Blog - Page 200 of 1289

Forward Bank Turns to Larky to Drive Personalization

By David Penn Posted on February 7, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Larky

Customer engagement innovator Larky has teamed up with Wisconsin-based Forward Bank. Courtesy of the partnership, Forward Bank has integrated Larky's nudge push notifications into its banking app. Nudge provides personalized, timely push notifications and can increase customer engagement by 7x compared to traditional marketing methods.

Larky, a fintech that specializes in helping banks and other financial institutions better engage with their customers and members, has partnered with Wisconsin-based Forward Bank. The institution has deployed Larky's nudge solution, which delivers personalized, timely push notifications to account holders. The technology is integrated into the FI's existing mobile banking app and Forward Bank plans to use nudge for a variety of use cases including post-visit surveys, geofenced event announcements, and on-site financial service recommendations, as well as thank you messages to account holders after they opt in to receive nudge notifications. The goal is to help Forward Bank better anticipate customer…

Listerhill Credit Union Taps Glia for Digital Customer Service

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 7, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Glia

When every year is declared the year of the customer, it means more firms are motivated to upgrade their customer service technology. That may be why Listerhill Credit Union selected digital customer service company Glia to overhaul its digital customer service technology.

"Glia has enabled us to provide online service that mirrors our personalized, in-branch experience, allowing members to feel connected as a part of the Listerhill community regardless of communication channels," said Listerhill Digital Strategist Dustin Holland.

Listerhill is leveraging Glia's Digital Customer Service (DCS) suite, which includes online collaboration tools such as co-browsing to support its 92,000 members across five U.S. states. The credit union has implemented DCS in its mortgage lending department to guide members through mortgage applications and help them if they have a question or need assistance completing the process.

Listerhill said that this application of Glia's DCS has resulted in "significant" new growth…

People, Communication, and Fintech Innovation: Greg Palmer on the Banking on Digital Growth Podcast

By David Penn Posted on February 6, 2023
Categories: David's column, Podcasting

Finovate VP and host of the Finovate Podcast Greg Palmer (@GregPalmer47) recently sat down with James Robert Lay of the Banking on Digital Growth podcast. The two talked about a wide range of topics, from Finovate's return to live, in-person fintech conferences to the challenges of building a truly people-focused fintech business in a post-COVID world.

Palmer: "What I didn't necessarily expect was the way that the financial industry was going to respond to the pandemic by really diving in to technology and seeing a lot of these kinds of older holdouts all of a sudden saying, "wait a minute, we really have to do things differently." This impetus, this drive to change, I think is the thing that surprised me the most."

Lay and Palmer also talked about what it takes for a fintech company to manage the balance between creating novel, ground-breaking technology on the one…

SEON Acquires Complytron to Further Fight Fraud

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 6, 2023
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions

Fraud prevention fintech SEON has acquired anti-money laundering (AML) due diligence software company Complytron in a deal today. SEON is leveraging Complytron's expertise to launch a new AML API, which will help companies comply with the European Union's Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (6AMLD). Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Two Hungary-based fintechs have combined this week. Fraud prevention company SEON acquired due diligence software company Complytron for an undisclosed amount.

Complytron was founded in 2019 after the founders received Google DNI funding for Source Code Leak, a project that used digital fingerprinting software to form connections between seemingly unrelated companies. The group found a commercial use for the software in helping firms comply with AML requirements. The company has received a total of $275k (€257k) funding from a Seed round in 2020.

SEON is leveraging the purchase to launch its new anti-money laundering (AML) API, which incorporates Complytron's AML…

Neobank Oxygen Raises $20 Million; Introduces New CEO David Rafalovsky

By David Penn Posted on February 6, 2023
Categories: Daily news, Funding

Neobank Oxygen has raised $20 million in Series B funding, taking its total capital to $45 million according to Crunchbase. The funding -"led largely by return investors" - will help Oxygen further develop its product, improve the user experience, and grow its workforce. San Francisco, California-based Oxygen won Best Digital Bank in the 2021 Finovate Awards.

San Francisco-based digital banking platform Oxygen has secured $20 million in Series B funding. The funding round was "led largely by return investors," and will support product development and enhancements to Oxygen's core offerings. The funding will also help Oxygen grow its team to help meet demand. The company's total capital raised now stands at $45 million, according to Crunchbase.

Oxygen's funding announcement comes at the same time that it is introducing a new CEO. David Rafalovsky, former Group CTO and Global Head of Operations & Technology for European digital banking ecosystem…

Finovate Global Estonia: Partnerships, Fundraising, and the Fight Against Financial Crime

By David Penn Posted on February 3, 2023
Categories: Bankish, Crypterium, Finovate Global, MasterCard, Modularbank, TeamViewer

In this week's edition of Finovate Global, we take a look at a handful of developments in Estonia's fintech industry. With a population of more than 1.3 million, Estonia has the Baltic Sea to the west, the Gulf of Finland to its north, Latvia on its southern border, and the Russian Federation on its eastern flank. The Northern European nation achieved its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 following the "Singing Revolution" between 1988 and 1990. Estonia is considered a high-income economy per the World Bank, and has been referred to as a "Baltic Tiger" due to the country's rapid growth.

First up is news on the regtech front. Estonian startup Salv announced that it recently secured a $4.3 million (€4 million) seed round extension. The funding was led by New York-based ffVC and featured participation from Germany's G+D Ventures, as well as existing investors. Salv's signature offering, …

Zopa Raises $92 Million for its Digital Bank

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 2, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Zopa

U.K.-based digital bank Zopa landed $92 million from existing investors IAG Silverstripe, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP and Augmentum. The funding, which "cements and enhances" the company's unicorn status, brings Zopa's total raised to $880 million. Since launching its digital bank in 2020, Zopa has attracted $3.69 billion (£3 billion) in deposits, added more than $2.46 billion (£2 billion) in loans on its balance sheet, and issued more than 400,000 credit cards.

Zopa pulled in $92 million (£75 million) this week to bolster its digital banking capabilities, proving that the race is still going strong in the challenger banking arena. The funding brings the U.K.-based company's total raised to more than $880 million.

While Zopa did not disclose an updated valuation, the company said it "cements and enhances" its unicorn status. Zopa originally became a unicorn in 2021 after its $304 million funding round.

Also undisclosed is the round's…

Celebrating Black History Month with Voices from the Finovate Stage

By David Penn Posted on February 2, 2023
Categories: Altro, Bankjoy, Deposits, Diversity in Fintech, FinGoal, QuickFi, Spave, Speaker series, unitQ

For a second year in a row, Finovate is commemorating Black History Month by showcasing those Black and African-American founders and executives who demoed their company's fintech innovations on the Finovate stage in 2022.

Ariam Sium - VP of Product with FinGoal

Sium not only leads Product at FinGoal, the self-described "Listener. Thinker. Doer" also led FinGoal to a Best of Show award at FinovateSpring last year. In her role at FinGoal, Sium said that she uses the tenets of focus and value to govern each product decision made in the rapidly changing world of fintech.

FinGoal most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall in September. The Boulder, Colorado-based company offers an insights platform that helps financial institutions better understand their customers.

Joseph Akintolayo - CEO and Founder of Deposits

Akintolayo is a "builder of ethical products that solve complex problems in fintech, insurtech, and social enterprise." As…

Financial Intelligence Platform Provider Cion Digital Rebrands as UPTIQ

By David Penn Posted on February 2, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Cion Digital, Daily news, UPTIQ

Cion Digital announced a rebrand to UPTIQ this week. The new name is designed to reflect the company's focus on bringing financing solutions to wealth managers and advisors. Headquartered in Texas and founded in 2021, the company made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022.

Financial intelligence platform provider Cion Digital, which made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring last May, has rebranded. The Austin, Texas-based company announced this week that its new name is UPTIQ. The new moniker is designed to underscore the company's commitment to bring its lending solutions to businesses in the wealth management industry.

"As our business model evolves, we want our name to reflect who we are and what we do," company Chief Marketing Officer Katie Robinson said. "UPTIQ reflects the results we expect our solutions to bring to advisors and their clients - the upward movement we want for all our stakeholders. We want…

Ncontracts Launches its Risk Management Suite

By David Penn Posted on February 1, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Ncontracts

Risk management and compliance software company Ncontracts unveiled its new risk management suite, Ncontracts RPM, this week. Ncontracts RPM integrates four of the company's solutions -- Nrisk, Nvendor, Ncomply, and Nfndings - into a combined offering that will help FIs leverage data to enhance risk and compliance management. Headquartered in Tennessee, Ncontracts made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in September.

Integrated risk management and compliance software provider Ncontracts launched its risk management suite this week. The Ncontracts RPM Suite blends risk, vendor, compliance, and finding management solutions to help boost efficiency and drive better-decision making. Known separately as Nrisk, Nvendor, Ncomply, and Nfindings, the combined elements of Ncontracts' RPM Suite help financial institutions turn data into the kind of relevant, actionable insights to reduce the burden of risk and compliance management.

"Financial institutions need better, more comprehensive risk management tools to…

American Express Retires the Kabbage Brand with the Launch of Business Blueprint

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 1, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, American Express, Daily news, Kabbage

American Express is launching American Express Business Blueprint, a set of digital cash flow management tools for small businesses. Small businesses can access the MyInsights cash flow solution within Business Blueprint at no charge. Business Blueprint evolved out of Kabbage, an alternative lending startup that the company acquired in 2020. With the launch of Business Blueprint, the Kabbage brand is now retired.

Cash flow management tools are not new to fintech, but the industry gets excited when card giant American Express launches new tools. That's the case today-- the company unveiled American Express Business Blueprint, a set of digital cash flow management tools for small businesses.

Business Blueprint offers small business users digital financial products, payment card management tools, and cash flow insights via its MyInsights tool. The platform offers to lighten the load of small business owners by helping them manage cash flow, take out a loan,…