Alumni News

Rocket Companies Acquires Mr. Cooper for $9.4 Billion

Rocket Companies Acquires Mr. Cooper for $9.4 Billion
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Mr. Cooper

Rocket Companies has announced its second acquisition in as many weeks. The Michigan-based company is buying Mr. Cooper, one of the largest non-bank mortgage servicers and mortgage lenders in the US. The deal is expected to close in an all-stock transaction of $9.4 billion in equity value, based on an 11.0x exchange ratio.

Mr. Cooper, which demoed its mobile app at FinovateSpring 2018, was founded in 1994 to challenge the conventional mortgage experience to bring borrowers a better, more straightforward home buying process. With 9,000 employees, the Texas-based company serves more than six million homeowners with its refinancing and mortgage products.

“Mr. Cooper has been on a journey to transform the homeownership experience, and we have built the most advanced servicing platform in the mortgage industry,” said Mr. Cooper Group Chairman and CEO Jay Bray. “By combining Mr. Cooper and Rocket, we will form the strongest mortgage company in the industry, offering an end-to-end homeownership experience backed by leading technology and grounded in customer care. I am deeply grateful for the dedication of the Mr. Cooper team and look forward to our continued work as we lead our industry into the future of homeownership.”

Once finalized, Rocket Companies and Mr. Cooper will serve a combined 10 million clients with a servicing book of $2.1 trillion, which represents one in six mortgages in America. Rocket will leverage the acquisition to bring its mortgage recapture capabilities to this new, enlarged client base. This will help produce higher loan volume, drive long-term client relationships, and provide greater recurring revenue while lowering client acquisition costs.

Holding a significantly larger servicing portfolio will help Rocket sustain its retention and 83% recapture rate. And by attaching Rocket’s title, closing, and appraisal services to Mr. Cooper’s existing originations, Rocket anticipates it will generate $100 million in additional pre-tax revenue, as well as an extra $400 million in savings from streamlining operations, expense, and technology investments.

When the deal is complete, Mr. Cooper Group’s Chairman and CEO Jay Bray will become President and CEO of Rocket Mortgage, while Dan Gilbert will remain Chairman of Rocket Companies. The company’s board will consist of 11 members, nine from Rocket’s board and two from Mr. Cooper’s.

“Servicing is a critical pillar of homeownership—alongside home search and mortgage origination,” said Rocket CEO Varun Krishna. “With the right data and AI infrastructure we will deliver the right products at the right time. That’s how we build lifelong relationships, by proactively unlocking benefits and meeting needs before they arise. We look forward to welcoming Mr. Cooper’s nearly 7 million clients.”

Today’s announcement comes just two weeks after Rocket unveiled plans to acquire real estate brokerage website Redfin for $1.75 billion. Together, the two deals fuel Rocket’s vision of owning the entire homeownership journey—from search to close and beyond.

With Redfin, Rocket gains a home search platform and a network of real estate agents; with Mr. Cooper, it secures a large servicing portfolio and deep operational infrastructure. By consolidating core pieces of real estate and lending processes under one roof, Rocket is positioning itself not just as a mortgage lender, but as a full-stack digital homeownership platform with the potential to recreate how Americans buy, finance, and manage their homes.

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Atomic Raises $10 Million to Boost Innovation and Expansion

Atomic Raises $10 Million to Boost Innovation and Expansion
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Atomic FI, Daily news, Funding
  • Atomic has raised $10 million in a strategic round led by Capital One Ventures, Citi Ventures, and FNB Corporation, bringing its total funding to nearly $79 million.
  • Atomic provides APIs that connect payroll and HRIS systems to financial institutions, supporting services like direct deposit switching, income verification, and subscription management.
  • With backing from top banks and FNB as both an investor and a client, Atomic aims to fuel deposit growth and power the next wave of personalized, real-time financial services.

Financial connectivity fintech Atomic is the latest fintech basking in this year’s fintech spring. The Utah-based company announced it has raised $10 million, adding to its $68.6 million previously raised, bringing its total funding to almost $79 million.

Today’s strategic round comes from Capital One Ventures, Citi Ventures, and FNB Corporation, which join Atomic’s previous investors Greylock, Portage Ventures, ATX Venture Partners, Mercato Partners, and Core Innovation Capital.

Atomic, founded in 2019, aims to connect consumer data with modern financial solutions. The company partners with eight of the top 10 US financial institutions, along with many leading fintechs, to provide seamless access to a suite of services—including direct deposit switching, income and employment verification, payment method updates, and subscription management—through integrations with payroll systems, HRIS platforms, and merchants.

Atomic said the new funding will fuel both innovation and expansion. The company plans to deepen its investment in existing solutions while also accelerating the development of new products to better serve its financial institution and fintech partners.

“We’re excited to have these industry leaders join us on our mission to champion upward financial mobility,” said Atomic Co-founder and CEO Jordan Wright. “Together, we’re building the infrastructure that will drive the next generation of financial products and unlock deposit growth, as well as improved experiences for our customers and the customers that work with them.”

In addition to investing in Atomic, FNB is also a client of the fintech. FNB tapped Atomic to lower acquisition costs, increase lifetime value, and become consumers’ primary financial hub.

“Through our omnichannel Clicks-to-Bricks strategy and eStore, FNB is driven to remain a banking industry leader in client engagement and innovation. We will continue to invest in and develop creative technology solutions that bring the full array of banking products and services to our digital platform and branch system,” said FNB Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Vincent J. Delie, Jr. “Our investment in Atomic is another investment in the future of banking. By integrating their solutions with eStore, we can offer our customers more personalized, real-time financial services that meet their needs in today’s fast-paced world.”

Atomic most recently demoed at FinovateSpring 2024, where the company showcased PayLink, a tool to simplify subscription management by allowing consumers to manage, modify, and optimize their recurring payments and subscriptions within their bank.

Photo by Jakub Zerdzicki

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Transcard Brings Generative, Agentic AI to Smart Vendor Network Management

Transcard Brings Generative, Agentic AI to Smart Vendor Network Management
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, TransCard
  • Tennessee-based paytech Transcard has brought generative and agentic AI capabilities to its vendor network management solution, SMART Exchange.
  • The new capabilities will automate onboarding and Know Your Business (KYB) processes to modernize B2B payments.
  • Founded in 2005, Transcard made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016.

Payments technology company Transcard has enhanced its vendor network management solution, SMART Exchange, by adding generative and agentic AI capabilities. The new capabilities will automate onboarding and Know Your Business (KYB) processes, modernizing B2B payments with an improved user experience and transforming the way buyers and suppliers integrate and orchestrate payments.

“I’m excited about the modern enhancements and agentic AI capabilities we are adding to our SMART Exchange payment solution,” Transcard CEO Greg Bloh said. “The new streamlined onboarding process and dedicated portals are set to revolutionize how businesses interact, pay, and manage their vendors.”

Transcard’s AI-powered solution removes the need for using call centers for vendor onboarding and enablement. In addition to streamlining and automating the supplier KYB process, the technology benefits buyers by making vendor information and payment instructions easier to manage, and integrates seamlessly with ERP or systems of record to ensure data synchronization with updates in near real-time. The enhancements provide suppliers with a streamlined onboarding process that enables them to validate business information, choose payment preferences, receive payments, and more. Suppliers also can access early financing options to boost cash flow and leverage a self-service portal that helps them manage business information, historical transactions, documentation, and payment preferences.

“We crafted these enhancements to address the struggles daunting buyer and supplier payments today and we’re excited to provide our customers with a modern, digital B2B solution powered by AI,” Bloh added.

Thanks to the addition of generative AI and agentic AI capabilities, Transcard’s SMART Exchange platform will provide proactive recommendations on trends and ways that companies can optimize cash flow and automate manual tasks. The solution can be embedded within a customer’s ERP or core system and connects to existing bank accounts to support payment orchestration for businesses regardless of size. Part of Transcard’s SMART Suite family of embedded payment solutions, the technology supports disbursements, receivables, account-to-account (A2A) payments, cross-border payments, AI insights, and supply chain financing.

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Transcard made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016. Today, Transcard has served more than 500 companies and offers 50+ separate payment functions. The company began the year announcing an expansion to Canada and, shortly afterwards, unveiled its multi-party lienholder payment solution, which streamlines the multi-party payment process when a lienholder is involved.

“Designed in collaboration with major insurers, mortgage servicers, and banks, we look forward to transforming the current lienholder endorsement process to an improved digital experience that reduces weeks to minutes,” Transcard EVP and Global Head of Insurance Hodgen Mainda said.

Photo by Kelly

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TreviPay Goes Live with New B2B Purchase Controls

TreviPay Goes Live with New B2B Purchase Controls
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, TreviPay
  • B2B payments and invoicing network TreviPay has introduced new B2B purchase controls.
  • The controls will leverage automation to help reduce manual reconciliation activity and enhance compliance with procurement requirements.
  • Headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, TreviPay made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York.

Global B2B payments and invoicing network TreviPay recently unveiled new, advanced purchase controls. This new offering will enable businesses to configure and enforce customized B2B purchase policies that are aligned with their procurement requirements. The purchase controls respond to pain points in the B2B purchasing process, automating controls to reduce payment delays, minimizing manual reconciliation, and making it easier for companies to remain compliant.

“Creating frictionless B2B commerce experiences is critical for driving long-term buyer loyalty for our clients,” TreviPay Chief Product and Technology Officer Dan Zimmerman said. “TreviPay’s advanced purchase controls provide businesses with the flexibility to customize guardrails ahead of the ordering process so they can optimize access to spending and help maintain accurate records.”

The new offering comes as businesses increasingly recognize the value of invoice customization when it comes to offering a seamless purchasing experience. According to a study conducted in partnership with Murphy Research, 78% of B2B buyers indicated a need to customize or control aspects of their purchasing experience. To this end, TreviPay’s advanced purchase controls feature a variety of configurable options including:

  • Purchase Order (PO) Number Requirements to ensure that charges cannot be processed without a valid PO number
  • Amount-Based PO Thresholds to automatically enforce PO requirements for transactions that exceed a buyer-defined threshold
  • Unique PO Number Validation to prevent duplicate PO numbers to maintain accurate records and avoid issues with reconciliation
  • Custom PO Number Format to ensure all PO numbers follow the specific format required by the buyer’s system.

In a statement, the company noted that these options work across all purchasing channels, whether online, in-store, or via sales teams. Automatically flagging and stopping non-compliant transactions at the point of purchase helps businesses avoid the time-consuming and costly communications that are often required in order to answer questions and resolve discrepancies when issues with purchase orders arise.

“Traditional complexities in the order-to-cash process, such as missing or incorrect purchase order information, can cause delays in merchants getting paid,” Zimmerman explained. “By addressing common challenges or slowdowns in the ordering processes, we’re helping our clients minimize the strain on A/R teams and grow their business, without compromising the quality of the buying experience.”

Headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, TreviPay made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York. At the conference, the company demonstrated its Small Business Supplier Payments Network (SBSN). SBSN empowers banks to expand their offerings to small businesses by enabling them to access the small business B2B trade credit market. Member banks can leverage SBSN to customize their solutions, define and execute go-to-market strategies, manage risk, and set supplier fees—all while establishing exposure targets, growth rates, and profitability.

In addition to the purchase controls announcement, TreviPay also recently unveiled new features including risk-based pricing to boost credit accessibility, shared buyer codes in its mobile app to share or extend purchasing ability to unauthorized users on a temporary basis, and enhanced visibility into upcoming disbursements.

March has been a busy month for TreviPay. Along with launching new features, the company reported that it is the latest issuer on UATP’s network for corporate business travel payments. Also this month, TreviPay announced a new collaboration with HSBC to streamline B2B payments for businesses via flexible payment options and financing solutions at the point of sale.

“Supporting a seamless e-commerce and omni-channel purchasing journey and offering the right payments and invoicing options are gateways to building loyalty with business buyers,” TreviPay CEO Brandon Spear said. “With HSBC on board, TreviPay has additional tools to scale our technology and leverage an API-based model to move into new markets.”

Photo by Bl∡ke

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Lloyds and Taulia Team Up to Offer Virtual Payment Cards

Lloyds and Taulia Team Up to Offer Virtual Payment Cards
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Taulia
  • Supply chain finance fintech Taulia partnered with Lloyds to embed Visa-enabled Virtual Cards into SAP Business Suite solutions, streamlining supplier payments.
  • Businesses using Taulia’s platform will be able to issue virtual cards globally through Lloyds, enhancing automation, cash flow visibility, and payment efficiency.
  • This collaboration builds on Taulia’s previous partnership with Visa, further integrating modern digital payments directly into enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

Supply chain finance fintech Taulia announced this week that it has partnered with Lloyds to issue Visa-enabled Virtual Cards. Taulia will embed the new virtual card offering across a range of its SAP Business Suite solutions.

“We are passionate about helping businesses unlock new value streams and our clients are fast recognizing the efficiency and financial benefits of deploying virtual cards for supplier payments,” said Lloyds Head of Commercial Cards Linda Weston. “We are thrilled about our partnership with Taulia as it enables truly embedded B2B payments processes in the SAP technology eco-system, making it easy for clients to adopt virtual payments and realise their strategic objectives.”

Taulia was founded in 2009 to help companies make use of cash tied up in their payables, receivables, and inventory. The company, which was acquired by SAP in 2022, maintains a network of 3+ million businesses to fuel its clients with more working capital. 

Taulia customers who have purchased its Virtual Cards solution can receive credit from Lloyds and issue virtual cards to their suppliers across the globe. The embedded Virtual Cards solution can be seamlessly integrated into non-financial platforms, allowing businesses to offer a better customer experience that will enhance automation, cash flow visibility, and payment efficiency.

Taulia will leverage Visa’s APIs to integrate Visa virtual payment credentials, acceptance solutions, and supplier enablement services into the end-user’s ERP applications.

“Embedding virtual cards directly within the ERP landscape and having Lloyds as an issuing partner is a game-changer for corporate payments,” said Taulia Chief Product Officer Danielle Weinblatt. “This collaboration redefines how businesses manage spend, bringing greater control, automation, and working capital optimization directly into their existing workflows. By seamlessly integrating virtual cards into enterprise systems, we are not only streamlining payments but also empowering companies to unlock liquidity, enhance cash flow intelligence, and modernize their financial operations—driving smarter, more agile growth in an evolving global economy.”

This partnership comes a year after Taulia first announced it had partnered with Visa to embed Visa’s digital payments technology into its Virtual Cards offering. “By partnering with Taulia, we create synergies in working capital management and the enablement of a world class ERP provider,” Visa SVP, Global Head of Large, Middle Market Segments and Working Capital Solutions Alan Koenigsberg said in the announcement last year.

Photo by Dom J

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NAGA Announces Strategic Partnership with TipRanks

NAGA Announces Strategic Partnership with TipRanks
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, TipRanks
  • German trading and investing platform NAGA has announced a strategic partnership with stock research company TipRanks.
  • The partnership will bring advanced stock analysis and institutional-grade research tools to retail investors.
  • Founded in 2012, TipRanks won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2013. The company took home Best of Show honors again at FinovateFall later that year.

Germany-based fintech NAGA has teamed up with stock research firm TipRanks. The strategic partnership will bring advanced stock analysis and institutional-grade research tools to retail investors.

“We are delighted to partner with NAGA. Both our companies are laser-focused on making data and information more readily available to all investors,” TipRanks CEO Uri Gruenbaum said. “We believe technology has an important role to play in improving outcomes for every investor, giving individuals access to the tools and insights that were once only the domain of large-scale institutions.”

The partnership will enable NAGA users to access detailed forecasts from industry analysts. This includes specific price targets for stocks, as well as recommendations for stocks over varying time periods. The partnership will also allow users to better see how hedge funds are investing in different markets, and how well the managers of those funds are performing.

Users will also benefit from TipRanks’ enhanced Smart Score solution. Smart Score ranks stocks from one to 10 based on eight key factors, including how the stock is viewed by top-performing stock analysts, whether or not hedge funds are in the process of accumulating or distributing the stock, and more. Enhancements have made the tool faster and easier to use when evaluating stocks and making buy and sell decisions.

“Our collaboration with TipRanks will yield significant benefits for our users,” NAGA CMO Valentin Ilioi said. “These enhancements represent our commitment to providing innovative tools that give our traders a competitive edge. By continually improving our platform with TipRanks’ insights, we’re ensuring NAGA remains at the forefront of social trading innovation.”

All-in-one trading platform NAGA facilitates trading and investing in more than 4,000 assets including CFDs on stocks, Forex, indicies, commodities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), bonds, and cryptocurrencies. NAGA also offers social trading which includes an Autocopy tool that enables traders and investors to benefit from the experience of other traders and investors by following and copying their market moves. With more than 1.5 million users on its platform, NAGA is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, and was founded in 2015.

Founded in 2012, TipRanks won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2013 in San Francisco. The startup scored a second Best of Show award when the company returned to the Finovate stage for FinovateFall later that same year. Most recently, the Tel Aviv-based firm launched Spark AI, a comprehensive AI-powered stock analyst solution that provides data-driven insights on penny stocks and blue chip equities alike. The technology generates reports that detail strengths, risks, financials, and peer comparisons to give traders and investors the information they need in order to make better buy and sell decisions in the market.

Photo by energepic.com

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Splitit Launches its Embedded Shopify App

Splitit Launches its Embedded Shopify App
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, SplitIt
  • Credit card-linked installment payments solutions company Splitit launched its embedded Shopify app.
  • The new app, Splitit Card Installments, gives merchants a one-click installment payment experience without redirects or applications.
  • Splitit made its Finovate debut in 2014 (as PayItSimple USA). The company rebranded as Splitit in 2015.

Card-linked installment payment solutions company Splitit has unveiled its embedded Shopify app: Splitit Card Installments. The new offering gives merchants an all-in-one service that includes credit card processing along with a seamless one-click installment payment experience for consumers that doesn’t require redirects or applications.

“Our Embedded Shopify App marks a transformative leap in the installment payment landscape,” Splitit CTO Ran Landau said. “By seamlessly integrating into the Shopify checkout, we’ve eliminated the friction typically associated with pay-over-time solutions, a key factor in cart abandonment. This white-label approach empowers merchants to offer branded, one-click installment options while maintaining full control over their customer journey and data. For shoppers, it provides unparalleled convenience, allowing them to easily manage their finances without leaving the merchant’s ecosystem.”

The new app is embedded into the Shopify checkout flow, and gives consumers the option to pay in full or by installments directly within the credit card section. A white-label solution, Splitit Card Installments gives merchants control over both their brand identity and customer relationships. There is no distracting third-party branding and all first-party consumer data remains with the merchant. The app is available to shoppers in more than 100 countries who will benefit from access to localized payment options. Merchants benefit from accessing a more diverse, global customer base, as well as new markets and revenue streams.

“This innovation not only enhances the customer experience but also presents a significant opportunity for merchants to acquire and retain customers in an increasingly competitive e-commerce landscape,” Landau added.

Splitit made its Finovate debut (as PayItSimple USA) at FinovateFall 2014. The company rebranded as Splitit the following year in an effort to “better align the Company’s brand with its overall strategy and product offering.” Since then, the company has grown into a major Installments-as-a-Service provider serving many of Internet Retailer’s top 500 merchants. Additionally, Splitit’s solutions are accepted by more than 1,500 ecommerce merchants in 30+ countries and by shoppers in 100+ countries.

Splitit’s new app launch news comes just days after the company announced a partnership with modern card issuance company and fellow Finovate alum Highnote. Courtesy of the partnership, Splitit will leverage Highnote’s tokenized virtual cards to pay merchants and provide real-time functionality that enables Splitit to offer consumers a new option for paying over time. This allows consumers to use their digital wallets to access Splitit’s card-linked, embedded, installment payment options. The process features a low-friction, pay-later approval flow that eliminates the need for a credit check by referencing the consumer’s existing available credit.

Splitit CEO Nandan Sheth praised Highnote’s platform for its “flexibility, scalability, and security.” He added, “This partnership allows us to offer shoppers a seamless and efficient way to make payments over time, directly within their digital wallets or at merchant checkout, further simplifying the shopper journey.”

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Splitit also maintains an R&D center in Israel and offices in London. The company was founded in 2012.

Photo by Mikhail Nilov

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LoanPro Teams Up with NovoPayment to Boost Credit Access in Latin America

LoanPro Teams Up with NovoPayment to Boost Credit Access in Latin America
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, LoanPro
  • LoanPro and NovoPayment have teamed up to help expand access to credit for consumers in Latin America.
  • The partnership integrates LoanPro’s credit ledger and origination, servicing, and collections technology with NovoPayment’s API-based issuing processing.
  • Utah-based LoanPro made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring in 2021.

Modern credit platform LoanPro and financial infrastructure provider NovoPayment have announced a partnership to help boost access to credit in Latin America. The two companies will give financial institutions and fintechs throughout the region an integrated, end-to-end infrastructure that can support credit and lending products of virtually any class.

The integration will give FIs and fintechs access to a suite of solutions to boost their own credit offerings. These solutions include LoanPro’s Transaction Level Credit product, which facilitates the assignment of unique repayment terms, fee structures, and interest rates to individual transactions. This helps institutions offer customers personalized credit solutions, and enables different categories of transactions to feature different interest rates and financial terms.

FIs and fintechs will also benefit from NovoPayment’s cloud-native platform that puts real-time processing, robust security, event-driven architecture, and an API-first approach to work to deliver low-latency transactions and automated failover. This further supports the ability of companies to offer customized credit solutions.

“Access to credit is a cornerstone of true financial inclusion,” NovoPayment CEO Rodrigo Rodas said. “NovoPayment’s trajectory has been defined by our commitment to bridging financial gaps through innovative infrastructure solutions. Partnering with LoanPro enables us to empower financial institutions and fintechs across Latin America, providing them with the tools to offer diverse credit products and foster economic growth in the region.”

The partnership between LoanPro and NovoPayment comes at a time when modernization in banking and financial services infrastructure in Latin America is increasingly lagging behind the expansion of the financial services market as a whole. In a statement, the companies noted that while financial inclusion in Latin America has made significant gains from 2021 to 2024, with 28% of adults reaching an “advanced level of financial inclusion,” millions still lack access to modern credit and lending solutions. This issue is all the more acute due to the inability to scale those products financial institutions do offer. The integration of NovoPayment’s issuing processing with LoanPro’s credit ledger and origination, servicing, and collections solutions directly addresses these challenges.

“NovoPayment has been at the forefront of enabling financial innovation across Latin America, and their work aligns perfectly with LoanPro’s mission to modernize credit,” LoanPro CEO and Co-Founder Rhett Roberts said. “By bringing LoanPro’s lending technology into NovoPayment’s ecosystem in Latin America, we’re giving financial institutions and fintechs the tools they need to offer credit with confidence and compliance at the core.”

A leading payment processor for markets throughout Latin America, NovoPayment enables businesses and financial institutions to launch and scale their digital banking and payment offerings. The company processed more than 310 million transactions in 2024 and operates in 15 markets. Founded in 2007, NovoPayment is headquartered in Miami, Florida, and has offices in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador.

LoanPro made its Finovate debut as part of our all-digital FinovateSpring conference in 2021. That same year, the company also participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr 2021. Headquartered in Farmington, Utah, and founded in 2016, LoanPro serves more than 600 financial organizations, providing them with a modern credit platform that gives financial institutions and fintechs the infrastructure to manage lending and credit programs at scale, including loan origination, servicing, and collections.

FinovateSpring 2025 comes to sunny San Diego, May 7 through 9 at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina. Pick up your ticket today and take advantage of early-bird savings!

Photo by Enrique from Pexels

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Tuum and Sumsub Team Up to Enhance Fraud Prevention for Financial Institutions

Tuum and Sumsub Team Up to Enhance Fraud Prevention for Financial Institutions
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Sumsub, Tuum
  • Core banking provider Tuum and verification platform Sumsub announced a partnership this week.
  • The collaboration will help banks, fintechs, and financial institutions enhance fraud prevention without compromising the user experience.
  • Tuum won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2024 in London. Sumsub made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin.

A newly announced partnership between core banking provider Tuum and full-cycle verification platform Sumsub will give banks, fintechs, and financial institutions the ability to streamline customer onboarding and enhance fraud prevention without adding friction to the user experience.

The integration of Sumsub’s compliance solutions will help financial institutions deal with the growing threat of fraud and financial crime. This includes a global, fourfold increase in AI-driven deepfake scams. Adding to this challenge is the proliferation of new regulations that are tightening compliance requirements and mandating greater security and operational resilience.

“Regulatory compliance and fraud prevention are no longer just obligations—they are critical to long-term success in financial services,” Tuum Partnerships Director Peter DeSouza said. “With new frameworks like PSD3 and DORA shaping the industry, banks and fintechs must embed resilience, security, and real-time fraud detection into their core operations.”

Through the partnership, banks and fintechs working with Tuum will benefit from automated identity verification and AI-powered fraud detection and transaction monitoring. This will enable them to onboard customers faster and comply with international KYC/AML regulations. Tuum-powered institutions will also benefit from the ability to securely scale and operate in multiple markets thanks to real-time decisioning and continuous risk monitoring.

“As financial institutions navigate increasingly complex regulatory landscapes, seamless compliance and fraud prevention are more critical than ever,” Sumsub Business Development Director for EU/UK Julia Bonda said. “Over three-quarters of fraud now occurs beyond the onboarding stage, with identity fraud in Europe surging by 150% year-over-year in 2024.”

Making its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin, Sumsub offers a full-cycle verification platform including customizable solutions for KYC, KYB, transaction monitoring, and fraud prevention. Founded in 2015, the company has more than 4,000 clients in industries such as fintech, trading, e-commerce, crypto, transportation, education, and more. Sumsub’s customers include Bitpanda, Bybit, Wirex, and TransferGo. Andrew Sever is the company’s Founder and CEO.

Of late, Sumsub has forged partnerships with the Association of Fintechs in Kenya (AFIK), workforce payroll and payments platform Papaya Global, and Latin America-based corporate expense management company Clara. Most recently, the company announced a partnership with Duolingo to bolster security for the language-learning app’s English language proficiency test, the DET.

Headquartered in the UK and Estonia, Tuum won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2024. At the conference, the company demonstrated how its modular, cloud-native, API-first banking platform leverages a microservices architecture to provide high scalability and flexibility along with lower maintenance costs. In the year since then, Tuum has secured partnerships with numerous fintechs including TransactionLink, CREALOGIX, DDCAP ETHOS, Ozone API, Flexys, ComplyAdvantage, and audax. The company was founded in 2019. Myles Bertrand is CEO.

Photo by Marlene Leppänen

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Core10 Taps PayNearMe to Facilitate Loan Repayment

Core10 Taps PayNearMe to Facilitate Loan Repayment
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, PayNearMe
  • Core10 is partnering with PayNearMe to integrate loan repayment options, allowing its bank clients to offer payments via PayPal, Venmo, Cash App Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, and even cash at 62,000 retail locations.
  • The integration with Core10’s Mesh middleware simplifies adoption, enabling real-time core banking connections for faster payment posting, balance updates, and improved transaction accuracy.
  • The partnership aims to enhance borrower payment experiences by reducing agent-assisted transactions, decreasing delinquency rates, and lowering operational costs for financial institutions.

Middleware provider Core10 announced today that it has selected payments innovator PayNearMe to enhance loan repayment capabilities for its bank clients.

Core10 will integrate PayNearMe’s platform within its Mesh middleware to enable financial institutions to seamlessly connect PayNearMe’s solution to their core banking system. PayNearMe will allow firms to offer borrowers a full suite of modern payment options, including PayPal, Venmo, Cash App Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, cards, and ACH. Uniquely, thanks to PayNearMe’s merchant partnerships, banks can also allow customers to pay their loan balances using cash at more than 62,000 retail locations. By offering a wide range of payment options, Core10 will enable borrowers to pay using their preferred methods, which ultimately increases on-time payments and self-service transactions while reducing reliance on customer support.

“Partnering with Core10 is a key step in expanding our reach in the banking and credit union market,” said PayNearMe CRO Michael Kaplan. “Core10’s Mesh platform, with its pre-built connections to major core systems, makes deploying PayNearMe fast and simple. With PayNearMe, banks and credit unions can provide borrowers with a frictionless, mobile-first payment experience—reducing agent-assisted payment interactions by up to 40%. By improving the payment experience, financial institutions can decrease delinquency, reduce call center volume, and lower their cost of acceptance.”

PayNearMe was founded in 2009 to enable unbanked individuals to transact online by paying with cash at brick-and-mortar retailers. Today, the California-based company offers payments processing, exception management, and diverse payment options for banks, toll companies, mortgage servicing companies, online gaming, auto lenders, and buy here pay here payment collectors.

With its connections to major core banking providers including Jack Henry, Fiserv, CSI, Core10 will help its bank clients quickly implement PayNearMe with minimal IT effort. The real-time core integration will enable immediate payment posting and balance updates that will help improve the efficiency and accuracy of organizations’ transaction processing.

“Core10 is dedicated to helping financial institutions innovate faster,” said Core10 CEO Jeff Hanson. “Our Mesh middleware makes it easy for financial institutions to connect new fintech solutions into their ecosystems, and PayNearMe is an ideal payments partner. Together, we’re helping banks and credit unions deliver exceptional payment experiences that drive down costs through streamlined operations and improved payment success rates.”

Photo by Daniel Thomas on Unsplash

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Savings and Purchase Fulfillment Platform SaveAway Unveils New Features

Savings and Purchase Fulfillment Platform SaveAway Unveils New Features
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, SaveAway
  • Savings and purchase fulfillment platform SaveAway has introduced a suite of new features.
  • The new functionality includes Custom Plans and Friends & Family Comments and Voting, which move beyond traditional anonymous reviews and blind gift-giving.
  • SaveAway made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2016 in New York. Om Kundu is Founder and CEO.

Goal-based savings and purchase fulfillment platform SaveAway introduced a range of new features. The new capabilities expand the platform’s core functionality to fulfill purchases without relying on credit or debt.

For years, SaveAway customers have been able to use the platform to establish a savings and purchase goal, set up autopay via their FDIC-insured SaveAway wallet, and then receive their item after the savings goal is met. With this announcement, SaveAway now enables users to purchase any product—not just those available via the SaveAway web app—simply by providing product details. This Custom Plans functionality expands access to a broader range of products and a wider network of retail partners and brands. It also makes it easier for users to set purchase goals that are better aligned with their personal preferences.

The company also announced Friends & Family Comments and Voting capabilities. This functionality lets users invite friends, family, and other members of their own “trusted circle” to comment, advise, and vote on a user’s potential purchases. Not only can they provide feedback on prospective purchases, but friends and family also can contribute financially toward the purchase. This functionality takes e-commerce beyond traditional anonymous reviews and blind gift-giving by integrating both the opinions and support of those who know and care about the consumer and their personal finances.

“SaveAway triages these first-of-its-kind capabilities to make the path to purchase more memorable and responsible, rather than one that relinquishes agency to the slippery slope of credit/debt/regret,” company Founder and CEO Om Kundu said in a statement. “Buyers and sellers can thus join the community of those who SaveAway to realize their purchase goals, while retailers recapture lost sales previously perceived as abandoned carts, affordably and sustainably.”

SaveAway’s announcement comes as the company ramps up its outreach efforts through campaigns such as “$25 for ’25,” a referral program that rewards new users and those they refer when they sign up for SaveAway and complete a savings and purchase plan. The company also announced its program to encourage content creators, influencers, and early adopters to try and test the platform. Lastly, SaveAway has enhanced its “Monitor Your Plan” page, boosting ease of use and transparency by making the content more intuitive and informative.

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in New York, SaveAway made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2016. At a time when Buy Now Pay Later platforms are gaining prominence, SaveAway offers an alternative for those looking to limit or reduce their reliance on credit and debt. More than simply a better way for consumers to “save for what matters,” SaveAway enables consumers to leverage the wisdom (and, potentially, the discretionary cash) of friends and families to promote financial wellness and to build a generation of smarter savers and smarter spenders.

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán

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BaaS Provider Synctera Secures $15 Million in Funding

BaaS Provider Synctera Secures $15 Million in Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Funding, Synctera
  • BaaS platform Synctera secured $15 million in funding in a round co-led by Fin Capital and Diagram Ventures.
  • The investment takes Synctera’s total funding to date to $94 million.
  • Headquartered in Palo Alto, California and founded in 2020, Synctera made its Finovate debut last September at FinovateFall 2024.

Banking and payments platform Synctera has raised $15 million in funding. The round was co-led by Fin Capital and Diagram Ventures, and featured participation from existing investors First & Main, Evolution, and True Equity.

The investment takes Synctera’s total capital raised to date to $94 million. The firm indicated that the additional capital will help fuel its current expansion plans, including better serving its growing customer base. “This is a vote of confidence that enables us to continue to drive scalable growth and excellence for our customers and community of banks,” Synctera Co-Founder and CEO Peter Hazlehurst said.

Synctera’s banking and payments platform provides companies with the tools they need in order to build and scale a variety of innovative financial services products: from bank accounts to card programs to money movement services. The company’s technology also enables sponsor banks to better manage compliant partnerships with fintechs.

Synctera’s funding announcement comes just days after the company announced inking a deal with its largest customer to date: Bolt. A fintech that specializes in one-click online checkouts, Bolt—supported by its bank partner, Midland States Bank—will soon offer new financial services to consumers courtesy of its new relationship with Synctera.

“Bolt has always been incredibly driven to deliver the absolute best online checkout experience for consumers of some of the largest brands on the planet,” Bolt Founder and CEO Ryan Breslow said. “We’re excited to partner with Synctera to arm brands with more ways to engage with their customers.”

Additionally, Synctera recently announced a new partnership with fellow Finovate alum Hawk. The alliance will integrate Hawk’s AML and CFT technology into Synctera’s platform, strengthening Synctera’s status as a category leader in risk management and compliance.

“The reason we built Hawk was because we wanted to combine AML and fraud use cases in one platform. Native, Explained AI, and our capability to handle (the) largest volume in real-time position us well to support Synctera’s growth plans, which we love to be a part of,” Hawk Co-Founder and CEO Tobias Schweiger said.

Headquartered in Palo Alto, California and founded in 2020, Synctera made its Finovate debut last September at FinovateFall 2024 in New York. At the conference, the company demomstrated how its platform gives banks an end-to-end solution to start or scale a compliant Banking-as-a-Service program.

Photo by MART PRODUCTION

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