Alumni News

Expensify Now Facilitates Global Reimbursements

Expensify Now Facilitates Global Reimbursements
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Expensify
  • Expensify now enables business customers to reimburse international employees in multiple currencies.
  • Expensify customers can send employee reimbursements in over 154 currencies and across 200+ countries.
  • Today’s move also enables businesses to link withdrawal bank accounts in the U.K., Canada, Australia, and the European Union.

Business expense management firm Expensify made a move this week to support businesses operating in the global economy. The San Francisco-based company now enables its business customers to reimburse their employees across borders in multiple currencies.

Using the Expensify app, customers can send employee reimbursements in over 154 currencies and across 200+ countries. The international reimbursement process doesn’t require businesses to pre-fund payment. Rather, businesses can pay employees at any time by linking their local bank account.

“Employees can work from anywhere these days and expect to be reimbursed quickly for out-of-pocket expenses regardless of where they live,” said Expensify Founder and CEO David Barrett. “We have listened to these customers and now include global reimbursements for free in all paid Expensify plans.”

Additionally, Expensify is taking another step to support international businesses. The company now enables businesses to link withdrawal bank accounts in the U.K., Canada, Australia, and the European Union.

If you’re familiar with Expensify’s company culture, the only surprising aspect about this move is that the company didn’t launch it sooner. Even pre-pandemic, Expensify was known for its flexible working policy, taking its entire workforce to fun, overseas locations to work for a month. “The entire team goes on a month-long Offshore to a new country every year,” the company’s website states. “We start out the trip in hostels and Airbnbs, and then for our final week together, we re-locate to the most amazing or unique accommodation we can find!”

Expensify went public in 2021 and now trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker EXFY. The company launched expense reporting in 2008, and has since grown to add billpay, a travel concierge, a corporate payment card, and– as of last month– a co-working space as a perk for its business clients.

The business expense management space has become increasingly crowded in recent years, having seen competition from the likes of Brex, Ramp, Divvy, PayEm, Bento for Business, and more. According to Grand View Research, the market size for global spend management platforms was valued at $15.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a rate of 10.3% from 2022 to 2030. 

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Cable Raises $11 Million to Help Reduce Financial Crime

Cable Raises $11 Million to Help Reduce Financial Crime
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Cable, Daily news, Funding
  • Cable received $11 million in Series A funding, boosting its total raised to over $16 million.
  • Cable will use the funds to boost hiring and speed up its product development to help crack down on financial crime.
  • Cable’s technology helps BaaS banks oversee their fintech partners to remain compliant.

Financial risk control platform Cable announced an $11 million investment today. Today’s investment, which boosts the company’s total funding to just over $16 million, comes from Stage 2 Capital, Jump Capital, and existing investor CRV.

The London-based company will use the Series A funding to solve what it calls a “$4 trillion problem,” financial crime. Specifically, Cable will use the money to ramp up hiring across its product, engineering, data, and go-to-market teams, and speed up its product development.

“Raising money in and of itself is not our goal at Cable,” company CEO Natasha Vernier said. “We look at this fundraising as a way to reach more customers more quickly with the products and features they need to do their jobs better. To that end, we’ll be using this money to hire across our product, engineering, data, and go-to-market teams, and quicken our product development pace to make more headway into our long roadmap of products and features.”

Cable’s financial risk control platform helps firms reduce financial crime with automated account monitoring, quality assurance that minimizes the need for human review with simplified testing, real-time alerts, reporting, risk assessments, and more.

Cable was founded in 2020 and demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2022 in New York. Since launch, the company has debuted its Automated Assurance product that identifies financial crime regulatory breaches and control failures in real-time, launched its automated risk assessment tool, and created its Quality Assurance tool that offers business intelligence and workflow tools to help compliance officers succeed.

The company’s technology doesn’t just help banks manage financial crime. Cable’s infrastructure is aimed to work in the banking-as-a-service (BaaS) era, offering BaaS banks oversight over their fintech partners. In fact, Axiom Bank, Quaint Oak Bank, and Griffin are currently leveraging Cable to manage their fintech partners.

Photo by Snapwire

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Experian Introduces New Fintech Data Network to Help Businesses Fight Fraud

Experian Introduces New Fintech Data Network to Help Businesses Fight Fraud
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Experian
  • Global information services company Experian launched a new fraud prevention solution this week.
  • The new offfering is a fintech-focused version of its fraud prevention data network Hunter.
  • Hunter takes a collaborative approach to fraud mitigation. The technology has saved businesses more than $6.5 billion a year in fraud losses.

Experian is launching a fintech-focused version of its fraud prevention data network, Hunter, in the U.S. The technology is currently being used by more than 450 organizations in 24 different countries. Experian reports that Hunter has saved its clients more than $6.5 billion a year in fraud losses.

Hunter works by providing participants with a “line of sight” into borrower activity across the fintech industry. A collaborative data network, Hunter enables participants to share data on fraudulent activity in real-time. That data is then securely linked across the network. Participants can use the network to identify potential fraud when onboarding new customers or when verifying current customers. Experian noted that its clients have seen a 35% increase in fraud detection when participating in a Hunter network.

“Our new U.S. Hunter network will harness the power of data and analytics to address real pain points that fintechs experience in combatting fraud,” President at Experian Decision Analytics in North America Robert Boxberger said. “By taking a collaborative approach, fintechs can use this additional data to make more informed decisions that enable smart portfolio growth, improve the customer experience, and mitigate major fraud losses.”

The Hunter network will be available in the U.S. later this year, the company said.

Experian made its Finovate debut in 2012 and most recently returned to the Finovate stage for FinovateFall 2018 in New York. The company’s Hunter announcement comes just weeks after Experian unveiled a new cloud-based fraud solution powered by adaptive machine learning called Aidrian. The new offering is designed to help businesses fight fraud without negatively impacting the customer experience. Last month, Clearcover Insurance Company announced that it had launched a new embedded insurance solution courtesy of a partnership with Experian. The technology gives insurance consumers final, bindable quotes when they shop using Experian’s auto insurance comparison shopping service.

Headquarted in Dublin, Ireland, Experian was founded in 1980. Brian Cassin is CEO.

Photo by Pixabay

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Feedzai Leverages AI to Launch New Tool that Stops Scams

Feedzai Leverages AI to Launch New Tool that Stops Scams
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Feedzai
  • Feedzai unveiled ScamPrevent capabilities that will help banks protect their end customers from a variety of financial scams.
  • The new tools will be added to Feedzai’s RiskOps platform.
  • The Federal Trade Commission reports that between 2021 and 2023, losses from scams increased by 30% in the U.S.

Risk management and fraud prevention tool provider Feedzai is enhancing its RiskOps platform.

The Portugal-based company announced that its new ScamPrevent capabilities will be added to the RiskOps platform. The new tools aim to help banks protect their customers from a variety of financial scams.

“In this environment of faster payments and more sophisticated scams, banks should look at proactive strategies to protect their customers from financial crime,” said Feedzai CEO Nuno Sebastiao. “We believe that banks which embrace a comprehensive RiskOps approach will outperform in customer satisfaction and retention, while minimizing losses from financial crime.”

By improving its Feedzai AI engine, the company leverages its experience across multiple geographies and financial institutions to enable improved scam detection with fewer false positives.

ScamPrevent includes other customizable capabilities, as well. Firms can add bank-specific scam detection rules and thresholds, leverage features that help banks identify signals from pre-transaction patterns such as behavioral biometrics that indicate a customer could be a scam victim before they authorize the payment, add customizable scam classification, view performance metrics, and generate reports.

The Federal Trade Commission reports that between 2021 and 2023, losses from scams increased by 30% in the U.S. According to the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), this percentage may be an underestimate, as only 7% of scams losses are reported across the globe.

“The human impact of scams is particularly high as scammers tend to target vulnerable groups – the elderly, the economically disadvantaged, immigrant communities, and youth,” said Feedzai Chief Product Officer Pedro Barata. “As it becomes faster and easier to make payments, there is a growing need for new solutions that enable scams to be detected and intercepted before any money moves. With our new ScamProtect™ features, Feedzai delivers the industry’s most comprehensive approach to scam prevention.”

Feedzai was founded in 2011 and helps companies fight fraud in more than 190 countries. The company has raised more than $277 million, having pulled in its largest round of $200 million in 2021 that valued Feedzai at more than one billion dollars.

Photo by Tara Winstead

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Goodlord Partners with Open Banking Platform Tink to Enhance Tenant Reference Checks

Goodlord Partners with Open Banking Platform Tink to Enhance Tenant Reference Checks
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Tink
  • U.K.-based renttech company Goodlord announced a partnership with open banking platform Tink this week.
  • Goodlord will leverage Tink Income Check to help landlords enhance their reference checking process.
  • Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Tink is a two-time Finovate Best of Show winner.

Goodlord, a renttech platform based in the U.K., has announced a partnership with open banking platform Tink. Goodlord will use Tink Income Check as part of its effort to modernize its tenant application process. The technology will also help Goodlord enhance its fraud protection for both agents and landlords.

Tink Income Check will enable Goodlord to bring real-time data directly from tenant bank accounts to its reference checking processes. With the consent of the renter, landlords will be able to verify income from salaries, pensions, and more going back 12 months or longer. Tink Income Check also optimizes approval rates and reduces both fraud and application abandonment. The technology serves as an alternative to the standard affordability check.

“We’re very pleased to be partnering with Tink on our open banking capabilities,” Goodlord Referencing Operations Manager Nicola Harding said. “We’ve long been advocates of open banking technology. It plays a crucial role in both modernizing the process for tenants, while also protecting agents and their landlords from fraud.”

Founded in 2017, Goodlord was launched to help smooth the process of renting properties – for all parties involved. By 2020, the company had processed one billion pounds via its platform. A year later, Goodlord announced that it had 1,000 agency customers. The company’s technology works along with the landlord’s or agency’s CRM to manage the entire tenancy process – from offer letter to rent collection.

“In the current climate, it’s more critical than ever to have an up-to-date and comprehensive view of tenants’ finances, to know they can comfortably afford the rent,” Tink’s U.K. Banking & Lending Director Tasha Chouhan said. “It also ensures those renters whose income payments are irregular, such as the self-employed or those working in the gig economy, have a fairer chance to secure a rental property.”

A two-time Finovate Best of Show award winner, Tink most recently demoed its technology at FinovateEurope 2019. This year alone, the Stockholm, Sweden-based fintech has announced partnerships with credit provider Younited, Italian fintech ConTe.it Prestiti, and Finland-based Multitude Bank.

Visa acquired Tink in 2021. CEO Daniel Kjellén co-founded the company in 2012.

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán

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Open Banking Infrastructure Innovator Axway Acquires e-invoicing Specialist AdValvas

Open Banking Infrastructure Innovator Axway Acquires e-invoicing Specialist AdValvas
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Axway, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Open Banking infrastructure company Axway has acquired Belgium-based e-invoicing specialist AdValvas.
  • The acquisition brings new invoicing and compliance capabilities to Arizona-based Axway.
  • Axway made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring in San Francisco.

Open Banking infrastructure company Axway has made an overseas acquisition. The Arizona-based fintech acquired AdValvas, a Belgium-based e-invoicing processes specialist. The purchase underscores Axway’s status as a leader in B2B integration and EDI and brings new invoicing and compliance capabilities to the firm. These new capabilities include embedded support for Peppol and French VAT reform – as well as other B2G (business-to-goverment) and B2B e-invoicing mandates around the world.

Neither Axway nor AdValvas disclosed the amount of the transaction.

The acquisition comes at a time of greater regulatory interest in e-invoicing. Regulators are debating new requirements for B2B invoicing in France. In the EU overall, B2G e-invoicing is currently mandatory for all public procurements. The trend toward Continuous Transaction Control provides additional impetus for firms to embrace e-invoicing.

“AdValvas has been at the forefront of Peppol and e-invoicing for the past decade, helping steer the direction of invoice compliance around the globe,” Axway CEO Patrick Donovan said. “We are thrilled to welcome AdValvas and look forward to leveraging their deep expertise to help our customers navigate the delicate compliance waters ahead.”

Michel Gillis, formerly CEO of AdValvas, will serve as VP of e-invoicing with Axway. He called the acquisition a “significant milestone” in AdValvas’ “growth journey.” Going forward, AdValvas will operate as an Axway subsidiary. The company’s products and services will be integrated into Axway’s B2B Integration platform.

Axway made its Finovate debut a year ago at FinovateSpring in San Francisco. At the conference, the company demoed how its Open Banking technology enabled the secure sharing of financial data across digital ecosystems. Axway offers configured open banking APIs; an intuitive, collaboration-friendly developer experience; and pre-configured consent management integration to minimize risk.

Photo by Paul Deetman

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First National Bank of Oklahoma Partners with Teslar Software to Streamline Lending

First National Bank of Oklahoma Partners with Teslar Software to Streamline Lending
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Teslar

Teslar Software and First National Bank of Oklahoma announced a new partnership this week. The bank will leverage Teslar Software’s technology to streamline its lending processes. The partnership will also enable First National Bank of Oklahoma to better track exceptions and manage documentation.

First National Bank of Oklahoma president and CEO Mel Martin called Teslar Software a “natural fit to partner”. The relationship between the two entities goes back to the pandemic days when First National Bank of Oklahoma used the fintech’s PPP solution. “We experienced firsthand that they’re a nimble, dependable organization that truly understands and cares about community banks,” Martin said. He added that the technology from Teslar will not only help the bank become more efficient, “it will also help us better manage risk in our portfolio.”

Headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas, and founded in 2008, Teslar Software made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2015 as 3E Software. The company returned to the Finovate stage last year for FinovateFall. At the conference, Teslar demoed its technology that simplifies, digitizes, and automates the indirect lending process for community financial institutions.

“How can it be that a bank has a great relationship with a small business?” Teslar Software founder and CEO Joe Ehrhardt asked during his company’s live demo last fall. “How is it that they are financing them, but they fail to finance that business’ end user?” Teslar Software’s Indirect Lending product helps community financial institutions grow their customer base by teaming up with local businesses to provide financing for purchases of items like power tools, outdoor equipment, and furniture. As Erhardt explained, financing for these purchases is often cumbersome and inefficient for consumers. Facilitating partnerships between community financial institutions and local small businesses in the community is how Indirect Lending solves the problem.

With $750 million in assets, First National Bank of Oklahoma maintains offices in Oklahoma City, Ponca City, Tonkawa, and Tulsa. The bank was chartered in 1917, and recently celebrated its 105th anniversary. First National Bank of Oklahoma is only the most recent financial institution to partner with Teslar. The company teamed up with Ohio’s Merchants National Bank in March and announced a collaboration with Mississippi-based Magnolia State Bank in April.

Photo by Raychel Sanner

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Less Fraud, Less Friction: Darwinium Launches Continuous Customer Protection

Less Fraud, Less Friction: Darwinium Launches Continuous Customer Protection
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Darwinium
  • San Francisco, California-based fraud prevention startup Darwinium has launched its Continuous Customer Protection platform.
  • The new offering helps close the gap between digital security and fraud prevention silos.
  • Darwinium made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateEurope in London.

Security and fraud prevention specialist Darwinium has launched its Continuous Customer Protection platform. The technology helps deal with the problem of disconnected point-in-time API integrations and risk scores. These issues can lead to both data breaches and a poor customer experience. Darwinium’s Continuous Customer Protection platform provides continuous visibility and control throughout the entire customer journey. This enables the technology to proactively cover the distance between the silos of digital security and fraud prevention.

In a statement, Darwinium co-founder and CEO Alisdair Faulkner noted research that highlighted the impact of fraud controls on the customer experience. More than 80% of businesses, according to the report, said that fraud controls contribute to unwanted friction for customers. “To create a low-friction customer experience while also enabling optimal fraud and security controls, Darwinium has architected a new path forward for improved fraud detection in real time that performs dramatically better and faster and takes only minutes to deploy – all while providing a positive and privacy-protected customer online experience and frustrating fraudsters,” Darwinium CEO and co-founder Alisdair Faulkner said.

Darwinium is deployed at the network edge, via content delivery network (CDN) infrastructure, using edge workers. This gives the technology full, omni-channel visibility and the ability to provide real-time insights into device, network, identity, behavior, content, and location. The solution also can call out to third-party APIs to conditionally refine risk decisions.

Darwinium’s primary customers are payment service providers, fintechs, gaming companies, and online marketplaces. Faulkner indicated that further penetration of these markets was high on Darwinium’s agenda. “The challenges online U.S. businesses face with surging fraud and operational silos, combined with our unique solution make this an ideal time to expand and enter the market in force,” Faulkner said.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Darwinium made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateEurope in London. The company was launched in 2021 by the team that founded, built, and scaled digital identity innovator ThreatMetrix. Relx Group acquired ThreatMetrix in 2018.

Photo by Johannes Plenio

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Venmo Adds Crypto Transfers

Venmo Adds Crypto Transfers
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, PayPal, Venmo

PayPal-owned Venmo is continuing its journey into DeFi this month. Late last month, the California-based company unveiled a new peer-to-peer crypto transfer capability. The new feature enables users to transfer crypto to friends and family using Venmo, PayPal, and external wallets and exchanges.

Venmo first introduced crypto to its users in 2021, but the capabilities were limited. Within the Venmo app, users could only buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrency. This month’s development adds to the company’s crypto wallet capabilities, rounding out the utility from saving and investing into spending and giving.

The company reports that, over the past year, more than 74% of its crypto customers have continued to hold crypto in their accounts. “In addition,” today’s announcement said, “since the beginning of 2023, nearly 50% of customers with existing crypto balances have added to their crypto holdings on Venmo.”

To send their crypto to friends and family, customers use the Crypto tab within the Venmo app and use the transfer arrows to transfer a select amount of their crypto to a Venmo account, or to a recipient’s PayPal wallet address or other external wallet. To receive crypto, users show their unique crypto address QR code with other users.

Select Venmo customers will have the ability to send crypto transfers starting this month. The company will roll out the new capability to more users over the coming months.

Photo by Thought Catalog

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BioCatch Secures $40 Million Minority Stake Investment from Permira Growth

BioCatch Secures $40 Million Minority Stake Investment from Permira Growth
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, BioCatch, Daily news, Funding
  • Behavioral biometrics and fraud detection innovator BioCatch has raised $40 million in funding.
  • The investment gives Permira a “significant minority stake” in the Tel-Aviv-based company.
  • BioCatch made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014.

Behavioral biometrics innovator BioCatch has raised $40 million in funding courtesy of an investment from Permira Growth Opportunities. The capital gives Permira a “significant minority stake” in the New York and Tel Aviv-based company. In fact, along with Bain Capital and Maverick Capital, this week’s capital infusion makes Permira BioCatch’s third largest shareholder.

“Permira is one of the leading global private equity firms in the world, with particularly strong experience in the technology space,” BioCatch CEO Gadi Mazor said. “We believe its deep sector expertise and company-building capabilities will help us to expand our business and strengthen our global position.”

The funding takes BioCatch’s total capital raised to more than $213 million. No new valuation information was provided. BioCatch will use the capital to help support geographical expansion, product development, and potential M&A.

BioCatch is a pioneer in behavioral biometric intelligence and advanced digital fraud detection. Its technology leverages AI and machine learning to collect thousands of data signals to analyze the cognitive intent of users. This enables BioCatch to provide highly accurate insights into the legitimacy of a user’s identity and behavior. Financial institutions using BioCatch’s technology have been able to better fight fraud, accelerate digital transformation efforts, uncover new revenue opportunities, and boost customer satisfaction.

Founded in 2011, BioCatch made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in 2014. In the years since, the company has grown into a fraud detection leader with a global footprint of 22 countries. More than 100 international banks rely on BioCatch’s technology to fight financial crime and defend themselves against fraud. BioCatch announced early this year that 2022 had been the firm’s “most successful” – with annual recurring revenue growth of more than 40%. BioCatch also revealed that the company added more than 100 leading global banks as customers in 2022 and detected more than $1.5 billion in fraud, saving banks nearly $1 billion.

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh

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Revolut Launches in Brazil, its First Latin American Country

Revolut Launches in Brazil, its First Latin American Country
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Revolut

Global financial services innovator Revolut is becoming a bit more global today. The London-based company announced today it has expanded into Brazil. Today’s move of launching multi-currency account and crypto investments in Brazil, marks Revolut’s first expansion into a Latin American country.

Revolut’s expansion efforts into Brazil began last March. The company not only brought on Glauber Mota as CEO of its Brazil operations, but it also opened up a waitlist in the region. “There’s a lot of appetite for Revolut and digital banking services in Brazil,” said Mota. “Recent surveys show that more than 45% of Brazilians already use digital accounts as their primary account, and use more than five different applications to manage payments, transfers, and investments.”

The company will begin its Brazil expansion via a phased rollout, during which time it will continue adding to its waitlist. In addition to being available in Brazil, Revolut’s accounts are available to residents of the European Economic Area (EEA), Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S.

Revolut counts 29 million retail customers across the globe making 330 million transactions each month. The company debuted its multi-currency account at FinovateEurope in 2015 and also offers a peer-to-peer trading, an early wage access tool, an account for users under the age of 18, stock trading, business cards, commercial spend management tools, and more.

Revolut has raised around $2 billion since it was founded in 2015. While the company was once considered one of Europe’s most valuable fintechs, Revolut took a hit last week when company shareholder Schroders Capital Global Innovation Trust disclosed a $5.8 million (£4.7 million) writedown, shaking the value of its stake from $12.6 million (£10.1 million) in 2021 to $6.7 million (£5.4 million) in 2022.

Despite the valuation woes, however, Revolut continues to expand. The company launched credit cards for its Ireland user base earlier this year and is planning to launch a car insurance service in the region. Additionally, Revolut is working on expanding to more geographies, including Ecuador, Mexico, India, New Zealand, and Oman.

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Celerant Technology Partners with Buy Now Pay Later Innovator Sezzle

Celerant Technology Partners with Buy Now Pay Later Innovator Sezzle
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Sezzle
  • Retail software company Celerant Technology has partnered with BNPL innovator Sezzle.
  • Celerant will integrate Sezzle’s SezzlePay solution into its platform. SezzlePay enables consumers to pay for purchases in four, interest-free installments over six weeks.
  • Sezzle made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016.

Retail software provider Celerant Technology announced a partnership with consumer financing solutions company Sezzle. The partnership will enable retailers who use Celerant eCommerce to add Sezzle Pay to their payment choices. This option gives consumers the ability to take advantage of Sezzle’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) financing, with 0% APR. Retailers will also benefit from engagement with potentially millions of Sezzle users, an opportunity that could lead to increased online sales and new customers.

“We’re excited to partner with a leader in the retail software industry and to bring Sezzle’s Buy Now, Pay Later financing to the millions of consumers that shop at Celerant’s diverse ecosystem of brands,” Sezzle co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer Paul Paradis said.

Paradis underscored the popularity of BNPL financing among millennials and Gen Z consumers. He pointed to the fact that BNPL financing charges no interest and no fees when purchases are paid for on time, as well as the ability to use BNPL to build credit, as two factors in favor of the financing option. “It’s a runaway hit,” Paradis said.

Celerant’s eCommerce platform enables retailers to offer Sezzle to customers directly from their website. The process is straightforward. Customers select SezzlePay as their payment option during checkout. This will enable them to split the cost of the transaction into four interest-free payments over six weeks. Sezzle pays the merchant in full at the time of the transaction; funds are direct deposited in the merchant’s account within one-to-three business days. Sezzle also assumes full risk of any missed payments.

“With more consumers turning to instant credit apps to make ends meet, it was important to expand our technology with additional consumer financing options,” Celerant President and CEO Ian Goldman said. “As a popular ‘buy now, pay later’ solution in the industry, partnering with Sezzle provides more options for our retailers to offer their customers payment flexibility and help financially with larger purchases, and in turn increase our retailers’ online sales.”

Sezzle made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring in 2016. The company returned to the Finovate stage two years later for FinovateFall. Sezzle began 2023 as the first BNPL company in Canada to offer free credit-building service to users. The firm also began the year as a profitable company, growing from a net loss of $75.2 million in fiscal year 2021 to ending 2022 with net income in Q4. The turnaround came as a result of major cost-cutting strategies. These efforts included layoffs; a retreat from potential expansion in Asia, Europe, and Latin America; and a renegotiation of merchant fees. Sezzle also benefitted from a premium membership drive that brought on more than 132,000 subscribers.

Founded in 2016, Sezzle is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Photo by cottonbro studio

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