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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
U.K.-based financial planning software company for advisors, Dynamic Planner, launched its new risk profile mapping service this week.
The service brings greater clarity on potential risks when building diversified investment portfolios with single strategy funds.
Dynamic Planner made its Finovate debut in 2022 at FinovateEurope in London.
Dynamic Planner, a financial planning software company for advisors, unveiled its new risk profile mapping service for single strategy funds this week. The new service will help advisors create diversified portfolios with greater accuracy and insight on potential risks. This will ensure that portfolios are suitable to their specific investors and their goals.
“The new service will provide them with a level of granularity not previously possible, greater efficiency and accuracy, and all within one system with a consistent level of risk throughout,” company Chief Proposition Officer Chris Jones said. “However you organize your business and decide to meet the needs of your clients, Dynamic Planner can support you.”
The Single Strategy Mapped Service precisely maps instrument-level holdings data against Dynamic Planner’s risk factors and asset risk model. By sourcing single strategy fund holding data directly from fund providers, Dynamic Planner achieves a higher than usual level of granularity. This enables the service to provide the same accuracy and efficiency in the deployment of single strategy funds that advisors have when using multi-asset solutions.
The new service will also help fund managers better deal with compliance requirements. These include new regulations such as Consumer Duty, as well as the Product Intervention and Product Governance source book (PROD) rules that came into effect in 2018. “From a PROD and Consumer Duty perspective, the Single Strategy Mapped Service also enables the fund manager to more simply and clearly communicate whether a fund is intended to be distributed as a solution or part of a portfolio,” Jones said.
Headquartered in the U.K., and founded in 2003, Dynamic Planner made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022. At the event, CEO Ben Goss and his team showed how the platform combined intuitive technology with an independent asset risk model to match the right investment strategy with the right investor. Geared toward asset managers that risk profile, target, or manage more than £250 billion in investments, Dynamic Planner leverages 2,400+ covariance correlations to help ensure investment suitability.
Dynamic Planner began 2024 with the launch of its new low code integration platform. The solution enables advisors to integrate Dynamic Planner with other CRM systems they currently use to better manage client relationships.
Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope in London next month? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.
Supply Wisdom unveiled its self-service, SaaS-based model that gives organizations the ability to conduct real-time risk monitoring.
The new capabilities come in the wake of the firm inking partnerships with three Fortune 100 companies.
Supply Wisdom made its Finovate debut in 2022 at FinovateFall in New York.
Today, Supply Wisdomlaunched a self-service, SaaS-based model that delivers real-time risk monitoring capability to organizations. The company noted that its new offering will help organizations operationalize location-specific risk in their decision making.
Tom Thimot, Supply Wisdom CEO, explained the challenges organizations face in terms of both new regulations and growing geopolitical risk. “Firms are starting to recognize that geographic concentration is a common risk indicator raised by DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) and many other recently introduced regulations, yet they lack adequate risk intelligence and the tooling needed to operationalize risk management,” Thimot said. To this end, the new model will help organizations deal with the growing incidence of geopolitcal disruptions to business activity.
The launch news comes in the wake of Supply Wisdom adding three new customers – all members of the Fortune 100 – to its roster. Although unnamed in the company’s statement, the new clients include one of the four largest banks in the U.S., one of the top three shipping companies in the world, and a leading U.S. financial services and insurance company. These firms have used Supply Wisdom’s platform to monitor 150+ metrics across eight location risk subdomains – including ratings and event alerts – in weeks.
“The days of hiring and training scores of staff to compile and aggregate data reporting manually are over,” Thimot said this week. “As a result, we are seeing more Fortune 100 companies across industries turn to Supply Wisdom for real-time risk intelligence. Through immediate insights, businesses can respond more quickly to minimize or avoid the potential impact of global threats.”
With more than 30 years of experience in scaling SaaS-based technology companies, Thimot joined Supply Wisdom as CEO in December. Previously, he was CEO of enterprise identity authentication firm authID. Thimot also served as CEO of Finovate alum Socure. During his tenure, Socure earned a valuation of $1.3 billion. The company also became known as a leader in day zero identity verification.
Supply Wisdom made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, the company showed how it leverages real-time risk intelligence and alerting help organizations modernize their risk management beyond point-in-time practices. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in New York, Supply Wisdom has raised $11.5 million funding, according to Crunchbase. The firm counts Fulcrum Equity Partners and Florida Funders among its investors.
With apologies to Dr. Dre … the spot Bitcoin ETFs are here and everybody’s celebratin’!
This week on Tales from the Crypto we’re taking a look at the launch and reception of the long-awaited spot bitcoin ETFs. We’ll also learn a little more about stablecoin issuer Circle’s IPO plans, and the latest – and maybe last – from JPM Morgan Chase CEO and perennial crypto critic Jamie Dimon on what he hates – and likes – about crypto.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs Have Arrived!
Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved eleven, count ’em eleven, spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Digital asset manager CoinShares reported new inflows of more than $870 million into the new ETFs in the first three days. According to investment research firm CFRA, investors traded $4.6 billion worth of shares in these new funds on the first day.
While bitcoin ETFs have existed before 2024, the current spot bitcoin ETF fixes at least one major problem of the earlier bitcoin ETFs. In the past, bitcoin ETFs tracked bitcoin prices by holding bitcoin derivative products. Managers of these funds bought and sold bitcoin futures in order to try and copy the asset’s changes in value. This inefficient process often meant that earlier bitcoin ETFs did not always accurately reflect the actual changes in digital asset’s price.
By contrast, the current incarnation of bitcoin ETFs actually own bitcoin. This means that the newer funds are likely provide a truer exposure to the cryptocurrency.
The new bitcoin ETFs and their ticker symbols are below. Expense ratios for these funds range broadly from a low of 0.20% for the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF to a high of 1.5% for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. Compare these to expense ratios for other popular ETFs such as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust or SPY, which has a fee of 0.09%, and the Invesco QQQ ETF, which has an expense ratio of 0.20%.
Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB)
ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB)
Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC)
BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT)
Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund (BRRR)
Vaneck Bitcoin Trust (HODL)
Franklin Bitcoin ETF (EZBC)
WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW)
Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCO)
Hasdex Bitcoin ETF (DEFI)
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)
The statement announcing the SEC’s approval of the spot bitcoin ETF (the SEC uses the term “exchange-traded product” – ETP) more than reflects the agency’s ambivalence toward the new offering. “I have often said that the Commission acts within the law and how the courts interpret the law,” SEC chair Gary Gensler writes early on in a statement that details the agency’s efforts to regulate digital assets. His overall message – with its bitcoin-only caveats and his reminder that the current filings are “similar to those we have disapproved in the past”? “The Court of Appeals made us do it.”
The statement actually concludes with a quip about how bitcoin ETFs compare unfavorably, in Chair Gensler’s opinion, with metals ETFs. After asserting that “we’re merit neutral,” Gensler observes dryly: “Bitcoin is primarily a speculative, volatile asset that’s also used for illicit activity including ransomware, money laundering, sanction evasion, and terrorist financing.”
You almost can hear the sound of the dinner plate crashing against the table as the aggrieved server finally delivers your meal and sulks away, muttering under their breath.
Neither the number of shares to be offered nor the price range for the proposed offering were noted.
This week’s announcement represents Circle’s second bite at the “going public” apple. The company had planned to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) transaction in 2021. That deal would have given the company a valuation of about $9 billion. Unfortunately, the transaction did not take place. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that the company simply failed to meet the SEC’s requirements in a timely fashion.
“We are disappointed the proposed transaction timed out,” Allaire said when the deal fell through. “However, becoming a public company remains part of Circle’s core strategy to enhance trust and transparency, which has never been more important.”
Founded in 2013, Circle is the principal operator of the U.S. stablecoin USDC. The company is licensed as a Money Transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Institutions. USDC offers instant settlement compared to legacy payments, near-zero costs, open and global access, as well as ready availability on popular exchanges and protocols, and broad and growing use in the developer community. Circle also offers products such as programmable wallets and its smart contract platform, currently in beta.
Hula Hoops, Pet Rocks, and Bitcoin?
You have to wonder if all this good news for bitcoin is getting under the skin of the digital asset’s biggest bête noire, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.
Dimon was recently interviewed on CNBC when he announced that this would be the last time he would publicly offer an opinion on bitcoin. That said, Dimon left us with plenty of anti-crypto quips to keep us company for some time to come.
Crypto use cases? “AML, fraud, sex trafficking and tax avoidance,” Dimon suggested. At the same time, he said, cryptocurrency is a “pet rock” that “does nothing.” Dimon is indifferent to what others such as Fidelity and Blackrock that have shown interest in bitcoin ETFs, saying that “I don’t want to tell you what to do. My personal advice is don’t get involved.”
Then again, there are some caveats to Dimon’s disinterest in cryptocurrencies. For one, Dimon does say that there are potentially interesting innovations with regard to non-bitcoin crypto, particularly the tokenization of real-world assets. Second, while Dimon himself may not be a fan of crypto, his firm is apparently playing a significant role in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) as an authorized participant.
Starting off the holiday-shortened week with more than a few fintech partnership announcements in payments as well as some positive funding news in the challenger bank/neobank space.
Follow this space all week long for more updates on the latest in fintech!
Payments
Localized payment solutions network Bokuintroduces new Chief Executive Officer Stuart Neal.
Mangopay, a payments infrastructure provider for marketplaces and platforms, teams up with Storfund.
Integrated payments and commerce technology company Shift4teams up with mobile payment provider MobilePay.
Worldlineforges strategic partnership with Google to leverage the cloud to enhance global payments orchestration.
U.K.-based rent data company CreditLadderadds new reporting functionality to its digital identity app, Digital ID Connect.
Digital Banking
Colorado-based Elevations Credit Union partners with digital banking platform provider Alkami.
Co-op Credit Union extends its partnership with MDT, a CUSO that hosts the Symitar core processing system from Jack Henry, and adds digital and data capabilities.
TandemunveilsGoals feature set, announces $3.7 million in seed funding.
Pinwheelcollaborates with Jack Henry to streamline access to direct deposit switching solution
Mortgagetech
Obligoteams up with BNY Mellon to digitize the rental process for property managers.
Credit Risk & Analytics
Collections and credit risk specialist Akuvo announces that 21 new financial institutions have signed up for its delinquency management platform.
Insurtech
Qoverlaunches its automobile insurance solution in the U.K.
B2B payments and invoicing network TreviPay launched its Universal Acceptance solution.
The technology will enable suppliers to offer trade credit financing to qualified buyers.
TreviPay made its Finovate debut two years ago at FinovateFall.
Courtesy of a partnership with Mastercard, B2B payments and invoicing network TreviPaylaunched its Universal Acceptance solution this week. The new offering will enable suppliers who accept Mastercard to extend net terms, or trade credit financing, as well as provide SKU-level invoicing to business customers.
TreviPay CEO Brandon Spear called the launch of the Universal Acceptance solution “an industry milestone.” According to Spear, the solution eliminates much of the complexity of B2B purchasing by taking a “consumer-like” approach to the buying experience. Research commissioned by the company revealed inefficient processes, incorrect invoicing, and slow onboarding as three key pain points for international business buyers. This research also indicated that trade credit was a leading payment option among these same buyers.
To this end, TreviPay’s Universal Acceptance solution enables suppliers who accept credit cards to offer net-terms financing to qualified buyers. TreviPay automates onboarding, financing, and accounts receivable to enhance efficiency and streamline the process. The platform also automatically sends invoices to the merchant’s buyer. This means that suppliers don’t have to worry about the cost and time spent pursuing outstanding or late payments. TreviPay assumes all risks relating to collection and guaranteeing settlement to merchants upfront.
TreviPay’s platform can be implemented in its original API integration directly into the seller’s point of acceptance. Users can also deploy the platform without API integration, relying on Mastercard’s global acceptance network instead.
Rebecca Meeker, SVP, Global Partnerships and Segments, Mastercard, praised TreviPay and Mastercard’s “shared vision to bring consumer-grade convenience to B2B transactions.” Meeker underscored the “seamless invoice reconciliation and faster settlement” made possible via the partnership.
Founded in 1980, TreviPay is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. The company made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, TreviPay’s Rissi Lovern and Max Almerico demoed TreviPay’s Small Business Supplier Payments Network (SBSN). The network enables banks to offer a wide range of products to their small business customers via access to the small business B2B trade credit market.
Last fall, TreviPay launched its Financial Partner Gateway. A new suite of APIs, the Financial Partner Gateway enables banks to deliver solutions including automated accounts receivable, underwriting, and trade credit management. The Gateway gives banks new revenue opportunities while helping TreviPay expand internationally. In August, the company introduced its support for cross-currency, B2B sales.
There was a lot of news week in the payments world, where we saw announcements from large firms such as Visa and PhonePe, as well as smaller players like Cleva.
Across the board, there also seem to be a fair number of C-level job shifts, which makes sense for the start of the year.
Challenger Banking
Nubank’s Nu Colombia receives formal approval to operate a financing company in Colombia.
Payments
Clevaraises $1.5 million pre-seed funding to help non-U.S. residents open a U.S.-based account to receive USD payments.
Swiss fintech Temenoslaunched its end-to-end Temenos Enterprise Services on the Temenos Banking Cloud this week. The new offering will enable banks to lower the cost, complexity, and risk of modernization, and deploy new software solutions in 24 hours.
Temenos President Product and Chief Operating Officer Prima Varadhan called the offering “a game-changing approach.” Varadhan added, “the ability to deploy fast, take advantage of a functionally-rich system from day 1, and benefit from continuous updates, help banks to attack the largest cost elements of running core banking software.”
Temenos Enterprise Services features 120+ pre-packaged banking products, predefined customer journeys, and more than 700 pre-configured APIs. The offering enables banks, regardless of size, to launch a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and have a build and test environment within 24 hours. Whether the goal is the launch new business lines or to modernize legacy systems, Temenos Enterprise Services enables banks to benefit from continuous updates, optimal security controls, resilience, and high-performance Service Level Agreements. Banks and FI will also get immediate access to the Temenos Exchange ecosystem with another 115+ complementary solutions.
“Speed, security, and business agility are key for banks to compete and thrive in the digital world,” Varadhan said. “With our end-to-end Temenos Enterprise Services on Temenos Banking Cloud, banks of all sizes can have a ready-to-go system in 24 hours with pre-configured banking products, turn on new features, and benefit from faster time to value.”
A Finovate alum since 2013, Temenos counts more than 700 banks and 3,000+ FIs across 150 countries as users of its technology. The Swiss fintech’s offerings support retail, business, and corporate banking, as well as wealth management and services for fund administrators. Temenos ended 2023 with a new partnership with Lesha Bank, a Qatar-based investment bank that migrated to Temenos’ core banking platform in December.
Swiss payments technology company Riveroraised $7 million in Series A funding this week. Inference Partners and 6 Degrees Capital led the round. Kraken Ventures, Seed X Liechtenstein, the venture arm of PostFinance and angel investor and former Adyen COO, Robert Kraal, also participated in the funding. The company will use the capital to fuel expansion into new markets, enhance product development, and add to its workforce.
“We’re thrilled to share the news of our Series A round,” Rivero CEO and co-founder Thomas Müller said, “especially given the current challenging market conditions. We take this as confirmation of our strong business model and clear market demand for our products.”
A specialist in payment digitization and automation, Rivero makes payments easier for financial institutions, especially issuing banks. The company has two primary SaaS offerings: Kajo, a payment scheme compliance solution, and Amiko, which provides tools for fraud recovery and dispute management. Rivero has forged partnerships with more than 20+ financial institutions including Swiss bank Cembra, which deployed Amiko, and payment card issuer Cornercard, which deployed Kajo.
“Globally, banks spend billions of dollars on scheme compliance and payment dispute management,” 6 Degrees Capital partner Thibault D’hondt noted. “Rivero is the first of its kind to offer a suite of SaaS solutions to help banks and processors address the challenge.”
Founded in 2019, Rivero is based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Central and Eastern Europe
German crypto custodian Fiona raised $15 million in strategic funding at a valuation of $100 million.
Estonian fintech Money Industries secured a $1.5 million investment led by Caucasus Ventures.
Omnicredit, Romania’s first micro financing, scoring and factoring company, won the “Best Digital Lending in CEE Among Fintechs” award from the SME Banking Club Association.
Middle East and Northern Africa
MENA-based Paymob teamed up with GCC-based shopping and payments platform Tamara.
Ooredoo, a Qatar-based fintech, forged a partnership with Commercial Bank to launch its direct debit solution.
MENA-based payments solutions provider Magnati collaborated with Oxinus Holdings to enhance payments in the food and beverage business.
Central and Southern Asia
Indian pay tech Mylapay raised $550,000 in seed funding.
nanopaybrought its remittance solution, Foree Remittance, to Pakistan courtesy of a partnership with the National Bank of Pakistan.
India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) integrated with Singapore-based PayNow to support remittance flows from Indian’s in Singapore back home.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Conta Simples, an expense management and corporate card services platform based in Brazil, secured $41.5 million in new funding.
Argentina-based fintech Ualá launched the country’s first no-fee credit card.
Danske Bank has signed a deal with engagement banking solutions provider Backbase.
Danske Bank will tap Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform to help tailor its digital experience to suit its users’ needs and preferences.
Among Backbase’s most recent partnerships are FrankieOne and SavvyMoney.
Engagement banking solutions provider Backbase inked a deal with Denmark-based Danske Bank this week.
“This engagement is a testament to our customer focus and our commitment to ensuring the best digital banking experience for the future,” said Danske Bank Chief Operating Officer Frans Woelders. “A new platform that works across the web, mobile apps, and our adviser tools is one of the ambitions in Danske Bank’s Forward ’28 strategy, and the agreement with Backbase is the next step towards achieving that ambition.”
Under today’s deal, Danske Bank will leverage to Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform, allowing the bank to enhance the customer experience by tailoring the digital experience to suit the user’s needs and preferences.
Specifically, Backbase cites four aspects of digital banking that its Engagement Banking Platform can enhance, including:
A mobile-first model that guides customers between automated and expert advice.
A modernized and simplified IT landscape that reduces the number of siloed applications.
Aunified platform that consolidates data, business logic, and workflows into a single platform for customers and bank employees.
More agility, thanks to enhanced flexibility that allows for swift implementation of business capabilities.
Expounding on the last point, Danske Bank Head of Personal Customers and Financial Crime Risk and Prevention Christian Bornfeld said, “This platform will allow us to take our interaction with customers through our digital solutions to the next level and to introduce enhancements at greater speed than ever before. It will thus enable us to provide market-leading convenience and personalization for our customers with great insights, increased proactivity, and easy access to assistance and advice.”
Backbase, which is on a self-described mission “to re-architect banking around the customer,” was an early entrant to the fintech space. Founded in 2003, the Amsterdam-based company offers a range of digital banking solutions, including onboarding, lending, investing, and customer support. Among Backbase’s existing partnerships are FrankieOne, which signed with the fintech last September, and SavvyMoney, which initiated its partnership last August.
First, join podcast host and Finovate VP Greg Palmer as he sits down with Tamara Steffens, Managing Director, TR Ventures.
An early stage venture investor with more than 20 years of experience, Steffens shares her insights and perspective on what’s in store for fintech and the funding ecosystem in 2024. Episode 198.
Next, catch up with Greg Palmer as he talks with Denny Howell, Chief Operating Officer with Mahalo Banking.
Mahalo Banking won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall last September. In this conversation, Howell explains why Mahalo emphasized neurodiversity as part of its goal of building inclusive technologies. Episode 199.
Open banking platform Link Money announced a strategic partnership with payments platform Optty.
The partnership will enable Optty’s merchant clients and partners to access Link Money’s Pay by Bank solution.
Optty’s platform integrates with 115+ of the most popular alternative payment methods in the world.
Pay by bank is one of the biggest trends in fintech. And a new partnership between open banking platform Link Money and payments platform Optty will help more merchants and customers take advantage of it.
“Through this partnership, we will enable merchants to shift volume away from the most expensive rails and dramatically reduce costs while also reducing fraud and churn,” Link Money VP of Strategy Shaun Vanderkaap said.
The strategic partnership will enable Optty’s U.S. merchant clients and partners to use Link Money’s Pay by Bank solution. The payment option gives merchants a way to keep processing fees low, mitigate credit card fraud, and limit customer churn. Between the convenience of account-to-account (A2A) payments and concerns over credit card fees and the threat of fraud, being able to make payments directly from bank accounts has become an increasingly popular option for consumers, merchants, and financial institutions alike.
Optty founder and CEO Natasha Zurnamer said that the collaboration supports the company’s emphasis on “payment inclusivity and choice.” Zurnamer explained, “By integrating diverse payment options into our platform, (we are) empowering merchants to offer tailored checkout experiences in minutes.”
Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Singapore, Optty supports nine different dynamic payment architectures. Buy Now Pay Later, digital wallets, credit and debit cards, gift cards, cryptocurrencies, loyalty and rewards, bank transfers, and payouts are all available from Optty via a single API integration. Optty also offers services ranging from carbon calculators and fraud protection to transaction review/optimization and network tokenization. The platform supports 120 currencies, is available in 75+ markets around the world, and has 400+ individual integrations to date. The technology is available as both a white-label product as well as a directly integrated solution.
Link Money specializes in making it easy for consumers to pay directly from their bank. The company leverages open banking to give merchants an alternative payment solution that lowers costs and increases convenience. To use the service, customers securely connect to their bank, select the account from which the payment will be made, and then initiate the payment. Link Money guarantees the payment to merchants, which typically takes two-to-three days to appear in the merchant’s account. The company has connections to more than 3,400 U.S. banks, and does not store bank login information or user credentials.
Founded in 2021, Link Money is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Eric Shoykhet is CEO.
Mastercard is partnering with 4thWave to leverage its supply chain financing and collections platform for its commercial clients based in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA).
Mastercard will integrate 4thWave’s technology into Mastercard’s InControl for Commercial Payments solution that uses virtual account numbers to make supplier payments more flexible and secure.
The payments technology aims to help the 72% of organizations that experience strained vendor relationships.
Payments technology giant Mastercard is partnering with BaaS digital platform provider 4thWave to leverage its supply chain financing and collections platform. Mastercard will use 4thWave’s technology for managing B2B payments to facilitate cashflow for corporate buyers and suppliers in the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) region.
More specifically, the technology will be integrated into Mastercard’s InControl for Commercial Payments (ICCP), a B2B payments solution that streamlines payments using virtual account numbers to make supplier payments more flexible and secure. Further increasing virtual card account acceptance, Mastercard’s straight through processing (STP) will help deliver funds for approved transactions to suppliers’ bank accounts.
“In line with our commitment to helping businesses worldwide transform the way they pay and get paid, we are investing in enhanced capabilities in the commercial B2B payments space,” said Mastercard Senior Vice President of Commercial Solutions, EEMEA Clyde Rosanowski. “Our partnership with 4thWave, a result of our continued focus on solving for B2B accounts payable and receivables, will allow us to jointly provide enhanced value to all participants in the supply chain.”
Mastercard is pouring its efforts into the supply chain finance sector because of the difficulties that often arise over vendor-supplier relationships. In fact, IBM found that around 72% of organizations experience strained vendor relationships due to inefficient invoice and payment processing, leading to sub-optimal supplier relationships. Offering a supply chain financing and collections tool to its commercial clients may smooth some of these issues and allow companies to focus on their core business.
“The B2B businesses, especially in the SME & MSME segment, have been severely impacted by the slowness in collections of receivables,” explained 4thWave Chairman Dan Mishra. “This has led to severe liquidity crunch that has negative consequences for the survival of these businesses. Our combined solution with Mastercard addresses this need by providing an easy and innovative financing platform that will rekindle and spur the much-needed growth in the economies.”
We are only three days into this week, and we’ve already seen a huge wave of fintech funding announcements come in. In fact, there have been not one, not three, not five, but 10 fintech companies that have secured substantial funding rounds this week.
This surge signals a promising comeback, hinting at a possible resurgence of venture funding in the fintech sector for 2024. Here’s a look at the funding announcements so far this week.
Financial software and technology provider Computer Services, Inc. (CSI)landed a strategic investment from private equity firm TA. The amount of this week’s round was undisclosed.
Asset and wealth management software specialist Ziloraised $31.8 million (£25 million) in Series A funding. The round was co-led by Fidelity International Strategic Ventures and Portage.
Unbox, a value exchange network, closed $13.2 million (€12 million) in a funding round led by HSBC. Unbox will use the majority of the funds to fuel talent recruitment.
Investment portfolio company Allied Payment Network received additional strategic investment from growth capital firm RF Investment Partners. The amount of this week’s round was undisclosed.
B2B subscription commerce platform AppDirectsecured an additional $100 million investment from global investment group CDPQ. The funds will be used to support financing options for technology advisors through the company’s AppDirect Capital Invest program.
Maalexi, a risk management platform assuring payment and performance for small agri-businesses in cross border trade, raised $3 million in a round led by Global Ventures.
Singapore-based BNPL firm Atomeraised $31 million from parent company Advance Intelligence Group.
Digital asset custodian Finoabrought in a $15 million investment led by Maven 11 Capital and Balderton Capital. The company’s valuation remains flat at $100 million.
Brazil-based Conta Simplesbrought in $41.5 million (R$200,000,000) for its expense management technology. The company will use the funds to grow its team and expand its client base.
Africa-based fintech Clevaraised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding for its technology that enables African users to receive USD payments.
Overall, the 10 rounds add up to more than $237 million. This might not seem like a lot when compared to 2021 funding levels. However, it is impressive when juxtaposed against last year’s first quarter funding numbers. When looking at the funding raised by Finovate alumni, we found that 13 companies raised a total of $453 million in the first quarter of 2023. Considering this benchmark, fintechs are off to a good start in 2024.
But don’t get too excited. This week’s brisk pace of fintech funding may not be completely indicative of a comeback. The ten rounds in three days can likely be attributed to the buildup of deals that were almost complete in the fourth quarter of last year, but were put off after the holidays.
Regardless of the reason, let’s hope that 2024 is a happy and healthy year for fintech funding.
