Blog - Page 79 of 1198

Airwallex Teams Up with OurCrowd to Enable Investors to Fund Startups in Local Currency

By David Penn Posted on August 3, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, OurCrowd

Venture investing platform OurCrowd announced an integration with Airwallex.
The integration will make it easier for investors around the world to use their local currency to invest in startups.
Based in Israel, OurCrowd made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016.

Payments and financial platform Airwallex and venture investing platform OurCrowd announced a new partnership this week. The two companies are combining their efforts to make it easier for both institutions and accredited investors to invest in startups wherever they are and in their local currency – all with a single click.

The integration works with OurCrowd allocating a global account for each investor. Investors can choose to convert their funds into a number of different currency options, including their own local currency. OurCrowd converts the funds to the selected currency at a transparent rate that is typically guaranteed for 24 hours. More than a third of OurCrowd’s FX flow has moved via Airwallex since the company embedded its API in February. OurCrowd anticipates increasing its flow to 90% by the end of the year.

“With the globalization of the startup world advanced fintech which is multi-currency is a game changer,” OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved said. “Now you can be sitting in Israel and invest in a Silicon Valley startup, pay in Shekels with a single click and it is totally transparent.”

Traditionally, investors have had to convert their local funds into U.S. dollars and then send those funds by wire in order to invest in startups. In contrast, the partnership between OurCrowd and Airwallex will provide investors from more than 195 countries with a platform that enables them to use their own currency to invest in startups. Integrating Airwallex’s API into its platform also gives accredited investors access to Airwallex solutions such as Global Accounts, Payouts, and LockFX which offer further opportunities for investors to participate in startup deals.

Pranav Sood, EGM, EMEA at Airwallex, described the partnership as another success for embedded finance. Sood explained that the integration was a “perfect example” of supporting the growth of its end users while simultaneously giving OurCrowd tools to add to the services they are able to offer. “From streamlining payment processes for investors and startups to minimizing FX costs, embedded finance is simplifying the way businesses operate across borders,” Sood explained.

Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, Airwallex helps more than 100,000 businesses streamline their international payments and financial operations. The company offers solutions for payments, treasury and spend management, as well as embedded finance, and processes $50 billion in annualized transaction volume. In recent months, Airwallex has forged partnerships with Brex, payments network TrueLayer, business payments platform MODIFI, and Expedia. Founded in 2015, the company has raised more than $900 million in funding at a valuation of $5.6 billion.

OurCrowd made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016. At the conference, the Israel-based company showed how its app provided an interactive investment discovery and review process to help accredited investors make better, more informed decisions. One of the most active venture investors in Israel over the past ten years, according to Pitchbook, OurCrowd has more than $2.2 billion in commitments. The company has deployed capital into more than 420 portfolio companies and 50 funds across five continents. Founded in 2013, OurCrowd has more than 225,000 registered members from 195 countries on its platform today.

Photo by Maria Isabella Bernotti

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Melio Launches BNPL Tool for SMBs

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 2, 2023
Categories: Daily news

Melio is launching Pay Over Time, a buy now, pay later tool for small businesses.
Pay Over Time enables businesses to pay invoices in a single installment, or over the course of three, six, or 12 months.
The suppliers receive the payments on time and in full and do not need to sign up or register.

Small business payments and receivables company Melio unveiled its newest tool for small businesses (SMBs) this week. The New York-based company is launching Pay Over Time, a buy now, pay later (BNPL) solution for SMB clients.

Powered by Credit Key, Pay Over Time allows Melio’s small business customers to pay invoices in monthly installments, while their suppliers get paid in full and on time. Businesses can select to repay in a single installment (net 30) or over the course of three, six, or 12 months. Melio then debits the repayments each month from the business’ preferred bank account.

“We’re proud to be providing more flexibility to small businesses that need to pay bills and invoices with strict terms, enabling our customers to better align their spend and income,” said Melio Co-founder and CEO Matan Bar.

As a result of the more flexible payments structure, Melio’s business customers are able to free up to $50,000 in cash flow when they need it. The installments come with no impact to vendors and doesn’t require them to sign up or register.

Melio was founded in 2018 to provide accounts payable and receivable as a service through banks, software providers, and marketplaces. The company’s tools allow businesses to choose how they pay and get paid, and help them stay on top of paying their bills and invoices.

“Melio is continuing to scale rapidly and offer new products to meet the evolving needs of small business owners,” said Melio co-founder and CTO Ilan Atias. “This product will be a gamechanger for small businesses because of the ease of use – with Pay Over Time small businesses have a tool embedded into their pay flow to quickly access financing.”

Photo by Sora Shimazaki

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Four Reasons Why Goldman Sachs and Apple Are Breaking Up

By David Penn Posted on August 2, 2023
Categories: Apple, List series, Thought Leadership

Rumors have circulated that the partnership between one of the biggest names in finance – Goldman Sachs – and one of the biggest names in tech – Apple – is coming to an end.

Specifically, the reports suggest that Goldman Sachs is looking to exit its financial relationship with Apple. Goldman Sachs is Apple’s partner for its Apple Card – and has been since 2019. Goldman Sachs is also Apple’s partner for its Buy Now Pay Later service, currently in beta. Reports from the Wall Street Journal indicate that Goldman Sachs is looking to off-load its Apple credit card business to American Express.

So why has the relationship soured? Here are four possible factors:

Know Your Customer

One of the big headline issues hinting at friction between Goldman Sachs and Apple occurred when Apple CEO Tim Cook was testing the Apple Card and was unable to get approved. The issue had to do with fraud protection protocols on Goldman Sachs’ side. The company’s underwriters rejected the application because, as a well-known, high-profile individual, Tim Cook is often impersonated by fraudsters. This appeared to be a one-off problem at first. But an investigation by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau led to additional concerns about disputed transactions and, ultimately, reports of gender bias in the granting of credit limit increases. Goldman Sachs was cleared of any wrongdoing, but the drama helped stoke tensions between the company and Apple.

Culture Clash

It’s not surprising that there were issues between the East Coast Wall Street culture of Goldman Sachs and the West Coast Silicon Valley culture of Apple. But there were very real challenges in the working relationship between the two firms. As is often the case when “move fast and break things” technologists team up with the rules-based world of finance, there was a tension between what one person called a focus on “the sleek technology and product pizazz” on the one hand and “regulatory compliance and profitability” on the other. Even at a more mundane level, basic issues such as the timing of billing statements and card design became grist for conflict and development delays.

The Bank Behind the Curtain

Writing at 9to5 Mac, Chance Miller noted that in addition to losing a ton of money with Apple Card – more than $1 billion by January 2022 – there are other ways that Goldman Sachs was losing out on the Apple partnership. Miller points out that not only was Apple developing its own in-house financial service project (called “Project Breakout”), but also there were other aspects of the relationship that ill-served Goldman Sachs. “One thing to keep in mind is that most Apple Card users likely don’t even know Apple Card is backed by Goldman Sachs,” Miller wrote. “Goldman Sachs exists in the backend, and everything else is managed directly through the Apple Wallet app.”

While this relationship is common in fintech and financial services, it seems like a poor approach for Goldman Sachs, which is newer to the consumer business than Chase or American Express and was likely seeking to build its consumer brand via its association with Apple. Couple that issue with the financial losses, and the potential of Apple “breaking out” on its own, and Goldman Sachs may have one more reason to start second-guessing its Apple Card gambit.

Whose Idea Was This Anyway?

When Goldman Sachs first announced its partnership with Apple, there were many who questioned the financial institution’s deepening foray into consumer banking. Goldman Sachs earned its lofty reputation in the world of finance as a leading investment bank and investment management firm. To say that consumer banking was not a core Goldman Sachs competency would be an understatement. But in the wake of the financial crisis, with Wall Street banks desperate for new revenue sources, consumer banking and the rise of fintech were alluring opportunities to an institution like Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs had room to grow – and money to burn. The firm also had a brand name and reputation that would help it gain the attention it would need in an increasingly competitive market.

But projects like Marcus rose and plateaued, with an initial rush of deposits leading to overly optimistic profit forecasts and, ultimately, significant losses. Efforts to expand into areas such as investing via Marcus revealed that Goldman Sachs was not as innovative as smaller upstarts like Robinhood. An attempt to leverage opportunities in consumer lending with the acquisition of Buy Now Pay Later startup GreenSky proved costly.

Seen through this lens, Goldman Sachs’s issues with Apple Card may have more to do with Goldman Sach’s issues with consumer banking.

Photo by cottonbro studio

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Digital Mortgage Platform SimpleNexus Integrates with Finastra’s MortgagebotLOS

By David Penn Posted on August 2, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Finastra

Digital mortgage platform SimpleNexus has integrated with Finastra’s MortgagebotLOS.
The bi-directional integration is designed to streamline the home financing process for both home buyers as well as lenders, credit unions, and banks.
Finastra was formed in 2017 as the product of a merger between Misys and D+H.

Digital mortgage platform SimpleNexus has integrated with Finastra’s loan origination system for digital mortgage lending, MortgagebotLOS. The bi-directional integration will streamline home financing for both home buyers as well as the credit unions, banks, and lenders who cater to them. Homebuyers will be able to submit mortgage applications by smartphone or other Internet-connected device, and will benefit from being able to easily and securely scan and upload required documents. Automated mortgage loan milestone updates, courtesy of real-time data syncing between the two systems, notify homebuyers on their progress and point to next steps.

“The integration enables financial institutions to optimize their use of both platforms while providing borrowers with a seamless and supportive mortgage application process,” Finastra director of product management Mary Kay Theriault said. “Our goal is to equip lenders with the tools they need to stay ahead in any mortgage market.”

Ben Miller, SimpleNexus CEO, underscored the importance of the bi-directional integration of the two technologies. Miller noted that both homebuyers and lenders will benefit from improvements in convenience, efficiency, and overall usability with the new “from-anywhere digital mortgage application portal.”

Among the first banks to have deployed the technology are ChoiceOne Bank, based in Michigan, and Flanagan State Bank, based in Illinois. Both institutions have leveraged the integration to improve the navigability of the mortgage process for homebuyers as well as reduce manual and redundant tasks for loan originators and processing teams.

Founded as a merger between Misys and D+H in 2017, Finastra currently serves more than 8,100 financial institutions – including 45 of the world’s top 50 banks -across 130+ countries. The company offers solutions for lending and corporate banking, payments, treasury and capital markets, investment management, and banking-as-a-service.

Last month, Finastra announced a partnership with Open Finance company and fellow Finovate alum MX. The partnership will integrate MX’s PFM, insights, and account aggregation solutions with Finastra’s Fusion Digital Banking platform. Also in July, Finastra announced that it was working with European payments processing startup Salve Financial Hub and specialist mortgage lender and savings provider Melton Building Society.

Headquartered in London, Finastra maintains offices in Canada, Singapore, the UAE, and the U.S. Simon Paris is CEO.

Photo by PhotoMIX Company

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Why Customer-Led Growth is the Future for Financial Services

By Lili Nguyen Posted on August 2, 2023
Categories: Sponsored

This is a sponsored blog post by Matt Roche, CEO, Extole

Your job needs to be easier.

What you want is reasonable: acquire customers at a reasonable cost that will stick around and grow to use your broader offering. Instead, you are getting lower account retention and more difficulty opening new accounts, originating loans, or signing policies. And it gets harder every year, with higher paid media customer acquisition costs (CAC) and lower loyalty.

There is a solution, Customer-led Growth (CLG), the strategy of putting your customers and account holders at the center of your marketing, and it can deliver higher quality customers at a lower CAC.

CLG works.

Customer-led Growth is executed as a coordinated set of programs and activities that activate and engage prospects and customers along the entire customer journey to drive high-quality/low-cost acquisition, higher LTV, and higher engagement. CLG is predicated on the simple fact that your existing customer base is your most valuable and underused source of brand, awareness, and growth.

Customer-led Growth delivers the highest quality customers of any channel. Extole has worked with leading credit card, credit union, bank, brokerage, insurance, mortgage, and fintech companies. In nearly every case, the newly acquired customers from CLG programs are more profitable than any other channel.

For a brokerage, 24% more customers adopted higher-value trading products
For a credit card company, 22% more customers made their card first out of wallet
For a credit union, customers executed 15% to 20% more debit card transactions

In addition, existing customers that participated in programs were more likely to be among the most valuable to the firms we served. Simply engaging in programs, whether referral, nominations, gifting, cross-sell, or otherwise led to customers that were stickier and more profitable.

If a marketing approach can deliver higher-quality customers in this economic environment, why wouldn’t you do everything possible to adopt it?

The elements of Customer-led Growth

CLG is based on a simple mechanism: offer incentives to targeted audiences along the customer journey to drive high-value engagement. The key elements of a successful strategy include:

Evergreen referral and advocacy – Make referral an essential part of being a customer or account holder, providing codes, links, and tools for sharing that promote and reward natural advocacy.
Challenges – Looking to increase app downloads or get customers to set up direct deposit? Test different incentives to drive higher uptake.
Journey-based engagement – Introduce customers to programs at different stages, from onboarding to more mature, to keep them engaged and grow product usage.
Targeted offers – Target incentivized programs to audiences, like new customers, partners, agents, or specific segments to make certain that incentives are going only to those individuals that will take action.
Dynamic incentives – Allow rewarding using a huge range of incentives, including account credits, gift cards, charitable donations, privileges, and vouchers with rules crafted to make certain you are rewarding what creates value for you.

What to expect from Customer-led Growth

Most marketers will begin their Customer-led Growth journey with referral (or refer-a-friend) because it provides the fastest, most reliable return on investment and the highest quality new customers. Even firms with existing programs find that adopting purpose-built and modern technology results in significantly higher results because the experience is more seamless for customers, eliminating fraud and manual processing that prevent rapid satisfaction.

The next stage is optimization, tuning the incentive and experience and expanding the marketing of the program to ensure the widest possible participation. For an ordinary credit union, this could mean delivering 10% of new accounts with a basic program.

Driving new customer acquisition

In my experience, the best programs have delivered 30% to 40% of new accounts, a staggering result for a channel that delivers consistently high-quality accounts. In order to achieve this level, marketing teams must drive participation, usually through three techniques:

Expand marketing – The number of new accounts created is a function of customer awareness of the programs and ultimately of customers taking action. Driving higher program awareness drives end volume.
Segment participants – Behavioral patterns will emerge as customers engage. You will be able to distinguish simple advocates from ambassadors and superadvocates/ affiliates. Target programs to each audience to maximize yield.
Vary terms and incentives – Different participants will respond to different incentives, and rapidly refreshing program structures can drive higher participation and yield.

Driving customer base revenue

Once you have established acquisition programs that are effective, then you can expand to broader programs to drive customers to higher-value segments through targeted challenge programs.

For example, for almost all firms, a customer who downloads a mobile app will have a meaningfully higher lifetime value. Create a challenge program targeted to customers in their first 90 days offering an account credit for downloading and installing the app. Other important milestones include connecting accounts, executing trades, or adopting new products, all of which can be promoted at different stages using incentives that are only available to customers that are at that point in their journey.

You can also adopt “surprise and delight” style programs that offer incentives for having done something, as a thank you for a behavior that has created value. While these are more subtle, they can have a profound effect on tenure.

The long-term benefits of Customer-led Growth

A mature Customer-led Growth approach will provide a healthier, longer-term customer base that is connected with you in a more meaningful, less transactional way. As you evolve in this strategy, you will find yourselves spending less time talking about “last click” attribution, and more time talking about customer quality by channel, rates of participation, and how incentives relate to your brand. Higher quality questions reflect higher quality marketing organizations.

Extole created CLG, and is the leading platform. Connect with us September 11-13, 2023 at FinovateFall in booth 210.

Vector illustration – Cloud computing

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Ramp Launches Ramp Plus to Help Companies Scale

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 1, 2023
Categories: Daily news

Ramp is launching Ramp Plus, a new suite of procurement tools.
Ramp Plus will help finance teams with procurement-related tasks, including approval workflows, global expense capabilities, payment card controls, and more.
The new tools will be available starting in September.

Business finance automation platform Ramp is getting a lift today. The New York-based company has launched Ramp Plus, a new procurement solution to help businesses scale. “With Ramp Plus,” the company explained in an announcement, “we are helping growing companies with their most complex financial operations.”

Today’s launch positions Ramp as a more unified platform to help finance teams with procurement-related tasks. Some of the new capabilities include:

Procure-to-pay solution that helps businesses with spend requests, approval workflows, and purchase order tracking.
Global expenses and payments capabilities that enable global spending with support for multiple entities, multiple currencies, tax reporting, and debiting for select currencies.
A workflow builder that helps businesses automate complex processes with rules-based workflows.
Enhanced controls and policy enforcement that include payment card auto-locks, transaction review mandates, and flags for out-of-policy expenses.

Ramp Plus can be easily integrated within an organization’s existing tech stack.

Shopify is one of Ramp Plus’ early partners. The ecommerce company is leveraging Ramp’s new technology to help manage business expenses and issue payment cards for its 10,000+ employees.

Ramp Plus will be available starting in September, and Ramp is automatically upgrading all of its existing SMBs and mid-market business customers to Ramp Plus for one year for free. Other existing Ramp customers that sign up for Ramp Plus before September 19 can receive complimentary access to the new service for free for a year.

Ramp was founded in 2019 and serves 15,000 companies that range in size from startups to enterprises with its suite of payment cards, expense management tools, accounts payable offerings, working capital, and more. The company has raised $1.4 billion in funding, including its most recent $200 million Series C round. Eric Glyman is co-founder and CEO.

Photo by Dietmar Janssen

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Tradeshift Forms Joint Venture with HSBC, Raises $70 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 1, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, Funding, Tradeshift

Tradeshift is partnering with HSBC to develop embedded finance solutions.
As part of the partnership, HSBC is contributing $35 million to Tradeshift’s $70 million funding round announced today.
There is limited information about the details of the new joint venture between the two parties, but the announcement said more information will be unveiled ahead of the planned launch slated for early 2024.

Supply chain procurements and payments company Tradeshift is teaming up with HSBC to launch a new business. The jointly-owned business endeavor will focus on developing embedded finance solutions and financial services applications.

As part of the partnership, HSBC is investing $35 million in Tradeshift as part of a round that is expected to close at around $70 million. Existing investors AYTK Limited, LUN Partners Group, Fuel Venture Capital, Doha Venture Capital LLC, Notion Capital, IDC Ventures and The Private Shares Fund contributed to the round.

The round will add to the more than $1.1 billion in funding Tradeshift has amassed since it was founded in 2009.

Details about the new joint venture between Tradeshift and HSBC are sparse. The announcement states that the two will “deploy a range of digital solutions across Tradeshift and other platforms” that will include embedded finance tools for trade, e-commerce, and marketplaces. The new business will enable Tradeshift to globally scale its business commerce network that currently sits at one million users.

Tradeshift expects that the HSBC brand will “bring instant credibility and broad appeal” to the new financial solutions. HSBC currently facilitates more than $800 billion in trade each year.

“The world’s biggest trade bank and the world’s largest trade network are joining forces,” said Tradeshift CEO and Co-founder Christian Lanng. “Our deepening partnership with HSBC delivers a strong foundation from which to scale and accelerate our vision of a trade network that creates economic opportunity for businesses everywhere.”

The two will announce more details about the joint venture ahead of its launch, which is expected in early 2024.

“We are very excited to partner with Tradeshift to help businesses and their suppliers trade more smoothly using world-class technology and solutions that the joint venture will deliver,” said HSBC CEO of Global Commercial Banking Barry O’Byrne.

Photo by Yusuf Miah

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Maine’s Machias Savings Bank Partners with Jack Henry to Modernize Tech Stack

By David Penn Posted on August 1, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Jack Henry

Maine-based Machias Savings Bank has partnered with Jack Henry to modernize its technology stack.
Founded in 1869, Machias Savings Bank has $2.4 billion in assets.
Jack Henry has been a Finovate alum since 2010. Newsweek named the company as one of America’s Greatest Workplaces in 2023.

One of the oldest banks in Maine, Machias Savings Bank, has turned to Jack Henry to modernize its technology stack. The financial institution will deploy Jack Henry’s core processing solution to help automate processes and improve efficiency. Machias Savings Bank also will take advantage of business process solutions like Jack Henry’s Enterprise Workflow, as well as access more than 950 API-integrated, third-party fintechs that are a part of Jack Henry’s ecosystem.

“Jack Henry’s innovative mindset positions us well for a technology transformation that will help us stay competitive throughout shifting market and economic conditions,” Machias Savings Bank COO and EVP Peter Greene said. He added that the partnership will help the bank reduce costs while better serving its commercial customers, which have been a special focus for the institution.

“These modernization efforts will help Machias Savings Bank strengthen its connection to a new generation of customers, compete with the big banks, and remain a strong pillar in their community,” Jack Henry SVP and president of Bank Solutions Stacey Zengel added.

A Finovate alum since 2010, Jack Henry serves community and regional financial institutions, providing both internally developed technology solutions as well as integrations with leading fintech innovators. With more than 8,000 clients, the Monett, Missouri-based company offers digital banking, payments, lending, financial crime, and financial health solutions to help banks, credit unions, and other financial services companies innovate faster and compete more effectively against larger rivals in both finance and tech.

Last month, Jack Henry announced its support for the Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service. In June, the company launched its real-time payment fraud feature – Payrailz Fraud Monitor. The technology leverages AI and machine learning to identify and assess multiple fraud indicators to provide actionable scores on each payment transaction. The AI-based offering was made possible by Jack Henry’s acquisition of Payrailz in 2022. In addition to its partnership with Machias Savings Bank, Jack Henry teamed up with Platinum Federal Credit Union in May; First Community Bank, Sunrise Bank, and Today’s Bank in April; and virtual bank Greenpenny in January.

Jack Henry trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker JKHY. The firm has a market capitalization of $12 billion.

Machias Savings Bank was founded in 1869. The institution has $2.4 billion in assets, and 17 branch locations throughout Maine. Larry Baker is president and CEO.

Photo by Blue Arauz

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Ledgible and DigiShares Team Up to Boost Accuracy in Digital Asset Tax Accounting and Reporting

By David Penn Posted on August 1, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, DigiShares

Digital asset tokenization platform DigiShares partnered with digital asset tax, accounting, and data platform Ledgible.
The partnership will ensure greater accuracy and efficiency when assessing taxes for cryptocurrency and tokenized assets.
Founded in 2018, DigiShares made its Finovate debut at our all-digital event, FinovateSpring 2021.

White-label digital asset tokenization platform DigiShares has inked a partnership with digital asset tax, accounting, and data platform Ledgible. The collaboration will give DigiShares issuers, investors, and their accounting teams greater accuracy and efficiency in the challenging area of crypto and tokenized asset taxation.

Specifically, DigiShares will send subscriber investment, trade, and distribution to Ledgible’s Digital Asset Tax and Accounting Platform. Ledgible’s platform then analyzes the economic and ownership activity and normalizes it to enhance CPA-led preparation of Forms 1065 and 1120, Schedule K-1, and other tax returns. The technology assesses digital asset tax liability and provides that data to the customer’s accounting system.

“With the growing adoption of crypto and tokenized assets, tax gain and loss accuracy and efficiency in this new, complex environment is critical for each participant in the tokenized asset ecosystem,” Ledgible CEO Kell Canty said.

Founded in 2018, DigiShares made its Finovate debut at our all-digital event FinovateSpring 2021. The company, headquartered in Denmark, demoed how its technology provides automation and liquidity for real estate via its digital asset tokenization platform. DigiShares digitizes and automates both the processes related to financing of projects as well as ongoing corporate management and ownership. In addition to real estate, use cases for the company’s digitization technology include payments, KYC, e-signing, investor management, and legal processes.

“This collaboration opens new possibilities for our clients in managing digital assets, enabling them to stay compliant and confident in their tax and accounting practices,” DigiShares co-founder and CEO Claus Skaaning said.

2023 has been a busy year of partnerships for DigiShares. This spring, the company announced collaborations with cryptocurrency company TFC Services, Spanish real estate discovery solution Equito App, alternative trading system (ATS) company Oasis Pro Markets, and chartered trust company Fortress Trust. Earlier this month, DigiShares teamed up with Texture Capital to help boost liquidity opportunities for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs).

Photo by Oleksandr Canary Islands

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Bluevine Integrates Accounts Payable Tool into Small Business Banking Platform

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 31, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, BlueVine, Daily news

Bluevine launched an accounts payable solution this week.
The new offering will be available within Bluevine’s small business banking suite.
The accounts payable tool will offer businesses tools such as bill capture and storage, approval workflows, payment scheduling, and automatic accounting reconciliation.

Small business banking innovator Bluevine is enhancing its platform this week by launching a new accounts payable (AP) offering within its small business banking suite.

Including the new AP tool will help business owners manage payments within their Bluevine Business Checking accounts. Tools such as bill capture and storage, approval workflows, payment scheduling, automatic accounting reconciliation, and user provisioning and management will help businesses automate their AP processes.

“As small businesses scale, often they face more complexity in managing their operations,” said Bluevine SVP, GM of Banking Charles Amadon. “Our accounts payable solution is purpose-built to strike a balance between providing a robust set of AP automation tools, with the ease-of-use that our customers have come to expect from Bluevine.”

The AP feature builds out Bluevine’s current small business banking platform, which the company launched in 2019 to help small businesses manage their finances, deposit checks, transfer funds, and pay invoices. Bluevine has unveiled a series of enhancements to its business banking platform in recent years, including the launch of billpay in 2022, and international payments capabilities earlier this year.

“Every decision we make has the SMB at the heart of it, starting with the essential question – will this help them grow and run their business easier? Based on customer feedback we knew AP automation was something they wanted and needed. Putting all that power right into their checking account dashboard is an exciting step forward, and further differentiates Bluevine Business Checking with even more added value,” added Amadon.

Bluevine launched in 2013 to serve as an alternative lending provider for small businesses. Since then, the California-based company’s tools have reached 500,000 entrepreneurs. Bluevine has raised just shy of $770 million from investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, 83North, Citi Ventures, ION Crossover Partners, SVB Capital, Nationwide Insurance, and M12. Eyal Lifshitz is CEO.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

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Disability Empowerment: How Fintechs Help Us Overcome Physical, Cognitive Challenges

By David Penn Posted on July 31, 2023
Categories: Daily news, Diversity in Fintech, Thought Leadership

Disability Pride Month is coming to a close. The annual July commemoration is an opportunity to honor the experience and achievement of those in the disability community. The month of July is special because President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law on July 26, 1990. The landmark legislation was the first comprehensive law enshrining the civil rights of people with disabilities.

Today we take a look at just a handful of ways financial technology and the financial services community is helping support people with disabilities, whether those challenges are physical or cognitive, transitive or enduring.

There are some who bristle at the euphemism “differently abled.” But the idea of leveraging one ability to make up for another is at the heart of inclusion when it comes to people with disabilities. This is true when we are talking about technologies that enhance the power of hearing or touch for those with visual challenges. It is also true when we talk about a digital banking world that ultimately makes banking services more accessible to all – including those who cannot easily travel.

At the same time, greater awareness of the challenges faced by those with physical and cognitive challenges also means understanding the limits of technology. A pilot project in 2010 that explored disability inclusion in microfinancing institutions in Africa produced what one observer called “several clear conclusions from this pilot worth repeating because they are likely to have near universal application for MFIs entering this market.” The recommendations?

Don’t develop special credit products. Don’t give special conditions. Don’t get disappointed too soon. Identity existing clients with disabilities. Learn from them and use them in promotional efforts and in reaching out to new clients. Join efforts with local disability organization. Improve the physical accessibility of the premises.

A sizable number of government organizations and non-profit entities exist to help support people with disabilities secure employment, housing opportunities, as well as economic and health benefits. In many instances, non-profits have benefited from partnerships with financial institutions. This includes the partnership between JP Morgan Chase and the National Disability Institute. The bank, for example, is backing the NDI’s effort to inform and educate low- and moderate-income individuals with disabilities about the resources available to them under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).

The partnership between NDI and JP Morgan has produced some interesting insights into the challenges of small business owners with disabilities, as well. The report, Small Business Ownership by People with Disabilities: Challenges and Opportunities, makes a number of important points – foremost among them that entrepreneurialism is often a major employment choice for people with disabilities. The reasons for this vary from preferring a more flexible work schedule to previous experiences with discrimination or a hostile work environment to a lack of advancement opportunities. Importantly for people in financial services and fintech, the report noted that smaller, disability-owned businesses often avoid traditional financial channels and struggle to secure financing.

The causes for this aversion include concerns about using personal assets as collateral, a lack of assets, or benefit-related issues – such as a fear of losing social security benefits if their countable assets climb too high. Helpfully, the report provides a number of recommendations to help banks and fintechs better serve disability-owned businesses. These suggestions include greater investment in CRA funds for small businesses to more support of policies that would boost business opportunities, access to capital, and better coordinate of public resources.

Check out the full study.

Sometimes helping people with disabilities means helping people who help those with disabilities. According to data from co-parenting solution provider SupportPay, 38 million people are taking care of loved ones in 2023. To this end we share news that SupportPay has unveiled a new app designed to make it easier for caretakers to share, manage, and track expenses. The solution also enables caretakers to coordinate schedules and streamline communication. It is expected to be available in the fall of 2023.

Sheri Atwood, SupportPay founder and CEO, highlighted the fintech component of the new offering compared to other solutions on the market. “While several caregiver solutions are entering the market, none are focused on reducing the stress of managing expenses between multiple caregivers,” Atwood explained. “Our solution is built to solve this pain point by simplifying and streamlining this process.”

More than 65,000 parents are using SupportPay to manage more than $450 million in expenses and payments. In addition to helping caregivers share, organize, and track expenses and schedules, the new offering also helps caregivers review and resolve disputes as well as maintain certified records of expenses and payment histories. These can be especially helpful for tax purposes or addressing legal issues that arise.

“We knew our platform could be of assistance to all family members, including the staggering number of caregivers,” Atwood said. “From our co-parenting solution, we know that when people share financial responsibilities – whether it’s with an ex, a sibling, or another family member – the process can be much more time-consuming, conflict-ridden, and stressful.”

Founded in 2018, SupportPay is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company has raised $6.8 million in funding. SupportPay’s investors include LAUNCH and The Syndicate.

Photo by ELEVATE

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SuperFi Raises $1 Million for Debt Prevention Platform

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 28, 2023
Categories: Daily news, Funding

SuperFi received $1 million in pre-seed funding for its debt management and repayment platform.
The round saw contributions from Ascension, Fair By Design, Force Over Mass, and includes a grant from the Greater London Authority.
SuperFi’s debt management app will be publicly available in late 2023.

Personalized debt support platform SuperFi has landed $1 million in pre-seed funding for its platform that helps users understand, manage, and pay off their debt. The round brings the company’s total funding to $1.2 million.

The investment was led by Ascension and its impact fund, Fair By Design, and saw contributions from Force Over Mass and others. Also included in the investment amount is a grant from the Greater London Authority. SuperFi received the grant funds as part of the Mayor of London’s Challenge LDN scheme to combat poverty.

U.K.-based SuperFi was founded in 2021 with a goal to support the 18 million British adults struggling to pay their monthly bills during the cost of living crisis. To accomplish this, the company shows users an overview of their debts, analyzes their financial and personal circumstances, and offers them access to debt prevention tools and services.

“We believe that debt management should be proactive, not reactive. Our goal is to help millions of people struggling to pay their bills and credit commitments better manage their debt before it becomes a crisis,” said SuperFi Cofounder Tom Barltrop. “In doing so, we believe we can help British people during the cost of living crisis – saving businesses and society billions associated with problem debt.”

Today’s funding will help SuperFi test its platform with Councils and Housing Associations across London before the company rolls the product out to a wider U.K. audience. The investment will also be used to form partnerships with London boroughs.

SuperFi plans to make its app publicly available in late 2023.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya

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