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The Key to Compliance: A Conversation with Justin Beals, CEO of Strike Graph

By David Penn Posted on June 23, 2022
Categories: CEO Interview, Interview, Speaker series

Innovation and regulation are the ying and yang of financial technology in many respects. To this end, we caught up with Justin Beals, co-founder and CEO of Strike Graph, to talk about the relationship between fintech innovation and fintech regulation, and why compliance is something that successful fintechs are taking seriously.

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Strike Graph specializes in helping companies secure critical security compliance certifications. These are the certifications that can both impact revenue and reduce the time to close, as well as demonstrate the maturity of an organization.

Why banks and financial services companies need a compliance partner.

The challenge (for banks) is that the standards that you're trying to meet can be complex. It's important to not only have technology, but (also) a provider of that technology with intelligence about how to meet the standard so that you don't essentially spin your…

Glia Acquires Finn AI for Undisclosed Sum

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 23, 2022
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Finn.ai, Glia, Mergers & Acquisitions

Digital customer service firm Glia agreed to acquire conversational AI technology company Finn AI. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Glia Co-founder and CEO Dan Michaeli said that Finn AI is a strong fit for Glia because of its technology, market approach, and company culture.

Digital customer service firm Glia is enhancing its offering with its recent acquisition of conversational AI technology company and fellow Finovate alum Finn AI.

Financial terms of the agreement, which will integrate Finn.ai's conversational AI solutions into Glia's customer service platform, were not disclosed. Glia Co-founder and CEO Dan Michaeli said that Finn AI is a strong fit for Glia because of its technology, market approach, and company culture.

"This marks a new chapter for Virtual Assistants: Verticalization with Scale," Michaeli said. "Generic ‘one-size-fits-all’ bot providers have largely failed to meet the full potential of conversational AI, leading to the emergence of…

Payments Solution Provider SumUp Raises $624 Million at a Valuation of $8.5 Billion

By David Penn Posted on June 23, 2022
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, SumUp

E-commerce payments enabler SumUp raised $624 million (€590 million) in a combination of equity and debt financing this week. The funding round was led by Bain Capital Tech Opportunities. This week's investment gives SumUp a valuation of $8.5 billion (€8 billion).

In a round led by Bain Capital Tech Opportunities - and featuring participation from funds managed by BlackRock, btov Partners, Centerbridge, Crestline, Fin Capital, and Sentinel Dome Partners - e-commerce payments innovator SumUp has secured an investment of $624 million (€590 million). The funding gives the London-based company a valuation of $8.5 billion (€8 billion). SumUp co-founder Marc-Alexander Christ said in a statement that the capital will "enable us to continue to build out our product ecosystem, expand into new markets, (and) pursue value-adding acquisitions."

The funding was a 50/50 mix of debt and equity and includes SumUp's first equity infusion since 2017. The company's total funding stands…

Shopify Unveils More than 100 New Features

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 22, 2022
Categories: Daily news

Ecommerce company Shopify has unveiled more than 100 new announcements today. Among the top new releases are a marketplace that allows fans to use their NFTs to receive personalized benefits and a tool that allows merchants to sell to their audience on Twitter. The announcements were made as part of Shopify Editions, Shopify's new, semi-annual showcase of fresh tools and updates for its merchant clients.

Ecommerce player Shopify is debuting Shopify Editions, the company's semi-annual showcase of new tools and capabilities for merchant clients. In today's announcement, the company is unveiling more than 100 new updates and launches to power what it is calling Connect to Consumer (C2C).

"Welcome to Shopify Editions, where twice a year we show you everything that we’ve been building," Shopify stated on its website. "We know that brands need new ways to engage with their customers—and that means creating new connections. So this…

DigiShares Receives Grant from Polymesh Association to Support Tokenization of Securities

By David Penn Posted on June 22, 2022
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, DigiShares, Polymesh

Two Finovate newcomers - DigiShares and the Polymesh Network - have teamed up to promote the use of tokenization to create and manage securities. The partnership comes in the form of a grant from the Polymesh Ecosystem Development Fund (EDF), a part of the not-for-profit Polymesh Association. DigiShares is headquartered in Denmark and demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2021; Polymesh is based in Switzerland and demoed its technology a year later at FinovateSpring 2022.

Digishares, a Danish white-label platform for tokenizing real estate, is the first company to receive a grant from the Polymesh Ecosystem Development Fund (EDF). The EDF is a creation of the Polymesh Association, which is a part of Polymath, the company behind the Polymesh Network. The Polymesh Network is an institutional-grade, permissioned blockchain for regulated assets that was featured in Polymath's Finovate debut last month at FinovateSpring.

With $10 million in funding, the EDF…

Product Quality Innovator unitQ Unveils its Impact Analysis Tool

By David Penn Posted on June 21, 2022
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, unitQ

Less than a month after its FinovateSpring demo, unitQ has introduced its Impact Analysis tool. The new offering helps businesses identify both important product quality issues in their app as well as the impact of fixing those issues. Impact Analysis enables companies to improve their unitQ Scores, which enable businesses to accurately compare their app with rival apps in the same industry.

Product quality platform and Finovate newcomer unitQ recently launched its Impact Analysis tool. The new offering helps businesses recognize and address critical product quality issues and the impact of correcting them.

"With Impact Analysis, teams can learn what impacts fixing an issue might have on KPIs like 1-star reviews, support tickets, brand sentiment, and more - before taking action," unitQ Product Manager Brett Caplan wrote on the company blog late last week.

UnitQ's Impact Analysis tool works by automatically identifying user-generated issues that will have the greatest impact…

Finovate Alums mmob and Dapi Join Mastercard’s Start Path Open Banking Program

By David Penn Posted on June 21, 2022
Categories: Alumni profile, DAPI, mmob

Mastercard will welcome five fintech startups to its inaugural Start Path Open Banking Program. The initial cohort will feature two Finovate alums: UAE/San Francisco-based Dapi and mmob, a Best of Show winner from the U.K. The new, open banking-oriented program will enable fintechs to leverage Mastercard's open banking expertise and market insights to scale their businesses.

A pair of Finovate alums - one from the UAE and another headquartered in the U.K. - have earned spots in Mastercard's new open banking-focused Start Path program. Dapi, an open banking API provider based in the UAE, and mmob, a U.K.-based embedded finance innovator, will join three other fintechs in Mastercard's three-month program.

"Open banking is a natural progression of how Mastercard has always embraced innovation and consumer trust with equal measure, and how we've remained a trusted partner for our customers," Mastercard EVP for Fintech & Segment Solutions Blake Rosenthal…

Autobooks Lands $50 Million in Funding to Boost Bank Distribution

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 21, 2022
Categories: Alumni News, Autobooks, Daily news, Funding

Autobooks has received $50 million in a Series C funding round led by Macquarie Capital. The investment more than doubles Autobooks' total funding raised, boosting it to $98 million. Autobooks won Best of Show for its demo at FinovateFall 2021.

Payment and accounting platform Autobooks raked in $50 million in a Series C round led by Macquarie Capital with additional support from new and existing investors Baird Capital, Commerce Ventures, Draper Triangle, MissionOG, and TD Bank. The investment more than doubles the Michigan-based company's total raised, boosting that figure to $98 million.

Autobooks plans to use today's funding to accelerate distribution into the U.S. banking market.

Autobooks serves more than 60,000 small businesses with a range of tools including digital payment acceptance, online invoicing, online enrollment, accounting, bookkeeping, financial reporting, billpay, and more. The company's embedded receivables platform for small businesses enables digital invoices, payment acceptance, and automated accounting directly…

Filling the Super App Gap in the U.S.

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 20, 2022
Categories: Report series, Thought Leadership

There is a Super App-shaped hole in the U.S., and earlier this year, F.T. Partners published a report titled The Race to the Super App that examines the most eligible companies to fill the gap.

The report details three major categories of potential Super App contenders in the U.S., including challenger banks, large fintechs, and big tech companies/ retailers. Here is a breakdown of U.S. players in each category:

Challenger banks

Upgrade Dave Avant Varo Chime MoneyLion Current Mission Lane Oportun

Large fintechs

PayPal Square Robinhood Figure Betterment H&R Block M1 Finance TrueBill American Express Wealthfront Affirm SoFi

Big tech companies/ retail

Amazon Apple Facebook Google Uber Walmart

The report takes an extensive look at the super app industry and details two Super App models. The first is the winner-take-all model. In this approach, the Super App provider begins by offering a banking service and then expands to provide a…

Kofax Acquires e-Invoicing Network Tungsten

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 20, 2022
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Kofax, Mergers & Acquisitions

Kofax is acquiring B2B e-invoicing network Tungsten. The combined companies will offer clients a more holistic e-invoicing approach. Financial terms of the deal are undisclosed.

Intelligent automation software platform Kofax has acquired B2B e-invoicing network Tungsten for an undisclosed amount. Kofax CEO Reynolds Bish anticipates the acquisition will “provide more comprehensive and higher value invoice processing and accounts payable automation solutions" to the company's customers.

Founded in 2000, Tungsten facilitates invoice-to-pay processes by digitalizing invoices using automation. Headquartered in London, Tungsten enables suppliers to submit tax compliant e-invoices in 54 countries. The company processes invoices for 60% of the FTSE 100 and 68% of the Fortune 500. Last year, Tungsten processed transactions worth over $270 billion for clients including Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and the U.S. Federal Government.

When combined with Kofax's invoice processing and AP automation portfolio, the combined companies will offer a more holistic e-invoicing approach to…

Indonesian Fintech Flip Raises $55 Million; Visa Launches Crypto-Back Cards in LATAM

By David Penn Posted on June 17, 2022
Categories: Finovate Global, MasterCard, Nordigen

Courtesy of Tencent, Block (formerly known as Square), and existing investor Insight Partners, Indonesian consumer payments platform Flip has secured a $55 million addition to its Series B round. Also involved in the funding were a handful of individual investors including Checkout.com CEO Guillaume Pousaz, DoorDash executive Gokul Rajaram, and former Venmo COO Michael Vaughan.

No updated valuation information was included in the funding announcement. The company has raised a total of $120 million since inception three years ago. Flip raised $48 million in Series B funding in December 2021.

Flip enables millions of Indonesians to access P2P payments with interbank transfers to more than 100 Indonesian banks. The company also offers international remittances, e-wallet top-ups, and business solutions for employee payroll, customer refunds, invoice and supplier payments, as well as international transfers. More than $12 billion in transactions a year are processed on Flip's platform.

"The growth opportunity…