Blog - Page 6 of 1289

Gusto Helps Accountants Put AI Agents to Work with New Platform Updates

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 7, 2026
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Gusto

Gusto unveiled three updates for its 23,000+ accounting firm customers: a rebuilt Gusto Pro, a multi-client Model Context Protocol (MCP), and an expanded Gusto Partner Program.

The new tools use AI to help accountants scale their practices, automating payroll preparation and reporting while allowing accountants to retain control over approvals and focus on higher-value advisory work.

The company's multi-client MCP brings its payroll data into accountants’ preferred LLMs, signaling a shift in which financial software can remain the underlying system of record even when an AI assistant becomes the primary interface.

Payroll, benefits, and HR management solutions company Gusto is shipping three new updates to help its more than 23,000 accounting firm customers serve their small business clients. The California-based company is adding a rebuilt Gusto Pro, a new multi-client Model Context Protocol (MCP), and an expanded Partner Program.

The new capabilities let firms put AI agents to work…

Digital Adoption Platform Whatfix Partners with LKQ Europe

By David Penn Posted on October 7, 2026
Categories: Alumni News, Whatfix

Automotive aftermarket parts distributor LKQ Europe announced a partnership with Digital Adoption Platform company Whatfix.

LKQ Europe will deploy the company's platform as part of an overhaul of its LKQ Academy's learning management system for automotive professionals.

Headquartered in San Jose, California, and Bangalore, India, Whatfix made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2026.

LKQ Europe, an automotive aftermarket parts distributor, has partnered with Whatfix to deploy the company's Digital Adoption Platform and Product Analytics across its LKQ Academy.

A training program for automotive professionals, the Academy provides hundreds of e-learning courses, instructor-led training through 15 training centers, and certifications. The partnership with Whatfix is part of an initiative by the automotive parts company to transition its training operations to a more centralized learning management system. The platform supports 70,000 registered users—including mechanics, workshop owners, automotive technicians, and internal teams—across 13 European countries. Whatfix will deliver in-platform guidance to help them…

Experian Unveils New Consumer Reporting Agency for Cashflow Underwriting

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 6, 2026
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Experian

Experian launched the Cashflow Data Bureau, a new FCRA-regulated consumer reporting agency that uses consumer-permissioned cash flow data to support lending decisions.

The new bureau will serve as the foundation for Experian’s broader cash flow ecosystem, combining bank account data with existing tools such as Cashflow Attributes and Cashflow Score.

The launch puts Experian into closer competition with Plaid and other cash flow underwriting providers as lenders increasingly use banking activity alongside traditional credit data to assess borrowers.

Data analytics and consumer credit reporting company Experian is launching a new consumer reporting agency (CRA) called the Experian Cashflow Data Bureau. The new CRA's goal is to help banks leverage consumer-permissioned cash flow insights to support underwriting decisions.

The Experian Cashflow Data Bureau, which operates under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), aims to help the nearly one-in-five consumers that lack access to credit or have damaged credit. Experian…

Darwinium Brings Intent Intelligence to GBG

By David Penn Posted on October 6, 2026
Categories: Alumni News, Darwinium

Identity and location intelligence firm GBG has teamed up with behavioral and intent intelligence specialist Darwinium.

The partnership will enable businesses to know if the actions of a verified individual or AI agent are consistent with the legitimate intent of the customer.

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Darwinium most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2026.

A newly announced partnership between identity and location intelligence firm GBG and behavioral and intent intelligence specialist Darwinium will help businesses determine whether the actions of a verified person or AI agent remain consistent with legitimate intent during the customer journey.

Effective fraud prevention requires more than verifying identity or assessing risk at a specific moment. Even when identities are determined to be legitimate, the activity itself may still present a fraud risk. This includes instances in which scammers manipulate verified customers into acting on the fraudster's behalf—a phenomenon that…

FinovateSpring 2027 is Live: New Venue, Same Finovate Experience

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 6, 2026
Categories: FinovateSpring 2027, Marketing

FinovateSpring is returning May 3 through 5, 2027. And while we're still months away from the spotlight shining on the demo stage, FinovateSpring 2027 is officially live. Registration is open, demo applications are being accepted, hotel bookings are available, and we're already gearing up for three days of fintech innovation in Southern California.

New venue

New this year, we'll be hosting FinovateSpring at the new Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center in Chula Vista. The waterfront resort gives us more room to grow, along with plenty of outdoor space to take advantage of the Southern California weather.

The new location may be bigger and brighter, but the things that make FinovateSpring worth attending aren't changing.

Who will be there

Finovate consistently brings together decision-makers from across the financial services ecosystem. More than 1,200 attendees joined us at FinovateSpring this year, including:

800+ senior decision-makers

50% from banks and other financial…

Inbenta’s Melissa Solis on Strategies for Effective AI Implementation in Financial Services

By David Penn Posted on October 5, 2026
Categories: Podcasting

What do banks and other financial institutions need to do in order to ensure that their investments in AI deliver as promised? Why has asking the hard questions and conducting thorough due diligence before implementation become critical to a successful AI deployment? What should banks expect from AI vendors and, importantly, what should banks expect from themselves to make these high-risk, high-reward partnerships work?

In this Finovate Podcast conversation, host Greg Palmer talks with Melissa Solis, CEO of Inbenta, to discuss how the conversation around AI adoption in financial services is evolving. Solis underscores how the focus has grown from pilot projects and explorations of "what's possible" to demands for AI-powered solutions and services that are "real and effective." Solis also candidly talks about the struggles many organizations have faced with failed deployments and vendors that did not meet expectations and shares her firm's partnership experience with Scious, whose…

Stripe to Power Constructor’s Agentic Checkout

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 5, 2026
Categories: Daily news

Constructor partnered with Stripe to launch Agentic Checkout, enabling shoppers and AI agents to move from product discovery to purchase within a single AI-powered shopping experience.

The tool integrates Stripe's payments infrastructure with Constructor's AI Shopping Agent, allowing customers to pay via Link by Stripe or other payment methods without leaving the agent experience.

The launch helps close a key gap in agentic commerce by bringing discovery and checkout together, allowing AI to support more of the shopping journey from product search and recommendations through payment.

Product discovery platform Constructor has partnered with Stripe to launch Agentic Checkout, an agentic commerce tool available to retailers that enables both human and agent shoppers to find and buy products via the Link by Stripe digital wallet or other payment methods all within a single location.

Constructor's Agentic Checkout is available to retailers within Constructor's AI Shopping Agent, a tool…

Trustly Raises New Capital to Power the Next Era in Open Banking

By David Penn Posted on October 5, 2026
Categories: Funding, Trustly

Trustly has secured equity commitment letters of more than $40 million from its principal shareholder, Nordic Capital, and Alfvén & Didrikson. The capital raise is expected to conclude in November.

Trustly will use the capital to fund the next stage of its growth strategy, which includes accelerating the development of new products that use AI to bring real-time intelligence to payments.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Trustly made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2013.

Trustly Holding AB announced that its parent company, Trustly, has received signed equity commitment letters of more than $40 million from Nordic Capital, Trustly's principal shareholder, and Alfvén & Didrikson, to fund a capital raise in the firm. The company will use the capital to fund the next stage of its growth strategy, accelerating the development of new products that will use AI to transform payments into intelligence that helps businesses win…

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 5, 2026
Categories: Fintech Rundown

It's the first full week of October, which means it is officially Spooky Season. However, while there's lots of fintech news to catch up on this week, none of it is too scary. So take a peek at what fintechs are up to in this week’s list of the top fintech news. We’ll continue to update this post with news throughout the week.

Business financial management

Basware completes acquisition of Trustpair.

Agentic commerce

Constructor launches agentic checkout powered by Stripe.

Payments

Verifone launches new Commander products designed to help partners across convenience stores and gas stations grow.

Payments Canada welcomes six new members, including Nium.

Digital banking

Engine by Starling powers Tangerine Bank’s new business client offering.

Fraud and identity

Trulioo strengthens identity verification for Fiserv clients across global markets.

Photo by Mario Rodriguez

PayNearMe Launches AI Servicing and Collections Agent

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 2, 2026
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, PayNearMe

PayNearMe launched an AI Servicing and Collections Agent that handles inbound and outbound customer interactions, including calls, texts, payment scheduling, and issue resolution.

The Agent is embedded in PayNearMe’s PayXM platform, allowing it to use payment data, business rules, and workflows to take action while escalating cases that require human assistance.

The launch reflects agentic AI’s shift from assistance to execution, demonstrating how AI can move beyond answering questions to completing financial tasks on a customer’s behalf.

Payment experience company PayNearMe unveiled its latest tool this week. The California-based company is launching an AI Servicing and Collections Agent, an AI agent to facilitate inbound self-service for consumers and outbound engagement about collections.

PayNearMe's new Agent calls and texts customers, answers inbound calls, and helps customers make or schedule payments, resolve payment issues, and address other account needs. While the tool can help automate much of the collections process, it can…

Finovate Global Indonesia: Payments, MSMEs, and the Challenge of Progress

By David Penn Posted on October 2, 2026
Categories: Finovate Global

This week's edition of Finovate Global features the latest fintech news from Indonesia.

Digital financial platform DANA secures investment

Indonesian digital financial platform DANA has secured an investment from 01Fintech, the growth-stage fintech private equity arm of 01FGroup. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

A leading Indonesian digital e-wallet and financial services platform, DANA serves consumers, merchants, and financial institutions, providing digital payments, QRIS, money transfers, and AI-powered financial solutions. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Jakarta, DANA supports millions of users in both metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions of the country, as well as micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), especially across Tier 2 to Tier 4 regions.

"We are pleased to welcome 01Fintech to DANA's journey," company Co-Founder and CEO Vince Iswara said. "Beyond capital, 01Fintech brings specialized fintech expertise, strategic regional connectivity, and a shared commitment to sustainable growth. Together, we remain focused on strengthening our…