More Than $1.5 Billion Raised by 37 Alums in Q2 2018

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings

 

Best funding quarter for Finovate alums to date.

There’s no other way to put it. With more than $1.5 billion raised by 37 alums, the second quarter of 2018 is twice as large as the previous year’s Q2. Not only that, but this year’s second quarter is also the biggest quarter for equity funding in Finovate history, ranking among our “unicorn” quarters of more than $1 billion raised.

Previous Quarterly Comparisons

  • Q2 2017: More than $726 million raised by 25 alums
  • Q2 2016: More than $510 million raised by 23 alums
  • Q2 2015: More than $840 million raised by eight alums
  • Q2 2014: More than $458 million raised by eight alums

Previous Billion Dollar Quarters

  • Q1 2018: More than $1.32 billion raised by 26 alums
  • Q3 2017: More than $1 billion raised by 31 alums
  • Q3 2015: More than $1 billion raised by 40 alums

Which alums topped the funding ranks in the second quarter? There were a number of triple digit investments over the past few months, including a pair of quarter billion dollar investments picked up by digital bank Revolut and business commerce innovator Tradeshift. But the biggest alum funding in Q2 2018 was the $360 million raised by low code app development platform OutSystems, which presented its technology at our developers conference, FinDEVr, last year.

Combined, the top ten equity investments for the quarter add up to $1.3 billion, representing 86% of the total alum funding for Q2.

Top Ten Equity Investments for Q2 2018

  • OutSystems: $360 million
  • Revolut: $250 million
  • Tradeshift: $250 million
  • LendStreet: $117 million
  • Signifyd: $100 million
  • BlueVine: $60 million
  • WorkFusion: $50 million
  • Unison: $40 million
  • Tango Card: $35 million
  • Qapital: $30 million

Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q2 2018. Interestingly, the amount raised in June 2018 alone – more than $716 million – is greater than all but two previous second quarters.

April 2018: More than $370 million raised by 11 alums

May 2018: More than $434 million raised by 11 alums

June 2018: More than $716 million raised by 15 alums

f you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the second quarter of 2018, and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at [email protected]. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.

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Fortytwo Data Upgrades Entity Screening Platform

Fortytwo Data Upgrades Entity Screening Platform
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Fortytwo Data

Fortytwo Data, the London-based anti-money laundering (AML) and client screening platform provider, introduced an enhanced version of its Sanction Screening Augmentation platform this week. The upgrade means that the company’s entity screening technology is now capable of reducing false positives by up to 93%.

In a press release, the company noted that false positives are a major pain point for companies, making AML and sanctions screening more expensive. Fortytwo Data leverages machine learning and automatic rule generation to improve the rate of false positive detection by more than 30%. Working with a FTSE 100 company, Fortytwo Data was able to reduce the number of AML false positives the company was having to manually check with its legacy system from 5% of all entities to less than 0.5%. Similar results were found when Fortytwo Data applied its technology to the firm’s sanction screening process.

Fortytwo Data Chief AI Officer Luca Primerano demonstrating its Customer Screening and Transaction Monitoring Enhancement technology at FinovateEurope 2018.

Fortytwo Data CEO Julian Dixon acknowledged the challenges executives face in trying to clear the regulatory bar when it comes to monitoring and due diligence. “However, the technology has already caught up enough to make our platform, the only truly AI off-the-shelf solution in the world, the most cost-efficient solution,” Dixon said.

“It is a myth that large companies need to spend millions of pounds updating their systems and there are millions of pounds to be saved,” Dixon added. ” Legacy systems don’t even need to be replaced – they just bolt together.”

Dixon noted that the company’s technology was making an impact “not just inside financial firms, but (with) cutting edge bluechips in a variety of sectors” as well.

Fortytwo Data demonstrated its end-to-end AML transaction monitoring and client screening platform at FinovateEurope 2018 earlier this year. The company’s solutions are used by banks, financial service providers, and businesses in other highly regulated sectors to lower operational and reputational risk to their enterprises as well as cut costs.

With £2 million in funding, Fortytwo Data includes BIG IDEAS GROUP among its investors. This spring, the company appointed Luca Primerano as Chief AI Officer.

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Sberbank Now Supports Google Pay

Sberbank Now Supports Google Pay
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Sberbank

Russia-based financial services organization Sberbank is making online payments easier for its clients with a new collaboration this week. The bank is integrating with Google Pay, making it the first bank in Russia to do so. The move is expected to bring Sberbank’s payment method to top-of-wallet in ecommerce shops that offer Google Pay.

When they’re ready to make a purchase at an online point of sale, Sberbank users simply need to log into Google Pay, select their previously saved payment method, and confirm the transaction. The service is available via native apps, as well as on mobile and web interfaces with major internet browsers.

Sberbank acquiring and bank card division director Svetlana Kirsanova noted that the feature will help users save time when shopping online by offering a more user friendly interface. “In the modern world, the speed and easiness of making purchases are the priority, and that’s why Sberbank is focused on introducing technology that helps to avoid performing additional actions and lets purchases be made in seconds,” Kirsanova added.

At FinovateSpring 2016 Sberbank launched Sberbank Messenger, which is built on top of the bank’s digital ecosystem and enables consumers to chat and seamlessly send money to one another. The service also allows businesses to interact with consumers using both human respondents and chatbots, and enables consumers to purchase goods and services without leaving the chat dialogue.

Established in 1841, the bank has 260,000 employees and serves more than 110 million clients, equivalent to 70% of Russia’s population, through 16,000+ branches.

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Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Twisto

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • UAE’s Foloosi introduces cashless transactions via digital wallet.
  • Revenue management specialist SunTec partners with UAE’s Mashreq Bank.
  • Jumhouria Bank of Libya to deploy reconciliation management technology from SmartStream Technologies.

Latin America

  • Fintech Futures takes a look at Mexico’s preparation for implementation of its new fintech law.
  • TyN Magazine profiles Argentine P2P lender, TuTasa. In Spanish.
  • Bermuda’s government to amend banking laws to support new class of banks to work with local fintech and blockchain startups.

Asia

  • Bloomberg investigates the challenges Singapore is facing in trying to meet its fintech aspirations at a time of stiff competition for engineering talent.
  • Will China step up regulations on its P2P lending industry?
  • Lattice80 and SuperCharger team up to develop bridge between fintechs in Singapore and fintechs in Hong Kong.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian logistics startup Kobo360 picks up $1.2 million in pre-seed funding; announces launch of Kobo Wealth Investment Network, a crowd investing vehicle financing program.
  • Creamer Media’s Engineering News looks at how policymaking in South Africa will affect fintech innovation in the country.
  • Nuadox features its seven African fintech startups to follow in 2018.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Silicon Republic features expense-tracking tool BudgetBakers, PFM solution Spendee, and financial services provider for the underserved Twisto in its list of 10 Outstanding Start-ups from Prague to Watch.
  • Blockchain innovator Billon is the first Polish company to be featured in the FinTech 50.
  • Bank of Lithuania introduces regtech solution to make it easier for companies to remotely apply for e-money and payment institution licenses.

Top image designed by Freepik

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Azimo, CREALOGIX, Fortytwo Data, Jack Henry, Munnypot, Onist, Quovo, Revolut, Sberbank, ThreatMetrix

On Finovate.com

  • Fortytwo Data Upgrades Entity Screening Platform.

Around the web

  • Munnypot honored for Best Website DFM/WM and Most Innovative Robo Advice/Guidance Proposition at the Investment Marketing and Innovation Awards 2018.
  • ThreatMetrix announces a new 3D Secure 2.0 offering as part of its summer 2018 release.
  • CREALOGIX takes over remaining 80% of ELAXY Business Solution & Services from Fiducia & GAD.
  • Azimo enables customers in Nordic countries to transfer money to accounts in 10 new countries in Eastern Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
  • Inverse highlights Revolut’s planned U.S. launch.
  • Jack Henry & Associates named a top workplace by The Tennessean for fourth consecutive year

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Shoppers Can Now Order Ahead with Yoyo

Shoppers Can Now Order Ahead with Yoyo
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Yoyo

U.K. payment and loyalty app startup Yoyo Wallet is saving users time by letting them skip the line. This news comes thanks to a partnership with Preoday, a digital ordering and pre-payment technology company.

With the new integration of Preoday’s order ahead solution, Yoyo wallet users can pre-order their food and beverage at participating retailers using the Yoyo app. This move will help small and medium retailers compete with popular brands such as Starbucks and Wetherspoons that offer this option.

Yoyo CEO Michael Rolph explained that the company has democratized customer information, making the data available to small, local retailers. “Through our partnership with Preoday we can now do the same when it comes to offering the most enhanced personalised customer services to retailers and caterers, big or small,” he said. “By creating a frictionless payment, loyalty and order ahead experience, based on consumer identity and purchasing preferences, Yoyo is now acting as the engine of business growth for our partners.”

Yoyo was founded in 2013 and is now available at more than 70 universities, in 200+ workplace food service locations, and at major retailers including Caffè Nero, Planet Organic, Harris + Hoole, HOP Vietnamese, and Wrap it Up. The company processes more than 2 million transactions per month for its more than 800,000 users.

Yoyo started as a pilot project at Imperial College and recently demoed retailer-specific bank card loyalty at FinovateEurope 2018. The new solution leverages open banking to match card transactions with a retailer’s till transactions in real time to link a customer’s purchases with their card payment. It applies its loyalty engine to the matched purchases and rewards the customer as if they had paid using the Yoyo app.

The company has raised $30.3 million from Metro Group, Touchstone Innovations, Woodford, and Firestarter. Earlier this spring, Yoyo was named Best Mobile Payment Solution at the Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards.

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Temenos Teams with Open Banking API Platform LUXHUB

Temenos Teams with Open Banking API Platform LUXHUB
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Temenos

Banking software firm Temenos initiated a collaboration today with Luxembourg-based LUXHUB, a European open banking platform formed by four major Luxembourgish retail banks.

Through the partnership, the two aim to not only help banks meet PSD2 standards but also leverage additional opportunities available via APIs. Under PSD2, which went into effect January 13 of this year, European banks face new regulations that require real-time, 24×7 API support as well as scalability to deal with higher transaction volumes and queries.

Steen Jensen, Managing Director at Temenos, said, “Temenos brings to the table the full technology capabilities and architecture that enables financial institutions to easily comply with the directive, but also take advantage of the new business models that might arise in the future due to PSD2. We look forward to working with LUXHUB to offer our client community more opportunities to take advantage of the new API economy.”

Jacques Putz, CEO of LUXHUB added, “By collaborating with service providers like Temenos, we are bringing that PSD2 compliance straight to your core.”

Founded in 1993, Temenos debuted its Connect Mobile Banking application at FinovateEurope 2015 in London. The solutions combines native and web technologies to develop mobile apps that look, feel, and behave like native apps. The company’s systems serve more than 2,000 clients in over 150 countries. Temenos has a market capitalization of more than $10.4 billion.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Digital Onboarding, Enveil, Ixaris, Jack Henry, Revolut, SocietyOne, Temenos, Trunomi, Yoyo

On Finovate.com

  • Temenos Teams with Open Banking API Platform LUXHUB.

Around the web

  • Revolut and Trunomi earn recognition at the Europas Awards.
  • Enveil announces ZeroReveal Compute Fabric technology that offers organizations an encrypted data platform to protect against Nation-state level threats.
  • The Financial Brand features Digital Onboarding.
  • Jack Henry & Associates promotes Mark Forbis to EVP and CTO.
  • Jason Yetton moves on from SocietyOne after two years as CEO (paywall).

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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New Investment Takes ThetaRay’s Total Capital to More than $60 Million

New Investment Takes ThetaRay’s Total Capital to More than $60 Million
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, ThetaRay

Advanced cyber security solution provider ThetaRay has raised $30+ million in funding courtesy of investors including Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), GE, Bank Hapoalim, OurCrowd, and SVB. The investment takes the company’s total equity capital to more than $60 million.

“In this era when criminal activity and money laundering are increasing and becoming more sophisticated and also regulation is on the rise, there is a greater demand for our solutions,” ThetaRay CEO Mark Gazit explained. “As the amount of digital information grows, you just can’t protect it without artificial intelligence systems. ThetaRay offers the most advanced and mature solutions to detect threats before they happen. We thank the existing investors, especially JVP, for their confidence in ThetaRay, and welcome the new ones joining in this round.”

ThetaRay, which has doubled in size every year in its five years of operation, will use the new funding to grow its presence in Europe, Asia, and the U.S., and “significantly increase” its workforce to scale operations to meet growing demand. Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in Israel and New York City, and has offices in the U.K. and Singapore.

Combining machine learning, artificial intelligence, and “the wisdom of the algorithm crowd,” ThetaRay enables financial institutions to detect in real-time the kind of anomalies that typically indicate fraud, while reducing the number of false positives. The company provides financial services companies with anti-money laundering, fraud detection, and ATM solutions that leverage unsupervised machine learning instead of outdated rule-based systems and pre-defined thresholds.

“Existing systems fall short of addressing the agility and innovation of rogue organizations, fraudsters and hackers,” JVP General Partner Yoav Tzruya said. “ThetaRay is uniquely positioned to address this significant market pain, through its no-rules, holistic, AI-driven solution to identify such events, while significantly reducing the operating cost for banks.” Tzruya is also a founding investor in ThetaRay.

ThetaRay demonstrated its fraud and credit risk technology at FinovateFall 2015. Last month, the company announced that it was teaming up with ABN AMRO in a five-year project to improve the AML and counter-terrorist financing capabilities of the Dutch bank. Also in June, ThetaRay was honored with the Next Generation ATM Security Award from ATMIA.

In addition to financial services, ThetaRay’s anomaly detection technology has also been deployed in Industrial Internet of Things (Industrial IoT) contexts to help protect critical assets such as turbines, sensors, aircraft engines, and more.

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Synchrony to Buy PayPal’s Consumer Credit Receivables

Synchrony to Buy PayPal’s Consumer Credit Receivables
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: PayPal

Building on its 14-year strong relationship with PayPal, Synchrony Financial has officially become the exclusive issuer of PayPal credit in the U.S. for the next 20 years. Connecticut-based Synchrony has agreed to buy $7.6 billion in PayPal’s receivables for $6.9 billion.

The sale, which was originally announced in November of 2017, consists of PayPal’s U.S. consumer credit receivables portfolio, totaling $6.8 billion, as well as $0.8 billion in participation interests in receivables held by unaffiliated third parties.

Synchrony has issued PayPal-branded credit cards to consumers since 2004 and the two have expanded that agreement to include the PayPal Extras Mastercard and the PayPal Cashback Mastercard through 2028.

In the press release, Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal said, “Our agreement with Synchrony accomplishes every goal we set out for our asset light strategy. We look forward to working with Synchrony to double down on our innovative consumer credit experiences for our customers and profitably grow the portfolio over time.”

As Schulman alluded to in his comment about the company’s “asset light strategy,” this move frees up liquidity for PayPal, enabling it to use the cash to invest in other areas of its business or perhaps to fuel additional acquisitions. The California-based company has been on a buying spree as of late– having made two acquisitions days apart last month (Hyperwallet followed by Simility), marking PayPal’s fifth acquisition in the past two years for a total of 17.

A familiar face in the alternative banking space, PayPal was founded in 1998. PayPal’s Braintree presented at FinDEVr New York 2016. The company also showcased its Instant Account Creation feature at FinovateFall 2012. PayPal’s market cap sits at $98 billion.

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ezbob Lands Undisclosed Investment from Honeycomb Investment Trust

ezbob Lands Undisclosed Investment from Honeycomb Investment Trust
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: EZBOB, Funding

Alternative business lending company ezbob closed a round of equity funding this week. The amount of the financing was undisclosed and boosts the U.K.-based startup’s total combined debt and equity funding higher than its previous total of $136 million (£103 million). Of that amount, $50.3+ million (£38.2+ million) is equity and $81.9 million (£62.2 million) is debt.

Today’s Series C funds come from Honeycomb Investment Trust, which is managed by Pollen Street Capital, one of the leading investors focused on lending startups. Lindsey McMurray, Pollen Street founding partner, will join ezbob’s Board of Directors. ezbob will use the funds to build out a more robust automated lending portfolio and to expand into new geographical territory.

Regarding McMurray’s involvement, Tomer Guriel, founder and CEO of ezbob said, “Our initial focus is on the SME community, many of whom struggle to acquire the financial support they need to achieve their personal and professional business development goals. My vision is to create a portfolio of innovative solutions which streamline and accelerate the entire lending process for both the borrowers and loan providers. With the support of highly experienced individuals like Lindsey, together with the new funding, there is nothing to stop us from turning our shared vision into a sustainable reality.”

“We have watched ezbob develop from being a niche player into a leading lending platform provider,” said McMurray. “ezbob are pioneers in this space and I believe both the financial institutions, and the businesses they support will derive significant benefits from this new and innovative approach to lending,” she added.

In addition to lending directly to small businesses in need of capital, ezbob offers banks a lending-as-a service platform for their small business banking customers. Esme Loans and Clydesdale Yorkshire Bank are among the company’s clients.

Founded in 2011, ezbob has 70 employees across offices in London, Tel Aviv, and Bulgaria. At FinovateEurope 2014, Guriel demonstrated ezbob’s online application process. The company started this year off on the right foot with the announcement of a $21 million funding round. Late last year, ezbob won an award for “Best Technology Initiative” at the Financial Innovation Awards.

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Paysend Seals Deal on $20 Million Financing

Paysend Seals Deal on $20 Million Financing
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, PaySend

 

In a round led by MARCorp Financial, global money transfer platform Paysend has raised $20 million in new funding. The company said that the capital, which takes the company’s total to $23 million, will help it launch new services and expand globally.

“Paysend has created the first integrated B2B and B2C global payments business which is already disrupting the market,” said MARCorp Financial Chairman Michael Fazio. “Their three businesses – Global Transfers, Global Account, and Global Processing – are leaders in their respective fields. We look forward to being a part of the next stage of Paysend’s growth.”

Paysend CEO Europe Ronald Millar demonstrating the Paysend Global Account at FinovateSpring 2018.

Via its Global Transfers service, Paysend enables card-to-card money transfers from customers in more than 60 countries. With the recipient’s name and a 16-digit card number, cardholders can make fast, secure, low-cost money transfers 24/7. Paysend charges a fixed rate for international transactions regardless of the amount transferred. Recipients can withdraw cash from millions of ATMs around the world, and pay by card at any merchant that accepts Visa or Mastercard. The service is accessible via both an iOS and Android app as well as online.

Global Account, demonstrated live at FinovateSpring 2018 in May, provides a digital wallet for both fiat and crypto currencies. The solution enables fund transfer between currencies as well as sending money to other Global Accounts or crypto wallets, and making online and in-person payments. The account comes with a prepaid card, physical and virtual, that can be linked to any of the currencies in the account, enabling the user to pay with both fiat and crypto currencies. Cardholders can also withdraw cash from the account in 125 different currencies.

Paysend’s Global Processing division processes credit and debit cards, and helps boost revenue for merchants by taking what the company calls a “data-driven approach to customer shopping.”

“I am proud of what we have achieved to date, and what we have planned for the future,” Paysend CEO Europe Ronald Millar said. “We are the only global card-to-card platform, and the technological and operational expertise required to create that could only have come from an executive team with special knowledge, creativity and ambition – our team.”

London, U.K.-based Paysend announced a number of major service expansions this year including launches in Turkey in June, in Israel in May, and in both Canada and the UAE in April. Nigeria was added in February. Paysend’s partnership with China UnionPay, announced back in December, enabled card-to-card transfers to China.

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