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Lendio Lands $55 Million to Match Small Businesses with Lenders

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 27, 2020
Categories: Daily news, Funding, Lendio

Online marketplace for small business loans Lendio landed $55 million in combined debt and equity funding today. The investment more than doubles the company’s previous funding, bringing its total to $108.5 million.

The equity portion of the Series E round was led by Mercato Partners’ Traverse Fund, which contributed $31 million, and included contributions from existing investors Napier Park Financial Partners, Comcast Ventures, Blumberg Capital, Stereo Capital, and Runa Capital. Signature Bank led the debt facility with $24 million.

Founded in 2011, Lendio serves as a matchmaker that connects small businesses seeking funding with its network of over 75 lenders. Since Lendio launched at FinovateSpring in 2011, the Utah-based company has funded more than 100,000 loans totaling $2 billion. Over the past two years, Lendio has seen an average year-over-year growth rate of 75%.

CEO Brock Blake called today’s investment a “significant milestone” for the company. “With these funds, we are strongly positioned to grow our existing platform as a trusted loan facilitator that supports both lenders and borrowers, while building out a range of new integrated lending services that get the right loans into the right hands at the right time.”

Lendio will use today’s investment to increase the scope and precision of its flagship loan marketplace; expand lender services functions, which provide lenders access to a white-labeled online loan application; and enhance its small business bookkeeping platform, Sunrise by Lendio. The company launched Sunrise last year after acquiring online bookkeeping startup Billy. The new service aims to help Lendio’s small business clients manage their cash flow and monitor their overall financial health.

“Lendio’s ability to combine data analytics with the human touch to connect small businesses quickly and precisely with ideal lending partners has made all the difference in its success,” said Ryan Sanders, senior investor at Mercato Partners Traverse Fund. “Lendio uniquely solves the problem of inefficient capital for small businesses by bridging lenders and borrowers. They are able to connect both sides and facilitate loans faster and more effectively between small business owners and lending institutions. Lendio’s impressive growth is a result of its technology-backed personalized service which has created a loyal and growing following in the industry.”

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Commitment, FOMO, and Capital: How Smart Corporates Make Partnerships Work

By David Penn Posted on February 27, 2020
Categories: FinovateEurope 2020, Speaker series

Photo by **Haley Black** from **Pexels**

With one startup for every 1,400 citizens, Israel may have the highest “innovation per capita” ratio of any country on Earth.

That makes it little surprise that Itai Green, founder and CEO of Innovate Israel, would be the one to help explain what corporates need to do in order to make the most out of their collaborations with startups at FinovateEurope in Berlin last month.

Green advocates an innovation model – open innovation – in which corporates leverage their local ecosystems to collaborate and partner with startups, entrepreneurs, universities – even customers and other corporates – in order to develop whatever products or services will allow it to grow and expand. This argues against the in-house innovation model, which many have found to be an insufficient way of driving major innovation due to factors ranging from a lack of internal incentives to inconsistent and/or unclear support from management.

Green made the case to our audience that open innovation provides the lowest risk and the greatest return on investment a company can ask for – if they do it right.

In his presentation at FinovateEurope this month, Green outlined the most important factors that businesses need to keep in mind when working with innovative companies in an open innovation context. He listed nine distinct “Tips for Corporates” – a few of the more compelling ones are highlighted below.

Commitment – A theme that was quite common at FinovateEurope in Berlin this year – that bringing tech-savvy diversity to a financial institution’s board of directors was a must – was echoed strongly by Green. He advocated that companies have at least one technology/innovation-oriented board member – though having three, he noted, was far better. Green said that this kind of board representation was increasingly common in Israel where he pointed out that boards of directors typically had 20% of their members under the age of 40. Compare this to the S&P 500, where the age of the average board member is above 60.

FOMO > NIH – Even among companies that have recognized the importance of digital transformation, there can be a reluctance by corporates to embrace non-native ideas. This “Not Invented Here” attitude can be especially harmful when working with innovative startups, who often arrive on the scene with a passion to, if not disrupt, then certainly make a clear difference for their partner and a strong representation of their technology.

Green argues that a “Fear of Missing Out” on the next big opportunity is a more healthy psychology for the corporate when working with a startup rather than any sense of injured pride at not having come up with the innovation on their own.

Show Startups the Money – Another highlight on Green’s list was the importance of paying for the work. This was a point that Steve Frook of Best of Show winner Horizn would underscore in his FinovateEurope presentation, Landing Your First Bank Customer, later that day. From Frook’s perspective, it was important that startups avoid the temptation to, essentially, work for free in an attempt to show their enthusiasm and eagerness to collaborate. Establishing a business relationship – even a modest one – was an important early step for startups to take, Frook suggested. Green, from the perspective of advising the corporate, concurred. Companies should come to collaborations with startups with a budget and be prepared to use it. Paying startups, Green explained, sends a positive, professional signal to the company and to the broader community of innovators and entrepreneurs, as well.

Founded in 2017, Innovate Israel helps partner global corporations with innovative entrepreneurs and startups in Israel to help them implement advanced technologies in their businesses.

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RegTech, AI, and the Future of Digital Identity

By David Penn Posted on February 26, 2020
Categories: David's column, FinovateEurope 2020

My first introduction to Dave Birch, Director of Innovation and Global Ambassador at Consult Hyperion, was via his book Identity is the New Money, and a conversation we had at a Finovate event a few years ago. He is as synonymous with the issue of digital identity as any fintech analyst; his book Before Babylon, Beyond Bitcoin, is a fascinating history of the relationship between money and identity.

Birch sees digital identity not just as a way to create a safer, more efficient interconnected world. Instead, he sees digital identity – powered by technologies like artificial intelligence – as capable of restoring the power of relationships at a time of digital and social atomization. “Before we had the kind of urban anonymity of the industrial revolution,” he said, “things were based on relationships: whether I trusted you, whether I wanted to lend you money.”

“And we’ve scaled away from that, and had institutions become intermediaries. But with the new technologies, because we are connected all the time, in a weird kind of way we’re going back to that. In a way, those new connections are taking us back,” Birch explained.

Here are some of the top takeaways from my conversation with Dave Birch this year at FinovateEurope in Berlin.

On whether financial services professionals and regulators are on the same page with regard to the importance of digital identity.

Birch: A long time ago it was the theorists who said we’re going to have to do something about identity. And then a few years ago it was technologists like me who ran into the buffers and said we can’t make any more progress until we do something about identity. But now it’s people like Mark Carney, who is the governor of the Bank of England, saying we can’t make any progress without doing something about digital identity. So it’s gone up the agenda. But my point was that it’s not just technologists who are saying it. It is people who understand the financial system that are saying it. It’s become a priority. And, of course, because of my heritage, I feel that banks have a role to play in fixing the problem.

On why regtech may be the most critical subset of financial technology.

Birch: In terms of the goal, which is to reduce the cost of financial intermediation, it’s getting asymptotic. We’re getting as far as we can get. We’ve already cut the cost of transactions, increased the speed of transactions. We can’t get any further with fintech. The costs that are out of control are the regtech costs. It’s compliance, it’s Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) … If we really want to make an impact on costs, we’ve got to attack those costs … And if we really want to do something about that, then we have to start talking about artificial intelligence.

On how advances in digital identity will help build new communities of trust.

Birch: I like to look at what the social anthropologists say rather than what the technologists are saying. Those guys are very into this idea that we live in these clans with relationships. There’s something more human about that. I think that technology, basing identity on relationships, the reputations we establish in those relationships, that is more interconnected.
Nowadays we’re all in lots of overlapping communities of one kind or another. But the idea that our reputations can be forged in those communities, that the values that we share will lead us to form these communities, that the transactions we get involved in, the money that we use, will somehow reflect those values, to me that seems like a very positive vision of the future.

Watch the full, 12-minute interview on Finovate TV.

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Azimo Taps Ripple for Cross-Border Payments to the Philippines

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 26, 2020
Categories: Azimo, Daily news, Ripple

Digital money transfer service Azimo announced today that it has partnered with fellow Finovate alum and blockchain payment solutions company Ripple to power cross-border payments to the Philippines.

Fueling these payment transfers is Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution that uses XRP to source liquidity and complete money transfers within three seconds. This time reduction results in a 40% to 60% cost savings over the traditional method that requires businesses to hold cash in pre-funded accounts. ODL has proven especially useful for international payments in emerging markets. The technology is currently available in the U.S., Mexico, Australia, Europe, and the Philippines, with plans to expand across APAC, EMEA, and LATAM.

Azimo, which plans to expand its use of ODL to more markets in 2020, opted to start with the Philippines because it is one of the top remittance destinations. In 2018, the region received $34 billion in remittance payments.

“We’ve been interested for a long time in the potential of digital assets like XRP to make cross-border payments better for customers,” said Azimo CEO Richard Ambrose. ”Ripple’s ODL solution has significantly reduced the cost and delivery time for cross-border transfers, and our customers are seeing the benefits. As more banks and financial institutions use ODL, we believe it has the potential to replace current methods of foreign exchange trading and to reduce settlement time to close to zero.”

Founded in 2012, Azimo has amassed one million customers. The company facilitates money transfers from 25 countries to more than 200 regions across the globe.

Ripple has 300+ customers in more than 45 countries and six continents. The company’s flagship global blockchain network, RippleNet, facilitates faster and cheaper payments in 40+ currencies.

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London’s B-Social Raises $10 Million in Seed Funding Ahead of Bank Rebrand

By David Penn Posted on February 26, 2020
Categories: Daily news, Funding

Continental challenger banks like N26 may be pulling away from the U.K. market. But that is only creating room for newcomers like London’s social payments app B-Social which has raised $10 million (£7.8 million) en route to its transformation into Kroo, a fully-licensed bank.

The funding, part of a seed round, brings the company’s total capital to more than $17.8 million (£13.25 million). Participating in the round was Karlani Capital’s Rudy Karsan, along with additional undisclosed investors.

“Our seed 2 funding round is another key milestone towards building the greatest social bank on the planet and changing the relationship people have with money for good,” B-Social CEO Nazim Valimahomed wrote on the company’s blog. He noted that B-Social has signed up more than 9,000 users and will soon introduce functionality to enable account funding via bank transfer. Valimahomed also added that the company plans to double the size of its team at its headquarters in Holborn.

Most significantly, the investment will help B-Social as it transitions into becoming a bank, to be called Kroo. Valimahomed said that the company is currently in the final, pre-application phase for obtaining a U.K. banking license and hopes to finish the application process “in the very near future.” He referred to the rebrand as a change to an “exciting new brand that fully embodies who we are – intuitive, talented, empowering, social, and collaborative.”

Founded in 2016, B-Social helps users manage shared expenses. The company’s app, available in both iOS and Android, supports bill splitting and group expense tracking, and instant payments between B-Social account holders. The solution also comes with a contactless debit Mastercard that can be used, fee free, both at home and abroad wherever Mastercard is accepted.

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Revolut’s $500 Million Round Boosts Valuation to $5.5 Billion

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 25, 2020
Categories: Daily news, Funding, Revolut

Global financial platform Revolut has secured its place as the U.K.’s most valuable fintech. The London-based company secured a $500 million investment, bringing its total funding to $836 million.

With this, Revolut’s valuation tripled, escalating to $5.5 billion. As a comparison, digital bank Monzo was valued at $2.6 billion last year. Revolut’s funding was led by U.S. investor Technology Crossover Ventures while a handful of undisclosed existing investors also contributed.

The funding will be used to enhance Revolut’s customer experience, grow its workforce, and create new products that entice users to log into their accounts more frequently. As a part of this, Revolut will use the funds to enhance Premium and Metal subscription account offerings. These paid products are not only a significant part of Revolut’s business model, they also show huge promise, growing by 154% last year alone.

“We’re on a mission to build a global financial platform – a single app where our customers can manage all of their daily finances, and this investment demonstrates investor confidence in our business model,” said Revolut CEO and founder Nik Storonsky. “Going forward, our focus is on rolling-out banking operations in Europe, increasing the number of people who use Revolut as their daily account, and striving towards profitability.”

Revolut employs 2,000 people across 23 global offices. The company counts more than 10 million customers and has processed one billion transactions worth $130 billion since it was founded in 2013.

The company has seen significant success since its early days. Just last year Revolut increased customer growth by 169%, boosted the number of daily active customers by 380%, and saw year-over-year financial revenues grow by 354%. The company aims to continue this growth by launching lending services for retail and business customers, extending high interest savings accounts beyond the U.K., improving customer service, and rolling out banking operations across Europe.

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Meet Sonect: Cash Network Builder, Finovate Newcomer, Best of Show Winner

By David Penn Posted on February 25, 2020
Categories: Alumni profile, Best of Show, Sonect

Photo by Alexander Mils from Pexels

What’s better than having a large pizza with all your favorite toppings delivered to your front door?

How about a side order of cash, saving you a trip to the ATM or bank branch?

Sonect, which won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in Berlin earlier this month, leverages what it calls a social network for cash to help people get the cash they need wherever they are. Based in Zurich, Switzerland and founded in 2016 by CEO Sandipan Chakraborty, the company enables merchants ranging from cafes and coffee shops to pharmacies and bodegas to benefit from the additional customer traffic of Sonect customers.

At the same time, banks can extend their ATM networks with Sonect, avoiding the expense of purchasing and maintaining additional cash distribution hardware.

The solution works simply for the user. After downloading the Sonect iOS or Android app, the user creates a Sonect account. They then select their preferred shop or merchant and the amount of cash they wish to withdraw. The merchant will scan the barcode in the user’s Sonect app, and the funds will automatically be deducted from your account as soon as the transaction is confirmed. The user then receives their cash.

Both banking accounts as well as credit card accounts can be used with Sonect (both Visa and Mastercard are currently accepted.) The solution is free of charge for both users and shops.

Sonect IT Project Manager Thai Nguyen and CEO Sandipan Chakraborty demonstrating the company’s virtual ATM network at FinovateEurope 2020.

Sonect was inspired in part by observing the slow rate of adoption of new technologies like Apple Pay. A self-described “strong believer of (the) death of cash (at) the hand of mobile payments,” Chakraborty nevertheless saw an opportunity to help bridge the gap between the custom and convenience of cash and the opportunities of digital alternatives that have yet to be fully embraced by banks, consumers, and merchants. It’s also worth noting that Switzerland is a country where cash is still very much king; the Swiss National Bank reports that 70% of all transactions in the country are still in cash.

Chakraborty credits enabling technologies like blockchain and open banking APIs for making Sonect possible. An IT Project/Program Delivery Manager with Credit Suisse for more than 12 years, he likens Sonect to a platform similar to Uber and Airbnb that is able to create a vast, service network – in transportation, accommodations, or, in Sonect’s case, for cash withdrawal – without having to bear the burden of building and maintaining a vast physical infrastructure to go along with it.

The Sonect team picks up a Best of Show award in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope.

Currently available only in Switzerland, there are more than 2,500 shops partnered with Sonect. That said, Chakraborty noted, “We are in a phase where we are expanding within Europe,” adding that because of the company’s Best of Show award, he believes “the word (about Sonect) will spread quicker than we anticipated,” Chakraborty also said that the company has been in conversations with banks “across Europe, across the continent” about potential partnerships.

Sonect has raised more than $8.7 million (CHF 8.5 million) in funding from investors including SixThirty and Loomis AB. The company has 25 employees in its offices in Zurich; Vilnius, Lithuania; and Mexico City, Mexico.

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Envestnet | Yodlee Acquires Indian Data Aggregator FinBit.io

By David Penn Posted on February 25, 2020
Categories: Envestnet, FinBit.io, Mergers & Acquisitions, Yodlee

Photo by **Yogendra Singh** from **Pexels**

Envestnet | Yodlee has acquired another asset in its strategy to further grow and develop its data aggregation and analytics business.

The company has purchased India-based FinBit.io, a data analytics platform that offers a scoring solution, BankScore, designed to help people who struggle to obtain credit due to a poor or insufficient credit history. Both companies are Finovate alums: Envestnet | Yodlee made its last Finovate appearance at FinovateFall in New York back in September; FinBit.io made its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia last fall in Singapore.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The deal was completed on February 18th.

Envestnet sees the acquisition as accelerating innovation within the company, fueling the ability of the firm to market compliant solutions to new and existing customers in the region. As part of the deal, FinBit.io founder and CEO Prashant Paliwal will lead Yodlee FinSoft, an Envestnet | Yodlee subsidiary focused on the account aggregation business in India and Asia.

Envestnet | Yodlee Chief Executive for Data and Analytics Stuart DePina called India and Asia strategically important to the company, and highlighted the account aggregator ecosystem in India as one of the more vibrant developments in fintech. “We are delighted to empower millions of consumers in India with state-of-the-art Account Aggregator technology and superior user experiences that will allow them to share consented data seamlessly across platforms enabling speedy solutions such as the real-time processing of personal loan applications,” DePina explained.

“Our vision is to empower consumers with the ability to permit the aggregation of their financial data so that holistic analytics can be made available to valuable services like affordable credit, personal finance management, and even accounting,” FinBit.io’s Paliwal said. Paliwal, who founded the Bangalore-based company in 2017, said the acquisition would enable FinBit.io to expand its product portfolio and scale its offerings. Paliwal is a Yodlee veteran, running the company’s APAC fintech business before launching FinBit.io.

Envestnet acquired multiple Finovate Best of Show winning Yodlee in 2015 for $660 million. Founded in 1999, the company has more than 25 million users around the world and 1,200+ financial institution partners including 15 of the top 20 U.S. banks. The publicly-traded firm, ENV on the New York Stock Exchange, has a market capitalization of $4 billion.

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Dealing with Deepfakes in Fintech

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 24, 2020
Categories: Report series

Deepfakes, or synthetic media that uses AI to distort a person’s likeness to imitate another’s, can be entertaining. After all, watching Ross Marquand evolve into 11 different actors in 3 minutes is impressive!

However, as most are aware, there is a dark side to deepfakes when videos threaten democracy by manipulating the public for political gain, or ruin reputations with revenge porn, or spread damaging misinformation. In general, there are two issues with malicious deepfakes. First, deepfakes have the potential to allow a person to pose as someone they are not. Second, they allow criminals to deny a wrongdoing by claiming a genuine video is fake.

Unfortunately, the fintech industry is not insulated from deepfake headaches of its own.

The problem

There are two different types of deepfakes– audio and video. Both media types can manifest multiple issues within financial services. Here is a list of weak spots that deepfakes threaten:

Fraudulent onboarding, such as a criminal posing as someone else or creating a new, synthetic identity
Fraudulent payment authorizations and transfers
Impersonation of business leaders for insider trading scams or tricking employees into taking nefarious actions

These examples aren’t just potential threats. Last March, a voice-based deepfake was used to impersonate the CEO of a U.K.-based energy firm. The fraudster called one of the CEO’s employees, convincing him to transfer $243,000 to a supplier based in Hungary. The money was then moved to a bank account in Mexico and the thief still has not been caught.

Given the wide variety of fraud opportunities, identity verification company iProov recently surveyed 105 cybersecurity decision-makers at U.K.-based financial institutions. The company, which won Best of Show at FinovateEurope earlier this month, detailed the results in a report.

According to the findings, 13% of firms surveyed had never even heard of the term “deepfake.” And while 31% of respondents had no plans to combat deepfakes or were not sure if their organizations had protective measures in place, 28% had already implemented such measures. The survey also reported that 4% of organizations said that deepfakes pose no threat whatsoever to their company. However, the majority of respondents, 40%, said that deepfakes pose a “slight threat.”

The solution

The fintech industry is ripe with security firms, such as iProov, that use AI to combat both video and audio deepfakes with anti-spoofing technologies. Many security companies also offers liveness detection to detect artificial representations of actual clients. Liveness detection plays a major role in detecting identity spoofing during new client onboarding, when cybercriminals may attempt to use a stolen drivers license along with a mask created from a photo of the person in order to set up a fraudulent account. Financial services organizations can also use liveness detection to thwart fraudulent login attempts for technology that uses facial recognition.

Fraudsters, by definition, show complete disregard to regulations. Nevertheless, lawmakers are making efforts to crack down on the technology. In June New York congresswoman Yevette Clark introduced the Deepfakes Accountability Act in the house. that would require video creators to disclose if a video was altered and allow victims to sue. As TechCrunch points out, the act would be difficult to enforce, but at least it’s a start.

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Avanti Aims to Launch U.S. Bank to Serve Digital Asset Industry

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 24, 2020
Categories: Daily news

There is not much fintech to come out of the state of Wyoming (a quick search on Crunchbase yields 28 results). Today, however, one more startup is added to that mix.

That’s because Avanti Financial, headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming, announced plans to launch a bank to serve the digital asset industry. The company recently applied to obtain a bank charter from the Wyoming Division of Banking under the Cowboy State’s special-purpose depository institution (SPDI) law.

If Avanti’s application is approved by the state of Wyoming, the startup will begin operations in early 2021.

Avanti seeks to fill the gap where traditional U.S. financial institutions fall short. In many cases, institutional customers that use digital assets lack a place to engage in payment, custody, securities, and commodities activities.

Founder and CEO Caitlin Long said, “A crucial step in the digital asset industry’s evolution is the formation of a new bank dedicated to bridging digital assets with the U.S. dollar payments system in a compliant manner, and the provision of custodial services that meet the strictest institutional standards.” Long added that Avanti’s launch will “unlock many new products and services around digital assets that only a regulated U.S. bank can provide directly.”

Avanti, which recently landed an undisclosed amount of seed funding, is partnering with Blockstream, a Canada-based group that creates “products and networks that make financial markets more efficient.”

Dr. Adam Back, Blockstream CEO and co-founder, said, “This partnership combines the best in Bitcoin applications with the optimal regulatory vehicle for delivering products and services to institutional customers that require regulated providers. Blockstream’s platforms fit well with Wyoming’s property-rights centric digital asset laws, which will enable Avanti to introduce products into U.S. dollar markets that do not exist today.”

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Self Raises $20 Million to Help Americans Improve Their Credit

By David Penn Posted on February 24, 2020
Categories: Daily news, Funding

For consumers with credit scores below 600, options for securing financing can be a major challenge. A new company on the scene, Self, has locked in $20 million in new funding to help make those financial hurdles a little easier for Americans with poor credit histories to overcome.

In a Series C round led by Altos Ventures and Conductive Ventures, Self has added $20 million to its total capital, which now stands at $37 million. The Austin, Texas-based company, founded in 2015, offers a Credit Builder Account in which borrowers apply for a modest loan with a Self bank partner that is held on a certificate of deposit. Borrowers make monthly payments, which are reported to the major credit agencies to help establish a credit history. Once the term is complete, the CD matures and the principal amount comes back to the customer.

“Our goal from the beginning was to create a mission-driven company that gives the power back to consumers and helps them achieve their financial goals,” company founder and CEO James Garvey said.

Since inception, Self has worked with 500,000+ customers and provided $400 million in CD-secured loan originations. The company recently launched its Self Visa Credit Card, a secured card that does not require a credit check. The card allows holders to build their security deposit in installments rather than with one large deposit upfront. The card has an annual fee of $25, average for secured cards, but features a higher than average minimum APR for secured cards at 23.74% based on a review by U.S. News.

Named one of the best fintech places to work in 2020 by Ariznet Brands – publishers of American Banker – Self rebranded itself from Self Lender last August and reincorporated as Self Financial. The fintech has partnered with firms including Atlantic Capital Bank, an Atlanta, Georgia-based bank holding company with assets of $2.9 billion, income optimization platform Steady, and nonprofit social enterprise Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners.

“Self inspires us with their dedication to helping consumers take control of their financial future,” Conductive Ventures’ Paul Yeh said. “Today, it’s imperative to be aligned with partners with a shared vision that is meaningful and delivers change for the greater good.”

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Intuit’s $7 Billion Bid for Credit Karma; FinovateEurope Salutes its Best of Show

By David Penn Posted on February 23, 2020
Categories: Access Softek, Aire, Backbase, Baker Hill, Coinbase, Credit Karma, Daily news, Digital Onboarding, Dorsum, Enveil, Glia, Horizn, InComm, Intuit, iProov, ISARA, Kinetica, Larky, Meniga, OurCrowd, PaySend, Sonect, StrategyCorps, Tradeshift, Trulioo, ValidSoft, W.UP

Photo by **Tirachard Kumtanom** from **Pexels**

How’s $7 billion for good karma? One of Finovate’s earliest alums Credit Karma is reportedly the target of what would be Intuit’s biggest acquisition to date. According to The Wall Street Journal, the cash and stock deal could be announced as early as Monday.

Credit Karma will continue to function as an independent company with founder and CEO Kenneth Lin at the helm. The acquisition gives Intuit, maker of online tax filing service TurboTax, another contact point with the online personal finance world. Credit Karma provides its members with access to their credit scores and borrowing histories, helps them monitor their accounts for security breaches and, perhaps most relevantly, has offered a free online tax preparation service since 2017.

If the deal holds up, Intuit will be paying a significant premium for Credit Karma. The personal financial wellness company was last valued at $4 billion, based on a 2018 private market transaction.

With another Finovate conference in the books, our Finovate Best of Show ranks has a new set of members. Congratulations to Dorsum, Glia, Horizn, iProov, Sonect, and W.UP for taking home top honors earlier this month at FinovateEurope!

The victory may have been especially sweet for Sonect, whose Best of Show award-winning demo was also the company’s Finovate debut. The Switzerland-based start-up offers what it calls “the world’s first social cash network” that enables consumers to access cash without having to visit a bank branch or ATM. Sonect offers merchants the ability to grow their business via increased traffic and gives financial institutions a way to extend their ATM networks without the cost of additional hardware.

The Best of Show win was also a first for Horizn. The company, which made its Finovate debut three years ago at FinovateEurope, offers a platform that helps employees and customers maximize the opportunities of digitized financial services. Horizn uses simulator microlearning, as well as gamification and advanced analytics, to promote digital adoption across channels.

And last but not least, a special tip of the hat to Dorsum, Glia, iProov, and W.UP, all of whom won Best of Show honors at FinovateEurope for a second year in a row.

Here’s a round up of recent news from our Finovate alumni.

Larky enters reseller agreement with Access Softek.
Bison Bank in Lisbon, Portugal selects PSD2-ready software from ndigit.
Techround interviews Tradeshift co-founder Mikkel Hippe Brun.
Bremer Bank leverages Backbase’s digital-first banking platform to fuel digital transformation.
Paysend’s multi-currency global account launches in Europe.
Kinetica launches Kinetica Cloud.
Futurex taps ISARA to bring quantum-safe cryptography and crypto-agility into its Key Management Enterprise Server (KMES) Series 3.
With new FCA license, Meniga seeks to expand product offering.
StrategyCorps and Digital Onboarding partner to help banks grow checking account relationships.
Baker Hill renews partnership with Washington Trust Bank to streamline loan origination and portfolio risk management.
Aire launches Credit Insight Suite to improve access to credit.
Coinbase becomes Visa principal to offer more feature for Coinbase Card customers.
InComm partners with Eezi to launch Poundland’s gift card program.
Enveil secures $10 million in Series A funding for secure data collaboration.
Trulioo adds image capture SDK to Trulioo GlobalGateway.
Amaiz taps ValidSoft for voice authentication.
OurCrowd expands focus on growing early stage tech companies.

Finovate Alum Features and Profiles

eToro’s Evolution – Social trading and investment platform eToro has never been one to stand still for very long. The company’s development cycle is fast enough to make even the most sprightly fintech jealous.

Lending Club Snaps Up Radius Bank for $185 Million – When Lending Club was founded in 2007, the startup aimed to serve as a place to help borrowers avoid dealing with banks. In a somewhat ironic move today, that same startup is becoming a bank itself.

Breach Clarity’s New Offering Provides Consumers Personalized Protection – Fraud detection and prevention company Breach Clarity announced this week it has developed a new platform to help financial service providers offer personalized protection for their customers.

New SumUp Card Empowers SMEs as Business Payment Makers and Takers – The company that has helped bring fintech innovation to e-commerce with its mobile point-of-sale (mPOS), card reading solutions now offers merchants a card of their own.

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