BioCatch Secures $40 Million Minority Stake Investment from Permira Growth

BioCatch Secures $40 Million Minority Stake Investment from Permira Growth
  • 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

Revolut Launches in Brazil, its First Latin American Country

Revolut Launches in Brazil, its First Latin American Country

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.

Celerant Technology Partners with Buy Now Pay Later Innovator Sezzle

Celerant Technology Partners with Buy Now Pay Later Innovator 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

Avalara Teams Up with eBay to Bring Cross-Border Compliance Support to Merchants

Avalara Teams Up with eBay to Bring Cross-Border Compliance Support to Merchants
  • Seattle, Washingtion-based regtech Avalara has teamed up with online marketplace eBay.
  • Together, the two companies have launched eBay International Shipping, a compliance support solution for merchants operating across borders.
  • Avalara made its Finovate debut as part of our developer’s conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley, in 2015.

Automated sales tax solution provider Avalara announced a new tool to help make it easier to sell products on eBay and ship them around the world. eBay International Shipping leverages Avalara’s technology to streamline the process of cross-border compliance for merchants on eBay’s platform.

“With eBay International Shipping, we’re making global connections even more accessible, affordable, and profitable, significantly increasing the volume of items available to shoppers in 200+ countries and making it even easier for our sellers to tap a universe of new business opportunities,” eBay U.S. VP and GM Adam Ireland said.

According to Juniper Research, the value of cross-border ecommerce will top $2.1 trillion this year. But the cross-border ecommerce market is not without its complications. Businesses must navigate through a range of customs duties and import taxes in a process that can be both complex and costly. Using Avalara’s software, eBay International Shipping determines Harmonized System (HS) commodity classification codes, identifies item-level trade restrictions, and generates landed cost pricing for more than 200 items hosted on eBay. The new offering will help the platform’s more than five million merchants sell to more than 70 million buyers worldwide.

“With Avalara’s cross-border solutions embedded within eBay’s International Shipping program, we’re able to simplify cross-border compliance complexity and reduce potential customer experience disruptions by providing more transparent landed cost pricing for global buyers and helping ensure parcels meet local customs requirements,” Avalara EVP and GM of Indirect Tax Jayme Fishman said.

Avalara made its Finovate debut at our developer’s conference, FinDEVr SiliconValley in 2015. In the years since, the company has grown into a leading regtech with more than 30,000 customers across 95 countries. Avalara went public in 2018. The firm was acquired in 2022 by Vista Equity Partners in a deal valued at $8.4 billion. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Avalara was founded in 2004. Scott McFarlane is CEO.


Photo by Amanda Grove

Digital Banking Solutions Company Tyfone Raises Capital and Announces Merger

Digital Banking Solutions Company Tyfone Raises Capital and Announces Merger
  • Digital banking solutions company Tyfone has secured a “significant investment” from Demopolis Equity Partners.
  • The Portland, Oregon-based company also announced a merger with digital banking provider Cubus Solutions.
  • Tyfone made its Finovate debut in 2008 at FinovateSpring.

Digital banking solutions company Tyfone hit the fintech headlines with a pair of big announcements in recent days. First, the company has received a significant investment from Demopolis Equity Partners. The amount of the funding was not disclosed.

Tyfone is also announcing that it has merged with digital banking provider Cubus Solutions. The two companies will move forward under the Tyfone brand. The investment and merger are designed to help accelerate the adoption of Tyfone’s nFinia digital banking platform. The addition of Cubus’ customers, digital solutions, and expertise will help the combined entity better serve financial institutions, helping them boost revenues and efficiency.

“Today success in digital banking – in fact, success in any financial technology – is all about engaged digital experiences and the ability to scale,” Tyfone CEO Dr. Siva Narendra said. “That means scaling up to power digital growth for larger institutions and scaling down to facilitate the smaller ones (to) stay relevant.”

Cubus CEO John-Ashley Paul added: “It is rare to find two companies so culturally well-aligned that also complement each other technologically. Our best-of-breed loan payments, loan skips, e-statements, and rewards solutions will extend the Tyfone digital banking ecosystem, leading to tighter integration and a truly exceptional user experience.”

Tyfone demoed its technology at FinovateSpring in 2008. In the years since, the Portland, Oregon-based company has grown into a provider of market-leading software for credit unions and community banks. This year, Tyfone has announced partnerships with Southwest Financial, a Texas based financial institution with 9,200 members and $81 million in assets; and with Members Advantage Credit Union, a credit union based in Wisconsin Rapids with 11,000 members and $178 million in assets.


Photo by Ruvim Miksanskiy

Splitit Launches SplititExpress to Enable Checkout in Under 2-Seconds

Splitit Launches SplititExpress to Enable Checkout in Under 2-Seconds
  • Splitit is launching a new white-labeled payment offering called SplititExpress.
  • The new tool supports installment payments via GPay and ApplePay, and helps customers check out in under two seconds.
  • The merchant-branded checkout experience eliminates the typical visual clutter of online checkout interfaces by removing logos.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) company SplitIt is launching a new white-labeled payment offering called SplititExpress. The new tool enables companies to facilitate a checkout process that takes fewer than two seconds while also supporting installment payments via GPay and ApplePay.

SplititExpress allows for a merchant-branded experience that eliminates the visual clutter by removing multiple logos and checkout options. It also empowers businesses by giving them full ownership of their customers’ journey and first-party data.

Splitit’s Installments-as-a-Service product is a BNPL tool that leverages Checkout.com’s payment-acquiring capabilities to enable consumers to pay for a good or a service in installments, interest-free. The Installments-as-a-Servce tool differentiates itself from traditional BNPL offerings, however, because it is completely white-labeled and offers customers a merchant-branded experience. Because of this, during the checkout flow, customers are not redirected to a third party. What’s more, because Splitit relies on a consumer’s existing credit card, the company does not require additional credit checks. All of this results in less friction for the customer and better control over customer relationships for the merchant.

“Reducing technical uplift for our Merchants is always top of mind at Splitit, that’s why SplititExpress can be embedded into their checkouts by simply adding a few lines of code,” said Splitit Chief Technology Officer Ran Landau. “The result is an end-to-end process that takes less than 2-seconds for a consumer to pay with installments, compared to the average 1 to 2-minutes that even the fastest legacy BNPL’s offer.”

SplititExpress also enables merchants to add their own branding and messaging, and choose the repayment option that best suits their customers. By helping merchants customize these details of the payments experience, SplitIt anticipates it will help improve the overall user experience during the checkout process.

 Founded in 2012 as PayItSimple, Splitit is based in Atlanta with offices in London and Australia, as well as an R&D center in Israel. The company is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) under ticker code SPT and also trades on the US OTCQX under tickers SPTTY and STTTF. In recent years, Splitit has partnered with Stripe, Shopify, and Alipay to act as an Installments-as-a-Service option for their merchant clients.


Photo by Monstera

Plaid Partners with Gen Z Personal Finance App Buddy

Plaid Partners with Gen Z Personal Finance App Buddy

Gen Z-focused personal finance app Buddy has teamed up with open finance specialist Plaid. The partnership will enable Buddy users to manage their finances and track their spending more easily thanks to Plaid’s open finance APIs. Plaid’s APIs ensure secure connections between users’ financial accounts and financials apps. The integration will allow users to easily monitor accounts and expenses in a single location, as well automate their savings.

“By using apps like Buddy, younger generations can gain better control over their finances and make more informed decisions, helping them to develop healthy habits that will serve them well in the future,” Buddy founder and CEO Olle Lind said. “By teaming up with Plaid, we are making this process quicker and more painless than ever before, helping millions across the world budget and plan for the future they want and deserve.”

Buddy is among the top personal finance apps in the U.S. and Canada. The app has three million users and operates in 175 countries. The Stockholm, Sweden-based company was founded in 2017.

Plaid’s partnership announcement with Buddy came just days after Plaid reported that it was working with fellow Finovate alum Finastra. The two companies announced that Plaid had integrated with Finastra’s Fusion Digital Banking platform. The integration will provide account verification tools to make it easier and more secure for customers to link their financial accounts to financial apps.

“As the world continues to embrace open finance, it is critical that we deliver the services community banks, credit unions, and all financial institutions need to make it simpler and easier for their customers to connect the various pieces of their financial picture,” Finastra Chief Product Officer of Universal Banking Narenda Mistry said.

April has been a busy time for Plaid. The company launched its Instant Payouts feature earlier in the month. The new offering is a real-time payment tool to send funds instantly via Plaid’s Transfer solution. In April, the company also announced a partnership with mobile banking app Monzo.

Plaid has been a Finovate alum since 2014. The company’s network covers 12,000 financial institutions across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Europe. Plaid has raised more than $734 million in funding from investors including American Express Ventures and Bedrock Capital. The company achieved a valuation of $13.4 billion in the spring of 2021. Founded in 2013 by Zach Perret and William Hockey, Plaid is based in San Francisco, California.


Photo by Scott Webb

Array Launches Debt Manager to Bring Transparency to Customer Accounts

Array Launches Debt Manager to Bring Transparency to Customer Accounts
  • Financial enablement platform Array has launched its Debt Manager solution.
  • Debt Manager provides consumers with real-time information about their debts.
  • Array won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2021. The company won a second Best of Show award on its return to the Finovate stage at FinovateSpring 2022.

Financial enablement platform Array has launched its Debt Manager solution. The new offering is an embedded solution that gives consumers real-time information about their debts. Debt Manager is especially helpful during lead qualification, debt management, and similar processes. The technology helps reduce borrower risk and enhance loan marketing by ensuring that the prospective borrower’s most current credit data is accessible.

“At Array, our vision is to empower every individual to own their financial future by providing access to the right data and tools at the right time,” Array founder and CEO Martin Toha said. “Today’s introduction of Debt Manager is another key step to delivering on that vision by ensuring consumers can secure a loan faster or pay down debt quicker without having to jump through unnecessary hoops to make that possible.”

Debt Manager helps financial services companies negotiate two specific challenges. The first issue is the cumbersome task of gathering and collecting data from a range of financial accounts. These accounts often include credit cards, mortgages, student and auto loans, and more. The second issue is that, without this data, financial institutions can often make “suboptimal decisions” and court “significant risk” in the words of Array VP and GM of Digital Financial Management Products Deepak Sharma.

Debt Manager is the latest addition to Array’s suite of solutions for financial services companies and their customers. The new offering joins Array’s credit and financial management tools like its BuildCredit Loan, HelloPrivacy, and Identity Protect. The company is also moving toward the launch of its Subscription Manager product. This technology gives consumers better insight into their recurring payments. Array reported that 47% of banking customers in the U.S. would find subscription management tools “useful” on mobile banking apps.

The launch of Debt Manager comes one month after the company announced its partnership with FICO. The collaboration will bring FICO scores and credit data to consumers on Array’s platform. “Our partnership with FICO delivers on our promise to provide valuable data with the experience that people want, and it provides banks, credit unions, and fintechs with an embeddable solution to enable them to offer FICO Scores to meet the growing demand for credit score data.”

Founded in 2020, Array is headquartered in New York. The company has raised $67 million in funding from investors including General Catalyst, Battery Ventures, and Nyca Partners. Array won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in 2021. The company returned to the Finovate stage the following year, securing a second Best of Show award at FinovateSpring 2022.


Photo by Mikhail Nilov

TransUnion Brings Credit Scoring to the Blockchain

TransUnion Brings Credit Scoring to the Blockchain
  • TransUnion has partnered with Spring Labs and Quadrata to bring credit scoring to the blockchain.
  • Spring Labs’ technology will deliver TransUnion-powered data to Quadrata’s Web3 digital passport.
  • TransUnion EVP of Financial Services Jason Laky said the move will “allow for DeFi lenders to have access to this critical information when making their lending decisions with confidence, ultimately minimizing their risk and providing borrowers more opportunity for better terms.”

TransUnion has partnered with two firms to bring credit scores onto the blockchain. The Illinois-based company has tapped data security firm Spring Labs and decentralized networks expert Quadrata to ultimately help lenders make data-driven decisions on credit applications submitted via the blockchain.

The partnership will enable TransUnion to– upon the customer’s request– provide credit data that is not stored on a blockchain to decentralized finance applications (DApps). TransUnion, which holds the consumer credit data off-chain, will leverage Spring Labs’ patented technology that delivers credit scoring data while keeping the consumer’s identity on blockchain secure. Quadrata will leverage its digital passport, a Web3 identity solution that will automatically sync the credit scoring data across the blockchain.

“Credit scoring is an important tool for lenders to help mitigate risk regardless of the platform being used,” said TransUnion EVP of Financial Services Jason Laky. “This partnership with Spring Labs and Quadrata will allow for DeFi lenders to have access to this critical information when making their lending decisions with confidence, ultimately minimizing their risk and providing borrowers more opportunity for better terms.”

DeFi lending platforms have the potential to reach a more diverse set of consumers than traditional lending platforms. Not only do they offer more flexibility when compared to traditional lenders, but they also allow the borrower to customize their loan. Borrowers choose the collateral they provide, the duration of their loan, and the interest rate they are willing to pay.

Bringing credit scoring to the Web3 space will facilitate DeFi lending, lower the risk for DeFi lenders, and increase opportunities for borrowers. “As more consumers and lenders move to blockchain to conduct business, it’s important to ensure that the balance is struck between the information that lenders need to assess risk and the privacy and anonymity expected by users of the technology,” said Spring Labs CEO John Sun. “This new product featuring TransUnion’s identity and credit data at its core is a big step toward achieving that balance and allowing more lending opportunities on blockchain while minimizing risk.”


Photo by Joey Kyber

Arkose Labs Introduces New Technology to Combat Advanced Phishing Attacks

Arkose Labs Introduces New Technology to Combat Advanced Phishing Attacks
  • Arkose Labs introduced new detection and alert capabilities against advanced phishing attacks.
  • The new capabilities combat an evolution in phishing called “reverse proxy phishing.”
  • Arkose Labs won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring in 2019.

Bot detection specialist Arkose Labs now detects and alerts against advanced phishing attacks. The new functionality combats “reverse proxy phishing,” the latest evolution in the challenge of dealing with fraudsters and cybercriminals.

“Phishing isn’t simply about domain block lists or analyzing website contents anymore,” Arkose Labs CTO Ashish Jain said. “Those methods might work against unsophisticated attacks, but new phishing attacks require a comprehensive security posture.”

Reverse proxy attacks use fake websites to impersonate legitimate websites. Bank websites are a common target. In the process, users are encouraged to visit the fake website via a message and are asked to login. The fake website then sends the user’s information to the server of the real web site. This causes the real website to issue a one-time password (OTP) or security PIN. The fraudster can then leverage the proxy to extract user credentials, including the OTP or PIN. The attacker can also secure the cookie from the legitimate website. This enables the cybercriminal to access the user’s account.

“Arkose Bot Manager beats attackers at their own game by forcing them to integrate Arkose into their fake pages with absolutely no effect on the user experience,” Jain added. “With Arkose integrated, we can thwart a phishing attack and give the business data on the attackers – and unlike traditional phishing detection methods, Arkose Phishing Protection is able to detect and block malicious requests in real-time.”

Arkose Labs’ new advanced phishing protection comes as the company announced a new anti-fraud guarantee against SMS toll fraud attacks. The warranty covers up to one million dollars in telecom expenses if Arkose Bot Manager fails to stop an SMS toll fraud attack against one of its managed service customers.

SMS toll fraud is a type of bot attack in which large volumes of SMS messages are sent to premium rate numbers. Also known as SMS pumping or International Revenue Share Fraud (IRSF), this attack can result in sizable fraudulent SMS charges against a business. In some cases, the charges can amount to millions of dollars a month.

“This type of attack hits a company right in the wallet,” Arkose Labs CFO Frank Teruel said. “We stand confident in our platform, and Arkose already has saved customers millions in fraudulent SMS charges by stopping these attacks. Frankly, this type of warranty should be table stakes for any security vendor.”

Founded in 2017, Arkose Labs is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2019. Arkose Labs returned to the Finovate stage two years later for FinovateFall in New York. Kevin Gosschalk is founder and CEO.


Photo by Noelle Otto

Celebrating Earth Day with Finovate’s Environmental/Sustainability Demo Scholarship Winners

Celebrating Earth Day with Finovate’s Environmental/Sustainability Demo Scholarship Winners

The Finovate Sustainability and Inclusion Scholarship Program is an opportunity to showcase innovative startups that are embracing strong ESG principles as a key part of their offering. To commemorate Earth Day this weekend – and the importance of the “E” in ESG – we’re highlighting three companies that have earned scholarships in the Environmental/Sustainability category.

Daizy

Founded in 2019, Daizy won the Sustainability category of our Finovate Scholarship program in FinovateFall 2022. The company’s technology leverages AI to help investors access the data-driven stories behind the biggest companies in the U.S. Daizy has combined its expertise in ESG, analytics, data visualization, and natural language processing to offer an app that enables users to link their brokerages accounts, build watchlists, as well as track and search for new investment ideas using Daizy’s NLP portfolio, stock, and crypto search functionality.

Daizy Chief Operating Officer Andrew Peddar at FinovateFall 2022.

Based in the U.K., Daizy has raised $3 million in funding. Deborah Yang is co-founder and CEO. Follow Daizy on Twitter. Connect with Daizy on LinkedIn.


Energy Shares

Energy Shares won the Environmental category of our Finovate Demo Scholarship program for FinovateFall 2022. The company is a FINRA-registered broker-dealer and equity crowdfunding platform for utility-scale renewable energy projects in the U.S. Energy Shares facilitates access to investment opportunities in renewable energy projects, opportunities that were previously only available to institutional, corporate, and select retail investors. Via the Energy Shares platform, investors and developers can connect and collaborate to support renewable energy initiatives and support the growth of the renewable energy industry.

Energy Shares Social Media and Community Manager Chloe Breau and CMO Mark Kapczynski at FinovateFall 2022

Energy Shares was founded in 2020. The company is headquartered in Pasadena, California. Follow Energy Shares on Twitter. Connect with Energy Shares on LinkedIn.


Little Blocks

Hyderabad, India-based Little Blocks won the Environmental category of the Finovate Demo Scholarship program for FinovateEurope 2023. The company leverages industrial IoT sensors and blockchain technology to foster access to risk capital for expenses like machinery purchases. Little Blocks’ technology tokenizes each machine and ownership is distributed among the token holders, each of whom has a stake in the underlying cash flows. This enables manufacturers to pay based on the actual use of the machine rather than a fixed monthly loan repayment.

Little Blocks co-founder and CEO Hanu Panchakarla at FinovateEurope 2023.

Little Blocks was founded in 2022 and is funded by a grant from the Startup India Seed Fund.


Photo by Harry Cunningham @harry.digital

SmartAsset Acquires DeftSales to Help Advisors Grow their Practices

SmartAsset Acquires DeftSales to Help Advisors Grow their Practices
  • Financial advice platform SmartAsset has acquired advisor prospect engagement company DeftSales.
  • The company has integrated DeftSales into its SmartAdvisor advisor growth solution, renaming the technology DeftSales by SmartAsset.
  • The new tool helps advisors respond to leads instantly, enabling them to engage warm leads before another advisor follows up first.

Financial advice platform SmartAsset is acquiring prospect engagement company DeftSales this week for an undisclosed amount.

Founded in 2020, DeftSales offers tools that integrate with a range of CRM platforms to automate financial advisors’ business development outreach and provide analytics insights on client engagement. The technology helps advisors respond to leads instantly, enabling them to engage warm leads before another advisor follows up first.

“We are enormously excited to announce the acquisition of DeftSales and we look forward to integrating their solutions with our own SmartAdvisor platform,” said company CEO and Founder Michael Carvin. “The feedback from advisors using DeftSales has been incredibly clear – by automating many tasks, it dramatically decreases the work required to be successful in converting SmartAdvisor prospects into clients.”

SmartAsset has integrated DeftSales into its SmartAdvisor advisor growth solution, renaming the technology DeftSales by SmartAsset. The new solution integrates SmartAsset’s compliant user interface with DeftSales’ automated campaigns and analytics. DeftSales by SmartAsset offers automated emails and text messages, FastCall technology that enables advisors to follow-up on leads while they are busy with a current client, and an analytics dashboard to monitor engagement efforts.

DeftSales Co-Founder and COO James Fason will join the SmartAsset team as Director of Engineering.

SmartAsset has a mission to help people make smart financial decisions. The company’s educational content, calculators, and tools reach 75 million people each month. In 2021, the New York-based company raised $110 million in funding, boosting its total funding to more than $161 million. And the company is still growing. SmartAsset has brought on 27 new hires so far this year.


Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko