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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
The last couple of weeks have been full of merger and acquisitions. Will fintech continue its M&A streak this week? Stay tuned to find out. We’ll be adding the latest fintech news throughout the week as the space evolves.
BNZ has acquired open banking payments company BlinkPay to enhance its focus on real-time, bank-to-bank payment solutions across New Zealand.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
BlinkPay will maintain its original leadership and culture, with company Co-founder Adrian Smith appointed as CEO.
BNZ announced today it has acquired fellow New Zealander BlinkPay, an open banking focused payments company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Under the agreement, BlinkPay Co-founder Adrian Smith will become the fintech’s CEO. BlinkPay will retain its original leadership and culture.
“As a Māori-led business, we bring a unique perspective to financial innovation. BNZ understands and values this – and they’re backing our vision while enabling us to retain our startup DNA,” said Smith. “Our kaupapa [strategy] has always been about making financial services work better for all New Zealanders. BNZ’s support gives us the resources to accelerate our mission and help grow the open banking ecosystem across Aotearoa [New Zealand].”
BlinkPay was founded in 2016 to offer seamless, secure, and instant bank-to-bank transfers by leveraging open banking. The company helps businesses provide their own customers with a more efficient way to make payments directly from their bank accounts. BlinkPay’s platform connects with major New Zealand banks via APIs that support real-time payments without the need for credit cards or other intermediaries.
With 250,000 customers, BNZ was an early leader in open banking. The bank first implemented open banking principles in 2018. Bank CEO Dan Huggins anticipates today’s investment will further BNZ’s open banking reputation and expertise.
“This represents the next phase in our journey,” said Huggins. “With BNZ supporting BlinkPay’s innovation and agility, we can accelerate the development of new products and services that will benefit all New Zealanders. We’re proud to be investing in a team that has proven their ability to innovate and deliver.”
Working together, BNZ and BlinkPay will create new open banking capabilities to improve the customer experience for both retail and commercial banks across New Zealand.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global showcases fintech innovation in Indonesia.
Thought Machine helps modernize Islamic finance
Core banking and payments technology company Thought Machinehas partnered with BCA Syariah to bring digital, Sharia-compliant financial products and services to its customers. The bank, a subsidiary of Bank Central Asia (BCA), has deployed Thought Machine’s core banking platform, Vault Core, which has enabled the institution to launch a number of new solutions. These offerings include Wadiah savings, a top-up e-wallet, and an online service Hajj Fee deposits. BCA Syariah also plans to launch term deposit products and gold financing “soon.”
“(Vault Core’s) Universal Product Engine allows us to create Sharia-compliant products with precision and swift responsiveness to evolving customer needs,” BCA Syariah Director Lukman Hadiwidjaja said. “Our successful go-live marks an important milestone in our mission to contribute significantly to the development of Sharia banking in Indonesia.”
Thought Machine’s Universal Product Engine features out-of-the-box Sharia-compliant products, enabling institutions to develop and customize a broad range of integrated financial solutions on a unified platform. In operation since 2010 and headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, BCA Syariah was named “Best Performing Sharia Bank in 2024” at the 13th Infobank Sharia Awards in October.
“BCA Syariah has demonstrated exceptional foresight in leveraging modern technology for enhanced user experiences,” Thought Machine CEO and Founder Paul Taylor said. “This milestone underscores our unwavering commitment to empowering financial institutions to innovate, grow, and outperform in their markets.”
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in London, Thought Machine made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2018. At the event, the company demonstrated its Vault core banking product, which today is used by institutions ranging from global Tier 1 clients such as Standard Chartered and Lloyds Banking Group to fintechs and challenger banks like Trust Bank and Atom Bank.
The investment is a $2.5 million fundraising led by Cento Ventures and featuring participation from Accion Venture Lab, Z Venture Capital, and Avafin founder Matiss Ansviesulis. In a statement on LinkedIn Finfra CEO Markus Prommik, thanked his team and the company’s shareholders for their support and “for believing in this mission.”
Finfra also announced a new strategic partnership with Tyme which will bring the company’s embedded lending infrastructure to India. This, according to Prommik, will “unlock new opportunities for SMEs to access finance and drive meaningful impact. This partnership is more than a business collaboration; it’s a validation of our vision for Finfra and the future of lending!”
Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Singapore, Finfra enables technology companies to seamlessly embed financial services — from application to decisioning to operations — into their platforms. Finfra offers invoice, payroll, and working capital financing, as well as healthcare financing to give patients an alternative way to pay for medical procedures. The company’s technology has disbursed more than 325,000 loans to date, valued at more than $50 million. Prommik noted in his statement that Finfra has doubled its gross profit year-over-year, as well as its client base.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Konsentus forged a collaboration with the Bank of Namibia to support the bank’s open banking initiatives.
Brokerage-as-a-Service fintech DriveWealth secured a brokerage license from the Bank of Lithuania.
Borse Stuttgart Digital turned to Fenergo to scale compliant crypto solutions across Europe.
Middle East and Northern Africa
International money movement firm TerraPay teamed up with Suyool to enhance financial accessibility in Lebanon.
Mastercardpartnered with Arab Regional Payment System, Buna, to reduce friction in cross-border payments.
Open API banking solutions company Codebase Technologies and AI-based identity verification specialist IDWise announced a collaboration to help banks in the MENA region fight financial crime.
Nium has partnered with Partior, a blockchain-based fintech for clearing and settlement.
Through the partnership, banks can use Partior’s network to access Nium’s global payments infrastructure without needing additional API integration, offering seamless real-time transactions.
The move makes Nium the first payment service provider to join Partior’s blockchain-based network, enabling real-time cross-border payments, clearing, and settlement across 100+ markets.
Global payments platform Niumannounced today that it has partnered with blockchain-based fintech for clearing and settlement Partior. The move makes Nium the first payment service provider to join the Partior network.
Under the partnership, banks will be able to leverage Partior’s network to connect with Nium to conduct real-time payouts, clearing, and settlement to over 100 markets worldwide any day of the week. Banks will not need additional API integration to work with Nium, since it seamlessly integrates with existing systems to provide instant access to Nium’s cross-border payments network.
Co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore, Nium was founded in 2015 to provide banks, payment vendors, and businesses with access to payment and card issuance services. The company’s global infrastructure for real-time cross-border payments supports 100 currencies across 220+ markets. With regulatory licenses and authorizations in more than 40 countries, Nium offers card issuance services in 34 countries.
Not only will today’s partnership with Partior help Nium facilitate global transactions, it will also support new services, including intra-day FX swaps, cross-currency repos, programmable enterprise liquidity management, and Just-in-Time multi-bank payments for banks across the globe.
“Nium’s partnership with Partior brings us closer to becoming the most connected payments network globally. By integrating with advanced networks, such as Partior, we are ensuring that financial institutions can quickly and easily access our real-time payments infrastructure without the need for complex technical integrations,” said Nium Chief Payments Officer Alexandra Johnson. “Recognizing how resource-constrained financial institutions are, we’re eliminating barriers to using our network and increasing interoperability to deliver on our mission of having seamless and streamlined real-time payments to anyone, anywhere.”
Founded in 2021, Partior uses blockchain and distributed ledger technology to streamline digital payments, making them faster, more reliable, and secure. By leveraging the blockchain, Partior eliminates the need for manual reconciliation and account pre-funding, allowing financial institutions to access capital more efficiently and reduce operational overhead. The company’s network supports seamless, real-time clearing and settlement, empowering banks to optimize liquidity and enhance cross-border payment flows.
“Partnering with Nium marks a significant step in our journey to further advance the global payments landscape,” said Partior CEO Humphrey Valenbreder. “By combining Partior’s real-time blockchain settlement network with Nium’s vast global reach, we’re empowering financial institutions to break down long-standing barriers. Imagine a world where cross-border payments are instantaneous, transparent, and accessible to all. This is the future we’re building together.”
The demand for real-time payments is surging across the globe as both consumers and businesses increasingly expect instant access to funds. This boost is driven by regulatory support, the launch of FedNow in the U.S., the increased adoption of enabling technologies such as stablecoins, and rising global commerce. As more players add real-time payments, they will soon become tablestakes across the globe.
From the continued relevance of paper checks to the rapid growth of digital technology, payments continues to be one of the most fascinating — and important — areas in fintech.
In this week’s Streamly interview, William Mills, CEO of the William Mills Agency, talks with Kevin Brown, CMO and Head of Corporate Development for Onbe. The two men discuss a variety of key issues in the payments world, including the potential for AI to revolutionize payment systems and the future of cross-border payments.
“One of the very prevalent modalities, or payment instruments, that still exist are paper-based checks. We did research with the team at Oliver Wyman and, in 2023, there were still 1.7 trillion dollars of paper check or cash-based B2C payments. A huge amount of paper that’s out there. Checks are dated, not a great customer experience, require action on behalf of the consumer and they’re really expensive to corporate clients … As an industry, we have a huge opportunity to still alleviate a significant amount of pain, both for the ultimate enterprises and then their consumers and recipients, just by the doing away of paper checks.”
Onbe manages and modernizes consumer and workforce disbursements for corporate customers. The company’s technology platform powers a suite of turnkey managed disbursement solutions that enable its customers to outsource their entire B2C disbursement operations. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Onbe was founded in 1996. Bala Janakiraman Iyer is CEO.
In his role at Onbe, Kevin Brown leads marketing, corporate development, business development, and communications. A fintech and payments operator with experience at both public and private equity-backed businesses, Brown is a graduate of Marist College (BA) and Pace University (MBA).
U.K.-based financial planning and advice platform Dynamic Planner has teamed up with Salesforce.
The partnership will make Dynamic Planner available on the Salesforce AppExchange and is the company’s second CRM partnership in as many months.
Dynamic Planner made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022 in London.
Risk-based financial planning system Dynamic Planner has announced a new partnership with Salesforce. Now launched on the Salesforce AppExchange, Dynamic Planner will give Salesforce customers access to an enhanced and engaging digital financial planning experience.
“This collaboration provides financial planning and wealth management firms who use Salesforce with the ability to underpin their entire financial planning process with Dynamic Planner,” company Chief Revenue Officer Yasmina Siadatan said. “It will boost productivity gains and efficiencies, whilst delivering seamless and engaging wealth and financial planning for Salesforce customers. We look forward to working with Salesforce to provide an enhanced experience for firms.”
Founded in 2004, Dynamic Planner offers a digital financial planning and advice platform that helps investment advice firms scale their businesses, boost capacity, and better engage clients with mapped investment solutions and digital experiences. Dynamic Planner enables advisers to profile clients, conduct annual reviews, and perform cash flow planning with increased efficiency and speed. The company notes that 80% of annual reviews conducted via Dynamic Planner are completed in 35 minutes or less, with 20% of these reviews completed in less than five minutes. More than 40% of U.K. investment advice firms and more than 150 asset managers use Dynamic Planner’s technology.
Dynamic Planner’s partnership with Salesforce comes a month after the platform announced a CRM integration with Adviser Cloud. The new integration will make it easier for advisers to transfer client records efficiently and securely between Dynamic Planner and Adviser Cloud, saving time and lowering the risk of manual errors during rekeying of information. Integrations such as these are an important way to boost efficiency and lower operational costs for financial planning firms and their client.
“Adviser Cloud has always focused on providing intuitive, user-friendly software for financial advisers, and this integration continues that mission by eliminating data rekeying and enhancing workflows,” Adviser Cloud Tech Lead Ewan Humphreys said.
Headquartered in the U.K., Dynamic Planner made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022. At the conference, the company demonstrated its end-to-end, risk-based financial planning system that combines intuitive technology with a trusted, independent asset risk model. Dynamic Planner uses more than 2,400 covariance correlations to accurately assess the risk of tens of thousands of investments and client portfolios every day. Ben Goss is CEO.
Crypto.com’s new functionality, new partnership, and plans for the new year
Recently crowned the king of North American crypto trading, Crypto.com announced this week that it launched a new partnership with payments acceptance provider Ingenico. The partnership will enable users of Ingenico’s platform globally to accept payments in cryptocurrency. Consumers will benefit from earning rewards for transactions via Crypto.com’s Crypto.com Pay; merchants will benefit from being able to manage payments and services via both mobile and tablet devices.
Also this week, Crypto.com announced that it would expand its offering to include banking services, credit cards, and stock trading. Additionally, the company unveiled its new rewards program, Level Up, that enables customers to access benefits across multiple products — credit cards, stock trading, and banking services — through partner banks. Level Up offers a flexible rewards structure that enables users to secure benefits across a range of different products in the Crypto.com ecosystem.
“This product expansion represents our most aggressive push across traditional and digital finance and brings users to one simple app for industry-leading benefits through Level Up,” Crypto.com President and COO Eric Anziani said.
Finishing 2024 on a busy note, Crypto.com is already eyeing the new year. The Singapore-based fintech announced this week that it is planning to expand its crypto offerings in 2025 to include both a stablecoin and an exchange-traded fund (ETF) product. Traditional financial products such as stock trading and banking are also top of the 2025 agenda for the company, as noted above. Crypto.com has put a date of Q1 2025 for the launch of its banking product services. The firm also plans to expand its debit card services in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa in Q4 of this year, and to launch credit cards in the U.S. and South Korea by Q2 of next year.
Boerse Stuttgart Digital partners with Fenergo
European cryptocurrency and digital asset infrastructure provider Boerse Stuttgart Digital has teamed up with KYC, client lifecycle management, and transaction monitoring solutions provider Fenergo to speed the onboarding of financial institutions that are looking to launch their own cryptocurrency offerings.
“Fenergo’s client lifecycle management solution, validated by the world’s largest financial institutions, will allow Boerse Stuttgart Digital to future-proof its solutions against regulatory change,” Fenergo Managing Director EMEA Ruth Ormsby said. “With this level of compliance automation, Boerse Stuttgart Digital can onboard banks, brokers, and asset managers seeking to unlock crypto trading faster, thus accelerating growth.”
The partnership between Fenergo and Boerse Stuttgart Digital will speed the onboarding of banks, brokers, and asset managers ready to launch their own cryptocurrency and digital asset offerings. Integrating Fenergo will streamline Boerse Stuttgart Digital’s underlying compliance processes for both Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML). This will enable financial institutions working with Boerse Stuttgart Digital to offer secure and reliable crypto trading and custody services to their customers.
“In the race to realize their own crypto offerings, financial institutions require efficient trading and custody solutions without compromising on regulatory compliance,” Boerse Stuttgart Digital Chief Digital & Product Officer Ulli Spankowski said. “Our partnership empowers banks, brokers, and asset managers to enter the crypto market, backed by infrastructure that ensures scalability, security, and full regulatory compliance.”
Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Fenergo made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2012 in London.
BitPay launches new cryptocurrency payout service
Payments company BitPayunveiled a new service late last week that will enable companies to pay employees, contractors, customers, and vendors in crypto.
The service, BitPay Send, is especially designed for international and gig economy companies that need to pay multiple recipients online at the same time. Companies are not required to buy, own, or manage cryptocurrencies themselves, and payout recipients receive their payments more efficiently and at less cost, according to BitPay CEO Stephen Pair.
“Blockchain payment adoption is growing because it offers an easy way to send and receive payments on a global scale,” Pair said.
BitPay Send can be used for a number of different payment operations including payroll, customer cash-outs, contractor payments, rewards, and settlements with marketplace sellers. The new offering also puts the firm in a position to compete with other crypto payroll services such as BitWage.
Swift, UBS, and Chainlink conclude blockchain pilot
That’s a wrap! Swift, UBS Asset Management, and Chainlink announced this week that they have successfully completed a pilot project that involved settling tokenized fund subscriptions and redemptions using the Swift network. The goal of the project is to enable digital asset transactions to settle with fiat payment systems across 11,500+ financial institutions in more than 200 countries and territories.
The pilot project builds on an initiative by UBS Asset Management and SBI Digital Markets to develop a digital subscription and redemption system for tokenized funds. This is often an inefficient aspect of traditional fund operations that is typically burdened by manual interventions, delayed settlements, and the absence of real-time transparency. The pilot demonstrated how blockchain technology can be used to settle subscriptions and redemptions for tokenized investment fund vehicles, paving the way for straight-through-processing of the payment component without requiring global adoption of an on-chain form of payment.
The project was also undertaken as part of Project Guardian, a cooperation between policy makers and industry players to enhance financial market efficiency and liquidity via asset tokenization. Project Guardian is sponsored by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
“For digital assets to be adopted globally, they must seamlessly integrate with both existing payment systems and digital currencies,” Swift Head of Strategy Jonathan Ehrenfeld said. “Our work with UBS Asset Management and Chainlink in MAS’ Project Guardian leverages the global Swift network to bridge digital assets with established systems.”
Commercial Bank International inks MoU with Zumo
Commercial Bank International, a financial institution based in the UAE, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with U.K.-based digital assets platform Zumo. The goal of the partnership is to investigate the tracking of digital asset sustainability and comes as the UAE makes a bid to be seen as the leading international hub for digital assets and innovation.
“Our collaboration with CBI will see Zumo’s pioneering digital assets and blockchain technology complement CBI’s financial expertise and innovative approach to drive sustainability,” Zumo COO Clark Povey said. “Zumo solves the biggest challenges in digital assets for financial institutions by providing business-critical technologies to navigate the rapidly evolving digital asset landscape, and with Zumo’s technology and leadership in sustainability to digital assets, the exciting journey ahead is just beginning.”
Crypto-as-a-service platform Zumo provides banks, fintechs, and financial services companies with the infrastructure they need to launch sustainable digital asset products. The company is a pioneer in sustainability and crypto assets, developing research and solutions to enable the crypto market to move closer to net zero. Registered with the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Zumo has secured public funding to build and launch a solution to help cryptocurrency companies measure, mitigate, and report on their carbon footprint. Founded in 2017, Zumo helped establish an industry standard with the release of its MiCA-compliant sustainability module in September.
Alternative lending platform LendSaaS now integrates Ocrolus’ AI-powered document automation and fraud detection.
Through the partnership, LendSaaS customers gain access to Ocrolus’ automated document review, including bank statement analysis, which helps lenders make faster, more confident funding decisions.
The integration with Ocrolus will allow LendSaaS clients to more efficiently leverage data in everything from processing lending applications to accelerating loan origination and facilitating servicing processes.
Alternative lending origination and servicing software provider LendSaaS has teamed up with AI-powered document automation and analysis company Ocrolus this week. The strategic partnership will offer LendSaaS customers access to Ocrolus’ industry-leading document analysis, cash flow analytics, and fraud detection directly through the LendSaaS platform.
“LendSaaS is one of the leading platforms in MCA origination and servicing,” said Ocrolus CEO Sam Bobley. “Thanks to our new partnership, Ocrolus is now an embedded integration available within LendSaaS, allowing customers to achieve end-to-end automation.”
LendSaaS helps lending businesses succeed by offering tools to support everything from loan origination to servicing. The New York-based company offers daily collections through ACH and credit card processors, public data and credit searching, as well as merchant interviews for underwriting, detailed reporting, daily collections, and more. Founded in 2014, LendSaaS has funded $6 billion and processes more than $16 million in average daily ACH volume.
New York-based Ocrolus leverages AI to capture and analyze data from 1,000 different types of documents and digital forms. The company counts more than 400 clients, including Enova, PayPal, Brex, CrossCountry Mortgage, Plaid, and SoFi, who use the solution to detect fraud, analyze cash flows and income, and streamline decisions.
Under today’s partnership, LendSaaS customers will have access to Ocrolus’ technology that will enable them to automate all tasks, such as reviewing documents, including reviewing bank statements and processing independent sales organization (ISO) applications. LendSaaS expects the move will help its customers more efficiently offer businesses with capital.
“Businesses seeking working capital often opt for the first offer they receive. To compete in this fast-paced market, our customers need to be able to make quick and confident financial decisions,” said LendSaaS Owner and Founder Josh Carcione. “By partnering with Ocrolus, we’re working to eliminate the need for manual document review by providing digital access to high-quality data so our customers can get a competitive edge through quick, confident financial decision making.”
API platform Speakeasy has secured $15 million in Series A funding.
The company will use the capital to expand its product offerings, accelerate its roadmap, and hire additional talent.
Headquartered in San Francisco, California. Speakeasy made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in New York this year,
In a round led by FPV Ventures, API platform Speakeasy has raised $15 million in Series A funding. Also participating in the investment were Google Ventures (GV) and Quiet Capital. Speakeasy noted that it plans to use the funding to expand its product offerings, accelerate its roadmap, and grow its team.
“Building a really great … modern API is very much undervalued and underestimated at companies,” Speakeasy CEO Sagar Batchu said in a statement on LinkedIn. “Everyone wants to be Stripe or Twilio or GitHub in terms of quality, but to get to that status … takes huge amounts of effort.”
Founded in 2022, Speakeasy offers an API platform designed to give developers the tools they need to build quality, reliable APIs. Concerned over the fact that growing API use among businesses was outpacing the ability of developers to provide them, Speakeasy looks to close the gap with a platform that handles the more cumbersome aspects of API development, freeing developers to focus on higher-order tasks like refining business logic.
Developers can use their favorite API framework to build APIs, and Speakeasy will help ensure APIs adhere to both industry and internal best practices. Speakeasy’s platform automates API testing to avoid shipping unintentional breaking changes, and also automatically generates the SDKs to make API integration easier.
“The Speakeasy team’s past experience building enterprise APIs has given them profound insight into, and empathy for, the struggles engineering teams are facing,” FPV Ventures Managing Partner Wesley Chan said. “They are building a platform that will not only address existing inefficiencies in API development but anticipates future challenges in the ecosystem.”
Speakeasy made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024 in New York. At the conference, the company demonstrated how its technology enables financial institutions to build robust, well-managed, easy-to-use APIs. With Speakeasy’s API platform, technology teams can automate the creation and maintenance of API documentation and client SDKs that facilitate rapid and seamless API integration. Customers using the platform have been able to boost API user adoption, reduce time-to-integration, and save significant engineering costs. In 2024, Speakeasy noted that nearly 3,000 users have generated 7,250 SDKs.
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Speakeasy includes fellow Finovate alums Apex Fintech Solutions and Apiture, as well as API companies Kong, Codat, and Shippo, among its customers.
Global bank Standard Charteredunveiled this week that it has teamed up with cross-border payments fintech Wise (formerly TransferWise). The bank has selected Wise Platform, Wise’s global payments infrastructure for banks, to power international payments for SC Remit, Standard Chartered’s cross-border payment service.
Wise will facilitate fund transfers for SC Remit customers in Asia and the Middle East. Users will be able to send money in 21 currencies– including USD, CAD, EUR, GBP, SGD, HKD, and JPY. Wise will send the funds in seconds using its transparent, low-fee pricing model.
“We’re continually improving how we deliver exceptional banking experiences for our clients,” said Standard Chartered Global Head, Wealth Solutions, Deposits and Mortgages, and Chief Client Officer Samir Subberwal. “We chose to partner with Wise Platform due to their extensive currency coverage and stellar cross-border payments experience they are known for. This collaboration is a key step in enhancing our international payment services as we offer an even more seamless, faster, and efficient digital global payments experience to our clients.”
Standard Chartered said that the service will be available for SC Remit customers “in the coming quarters.” The bank also plans to expand the service to include more currencies, as well as into more markets.
Wise has been facilitating cross-border money transfers since it was founded in 2011. Today, in addition to its transparent, direct-to-consumer money transfer capabilities, Wise also offers a multi-currency account that allows users to save and hold funds in 50 different currencies, and send and receive money in 22 currencies. Wise holds more than 65 payment licenses, as well as six direct connections to payment systems.
Wise Platform, the infrastructure that Standard Chartered is leveraging, offers an API that allows banks and fintechs to embed cross-border payments capabilities into their existing website or app, allowing their customers to transfer 40+ currencies in 160+ countries. The majority (63%) of Wise’s cross-border payments are completed in under 20 seconds, while 95% take less than 24 hours. The U.K.-based company processes $154 billion (£118 billion) annually. Among Wise Platform’s customers are Monzo, N26, deel, and Shinhan Bank.
The topic of cross-border payments has accelerated in recent months, with traditional financial institutions and fintechs recognizing the need to compete by offering low-cost, rapid transactions across the globe. The rise of e-commerce, combined with new needs to pay remote workers, has led to a refreshed demand for cheaper, faster international payments. Today’s digital world has prompted consumers and businesses to expect speed and transparency when transacting, and banks are under new pressure to modernize their cross-border payment services to meet those needs.
Another factor that has brought cross-border transactions into the spotlight this year is the rise in stablecoin usage. As stablecoins become more mainstream and integrated into traditional payments infrastructure, they offer an international funds transfer solution that combines speed, cost-effectiveness, and digital accessibility.
Wise, however, currently does not use stablecoins and has not implemented blockchain technology into its operations. Instead, Wise has established a highly efficient, transparent, and compliant platform that meets compliance standards worldwide. It is unlikely that Wise will seek to leverage stablecoins any time soon, though, as adding stablecoins to its strategy could introduce new regulatory and operational complexities, which could potentially outweigh any benefits.
Melio raised $150 million in a Series E round led by Fiserv.
Today’s round values the accounts payable and receivable platform at $2 billion.
The company’s 10x revenue growth over the past three years reflects its expansion into medium-sized businesses and new partnerships, significantly broadening its customer base.
Melio and Fiserv initially began working together in 2023, when the two launched a combined solution called CashFlow Central.
Accounts payable and receivable platform Melio has landed $150 million in a strategic Series E round led by Fiserv. The investment, which brings the company’s total raised to $654 million, also saw strategic contributions from Shopify Ventures and Capital One Ventures, which are expected to boost Melio’s partnerships. Accel, Bessemer, Coatue, Frontline Ventures, General Catalyst, Latitude, and Thrive Capital also contributed.
Notably, today’s round values Melio at $2 billion. This comes as the New York-based company saw a 10x increase in revenue in the past three years. This growth was fueled by Melio’s move to add medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to its customer base, as well as its addition of new partners.
Melio and Fiserv initially began working together in 2023 in a partnership that combined Melio’s accounts payable and receivable workflows with Fiserv’s payment capabilities and biller and merchant network. The combined solution, called CashFlow Central, allows Fiserv’s 3,500+ financial institution clients to help their SMB customers manage their payment operations and cash flow needs.
“Through our partnership with Melio, CashFlow Central is designed to create significant value for financial institutions and their business clients or members,” said Fiserv Head of Financial Institutions Group John Gibbons. “We are excited to leverage our unique position at the intersection of financial institutions and businesses to deliver a comprehensive, integrated experience that enables our clients to compete and grow their portfolios with this important segment of their communities.”
Melio was founded in 2018 with the mission to empower small businesses and their accountants by enhancing cash flow and streamlining payment operations. The company’s platform simplifies both accounts receivable and accounts payable processes. It allows businesses to manage payments and invoices. Melio integrates with QuickBooks, Xero, and Amazon Business to enable features such as ACH transfers, automated bill payments, and the creation of virtual payment cards. Integrating with a business’ existing accounting tool not only reduces their administrative burden, but it also provides them with greater control, visibility, and flexibility over their finances.
“We’re proud to witness our embedded solution helping our partners better service their business clients, leading to increased deposits, higher engagement and creating new revenue streams,” said Melio CEO and co-founder Matan Bar.
74 hours, 52,012 steps, 6 cups of coffee, 8 selfies, and one unforgettable experience.
I am, of course, talking about Money20/20, the mega fintech and banking event that has been taking place in Las Vegas since 2012. With over 10,000 attendees and 300+ vendors, this year’s U.S. event was just as brilliant as in years past.
Themes
Money20/20 is a choose your own adventure type of show, with six stages and two podcast recording studios that each host a range of rotating content throughout the course of four days. Given the wide variety of content available, it was hard to see everything. However, there are three major themes that stand out as highlights: open banking, AI, and the evolution of the payments experience.
Open banking
Open banking– specifically the recently released Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act– was one of the hottest topics of the show. The majority of people on the networking floor I spoke with had not read the entire, 594-page ruling. However, everyone seemed to agree that the scope of 1033 extends far beyond simple account switching capabilities. Panel discussions surrounding the rule also tended to agree that the purpose of the rule is data ownership, and not necessarily data portability.
AI
The topic of AI pulsed throughout almost all on-stage conversations, and was very visible in sponsor pitches on the exhibit hall floor. Money20/20 even featured its own AI bot named Aiana who interacted with the MC on one particular stage. At times, Aiana’s conversation with the MC seemed to be quite coherent and relevant, but the bot occasionally missed the mark.
Perhaps the thing about the AI discussions that surprised me the most was that it was rarely the main feature of a discussion. Instead, conversations tended to pose AI more as a technological enhancement to current offerings, rather than featuring it as the main technology that firms should focus on. This shift gives me some hope that we have moved past talking about the hype of AI and into thinking of it as an enabling technology.
Payments
Payments was a huge focus for multiple on-stage discussions at the show. Among the hottest topics were cross-border payments, stablecoins, and instant payments. What was missing from many conversations that I saw in this realm, however, were discussions of the impact of fraud and regulation. I think this may have been because many speakers on stage represented larger firms or fintechs in the payments space who wanted to get a more positive message across without bringing up the topic of risk.
AI Adoption Index
In addition to these on-stage themes, I was able to review data published in Money2020’s very first AI Adoption Index report, All in on AI: Financial Services Adoption Index 2024. Produced in conjunction with Acrew Capital, the index surveys 221 leading financial institutions and combines that with data about all publicly announced AI initiatives since the start of 2023. Here are some of the top highlights:
76% of companies indicated they have announced an AI initiative
46% of companies have announced GenAI initiatives
Out of all initiatives, 57% are put in place to generate revenue, while 43% aim to reduce costs
Public companies announced 40% more initiatives compared to private companies
Block, Intuit, JP Morgan, Chime, and Stripe account for 15% of the total AI initiatives
51% of companies surveyed have built AI into their core customer-facing product. This figure does not include AI usage in a CRM setting.
Conversations
As always, the highlight of the event was the people. After working in this space for 15 years, I’ve found a diverse network that fosters community and works to build each other up. During last week’s event, I met Finnovator Founder Michelle Beyo, who discussed the benefits of personal data ownership; caught up with Sam Maule, who talked about the downsides of pay-by-bank (and was forced into yet another conversation about Walmart); Tiffani Montez, who explained why open banking is far superior to ye olde account aggregation; as well as multiple others who added depth and color to the topics being discussed.
Experience highlights
Money20/20 is now part of a newly launched Informa division called Informa Festivals, and the conference fits this description quite nicely. There are multiple elements of the conference that are all about the experience. And while not all of them are officially sanctioned by Money20/20, each element comes together to craft an amazing conference experience.
Throughout the event venue there were multiple photo opportunities, including a talking selfie wall that lit up, greeted conference goers, and invited them to get their picture taken. Then there was the connection wall, where attendees could scan their badges in conjunction with others, see their names projected onto a wall, and receive a Money20/20 branded coin that they could use to exchange in a merchandise store. There was also a video studio where the conference recorded a video of attendees in front of an animated “honey wall,” complete with a live beekeeper who danced at the end (yes, you kind of had to be there for that one).
Outside of the event, I enjoyed a morning of yoga sponsored by Mesa, Visa, and JP Morgan; a women in fintech happy hour event (complete with a Dolly Pardon impersonator) sponsored by Alloy; and a Halloween-themed happy hour with costumes and Beetlejuice selfies sponsored by SentiLink. Thanks to everyone for putting on such great events, and a huge thank you to Money20/20 for hosting me!
