Finovate Global India: Inclusion, Digital Asset Innovation, and a Salute to Our Indian Alums

Finovate Global India: Inclusion, Digital Asset Innovation, and a Salute to Our Indian Alums
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Ripple, Wise

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from India.

RBI pushes financial inclusion; launches digital currency sandbox

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra used the occasion of the 6th Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai to encourage technologies to emphasize financial inclusion as well as better trust and efficiency as they help build the future of the country’s financial ecosystem. Fintech will be able to participate by joining the sandbox directly or via their partner banks.

Malhotra credited Indian fintech for a range of innovations that have been the envy around the world. “India’s world-class digital public infrastructure, as symbolized by systems such as UPI, Aadhaar, and DigiLocker, has not only enhanced efficiency and service delivery, but also ensured that millions of Indians enjoy easy access to a wide range of financial services.”

UPI is India’s real-time payment system that enables instant fund transfer between bank accounts via mobile apps. UPI can be used with just a mobile number or Virtual Payment Address (VPA) and has enabled everything from peer-to-peer transfers to merchant payments. UPI processes more than 700 million transactions a day.

Aadhaar is the name of a biometric digital identity system that gives all residents a unique 12-digit identification. Aadhaar is the basis for digital KYC (Know Your Customer) processes and has use cases ranging from account opening and insurance enrollment in financial services to medical record access, government benefit disbursement, and more. DigiLocker is a cloud-based digital document storage platform that enables users to store and access official documents digitally. DigiLocker is estimated to have more than 465 million registered users.

In each case, the solution has been both a significant technological innovation and a way of bringing a wider range of financial services to a greater number of communities and businesses, and individuals.

Underscoring the compatibility between financial inclusion and technological innovation, Malhotra added, “serving the privileged will be a lucrative business, but companies must focus on serving the underserved sections of society. Build for inclusion. There may be higher profits to be made by deepening access to the haves and the privileged, but prioritize building systems to expand financial services to the unaccessed, the unreached, and the unserved segments of society.”

The RBI also made headlines with the launch of its digital currency sandbox. The initiative will enable fintech firms to build and test solutions using the central bank digital currency (CBDC) as part of its ongoing pilot project. The RBI’s first retail e-rupee pilot (India’s central bank digital currency or CBDC) went live in December 2022, and currently has more than seven million users.

The announcement was made by Suvendu Pai, General Manager at the RBI. Pai said that the launch was designed to encourage innovation in digital payments and to grow the ecosystem for India’s CBDC.

“The CBDC retail sandbox will give innovators the space to experiment and build on top of the digital rupee,” Malhotra explained. “It will help create new use cases, improve customer experience, and add value to ongoing pilots.”

Meet Finovate’s Indian alums

Would you believe that outside of the US and the UK, the next largest group of Finovate readers are based in India?

As our previous story acknowledged, India is an under-recognized superpower when it comes not only to fintech innovation, but also when it comes to making sure that technological innovations are built to benefit as many people as possible.

Finovate has been happy to host a growing number of Indian fintechs at our conference both in the US and abroad. Our most recent event, FinovateFall 2025, featured a trio of India-based fintechs—MoneyPlanned, OPL, and Sequretek—on stage and a fourth, CloudBankin, in our Impact Zone. But these are only the most recently added alums. Here are some of the Indian firms that have demonstrated their latest innovations on the Finovate stage.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Google Payment Lithuania launched its bank account verification service.
  • Deutsche WertpapierService Bank (dwpbank) completed its acquisition of Berlin-based fintech lemon.markets.
  • Learn how the Latvian government is preparing to adopt the second edition of its national fintech development strategy.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Banco de Crédito del Perú, the largest bank in the country, has launched Criptococos, a digital asset-compatible banking platform, in partnership with BitGo.
  • Chilean HR tech firm Buk acquired fintech Bemmbo to provide financial services via the new Buk Finanzas offering.
  • Brazilian Buy Now Pay Later firm Pagaleve raised $30 million in Series A2 funding.

Asia-Pacific

  • Bank of Singapore unveiled a new agentic AI tool to automate components of the KYC process.
  • Binance Japan, a subsidiary of Binance, forged a digital assets alliance with financial services provider PayPay Corporation.
  • Singapore-based equity management platform Qapita raised $26 million in Series B funding.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • South African AI-powered fintech Optasia announced plans to raise $375 million when it goes public on South Africa’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
  • Kenyan asset financing firm M-KOPA reported its first profit of $9.2 million in 2024. The startup experienced a $24.7 million loss in 2023.
  • Check out Greg Palmer’s Finovate Podcast interview featuring Bridgit Antwi, Head of Strategy and Planning at African payments company Flutterwave.

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BVNK Lands Funds from Citi Ventures for Stablecoin Infrastructure

BVNK Lands Funds from Citi Ventures for Stablecoin Infrastructure
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • BVNK has received a strategic investment from Citi Ventures, adding to its $90+ million in funding to accelerate its multi-rail payments infrastructure.
  • BVNK has doubled transaction volumes in the past year and is competing with Circle, Ripple, and Stellar networks to bridge fiat and digital assets with enterprise-grade stablecoin settlement solutions.
  • Stablecoins are rapidly becoming core financial infrastructure, with supply surpassing $180 billion and on-chain settlement volumes reaching trillions as businesses seek faster, cheaper cross-border payments.

Multi-rail payments infrastructure platform BVNK announced this week that it has scored a strategic investment from Citi Ventures. The amount of the funds is undisclosed, and adds to the $90+ million in funding BVNK has raised from investors such as Visa, Haun Ventures, Tiger Global, and others.

“Stablecoins are seeing increased interest in use for settlement of on-chain and crypto asset transactions,” said Citi Ventures Head Arvind Purushotham. “We were impressed by BVNK’s enterprise-grade infrastructure, and their proven track record.”

BVNK was founded in 2021 and currently processes over $20 billion each year on behalf of enterprises and payment service providers. The UK-based company leverages stablecoins to enable businesses to move value instantly across borders and networks. Through its partnerships with global licensing bodies and Tier 1 banks, BVNK serves clients such as Worldpay, Deel, and dLocal.

“This investment reinforces our mission to accelerate the global movement of money,” said BVNK Co-Founder and CEO Jesse Hemson-Struthers. “Our platform enables companies to harness stablecoins to move money quickly across borders and launch innovative financial products with enterprise-ready security and compliance.”

Citi Ventures’ strategic investment comes as stablecoins are working their way to becoming a key piece of financial infrastructure. The total supply of stablecoins has exceeded $180 billion in 2025, with on-chain settlement volumes now reaching trillions of dollars each year as businesses make the swap to faster, cheaper alternatives to traditional banking.

This surge has helped to fuel BVNK, which has doubled its transaction volumes in the past year and has expanded its partnerships across the globe. The fintech’s biggest rivals, which include Circle, Ripple, and Stellar-powered payment networks, are all seeking to build top-tier infrastructure that bridges the gap between fiat and digital assets. Citi’s financial and strategic support will help BVNK differentiate itself in the race to build the enterprise-grade, multi-rail payments platform needed to make stablecoin settlement a mainstream tool for global commerce.

Photo by Brett Sayles

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FIS Integrates Glia’s Customer Interaction Tech into its Digital One Banking Platform

FIS Integrates Glia’s Customer Interaction Tech into its Digital One Banking Platform
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, FIS, Glia
  • Global financial technology company FIS has announced a strategic partnership with AI-powered customer interactions platform Glia.
  • The partnership will integrate Glia’s multi-channel digital interaction solution into FIS’s Digital One online banking platform.
  • FIS made its first Finovate appearance at FinovateFall 2010. Glia is a 10-time, Finovate Best of Show award-winner.

FIS has forged a strategic partnership with AI-powered customer interactions platform Glia. The partnership will integrate Glia’s AI for All digital interaction solution into FIS’s Digital One online banking platform. The goal is to deliver superior experiences for banking customers via a combination of AI-enabled service and high-touch human support.

AI agents will be able to respond quickly to routine inquiries 24/7 while also intelligently routing more complex queries and issues to human agents. This will reduce resolution times and provide more personalized service that adapts instantly to customer needs. Embedding these AI capabilities directly into FIS’s digital banking infrastructure will empower financial institutions to modernize their customer service operations without disrupting current systems.

“By integrating Glia’s sophisticated AI and digital interaction capabilities into our Digital One platforms, we’re enabling banks and credit unions to reap the benefits of a virtual workforce and high-touch, personalized service,” FIS Head of Retail Digital & Open Banking Hashim Toussaint said. “This new technology aligns perfectly with our recently announced Banking Modernization Framework, where open banking serves as a cornerstone for institutions looking to transform their operations and customer experiences. It truly represents the future of banking—where intelligent automation meets human insight.”

Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, FIS made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2010. Today the fintech services and consulting firm works with 70% of the top 100 insurance firms, has more than $16 trillion in financial assets on its platforms, and serves 5,800+ clients across 150 countries. A member of the Fortune 500, FIS is a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: FIS), and has a market cap of $35 billion.

The integration of Glia’s AI for All will enable FIS’s Digital One platform to provide a consistent, context-aware experience across channels—from mobile app to web platform to live agent. The platform will also deliver faster resolution times by triaging queries to separate the routine from the more complex. The integration will also provide 24/7 availability, with AI agents fielding account management questions, providing transaction support, and offering basic financial guidance beyond traditional banking hours.

“Financial institutions today face the dual challenge of meeting rising customer expectations while managing operational costs,” Glia CEO and Co-Founder Dan Michaeli said. “Adding Glia’s AI-powered platform to FIS’s digital online banking products creates a powerful solution that doesn’t force organizations to choose between efficiency and experience—they can have both.”

Having introduced itself to Finovate audiences as SaleMove in its Best of Show-winning debut at FinovateFall 2015, Glia has since become one of Finovate’s most decorated demoers, earning Best of Show honors a whopping ten times. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in New York, Glia offers an AI-powered, customer interactions solution for community banks and credit unions that delivers increases in digital branch loan dollars by more than 5x, boosts digital containment rates to 62%, and reduces abandonment rates by 12%.

Photo by Trevor Neely on Unsplash

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From Rate Wars to Real Value: How Wysh is Redefining Deposit Strategy through Protection

From Rate Wars to Real Value: How Wysh is Redefining Deposit Strategy through Protection
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2025, Speaker series, Streamly, Wysh

With more banking options available than ever before, winning customers and their deposits has become increasingly difficult. Differentiation is not only harder to achieve, it’s also more essential for banks and credit unions seeking growth. Yet for many institutions, finding a truly distinct value proposition can feel elusive.

This is where Wysh’s embedded life insurance product comes in. I spoke with Wysh CEO and Founder Alex Matjanec at FinovateFall last month about how his company helps banks differentiate their offerings by adding life insurance protection. The unique benefits help firms build loyalty, retention, and deeper customer relationships while also helping grow deposits.

“The main problem that we’re solving is that in America, there’s a massive underinsured gap where many Americans don’t have enough insurance. And the way they get it is actually going away, so they’re looking for new avenues to do so. On the other side, banks are looking to differentiate themselves by capturing new deposits to beat digital institutions… and we think layering in protection is the way to do so and we make it very easy to do that.”

Alex Matjanec is a serial entrepreneur with deep roots in fintech and digital product leadership. Before founding Wysh, he co-founded MyBankTracker.com, which has been called “the Expedia of banks,” and was involved in other startup ventures focused on financial tools and mobile apps. Under his leadership, Wysh has scaled from a small team to over 50 employees, expanding into dozens of US states, and forging partnerships with banks and fintechs to embed protection into deposit accounts.

Wysh was founded in 2021 to help banks increase deposits while adding value and improving customer retention. The company’s flagship solution, Life Benefit, allows banks, credit unions, and fintechs to embed micro life insurance directly into deposit accounts without requiring underwriting, opt-in steps, or extra bureaucracy.

Photo by Nita

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Offset Labs Secures Pre-Seed Funding in Round Led by Archangel Ventures

Offset Labs Secures Pre-Seed Funding in Round Led by Archangel Ventures
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Byne, Funding, Offset Labs
  • AI defense startup Offset Labs has secured €600k ($804k) in pre-seed funding in a round led by Archangel Ventures and featuring participation from Amadeus Capital Partners and Seven Capital.
  • The funding takes the company’s total capital raised to more than $1.1 million, according to Crunchbase.
  • As Byne, the company made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateEurope 2025 in London.

UK-Ukrainian AI defense venture Offset Labs, which rebranded from Byne earlier this year, has raised €600k ($804k) in pre-seed funding in a round led by Archangel Ventures. Amadeus Capital Partners and Seven Capital also participated in the investment. The funding takes Offset Labs total funding to more than $1.1 million, according to Crunchbase.

“This funding marks an important milestone in our mission: to build the first AI Lab creating frontier models specifically tailored to the needs of defence and national security customers,” the company noted on its LinkedIn page. “We believe that achieving this vision requires uniting talent, data, and computing infrastructure under one roof. Only with this integrated approach can we deliver the breakthrough—the ‘ChatGPT moment’—for mission-relevant AI and sustain a decisive qualitative offset in the decade ahead.”

With a team split between London and Kyiv, Offset Labs is a bi-national security laboratory that has designed and deployed AI models for signal and voice processing in operational environments. The investment is expected to accelerate the company’s development of what it refers to as a “decisive AI advantage” for NATO and its allies. As its name implies, Offset Labs is focused on the idea of an “offset” or strategic leap forward that provides one side a significant advantage in the balance of power.

The company believes that AI is the next likely area for an offset, but insists that in order for Western countries to make this happen, firms will have to embrace an integration of data, research, and talent at scale. This is where Offset Labs comes in, “to bring everything from data curation to research under one roof and unlock deep AI innovation for defense customers, ensuring Western leadership in this critical domain.”

As Byne, the company made its Finovate debut in February at FinovateEurope 2025. At the conference, the startup’s co-founder and CEO Borys Nadykto demonstrated how the technology enables users to create secure Large Language Model (LLM) agents for enterprise use. Designed to manage the tension between productivity gains and data security when using AI tools like ChatGPT, Byne’s technology empowers companies to host LLM applications within their secure perimeter (on-premise or private cloud) to ensure safe handling of sensitive data and integration with internal systems.

Headquartered in London, the company was founded as Byne in 2022 by Nadykto, Denys Budnyk, and Andrii Yakovyna. Byne announced its rebrand to Offset Labs earlier this year.

Photo by vackground.com on Unsplash

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Payments Optimization Meets Fraud Prevention: Spreedly Acquires Dodgeball

Payments Optimization Meets Fraud Prevention: Spreedly Acquires Dodgeball
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Mergers & Acquisitions, Spreedly
  • Payments optimization platform Spreedly has acquired fraud prevention company Dodgeball. Terms were not disclosed.
  • The acquisition will combine payments optimization and fraud prevention into a single platform.
  • Founded in 2008 and headquartered in North Carolina, Spreedly has been a Finovate alum since 2013.

Open payments platform Spreedly announced its acquisition of fraud orchestration company Dodgeball. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition combines payments optimization and fraud prevention in a single platform and helps bolster Spreedly’s strategy for both AI and open payments.

“For most merchants, payments and fraud aren’t separate challenges—they’re two sides of the same coin,” Spreedly CEO Justin Benson said. “You can’t optimize payments without addressing fraud, and you can’t fight fraud without understanding the payment flow. This acquisition brings these critical functions together, allowing us to deliver immense value to our customers and accelerate our vision for an AI-powered, open payments future.”

The acquisition is designed to give Spreedly’s customers additional reliability, as well as insights to help eliminate fraud and make more intelligent e-commerce decisions. The company noted that the acquisition will also enhance Spreedly’s workflow engine and help build the foundation for an AI-powered payments copilot. Post acquisition, the Dodgeball brand, as well as the Dodgeball team, will be integrated into Spreedly. This will not only enable Spreedly to maximize the benefit of Dodgeball’s expertise, but will also help ensure a smooth transition for customers with no service interruption and complete access to Spreedly’s global support and account management teams.

“We leapt at the opportunity to join forces with Spreedly, in order to help more merchants build best-of-breed fraud management solutions while still promoting growth,” Dodgeball CEO Adam Hiatt said. “The partnership will also help us provide much greater value to our existing customers. All of us at Dodgeball are excited to get started on integrating our offering with Spreedly’s.”

Most recently having demoing its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2018 in New York, Spreedly has been a Finovate alum since 2013. The company, founded in 2008 and headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, counts major brands such as BMW, HBO Max, Priceline, The New York Times, and others among those that use its payments technology. Spreedly processes more than $50 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) on behalf of more than 400 customers in 100+ countries.

Spreedly’s acquisition announcement came shortly before the company released its State of Checkout 2025 Survey, conducted by Talker Research on Spreedly’s behalf. The survey noted that many US executives remain concerned that AI could bring greater complexity to what they consider to be fragile checkout flows, leading to greater challenges and even financial losses.

“AI has incredible potential to transform payments,” Spreedly President Peter Dougherty said. “But executives in the survey also revealed they’re already paying a steep ‘engineering tax’—with as much as a quarter of their engineering teams dedicated to maintaining fragile checkout flows. AI should be layered thoughtfully to strengthen these payment systems, not replace them entirely and introduce new risks.”

Photo by Colin Rowley on Unsplash

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Best of Show Winner Eko Brings One-Stop Investments Shop to Brooklyn Coop FCU

Best of Show Winner Eko Brings One-Stop Investments Shop to Brooklyn Coop FCU
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni profile, Eko Investments

Eko Founder and CEO Mart Vos doesn’t care if you call his company “echo” or “eco.” But what he does care about is making it easier for community banks and credit unions to offer easy-to-use investment solutions to their customers and members—before they become enamored of the offerings by the new crop of digital investment brokers and platforms.

“I’m from the Netherlands,” Vos said to the FinovateFall 2025 audience last month in New York. “Back in the Netherlands, everybody invests their money with their trusted bank. And maybe it sounds weird. But to me, it’s very normal. If I want to invest my money, I’m going to go with a place that I know and trust. I know my bank. I trust my bank. So where else am I going to go than my trusted bank?”

This is the lens through which to view Eko’s latest partnership announcement, teaming up with the Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union. The partnership, announced last week, will enable Coop members to invest directly from their credit union’s platform. Members can start with as little as $10 and investment services are available in both English and Spanish. A certified CDFI (community development financial institution) and a Minority Depository Institution, Brooklyn FCU began operations in 2001 and serves central and eastern Brooklyn communities such as Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Crown Heights. The credit union is the third largest in its county, despite its relative youth, and currently has more than 7,200 members and $50 million in assets.

In a statement on LinkedIn, Vos noted that the full integration of Eko’s “one-stop investments shop” was completed in three weeks. Coop members will benefit from a seamless, integrated investing experience that sits within their current digital banking portal and/or app, flexible portfolio options including pre-built and hybrid investment pathways, and low barriers to entry with a streamlined onboarding process and the ability to start investing with as little as $10. The partnership news follows Eko’s second consecutive Best of Show win at FinovateFall (the company won its first Best of Show award at FinovateFall 2024), as well as recognition as “Best Fintech” at the Tennessee Credit Union League annual conference.

“This launch feels extra special to me personally: Brooklyn Coop is literally the credit union next door here in New York! Really proud to support Brooklyn Coop in making investing simple, affordable, and accessible for all members,” Vos said.

An embedded investment platform for banks and credit unions, Eko won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024 and won again the following year at FinovateFall 2025. Headquartered in New York and founded in 2021, the company’s white-label solution integrates directly into digital banking infrastructures to enable customers and members to invest in pre-built portfolios, IRAs, cryptocurrencies, and more, as well as engage in hybrid investing and self-directed trading.

In its most recent Finovate appearance, the company demonstrated how its embedded AI assistants support investors by answering financial planning questions, providing investment research, and helping with tasks like setting up recurring deposits and rebalancing portfolios.

Photo by Francesco Gallarotti on Unsplash

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Feedzai Raises $75 Million; Partners with ECB to Safeguard Digital Euro

Feedzai Raises $75 Million; Partners with ECB to Safeguard Digital Euro
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Feedzai, Funding
  • Fraud and financial crime prevention platform Feedzai has secured $75 million in funding at a valuation of $2 billion.
  • The company also announced that the European Central Bank (ECB) has selected it as the first-ranked provider for fraud and risk management for the digital euro, slated to be launched by 2029.
  • Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Portugal, Feedzai made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2014.

In a big start to the month of October, fraud and financial crime prevention platform Feedzai has announced both a major funding round and a deal with the European Central Bank (ECB) to safeguard the digital euro.

First up, the funding. Feedzai has secured $75 million in a round that featured participation from new institutional investors Lince Capital, Iberis Capital, and Explorer Investments, as well as existing investors Oxy Capital and Buenavista Equity Partners. The funding, which takes Feedzai’s total capital raised to more than $352 million according to Crunchbase, gives the Portugal-based fintech a valuation of $2 billion.

In a statement, Lince Capital CEO Vasco Pereira Coutinho praised Feedzai for its use of AI and the company’s “end-to-end approach to risk operations.” Coutinho also underscored Feedzai’s ability to “execute across multiple product lines while scaling globally.”

Feedzai CEO and Co-Founder Nuno Sebastião spoke to the strong pace of innovation in the fraud prevention space, and pointed to the importance of future-proofing financial crime fighting technology. “This new investment round enables us to continue driving innovation to defend against whatever comes next, so that every form of payment, even those yet to be imagined, can be trusted and adopted safely,” Sebastião said.

Second, the ECB deal. The same day that Feedzai announced its major funding, the company also reported that the European Central Bank (ECB) has selected it as the first-ranked tenderer in its framework agreement to provide the central fraud detection and prevention solution for the to-be-launched digital euro. The framework agreement outlines the providers for five different digital euro components and related services: alias lookup, risk and fraud management, app and software development kit, offline solutions, and secure exchange of payment information. Feedzai is one of two providers in the risk and fraud management component; Capgemini Deutschland is the designated second provider. Service requests, according to the framework, will be initially directed to first-rank providers with second-rank providers contacted only as needed.

The framework agreement for the risk and fraud management component for the digital euro has been valued at €79.1 million ($92.8 million), with a maximum value of €237.3 million ($277.3 million). For its part, Feedzai is partnering with subcontractor PwC to deliver a state-of-the-art central fraud detection and prevention mechanism that complies with EU security, privacy, and data protection standards.

“Being selected as the first-ranked tenderer in the framework agreement to secure the digital euro is both an honor and a responsibility,” Feedzai’s Sebastião said. “With tens of billions of transactions expected across the eurozone, success depends on AI that can adapt as quickly as fraud evolves. Our role is to provide the intelligence that keeps even the most sophisticated fraud out, ensuring trust in every digital euro transaction from day one.”

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal, Feedzai made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2014. Today, the company defends 900 million people in 190 countries from fraud with an end-to-end financial crime prevention platform that features AI-native solutions. Over the past year, Feedzai has launched a number of key products including its Feedzai Orchestration and Feedzai IQ, which empower financial institutions to make better, faster risk assessments. Feedzai has also introduced the TRUST Framework to embed fairness, explainability, and security into every component of GenAI model development.

In April, Feedzai acquired data management platform and fellow Finovate alum DemystData in a deal valued at $157 million.

Photo by Vita Marija Murenaite on Unsplash

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Coupa Acquires Supplier Discovery Platform Scoutbee

Coupa Acquires Supplier Discovery Platform Scoutbee
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Coupa has acquired AI-powered supplier discovery platform Scoutbee to enhance transparency and efficiency in supplier sourcing, onboarding, and transactions.
  • The move expands Coupa’s procurement ecosystem, adding Scoutbee’s collaborative tools and AI-driven supplier intelligence to Coupa’s $8 trillion spend management platform.
  • As competition in AI-enabled procurement heats up, Coupa’s acquisition positions it to better compete with SAP’s Ariba and JAGGAER in building a dynamic, resilient global supply chain network.

Spend management platform Coupa revealed today that it has acquired supplier discovery platform Scoutbee for an undisclosed amount.

Coupa anticipates that integrating Scoutbee’s tools into its platform will offer business clients greater transparency and efficiency in supplier discovery, onboarding, and transactions.

Scoutbee was founded in 2015 to connect buyers and suppliers through its AI-powered procurement platform, which includes a robust supplier database and collaboration tools. The California-based company has raised $76 million in funding to help organizations discover new, relevant suppliers and unlock new opportunities.

“We founded Scoutbee with the premise that AI can transform real-time sourcing and procurement by enabling buyers and suppliers to seamlessly connect, collaborate, and transact,” said Scoutbee co-founder and CEO Gregor Stühler. “Joining Coupa allows us to bring our mission to a global stage, and provide an exceptionally data-rich and comprehensive buyer-supplier network and B2B marketplace at scale.”

Coupa launched its AI platform for total spend management in 2006. The company’s platform contains a community-generated, $8 trillion dataset and brings autonomous AI agents, 10 million buyers and suppliers, and apps to automate the buying process. In 2022, Coupa was acquired by Thoma Bravo for $8 billion in cash.

“Coupa and Scoutbee share a fundamental belief that better data leads to better AI, better decisions, and ultimately, a better world through more resilient supply chains,” said Coupa Chief Product and Technology Officer Salvatore Lombardo. “Together, we are creating the world’s most comprehensive, dynamic, and data-rich network. This acquisition enables us to deliver a truly effortless buyer-supplier matching experience and further enhances our network that will power the future of global trade.”

Bringing Coupa and Scoutbee together under a united front will help fortify Coupa’s position in the race to dominate the AI-powered procurement and supplier intelligence space. With rivals like SAP’s Ariba Network doubling down on AI-enabled sourcing and JAGGAER investing heavily in autonomous commerce, Coupa’s move will deepen its supplier intelligence capabilities, reinforcing its position as a data-rich, network-first procurement ecosystem.

Photo by Tiger Lily

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From Demo to Deal: FinovateEurope Alumni Turn Innovation into Acquisition

From Demo to Deal: FinovateEurope Alumni Turn Innovation into Acquisition
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Finovate Marketing, FinovateEurope 2026, Mergers & Acquisitions

Each year, FinovateEurope brings together the brightest innovators in fintech to demo the future of financial technology. But for many companies, demoing their technology on the Finovate stage is more than just a moment in the spotlight, it’s a launching pad for growth.

Over the past 15 years, dozens of FinovateEurope alumni have captured the attention of major industry players, leading to high-profile acquisitions and partnerships. Below, we highlight some of the companies that turned their Finovate demo into their next big deal.

These success stories underscore how FinovateEurope has helped fintechs showcase their newest fintech innovation and connect it with the institutions and investors ready to scale it. From early-stage disruptors to industry leaders, the companies that have taken the Finovate stage prove that a seven-minute demo can spark partnerships, acquisitions, and growth.

As we look ahead to FinovateEurope 2026, we’ve already started to help the newest wave of fintechs prepare to take the spotlight. If the past 15 years are any indication, the ideas you will see on stage next February could be the ones reshaping fintech in the years to come.

Join us for FinovateEurope 2026 on February 10 through 11 in London. Tickets are available today at a discount, so register today and save!

Photo by Cytonn Photography

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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: Alkami Technology, Bud, Eltropy, Express Wages, Fintech Rundown

The first full week of October is bringing news of new product launches in the digital banking space, funding for continued innovation with stablecoins, and partnerships in payments and insurtech. Be sure to check back with Finovate’s Fintech Rundown all week long for the latest in fintech news!

Digital banking

Alkami unveils its Digital Banking Conversion Toolkit (DBCT) to support financial institutions through their digital transformation journeys.

Bud Financial launches its Bud MCP server to facilitate the integration of AI applications with Bud’s platform.

Checkout.com secures a Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank (MALPB) charter from the State of Georgia Department of Banking and Finance.

Payments

Express Wages brings early wage access to workers at Lenny’s Grill & Subs in Memphis, Tennessee.

Courtesy of a partnership with EBANX and MOVii, Colombia launches its instant payment ecosystem, Bre-B, inspired by Brazil’s Pix.

Payall Payment Systems completes certification and now supports live transactions vis FedNow.

Crypto and DeFi

Digital asset risk insights provider Agio Ratings secures $6 million in funding in a round led by Albion VC.

TerraPay teams up with Fipto to launch stablecoin-native flows.

Insurtech

UK-based insurtech Zego announces renewed partnership with Clearspeed.

Customer engagement

First City Credit Union partners with Eltropy to enhance member communications.

Taxes and accounting

Irish startup Leapifai goes live with its digital tax copilot platform.

Photo by Konstantin Dyadyun on Unsplash

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BILL Launches High-Yield Cash Account for SMBs

BILL Launches High-Yield Cash Account for SMBs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Bill.com, Daily news
  • BILL has launched a high-yield Cash Account for its SMB clients, offering 3% returns with no fees or minimum balance requirements.
  • The account provides enterprise-grade features like FDIC insurance up to $200 million, next-day ACH payments, and integrated cash management tools.
  • With nearly 500K small business clients and $266 billion in processed payments, BILL aims to help SMBs grow funds and optimize cashflow.

Small business financial software provider BILL launched a cash account that will offer high-yield savings opportunities to its small-and-medium-sized business clients. The BILL Cash Account will help SMBs earn a higher yield on their idle cash.

The California-based company is launching the new account to help its nearly half a million small business clients use manage their money with higher returns and stronger cashflow.

“Idle cash sitting in low-or no-yield checking accounts not only costs businesses time and money—it costs them opportunity to grow,” said BILL EVP, GM of Payments and Financial Services Mary Kay Bowman. “With Cash Account, we’re bringing growing businesses the same enterprise-grade capabilities normally reserved for Fortune 500 companies—combining high APY on an operational account with fast speed, seamless software integration, and security all in one simple account.”

BILL’s new Cash Account offers enterprise-grade tools to help businesses grow their funds confidently, with FDIC insurance coverage of up to $200 million. The high-yield account pays 3% returns, which is 42 times the national average of 0.07%. Unlike many competitors, BILL doesn’t require businesses to hold a minimum amount of funds in their accounts and does not charge fees. Users also benefit from next-business-day ACH payments and cash management tools.

‍‍Founded in 2006, BILL helps its small business clients automate their financial operations and has processed $266 billion in payments volume. The company, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BILL, went public in 2019 and has a market capitalization of $5.54 billion.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

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