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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Consumer-permissioned data platform Truv announced an integration with mortgage point-of-sale (POS) and automation software provider LenderLogix.
The integration will enable mortgage lenders to more easily verify income and employment data from mortgage applicants.
Truv was founded in 2020 and made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022.
Making it easier for lenders to access the data they need in order to provide credit to worthy borrowers is one of the key promises of open finance. A new integration between consumer-permissioned data platform Truv and mortgage point-of-sale (POS) software provider LenderLogix will leverage open finance to enable lenders to more easily and accurately verify income and employment information from mortgage applicants. The integration will enable mortgage lenders to access Truv’s platform via LenderLogix’s point-of-sale system LiteSpeed to secure direct-to-source income and employment verification.
“With the integration of Truv’s verification capabilities and LiteSpeed, lenders can now enjoy a streamlined workflow that reduces administrative tasks and frees up resources for improved customer service,” LenderLogix Co-Founder and CEO Patrick O’Brien said. “This powerful combination eliminates the need for third-party verification services, leading to significant cost savings and lower overall loan processing expenses. Additionally, the automation speeds up loan approvals, allowing lenders to close loans faster and optimize their operational throughput.”
Lenders will benefit from Truv’s coverage of 96% of the U.S. workforce and the immediate access to data through LenderLogix’s LiteSpeed. This will accelerate the mortgage application process by removing manual document collection and by being able to access more data-rich, complete loan files at the point of application. For borrowers, the partnership will provide an application process that is faster and more straightforward, with fewer touchpoints.
“Our integration with LenderLogix marks a significant advancement in our mission to revolutionize the mortgage origination process,” Truv CEO Kirill Klokov said. “By combining our strengths, we are providing mortgage lenders with the tools they need to deliver exceptional service to their clients while improving operational efficiency.”
Founded in 2020, Truv made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, the company demonstrated its income and employment verification and direct deposit switch technology. The company’s income and employment verification solution delivers verified identity, income, and employment data points within 60 seconds. Truv credits its direct deposit switch solution for enabling institutions to increase direct deposits by up to 65%.
This spring, Truv teamed up with digital mortgage automation solutions provider Floify and with point-of-sale (POS) mortgage lending platform – and fellow Finovate alum – BeSmartee. Truv has raised more than $28 million in funding from investors including Kleiner Perkins and NYCA.
Are you an innovative fintech with new technology that’s ready for prime time? Join us in New York next month for FinovateFall and take advantage of the opportunity to showcase your solution before an audience of 2,000+ decision-makers.
International payouts orchestration company, PayQuicker, has forged a partnership with cross-border payment infrastructure firm Thunes to expand its e-Wallet payout capabilities around the world.
The integration is designed to better serve the growing demand for diverse and flexible payout methods. This demand is especially acute in emerging markets, where access to traditional banking is limited and tools like e-Wallets play a major role in helping individuals manage finances and make payments. McKinsey estimates that up to 60% of those in emerging markets prefer to use e-Wallets instead of traditional banks.
Integrating enhanced e-Wallet capabilities into its global payouts solutions mix will help PayQuicker fulfill its objective of providing faster, easier payouts around the world. The company said that it will offer access to more than 120 e-Wallets in key emerging markets, courtesy of the new partnership. Among the e-Wallets that will be accessible are popular e-Wallets such as the Philippines’ GCash, China’s Alipay, and both Orange Money and M-Pesa of Africa.
“Digital wallets are transforming the way people manage their finances, especially in regions where traditional banking infrastructure is lacking,” PayQuicker CEO Paul Beldham said. “By teaming up with Thunes, we’re further enabling millions of people around the world to receive their funds faster and more securely, providing the flexibility of a bank alternative. This not only empowers individuals to better manage their day-to-day finances but also supports the economic growth of emerging markets by facilitating more reliable transactions.”
Headquartered in Rochester, New York, PayQuicker made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, the company demoed its Payouts OS solution, which packages the company’s payments technology into a payouts payment orchestration platform that intelligently determines and facilitates the fastest, most cost-effective payouts across 200+ countries in 40+ currencies.
Thunes was formed in 2019 when Finovate alum TransferTo rebranded as two separate businesses: one, Thunes, focusing on cross-border payments and the other, DT One, focusing on mobile top-up and rewards. Earlier this month, Thunes announced a partnership with Alipay+ to enable merchants in Paris to accept payments from 15 international e-Wallets and mobile partnerships. In July, Thunes added cross-border payment service provider LianLian Global to its global network.
Conversational AI technology company Gridspace announced new emotional intelligence capabilities for its virtual voice agent Grace.
The update enables Grace to respond more swiftly and empathetically, and enhances the agent’s ability to express its own emotional states.
Gridspace made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York.
Voice technology and AI software innovator Gridspaceunveiled new emotional intelligence capabilities for its virtual voice agent Grace. The new capabilities enable Gridspace’s voice agent for business to respond faster and more empathetically to the speaker’s emotions. The enhancements also improve Grace’s ability to express its emotional states.
“Grace’s new emotional intelligence capabilities make voice calls with Grace even more natural,” Gridspace CEO Evan Macmillan said. “We are excited to further advance customer satisfaction with voice agents and make it even easier for businesses to deploy them.”
Bringing emotional intelligence capabilities to voice agents is a major advance in spoken dialog systems, according to Gridspace. Because so many contact center interactions involve customers experiencing frustration, being able to respond appropriately is paramount. Grace’s enhancements will enable the voice agent to manage more complex interactions with greater nuance, and also act as a buffer for high-volume contact centers. To this point, human agents working with Grace have reported not only being able to spend more time on complex calls, but also are experiencing less stress, lower burnout rates, greater productivity, and higher job satisfaction.
Founded in 2012, Gridspace made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. The California-based company was created through a collaboration between SRI Speech Labs – the entity behind Siri – and a diverse team of designers and engineers. Gridspace has been innovating in fields such as high-performance voice telephony, automated speech recognition (ASR), hyper-realistic TTS (text-to-speech), low-latency spoken dialog systems, as well as tools and solutions to help institutions deploy and manage conversational AI.
Gridspace has raised more than $27 million in funding and includes Private Investors and USAA among its investors.
Wealth management solutions and technology company SigFig has added a number of new capabilities to its financial advisor collaboration platform, Engage.
The new capabilities include a range of AI-powered tools and solutions to enhance client engagement and boost efficiency for advisors and their teams.
San Francisco-based SigFig has been a Finovate alum since its FinovateFall debut in 2011.
Digital wealth management solutions and technology provider SigFigannounced a range of new capabilities for its financial advisor collaboration platform, Engage. These new capabilities include AI-powered tools and solutions that boost the effectiveness of advisors and their teams. SigFig also has added enhanced core integrations with leading industry systems to promote greater efficiency. Together, the new functionalities enhance the digital experiences available via the platform and deepen client engagement.
“AI has the ability to dramatically increase financial advisor productivity and effectiveness,” SigFig founder and CEO Mike Sha said. “We know that advisors need to be able to focus on fostering impactful relationships with their clients, truly understanding their pain points and goals. Engage acts as a hub to drive richer, more personalized client experiences, taking care of those time-consuming, but necessary, administrative tasks, so advisors can do exactly that.”
The new AI capabilities include AI-powered smart tips, including in-meeting prompts and customized recommendations based on real-time conversation analysis. Engage will now also feature proactive surfacing of the right content, tools, paperwork, and workflows, all based on an analysis of real-time discussions. Other new AI-driven additions include automated transcripts, meeting summaries, and post-meeting notes.
Streamlining integration with systems from Salesforce, Docusign, Microsoft, and Google is another major platform enhancement announced by the company late last week. The CRM integration, for example, creates a bi-directional data synch that enables advisors to view client data on the Engage platform as well as sync meeting notes, client details, meetings, and other tasks into Salesforce. This not only helps advisors provide more personalized advice, but also helps advisors accelerate the sales process as well as client conversions.
SigFig made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2011. In the years since then, the company has grown into a comprehensive digital wealth solutions business with nearly 1.5 million customers and 6,000+ advisors on its platform. The firm, founded in 2006 and headquartered in San Francisco, counts financial institutions such as UBS, Wells Fargo, and Scotiabank among its partners.
Are you an innovative fintech with new technology that’s ready for prime time? Join us in New York next month for FinovateFall and take advantage of the opportunity to showcase your solution before an audience of 2,000+ decision-makers.
Finovate’s Fintech Rundown is here with a look at some of the top fintech headlines. From startups emerging from stealth flush with capital to the launch of new AI-powered fraud fighting technologies, we’ve got you covered. Be sure to check back all week long for the latest updates.
E-commerce
E-commerce payments solution provider Klarnaacquires New Zealand’s Laybuy.
The battle against fraud is a never-ending one. And recent fintech news headlines have helped remind us all of how broad the frontlines are. From the challenge of AI-powered deepfakes to the sad fact that many of our own bad habits continue to keep fraudsters in business, fintechs are busy developing solutions to help us get and stay at least one step ahead of the bad guys. Here are a trio of stories highlighting the latest efforts by fintechs to combat financial crime.
Digital identity verification innovator Socure has unveiled its Selfie Reverification solution. The new capability provides a way to validate return consumers online in less than two seconds with just a selfie. The technology matches incoming selfies with previously verified ID headshots, and features a true match rate of 99.9%. Built on the company’s Document Verification (DocV) solution, Selfie Reverification also detects signs of deepfaking, and readily identifies age discrepancies between the photo and the credential.
“Identity verification isn’t a one-time event. As consumers interact with an online service over time, their risk profile can change. That’s why it’s important to determine you are still who you say you are, without going through the full verification process again,” explained Socure Chief Product and Analytics Officer Pablo Abreu.
Selfie Reverification prompts the user to take a selfie, and sends real-time feedback on positioning, angle, and lighting. Once taken, the selfie undergoes a Level 2 NIST PAD compliant liveness check to prevent spoofing, as well as Socure’s injection attack detection process which makes sure that a fraudster has not injected a false or altered credential into the session. Lastly, the selfie is compared against a set of hundreds of thousands of curated deepfake samples created by more than 20 different AI generators.
The technology leverages biometric analytics to evaluate more than 80 facial features, from eye distance and nose width to jawline contours and emotional expression, to create a facial map and ensure an accurate match. Use cases for Selfie Reverification include preventing account takeover, securing high-risk transactions, streamlining account recovery and re-verification/re-validation, and more.
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Incline Village, Nevada, Socure most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2017. Today, the company has more than 2,500 customers, including four of the top five banks, the top credit bureau, and 400+ fintechs. Businesses ranging from Capital One and SoFi to DraftKings and the State of California rely on Socure’s technology for accurate identity verification and fraud prevention. Johnny Ayers is Socure’s founder and CEO.
Digital banking solution provider Alkami has added credential stuffing protection to the challenge-response authentication process for its digital banking platform. The new functionality automatically checks for human behavior in the background, but does not require visual puzzles or any additional time spent by the user.
“This enhancement in Alkami’s platform has given us the ability to provide an additional layer of security for our account holders,” Quontic Bank SVP of Digital Banking Grace Pace said. “The secure and seamless login experience has contributed to reducing potential fraudulent activities, offering our customers greater peace of mind without added complexity.”
Credential stuffing refers to a type of cyberattack in which a hacker uses credentials obtained through data breaches or purchased from the dark web in order to attempt to access another service. A typical case of credential stuffing, for example, could involve a hacker using the credentials from a breach at a retail store to attempt to log into a bank’s website.
Credential stuffing is a common attack in part because it takes advantage of the tendency of individuals to reuse usernames and passwords. But its commonality takes nothing away from the damage these attacks do. One estimate determined that credential stuffing costs businesses $6 million a year on average, to say nothing of the negative reputational impact that often accompanies it.
The addition of credential stuffing protection is the latest example of Alkami’s layered approach to fraud detection and prevention in digital banking. “Alkami continues to evolve its platform as the security threats change for our customers, and we’re proud to integrate credential stuffing as part of our standard solution for everyone,” Alkami Director of Product Management Brad Cranford said. “Our goal is to help our customers manage security while providing the best experiences for their account holders.”
Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Alkami made its Finovate debut in 2009 as “IThryv.” Alex Shootman is CEO.
Data and technology company Experian is adding behavioral analytics to its fraud detection capabilities courtesy of a newly announced acquisition of NeuroID.
More specifically, Experian is looking to bolster its defenses against AI-generated fraud threats. With their ability to apply fraud detection strategies to key vulnerabilities such as origination and account management, insights from behavioral analytics can help mitigate fraud in real time and defend users against a range of malevolent actions including identity theft, account takeover, bot attacks, and fraud rings.
“Our acquisition of NeuroID highlights our commitment to provide our clients with world-class data, analytics, and insights to prevent fraud,” said President of Experian’s North American Identity & Fraud business, Robert Boxberger. “Together with NeuroID, we’re excited to build new blended offerings that detect risk but also empower businesses to confidently navigate the online landscape and trust in their transactions.” He added, “In today’s highly competitive and digital-first world, the use of behavioral analytics is now vital for innovating for the future of fighting fraud.”
NeuroID’s solutions are now available via CrossCore on the Experian Ascend Technology platform. The integration will enable platform users to use a single service provider to monitor and analyze real-time digital activity.
“NeuroID unlocks a new view into a user’s riskiness based on behavioral interactions,” NeuroID CEO Jack Alton said. “This view arms companies with a proactive, first line of defense to detect sophisticated fraud rings and bot attacks. By joining forces with Experian, we’re looking forward to helping companies confidently navigate this new era with solutions that enable more secure and frictionless experiences.”
A Finovate alum since 2011, Experian most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall in New York in 2018. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, the company employs more than 22,000 people, including more than 9,000 technologists and product developers, working in 32 countries.
Are you an innovative fintech with new technology that’s ready for prime time? Join us in New York next month for FinovateFall and take advantage of the opportunity to showcase your solution before an audience of 2,000+ decision-makers.
Financial crime compliance platform Lucinity announced a strategic partnership with AI data management company Knights Analytics.
The partnership will bring advanced AI-powered data management capabilities to bear to fight financial crime.
Lucinity made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2023 in San Francisco.
Lucinity has forged a strategic partnership with Knights Analytics, bringing advanced AI data management capabilities to its financial crime compliance platform.
The integration will enable Lucinity customers to consolidate, standardize, and reconcile their data within Lucinity’s unified Case Management system. The strategic partnership will also introduce additional ways to deploy Generative AI capabilities, including entity resolution, network analysis, and automated data extraction from documents. Users can also engage with their data via Lucinity’s AI copilot Luci, which offers actionable insights that are both intuitive and fully explainable.
“We are thrilled to simplify the ability to integrate more data within Lucinity’s platform,” Knights Analytics CEO Alex Ridden said. “Combining our data matching and entity resolution solutions with Lucinity ensures financial institutions make the most of their data. Financial institutions these days are sitting on a wealth of information that they don’t utilize effectively.”
Knights Analytics helps companies extract insights from large and siloed datasets. The firm specializes in combining graph analytics and AI, transforming structured and unstructured data into a high-quality, unified data layer. Leveraging innovations in data linkage and entity resolution technologies, Knights Analytics enables businesses to build a solid data foundation from which they can accelerate business processes and derive actionable insights.
“Partnering with Knights Analytics will take the Luci AI copilot to the next level by enhancing data accuracy, reducing manual analysis, and increasing the reliability of financial crime investigations through advanced data linkage and profile analysis,” Lucinity CEO Guðmundur Kristjánsson said. “This integration will unlock new use cases like on-demand entity resolution, enabling AI-driven automations and insights to streamline case investigations.”
Lucinity made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring 2023. At the conference, the Reykjavik, Iceland-based company demonstrated its AI-powered copilot, Luci. Luci can conduct internet searches, background checks, fraud detection, sanctions screening, and more. This ability to manage and streamline tedious and time-consuming tasks enables compliance professionals to focus their decision-making on more complex issues.
Lucinity was founded in 2018. The company has raised more than $25 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. Keen Venture Partners and Experian are among the firm’s investors. Last month, Lucinity won the 2024 ICA Award for Innovation in Financial Crime Prevention for its Luci copilot. The company has also received accolades in recent months from Chartis Research and Microsoft, which named Lucinity one of its partners of the year for both its technological innovation and its commitment to “significant social impact and growth.”
Read our profile of Lucinity from earlier this year.
FORUM Credit Union has selected Apiture’s Business Banking solution to enhance its commercial digital banking experience.
FORUM Credit Union anticipates the move will expand its commercial member base.
“The comprehensive functionality available in Apiture’s Business Banking solution coupled with the company’s commitment to innovation made Apiture the right choice for our members and employees,” said FORUM Credit Union Chief Technology and Risk Officer Cameron Piercefield.
Digital banking solutions provider Apitureannounced today that FORUM Credit Union will use the fintech’s digital banking capabilities to power its commercial digital banking suite.
FORUM, a $2.1 billion, not-for-profit cooperative based in central Indiana, selected Apiture’s Business Banking solution to enhance the online and mobile banking experience for its commercial members. The credit union is also hoping to expand its commercial member base. FORUM was interested in Apiture’s ability to create a customized tool that integrates with its existing retail banking solution.
“As a member-owned organization with the mission of ‘helping members live their financial dreams,’ FORUM is committed to providing technology solutions that optimize our members’ banking experience,” said FORUM Credit Union Chief Technology and Risk Officer Cameron Piercefield. “The comprehensive functionality available in Apiture’s Business Banking solution coupled with the company’s commitment to innovation made Apiture the right choice for our members and employees.”
Apiture was founded in 2017 to help credit unions compete with larger banks and credit unions when it comes to digital banking experiences. The company’s solutions, which work with more than 40 cores, offer both consumer and commercial banking experiences, along with account opening, embedded banking, and data intelligence tools. Powering these capabilities are Apiture’s network of more than 200 pre-vetted fintech partners, including Glia, Deluxe, MX, Mambu, and DefenseStorm.
“We are proud to partner with FORUM Credit Union to support its growth objectives and drive member satisfaction,” said Apiture CEO Chris Babcock. “With integrations to more than 200 best-of-breed fintech partners and an API-first approach that enables rapid innovation, our Business Banking solution will empower FORUM to deliver a fully featured banking experience that supports businesses of all sizes.”
Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, Apiture also has offices in Austin, Texas. The fintech has raised $69 million from investors including T. Rowe Price, Live Oak Bank, and others.
Ivankovich is taking the reigns from former CEO John Deignan.
Ivankovich founded iLendx and oversaw Fiserv’s lending and deposit software products and services division.
Small business lending solutions provider Baker Hillannounced this morning it has appointed Andy Ivankovich as its new CEO. Ivankovich takes the place of John Deignan, who has served as Baker Hill CEO since 2017.
Baker Hill tapped Ivankovich for his background in lending technology. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, he spent his early career managing a $14 billion lending portfolio as a product executive with USAA. During his time as a banker, he developed and was named as inventor on USAA’s lending technology patents. Ivankovich went on to become the founder of iLendx, which he sold to Fiserv in 2018. After the acquisition, he stayed on to oversee Fiserv’s lending and deposit software products and services division.
“I am truly honored to be appointed Baker Hill’s Chief Executive Officer and look forward to building upon the strong foundation Baker Hill has built over its 40-year history,” said Ivankovich. “Baker Hill is consistently recognized as a leading fintech company with world-class products. The team has cultivated a reputation for driving innovation in lending for banks and credit unions to better serve their communities. I am proud to join this team of experts and look forward to leading Baker Hill through its next stage of growth and ushering in a new era of innovation for our clients.”
In his new role, Ivankovich aims to promote innovation across the company’s product suite to ultimately enable financial institutions to modernize their lending operations.
“Andy has demonstrated forward-thinking leadership throughout his career, and he is well-acquainted with Baker Hill’s mission,” said Chairman of the Board for Baker Hill and former CEO of Wolters Kluwer Financial and Compliance Services Brian Longe. “His product and client focused approach, entrepreneurial background, and forward-thinking innovation make him an excellent choice to lead Baker Hill.”
Founded in 1983, Baker Hill offers banks and credit unions a SaaS solution for commercial, small business, and consumer loan origination, as well as risk management tools. The company, which most recently demoed at FinovateFall 2021, has recently formed partnerships with Harmony Bank, Union Bank, and Amalgamated Bank.
Last spring, Baker Hill agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Flexpoint Ford for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition offered Baker Hill access to Flexpoint’s resources and expertise, including its experienced team and capital to fund ongoing product innovation and acquisitions.
Sustainable Fitch will integrate AI-powered text analysis from SESAMm into its ESG Scores and Ratings solution.
The integration will help Sustainable Fitch offer a more comprehensive ESG insights to asset owners and asset managers.
SESAMm won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022 in London.
ESG data and analysis provider Sustainable Fitch will integrate AI-powered text analysis from SESAMm into its ESG Scores and Ratings solution. The integration will enable Sustainable Fitch to provide more comprehensive ESG insights to its asset owner and manager clientele.
The addition of SESAMm’s analysis will improve decision-making and help guide investment and due diligence. The partnership will also help provide broader data coverage for both public and private market data analysis.
“Working with SESAMm’s technology allows us to leverage their advanced solutions to enhance our ESG Scores and Ratings offering,” Sustainable Fitch Global Head of ESG Analytics Gianluca Spinetti said. “By integrating SESAMm’s extensive data coverage, we can offer our clients more comprehensive ESG insights.”
Headquartered in New York, Sustainable Fitch is a research firm that provides data, tools, analysis, and insights for the fixed-income market. The company provides ESG ratings, Second Party Opinions, thought leadership, and more to help individuals and institutions make informed decisions when it comes to ESG impact.
Launched in 2022, Sustainable Fitch has been recognized by Environmental Finance as one of the top five largest global Second Party Opinion providers. This year, the company won “Best Specialist ESG Ratings Provider” at the ESG Investing Awards and “Best ESG Data Provider/Vendor” at the Inside Market Data Awards & Inside Reference Data Awards.
“We are excited that a recognized leader in ESG analysis is using our insights for their ESG analysis,” SESAMm CEO Sylvain Forté said. “Our AI-powered text analysis will provide deeper insights and broader coverage, helping Sustainable Fitch to deliver high-quality ESG data and ratings.”
SESAMm won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in London in 2022. The company most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2023, where the French AI firm showed an integration of ChatReveal, its proprietary generative AI solution. Bringing advanced chatbot technology to the SESAMm platform, ChatReveal examines more than 23 billion articles on five million public and private companies. The technology identifies if the company is the subject of ESG controversies or issues to help private equity firms and financial institutions better understand the potential risk of companies in their portfolios.
Last month, SESAMm unveiled its ESG Controversy Risk Exposure Heatmap. The solution delivers an overview of environmental, social, and governance risks to provide an easy way to visualize and assess a company’s reputational profile. This enables users to focus on particular areas of concern and prioritize next steps.
Headquartered in Paris, France, SESAMm was founded in 2014. The company has raised more than €50 million in funding and includes Elaia, Opera Tech Ventures, The Carlyle Group, and NewAlpha Asset Management VC among its investors.
The deal is set to close for $61 million in cash and may include an extra $20 million in contingent funds and restricted stock units, depending on conditions.
Payoneer plans to integrate Skuad’s payroll and contract management solutions into its own offerings.
Hours after I published a piece highlighting summer acquisition activity in fintech, I woke up to this news: global digital commerce company Payoneerannounced today that it has acquired HR platform Skuad.
While the purchase is slated for $61 million in cash, it could close for as much as $81 million. That’s because Payoneer may also pay an additional $10 million, contingent on Skuad’s performance metrics, and offer $10 million in restricted stock units, depending on key employee vesting.
“To accelerate our evolution and B2B momentum, we are excited to announce the acquisition of Skuad and welcome to Payoneer the talented entrepreneurs who share our vision of supporting global SMBs,” said Payoneer CEO John Caplan. “We are combining the strength and reach of Payoneer with Skuad’s comprehensive global workforce and payroll solutions to create a powerful platform that will enhance our customers’ ability to expand their teams worldwide and grow globally.”
Skuad was founded in 2019 to help businesses automate payroll management, local compliance, and taxation of their employees. The Singapore-based company, which has raised $19 million, helps businesses compliantly hire employees across more than 160 countries. Skuad also assists its clients in global payroll, allowing their employees to receive payment in their choice of 100+ currencies.
Founded in 2005, Payoneer offers multi-currency accounts and payment services to two million businesses across 190 countries. With a mission to “democratize access to financial services and drive growth for digital businesses of all sizes from around the world,” Payoneer helps users pay, get paid, and manage funds on a global scale. The company also offers working capital– providing advances to Amazon and Walmart sellers, as well as to small businesses.
Payoneer, which plans to integrate Skuad’s payroll and contract management offerings into its own, announced the acquisition of Skuad in an earnings announcement this week. Also during that call, Payoneer revealed a record revenue of $240 million, which is up 16% from last year’s figure.
“Twenty-five percent of Payoneer’s B2B customers are asking for enhanced workforce management capabilities, including payroll, employer of record and contractor management capabilities — so there is significant cross-sell potential with this acquisition,” the company said in a news release.
Payoneer went public via a SPAC merger with FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp. in 2021. The company listed on the NASDAQ in June of that same year under the ticker PAYO and has a current market capitalization of $2.41 billion.
Unsecured loan provider Happy Money announced a strategic partnership with Method Financial.
Happy Money will use Method’s financial liability connectivity APIs to help credit union members better manage credit card debt.
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Method made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateSpring in San Francisco.
Happy Money, an unsecured loan provider that works with credit unions, has forged a strategic partnership with Method Financial. The company will leverage Method’s technology – a suite of liability connectivity APIs – to help Happy Money members consolidate and pay off high-interest credit card debt.
“Happy Money is helping consumers across the country access the capital they need to reach their goals in partnership with credit unions and other community-focused lenders,” Method CEO and Co-Founder Jose Bethancourt said. “With the integration of our technology, they are ensuring the process is as seamless, quick, and efficient as possible, creating value for all involved.”
Happy Money offers consumers personal loans with a low interest rate and a single, fixed payment to help them pay off high-interest credit card debt. Integrated into the Happy Money platform, Method’s liability connectivity APIs will facilitate more accurate identification of members’ outstanding credit cards, as well as real-time live balance retrievals and balance transfers. All this takes place without members having to enter account numbers or passwords.
Since the partnership began, Happy Money reports that its members have connected more than 50,000 accounts via Method’s APIs. Moreover, millions of dollars in consumer debt have been consolidated monthly through Method’s connectivity and payment rails. Together, Happy Money and Method have facilitated more than $7 million in balance transfers for Happy Money members.
“At Happy Money, we believe that prioritizing borrowers’ well-being is a winning strategy,” Happy Money Head of Product and Design Nick Pesce said. “Our platform allows consumers to meet their financial goals and enables credit unions to diversify their portfolios and grow.”
Founded in 2009, Happy Money is headquartered in Torrance, California. Since inception, the company has served more than 300,000 members and funded more than $6 billion in loans through partnerships with community-focused lenders. Happy Money has raised more than $337 million in capital, according to Crunchbase. Anthemis and TruStage Ventures are among the firm’s investors.
Method made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateSpring, where the company demoed its connectivity, data, and payments APIs. Method’s technology enables lenders, fintechs, and financial institutions to leverage comprehensive, real-time credit data, evergreen connections, and integrated payment rails to offer customers personalized lending and financial management experiences.
Via a single integration, Method enables access to liabilities held at more than 15,000 financial institutions in the U.S., representing 95% of all outstanding consumer debt. The company has helped 200,000+ users connect more than $22 billion in consumer debt to their preferred financial institution.
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Method was founded in 2021. The company’s investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Truist Ventures, and Leonis Capital.
