FinovateFall 2025 Sneak Peek Series: Part 5

By Madeline Clines Posted on August 19, 2025
Categories: Castellum.AI, CD Valet, Charm Security, Fideo Intelligence, FinovateFall 2025, FinovateFall 2025 Sneak Peek, Fravity, Sequretek, Warrant

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 8 – 10. Register today using this link and save 20%.

Castellum.AI

Castellum.AI is a financial crime compliance platform with in-house risk data, AML/KYC screening, and AI agents. Through its use, institutions identify risk and take on business with confidence.

Features

83% less time reviewing AML alerts
94% reduction in false positives
Instant AML alert adjudication

Who’s it for?

Community banks, BaaS sponsor banks, credit unions, fintechs, and crypto exchanges.

CD Valet

CD Valet is a digital marketplace connecting financial institutions with consumers to compare and open CDs with the best rates and terms nationwide.

Features

Offers comprehensive data to price CD offers that win deposits
Delivers insights that help users understand competitor strategies and consumer behavior
Provides marketing services to help companies succeed on a digital marketplace

Who’s it for?

Credit unions and banks with $1B+ in assets, CMOs, and CFOs.

Charm Security

Charm Security is an AI-powered scam defense platform proactively protecting financial institutions and their customers from scams, social engineering, and human-centric fraud.

Features

Delivers AI-powered scam defense agents
Offers protection, prevention, and remediation of scams, social engineering, and human-centric fraud
⁠Reduces losses and operational costs
Builds customer trust and company reputation

Who’s it for?

Banks, credit unions, and payment providers.

Fideo Intelligence

Fideo Intelligence’s Verify provides an AI-powered, unified series of real-time risk checks through a single API to help banks, financial institutions, and financial platforms proactively verify identities pre-KYC.

Features

Comprehensive: Eight categories of checks per session
Cost-Effective: Low-cost application, saving operational and fraud-related expenses
AI-Powered: Dynamic, adaptive, real-time risk scoring

Who’s it for?

Financial services (including banks and credit unions), fintechs, and telecom companies.

Fravity

Fravity’s AI Agentic Copilot for investigations and operations in Fraud Risk and AML Compliance (FRAML) works alongside existing tools, acting as an AI expert to help investigate complex cases, enforce policies, perform investigative leg-work, and help users make faster, more accurate decisions with complete confidence.

Features

Offers a catalog of tuned AI agents and workflows for FRAML investigations operations
Provides Copilot as a plug-n-play browser extension for analysts
Delivers an AI studio that lets users build their own agents and workflows

Who’s it for?

Banks, credit unions, payment providers, and fintechs.

Sequretek

Sequretek offers AI-powered, cloud-native, open, modular, and cost-effective solutions that simplify security and empower business growth.

Features

Utilizes single console visibility
Produces organizational risk scores
Offers Defense-in-Breadth and Defense-in-Depth
Provides asset threat mapping
Delivers AI-based attack detection enhanced by GenAI analytics

Who’s it for?

Financial services, credit unions, community banks, healthcare, manufacturing, SMB’s, pharmaceuticals, retail, technology, and more.

Warrant

Warrant is an AI platform that reviews marketing content against 1,500+ regulations, flags risks instantly, and streamlines approvals and recordkeeping to keep teams compliant.

Features

Flags risks instantly across 1,500+ regulations with AI compliance checks
Delivers faster approvals, cutting review time down from weeks to minutes
Reduces labor costs, savings average $200K+ annually

Who’s it for?

Banks and credit unions.

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HSLC, Triad Bank Turn to Vine Financial to Enhance and Automate Lending

By David Penn Posted on August 18, 2025
Categories: Alumni News, Vine Financial

Lending platform provider Vine Financial announced partnerships with a pair of financial institutions: HSLC of Ohio and Triad Bank of Oklahoma.
Both institutions will deploy Vine’s platform to manage the entire commercial loan lifecycle, including document reading, financial spreading, and document generation.
Austin, Texas-based Vine made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024 in New York.

AI-powered lending platform Vine Financial has announced a new partnership with HSLC, a $227 million community bank serving customers in Ohio and Kentucky. The institution will leverage Vine’s technology to eliminate manual document processing in its commercial lending, equipment financing, and agricultural lending portfolios. Integrating Vine’s lending platform will enable HSLC to boost accuracy and reduce commercial loan processing time from days to hours.

“HSLC has a true dedication to their community and especially the businesses they serve,” Vine CEO and Co-Founder David Eads said. “A big part of our mission is freeing community bankers up to do what they do best: build relationships with their customers. Chris and his team are a great example of that, and we are proud to support the banks making a difference in their local economies.”

The partnership will give HSLC a single, unified system that covers the entire commercial loan lifecycle. Vine’s platform automates document reading, financial spreading, and document generation, replacing the costly and time-consuming manual processes that continue to plague commercial lending. Vine’s technology will provide HSLC not only with greater efficiency, but also with greater accuracy, as well. The company notes that institutions using its technology have seen accuracy improvements of up to 30%.

Headquartered in Kenton, Ohio, HSLC recently opened doors on new branches in Lexington, Kentucky, where the institution does the lion’s share of its lending to businesses. Founded in 1888, HSLC’s full name is The Home Savings and Loan Company of Kenton, Ohio, and is a mutual financial institution that is owned by its customers.

“When I first heard about Vine, I knew we had an opportunity ahead of us. If there was something out there that could truly cut our loan processing time down from days to just hours, we needed that,” HSLC President, CEO, and Director Chris Jones said. “Anything that streamlines our work and makes us more efficient is a win for us and for our borrowers. We’ve had a great implementation with Vine and look forward to working with them.”

Founded in 2019, Vine Financial is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The company made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateFall in New York, demonstrating its comprehensive Loan Lifecycle platform that uses AI to provide document import, financial analysis, and document generation. Vine Financial notes that its technology enables credit teams to work 5x faster and with 30% greater accuracy.

Vine’s partnership news with HSLC comes just a month after the fintech reported that Oklahoma-based Triad Bank had begun using its commercial lending technology to streamline its lending workflows. Founded in 1983, Triad Bank has $224 million in assets and a pair of branches in south Tulsa, including the institution’s headquarters.

“Vine offers a highly customizable loan analysis platform, allowing us the ability to tailor data inputs, risk metrics, and report outputs to fit our specific underwriting framework and portfolio review strategy,” Triad Bank, Tulsa, SVP Melissa Patocka said. “As a community bank with a credit policy different from a larger institution, Vine was able to adapt to our workflow, making it easy to align the platform with our specific underwriting and analysis needs.”

Photo by Jeremy Doddridge on Unsplash

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Payoneer Taps Stripe to Improve Checkout for Cross-Border Merchants

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 18, 2025
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Payoneer

Payoneer has partnered with Stripe to expand its Online Checkout, giving SMBs selling cross-border direct-to-consumer access to BNPL options and digital wallets.
The partnership will launch in the Asia Pacific where wallets and BNPL are often preferred over credit cards.
Payoneer, which went public in 2021 and has a market cap of around $2.5 billion, has rapidly grown Online Checkout to nearly $1 billion in annual volume.

Global payments company Payoneer is teaming up with payments infrastructure fintech Stripe to improve the checkout experience for global merchants. The strategic partnership will enable Payoneer to expand its Online Checkout offering for merchants selling cross-border goods direct-to-consumer.

Payoneer’s new capabilities will help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) accept more payment methods at their online point of sale. Stripe will help Payoneer facilitate buy now, pay later (BNPL) options like Affirm and Klarna, as well as digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

At launch, Payoneer’s new checkout capabilities will be available in the Asia Pacific region first, including in China and Hong Kong, geographies where digital wallets and BNPL are often preferred over credit cards.

Payoneer and Stripe expect that the partnership will help merchants enhance their customer conversion rates, improve acceptance rates, reduce fraud, and expand payment acceptance options for SMBs selling to direct-to-consumers browsing their own ecommerce sites.

“We are committed to simplifying cross-border online trade for SMBs,” said Payoneer Chief Growth Officer Adam Cohen. “This partnership with Stripe is a strategic step in our journey to expand our Checkout offering and deliver a best-in-class user experience at scale. By combining Payoneer’s local market distribution and expertise with Stripe’s exceptional checkout technology, we’re combining the strengths of both companies to deliver unmatched value to our customers.”

Launching new payment methods will help Payoneer attract SMB merchants, as it can help them compete globally by offering a sophisticated checkout experience with multiple payment options that are often offered by larger retailers.

Payoneer was founded in 2005 to help SMBs transact, do business, and grow globally. The company’s global financial stack helps remove barriers and simplify cross-border commerce to make it easier for businesses to connect to the global economy, pay, get paid, manage their funds across multiple currencies, and grow their businesses.

The New York-based company launched Payoneer Checkout in 2022 and has since scaled from zero to almost $1 billion in run-rate annual volume. From June 2024 to June 2025, Payoneer generated $30 million in revenue, representing over 100% year-over-year growth.

Payoneer went public via a SPAC merger with FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp. in 2021. The company listed on the NASDAQ in June of that same year under the ticker PAYO and has a current market capitalization of approximately $2.5 billion.

Photo by HT_NGUYEN

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FinovateFall: Incentivizing Outperformance and Building Trust with Better Data

By David Penn Posted on August 18, 2025
Categories: FinovateFall 2025

Check out some of the latest additions to our FinovateFall 2025 speaker line-up!

From leveraging AI to streamline workflows to incentivizing outperformance in financial services teams, this year’s crop of FinovateFall Special Addresses tackles many of the critical aspects that determine how well financial institutions engage customers, build and market new solutions, and grow their businesses. Take a look below at who will be speaking from the main stage in just a few weeks time.

FinovateFall 2025 comes to New York’s Marriott Marquis Times Square, September 8 through 10. Get your ticket. Book your room. And join us for three days of live tech demos, insightful keynotes, and networking with hundreds of fellow fintech and financial services professionals.

Growth Amid Uncertainty: How Financial Services Leaders Can Use Incentives to Outperform

Lindsey Bly, Senior Director, Product Marketing, CaptivateIQ, will talk about why outdated compensation structures are eroding growth, and what financial institutions can do to fix this problem. Mon, Sep 8, 11:05 am.

Bly will also explain how firms can use incentive compensation as a flexible tool to better manage market uncertainty, margin pressure, and evolving product priorities.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, CaptivateIQ offers a platform that combines quota, territory, headcount, and compensation into a single, AI-powered workspace that is built for agility, alignment, and scale.

Founded in 2017, CaptivateIQ bridges the gap between incentive compensation management and sales planning.

Sharpen Your Tech Stack: Boost Agility in a Shifting Landscape

Anna Van Erven, Strategic Awareness & Advocacy Lead, Progress ShareFile, will discuss how ensuring that your tech stack is lean and adaptable is key to controlling costs, automating low-value work, and keeping the focus on strategy rather than on software. Mon, Sep 8, 12:20 pm.

Van Erven will also share insights into how companies can audit their own tech stack to help build a resilient, adaptable foundation for the future.

Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, Progress ShareFile provides technology to streamline document and client-facing workflows.

The company’s automation, e-signing, and secure document sharing solutions help businesses become more efficient and collaborate more effectively.

The Hidden Threat in Identity Verification — Why the First Step is Everything

Bryan Lewis, President and Chief Executive Officer, Intellicheck, will explain why the first step in identity verification is the most important and how everything that follows this step is compromised if this initial step is wrong. Tue, Sep 9, 9:25 am.

Lewis also will talk about the key role of the barcode and why facial recognition alone is insufficient as an authentication strategy.

Intellicheck provides an identity validation and proofing service that leverages its proprietary analysis of Department of Motor Vehicles-issued identification documents to build trusted, real-time customer identity verification.

Headquartered in New York, Intellicheck was founded in 1994.

From Chaos to Clarity: A CIO + CEO Conversation on Confident Tech Decisions

UPSTACK’s Chris Trapp (Founder & CEO) and Josh Jewett (Operating Executive) will discuss lessons learned and share practical guidance on their experiences from both sides of the buying table when it comes to investments in everything from AI and cloud technology to CX and enterprise IT. Tue, Sep 9, 12:25 pm.

The two fintech veterans will talk about how financial institutions can cut through vendor noise to move from stalled evaluations to confident action.

Founded in 2017, UPSTACK is a full-service technology brokerage that helps businesses make smarter technology investments.

The company takes a vendor-neutral approach to offer expert advisory and execution across colocation, cloud, connectivity, networking, cybersecurity, AI, and more.

The State of Business Identity: Why Trust Starts with Better Data

Andrea Hong, Head of Product, Middesk, will talk about how fraud risks have never been higher for businesses and how the current identity infrastructure is failing to protect businesses from synthetic identities, shell companies, and more. Tue, Sep 9, 1:40 pm.

Hong will discuss how more companies are leveraging better data and workflows to detect fraud risks earlier and make better decisions across the customer lifecycle.

San Francisco, California-based Middesk offers simple and trusted business onboarding. The company’s technology enables firms to use instant, reliable insights to verify and onboard more business customers faster.

Founded in 2019, Middesk includes fintechs such as Affirm, Brex, Plaid, and Gusto among its customers.

Photo by Jopwell

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 18, 2025
Categories: Fintech Rundown

We’re past the mid-way point of August, and last week brought some notable fintech funding rounds. What will this week bring? Here’s your look at the latest fintech news this week. We’ll continue adding news to this post throughout the week, so stay tuned!

Payments

UAE employees can now receive salaries in digital wallets as UAE telecom operator du launches new platform.

Lending

Finastra supports JICA with Loan IQ to transform private-sector investment finance system in Japan.

Insurtech

UK-based AI insurance broker Meshed raises £950K in pre-seed funding to transform SME insurance market.

Personal finance

PayLaterr partners with Experian to enhance fraud detection and leverage alternative data for smarter budgeting decisions.

Narmi and Grasshopper launch MCP server by a U.S. Bank for AI-driven insights.

Sustainability

Sustainable money app Zero unveils new Zero Carbon Projects feature enabling users to offset their carbon footprint via verified carbon removal projects around the world.

Crypto and DeFi

Tokyo-based fintech JPYC Inc. announces plans to issue Japan’s first stablecoin this fall.

Crypto payments company MoonPay inks multi-year strategic partnership with self-custody crypto wallet Trust Wallet.

Investing

Openbank, a part of the Santander Group, partners with Upvest as its investment infrastructure provider.

Turkey-based retail investing app Midas raises $80 million in Series B funding.

DriveWealth names Naureen Hassan Chief Executive Officer.

Agora expands its fund admin partnerships with Verivest, empowering a new generation of service providers.

Fraud prevention

Canadian digital lender Fig teams up with transaction monitoring and AML compliance company Flagright.

Financial crime detection platform Ivix secures $60 million in Series B funding.

Open banking

Web3 lifestyle app Syfu partners with open banking platform Salt Edge to integrate card data from more than 5,000 banks.

Back end and communications

Eltropy now integrates with over 50 core systems and fintech solutions.

FIS launches Optimized Reconciliation Service to help capital markets adapt to evolving complexity.

Photo by Efrem Efre

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Worldpay Taps Trulioo to Safeguard Agentic Commerce

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 15, 2025
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Trulioo, WorldPay

Worldpay is partnering with Trulioo to bring trust, consent, and accountability to agentic AI commerce, where AI agents shop on behalf of consumers.
The collaboration uses the Know Your Agent (KYA) framework, which is powered by the Digital Agent Passport, to verify agent identities, ensure code integrity, confirm user consent, and monitor agent behavior.
The goal of the partnership is to enable secure, transparent AI-powered transactions with smarter controls for verified agents, real-time fraud detection, and enhanced consumer and merchant confidence.

Payment technology company Worldpay announced this week that it is preparing for a future of agentic AI commerce by partnering with digital identity platform Trulioo. Worldpay selected Trulioo to bring trust, consent, and accountability to AI-powered digital payments.

Because agentic AI commerce involves AI agents that shop on behalf of consumers, it is important to verify agent identities and obtain consent from the human on the other side of the agent. Knowing exactly who is in charge of each aspect of the transaction is key to not only maintaining trust and preventing fraud, but also in staying compliant with regulatory requirements.

“Innovation in payments must always be grounded in integrity and trust,” said Worldpay Chief Product Officer Cindy Turner. “By partnering with Trulioo, we’re delivering the trust infrastructure our ecosystem needs and empowering businesses and consumers to embrace AI-powered commerce with confidence, knowing that safety and transparency are at the heart of every transaction.”

Under today’s partnership, Worldpay and Trulioo will deliver tools that follow the Know Your Agent (KYA) framework to ensure that merchants, payment providers, and consumers can trust agent-based transactions. KYA is powered by Digital Agent Passport, a secure digital ID and trust certificate for AI agents. The certificate confirms who made the agent, ensures their code hasn’t been tampered with, checks that they have user consent, and monitors their behavior continually so merchants can process agent-initiated transactions confidently.

“Agentic commerce has significant potential, but it can only scale with trust built in from the start,” said Trulioo CEO Vicky Bindra. “With Worldpay, we’re laying the foundation for a more secure and accountable digital ecosystem – one where AI agents can operate transparently, and consumers stay in control.”

Adding the new KYA framework will help merchants and platforms create new experiences at the point of sale, including smoother checkout flows and real-time fraud detection, while maintaining security. Additionally, instead of blocking AI agents by default, the partnership offers smart controls that allow verified agents to gain access, while inserting friction for unknown agents, and blocking malicious bots.

As both consumers and merchants face uncertainty in navigating the new world of agentic AI commerce, Trulioo and Worldpay aim to provide a roadmap for inserting trust into the process. By embedding identity verification, consent management, and ongoing monitoring directly into the payment process, the partnership seeks to ensure that AI agents can participate in commerce without sacrificing safety or transparency. The hope is that with a solid trust infrastructure in place, agentic AI can move from experimental novelty to a mainstream, reliable part of the digital economy.

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Jack Henry Teams with Moov to Launch Tap2Local to Facilitate Merchant Acquiring

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 14, 2025
Categories: Banno, Daily news, Jack Henry

Jack Henry is launching Tap2Local in partnership with Moov to enable banks and credit unions to offer small business clients tap-to-pay card acceptance.
Tap2Local is exclusive to financial institutions, offers automated account reconciliation, and doesn’t require any extra hardware.
Tap2Local integrates into the Banno Digital Platform and will roll out to over 1,000 banks and credit unions after closed beta testing.

Small banks are under increasing pressure to match the tech-forward tools offered by larger competitors. Financial services platform Jack Henry is aiming to help them rise to the challenge with its latest solution, which is designed to enable banks and credit unions to provide merchant acquiring services to their small business clients.

The Missouri-based company developed the new tool, Tap2Local, in partnership with payment infrastructure company Moov. With Tap2Local, businesses will be able to accept debit and credit card payments using tap-to-pay, which eliminates the need for hardware. The tap-to-pay functionality is available on both Android and iOS through all major card networks. Tap2Local also offers continuous, automated account reconciliation to the business’ accounting platform of choice.

“Tap2Local is the first new key component of our overall SMB strategy to help banks and credit unions win with small businesses and capture significant new market opportunities,” said Jack Henry President
and CEO Greg Adelson. “This innovative solution integrates with banking services, enabling financial institutions to simplify the payments experience for small businesses, capture more deposits, and win back business from payments-only fintechs.”

Moov’s Tap2Local is offered exclusively through banks and credit unions. The technology, which is in closed beta testing with several financial institutions, will be rolled out to more than 1,000 banks and credit unions using Jack Henry’s Banno Digital Platform over the next several months.

For many small banks, competing with tech capabilities that legacy players offer is more than just a challenge; it has increasingly become a survival issue. Merchant acquiring, in particular, has become a lucrative area dominated by fintechs and large institutions. Tap2Local will help level the playing field.

“Tap2Local helps all small businesses and the millions of people who participate in the gig economy accept card payments face-to-face and on-the-go,” Jack Henry Chief Technology Officer Ben Metz said. “We’ve made it easy for them to enroll through their bank or credit union and start accepting payments in their banking app within minutes. Additionally, our automated accounting feature can save them time, giving them back valuable hours to focus on their passion.”

Moov was founded in 2017 by Wade Arnold, who originally launched Banno in 2008 before selling it to Jack Henry in 2014 for an undisclosed amount. Moov’s cloud-based payment processing technology helps businesses accept, store, send, and spend money through a single integration. The company has built its platform with developers in mind, offering open-source libraries and a growing community.

Photo by Afta Putta Gunawan

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FinovateFall 2025 Sneak Peek Series: Part 4

By Madeline Clines Posted on August 14, 2025
Categories: BankingON, Boucoup, Clarista, FinovateFall 2025, FinovateFall 2025 Sneak Peek, R34DY, Veep Software

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 8 – 10. Register today using this link and save 20%.

Boucoup

Boucoup supercharges youth accounts to drive revenue, increase deposits, and fuel long-term growth—all while keeping the financial institution in full control.

Features

Delivers a seamless core integration that keeps the financial institution’s brand front and center
Offers secure, controlled deposits with full data ownership
Boosts engagement and card usage to drive lasting revenue growth

Who’s it for?

Credit unions and community banks.

Clarista

Clarista transforms fragmented data into real-time AI-powered insights, empowering financial institutions to accelerate decisions, improve compliance, and unlock growth opportunities with built-in trust.

Features

Provides real-time AI insights from all data sources
Includes built-in governance and compliance alignment
Delivers faster, smarter lending and investment decisions

Who’s it for?

Banks, credit unions, asset managers, private equity firms, insurance providers, and other financial institutions.

R34DY

R34DY’s ABLEMENTS integration-as-a-service platform addresses integration problems that financial institutions encounter.

Features

AI-driven system discovery
Unified data without migration
Process automation
Architecture insights
Production flow control

Who’s it for?

Banks, insurance companies, solutions providers, system integrators, neobanks, credit unions, fintechs, payment/EMI providers, embedded finance entities, government entities, and energy companies.

Veep Software

Veep Software’s AI platform for banks and credit unions uses patent-pending risk & wellness scores to deliver real-time funds access and promote financial wellness.

Features

Attracts and retains younger, digitally savvy account holders
Builds trust with AI insights that protect the institution and those they serve
Makes lasting financial wellness simple and achievable

Who’s it for?

Community banks and credit unions.

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5 Things to Know About Stripe’s Move to Build Its Own Blockchain

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 13, 2025
Categories: List series, Thought Leadership

Payments infrastructure company Stripe is moving into the blockchain, according to Forbes, which uncovered a job posting regarding the move. According to the posting, Stripe is planning to launch a payments blockchain called Tempo.

“Tempo is a high-performance, payments-focused blockchain,” the advertisement on the Blockchain Association’s website said. Here’s a look at five things that matter about Stripe’s move, including details about the new blockchain, why it’s launching it now, how it fits into the company’s strategy, what it means for the wider industry, and what’s still unknown.

What is Tempo?

Tempo is a Layer 1 blockchain built from the ground up (as opposed to a fork). A Layer 1 blockchain is the base network in a blockchain ecosystem. It serves as the foundational layer where transactions are processed, validated, and recorded. With Tempo, Stripe is optimizing the network for payments and making it compatible with Ethereum Solidity toolchains, meaning that developers can use the same set of familiar tools they use for Ethereum.

Tempo was built stealthily by a small team of around five people in partnership with crypto VC firm Paradigm. Until the job posting, which was dated August 3, the new project operated under the radar.

Why now? Stripe’s crypto build-out strategy

Launching its own blockchain is Stripe’s latest move into the crypto industry. Stripe has been steadily entering the crypto world, from its acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion, to buying wallet developer Privy in June. Since then, Stripe has also made a non-crypto acquisition, acquiring payment orchestration company Orum in June. Launching Tempo will add the final piece of this equation. Owning its own blockchain rails will give Stripe full control of the payment flow, from the wallet to the payment settlement.

The benefits of building its own blockchain

As with all of its acquisitions, Stripe’s move to create a blockchain from scratch is strategic. Launching Tempo will offer it full-stack control, which will allow Stripe to optimize network speed, lower fees, and integrate with other stablecoins and wallets. Additionally, the custom payments blockchain could displace legacy systems like SWIFT or even FedNow, with faster, cheaper rails. And since Tempo will be compatible with Ethereum it is developer friendly, which means that it will not require new tools or talent to align with its infrastructure.

Bigger implications for payments & crypto

Stripe has been operating in the fintech arena since 2010. With its own blockchain, the company could accelerate mainstream adoption of stablecoins and blockchain payments via a merchant network. The move showcases how traditional fintechs are taking steps to operate in the crypto space. Not only this, but it is also indicative of a new competitive landscape in which fintechs control their own payments rails, disrupting traditional ecommerce and cross-border transactions.

What We Still Don’t Know

Even though it is interesting to speculate on the impacts Tempo will have across the industry, there is still a lot we do not know. Much of this is because the news originated from a job posting, not an official company announcement. Details such as whether Tempo will come with its own native token, how it will be governed, and a clear timeline for the launch are still unknown.

What is clear, however, is that it is worth keeping an eye on Stripe not just as a payments innovator, but also as a player in the crypto arena going forward.

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Mesa Brings Home $24 Million in Funding

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 13, 2025
Categories: Daily news, Funding

Mesa has secured $24 million in strategic funding from Lowe’s, Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, Trinity Capital, and other mortgage industry partners, bringing its total funding to over $33 million since its 2023 launch.
The Texas-based platform rewards homeowners through its fee-free Mesa Homeowners Credit Card and Mesa Mortgage, allowing members to earn points on mortgage payments, home-related spending, and everyday purchases.
Today’s funding will help Mesa accelerate growth by expanding product development, adding industry partners, and growing its team.

Mortgagetech company Mesa announced a $24 million funding round today. The investment comes from Lowe’s and Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, with Trinity Capital and other strategic mortgage lenders and servicers also participating.

Mesa is a homeowner membership platform launched in 2023 with a mission to make homeownership both more affordable and more rewarding. The Texas-based company has spent the past two years building a loyalty ecosystem centered on homeowners. At its core, Mesa offers two standout products:

The Mesa Homeowners Visa Credit Card
The fee-free card allows homeowners to earn 1× Mesa Point for every $1 spent on their monthly mortgage (up to 100,000 points annually), as long as they spend a minimum of $1,000 per month. The card also offers 3× points on home‑related categories (such as home improvement, utilities, and even daycare); 2× points on groceries, gas, and EV charging; and 1× point on other purchases.
Mesa Mortgage
The mortgage product helps users secure a new home loan or refinance their current loan to earn Mesa Points on the principal amount of their mortgage.

CEO and Founder Kelley Halpin said the funding comes at a time when homeowners face mounting financial pressures. “In today’s economy, homeowners are being hit from every angle—high interest rates, insurance premiums, and aging homes in need of repair. We must work across every part of the homeownership ecosystem to drive positive change,” said Mesa CEO and Founder Kelley Halpin. “Together, we’re building a platform that makes it easier for brands to reach this key consumer and puts a lot of value back in the homeowner’s pocket.”

The round boosts Mesa’s total funding to over $33 million since it was founded in 2023. The company will use the investment to fuel its growth by accelerating product development, signing on new partners across industries adjacent to homeownership, and hiring new employees.

“We are proud to partner with the team at Mesa as they work to redefine the homeownership experience,” said Trinity Managing Director of Asset Based Lending Steven Lambe. “Their innovative model not only rewards homeowners but also promotes long-term financial well-being for today’s homebuyers.”

Lowe’s and Paramount Residential Mortgage Group are joining the funding round as strategic investors. The addition of these strategic backers illustrates how Mesa operates at the intersection of financial services, retail, and the home improvement sector. Aligning with partners like these that are key to the homeowner journey will help Mesa expand its reach, enrich its rewards ecosystem, and deepen customer engagement.

Photo by Kelly

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Minerva Brings More Control, Visibility to Sanctions Screening

By David Penn Posted on August 13, 2025
Categories: Alumni News, MinervaAI

Financial crime solutions provider Minerva announced two platform updates to give compliance teams more control and greater visibility when it comes to sanctions and watchlist screening.
The two new features are a screening analytics dashboard and a sanctions list source selection tenant configuration page.
Minerva made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Financial crime solutions provider Minerva recently unveiled a pair of platform updates designed to give compliance teams more control over and greater visibility into sanctions and watchlist screening operations. The company introduced a new screening analytics dashboard that gives users a view into the performance of their screening program. Additionally, Minerva launched a sanctions list source selection tenant configuration page for administrators that allows customers to customize their sanctions list coverage.

“I’m excited to share our latest product update,” Minerva Head of Product Jordan Bibla wrote on the company blog. “We released a new screening analytics dashboard to provide visibility into your screening program’s performance over time. We also rolled out sanctions list source selection to provide control over which underlying sanctions sources you screen against.”

Minerva’s new screening analytics dashboard now features a Current Snapshot view that provides point-in-time profile metrics including total profile count, monitored count, and escalation, acceptance, and rejection rates. This information will help compliance teams see exactly how well their screening program is performing. The dashboard also provides charts that show historical trends to let users see how profile statuses are changing over time. This feature enables compliance teams to more readily identify patterns and track performance.

The platform also now has a tenant configuration page to enable users with administrative access to empower customers to customize their sanctions list coverage based on their individual compliance requirements. The new page features Source Management, which enables administrative users to deselect sanctions lists that are not relevant for their screening program; Regional Filtering, which displays both active and inactive sources and can be filtered by geographic region; and Tenant-Wide Application, which enables selections to apply to the entire tenant for ongoing monitoring and risk assessment searches to provide consistency across the entire screening program.

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Minerva made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York. At the conference, the company demonstrated how its AI-powered AML platform provides accurate sanctions and watchlist screening, KYC, KYB, enhanced due diligence, and ongoing monitoring insights in seconds. Use cases for Minerva’s technology include not just AML compliance in banking, but also in industries such as real estate, law enforcement, cryptocurrency exchanges, payments facilitators, and more.

Minerva began the year with the news that it had partnered with financial crime and compliance automation platform Hummingbird to integrate Minerva’s screening data directly into the Hummingbird platform. This will enable Hummingbird users to access comprehensive global screening for sanctions, politically exposed persons (PEPs), open source intelligence (OSINT), and adverse media. This spring, Minerva introduced its Automated Screening Workflow solution that automates as much as 97% of screening activity.

Photo by Arturo Castaneyra on Unsplash

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1Kosmos Raises $57 Million in Series B Funding for Identity-First Security

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 12, 2025
Categories: 1Kosmos, Alumni News, Daily news, Funding

1Kosmos has secured $57 million in Series B funding for its passwordless identity verification technology.
The company will use the investment, which includes a $10 million line of credit from Bridge Bank, to fuel product innovation, expand integrations with IAM, CIAM, PAM, and zero trust platforms, and accelerate global growth.
Today’s momentum comes amid recent achievements for the company, including FedRAMP High and Kantara certification, a $194.5 million Login.gov contract, and a Microsoft Entra ID integration.

Passwordless identity verification company 1Kosmos raised $57 million this week in a Series B round. The investment, which boosts the company’s total funding to $72 million, consists of a $10 million line of credit from Bridge Bank, as well as contributions from Forgepoint Capital and Origami’s Oquirrh Ventures, which led the round, and Craig Abod, NextEra Energy Ventures, Gula Tech Adventures, and the 1Kosmos management team.

“Identity has become the first step in the kill chain. This investment allows us to strengthen the proactive controls organizations need to prevent impersonation-based attacks—whether it’s a sophisticated hacking group or a state-sponsored developer hiding in plain sight,” said 1Kosmos CEO Hemen Vimadalal, noting the rise in impersonation-based attacks from sophisticated hacking groups and state-sponsored actors. “1Kosmos identity verification is the only practical solution that can be quickly deployed in a matter of hours to effectively combat this threat.”

1Kosmos will use the funds to advance product innovation; deepen technology integrations with identity and access management (IAM), customer identity and access management (CIAM), privileged access management (PAM), and zero trust platforms; and accelerate global expansion across North America, EMEA, and APAC.

Founded in 2018, 1Kosmos uses live biometrics to facilitate passwordless access for workers, customers, and citizens to digital services. The company’s BlockID platform creates a distributed digital identity that prevents identity impersonation, account takeover, and fraud while reducing friction. 1Kosmos’ technology performs millions of authentications each day for some of the largest banks, telecommunications, and healthcare organizations across the globe.

“The mission at 1Kosmos since its inception has stayed remarkably focused on providing individuals with a secure digital identity, one they control and use to prevent identity fraud when accessing digital services,” said Forgepoint Capital Managing Director Ernie Bio. “As the largest investor in the company, we are proud of their track record of innovation and delighted to see their accelerating growth.”

1Kosmos’ announcement comes amid a string of successes. Recent wins for the New Jersey-based company include:

Integrating its BlockID platform with Microsoft Entra ID for streamlined identity and access management.
Becoming the only full-service Kantara-certified credential service provider with FedRAMP High authorization, making it eligible for the US government’s most security-sensitive workloads.
Winning a 10-year, $194.5 million blanket purchase agreement, in partnership with Carahsoft, to supply identity proofing for Login.gov.

As organizations seek to eliminate passwords and reduce identity fraud, while improving the customer experience, 1Kosmos’ biometrics-driven approach positions it to capture the identity verification market. With fresh funding and new federal certifications, the Best of Show-winning company is aiming to scale quickly across North America, EMEA, and APAC.

Photo by George Becker

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