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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateSpring in San Diego on May 7 – 9. Register today using this link and save 20%.
Bits of Stock
Bits of Stock empowers financial institutions to offer fractional stock rewards on everyday transactions and account activity.
Features
Auto-enrollment of digital banking users into investment accounts
Free-to-premium investing and rewards account structure
Stock roundups and recurring investments
Who’s it for?
Community banks and credit unions.
Express Wages
With Express Wages on-demand pay, employees receive some or all of their wages as they are earned.
Features
The Express Wages solution offers a simple, safe dashboard where users can see wages and view financial wellness.
Who’s it for?
Banks, employers, businesses, and credit unions.
Penny Finance
Penny Finance is an online financial planning engagement engine that attracts, retains, and serves the digital generation by helping them get out of debt, get into investing, and retire with wealth.
Features
Delivers custom financial plans for members within minutes
Drives 60% digital engagement and 30% product referrals
Scales seamlessly with expanding enterprise requirements
Who’s it for?
Credit unions, community banks, and small banks.
Solda.ai
Leading fintechs and banks use Solda.ai’s AI sales representatives to automate onboarding, upsell, KYC, and retention calls with <1% AI detection at 60% cost.
Features
Automates sales with top-performing AI trained across phone, text, email, and chat
Scales instantly with multi-lingual, on-brand engagement
Reduces costs by 40% with <1% AI-detection
Who’s it for?
Consumer and commercial fintechs, banks, payment providers, and other financial services companies.
SuperMoney
SuperMoney’s personal finance super app puts money on autopilot, using real-time credit and bank data to deliver intelligent, stress-free financial decisions.
Features
Keeps spending aligned with user goals with AI-powered budgeting
Delivers tailored financial insights to put money on autopilot
Automates finding better loans and credit cards with Refi Robot
Checkout.com plans to launch card issuing services in the UAE by 2026, allowing businesses to create branded virtual and physical cards, pending regulatory approval.
The move supports the UAE’s 2031 Agenda to drive digital innovation and financial services growth across the region.
Checkout.com continues expanding its MENA presence, following milestones like securing its Retail Payment Services license and bringing Mada (Saudi Arabia’s National Payment Network) and Apple Pay to UAE and KSA merchants.
Payments service provider Checkout.comannounced plans this week to expand its card issuing capabilities in the UAE, marking the first time the company will offer this service in the region.
The UK-based fintech says it will roll out domestic card issuance in the UAE in 2026. The rollout, however, is still waiting and dependent on regulatory approval. Once it goes live in the UAE, Checkout.com will enable businesses to launch branded virtual and physical cards, power customer rewards, streamline expenses, and offer business-to-business payouts.
“As a global business, we focus on bringing products to markets that our customers want and need. Today’s announcement is proof of our commitment to the MENA region and its rising influence in the digital economy,” said Checkout.com MENA General Manager Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo. “The appetite for innovation here is real, and we’re proud to be building the infrastructure that powers it.”
Founded in 2012, Checkout.com is a global payments platform that empowers businesses to accept, process, and manage payments seamlessly. Through its unified payments network, Checkout.com enables organizations to accept payments locally and internationally with global acquiring capabilities. The company also offers a suite of services, including card issuing that allows businesses to create and manage their own payment cards, advanced risk management tools to optimize performance and reduce fraud, and treasury management services to streamline cash flow and reconciliation.
Checkout.com obtained its Retail Payment Services license from the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates in 2023. Since then, it has brought Mada (Saudi Arabia’s National Payment Network) and Apple Pay to merchants across the UAE and KSA.
Today’s announcement supports the UAE’s broader vision to be a leader in digital transformation and financial innovation. As part of its UAE 2031 Agenda, the country aims to create a competitive, knowledge-based economy driven by advanced technology, including in its financial services sector. Checkout.com’s expansion into card issuing aligns with these national goals by offering businesses more flexible, digital-first payment solutions. “With bold moves like Saudi’s Vision 2030 and the UAE’s 2031 Agenda, MENA is fast becoming a global standard for digital transformation,” added Abbondandolo, underscoring how the region’s strategies are shaping the future of commerce and payments.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from Spain.
Payments and liquidity solutions company Wannme raises €7M
Wannme, a Madrid-based fintech that specializes in payments and liquidity solutions, announced a €7 million strategic financing from IDC Arena Credit Ventures, a division of IDC Network, with Arena Investors also participating in the funding.
The company will use the financing to continue providing marketplace sellers with instant payment advances. This allows them to secure earnings on a daily basis instead of having to wait more than 14 days, as is typically required by marketplaces. Wannme Founder and CEO Jaime de Villa said that the credit facility will enable the company to “empower more sellers with the liquidity needed to sell more and grow.”
“This partnership marks an important milestone for Wannme as we scale our impact in the marketplace ecosystem in Europe,” de Villa added. “IDC Arena Credit Ventures understood our business model and structured a financing solution aligned with our growth strategy.”
Founded in 2017, Wannme facilitates e-commerce by automating and optimizing payment flows to help solve payments and liquidity issues for online merchants. The company provides merchants with advances of up to 90% of their net sales daily, and also offers an online payment gateway that enables them to accept a wider variety of payment methods, including recurring and automated payments. These methods also include both Apple Pay and Google Pay, which Wannme integrated into its platform in February.
Mortgage platform Wypo partners with financial app Plazo
Wypo, a Spanish mortgagetech platform that helps would-be homeowners locate and sign customized mortgages online, has struck a strategic partnership with financial wellness app Plazo. A division of Spanish fintech ID Finance, Plazo will offer Wypo users access to credit lines of up to €5,000 through its Plazo Credit solution directly from the Plazo app.
“This partnership is a great opportunity to deliver complete and accessible financial solutions to our users,” Wypo CEO Elena Ansótegui said. “At Wypo, we are committed to offering resources that meet real needs. The alliance with Plazo strengthens our focus on continuously improving the customer experience and enables us to go a step further in offering key financing options when users need them most.”
Wypo customers will benefit from digital access to both debit and credit solutions courtesy of the partnership with Plazo. Also included are the ability to participate in an extensive cashback program and access to free, online legal and medical advice through a service called MeetingPros.
“We are delighted to collaborate with Wypo and to provide added value to new homeowners, helping them cover initial expenses for refurbishments or repairs, buy furniture, appliances, home decor items, and more,” Plazo CMO Carlos Martín said. “They’ll also benefit from all the additional features offered by Plazo, designed to bring greater financial peace of mind.”
Founded in 2021, Wypo is headquartered in Torrelavega, Cantabria. The mortgagetech’s partnership news comes amid a significant increase in home purchase loans in Spain, reflecting an 11% year-over-year gain. This has been accompanied by a comparable rise average housing prices in the country. Wypo’s partnership with Plazo will help the firm provide additional services to its customers, further differentiating its offering from competitors.
CaixaBank and Salesforce team up to leverage AI to personalize CX in banking
A newly signed agreement between Spain’s CaixaBank and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution provider Salesforce will help “jointly advance artificial intelligence projects for the digital transformation of banking services.” More specifically, CaixaBank will leverage Salesforce technology to enhance its customer relationship channels to improve the customer experience.
This technology includes solutions such as AI-based Agentforce—the integrated AI assistants on the Salesforce platform—as well as Salesforce Data Cloud for data management and analysis. Agentforce enables the deployment of AI agents to offer specialized assistance to CaixaBank employees and customers alike. These agents operate proactively and continuously across apps, chatbots, physical offices, and call centers, processing large amounts of data quickly to optimize decision-making and improve the efficiency of task execution.
By implementing Salesforce Data Cloud, CaixaBank will leverage the cloud data management and analysis technology to manage the transmission of data produced by the institution to ensure it is immediately available for any query. The data will be recorded securely and will allow for real-time consultation.
Based in Valencia, CaixaBank is the leading financial group in the Spanish market. With a digital customer base of nearly 12 million, the company provides banking, insurance, and investment services. CaixaBank’s partnership with Salesforce is part of the firm’s overall digital transformation strategy, which has enabled the institution to earn recognition as the Best Bank in Western Europe and Best Bank in Spain in 2024 by Global Finance.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Central and Eastern Europe
Munich-based, AI-powered anti-money laundering and fraud prevention firm, Hawk, raised $56 million in new funding.
Nets, a division of European payment technology company Nexi Group, teamed up with Latvian financial institution, BluOr Bank.
Turkish embedded finance company Sipay secured $78 million in funding at a valuation of $875 million.
Fiserv has acquired Australia-based PayFac Pinch Payments to strengthen its digital payments offerings and expand its merchant reach across the Asia Pacific region.
Pinch’s cloud-based SaaS platform and PayFac expertise will help Fiserv deliver more flexible solutions for PayFacs, ISVs, BPSPs, ISOs, and enterprise clients.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Payments innovator Fiserv has acquired Australia-based payment facilitator (PayFac) Pinch Payments for an undisclosed amount.
Fiserv anticipates that bringing Pinch into its ecosystem will help it offer more flexible options for PayFacs, ISVs, BPSPs, ISOs and enterprise clients. Pinch will enhance Fiserv’s reach with its access to a greater number of merchants. It will also help fuel Fiserv’s delivery of new payments solutions such as Pinch’s cloud-based SaaS business operating platform for merchants across Asia Pacific.
“This acquisition further demonstrates Fiserv’s commitment to the local payments market, following our recent launch of Clover in Australia,” said Fiserv Head of Australia Gavin Jones. “By integrating our leading digital payments solutions with Pinch’s innovative technology and local expertise, we are able to deliver innovative payment solutions to empower merchants across the APAC region. We welcome the Pinch associates to the Fiserv family and are committed to seamless integration of services for our customers.”
Pinch was founded in 2017 and currently serves 2,000 merchants throughout Australia and New Zealand. The company is best known for its PayFac enablement and its management platform Glassbox. The company serves both enterprises and small businesses, and also offers a developer API, providing a comprehensive set of tools to help businesses facilitate payments more efficiently at scale.
“Joining Fiserv is an incredible opportunity for the Pinch team and furthers our mission to provide seamless partner experiences to a growing number of merchants,” said Pinch Payments Co-Founder and CEO Paul Allen. “Having worked closely with the Fiserv team, I am confident in our roadmap to expand into new markets.”
The acquisition of Pinch Payments highlights a broader trend in the payments industry as demand grows for faster, more flexible, and embedded payment experiences. Traditional card-based transactions are increasingly being challenged with alternative payment methods such as pay-by-bank, in which consumers make direct, account-to-account transfers without the need for a card network. This shift is being driven by the rise of open banking and a push for lower-cost, real-time payment options.
As businesses and consumers across the Asia Pacific region look for more efficient ways to move money, partnerships and acquisitions like this one position companies like Fiserv to offer a wider range of solutions for customers in more geographies. With PayFac enablement, cloud-based platforms, and emerging capabilities like pay-by-bank, the payments landscape is now offering more speed, transparency, and options.
Money transfer company CurrencyFair has teamed up with open banking SaaS platform tell.money.
The integration of tell.money’s open banking technology will make CurrencyFair’s money transfer service more seamless, transparent, and compliant.
Ireland-based CurrencyFair won Best of Show in its appearance at FinovateAsia 2012 in Singapore.
Dublin, Ireland-based cross-border money transfer company CurrencyFair has partnered with tell.money to support its open banking integration. By integrating tell.money’s open banking technology, CurrencyFair anticipates making its secure and cost-effective money transfer service that much more seamless, compliant, and transparent.
“At CurrencyFair, we are committed to providing customers with the fastest and most secure money transfers possible,” CurrencyFair CEO Jan Lorenc said. “Integrating tell.money’s open banking solutions helps us improve payment efficiency while ensuring compliance with evolving financial regulations.”
In a world in which many people sending money across borders still experience high costs, CurrencyFair helps its customers—expats, overseas homeowners, and small businesses—access the real exchange rate. With an average margin rate of 0.53%—and a small €3 fee—CurrencyFair enables customers to avoid spreads that can be as large as 5% and international transfer fees that can reach €25 on every payment.
Using CurrencyFair is straightforward. Customers simply set up their transaction with the amount and type of currency to be exchanged, provide recipient details, choose a deposit method, and transfer money into their account. CurrencyFair will then exchange the funds at rates that can be up to 8x cheaper than rates offered by banks. Whether individuals are seeking to transfer money overseas, buy overseas property, receive an overseas pension, or pay overseas tuition, CurrencyFair offers competitive FX rates, low-cost global transfers, and dedicated customer support.
“CurrencyFair is a leader in cross-border payments, and we’re pleased to support them in delivering a more seamless and secure experience for their customers worldwide,” tell.money CEO David Monty said.
Founded in 2020 and headquartered in London, tell.money provides an open banking SaaS platform, an ecosystem that account providers can join in order to bring open banking solutions to their customers in a compliant way. The company’s solutions include tell.gateway, its dedicated interface APIs; tell.confirm, which meets businesses’ confirmation of payee needs; tell.heartbeat, which provides constant monitoring of APIs; and tell.life, which includes a suite of money management tools to help customers better manage their financial lives.
CurrencyFair made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2012 and won Best of Show later that year for its live demo at FinovateAsia in Singapore. In 2021, the company merged with Assembly Payments, a fintech based in Australia with a presence in Singapore, India, the Philippines, and the US. While CurrencyFair continues to serve consumers and small businesses, the joint venture between the company and Assembly Payments—called Zai—provides integrated financial services such as payments, FX, fraud management, and reconciliation, to mid-market and enterprise-level businesses.
CurrencyFair’s partnership announcement comes one month after the company announced that Jan Lorenc would serve as the company’s new divisional CEO. Lorenc comes to CurrencyFair having worked as SVP and Global Head of Digital Assets Group at Nuvei and as Managing Director and Head of Geo Expansion Affairs for BANXA.
With spring in full swing, we’ve got another doubleheader in our Streamly Snapshot series in store for you this week.
To start, we talked with Philip Froom, Founder and CEO at PayIP, about navigating the complexity of payment networks. Froom discussed how PayIP leverages advanced technologies such as AI and machine learning to uncover hidden value for banks and fintechs around the world.
“Banks and fintechs around the world pay a lot of money, billions of dollars to the payment networks—the payment networks being Visa, Mastercard, American Express, UnionPay. Our clients pay fortunes and the money and the billing from the payment networks back to the banks is extremely complicated. There’s thousands of different billing line items from fixed fees to variable fees, tiered fees, daily, weekly, annual fees.”
Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, PayIP specializes in payment network (Visa and Mastercard) billing recovery and optimization. The company leverages decades of card and data expertise to simplify complex card network invoices and reporting, and identifies recoveries for bank finance and card payment teams.
Next, we talked with Jurgen Vandenbroucke, Managing Director at everyoneINVESTED, KBC, about the value of decision science and how it can be effectively applied to financial services. We also discussed the Great Wealth transfer, and the challenges faced by financial services companies when it comes to serving a new generation of investors.
“Decision science is a broad field. I think a more popular term is perhaps choice architecture in the sense of putting into models (people’s) decision-making process as much as possible in order to anticipate their behavior … For example, trying to optimize the small screen of a smartphone in order to present data in such a way that it triggers desired behavior or discourages undesired behavior.”
Brussels-based everyoneINVESTED helps financial institutions increase their investor conversions, fortify their customer base, and put behavioral finance to work to help them have more of their clients invest in their solutions. A wealthtech spin-off of KBC, everyoneINVESTED was named to FinTech Global’s WealthTech100 for the fifth consecutive year.
Galileo launched Deposit Sweep to help fintechs extend FDIC insurance protection and offer higher interest earnings by partnering with a network of banks.
The tool automates the movement of funds across banks once a balance hits a set threshold to maximize interest earnings and secure more funds.
The launch of Deposit Sweep comes in response to rising concerns around deposit safety post-Silicon Valley Bank collapse, helping fintechs protect customer funds beyond the traditional $250,000 limit.
SoFi-owned Galileounveiled a new tool today called Deposit Sweep, designed to help fintechs and their sponsor banks offer customers extended FDIC insurance protection beyond the $250,000 limit. The tool makes it easier for fintechs to safeguard deposits beyond the traditional coverage limit while helping customers earn more interest on their balances.
Deposit Sweep connects fintechs with a network of participating banks through a leading deposit sweep provider. It enables them to select partner banks based on factors like pricing, regulatory requirements, operational needs, and interest rates, which can offer customers a secure, streamlined way to protect and grow their funds.
“Galileo Deposit Sweep empowers fintechs to deliver more competitive returns for their customers by leveraging a network of participating banks and a deposit sweep provider,” said David Feuer, CPO at Galileo. “This solution enables fintechs to offer better interest rates without increasing operational complexity.”
Deposit Sweep can be easily integrated with a customer’s existing systems, and it can automate the movement of funds once the balance reaches a predefined threshold. Fintechs can offer Deposit Sweep as an opt-in service or automatically enroll all accountholders, who will still be able to view their full balances while funds and interest earnings transfer seamlessly in the background.
Founded in 2001, Galileo offers a payment processing platform that allows third-party fintechs and businesses to build and scale their own financial services offerings. The company, which was acquired by SoFi in 2020 in a $1.2 billion deal, powers a range of fintech and banking solutions, including digital banking, credit and debit card issuing, and money movement services. With the addition of Deposit Sweep, Galileo is further expanding its suite of products designed to help fintechs deliver more secure, competitive, and customer-friendly financial experiences.
Among Galileo’s customers is business banking platform Bluevine, which is currently piloting Deposit Sweep. “Working with Galileo to enable Deposit Sweep was seamless, allowing us to quickly bring the benefits of increased FDIC insurance and higher returns to our customers,” said Bluevine CPO Herman Man. “Our business customers rely on us for security and value, and Galileo’s support has been instrumental in enhancing our offerings and delivering on that promise.”
The launch of Deposit Sweep comes at a time when deposit security is top of mind for fintechs and their customers. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023 highlighted the risks of holding large, uninsured deposits at a single institution. By making it easier to spread funds across multiple banks and extend FDIC coverage, Galileo’s Deposit Sweep addresses a key lesson from the Silicon Valley Bank fallout. Many fintechs learned that ensuring that customer funds is protected beyond traditional insurance limits is no longer just a value-add, but a necessity.
Philippines-based Security Bank has announced a new collaboration with Entrust.
The partnership will help the financial institution enhance its electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) and digital onboarding processes.
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Entrust is a veteran of Finovate’s developer conferences in 2015 and 2016.
Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) innovator Entrust has entered into a new collaboration with leading Philippines-based financial institution Security Bank. Security Bank has turned to Entrust to help it improve its electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) process as part of the institution’s digital transformation goals.
“Security Bank is transforming digital banking in the Philippines, and we’re proud to support their vision with advanced identity verification that makes onboarding both more secure and convenient,” said Entrust Regional VP of Sales, APAC, Harvinder Singh. “Our solution helps Security Bank deliver the experience their customers expect, while maintaining the highest standards of security and fraud prevention.”
Established in 1951, Security Bank has deployed Entrust’s Onfido Studio platform. The technology combines robust security features with advanced fraud detection capabilities including as deepfake detection. The institution will also be able to leverage the platform’s flexibility to build customized onboarding workflows while staying compliant with local regulations. The bank has already pointed to measurable results, including an increase in the number of customer onboarding completions, as well as reduced onboarding times.
The bank’s partnership with Entrust comes as the digital banking market in the Philippines is expected to experience significant expansion. Research from Statista points to a projected compound annual growth rate of 31% through 2029. At this pace, the digital banking market is expected to reach a market volume of $2.16 billion. To this end, Security Bank is bringing innovation and modernization to both its eKYC process and its overall digital onboarding journey.
“By leveraging Entrust’s advanced identity verification technology, we’re not only enhancing the security and accessibility of our banking services but also ensuring that every customer interaction—digital or in-person—is convenient and reliable,” Security Bank SVP and Division Head Juan Mestas explained. “Looking ahead, we plan to expand these capabilities across other services to give customers the best experience possible.”
Entrust is a veteran of Finovate’s developer conferences, having participated in both FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2015 and FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016. In the years since, the company has grown into an identity and access management platform provider that has issued more than 20 billion payment cards since inception, and protects more than 100 million workforce and consumer identities. The firm was named a Challenger in the 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Access Management and a Leader for Identity Verification.
Entrust came out of the gates strongly in 2025. In January, the company launched its Artista RS4 Instant Issuance System to enhance card issuance and security. Also in January, the company streamlined its Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) with the launch of PKI Hub, which provides visibility, management, and automation for cryptographic assets. Entrust also unveiled its AI-powered facial biometric authentication capability for its Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) platform in the first month of the year.
Credit unions are entering a new era, fueled by a combination of necessity, opportunity, and partnership. As the pace of the digital world accelerates, these community-focused organizations have increased their willingness to lean in and adopt new technologies. They are no longer simply seeking to compete with banks, but they are instead seeking to deliver the personalized, community-driven service that has always differentiated them. New fintech partnerships are helping credit unions modernize operations, meet rising member expectations, and stay resilient in a rapidly evolving financial landscape.
This collaborative approach isn’t new to credit unions, rather, it’s part of their DNA. “Credit Unions have always been collaborators,” said Ami Iceman Haueter, Chief Research and Digital Experience Officer at Michigan State University Federal Credit Union. “We’ve had to be creative and scrappy to stay relevant and competitive in a crowded market. Fintech partners are a natural fit for this collaboration. Many allow us to personalize our service or products to our members and create a custom mix of solutions to go all in for our members. That’s what we do best. Having partners that are equally committed to that vision is invaluable. It’s what will carry us forward as an industry allowing us to continue showing up for our communities.”
The environment today is ripe for credit unions to take full advantage of this collaborative mindset. The combination of heightened member expectations, accessible new technologies, and a fintech community eager to partner has created a unique moment of opportunity. Below, we’ve highlighted four key reasons why credit unions have become some of the most active adopters of fintech innovation.
Tech integration is now compulsory
Credit unions now have to engage because involvement in certain technologies has become table stakes in the banking world. Over the past few years, the baseline expectations for banking services have shifted dramatically. Real-time payments, mobile-first experiences, and frictionless, digital onboarding are no longer differentiators, they’re requirements. If credit unions want to remain competitive and retain younger members, they must adopt similar digital tools that big banks and fintechs have. In 2025, falling behind on technology isn’t just a risk to growth; it’s a risk to survival.
More credit union-specific fintechs
The fintech ecosystem has matured immensely since the first bank launched online in 1994. Today, many providers are now creating solutions designed specifically for the unique needs of credit unions. From specialized digital lending platforms to member-centric financial wellness tools, fintechs are recognizing credit unions as an important, underserved market. This tailored approach makes partnerships more attractive and accessible, helping credit unions stay up-to-date on the latest tech trends.
Embedded finance is the ultimate enabling force
Embedded finance has made it easier for credit unions to leverage third-party technologies without needing in-house technical expertise. Gone are the days when integrating new technology required a complete overhaul of a credit union’s core system. Today’s embedded banking models allow credit unions to “plug and play” fintech solutions into their existing infrastructure. Because of this, these smaller players can offer services like buy-now-pay-later, upgrade their digital account opening workflows, or launch a new mobile app with a fresh look. Overall, embedded solutions allow credit unions to deliver tech-forward experiences without the burden of in-house development.
Regulatory clarity has eased pressure
Regulatory clarity and eased regulatory scrutiny has reduced barriers to forming partnerships with fintechs. As regulators have become more familiar with fintech partnerships, clearer guidelines and frameworks have emerged to support innovation in the credit union space. New charters, sandbox programs, and cooperative frameworks help credit unions explore partnerships more confidently. With better guidance in place, credit unions can engage with fintechs without facing the regulatory uncertainty that once made these partnerships seem too risky.
All of these aspects, and more, will be on full display at FinovateSpring, which takes place May 7 through 9 in San Diego.
If you’re attending next month’s event, don’t miss a special session designed exclusively for your credit union. TheCredit Union Spotlight: Closed Door Session will take place on Wednesday, May 7, from 3:20 to 4:50, and will offer the opportunity to meet companies that are building technology specifically for the credit union ecosystem. Each company will provide a short introduction, followed by roundtable discussions where you can dive deeper into their solutions. If you’re interested in joining, please email [email protected]. Please note that space is limited and subject to approval.
April is Financial Literacy Month. And while we are all getting an intensive course in trade policy these days, a few hours spent shoring up financial literacy (including how to handle market downturns!) is always time well spent.
With this in mind, today we showcase Finovate alums in recent years that have made financial literacy a key part of their mission when it comes to building new fintech solutions.
To learn more about Finovate alums innovating in the area of financial literacy before 2023, check out our previous Financial Literacy content, including Best of Show winners that are innovating in this space!
Ripple will acquire Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, making it the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker.
The acquisition expands Ripple’s offerings beyond payments into trading, custody, and lending services, providing financial institutions the infrastructure they need for crypto adoption.
Between recent regulatory shifts in the US and Hidden Road’s capabilities, Ripple is positioning itself to become a full-service financial hub as digital assets gain mainstream traction.
Blockchain and crypto solutions company Rippleannounced plans to acquire multi-asset prime brokerage company Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. The deal will make Ripple the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker.
Hidden Road was founded in 2019 to offer financial institutions a one-stop-shop of services such as clearing, prime brokerage, and financing across foreign exchange (FX), digital assets, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income. The UK-based company clears $3 trillion annually across markets with more than 300 institutional customers.
Hidden Road anticipates that being backed by Ripple will exponentially expand its capacity to service firms in its pipeline. “With new resources, licenses, and added risk capital, this deal will unlock significant growth in Hidden Road’s business, allowing us to increase capacity to our customer base, expand into new products, and service more markets and asset classes,” said Hidden Road Founder and CEO Marc Asch. “Together with Ripple, we’re bringing the same level of trust and reliability that institutional clients are accustomed to in traditional markets—designed and optimized for a digital world.”
For Ripple, buying Hidden Road will make it a major back-end infrastructure provider for big investors trading digital assets. The company will not just offer crypto payments, but also trading, borrowing, and custody services.
“We are at an inflection point for the next phase of digital asset adoption–the US market is effectively open for the first time due to the regulatory overhang of the former SEC coming to an end, and the market is maturing to address the needs of traditional finance,” said Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. “With these tailwinds, we are continuing to pursue opportunities to massively transform the space, leveraging our position and the strengths of XRP to accelerate our business and enhance our current solutions and technology.”
There are a few reasons why this acquisition is a huge deal for both Ripple and decentralized finance. First, it will help Ripple move beyond payments into full-scale financial services. The company, which is best known for cross-border payments using XRP, will now be able to offer trading, custody, and lending, which is the essential “plumbing” that institutional investors rely on.
Second, Hidden Road gives Ripple the infrastructure that institutions need to trade crypto confidently. By bundling execution, clearing, custody, and credit services all together, hedge fund and asset managers will be more likely to move more funds into crypto.
Finally, the acquisition positions Ripple as a strong player as US markets shift toward a more friendly crypto stance. Last week, the SEC published its official statement on stablecoins, ruling that they are generally not considered securities as long as they are pegged to USD and aren’t used or marketed for investment purposes.
With all of these aspects combined, the timing of today’s acquisition is ideal. Hidden Road will help Ripple become a full-service financial hub for crypto just as institutions are starting to take digital assets seriously again. It’s also a reminder that the structure of the future of finance will not look like it does today. Instead, it will likely be built on blockchain and driven by AI.
AI-powered anti-money laundering (AML) company Hawk has raised $56 million in Series C funding.
The investment will fuel product innovation for the Munich, Germany-based fintech, as well as power the company’s expansion plans.
Hawk made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022 in San Francisco. The company was founded in 2018.
Hawk , a company offering AI-powered anti-money laundering (AML), screening, and fraud prevention solutions, has secured $56 million in Series C funding. The fintech, which made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022, will use the capital to help Tier 1 banks leverage AI to fight financial crime. The investment adds to the more than $134 million the company has already raised.
“Every financial institution that wants to reduce compliance workloads and increase the accuracy of risk detection should be using AI to achieve those goals,” Hawk CEO Tobias Schweiger said. “The results are compelling—we’ve been able to increase alert accuracy to almost 90% in some cases, while significantly cutting false positives. We’re also uncovering twice as many previously undetected cases of ‘novel’ criminal activity.”
Hawk’s funding round was led by One Peak, which joined existing investors Macquarie Capital, Rabobank, BlackFin Capital Partners, Sands Capital, DN Capital, Picus, and Coalition.
Hawk’s technology empowers banks to move beyond traditional, rules-based anti-money laundering and fraud fighting methods that often produce a sizable number of false positives that require human review and intervention. This drives up the cost of fighting financial crime. Further, fraudsters are increasingly adept at circumventing and subverting rules-based AML and fraud detection strategies. To address this, Hawk puts AI-powered technology to work increasing the fraud detection accuracy to find more crime while keeping false positives low.
“AI is in our DNA at Hawk,” Schweiger said. “Our mission is to provide financial institutions with the technology, the expertise and the support that they need to realize the transformative impact that machine learning and generative AI can have across their anti-financial crime operations.”
With more than 80 customers around the world, Hawk boasts partners ranging from large Tier 1 banks to mid-market financial institutions and fintechs. Hawk’s latest investment will help bring continued product innovation to these firms, as well as support the company’s expansion plans.
Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Munich, Germany, Hawk made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022 in San Francisco. At the conference, the company demonstrated its AI Surveillance Suite, which uses a combination of AI and traditional rules to identify anomalous behavior in real-time.
Hawk began this year with the launch of its Anti-Money Laundering AI Overlay, which enables banks to reduce false positives and detect novel crime without having to swap out the current AML systems. The solution, according to Hawk Chief Product Officer Wolfgang Berner, is “delivering prediction accuracy in excess of 85% (and) reducing false positives to less than 15%.” Berner underscored that the overlay achieved all of this via AI optimization “rather than a total system overhaul.”
In February, the company appointed Ben Pannier as Chief Technology Officer. Pannier comes to Hawk having held leadership positions at firms including Tide, Zalando, and PayU. That same month, Hawk was named to the Chartis 2025 Financial Crime and Compliance 50 for its real-time transaction monitoring technology.
