Alumni News

As it Preps for IPO, Klarna Takes the Throne as Walmart’s BNPL Provider

As it Preps for IPO, Klarna Takes the Throne as Walmart’s BNPL Provider
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, IPO, Klarna
  • Klarna is replacing Affirm as Walmart’s exclusive BNPL provider, marking a major shift in the BNPL space.
  • Walmart shoppers will soon be able to use Klarna’s installment loans in-store and online, with OnePay handling the user experience and Klarna underwriting the loans.
  • The deal strengthens Klarna’s U.S. presence ahead of its IPO, giving it access to millions of Walmart shoppers and increasing its loan volume, brand recognition, and potential investor appeal.

Klarna has big news today, and it’s not just that the company filed its IPO prospectus with the SEC. The buy now, pay later (BNPL) company announced that it has struck an agreement with Walmart to serve as the retail giant’s exclusive partner for BNPL installment loans.

Klarna is replacing BNPL provider Affirm, which secured the BNPL provider partnership with Walmart last January. Under the agreement, Klarna will provide the BNPL loans for Walmart shoppers in-store and online.

The online BNPL loans will be extended through Walmart-owned fintech OnePay (formerly known as ONE). OnePay will handle the user experience, while Klarna will be in charge of loan underwriting. The BNPL loans through One will range from three-month to 36-month terms and will charge interest rates ranging from 10% to 36%. Leveraging Klarna’s BNPL tool will add installment loans to OnePay’s suite of existing financial tools, which include banking, credit, and payments products. 

“This is a game changer,” said Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Co-founder and CEO, Klarna. “Millions of people in the U.S. shop at Walmart every day—and now they can shop smarter with OnePay installment loans powered by Klarna. OnePay choosing Klarna as their exclusive installment loans partner at Walmart in the U.S. is a huge vote of confidence as we pursue our goal of being available everywhere for everything. We look forward to helping redefine checkout at the world’s largest retailer—both online and in stores.”

This deal is a significant customer acquisition opportunity for Klarna. Walmart serves millions of shoppers daily, and Klarna’s presence at checkout will significantly increase its U.S. loan volume.

According to CNBC, Walmart will initiate the launch with Klarna in the coming months and will roll out to all Walmart channels later this year. It is likely that Klarna will serve as the only BNPL option for Walmart shoppers by the end of 2025.

​Walmart launched OnePay, its fintech startup, in January 2021 through a partnership with Ribbit Capital. In January 2022, Walmart expanded One’s capabilities by acquiring two fintech platforms, Even and ONE, which helped Walmart create a more comprehensive financial services app. One launched with a checking account product for Walmart employees, as well as some select customers, in 2022.

“It’s never been more important to give consumers simple and convenient ways to access fair credit at the point of sale—and that’s especially true for the millions of people who turn to Walmart every week for everything,” said OnePay CEO Omer Ismail. “We’re incredibly excited to partner with Klarna to give consumers easier and more seamless ways to shop with OnePay at Walmart.”

Notably, today’s partnership comes days after Klarna filed its F-1 prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. While this is a much-anticipated move in the fintech community, the official valuation figures won’t come out until Klarna prices its shares, which may take around a month. That said, Klarna hopes to raise at least $1 billion at a $15 billion valuation.

This deal signifies two major things. First, it indicates a major shift in the BNPL landscape. Affirm’s stock dropped by more than 10% in pre-market trading following Klarna’s announcement, which highlights just how significant a BNPL partnership with Walmart is. Additionally, Walmart’s move to switch its BNPL provider after a little over a year shows that retailers are not afraid to reevaluate their BNPL strategies, and that no single player is untouchable.

Second, Walmart’s move indicates that the retailer is positioning OnePay to compete with traditional banks and fintechs. By adding Klarna’s BNPL tools to its roster of banking services, Walmart is positioning OnePay as a more comprehensive financial platform for its customers, which tend to be financially underserved individuals.

Photo by Cristian Cativo

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Mastercard partners with CredibleX to empower SMEs with enhanced access to financing

Mastercard partners with CredibleX to empower SMEs with enhanced access to financing
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MasterCard
  • CredibleX is integrating Mastercard’s Small Business Credit Analytics (SBCA) API into its embedded financing platform to enhance SME credit access in the UAE and EMEA region.
  • SBCA uses anonymized, item-level transaction data to help lenders assess small business financial performance, enabling faster underwriting, reduced risk, and improved loan terms.
  • This partnership aligns with Mastercard’s goal of driving financial inclusion, leveraging advanced analytics to help small businesses secure working capital despite limited credit history.

Working capital financing platform CredibleX announced this week that it has partnered with Mastercard. The Abu Dhabi-based company is integrating Mastercard’s Small Business Credit Analytics (SBCA) into its embedded financing tool.

The integration will offer CredibleX enhanced data-driven insights based on anonymized and aggregated transaction data. Leveraging this new data in a unique way with SBCA will empower small and medium businesses to have greater access to financing.

​Mastercard launched its SBCA API last April as part of an effort to enhance tools for acquirers in identifying and mitigating potential risks during onboarding and daily operations. SBCA solicits consent from the small business client to leverage data-driven insights to help assess the company’s financial performance. SBCA leverages business performance data to help lenders evaluate key questions about a small business’s financial health.

With SBCA integrated into its embedded financing tool, CredibleX will be able to help make more informed lending decisions, reduce underwriting time, and enhance risk management. “This partnership with CredibleX underscores Mastercard’s commitment to supporting the SME ecosystem in the UAE,” said Mastercard EVP of Services in EEMEA Selin Bahadirli. “SBCA is a game-changer, offering unparalleled insights into small business performance. Together, we aim to empower SMEs with better credit access, improved loan terms, and enhanced opportunities for growth.”

Adding enhanced data will also help CredibleX improve access to credit across the EMEA region. Because Mastercard’s SBCA will offer CredibleX a more comprehensive evaluation of a business’s financial health, it will also drive financial inclusion for small businesses with previously limited access to working capital because of their limited credit history or lack of formal documentation.

“This partnership is a testament to our shared vision of enabling financial inclusion and innovation,” said CredibleX Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer Hassan Reda. “By combining CredibleX’s expertise in lending with Mastercard’s advanced analytics, we are setting a new benchmark for data driven SME financing in the region.”

Founded in 2023, CredibleX offers embedded insurance, embedded invoice finance, embedded POS finance, and B2B channel finance tools. The solutions help any organization that services SMB customers to add lending solutions under their brand. CredibleX raised $55 million in funding last December from Further Ventures. Anand Nagaraj serves as CEO.

Photo by Rachel Claire

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1Kosmos Announces Integration with Microsoft Entra ID

1Kosmos Announces Integration with Microsoft Entra ID
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: 1Kosmos, Alumni News
  • Identity verification and passwordless authentication company 1Kosmos announced native support for Microsoft Entra ID.
  • The integration of 1Kosmos technology will enable enterprises to unify ID verification and passwordless access across their entire infrastructure for both Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications.
  • 1Kosmos won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2023 in San Francisco.

Identity proofing and passwordless authentication specialist 1Kosmos has announced its native support for Microsoft Entra ID. A cloud-based identity and access management service, Entra ID enables users to sign into solutions like Microsoft 365, Azure, and other applications, including numerous external resources. The integration with 1Kosmos will give businesses additional security and enhanced user experiences by leveraging 1Kosmos to unify their identity verification and passwordless access to both their Microsoft ecosystem and non-Microsoft apps.

“Microsoft Entra ID is a powerful identity platform, but support for non-Microsoft applications, legacy systems, and hybrid environments can be challenging,” 1Kosmos CTO Rohan Pinto said. “The 1Kosmos platform supplements Entra ID with an external authentication infrastructure that spans both modern and legacy systems, enforces high-assurance identity proofing, and delivers secure, frictionless access to all enterprise applications — whether on-premises, in the cloud, or across hybrid environments.”

Via 1Kosmos’ self-service identity verification workflow and passwordless MFA credential, users can either scan a QR code or click a smart link to initiate onboarding or to reset passwords. In addition to unifying ID verification and passwordless access across a firm’s entire infrastructure, the integration provides a consistent passwordless MFA experience across Active Directory, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Unix, and legacy systems.

“At Microsoft, we believe security is a team effort,” said Natee Pretikul, Principal Product Management Lead for Microsoft Security. “Our customers often use different vendor solutions, and Microsoft Entra ID helps protect these diverse environments. With the new integration of Entra ID External Authentication Methods and 1Kosmos, our customers can now use 1Kosmos’ identity verification and passwordless solutions to enhance their security. This will make access easier and reduce fraud risks.”

1Kosmos won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2023 in San Francisco and returned to the Finovate stage later that year for FinovateFall in New York. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in New Jersey, the company reported a 3x gain in revenue for 2024, as well as a doubling of its customer base. 1Kosmos also last year secured a next-generation identity proofing Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) from Login.gov valued at more than $194.5 million.

Photo by Sigurd Brown

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Payoneer Partners with Bancolombia’s Neobank Nequi

Payoneer Partners with Bancolombia’s Neobank Nequi
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Payoneer

Global payments company Payoneer is growing its presence in Latin America this month. The New York-based fintech has partnered with Colombian Bank Nequi, Bancolombia’s Neobank.

By integrating Payoneer, Nequi will enable its users to transfer their dollars and euros from Payoneer to Nequi and receive them in Colombian pesos in a matter of minutes. Payoneer joins 30+ other services that Nequi offers. Notably, Payoneer will enable Nequi users to bring euros through the Nequi platform for the first time.

A business line of Bancolombia, Nequi’s digital financial platform seeks to help improve its more than 21 million users’ relationships with money. Nequi users can pay with the Nequi Card, pay for public services, recharge their cell phone, receive money from abroad, buy insurance or a bus ticket, and more.

“At Nequi we work to adapt to new global dynamics by facilitating the reception of international payments in an efficient and economical way,” said Nequi Business Strategy Leader María del Pilar Correa. “That is why this new integration with Payoneer has us very excited because we continue to strengthen the possibilities for our users and this will undoubtedly be a great option for freelancers, entrepreneurs and people who do international business, since they can receive payments from clients in other countries, with different currencies, in a fast and secure way at a global level.”

Once they link their account, Nequi savings accountholders can transfer up to $5,000 per month, with a maximum of $2,000 per transaction. Nequi low-value deposit accountholders can transfer up to $2,000 per month, with a maximum of $2,000 per transaction.

Payoneer was founded in 2005 to help small-and-medium-sized businesses to transact, do business, and grow globally. The company’s global financial stack helps remove barriers and simplify cross-border commerce to make it easier for businesses to connect to the global economy, pay, get paid, manage their funds across multiple currencies, and grow their businesses.

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 $3 billion.

“By partnering with the most popular neobank in Colombia, Payoneer is helping to address a critical need in the region: enabling entrepreneurs in Colombia [to] receive payments with increased flexibility in fund usage,” said Payoneer SVP of Growth in Latin America Mar Fernández. “Working with Nequi to enhance our functionalities further fulfills Payoneer’s mission to empower businesses from anywhere in the world to scale to their businesses globally. We aim to support the ambitions and boost the international competitiveness of Colombian professionals.”

Payoneer has presented at FinDEVr New York in 2016, where it showcased integrating its Armor Payments API into a marketplace. Prior to that, the company demoed its commercial account at FinovateAsia 2013 in Singapore.

Photo by Camila Melo

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Socure Unveils AI Assistant for Global Watchlist Screening

Socure Unveils AI Assistant for Global Watchlist Screening
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Socure
  • Digital identity verification and fraud prevention solutions provider Socure has launched its AI-powered assistant.
  • The new AI Copilot will help reduce the number of false positives for Socure’s Global Watchlist Screening and Monitoring solution.
  • Socure most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2017 in New York.

Digital identity verification, compliance, and fraud prevention company Socure unveiled its first AI-powered assistant for its Global Watchlist Screening and Monitoring solution. The AI Copilot enhances watchlist screening by reducing false positives, accelerating case reviews, and improving analyst decision-making.

High false positives, manual review, and regulatory complexity are three of the issues that traditionally make watchlist screening inefficient for most organizations. With regard to the regulatory challenges alone, firms have paid non-compliance penalties totaling more than $8 billion globally over the past two years.

Socure’s Global Watchlist Screening and Monitoring solution leverages a two-stage scoring system providing dual controls: a Name Match Scoring assignment and an Entity Correlation Score. The Name Match process determines how closely a customer’s name aligns with names on watchlists. This process is further enriched using personally identifiable information (PII).

The second stage assesses the likelihood that the source list and the matched entity are the same. This stage specifically helps minimize false positives and negatives, streamlining compliance by reducing the need for manual review.

In both stages, Socure’s AI Copilot brings consistency to workflows, minimizing human subjectivity and ensuring standardized documentation. The AI Copilot provides a clear, structured explanation of disqualification criteria, obviating the need for human analysts to draft decision narratives. At the same time, human analysts maintain the ability to confirm or override results, with all activity logged to ensure both transparency and compliance.

“The compliance landscape is evolving rapidly, and traditional watchlist screening simply hasn’t kept pace with the demands of modern risk management,” Socure VP of Regulatory and Compliance Solutions Debra Geister said. “With our AI Copilot, we are eliminating inefficiencies, slashing review times, and delivering the most precise match intelligence in the industry — all while reducing operational costs and analyst fatigue. This is a massive leap forward for compliance teams, giving them the speed, accuracy, and confidence they need to stay ahead of regulatory challenges.”

Headquartered in Incline Village, Nevada, Socure demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2017 in New York. In recent years, the company has grown into a major digital identity and fraud prevention solutions provider with more than 2,800 customers in financial services, government, marketplaces, e-commerce, and other industries. Socure’s clients include 18 of the top 20 banks and more than 500 fintechs.

Socure was recognized as a Leader in the 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Identity Verification for its “Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute.” The company began this year noting that it verified more than 2.7 billion identity requests in 2024. This figure represented 370 million unique identities and a 2x gain over the previous year’s totals.

Last month, Socure launched RiskOS, a risk decisioning engine that leverages the firm’s acquisition of Effectiv to provide a platform that combines orchestration and decisioning with identity verification and fraud prevention. Johnny Ayers is CEO.

Photo by Michael Villanueva

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Illuma Receives Financing for Voice Authentication Security Solutions

Illuma Receives Financing for Voice Authentication Security Solutions
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Illuma Labs
  • Illuma has secured strategic financing from Stifel Bank. The amount of the financing was undisclosed.
  • The funds add to the company’s $9 million Series A funding round it received in September of 2024.
  • Illuma plans to use the funds to accelerate product innovation, expand its market reach, and help financial institutions safeguard interactions.

Voice authentication solutions provider Illuma received strategic financing from Stifel Bank. While the amount of the financing was not disclosed, it adds to the $9 million Series A funding the company received in September of 2024.

“Our tech and operations teams went through deep due diligence and have been highly impressed with the quality and simplicity of Illuma’s offerings, which address a critical gap for mid-market FIs,” said Senior Vice President of Venture Lending and Banking Stifel Bank Nick Elsenpeter. “We are excited to support their continued growth.”

Illuma will use today’s financing to help community banks and credit unions enhance security and streamline authentication processes across voice channels. More specifically, the funds will help the company accelerate product innovation, expand its market reach, and further support financial institutions in safeguarding consumer interactions.

“This strategic financing marks an exciting milestone for Illuma as we continue to scale and provide financial institutions with cutting-edge authentication solutions,” said Illuma CEO Milind Borkar. “The support from Stifel underscores the growing demand for frictionless security solutions that reduce operational costs while enhancing consumer trust. With this financing, we are well-positioned to expand our capabilities and further solidify our leadership in the market.”

Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Illuma offers a flagship product, Illuma Shield. The Illuma Shield authentication tool replaces traditional knowledge-based authentication (KBA) practices, such as asking security questions or prompting for PINs, with a real-time voice authentication solution. The low-friction solution not only enhances the caller experience, but it also improves operational efficiency for the financial institution while helping prevent fraud.

When a consumer calls into a call center using Illuma Shield, they can complete enrollment simply by saying “yes” and continuing the conversation. The system does not require them to call into a specific line, wait on hold, or repeat a special phrase. As a result of the straightforward experience, Illuma reports that more than 95% of callers invited agree to enroll.

As fraud continues to rise and the need for a seamless customer experience escalates, organizations can no longer afford to rely on outdated authentication methods that frustrate customers and leave security gaps. Traditional KBA techniques are increasingly vulnerable to social engineering attacks and data breaches. Voice authentication solutions like Illuma’s can help reduce fraud risk while enhancing operational efficiency, cutting down on call times, lowering authentication costs, and ultimately building consumer trust. As the industry moves toward more sophisticated identity verification methods, voice authentication solutions like Illuma’s will play a crucial role in the future of secure and efficient financial interactions.

Founded in 2016, Illuma recently won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2024 in New York for its deepfake detection technology. Check out the award-winning demo below.

Photo by Tiger Lily

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Live Oak Bank Implements Finzly’s Fedwire Solution

Live Oak Bank Implements Finzly’s Fedwire Solution
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Finzly
  • Live Oak Bank has enhanced its commercial and small business banking services by partnering with Finzly for its Fedwire solution.
  • Finzly’s technology enables 100% straight-through processing (STP) and will help ensure the bank is compliant with upcoming ISO 20022 regulations.
  • Finzly is a two-time Finovate Best of Show award winner. The company most recently demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2022 in San Francisco.

Payment and financial solutions provider Finzly announced this week that Live Oak Bank has enhanced its commercial and small business banking services by implementing Finzly’s Fedwire solution. The deployment enables 100% straight-through processing (STP) and facilitates the bank’s compliance with upcoming ISO 20022 compliance requirements ahead of schedule.

Fedwire is a real-time electronic funds transfer system operated by the Federal Reserve Banks, enabling financial institutions to send and receive money. It is the main network in the US used by businesses and government agencies for large and/or time-critical payments. ISO 20022 refers to a new message format that will be adopted by the Fedwire Funds Service on July 14, 2025, four months later than the initial deadline of March 10 established in June 2022. The goal of the new format is to enhance the quality of financial messaging, facilitate cross-border payments, and reduce manual processing.

Finzly’s Fedwire solution provides instant settlement, real-time visibility, and complete automation for Fedwire payments. The technology leverages Finzly’s pre-wired, tested, and certified connections to the Fed to keep banks and other financial institutions a step ahead when it comes to implementing Fedwire, complying with ISO 20022 standards, and launching new value-added services. Banks benefit from not only faster settlements, streamlined payments, and automation of key tasks, but also from the ability to seamlessly support multiple cores. This enables banks to process transactions across multiple core systems while integrating with digital banking, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and fraud monitoring via open APIs.

“This partnership with Finzly gives our payment infrastructure the flexibility to adapt to customers’ needs, while also allowing us to streamline operations for our internal teams,” Mark Moroz, Live Oak Bank Head of Deposits and Payments, said. “With 100% STP in Fedwire processing and seamless multi-core integration, we are positioned to set new benchmarks in speed, efficiency, and customer experience.”

Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, Live Oak Bank is a cloud-based digital bank that serves small businesses throughout the US. One of the largest SBA 7(a) lenders by dollar volume, Live Oak Bank initially specialized in providing financing for niche businesses such as veterinarians and dentists. Today, Live Oak Bank has more than $12 billion in assets as of Q4 2024 and is publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker LOB. Founded in 2008, Live Oak Bank has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion.

“We are proud to partner with Live Oak, a bank led by visionary leaders, offering modern, connected banking services for its customers,” Finzly founder and CEO Booshan Rengachari said. “Our partners at Live Oak Bank are committed to delivering the best solutions without compromise. We are excited to support them in this mission.”

Two-time Finovate Best of Show winner Finzly most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateSpring 2022 in San Francisco. At the conference, the North Carolina-based fintech showed how its bank operating system, FinzlyOS, enables organizations to quickly launch a modern, new digital bank from scratch. The bank featured direct connections to all payment networks, including ACH, wires, RTP, FedNow, and Swift, as well as a multi-currency general ledger, low-code customer-onboarding forms, online experiences, and more.

Live Oak Bank is only the latest partnership announced by Finzly this year. In February, the company reported that San Antonio, Texas-based Vantage Bank had chosen its unified payment hub to consolidate and future-proof its payment infrastructure. A family-owned community financial institution with a commitment to innovation and a strong focus on international services, Vantage Bank has $4.5 billion in assets. Also, at the beginning of the year, Wings Credit Union, Minnesota’s largest credit union with more than $9.3 billion in assets, announced that it was going live on Finzly’s Fedwire platform.

Photo by Mark Teachey

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Scalable Capital Teams Up with BlackRock to Expand Access to Private Equity Investments

Scalable Capital Teams Up with BlackRock to Expand Access to Private Equity Investments
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Scalable Capital
  • Digital investment platform Scalable Capital has teamed up with BlackRock to make it easier for investors in Germany to add private equity investments to their portfolios.
  • The partnership will make Scalable Capital the first digital investment platform to enable investors to participate in the BlackRock Private Equity Fund.
  • Headquartered in Germany, Scalable Capital made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2016 in London.

A new partnership with BlackRock will enable Scalable Capital to offer its customers in Germany access to alternative investments, including in private equity. The new offering will provide access to investments in companies that are not listed on stock exchanges, giving non-professional investors the benefit of potentially higher returns and greater diversification previously available only to a few.

“For decades, investing in private companies was reserved for institutions and the ultra-wealthy,” Scalable Capital CMO Maximilian Meyer wrote on LinkedIn this week. “Not anymore. Scalable Capital is making Private Equity accessible – in partnership with BlackRock.”

Scalable Capital will be the first digital investment platform to offer access to the BlackRock Private Equity Fund. The fund consists of co-investments in which majority stakes in private companies around the world are acquired together with a network of private equity managers. The fund differs from many other private equity funds insofar as it is an open-end fund, rather than closed-end. This, among other things, enables investors to redeem invested capital more regularly than they would with a closed-end fund. Further, returns and dividends are reinvested by the fund, which can provide greater compound interest and higher returns over time.

A minimum one-off investment of €10,000 is required to invest in the BlackRock Private Equity Fund but, after that commitment is made, investors can use the fund as part of a savings plan. To support access to the new asset class, Scalable Capital has enhanced its platform with a fully digitized suitability check, a two-week revocation option for purchase orders, and a comprehensive range of information to help investors make informed investment decisions.

The partnership between Scalable Capital and BlackRock comes at a time when the demand for private equity is growing. Especially for investors with a longer time horizon, private equity investment can provide both portfolio diversification as well as high return potential. In its partnership announcement, Scalable Capital noted that private equity has produced nearly 15% annual growth in US dollars over the past 20 years, outperforming the MSCI World Index. The company noted additionally that compared to a traditional portfolio with an asset mix of 60% stocks and 40% bonds, the inclusion of up to 20% in private market investment can provide a superior risk/reward profile as well.

“As alternative investments such as private equity are becoming increasingly relevant for participation in economic growth, we now make them accessible to investors,” Julius Weller, Vice President Broker at Scalable Capital, said. “With the expansion of our investment platform to include this segment, clients gain access to the high return potential of private companies. We also achieve the favourable terms and simple handling for private equity that Scalable Capital is known for.”

Scalable Capital made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2016 in London. In the years since then, the Munich, Germany-based company has become a leading digital investment platform in Europe. More than €27 billion is held on Scalable Capital’s platform by more than one million customers.

BlackRock is a leading provider of investment, advisory, and risk management solutions. The company is also the world’s largest asset manager with $11.5 trillion in assets under management, $40 billion of which are in alternative assets. Founded in 1988, BlackRock is headquartered in New York.

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TransUnion Teams Up with Credit Sesame to Launch  Direct-to-Consumer Experience

TransUnion Teams Up with Credit Sesame to Launch  Direct-to-Consumer Experience
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Credit Sesame, Daily news, TransUnion
  • TransUnion is partnering with Credit Sesame to launch a freemium credit education platform.
  • The new platform will give U.S. consumers daily access to their credit score, tailored financial offers, and premium credit monitoring services.
  • By leveraging Credit Sesame’s expertise in the freemium credit space, TransUnion expects to increase consumer engagement and grow its direct-to-consumer business.

Credit protection platform TransUnion and consumer credit management company Credit Sesame have teamed up this week. TransUnion has tapped Credit Sesame to launch a direct-to-consumer, freemium credit education solution for US users.

TransUnion is positioning the new credit education solution as an “experience” that will be integrated with premium credit monitoring services. The new tool will bring consumers their daily credit score and report from TransUnion and offer them access to third-party financial offers that are tailored to their individual goals and credit profile.

TransUnion’s US consumers will have access to the new platform beginning in the first half of 2025. 

“Personal empowerment is a key component of our commitment to Information for Good,” said TransUnion President of US Markets Steve Chaouki. “By providing a free-first experience that includes financial offers, we engage with more consumers, enabling them to better understand their financial situations and take action to manage their financial futures. By integrating our freemium offering with our enhanced premium credit and identity monitoring services, we expect to deliver a more expansive product offering to consumers and position our direct-to-consumer business for sustainable growth.”

Credit Sesame was founded in 2010 to show consumers their daily credit score, credit report summary, and credit monitoring alerts. In 2020, the California-based company launched Sesame Cash, digital banking tools, including a pre-paid debit card and credit builder solution.

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, TransUnion provides tools to help businesses and consumers assess creditworthiness, detect fraud, and make informed financial decisions. The company operates in more than 30 countries, helping organizations manage risk and empowering consumers with access to credit and wealth-building tools.

“We’re committed to empowering consumers to take charge of their financial health,” said Credit Sesame CEO Adrian Nazari. “We have a track record of success in the freemium credit space, helping millions of Americans effectively manage their credit and create better opportunities for themselves and their families. By leveraging our Sesame platform, we expect that TransUnion will be able to deeply engage consumers and support them in achieving their financial goals.”

Photo by RDNE Stock project

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ION Commodities Announces Strategic Partnership with Avalara

ION Commodities Announces Strategic Partnership with Avalara
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Avalara
  • ION Commodities and tax compliance automation company Avalara have forged a strategic partnership.
  • The partnership will integrate ION Commodities’ commodity management platform with Avalara’s AvaTax for Energy tax engine solution.
  • Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, Avalara made its Finovate debut in 2015 at FinDEVr Silicon Valley.

Energy and commodity management solutions provider ION Commodities and tax compliance automation innovator Avalara announced a strategic partnership this week. ION Commodities has joined Avalara’s Partner Program to standardize integration of its technology with Avalara’s AvaTax for Energy tax engine solution.

“Tax compliance is one of the most onerous factors impacting energy and commodities enterprises, and their ability to scale and operate efficiently,” Avalara Vice President and General Manager Steve Lacoff said. “Our partnership with ION gives mutual customers in these sectors a greatly simplified path to compliance automation, with reduced compliance risk, and greater operational efficiency.”

Avalara’s AvaTax for Energy tax engine solution helps firms manage the complexities of tax compliance in energy trading and logistics. The energy markets typically feature complex and dynamic tax rates and rules across multiple jurisdictions. Keeping pace with regulatory requirements — including monthly filing requirements — is operationally costly. What’s worse is that attempts to shortcut these costs “can lead to tax errors and risk significant fines and penalties,” Avalara noted in a recent whitepaper, Fuel Tax Compliance Best Practices.

AvaTax for Energy calculates energy excise taxes for firms ranging from the smallest fuel distributors, energy traders, and mobile refuelers to the largest oil, gas, and chemical companies. The integration between Avalara’s compliance automation and ION Commodities’ commodity management platform will give energy companies an automated, scalable tax compliance solution that improves accuracy, reduces reliance on manual processes, and enables real-time tax calculation.

“Collaborating with Avalara aligns with our mission to deliver comprehensive, integrated solutions for the energy and commodities industry,” ION Corporates CEO Sunil Biswas said. “This partnership enhances our offering with advanced tax compliance capabilities, empowering our community to navigate the complexities of tax regulations with confidence.”

With more than 1,200 clients, ION Commodities provides data-driven energy and commodities trading and risk management solutions across the supply chain. The company’s Energy Trade and Risk Management (ETRM) and Commodity Trading and Risk Management (CTRM) solutions give customers real-time risk analytics and reporting and automate critical business processes to enable faster, more informed decisions. Headquartered in New York, ION Commodities is a division of London-based financial data and software company ION Group.

Avalara introduced itself to Finovate audiences in 2015 as part of Finovate’s developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley. Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, and founded in 2004, Avalara offers automated tax compliance solutions that boost efficiency and accuracy, streamlining the experience for customers and simplifying tax management for businesses. According to a study by Forrester Consulting, Avalara customers have benefitted from a 90% increase in tax research efficiency, a 50% reduction in time spent on exemption certificate management, an 85% increase in audit preparation efficiency, and an 85% reduction in time spent managing tax returns. Scott McFarlane is co-founder and CEO.

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich

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Experian Selects ValidMind to Help Banks Manage AI Compliance

Experian Selects ValidMind to Help Banks Manage AI Compliance
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Experian
  • Experian is integrating ValidMind’s AI governance and risk management tools into its Ascend Platform to help banks automate and streamline AI compliance.
  • The collaboration enables financial institutions to automate model validation, risk tracking, and audit readiness.
  • The combined solution will not only simplify AI adoption in financial services, but will also ensure compliance with key regulations like SR 11-7, E-23, SS1/23, and the EU AI Act.

Today’s environment of ever-changing regulations and technological developments in AI is making it difficult for banks to stay on top of AI compliance. To help banks manage these challenges, Experian is integrating its Ascend Platform with AI governance and risk management platform ValidMind.

Experian Ascend helps organizations make better decisions by providing them with access to extensive data and advanced analytics tools. The tool combines information from various sources, including credit and market data, and leverages AI and machine learning to offer insights to help firms better understand their customers, manage risks, and identify new opportunities.

Integrating ValidMind will help Experian automate model development and validation documentation using customizable, pre-built templates for credit, fraud, and other models. It will also enhance risk governance with robust racking, monitoring, and audit readiness features, ultimately enhancing regulatory compliance.

“Our collaboration with ValidMind complements our Ascend Platform and offers our customers innovative technology to automate and accelerate their model risk management processes,” said Experian Software Solutions President Keith Little. “This partnership empowers financial institutions, insurance companies, and fintech organizations to meet regulatory challenges with confidence and agility.”

The new combined solution, which meets compliance requirements including SR 11-7, E-23, SS1/23, and the EU AI Act, integrates AI into templates to ensure that banks generate consistent, high-quality documentation organized to streamline regulatory submissions.

“This partnership is poised to establish a new industry standard for scalable, automated model risk management,” said ValidMind CEO Jonas Jacobi. “Together, we can help financial institutions reduce risk, improve efficiency, and accelerate the adoption and implementation of AI, Gen AI and statistical models.”

California-based ValidMind was founded in 2022. The company’s enterprise platform helps organizations document, validate, and govern models at scale. ValidMind also offers statistical models, AI models, and GenAI models to streamline documentation, simplify compliance, future-proof existing models, and unlock new business models in a transparent way. The company raised just over $8 million in its first funding round last year.

Photo by RDNE Stock project

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Fenergo Partners with PwC to Bring AI-Powered CLM and KYC to More Financial Institutions

Fenergo Partners with PwC to Bring AI-Powered CLM and KYC to More Financial Institutions
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Fenergo, PwC
  • Financial compliance software company Fenergo has teamed up with PwC.
  • The partnership is designed to bring AI-powered CLM and KYC solutions to more financial institutions around the world.
  • Fenergo made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2012. PwC won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2021.

Fenergo and PwC have announced a new partnership that will help put Fenergo’s AI-powered Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) and Know Your Customer (KYC) solutions in the hands of more financial institutions. The combination of PwC’s financial crime expertise with Fenergo’s AI-powered CLM technology into a single offering will make it easier for financial institutions to digitally transform their financial crime operations.

Fenergo’s Global VP for Partnerships and Alliances Matt Edwards said that the collaboration between the two firms will “deliver an optimum target operating model for CLM.” Edwards added that the solution “empowers financial institutions to efficiently mitigate financial crime risk while driving growth and efficiency gains.”

Fenergo’s CLM helps ensure that financial services firms realize tangible benefits and return on investment from the digital transformation of their client management and compliance processes. The platform provides faster client onboarding, including streamlined onboarding for low-to-medium risk clients; improved operational efficiencies with fewer touchpoints; policy-driven accurate risk assessments aligned with regulatory requirements; and a reduced total cost of ownership thanks to advanced API integrations.

Complementing Fenergo’s CLM technology are PwC’s Target Operating Model design, end-to-end customer experience journey mapping, operational readiness, data migration, systems integration, and business change management.

PwC Partner Mark Hunter highlighted Fenergo’s technology as “uniquely positioned to serve mid-market to large multinational organizations.” Hunter praised the company’s platform for its “scale, flexibility, and advanced capabilities” that help institutions better manage complex regulatory environments and large volumes of transactions.

A UK-based multinational assurance, advisory, and tax services provider, PwC counts more than 85% of the Global Fortune 500 companies as its clients. PwC maintains offices in 152 countries and reported gross revenues of more than $55 billion for the year ending 30 June 2024. The company participated in Finovate’s developer conference, FinDEVr SiliconValley 2016, and won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2021 for a demonstration of Customer Link, its customer data platform that helps institutions build better, more personalized experiences.

Dublin, Ireland-based Fenergo made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2012. The company offers simplified client and product onboarding, automated AML and KYC due diligence, and a centralized CLM platform that helps financial institutions, asset management, and fintechs manage customers throughout the entire client lifecycle.

Fenergo’s partnership news with PwC comes a few days after the company announced the launch of its all-in-one KYC, onboarding, and trade request management platform for businesses in the energy and commodities sector. The new Trader Request Portal combines KYC, onboarding, and trade request management capabilities.

Photo by Mark Dalton

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