Irish Fintech TransferMate Secures Unicorn Status with $70 Million Investment

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding

TransferMate is fintech's latest unicorn, having secured $70 million in funding this week and earning a valuation of more than $1 billion. TransferMate's platform enables businesses and individuals to make cross-border payments in more than 201 countries and more than 140 currencies. Headquartered in Ireland, TransferMate was founded in 2010.

With a new investment of $70 million, Ireland-based, cross-border B2B payments company TransferMate has become the country's latest fintech unicorn.

The funding round featured the participation of U.K. pension fund giant Railpen. This week's funding brings TransferMate's total capital raised to $130 million and gives the company a valuation of more than $1 billion.

"By combining our technology and our global license network, we empower software providers, banks, and fintechs to deliver payments dramatically faster and cheaper than the traditional SWIFT system," TransferMate co-founder and Executive Chairman Terry Clune said. "We will use this investment to continue to recruit…

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Temenos Serves Up ESG Investing-as-a-Service

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Temenos

Banking technology provider Temenos is launching ESG Investing-as-a-service. The tool will help banks and wealth managers offer a digital experience that allows end customers to build an investment portfolio that reflects their values. The move comes amid a time of major growth for ESG investing, which is expected to exceed $53 trillion by 2025.

ESG investing has been on the rise for the past couple of years. According to Bloomberg, money held in sustainable mutual funds and ESG-focused ETFs rose by 53% in 2021 to reach $2.7 trillion and ESG assets are on track to exceed $53 trillion by 2025. Banking software provider Temenos has taken note of this and is launching a new tool to help banks and wealth managers compete in the new environment.

Temenos' ESG Investing-as-a-service, which can be run in the cloud or on-premise, combines Temenos' market data management and digital capabilities such as filtering, scoring,…

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Caribou Raises $115 Million for Auto Refinance Tech

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

Auto loan refinance company Caribou received $115 million in Series C funding last week. The company now boasts $190 million in total funding and touts a $1.1 billion valuation. Caribou will use the funds to further invest in its platform, create new products, and expand its team.

Auto loan refinance company Caribou closed on $115 million in an oversubscribed Series C funding round late last week. The investment brings the Washington, D.C.-based company's total raised up to $190 million and boosts it into the fintech unicorn club with a valuation of $1.1 billion.

Goldman Sachs led the round, which drew contributions from new investors Innovius Capital and Harmonic. Existing investors, including Accomplice, CMFG Ventures, Curql Fund, Firebolt Ventures, Gaingels, Moderne Ventures, Motley Fool Ventures, and others also contributed.

Caribou will use today's funding to further invest in its platform, create new products, and expand its team.

Formerly known as MotoRefi,…

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FinovateSpring 2022: Top Takeaways from Fintech’s Favorite Spring Fling

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2022

For the first time since 2019, FinovateSpring was held before a live audience of more than 1,000 fintech professionals, analysts, entrepreneurs, and observers. The energy at the San Francisco Hilton in Union Square was palpable. Attendees arrived early and stayed late - even on a sunny Friday afternoon with the delights of the City by the Bay beckoning.

With the event concluded, what did we see, what did we learn, and what do we know now about the state of fintech that we did not know a week ago? Here are a few thoughts on where we are as an industry and where we might be going.

Embeddable You (Me and Everything Else)

If there was one theme that dominated an event as diverse in ideas as FinovateSpring it was: "embeddedness". Companies are looking to leverage embedded finance to make banking and investing more streamlined and accessible. Futurists are predicting…

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FinovateSpring Best of Show Winner Array Teams Up with Jack Henry

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Array, Daily news, Jack Henry

Financial enablement platform Array announced a partnership with Jack Henry Associates to embed its credit management and identity protection solutions into Jack Henry's Banno Digital Platform. Among the institutions to adopt the technology is Washington-based Timberland Bank. Array is a two-time Finovate Best of Show winner, earning its most recent award at FinovateSpring 2022 last week.

Array, a financial enablement platform that specializes in embeddable solutions for financial institutions, announced a partnership with fellow Finovate alum Jack Henry. The partnership will integrate Array's credit management services, identity protection tools, and offer engine into Jack Henry's Banno Digital Platform. The combination of technologies will give customers personalized credit and financial insights via their preferred financial institution partners.

"The financial services ecosystem exists to enable consumers to improve their financial health," Array Director of Strategic Partnerships Jacob Bouer said. "This movement is both necessary and urgent. If financial…

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BlockFi Taps Cardlytics for New Rewards Offering

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Cardlytics, Daily news

Blockchain-driven financial platform BlockFi has partnered with purchase-based intelligence firm Cardlytics to launch BlockFi Offers. The new rewards program will enable BlockFi cardholders to earn up to 10% crypto back on select purchases. BlockFi Offers rewards can be accrued on top of BlockFi's existing 1.5% crypto back on all purchases.

Earning crypto is about to get easier for users of BlockFi, a blockchain-driven financial platform. That's because the New Jersey-based company is partnering with purchase-based intelligence firm Cardlytics to launch a new rewards program called BlockFi Offers.

The BlockFi Offers rewards program will allow BlockFi's Rewards Visa cardholders to earn up to 10% crypto back when they use their card to make purchases at select brands and restaurants. Participating retailers include Shake Shack, H&M, Finish Line, Costco, Meta Quest, Jared, and more.

"Partnering with BlockFI to bridge the gap between crypto and traditional financial institutions to deliver a…

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Unit Raises $100 Million for Banking-as-a-Service

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news

Unit received $100 million in Series C funding this week. The funding boosts the company's total investment to $170 million and brings its valuation to $1.2 billion. The company, which will unveil its business credit card in the next few months, will use the investment to accelerate its product development and expand into credit offerings.

Banking-as-a-Service company Unit has reached unicorn status this week after a $100 million Series C round. The investment brings the California-based company's valuation to $1.2 billion and boosts its total funding to $170 million.

Insight Partners led today's round and existing investors Accel, Better Tomorrow Ventures, and Flourish Ventures also contributed, along with new investors Moving Capital and Stepstone.

"Unit has established itself as the leader in the banking-as-a-service space, backed by the overwhelming positive customer feedback and traction they have shown over the last year," said Insight Partners Co-Founder and Managing Director Jeff Horing. "The…

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FinovateSpring 2022 Best of Show Winners Announced

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Array, Best of Show, FinGoal, FinovateEurope 2022, Horizn, Keep Financial Technology, QuickFi, Spave

The votes have been cast and counted! Meet the winners of Best of Show for FinovateSpring 2022:

Array for its financial enablement platform, specializing in embeddable tools and white label solutions, used by leading financial institutions. Demo.

FinGoal for its insights platform that cleans, enriches, and analyzes personal financial data to better understand users and provide actionable insights. Demo.

Horizn for its platform that helps banks globally accelerate digital banking knowledge, fluency, and adoption with both customers and employees. Demo.

Keep Financial Technology for its innovation that solves the hiring and retention challenges of companies by introducing a new form of employee compensation called Cash Vesting Plans. Demo.

QuickFi for its 100% digital, self-service, mobile equipment financing platform that enables business equipment financing in minutes. Demo.

Spave for its all-in-one financial wholeness app that allows users to effortlessly save and give as they spend. Demo.

…

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Thought Machine Doubles Valuation to $2.7 Billion After Series D Funding Round

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Thought Machine

Core banking expert Thought Machine raised $160 million in Series D funding. The investment was led by Temasek and saw participation from Intesa Sanpaolo, Morgan Stanley, Eurazeo, ING, JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds Banking Group, and SEB. Thought Machine's valuation now totals $2.7 million, double the valuation it held last fall.

Core banking innovator Thought Machine landed $160 million in a Series D funding round which values the company at $2.7 billion. This number is two times than the valuation the company received at the close of its Series C round in November of last year.

Today's investment was led by Temasek and saw participation from Intesa Sanpaolo and Morgan Stanley, as well as existing investors Eurazeo, ING, JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds Banking Group, and SEB. As part of today's agreement, Lloyds Banking Group has extended its license agreement with Thought Machine until 2029.

"This new round of funding bringing Temasek, Morgan Stanley,…

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Greenlight Unveils Credit Card

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news

Challenger bank Greenlight launched a credit card, the Family Cash Card. The card offers up to 3% cash back and allows users to automatically invest the rewards into a mutual funds or ETFs. This is Greenlight's first credit card and first product marketed to parents.

Family-focused fintech Greenlight revealed plans this week to launch a credit card called the Family Cash Card. This is the Georgia-based company's first credit card as well as its first card marketed at parents.

Launching in partnership with Mastercard and issued by First National Bank of Omaha, the credit card offers up to 3% cash back when users spend more than $4,000 per month. While parents can opt to have the rewards deposited into their bank account, they can also automatically invest their rewards into a set of recommended mutual funds and ETFs. If they want more options, users can invest the rewards…

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Has Fintech Failed?

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Julie's Column, Thought Leadership

If you measure the beginning of fintech as 1886, the industry has had a very long time to get things right. Even if you consider 2007 as the birth of fintech, we have still had 15 years to deliver on the promises of improving and automating banking and finance.

In a panel at FinovateEurope titled, "Power Panel: What Do We All Need To Go Away & Think About?" the Financial Data and Technology Association's Head of Europe Ghela Boskovich (pictured on the right in the photo below) declared that fintech has failed, citing the millions of underbanked citizens across the globe.

There are, of course, two sides to the coin. Below, we take a look at how fintech has failed, along with the wins the industry has accomplished over the years.

Fail

Underbanked populations are still left in the dark
There have been hundreds of solutions created specifically to…

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