven Nazaruk said. “We are looking forward to rolling InvestiFi’s crypto solution out to our members as an investment tool for them and a way for OCCU to attract new members.”

Photo by energepic.com

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FinovateFall 2025 Sneak Peek Series: Part 1

By Madeline Clines Posted on August 5, 2025
Categories: CollaborationRoom.ai, Eko Investments, FinovateFall 2025, FinovateFall 2025 Sneak Peek, Gentreo, Spiral, Swaystack, Vesuvio Pay, Winnow

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 8 – 10. Register today using this link and save 20%.

CollaborationRoom.ai

CollaborationRoom.ai helps financial service companies enhance customer experience by making remote work seamless for their contact centers.

Features

Increases productivity through supervisor and agent engagement
Enhances security and compliance through AI
Enhances agent education through embedded training and production rooms

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Two-Time Best of Show Winner Array Acquires Fellow Finovate Alum MoneyKit

By David Penn Posted on August 4, 2025
Categories: Alumni News, Array, Mergers & Acquisitions, MoneyKit

Embedded software platform company Array has acquired data aggregation specialist MoneyKit. Terms were not disclosed.
The partnership will enable Array’s customers to benefit from deeper connectivity that will facilitate more dynamic customer experiences including personalized credit insights and intelligent subscription management.
Array won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2021 and again at FinovateSpring 2022. MoneyKit made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024.

Embedded software platform Array, which has twice won Finovate’s Best of Show award, announced its acquisition of data aggregation solutions company (and fellow Finovate alum) MoneyKit. Terms of the transaction were not immediately available.

“MoneyKit has built a trusted and secure foundation for financial connectivity in just a few years,” Array Founder and CEO Martin Toha said. “Combining their capabilities with Array’s embeddable financial security components unlocks a new era of intelligent, personalized, and privacy-first experiences for millions of consumers.”

Array offers an embeddable platform that provides fintechs, financial institutions, and digital brands with a variety of private-label fintech solutions. MoneyKit is a specialist in data aggregation and trusted financial connectivity infrastructure. Together, the two firms seek to deliver a range of secure, consumer-first financial experiences—from embedded credit monitoring to streamlined access to financial data—to help consumers improve and better manage their finances. Post-acquisition, Array customers will benefit from deeper connectivity courtesy of MoneyKit’s technology, enabling them to access more dynamic experiences including personalized credit insights, intelligent subscription management, and more.

“Joining Array allows us to scale our mission and bring powerful new capabilities to the ecosystem,” MoneyKit CTO Michael Del Monte said. “We’re excited to be a part of the next wave of tools that help consumers feel more secure, informed, and in control.”

Headquartered in New York, MoneyKit made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024. At the conference, the company demonstrated its MoneyKit Connect solution that leverages intelligent routing to enhance bank data aggregation. The technology makes real-time routing decisions based on its unique insights into the specific institution, time of day, and data products requested to ensure that the connection goes to the best possible underlying aggregator. MoneyKit was launched in 2021 by the serial founders who started both Cash App and Quovo.

Winning Best of Show in its appearances at FinovateFall 2021 and FinovateSpring 2022, Array most recently demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2023. The company’s platform helps financial institutions and financial service providers boost engagement and revenues by providing them with tools like anti-identity theft solution HelloPrivacy and an intelligent Subscription Manager that can be embedded in a matter of weeks.

Founded in 2020, Array is based in New York.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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