Chime Workplace Integrates Workday Wellness Tools

Chime Workplace Integrates Workday Wellness Tools
  • Chime is partnering with Workday to integrate Chime Workplace into Workday Wellness, expanding access to financial wellness tools through employers’ existing HR systems.
  • Chime Workplace helps employees manage money, save, and build credit, while giving employers insights into overall financial health and benefit usage.
  • The move positions Chime beyond consumer banking, signaling its push into the employer-driven financial wellness space.

Chime announced its latest move to build up Chime Workplace, the financial wellness suite it launched in March of this year. The company has partnered with HR solutions company Workday, becoming a Workday Wellness partner for financial benefits. 

Chime will integrate Workday Wellness into Chime Workplace to bring financial wellness into its employee benefits suite. Chime Workplace offers employers a single platform with financial wellness tools and an aggregated view of employee financial health. The platform helps employees manage their money, track their savings, build their credit, and more.

Workday was founded in 2005 to provide HR tools as a service to businesses across industries. Today, in addition to offering a wide range of HR tools, the company also offers AI tools such as agents, financial tools such as payroll and financial management, legal tools such as contract intelligence, supply chain management solutions, and more.

Under the partnership, organizations using Workday can turn on benefits for their employees using Chime Workplace directly through Workday Wellness in their existing HR systems. Workday’s Workday Wellness solution offers its clients insights into which benefits their employees want and use, helping them to improve their programs and add appropriate new offerings, all in the Chime Workplace dashboard. Chime Workplace will be available via the Employer Benefits Selection Portal for Workday customers. 

“Employees today are increasingly looking to their employers for competitive financial wellness benefits,” said Workday General Manager, HCM, Workforce Management and Payroll Cristina Goldt. “Our partnership with Chime makes it easy for Workday customers to provide their workforce with financial wellness tools directly through Workday Wellness. This ultimately helps them manage money, build credit, and save—fostering a more financially confident and resilient workforce.”

The integration is Chime’s latest move to differentiate itself as a competitor in the challenger banking field. The company was founded in 2012 and formed Chime Enterprise in 2024 after acquiring employee rewards and loyalty platform Salt Labs. Chime has more than 8.7 million members. By embedding its workplace tools into HR platforms like Workday, the company is positioning itself not just as a consumer bank alternative, but as a partner in the employee benefits ecosystem. This shift may indicate that Chime intends to grow beyond direct-to-consumer banking and capture a larger share of the employer-driven financial wellness market.


Photo by Höhenverstellbar Tischgestell Maidesite

Endaoment Announces Partnership with Active Cause to Help Influencers Give Back

Endaoment Announces Partnership with Active Cause to Help Influencers Give Back
  • A new partnership between Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) provider Endaoment and philanthropic advisory firm Active Cause will help creatives, athletes, entertainers, and influencers make charitable donations in cash, stock, crypto, and other assets.
  • A DAF works like a charitable investment account, enabling investors to make tax-deductible contributions and to recommend charitable grant outlays from the fund, while the assets grow in value over time.
  • Founded in 2020, Endaoment made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2024 in San Francisco. Robbie Heeger is President and CEO.

Next-generation Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) provider Endaoment has teamed up with philanthropic advisory firm Active Cause. The partnership combines Endaoment’s DAF infrastructure with Active Cause’s experience in serving the philanthropic needs of athletes, creatives, entertainers, and other influencers. Active Cause clients will be able to leverage the Endaoment platform to set up their own personalized DAFs where they can make charitable donations in cash, stock, crypto, as well as other assets.

“Active Cause is leading a cultural shift in philanthropy by centering creatives, athletes, and entertainers,” Endaoment President and CEO Robbie Heeger said. “We’re proud to provide the technology and infrastructure that allows their members to give seamlessly and confidently, while tracking their impact in real time.”

A DAF is a financial vehicle that acts like a charitable investment account. Contributions to DAFs are irrevocable to the sponsoring 501(c)(3) organization, which gains legal control over the funds. And while funds cannot be withdrawn for personal use, contributors—donors—still retain advisory rights over how the funds are invested and ultimately distributed.

DAFs provide donors with immediate tax benefits, enabling them to deduct the full amount of the contribution from their tax bill. The invested assets appreciate and grow tax-free over time and donors can recommend grants from the fund to qualified charities as they deem appropriate.

The partnership will embed charitable giving options directly into Active Cause’s membership platform, empowering influencers to support the causes that matter most to them. In addition to providing streamlined, simplified philanthropic service and tax advantages for creatives with often high-but-unpredictable income streams, the personal DAFs also offer a degree of privacy to help keep charitable donations out of the headlines.

“Our partnership with Endaoment gives members access to a modern platform that makes giving easier, faster, and more transparent,” Active Cause Co-Founder and CEO Yonis said in a video statement posted on LinkedIn.

Active Cause has more than 20 athletes, artists, and creators who have launched funds through the company and granted more than $10 million to community organizations as of 2025. The company provides philanthropic strategy and impact monitoring on key metrics like tax savings and fund growth. Working with Active Cause streamlines philanthropic processes, cutting administrative time by up to 50%, and lowering administrative costs to as low as 1.5% for DAFs greater than $10 million.

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Endaoment made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2024. Earlier this year, the company launched its Farcaster mini-app that helps users “convert emotional resonance into immediate impact.” The app enables users to find and donate to causes directly within their social feed and to share giving opportunities with those in their network. Donations can be made in USD, USDC, or ETH.


Photo by Tara Winstead

Make the Most of FinovateFall with the Event App

Make the Most of FinovateFall with the Event App

FinovateFall is just around the corner (taking place September 8 through 10 in New York), and we can’t wait to welcome fintech leaders, bank executives, investors, and analysts back to our flagship show. With discussion sessions, networking opportunities, and 60+ demos packed into three days, it’s important to have the right tools at your fingertips to help you navigate the event. That’s where the ConnectMe event app comes in.

You can think of the app as your personal conference assistant. It gives you everything you need to maximize your time at FinovateFall, starting today and continuing after the event.

Plan Ahead

With the app, you can browse the full agenda, bookmark the sessions and demos that matter most to you, and build a personalized agenda to manage your on-site schedule. Whether you want to see the latest fintech demo on stage or catch a discussion on open banking, you’ll know exactly where you need to be and when.

Connect with the Right People

Networking has always been a cornerstone at Finovate, and the app makes it even easier. Use the attendee directory to see who else will be in the room, send messages, and set up meetings in advance. The app features an AI-powered matchmaking feature that highlights the people and companies most relevant to you, making it easy for you to make the high-impact connections you’re looking for.

Stay in the Loop

From last-minute speaker updates to location details, the app keeps you informed in real-time so you don’t miss a thing. You can also engage in live polls and Q&A during sessions, making the event more interactive and getting your voice heard.

Keep the Conversation Going

Your FinovateFall experience doesn’t end when the conference does. The app remains open after the event, giving you continued access to contacts, content, and discussions. Whether you missed a meeting or wanted to follow up with a contact you met on the networking floor, the app makes it easy to keep building relationships and follow up on new opportunities.


To download the FinovateFall ConnectMe app, keep an eye on your email inbox for a link and a code to get in. Be sure to set up your details within the app ahead of the show in order to hit the ground running. Whether this is your first Finovate or your fifteenth, the app is the best way to ensure you can maximize your event experience.

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

The fallout from JP Morgan’s plan to charge companies for access to client bank account data continues as—according to a report from Bloomberg—Visa has announced that it is shuttering its open banking unit.

We’ve got a lot to say about the fight for open banking next month at FinovateFall. For now, be sure to check in to Finovate’s Fintech Rundown for all the latest fintech news!


Payments

Dispute management and chargeback solution provider Casap raised $25 million in Series A funding. See the company demo next month at FinovateFall in New York!

Zil Money introduces a pair of AI-powered features for its virtual cards: receipt parsing and automated spending analysis reports.

Digital content monetization platform Coda completes its acquisition of prepaid payments platform Recharge.

Localized payment solutions provider Boku partners with visual communications platform Canva.

PayNearMe establishes Texas footprint with Dallas business district office.

Sightline Payments creates Sightline Debit, a solution for the gaming industry, in partnership with Cross River Bank.

Digital banking

HSBC launches HSBC Innovation Banking in Australia.

Cognizant inks five-year strategic engagement deal with banking technology company Tenemos.

Thread Bank selects Finxact from Fiserv to power embedded banking strategies.

Crypto and DeFi

Crypto wallet MetaMask launches its own native stablecoin, to be issued by Stripe’s Bridge.

Bitget unveils its RWA (Real-World Asset) Index Perpetual Contract, enabling investors to buy and sell tokenized traditional assets.

VersaBank launches tokenized deposit pilot program in the US.

Finastra and Circle forge strategic collaboration to bring stablecoin settlement to cross-border payments.

Tazapay lands strategic investments from Ripple and Circle.

Financial wellness

Financial wellbeing platform CredAbility launches its credit score builder.

Fraud prevention and digital identity

Digital identity specialist Prove teams up with FNBO (First National Bank of Omaha).

Australia-based digital lender MoneyMe partners with fraud prevention and AML compliance specialist SEON.

IDenfy teams up with ethical residential proxies and web-data collection tool provider Ping Proxies.

Lending and credit

AI-powered credit intelligence company martini.ai launches its Financial Autonomy Ladder, a framework for measuring an institutions evolution from manual to autonomous decision-making systems.

MeridianLink expands its partnership with Jack Henry, which will resell the suite of Meridian Link One platform solutions, including MeridianLink Mortgage and MeridianLink Consumer.

Small business solutions

Expensify announces upgrades to its Expensify Travel offering including central billing, event management, and employee itineraries.


Photo by Cristina Gottardi on Unsplash

Electronic Payments Acquires Handpoint

Electronic Payments Acquires Handpoint
  • Electronic Payments is acquiring Handpoint to expand into Europe, gaining offices in the UK, Iceland, and Spain.
  • Handpoint’s tools include mobile payment acceptance, an embedded payments platform, a card-present gateway, and real-time transaction reporting.
  • The deal strengthens Electronic Payments’ mobile and embedded offerings, helping it compete with newer players like Stripe and Square.

New York-based Electronic Payments has agreed to acquire UK-based Handpoint for an undisclosed amount.

Handpoint was founded in 1999 to provide in-person payments tools. The company helps its customers accept payments on smartphones, tablets, and handhelds, and enables merchants to accept card payments securely. In addition to hardware, Handpoint also offers an embedded payments platform, a card-present gateway, and provides real-time transaction data that gives merchants in-depth reporting. Before today’s announcement, Handpoint had raised a total of $8 million, most recently pulling in $2.4 million in 2021.

Handpoint demoed at FinovateFall 2012 and FinovateEurope 2012, at the height of the mobile payment acceptance wave that Block (then Square) kicked off in 2010.

Electronic Payments was founded in 1998 and offers a network of POS value-added resellers (VARs), agent banks, sales agents, and independent sales offices (ISOs) to businesses across multiple industries. Among the company’s products are Cygma, a full-stack authorization and clearing platform; Exatouch, a full-featured point-of-sale device; and ProCharge Gateway, a virtual terminal that helps process and manage payments from one central location.

Handpoint will give Electronic Payments an immediate European presence, as Handpoint maintains offices in the UK, Iceland, and Spain, new territories for Electronic Payments. Integrating Handpoint’s tools could allow US merchants that require cross-border capabilities to tap into a single payments partner on both sides of the Atlantic. Additionally, Electronic Payments could integrate Handpoint’s embedded payments platform with its Cygma clearing system, which would facilitate a more omnichannel approach.

Purchasing Handpoint will also help Electronic Payments strengthen its mobile and embedded payments offerings. This will help it compete with the self-service model that new players, like Stripe and Square, offer.


Photo by Ivan Samkov

Finovate Global: Workforce Management and Capacity Planning with Cinareo Solutions’ Karen Elliott

Finovate Global: Workforce Management and Capacity Planning with Cinareo Solutions’ Karen Elliott

This week’s edition of Finovate Global features an interview with Karen Elliott, CEO and Co-Founder of Cinareo Solutions.

Headquartered in Ontario, Canada and founded in 2022, Cinareo Solutions complements workforce management platforms, helping them streamline contact center operations and mitigate risk by enabling precise resource allocation and decision-making that is driven by data.

Cinareo made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego, demonstrating how its SaaS solution provides scenario-based capacity planning for both contact center agents and support staff. The company’s technology leverages industry-recognized statistical models and simulations to help businesses meet customer demands as well as vital financial KPIs.

We caught up with Karen Elliott recently to learn more about the field of capacity planning, the role of enabling technologies like AI, and how Cinareo Solutions helps contact centers ensure that the right person with the right skills is in the right place at the right time.


What role does capacity planning have in workforce management? What makes it challenging and how does Cinareo help companies better meet those challenges?

Karen Elliott: Capacity planning is the strategic backbone of workforce management. It determines how many people you need with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time, to meet service levels without overspending on labor. In contact centers, capacity planning sits upstream of scheduling—it uses historical data, forecasts, and business assumptions to set headcount and budget requirements weeks, months, or even years in advance. Effective planning ensures customer demand is met efficiently and profitably.

The challenge is that unpredictable demand, scattered data, and outdated tools make planning a constant challenge. Most organizations resort to using Excel spreadsheets and spend hours or even days of manual labor and embedded formulas to try to figure out the optimal plan. Cinareo streamlines the process by ingesting your data and enabling rapid “what-if” scenario modeling and multi-skilling simulation to create optimized plans for both agents and support staff with the click of a button. 

Not only does Cinareo handle planning with ease, but the platform also creates financial budgets and recruitment and training plans so you know who to hire, and when, to ensure you meet your service targets.

Who are Cinareo’s primary customers? How do you reach them?

Elliott: Cinareo is an industry-agnostic platform for all contact centers.  We have customers worldwide in financial institutions, telecom, travel, utilities, retail, and even government.  We partner with CCaaS and WFM solutions to integrate directly into their platforms so that data can flow seamlessly into Cinareo.  Any organization with variable demand, labor-intensive operations and service or cost targets would get huge benefits from using a platform like Cinareo. 

We have a wide network of referral agents and ISV partners that recommend Cinareo to their clients when they see a clear need.  Cinareo offers webinars and monthly product showcases to demonstrate the power behind the platform—or can even arrange custom demos and proof of concepts to make sure potential customers truly understand the benefits of a modern planning platform like Cinareo.

What in your background led you to pursue innovation in this field?

Elliott: I spent 12 years at the IBM Innovation Center earlier in my career within the User Experience group with a key focus on user-centric software solutions.  After leaving IBM, I co-founded a professional consulting firm that specialized in contact center optimization that helped organizations improve their people, processes, technology, and knowledge. 

Years of consulting highlighted a huge gap in the market in regard to capacity planning.  We worked with countless private and public sector organizations that would build these complex spreadsheets to determine their optimal staffing and we decided there needed to be a better way, so we created Cinareo.  It was built to complement any CCaaS or WFM platform in the market and integrate into whatever was the customer’s platform of choice.  If customers switch platforms, they can take Cinareo with them—having a portable, agnostic solution was key to the design. 

Another important goal was designing a platform that was simple and intuitive based on years of experience in user-centric design.  We even have our customers as active members of the planning and design of the solution—this ensures that everything we build is focused on the needs and requirements of the people using the software.

What role do enabling technologies like AI play in developing innovative workforce management solutions?

Elliott: Capacity planning remains relevant in contact centers even if AI is involved, and it can take on a different but crucial role in optimizing the overall performance. While AI can now handle routine queries or simple updates, the reality is much more complex. Cinareo helps determine the right mix of AI-driven processes and human resources to meet the demand efficiently. Our customers are modelling their operations using Cinareo to determine the ideal balance of human agents vs bot and the ROI on an investment in AI as well.  

Incorporating AI into Cinareo is a given—we are already full steam ahead in our strategic plans to ensure that AI-driven capacity planning can make a dramatic difference. But true innovation in customer support isn’t about replacing the people—it is about giving people the ability to work faster and smarter – and we are doing that with Cinareo. 

You recently launched Flexible Monthly Planning. What is the value proposition with this new offering?

Elliott: We initially offered Cinareo as a strategic, long-term capacity planning platform where users could build 12-, 24- or 36-month plans.  However, as we continued to enhance Cinareo, our customers were telling us they wanted more flexibility in their planning, so we built in the capability to do weekly planning up to 52 weeks in order for contact centers to create tactical plans over the short or medium term. 

To continue to expand on Cinareo’s flexible platform, we recently launched more flexibility into our monthly planning as well, so customers can build a plan for any number of months up to 3 years in advance.  These enhancements were all driven by the needs of our clients since our goal is to have our software reflect “the voice of the customer” and truly be user-centric.

You made your Finovate debut at FinovateSpring earlier this year. How was the experience?

Elliott: We had a fantastic debut at FinovateSpring!  We generated a lot of great interest in the solution from the demo we provided. Prior to FinovateSpring, we had recently started onboarding more fintech clients and noticed an uptick in interest from banks, credit unions, and insurance agencies looking for a solution like Cinareo.  We thought FinovateSpring would be a great opportunity to demo Cinareo to a wider audience and get fintech companies to see the realm of the possible with a modern capacity planning solution. There is such a clear need in this sector for a solution that will not only improve CX and EX, but also provide important KPIs like the cost per contact to help with financial management.

What can we look forward to seeing from Cinareo in the months to come?

Elliott: We are excited over some of the new features that are set to launch in the months to come—we have been scaling up significantly to meet customer demand.  A couple new features that are soon to be released are multi-lingual functionality in addition to the ability to compare a plan with your historical data in a quick and easy way.  We will be offering our clients a way to see how their plan performed against their actuals in both performance and staffing—down to the 15-minute interval level.  This new feature will help our customers understand trends and patterns and be able to improve their planning moving forward.

That is just the tip of the iceberg—we have so many more exciting things planned over the next while. We would love to increase our customer base to have even more voices driving the future of our software! If you want to see how Cinareo can solve your capacity planning challenges, feel free to contact us.


Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Whish Money teams up with Mastercard to enable cross-border payments to Lebanon.
  • Bank of Algeria joined the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) launched by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
  • Qatar-based AlRayan Bank went live with Finastra Corporate Channels.

Central and Southern Asia

  • India celebrated National Fintech Day earlier this week.
  • Ukrainian fintech Fintech Farm launched its mobile banking service Tezbank in Uzbekistan.
  • The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) announced plans to unveil new Information Systems Audit Standards to enhance audit practices for startups, fintechs, and e-commerce companies.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazil-based digital financial services platform Nubank introduced Armando Herrera as new CEO of its Mexican operations.
  • Uruguayan cross-border payment platform dLocal teamed up with cross-border marketplace platform Tiendamia.
  • Puero Rico-based transaction processor and fintech EVERTEC announced plans to acquire a controlling stake in Brazilian fintech vendor Tecnobank.

Asia-Pacific

  • Japanese fintech JPYC announced plans to launch the first yen-denominated stablecoin this fall.
  • Thailand unveiled a new pilot program to enable visitors to convert cryptocurrencies into the local Thai Baht to facilitate purchases.
  • New Zealand-based small business management platform Xero partners with UAE-based Wio Bank PJSC.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Digital payments provider Peach Payments launched real-time clearance (RTC) payouts for merchants on its platform in South Africa.
  • South African fintech Street Wallet raised $350,000 in new funding.
  • African business bank Absa Business Banking selected Network International as its digital payments technology partner.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • OYAK ANKER Bank GmbH migrated its core banking systems to Berlin, Germany-based Mambu’s platform.
  • Turkish investment platform Midas raised $80 million in Series B funding.
  • Disruption Banking looked at the increasing popularity of crypto in Lithuania.

Photo by Derek Sutton on Unsplash

Behind the Scenes at FinovateFall: Spotlight on the Video Studio

Behind the Scenes at FinovateFall: Spotlight on the Video Studio

Each year at FinovateFall, the conversations on stage showcase some of the newest and most compelling ideas in fintech. But the story isn’t just limited to the stage. Just steps away from the general session, we have an energy-filled video studio that provides a space where fintech founders, thought leaders, and influencers can share their insights in front of the camera.

Working in collaboration with Informa’s video platform Streamly, the video studio has become an integral part of the Finovate experience because it offers speakers and sponsors a unique channel through which they can highlight their vision, discuss the impact of their technology, and connect with a broader audience long after the event itself. Between sessions, you’ll see us interviewing founders, executives, and thought leaders in the studio to extend the reach of both their thoughts and the show.

Here’s what you can expect from this year’s recordings:

  • Executive interviews: one-on-one conversations with fintech founders and bank executives about where particular industry subsectors are headed.
  • Company spotlights: Conversations that dive deeper into the solutions showcased on the demo stage and in the networking hall.
  • Expert insights: Analysis from industry experts on the latest industry trends like AI, open banking, digital identity, and more, as heard from the show floor.

Once recorded, our team of experts will produce, polish, and publish them on Streamly, YouTube, and the Finovate blog and promote them across social channels. Our goal is to ensure that the ideas shared at FinovateFall resonate beyond the conference itself, and will ultimately help shape conversations across the industry.

For both attendees and followers not in attendance, the videos offer another way to access insights from some of the brightest minds in fintech, even if they can’t be in every session live. Check out some of the videos from past events, and stay tuned later this fall to watch the freshly recorded sessions from FinovateFall 2025.

Starling to Acquire Tax and Bookkeeping Startup Ember

Starling to Acquire Tax and Bookkeeping Startup Ember
  • Starling Bank has agreed to acquire Ember with plans to integrate Ember’s tax and bookkeeping tools into its business banking platform, giving small businesses streamlined support for invoicing, expenses, payroll, and tax submissions.
  • Ember’s software currently serves customers of major UK banks, but will become exclusive to Starling customers in 2026.
  • The move positions Starling to help businesses comply with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) Making Tax Digital mandate by April 2026.

UK-based Starling Bank announced this week that it will acquire fellow UK fintech Ember, a tax and bookkeeping platform. Starling will build Ember’s resources into its banking platform to provide small business owners with tools they need to manage their transactions and tax submissions. Terms of the acquisition are undisclosed.

Ember was founded in 2019 to give small businesses a human accountant to work with throughout the year to offer real-time insights into their finances and automated bookkeeping. The company offers tools for invoicing, expense management, payroll, tax optimization, and more to do the heavy lifting of tax and VAT compliance while maximizing companies’ visibility into their finances.

“Ember’s platform is beautifully designed to simplify complex accounting tasks through a user-friendly interface,” said Starling Bank Managing Director of SME Banking Adeel Hyder. “As Starling ramps up the roll-out of best-in-class solutions for small businesses, we will continue to build, partner, or buy as best meets customers’ needs.”

Ember currently serves thousands of UK-based small businesses, including customers of HSBC, Revolut, Barclays, and Lloyds. Under the agreement with Starling, however, the company’s software will be exclusively available to Starling Bank customers starting in 2026. Also, as part of today’s deal, Starling will discontinue Ember’s accountancy advisory services.

This is a key move for Starling and strategic timing, given that His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has mandated a Making Tax Digital requirement starting in April of 2026. Starling’s integration of Ember’s tools will help the many businesses that aren’t prepared for online tax reporting to integrate Ember’s HMRC-recognized software by the end of 2025.

The integration of Ember will be available to Starling’s business customers as part of a suite of business services. Among the bank’s other commercial customer tools are Spaces, a tool that allows business owners to put money aside for designated purposes; Bills Manager, which helps businesses pay suppliers on time; and Spending Intelligence, an AI-powered spending tracker.

“We are a natural fintech consolidator, so targeted acquisitions like Ember will form a key part of our strategy as we continue to develop Starling Bank in the UK and Engine by Starling overseas,” said Starling Group Chief Financial Officer Declan Ferguson. “Just as Fleet Mortgages has flourished since we bought it in 2021, I’m confident that Ember’s best-in-class tools will become a fantastic addition to Starling Bank’s offering.”


Photo by Peťka Šurinová

Crypto Exchange Kraken Acquires Capitalise.ai

Crypto Exchange Kraken Acquires Capitalise.ai
  • Crypto exchange Kraken has announced its acquisition of no-code, natural language-based trading tools provider Capitalise.ai.
  • The acquisition will enable traders and investors on Kraken’s platform to build and execute complex trading strategies using everyday language rather than code.
  • Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, Capitalise.ai won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2017.

Crypto exchange Kraken has acquired Capitalise.ai, an Israel-based fintech that provides no-code, natural language-based trading and analytic tools for investors and traders. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Capitalise.ai won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2017 in San Francisco. At the conference, the company demonstrated how its technology can translate a wide variety of data inputs—including financial, social, and weather data—into actionable investment ideas across equities, cryptocurrencies, currencies, futures, options, and more. Capitalise.ai provides automated trade execution and the ability to optimize investment strategies quickly to analyze, predict, and improve performance.

“This acquisition gives Kraken Pro clients a powerful new way to act on ideas in real-time—testing, optimizing, and executing bespoke strategies with unprecedented speed and confidence,” Kraken Head of Exchange Shannon Kurtas said. “Capitalise.ai’s technology transforms how people interact with financial data—breaking down barriers that have long kept scalable, advanced strategies in the hands of a few. This is a major leap forward in democratizing access to pro-grade trading tools.”

Capitalise.ai’s functionality will be integrated into the Kraken Pro trading app in a phased rollout later in 2025. The company’s co-founders CEO Amir Shiovich and CPO Shahar Rabin, along with members of Capitalise.ai’s product and engineering team, will join Kraken.

The acquisition comes as the evolution of Kraken’s Pro platform, with its advanced features, has increasingly required both technical skill and deep trading expertise in order for users to make the most of the solution. Capitalise provides an effective response to this challenge, enabling clients regardless of background to build, test, and automatically execute often complex trading strategies using simple, everyday language.

“I founded Capitalise.ai alongside my partner Shahar Rabin, with the goal of democratizing advanced capabilities that were once reserved for hedge funds—through a simple, intuitive text interface,” Capitalise.ai’s Shiovich wrote on LinkedIn this week. “Over the years, we’ve partnered with world-leading brokers, served thousands of clients, and supported the trading of billions of dollars. By joining Kraken, we now have the opportunity to scale and drive meaningful impact across the trading industry.”

Founded in 2015, Capitalise.ai is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. Earlier this year, the company announced an expanded partnership with FOREX.com that enabled FOREX.com’s customers in the EU and the UK to access Capitalise.ai’s platform.

Among the longest-standing cryptocurrency platforms in the world, Kraken offers trading in more than 200 digital assets and six different national currencies including EUR, GBP, USD, CAD, CHF, and AUD. Founded in 2011, the company has been a pioneer in spot trading with margin, parachain auctions, staking, regulated derivatives, and index services. Kraken supports more than 15 million clients in 190+ countries and has more than $207 billion in quarterly trading volume on its platform.


Photo by Angela GarcĂ­a

FinovateFall 2025 Sneak Peek Series: Part 6

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

Appli

Appli’s AI-powered calculators turn visitors into confident shoppers, guiding key loan and savings decisions to boost revenue across every financial product.

Features

  • Delivers personalized financial guidance using AI enabled financial calculators
  • Boosts engagement via a trusted experience seamlessly embedded
  • Drives revenue growth and turns trust into loyal customers

Who’s it for?

Credit unions and community banks.

Debbie

Debbie is a rewards platform for good money habits where users can earn points for saving, paying off debt, and making on time payments.

Features

  • Drives 2x average deposit lift from engaged members
  • Delivers a 35% reduction in delinquencies
  • Sources thousands of new consumers for half the cost
  • Provides competitive intelligence data for upsell opportunities

Who’s it for?

Banks and credit unions.

FintechOS

FintechOS’s AI-driven product engine helps banks innovate without replacing core systems. Its low-code, composable architecture accelerates digital transformation, enhancing compliance and decision-making.

Features

  • Launch Web3 products without core changes
  • Manage deposits and digital assets from a single platform
  • Unlock revenue via crypto-backed lending with GENIUS Act readiness

Who’s it for?

Regional and community banks and credit unions.

Lyzr AI

Lyzr AI is a full stack AI agent infrastructure platform for enterprise.

Features

  • Safe and responsible AI built into the framework
  • Full stack approach from building agents to taking them into production
  • Clonable blueprints and use cases for financial institutions

Who’s it for?

Banks and financial institutions.

Mall IQ

Mall IQ (rebranded as LocatIQ) is an SF-based location AI company empowering financial institutions with real-time customer intent insights, predictive AI models, and contextual engagement.

Features

  • Delivers real-time, hyper-personalized engagement for revenue growth
  • Uses predictive AI models for card spend potential, including affluent and churn prediction
  • Offers alternative credit scoring, fraud prevention, and false card decline prevention

Who’s it for?

Card banks, credit unions, B2C fintech payment companies, loyalty platforms, and retailers.

MoneyPlanned

MoneyPlanned is a patented AI infrastructure for financial planning—delivering real-time, personalised, compliant advice and execution, turning every institution into a 24/7 superhuman advisor.

Features

  • Patented AI infrastructure: Builds and executes goal-based plans in minutes
  • Behavior-aware engine: Adapts to life events, nudging action
  • Enterprise rails: API, onboarding, eKYC, compliance, white-label

Who’s it for?

Advisors, banks, and consumers.

Reset

Reset enables banks and credit unions to natively embed earned wage access, driving growth in deposits and transaction revenue while strengthening customer financial health.

Features

  • Gives cardholders daily access to income and automated cashflow budgeting
  • Attracts and retains direct deposit relationships
  • Earns 4x more interchange revenue per transaction on existing cards

Who’s it for?

Banks, credit unions, and payment processors.

FinovateFall: Women in Fintech, Community Banking, and What You Need to Know About AI

FinovateFall: Women in Fintech, Community Banking, and What You Need to Know About AI

How have the opportunities and challenges for women in fintech and financial services changed in recent years? What can community banks do to better compete in the “consumer deposit wars?” And what do banks, credit unions, and other companies in the financial services space stand to gain from effectively deploying AI in their operations?

FinovateFall’s Executive Briefings will tackle all these questions and more next month, September 8 through 10, at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York. Check out our capsule summaries below. Then visit our FinovateFall registration hub to reserve your ticket. We can’t wait to show you what we’ve got in store this year!


Executive Briefing: Women in Fintech—How can we all make sure we are moving the needle?

Moderated by Michelle Tran, Founder, NYC Fintech Women, this Executive Briefing will examine a range of issues facing women in fintech and financial services. The conversation will include discussion on initiatives that are making a difference in growing and retaining female talent, the importance of diverse perspectives in AI development, and how to drive positive change in the industry. Mon, Sep 8, 10:20 am.

Featuring:

  • Sherry Wu, Chief Technology Officer, University of Michigan Credit Union
  • Pam Hannett, Vice President, Liberty Bank
  • Sarah Biller, Co-Founder, Fintech Sandbox
  • Vanessa Larco, Former Partner, Premise Ventures
  • Lily Page, Head of Embedded Payments, SVB, a Division of First Citizens Bank
  • Laura Sweet, VP of Marketing, Riva International

Executive Briefing: The Coming Storm for Community Banks

Moderated by Jason Henrichs, CEO, Alloy Labs, this Executive Briefing will investigate ways that community banks can develop a winning strategic plan that enables them to embrace innovation and better serve their customers. The panelists will share their insights on topics ranging from the so-called consumer deposit wars to the challenge of aligning culture, strategy, and execution when integrating enabling technologies like AI. Tue, Sep 9, 10:40 am.

Featuring:


Executive Briefing: The AI Competitive Imperative—The ten AI solutions you need to know about today

Moderated by Kate Drew, Partner, Director of Research, CCG Catalyst Consulting, this Executive Briefing will focus on real-world applications and use cases for AI in financial services. The panelists will discuss how to implement AI safely and within regulatory requirements, as well as share strategies to ensure that AI is aligned with the institution’s business and change management strategy. Tue, Sep 9, 10:40 am.

Featuring:

  • Kimberly Kirk, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, Queensborough National Bank & Trust Company
  • Jamie Twiss, CEO, Carrington Labs
  • Katie Quilligan, Investor, BankTech Ventures
  • Andrew Szabo, Head of Industry Vertical, Financial Services, UiPath

Finzly Integrates with Q2’s Digital Banking Platform

Finzly Integrates with Q2’s Digital Banking Platform
  • Payment infrastructure provider Finzly announced an integration with Q2.
  • Finzly will bring its payment experience to Q2’s Digital Banking Platform, enabling financial institutions to offer their customers greater payments capabilities.
  • Both Finzly and Q2 won Best of Show awards at our all-digital conferences in 2020.

Finzly has announced an integration with fellow Finovate alum Q2 that will bring its payment experience to Q2’s Digital Banking Platform. This will enable financial institutions to offer their customers the ability to send and track a variety of payments, including cross-border, domestic, and instant payments—without having to leave the platform.

“In today’s connected world, businesses and consumers expect their banks to deliver seamless payment experiences. With fintechs setting new expectations for simplicity, speed, and transparency, banks and credit unions must be able to meet these demands effortlessly,” Finzly CEO and Founder Booshan Rengachari said. “By integrating Finzly’s solution into Q2’s Digital Banking Platform, we’re providing financial institutions with a simple, efficient way to offer exceptional payment experiences—including international payments—that exceed account holder expectations, without the need for a complex overhaul.”

A payments infrastructure provider for financial institutions, Finzly offers a payment experience that delivers real-time visibility, competitive FX rates, and built-in regulatory compliance and fraud monitoring. Importantly, the technology is “rail-agnostic,” supporting FedNow, RTP, Fedwire, ACH, and SWIFT. Integrated into the Q2 Digital Banking Platform, Finzly’s technology will help financial institutions expand their offerings, generate new revenues, and grow their customer base.

The integration was made possible by the Q2 Partner Accelerator Program. The program is a component of the Q2 Innovation Studio and enables in-demand financial services companies that are working with the Q2 SDK to pre-integrate their technology into the Q2 Digital Banking Platform. This makes it easy for banks and other financial institutions to collaborate with these companies, buy their solutions, and quickly deploy the technologies for their customers.

A Finovate alum since 2011, Q2 won Best of Show at our all-digital conference in 2020. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Q2 offers a Digital Banking Platform that provides a range of secure, data-driven banking and lending solutions to banks, credit unions, fintechs, and other companies in financial services. Financial institutions using the company’s platform have reported 54% higher deposit growth, 48% higher loan growth, 27% higher revenue per employee, and 13% higher return on assets compared to companies that do not use the platform. This week, the company reported that Open Payment Network (OPN) has become the first integration partner for Q2 Instant Payments Manager, a solution designed to help financial institutions manage instant payments workflows.

Finzly made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2019 and won Best of Show in its return to the Finovate stage the following year. Most recently demonstrating its technology at FinovateSpring 2022, Finzly showed how its bank operating system, FinzlyOS, can quickly launch a modern, digital bank equipped with direct connections to all the major payments networks—from ACH and wires to RTP, FedNow, and SWIFT. Earlier this month, the company announced that it is gearing up to support both stablecoin and tokenized deposits in response to a demand for these digital assets that the company described as “exponential.”

“The momentum behind stablecoins is undeniable, and we’re seeing remarkable interest from US banks who recognize this isn’t just a trend,” Rengachari said. “Financial institutions that prepare now with the right infrastructure will be positioned to capitalize on what could be a $2 trillion market by 2028, while those that wait risk being left behind in an increasingly digital financial ecosystem.”

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Finzly was founded in 2012.


Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash