Dotfile Teams Up with Trustfull to Tackle Synthetic Identity Fraud

Dotfile Teams Up with Trustfull to Tackle Synthetic Identity Fraud
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Dotfile
  • Business verification specialist Dotfile has teamed up with fraud prevention firm Trustfull.
  • The partnership will integrate Trustfull’s risk-scoring API within Dotfile’s business verification platform to help businesses fight synthetic identity fraud.
  • Headquartered in Paris, France, Dotfile demoed its technology at FinovateEurope 2024 in London.

End-to-end business verification company Dotfile has partnered with fraud prevention firm Trustfull to help fight a synthetic fraud problem that analysts believe will cost businesses $23 billion by 2030.

“As the lines between AML compliance and fraud prevention continue to blur, financial institutions are increasingly looking for integrated solutions to help them stay ahead of risk without compromising user experience,” Dotfile CEO Vasco Alexandre said. “In Trustfull, we’ve found the ideal partner to meet that need. Our teams share a clear vision for secure, seamless onboarding and a deep commitment to customer-centricity, making our collaboration a success from day one.”

Synthetic identity fraud takes place when fraudsters combine authentic and counterfeit personal information to create fake user profiles and bypass standard identity verification checks. The partnership will integrate Trustfull’s risk-scoring API within Dotfile’s business verification platform. This will enable clients to identify synthetic identities and other suspicious behavior discreetly and in real time. Trustfull’s AI agents leverage the analysis of hundreds of open source intelligence datapoints from users’ phone numbers, emails, IP addresses, and web domains to flag high-risk signups and bolster KYC, KYB, and AML workflows.

For businesses onboarding customers at scale—such as traditional and challenger banks, BNPL providers, crypto platforms, and payment providers—the new integrated solution from Dotfile and Trustfull will help them find a balance between effective fraud fighting and a seamless customer experience. Trustfull’s risk scoring functionality is currently available to both new and existing Dotfile customers, providing a unified solution that combines risk scoring, fraud prevention, ID verification, UBO mapping, AML screening, and onboarding workflows in a single streamlined offering.

“Getting onboarding right is non-negotiable for today’s digital companies,” Trustfull CEO Marko Maras said. “By integrating Trustfull’s risk scoring solution within Dotfile’s market-leading platform, we’re giving fintechs a single, integrated way to detect and stop synthetic identities and high-risk users at the first touchpoint with the customer, preventing fraud while protecting signup conversion in one single step.”

Trustfull analyzes digital footprint data from customer interactions to help businesses reduce risk and accelerate growth. The company’s technology leverages combined and silent phone, email, IP, device, browser, and domain checks to identify fraud and financial crime across the customer journey. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Milan, Italy, Trustfull receives more than one million API requests a day, and leverages 500+ open data sources to provide a 95% fraud detection rate. With more than $13 million in capital raised, Trustfull counts ING Bank, Scalapay, and Elavon among its enterprise clients.

Headquartered in Paris, France, and founded in 2021, Dotfile demonstrated its end-to-end business verification platform at FinovateEurope 2024. Dotfile’s technology enables businesses to streamline the verification and onboarding process, automatically evaluating risk profiles and addressing and managing risk in real time. Companies using Dotfile’s platform can automate KYB and AML processes, reduce fraud, access quality data, and secure compliance all from a single platform.

Dotfile serves more than 80 financial institutions across 15 countries. With 3x year-over-year revenue growth, the French fintech has raised €8.5 million ($9.8 million) in funding from investors including Serena Capital and Seaya Ventures.

Join us in London for FinovateEurope 2026, February 10 through 11! Pick up your ticket by Friday, November 14 and take advantage of big, early-bird savings!

Photo by GuerrillaBuzz on Unsplash

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FintechOS and Finastra Forge Strategic Partnership to Modernize Account Originations

FintechOS and Finastra Forge Strategic Partnership to Modernize Account Originations
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Finastra, FintechOS
  • FintechOS and Finastra have forged a strategic partnership designed to modernize the account origination process for small businesses and consumers.
  • The partnership will integrate the Finastra Phoenix core system and MalauzAI Digital Banking into the FintechOS platform.
  • Finastra was formed via a merger between D+H Corporation and Finovate alum Misys in 2017. FintechOS has been a Finovate alum since FinovateFall 2021.

A newly announced strategic partnership between FintechOS and Finastra will help modernize the account origination process for small businesses and consumers. The pact will integrate both the Finastra Phoenix core system and MalauzAI Digital Banking into the FintechOS platform to make the account opening process faster, easier, and more secure for both in-person and online applicants.

“Our collaboration with Finastra is a direct response to the market’s demand for faster innovation,” FintechOS SVP of Growth Ash Govindia said. “By integrating our low-code digital onboarding and origination platform with Finastra’s core system, we are empowering financial institutions to launch sophisticated, customer-centric products in weeks, not months.”

The combination of a reliable core and digital banking system with a low-code origination platform and AI-powered product engine will help institutions avoid issues common to both traditional and online account opening processes. The integration will enable Finastra customers to configure pricing, tiers, bundles, and eligibility rules, and publish them to mobile, web, and banker-assisted journeys. This will reduce time to market and make operations less complex. The combined capabilities will be available to joint customers of both companies.

“Our goal is to help community and regional financial institutions deliver compelling experiences wherever customers engage,” Finastra General Manager, US Core and Digital Banking, Joe Gomez, said. “FintechOS complements Phoenix and MalauzAI by adding a flexible product and pricing layer that simplifies account opening while supporting personalized offers across channels. Together we make it easier to innovate while maximizing existing investments.”

Headquartered in London, Finastra leverages its expertise in lending, payments, universal banking, treasury, and capital markets to provide software solutions to more than 8,000 customers in more than 130 countries. This includes 45 of the world’s top 50 banks. Formed in a merger between Misys and D+H Corporation in 2017, the company recently announced a partnership with Belize Bank Group, which has deployed the company’s cloud-native core banking solution, Essence.

FintechOS made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2021 and returned to the stage earlier this year for FinovateFall 2025. Based in London and founded in 2017, the company offers an AI-driven product engine that integrates seamlessly into banks’ existing systems. The technology features low-code capabilities and composable architecture that facilitate rapid digital transformation and innovation without replacing current core infrastructure. Last month, the company announced that it has forged a strategic partnership with HCLTech to accelerate digital transformation and core modernization for banks and insurers.

Photo by Lukas

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CB Insights on Insurtech in Q3: Deals Down, M&A Up

CB Insights on Insurtech in Q3: Deals Down, M&A Up
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: David's column, Report series

CB Insights is out with its State of Insurtech Q3’25 report. The top takeaway? With the total number of deals down and merger and acquisition activity at record highs, the insurtech industry appears to be reorganizing to maximize the opportunities of scale, digital modernization, and market reach.

Deals Down

According to CB Insights’ research, the number of insurtech deals dropped to its lowest level since the second quarter of 2016. Q3’25 featured 76 insurtech deals, 65% less than the industry’s peak of 219 deals in the first quarter of 2021.

In addition to the number of deals being down, the median insurtech deal size has also decreased on a year-to-date basis from $3.8 million in 2024 to $2.9 million in 2025. The report indicates that a diminished early-stage pipeline is to blame. Year-to-date, 60% of all deals have gone to early-stage startups, the lowest deal-share percentage since 2011.

Lastly, the number of active investors in insurtech in Q3’25 shrank to the fewest since the first quarter of 2017. Especially notable was the quarter-over-quarter decline in investors making multiple investments, from 13 in Q2’25 to 4 in Q3’25.

Mergers and Acquisitions Up

At the same time, M&A activity in insurtech was on a tear, reaching its highest levels in three years. There were 21 insurtech M&A deals in Q3’25—the most since Q3’22 when there were 23 deals. This compares favorably to 16 deals in Q2’25. The report notes that the gains in the third quarter of this year helped reverse a trend of decreasing M&A activity between 2022 and 2024.

Among the biggest deals of the quarter were Arthur J. Gallagher’s $2.9 billion acquisition of AssuredPartners and Advent International’s $2.5 billion acquisition of Sapiens. Other major deals of the quarter include Hong Kong-based Sun Life’s additional investment in Bowtie and Zurich Insurance Group’s acquisition of cyber insurance and risk management insurtech BOXX.

The reasons for the uptick in M&A activity are varied and interesting. Some analysts have suggested that business leaders are becoming increasingly confident in dealing with uncertainty and have embraced a “move through uncertainty” mentality, in the words of WTW analyst Jana Mercereau. Other factors include high stock market valuations, which can facilitate acquisitions; relatively stable interest rates; and the relatively weak M&A period from 2022 to 2024. The drive for digital modernization also plays a role. For its part, CB Insights offers an intriguing idea that the relative lack of attention from investors gave established insurance companies the opportunity to “engage more closely with emerging insurtechs.”

Insurtech in Q4 and Beyond

Heading into the final quarter of the year, there are a number of questions for insurtechs and many of them mirror concerns and issues in fintech more broadly. Which companies are actually putting AI to work in interesting use cases, and which are still in a pilot phase purgatory? How well are investors and establishment insurance companies recognizing where the value lies? How will evolving regulatory requirements incentivize regtechs to develop innovative compliance solutions for insurers? These are some of the questions that come to mind when reading CB Insights latest insurtech report. It will be interesting to see how the events of the fourth quarter and beyond help us answer them.

Read the full report—CB Insights: State of Insurtech Q3’25

Photo by Scott Webb

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Fintech Rundown

We have two more weeks until the holiday season slowdown, but the fintech news pulse is already beginning to slacken. So far this week, we’re seeing a lot of news in the fraud and compliance spaces, as well as the payments subsector, with Visa and Mastercard reaching a revised $38 billion settlement with merchants. Here is some of the biggest news from this week so far. We’ll continue adding news to this post throughout the week, so stay tuned!

Fraud and security

Agent IQ enhances fraud prevention capabilities with integrated risk-based authentication platform from IDScan.net.

P1FCU strengthens security and member experience with IllumaSHIELD’s Voice Authentication.

Compliance

Solutions By Text launches its first customer with Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging.

Payments

PayPal brings no-fee Buy Now Pay Later offering to Canada.

Block enables Bitcoin payments for millions of Square sellers.

Visa, Mastercard reach new swipe fee settlement with merchants.

Back Office

Digits automates the monthly close with AI bank reconciliations.

DeFi

Coinbase launches new platform for early access to digital tokens.

Photo by Karola G

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Paystand Acquires Bitwage to Boost Stablecoin Settlement Capabilities

Paystand Acquires Bitwage to Boost Stablecoin Settlement Capabilities
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, PayStand
  • Paystand has acquired Bitwage to create a Global Autonomous Finance Network that combines accounts receivable, accounts payable, FX, and treasury management into one decentralized system.
  • The deal strengthens Paystand’s stablecoin capabilities, enabling instant global payments, on-chain treasury management, and lower transaction costs for businesses operating across borders.
  • As stablecoin adoption surges, today’s deal validates that stablecoins are not speculative assets, but rather reliable, programmable payment instruments.

Cloud-based billing and payment platform Paystand is acquiring blockchain payments company Bitwage this week. The California-based company will leverage Bitwage to build a Global Autonomous Finance Network to offer a decentralized, programmable foreign exchange and treasury engine.

Bitwage was founded in 2014 and has since helped more than 90,000 workers and 4,500 businesses send and receive payments across almost 200 countries. The company facilitates stablecoins, bitcoin, and fiat currencies, linking both sides of the ledger in one programmable platform.

Founded in 2013, Paystand was created to eliminate fees, digitize the cash cycle, and create a self-driving money experience for businesses. The company offers B2B payments and billing capabilities, helping businesses leverage the blockchain to securely record their payment history by certifying and notarizing payments on the blockchain. Over the past few years, Paystand has connected 1+ million businesses and processed billions in volume.

Bringing on Bitwage’s technology will enable Paystand to help businesses scale their stablecoins operations. Specifically, clients will be able to make global payments instantly within Paystand’s accounts receivable (AR)/accounts payable (AP) network, handle treasury management with on-chain settlement, maintain compliance, and lower costs. Notably, the integration will also offer a more connected finance stack that merges AR, AP, payouts, foreign exchange, and treasury in a single, borderless system.

“This is how modern business should move money, from manufacturers in China, to suppliers in Argentina, to developers in Kenya, and everywhere in between,” said Paystand CEO and co-founder Jeremy Almond. “From invoices to payroll, from spending to earning, we’re building a financial system that works like software: 24/7, decentralized, and borderless.”

Paystand selected Bitwage because it has been using the company for years to pay international vendors and contractors in stablecoins. Some employees, including Almond, even received portions of their paycheck and bonuses in Bitcoin.

Logistically, Bitwage employees will join the Paystand team.

The acquisition comes at a time when stablecoin usage and regulation are rising. According to Paystand, the value of stablecoins in circulation has grown by more than 50% since early 2023, while over $7 trillion in stablecoin transactions were processed last year, surpassing even PayPal’s volume. At the same time, new legislation such as the GENIUS Act in the US and MiCA in the EU are offering regulatory clarity.

When mainstream adoption and policy momentum are converging, digital dollars are becoming a core part of global commerce. Paystand’s purchase of Bitwage validates that stablecoins are not speculative assets, but rather reliable, programmable payment instruments that can lower costs, reduce settlement times, and connect businesses and workers across borders in real time.

Photo by Ihsan Adityawarman

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Glassbox Acquires Business Monitoring and Analytics Specialist Anodot

Glassbox Acquires Business Monitoring and Analytics Specialist Anodot
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Anodot, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Digital experience analytics company Glassbox has acquired anomaly detection and business monitoring firm Anodot. Terms of the deal were not available.
  • Glassbox will integrate Anodot’s engine into its platform to help businesses monitor and better understand customer behavior.
  • Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Virginia, Anodot made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022 in London.

Digital experience analytics provider Glassbox announced its acquisition of Anodot, a provider of real-time anomaly detection and business monitoring. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The integration of Anodot’s engine will enable Glassbox to detect more granular shifts in user behavior in order to spot patterns across digital experiences. This will help the firm identify a range of behaviors that could impact the business, providing early warning of potential customer friction, system underperformance, or conversion declines. These insights will help product, UX, DevOps, and analytics teams make informed decisions and provide them with the built-in workflow integrations they need to accelerate response times.

“As enterprises increasingly rely on digital channels to engage customers, Glassbox has become essential for understanding and shaping customer behavior,” Glassbox CEO Guy Perry said. “By integrating Anodot’s advanced anomaly detection into our platform, we’re enabling customers to automatically uncover and proactively react to even the smallest shifts in user behavior. This acquisition reinforces our commitment to helping our customers deliver exceptional, frictionless digital experiences at scale.”

Glassbox’s acquisition is the first big move for Perry, who joined the company as CEO last month. Perry was previously CEO and president of trade finance software company Surecomp and, before that, held senior leadership roles at NCR Global and Motorola Solutions. In his appointment announcement, Perry underscored Glassbox’s “world-class technology, deep expertise, and truly customer-centric culture” and the firm’s ability to “redefine how organizations turn digital insights into meaningful outcomes.”

Headquartered in London and founded in 2010, Glassbox offers an AI-driven platform that captures, analyzes, and optimizes user interactions across digital channels. The company’s technology helps organizations enhance digital experiences for customers, boost brand loyalty, and improve revenue growth. Glassbox provides 100% user session capture, real-time alerts, and AI-powered insights to help companies detect and resolve customer pain points, ensure accessibility, and fight fraud.

Anodot made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022 in London. At the conference, the Ashburn, Virginia-based company demonstrated its business monitoring platform that uses AI to continuously monitor and correlate payments activity and business performance. Helping identify revenue-critical issues—from processes that are creating an unacceptable level of customer friction to anomalous behavior that is potentially fraudulent—the platform provides real-time actionable alerts and forecasts to reduce detection time by as much as 80%.

Earlier this year, Anodot announced that it had formed a new business unit, Umbrella, dedicated to the company’s cloud cost management platform. Designed to meet the needs of managed service providers (MSPs) and multi-divisional enterprises, the Umbrella Cloud Cost Management Platform leverages AI and business analytics to give companies visibility into their cloud and software-as-a-service (SaaS) spend.

Photo by Daniel Watson

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Finovate Global Egypt: Investing in Digital Payments, Innovation, and Future Tech Talent

Finovate Global Egypt: Investing in Digital Payments, Innovation, and Future Tech Talent
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

This week’s edition of Finovate Global features the latest fintech news from Egypt.

Fawry and Wadi Degla Partner to Offer Integrated Digital Payments

A strategic partnership between leading Egyptian fintech Fawry and real estate development company Wadi Degla Developments will bring integrated digital payment solutions to Wadi Degla customers. Wadi Degla will leverage Fawry’s online payment gateway and POS network, simplifying and accelerating payment processes, to enhance the customer experience and help drive digitization in the real estate sector.

The alliance fortifies Fawry’s status as a trusted technology partner for the country’s real estate developers and underscores Wadi Degla’s determination to increase operational efficiency and boost customer satisfaction. The partnership will also feature new value-added solutions including the Fawry Business Corporate Card and digital loyalty programs.

“This partnership marks a key milestone in our mission to drive digital transformation across Egypt’s vital real estate sector,” Fawry Chief Business Officer Heba El Awady said. “At Fawry, we aim to empower developers to provide modern, integrated payment services that cater to the growing demand for digitization. We continuously strive to develop innovative solutions tailored to the evolving needs of various sectors, and our collaboration with Wadi Degla Developments is a prime example of constructive partnerships between technology and real estate, enhancing operational efficiency and creating tangible value for customers.”

Headquartered in Cairo, Egypt, and founded in 2008, Fawry offers a digital transformation and fintech platform that delivers more than 1,186 financial services to consumers and businesses. With more than 29 million customers across Egypt, Fawry is the country’s largest payment network, processing more than three million operations a day. Ashraf Sabry is founder and CEO.

Egypt’s DisrupTech Ventures Makes Second Non-Egyptian Investment

Our last look at fintech in Egypt highlighted the launch of a new $31.5 million fund from HSBC Egypt that is dedicated to supporting small and medium-sized businesses in the fintech sector. Today, there’s another Egypt-based fund making fintech headlines: Egypt’s DisrupTech Ventures, which just made its second investment outside of Egypt and its first for a Moroccan fintech with its funding of Chari.

Founded by Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj and backed by Y Combinator, Chari offers a fintech platform that transforms thousands of small neighborhood shops into access points for digital payments and other financial services. Chari’s payment institution license enables the company to empower small businesses to serve as financial hubs for their communities. Chari brings digitization to Morocco’s informal economy, helping businesses quickly access working capital, and embedding financial services including insurance and payment options into merchants’ daily operations. Launched in 2020, the company has onboarded more than 20,000 retailers to its platform.

“Our investment in Chari is a milestone for DisrupTech,” Managing Partner at DisrupTech Ventures Mohamed Okasha said. “Chari is redefining how financial services are delivered at the grassroots level. By empowering small shops to act as financial gateways, Chari is creating the foundation for a new, inclusive fintech infrastructure in Morocco. This is exactly the kind of transformative model we seek to support across Africa.”

The amount of the investment was not disclosed. The funding is part of Chari’s Series A extension round, which included raising $12 million and featured leadership from SPE Capital and Orange Ventures. Along with its investment, DisrupTech Ventures will also join Chari’s board of directors.

DisrupTech Ventures is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 2021, the company is the country’s leading fintech venture capital firm with an emphasis on early stage fintech and fintech-enabled startups.

Egypt’s Students Top Arab Fintech Talent Competition

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE)’s FinYology initiative introduced the third edition of its FinTech Got Talent 2025 competition this year. In partnership with the Federation of Egyptian Banks (FEB) and the Egyptian Banking Institute (EBI), the fintech talent competition seeks to identify and support fintech innovation among university students.

This year’s competition was won by ESLSCA University for its mobile app, Tapay, that transforms an ordinary smartphone into a contactless payment terminal. Taking second place was the team from the British University in Egypt (BUE), which offered a financial literacy app called Money Adventure, that leverages gamification to help children learn about the importance of learning how to manage their money. Coming in third was the team from Cairo University, which presented AgriDawar, a digital platform that uses e-payment technology and e-wallets to connect farmers to buyers of agricultural surplus residues.

All three teams represented Egypt at the Arab FinTech Challenge 2025 last month, with the ESLSCA University and BUE teams again taking first and second, respectively, topping teams from universities from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Morocco.

FinTech Got Talent was initially launched in 2024 as part of the FinYology initiative. This effort is designed to integrate academic learning with hands-on fintech applications. FinYology includes more than 30 Egyptian universities, has supported more than 900 student-led projects, and featured the participation of 19,000 students. Eighteen partner banks have also provided continuing backing to the FinYology initiative.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazilian fintech Kanastra secured $30 million in Series B funding for its capital markets infrastructure and services offering.
  • Binance launched QR code payments in Argentina.
  • Brazil’s central bank announced new capital and compliance rules for fintechs.

Asia-Pacific

  • Japan’s JCB International partnered with Agoda to enhance digital travel payments throughout Asia.
  • Hong Kong’s ZA Bank launched its StockBack x ZA Card, the first Visa card in Hong Kong to offer shares of stock as a purchase reward.
  • ISH acquired Sydney, Australia-based spend management software company ProSpend.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Financial services platform Mukuru teamed up with AI-powered banking technology provider JUMO to launch new fast loan solution.
  • UAE-based fintech Optasia raised $345 million in its IPO on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in South Africa.
  • Kenya’s mobile money market reached 91% penetration this year according to the Communications Authority of Kenya, a jump from 77% penetration last year.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Hamburg, Germany-based fintech Atrya locked in €1.5 million in funding for its stablecoin payment network.
  • Estonian fintech Creem raised €1.8 million in pre-seed funding for its “programmable finance layer” the helps startups manage payments, taxes, compliance, and more.
  • Embedded financing platform YouLend and business management platform Tide take their partnership to the German market.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Photo by David McEachan

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Modernizing Financial Systems: A Strategic Approach to Legacy Transformation and Fraud Prevention

Modernizing Financial Systems: A Strategic Approach to Legacy Transformation and Fraud Prevention
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2025, Interview

For financial institutions deciding on their modernization strategy, what are the options? Does legacy technology need to be abandoned immediately or entirely? Or are there ways that financial institutions can leverage the infrastructure they have while embracing areas where digital and other modern solutions can bring real efficiency gains?

In this interview, I talk with Casey Ferguson, VP of Marketing at Zoot Enterprises, about the company’s phased approach to modernizing financial systems, integrating legacy technology, and enhancing fraud prevention strategies. Ferguson explains why incremental progress, cross-functional collaboration, and layered fraud defenses are key to effective digital transformation.

“At Zoot we look at modernization this way: It’s not about tearing everything down. When you look at this kind of rip and replace mentality you’ve got to remember that it can be pretty risky, it can be very expensive, and it can be kind of slow, as well. When you think about the pace of change, architecting the perfect environment, the world may have changed by the time you have a perfect picture of all this. So working on things incrementally and in phases can really make a difference.”

Headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, and founded in 1990, Zoot Enterprises provides acquisition, origination, and decision management solutions that help financial institutions streamline processes, increase flexibility, and accelerate growth. Zoot offers comprehensive and flexible platforms for numerous specific business operations—from loan origination and data acquisition to fraud detection and prevention.

Photo by Charles Moll on Unsplash

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Ripple Raises $500 Million on $40 Billion Valuation

Ripple Raises $500 Million on $40 Billion Valuation
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Funding, Ripple
  • Financial infrastructure and blockchain technology company Ripple has secured $500 million in new funding at a valuation of $40 billion.
  • The funding comes at time of great activity for the San Francisco, California-based fintech, which has announced six acquisitions in the past two years and whose stablecoin, RLUSD, topped the $1 billion market capitalization mark this month.
  • As OpenCoin, Ripple made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2013.

We shared this news in yesterday’s Finovate weekly LinkedIn newsletter (subscribe if you haven’t). But we’re happy to share it with Finovate blog readers today. Financial infrastructure and blockchain technology company Ripple has raised $500 million in new funding, boosting the firm’s valuation to $40 billion. The funding follows the company’s recent $1 billion tender offer at the same valuation, and comes at a time of renewed interest in digital assets such as stablecoins and the growing importance of crypto services such as custody and trading.

“This investment reflects both Ripple’s incredible momentum and further validation of the market opportunity we’re aggressively pursuing by some of the most trusted financial institutions in the world,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said. “We started in 2012 with one use case—payments—and have expanded that success into custody, stablecoins, prime brokerage, and corporate treasury, leveraging digital assets like XRP. Today, Ripple stands as the partner for institutions looking to access crypto and blockchain.”

The investment was led by funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group, affiliates of Citadel Securities, Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Brevan Howard, and Marshall Wace. The fundraising comes as Ripple celebrates completing six acquisitions, including two valued at over $1 billion, in the past two years. The company, which first introduced itself to Finovate audiences at FinovateSpring 2013 as OpenCoin, has also expanded into new markets in prime brokerage and treasury management, adding to its existing footprint across payment, custody, and stablecoins.

This year, Ripple acquired stablecoin infrastructure company Rail to enhance its Ripple Payments offering as a full-service cross-border platform that leverages Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD and XRP to make international fund transfers faster and more efficient for businesses. The acquisition of multi-asset prime brokerage firm Hidden Road in October—now integrated into Ripple’s Ripple Prime platform—enables Ripple to offer its institutional clients a range of financial services including trading, custody, and derivatives for both traditional and digital assets. The company’s purchase of Palisade, a digital asset wallet and custody firm, will bolster Ripple’s Ripple Custody offering. Ripple Custody provides banks and other financial institutions with safe and secure ways to store digital assets, stablecoins, and Real World Assets (RWA).

Just this month, RLUSD surpassed $1 billion in market capitalization. Reaching this milestone in less than a year after it was launched, RLUSD is now the 10th largest, US dollar-backed stablecoin. RLUSD is the primary stablecoin used by Ripple for payment flows, Ripple President Monica Long noted in an interview with CoinDesk, adding that Ripple has processed “nearly $100 billion in payments volume to date.” Also this month, Ripple announced that its digital asset spot prime brokerage capabilities were now available to customers in the US.

“The launch of OTC spot execution capabilities complements our existing suite of OTC and cleared derivatives services in digital assets and positions us to provide US institutions with a comprehensive offering to suit their trading strategies and needs,” Ripple Prime International CEO Michael Higgins said.

Founded in 2012, Ripple is based in San Francisco, California.

Photo by Mackenzie Marco on Unsplash

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New Canadian Budget Embraces AI, Stablecoins, Open Banking, and More

New Canadian Budget Embraces AI, Stablecoins, Open Banking, and More
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: List series

Just days after we featured Canada in our weekly Finovate Global column, we can now add to our understanding of what is driving fintech innovation in Canada with a look at the country’s recently unveiled federal budget.

“Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget—and I’ll tell you what you value,” former US President Joe Biden liked to say. In this regard, Canada’s budget—with CAD $141 billion in new spending and CAD $51 billion in cuts and other savings—reflects a commitment to investing in the most transformative technologies of our time for the benefit of Canadian businesses and citizens, as well as for the wellbeing, defense, and even sovereignty of the country itself.

“The world is undergoing a series of fundamental shifts at a speed, scale, and scope not seen since the fall of the Berlin Wall,” the budget document begins. “The rules-based international order and the trading system that powered Canada’s prosperity for decades are being reshaped—threatening our sovereignty, our prosperity, and our values.”

“This is not a transition. It is a rupture—a generational shift taking place over a short period of time.”

Against this backdrop, here are four takeaways for fintech and financial services from Canada’s newly released budget.

Open Banking on Track for 2027 Implementation

The Canadian government will commit to introducing the last remaining pieces of legislation needed to complete the Consumer-Driven Banking Framework, advancing the country’s open banking system. The budget indicates that process will take place in two phases: data sharing (“read access”) followed by transaction initiation (“write access”), with full implementation set for the middle of 2027.

Oversight of open banking will remain with the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), which will ensure strong consumer protection and compliance. The country’s Department of Finance will continue coordinating the framework’s policy and legislative rollout. Meanwhile, the Bank of Canada, the country’s central bank, will oversee the broader payments ecosystem as new participants—from fintechs to non-bank Payment Service Providers (PSPs)—and new instruments such as stablecoins become a part of the country’s real-time payment infrastructure.

Stablecoin Regulation Framework Unveiled

Canada will introduce federal legislation to regulate fiat-backed stablecoins. Stablecoin issuers will be required to maintain asset reserves and meet consumer protection standards. These entities will also be mandated to establish and implement redemption policies and risk-management frameworks. The government also will amend its Retail Payment Activities Act, first passed in 2021, to enable payment service providers to use approved stablecoins for transactions.

Per the new budget, the Bank of Canada will receive CAD$10 million over two years (2026-2027) to administer the new framework and receive funding of approximately CAD$5 million a year afterwards. This sum will be offset by fees collected from regulated stablecoin issuers.

The move to embrace stablecoins is a major part of the country’s effort to modernize its payment systems and create new efficiencies. But, as with efforts in Europe and elsewhere, the initiative is also designed to avoid what some Canadian observers worry could be excessive and undue use of foreign-issued stablecoins, including those from the country’s larger neighbor to the south.

Real-Time Payment Rail Infrastructure on Track

The new budget also confirms that Canada’s Real-Time Rail (RTR) system will be operational in 2026. RTR will provide instant, cheaper payments for a broad range of transactions including payroll, expense reimbursements, and other business-related fund transfers. There will also be further updates to the Retail Payment Activities Act to enable new entities, such as non-bank PSPs, to apply for membership in Payments Canada and participate directly in national payment systems including RTR. Payments Canada is the public, non-profit entity that owns and operates Canada’s national payment clearing and settlement infrastructure.

Canada’s RTR project is very much intertwined with other fintech-based initiatives in the budget, such as open banking and stablecoins. For example, the budget notes that the combination of write access and RTR by mid-2027 will help usher in the “next phase of consumer-driven banking” characterized by safer, faster payments and greater choice for Canadian businesses and consumers.

A Billion-Plus Investment in AI and Quantum Computing

The budget allocates CAD $1.26 billion for AI and quantum computing technologies. The inclusion of quantum computing technology is especially interesting, affirming Canada’s determination that investment in quantum computing is key to ensuring the country remains on the cutting edge in terms of innovation-enabling technologies.

The allocation for AI represents the lion’s share of the sum at just over CAD $925 million. The funding will support the construction of a large-scale, publicly-accessible AI infrastructure. It also provides for investments in data center infrastructure and domestic compute capacity. The budget endorses a “Sovereign Canadian Cloud” to help ensure sufficient compute capacity as well as data sovereignty. Notably, there is also funding specifically focused on tracking AI technology adoption, a major concern for many decision-makers when it comes to investing in AI. Over six years, CAD $25 million will be allocated for a Statistics Canada program to implement the Artificial Intelligence and Technology Measurement Program, also known as TechStat.

With regard to quantum computing, the budget earmarks more than CAD $334 million over the next five years to bolster the country’s quantum ecosystem via the Defense Industrial Strategy introduced in the budget. The budget places quantum computing technology alongside AI in Canada’s broader innovation plan, describing it as “similarly transformative,” with promising use cases in finance and cybersecurity.

Photo by Guillaume Jaillet on Unsplash

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HSBC Teams Up with ValidiFi to Enhance Payment Security

HSBC Teams Up with ValidiFi to Enhance Payment Security
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, ValidiFI
  • HSBC has partnered with bank account and payment intelligence specialist ValidiFi.
  • ValidiFi will help ensure the integrity of bank accounts used to pay credit card balances.
  • Headquartered in Florida, ValidiFi made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2019.

Banking and financial services company HSBC has selected ValidiFi to power its bank account validation and fraud monitoring operations. A leader in predictive bank account and payment intelligence, ValidiFi will help bolster the integrity of bank accounts used to pay credit card balances. The company’s technology will validate account ownership, spot fraudulent payment attempts, and detect suspicious behavioral patterns across all bank accounts. HSBC will also benefit from real-time validation of newly enrolled accounts, as well as ongoing monitoring to defend against emerging fraud threats.

“Providing customers with efficient and secure ways of making credit card payments is essential,” HSBC US Head of Retail Product and Lending John Phelan said. “Our innovation and transformation efforts in personal banking require advanced fraud services, such as those offered by ValidiFi, that protect our clients.”

ValidiFi’s technology was sought out in large part to help deal with threats like synthetic identities, mule accounts, and payment scams. The company’s comprehensive data network and advanced data intelligence analyze a wide range of behavioral and transaction data to detect anomalies before they affect customers. HSBC will leverage a number of key capabilities via the partnership with ValidiFi. These include account ownership verification, pre-transaction risk detection to spot high-risk activity before funds begin moving, behavioral analytics to spot patterns associated with scams and fraud, and ongoing monitoring to keep pace with evolving fraud tactics and security threats.

“HSBC is setting a new standard in payment security by proactively adopting technologies that go beyond traditional fraud prevention,” ValidiFi CEO John Gordon said. “Its decision to implement our intelligence platform demonstrates a clear commitment to safeguarding customer transactions and staying ahead of increasingly complex payment schemes.”

Headquartered in Sunrise, Florida, and founded in 2015, ValidiFi made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2019. At the conference, the company demonstrated its Payment Risk Optimizer (PRO), a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solution that scrubs payment files for ACH and card payments to assess the likelihood of a successful payment.

Photo by Kelly

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Ripple Acquires Palisade to Bolster Crypto Custody Capabilities

Ripple Acquires Palisade to Bolster Crypto Custody Capabilities
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni profile, Ripple

Crypto solutions provider for businesses Ripple has announced its acquisition of digital asset wallet and custody company, Palisade. The move is designed to enhance Ripple’s custody capabilities—specifically, the company’s Ripple Custody offering—to better serve the needs of fintechs, corporates, and crypto-native companies. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Ripple Custody supports banks and other financial institutions looking for safe, secure ways to store digital assets, stablecoins, and Real World Assets (RWA). Palisade’s secure, fast, and scalable “wallet-as-a-service” technology will enable Ripple to serve a broader range of customers and use cases, especially those high-speed use cases for customers that require an out-of-the-box solution built for high-frequency transactions, on- and off-ramps, and payments.

Ripple Custody is currently being used by a number of tier-1 global institutions such as BBVA, DBS, and Societe Generale. The solution serves as a “vault” for institutional cryptocurrency holdings, supporting the management of multiple vaults and a complete view across assets and venues. Ripple Custody provides a tamper-proof audit trail and cryptographic approval process to ensure compliance.

“Secure digital asset custody unlocks the crypto economy and is the foundation that every blockchain-powered business stands on—that’s why it’s central to Ripple’s product strategy,” Ripple President Monica Long said. “Corporates are poised to drive the next massive wave of crypto adoption. Just as we’ve seen major banks go from observing to actively building in crypto, corporates are now entering the market, and they need trusted, licensed partners with out-of-the-box capabilities. The combination of Ripple’s bank-grade vault and Palisade’s fast, lightweight wallet makes Ripple Custody the end-to-end provider for every institutional need, from long-term storage to real-time global payments and treasury management.”

Palisade’s technology offers fast wallet provisioning, multi-chain support, and DeFi integration. The solution also features strong governance and security features, such as Multi-Party Computation (MPC) that divides wallet keys into key fractions or “shards,” and zero-trust architecture which mandates strict verification for all users and devices that are attempting to access the network. Per the acquisition, Palisade’s technology will also integrate directly into Ripple Payments, supporting use cases that require faster, more efficient responses. It will also provide the core infrastructure for subscription payments and collection capabilities.

“Joining Ripple marks a new chapter for Palisade,” the company noted on its LinkedIn page. “Our technology will become a cornerstone of Ripple’s next-generation wallet infrastructure, accelerating their Payments and Custody products while expanding market reach globally. This partnership combines our technology with Ripple’s enterprise network and scale, regulatory expertise, and established market presence.”

A Finovate alum since its debut at FinovateSpring 2013 (as OpenCoin), Ripple today boasts a global payments network with more than 300 customers across 40+ countries and six continents. The company’s payments, custody, and stablecoin solutions enable banks and financial institutions to simply and securely integrate blockchain and digital assets into their operations while remaining compliant. With payments settlement in three to five seconds, and more than a million custody wallets in circulation, Ripple provides 90% international FX market coverage.

Ripple’s acquisition announcement comes just days after the fintech reported the launch of digital asset spot prime brokerage capabilities for US customers via its Ripple Prime offering. The launch was made possible by Ripple’s acquisition of multi-asset prime brokerage, Hidden Road, earlier this year, and will enable Ripple’s US-based institutional clients to execute over-the-counter (OTC) spot transactions across a wide range of digital assets including XRP and RLUSD.

“The launch of OTC spot execution capabilities complements our existing suite of OTC and cleared derivatives services in digital assets and positions us to provide US institutions with a comprehensive offering to suit their trading strategies and needs,” Ripple Prime International CEO Michael Higgins said.

Founded in 2012, Ripple is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Brad Garlinghouse is CEO.

Photo by Pixabay

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