Alumni News

Stash Introduces New CEO Liza Landsman

Stash Introduces New CEO Liza Landsman
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Stash, Women in Fintech
  • Investing and savings platform Stash introduced new CEO Liza Landsman.
  • Landsman will take the helm from co-founder Brandon Krieg, who will transition into the role of Head of Business Development.
  • Stash made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2017 in New York.

Investing and savings platform Stash is starting the month with a brand new Chief Executive Officer. Effective Monday, technology executive, veteran venture investor, and independent Stash board member Liza Landsman took over the top spot at the New York-based fintech. Landsman succeeds Stash co-founder Brandon Krieg, who will transition into the role of Head of Business Development. Co-founder Ed Robinson will continue to serve as company President.

“Liza is the right person to lead Stash as we continue to hit major revenue and customer milestones and evolve the business,” Krieg said. “Her experience and knowledge of consumer products, e-commerce, and fintech is ideally suited to the opportunities ahead.”

With more than two million active subscribers, Stash offers a banking and investing app designed to simplify personal financial management. With a starting price of $3 a month, the company offers a variety of investing, banking, education, and financial advice subscription-based products. Last year, Stash launched its new banking infrastructure Stash Core, that will enable the company to launch new capabilities in credit, savings, lending, and more. Stash’s new banking account experience – which includes access to Stash’s upgraded Stock-Back Debit Mastercard – was built on Stash Core, and is an example of the kind of solutions that will be available via the platform.

“Stash Core gives us flexibility and ownership of every customer touchpoint,” Krieg said when the technology was unveiled last September. “It’s the future of inclusive finance and transformative to our business.”

In her role as CEO, Landsman will lead a company that topped $100 million in revenue and achieved growth of nearly 30% in 2022. At a time of economic uncertainty – including concerns over inflation and fears of recession – Stash customers set aside nearly $3 billion on the Stash platform via regular, automated deposits averaging $30 each.

“Stash empowers millions of Americans to manage and grow their wealth,” Landsman said. “Its simple-yet-disruptive subscription platform, rooted in a deep commitment to the financial well-being of our customers, is exactly what millions of everyday Americans need today.”

Landsman comes to Stash after serving in major operations and leadership roles at Jet.com, Citigroup, BlackRock, and E*Trade. Most recently Landsman was a General Partner at global venture capital firm NEA.

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Forward Bank Turns to Larky to Drive Personalization

Forward Bank Turns to Larky to Drive Personalization
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Larky
  • Customer engagement innovator Larky has teamed up with Wisconsin-based Forward Bank.
  • Courtesy of the partnership, Forward Bank has integrated Larky’s nudge push notifications into its banking app.
  • Nudge provides personalized, timely push notifications and can increase customer engagement by 7x compared to traditional marketing methods.

Larky, a fintech that specializes in helping banks and other financial institutions better engage with their customers and members, has partnered with Wisconsin-based Forward Bank. The institution has deployed Larky’s nudge solution, which delivers personalized, timely push notifications to account holders. The technology is integrated into the FI’s existing mobile banking app and Forward Bank plans to use nudge for a variety of use cases including post-visit surveys, geofenced event announcements, and on-site financial service recommendations, as well as thank you messages to account holders after they opt in to receive nudge notifications. The goal is to help Forward Bank better anticipate customer needs, preferences, and behavior.

“Previously, we reached our account holders through email and direct mail, which presented challenges with timeliness,” Forward Bank VP and Marketing Director Jennifer Sobotta said. “By now delivering nudge notifications that reach account holders more quickly with relevant messages, we hope to strengthen our commitment to them as a trusted financial resource and ultimately strengthen our long-term customer relationships.”

A customer-owned, independent community bank, Forward Bank serves communities in central Wisconsin and nearby areas. Founded in 1919 and headquartered in Marshfield, Forward Bank has more than $930 million in assets and is a major supporter of local businesses, schools, clubs, and sports organizations.

Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Larky made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014 in New York. Founded in 2012, Larky enables financial institutions to better engage their customers by leveraging push notifications as a sophisticated marketing tool to promote products and services, popularize financial literacy and financial wellness initiatives, and important branch information and updates. The company says its technology can help financial institutions boost mobile app engagement and generate revenue growth via an engagement rate that is 7x better than traditional marketing strategies.

Larky closed out 2022 with a new partnership announcement, teaming up with Gerber Federal Credit Union to enhance the Michigan-based credit unions digital customer communications. Also last year, Larky announced that its nudge technology has been added to Finastra’s mobile banking platform.

“This collaboration signifies a momentum step forward and reinforces our belief that push notifications are not optional, but rather an integral must-have for financial institutions seeking to successfully compete in today’s digital age and enhance customer engagement,” Larky CEO Gregg Hammerman said when the Finastra integration was announced.

Larky has raised $2.4 million in funding according to Crunchbase. The company’s investors include Michigan Angel Fund and North Coast Technology Investors.

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Listerhill Credit Union Taps Glia for Digital Customer Service

Listerhill Credit Union Taps Glia for Digital Customer Service
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Glia

When every year is declared the year of the customer, it means more firms are motivated to upgrade their customer service technology. That may be why Listerhill Credit Union selected digital customer service company Glia to overhaul its digital customer service technology.

“Glia has enabled us to provide online service that mirrors our personalized, in-branch experience, allowing members to feel connected as a part of the Listerhill community regardless of communication channels,” said Listerhill Digital Strategist Dustin Holland.

Listerhill is leveraging Glia’s Digital Customer Service (DCS) suite, which includes online collaboration tools such as co-browsing to support its 92,000 members across five U.S. states. The credit union has implemented DCS in its mortgage lending department to guide members through mortgage applications and help them if they have a question or need assistance completing the process.

Listerhill said that this application of Glia’s DCS has resulted in “significant” new growth for its mortgage business. In fact, the credit union’s mortgage application conversion rate is four times the industry average, which has added up to an additional $2 million in mortgage sales year-over-year.

“By seeing who is actively reviewing mortgage information on our site, I’m able to connect and offer assistance that can help move a member closer to applying for a mortgage with Listerhill, without bothering members who are looking for other services,” said Listerhill Mortgage Originator Specialist Angela Underwood. “It’s a high-touch sales process that aligns to Listerhills’ focus on great member experiences.”

New York-based Glia was founded in 2012 as SaleMove. The company offers digital communication environments, on-screen collaboration, and AI-enabled assistance tools for clients who need to support end customers online, over the phone, in home office environments, and via video. Glia has taken home 10 Finovate Best of Show awards for its live demos and most recently showcased its tools at FinovateSpring 2021. 

Last June, Glia acquired conversational AI creator Finn.ai for an undisclosed sum. Last month, Glia announced a major update to its call center platform that integrates Finn.ai’s conversational AI to automate phone interactions and facilitate banks’ migration from phone-centric to digital-first customer service.  

Since it was founded in 2012, Glia has raised $152 million. The company has partnered with more than 400 credit unions, banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions, and was recently named a Deloitte Technology Fast 500 company for a third year in a row. Daniel Michaeli is CEO.

Photo by MART PRODUCTION

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Zopa Raises $92 Million for its Digital Bank

Zopa Raises $92 Million for its Digital Bank
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Zopa
  • U.K.-based digital bank Zopa landed $92 million from existing investors IAG Silverstripe, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP and Augmentum.
  • The funding, which “cements and enhances” the company’s unicorn status, brings Zopa’s total raised to $880 million.
  • Since launching its digital bank in 2020, Zopa has attracted $3.69 billion (£3 billion) in deposits, added more than $2.46 billion (£2 billion) in loans on its balance sheet, and issued more than 400,000 credit cards. 

Zopa pulled in $92 million (£75 million) this week to bolster its digital banking capabilities, proving that the race is still going strong in the challenger banking arena. The funding brings the U.K.-based company’s total raised to more than $880 million.

While Zopa did not disclose an updated valuation, the company said it “cements and enhances” its unicorn status. Zopa originally became a unicorn in 2021 after its $304 million funding round.

Also undisclosed is the round’s lead investor. Interestingly, the lead investor in the company’s 2021 round, SoftBank, is not participating in today’s investment. Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana told TechCrunch, however, that SoftBank is still an active board member. He also mentioned that today’s funding included investments from existing investors IAG Silverstripe, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, and Augmentum.

Founded in 2005, the former peer-to-peer lending platform launched its digital bank in 2020 and has since attracted $3.69 billion (£3 billion) in deposits, added more than $2.46 billion (£2 billion) in loans on its balance sheet, and issued more than 400,000 credit cards. 

“We are happy to have investors who share our excitement at the opportunity to serve more customers across more product categories,” said Janardana. “This has already led to several profitable months in 2022 and will very likely convert into full-year profitability in 2023 for the first time.”

Zopa said that it will use the funding received today to pay off its debts and fuel upcoming mergers and acquisitions, which could begin this quarter.

Photo by Samson Katt

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Financial Intelligence Platform Provider Cion Digital Rebrands as UPTIQ

Financial Intelligence Platform Provider Cion Digital Rebrands as UPTIQ
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Cion Digital, Daily news, UPTIQ
  • Cion Digital announced a rebrand to UPTIQ this week.
  • The new name is designed to reflect the company’s focus on bringing financing solutions to wealth managers and advisors.
  • Headquartered in Texas and founded in 2021, the company made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022.

Financial intelligence platform provider Cion Digital, which made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring last May, has rebranded. The Austin, Texas-based company announced this week that its new name is UPTIQ. The new moniker is designed to underscore the company’s commitment to bring its lending solutions to businesses in the wealth management industry.

“As our business model evolves, we want our name to reflect who we are and what we do,” company Chief Marketing Officer Katie Robinson said. “UPTIQ reflects the results we expect our solutions to bring to advisors and their clients – the upward movement we want for all our stakeholders. We want to inspire and establish our trustworthiness as a partner to financial advisors.”

UPTIQ offers a platform that enables wealth advisors to grow their AUM by providing loans to help finance purchases, liquidity, and working capital. The company’s Financial Intelligence Platform leverages data analytics and AI to ensure clients are offered financing solutions that match their goals and preferences. The company has secured partnerships with a number of lenders such as Credibility Capital, Bank 34, and Celtic Bank that have made their lending solutions available on the platform.

“With the UPTIQ Financial Intelligence Platform, wealth advisors can collaborate with lenders and their clients throughout the loan origination process and feel confident they’ve identified the best loan product to meet their clients’ needs,” UPTIQ founder and CEO Snehal Fulzele said. “Our new name reflects the value we offer to all stakeholders.”

UPTIQ will also offer wealth managers and advisors other services in addition to financing. These offerings include access to deposits, alternative investments, and insurance. The goal is to enable wealth managers to grow their businesses by offering more holistic services that encompass more than traditional wealth management.

Founded in 2021, the company demoed its Crypto Dealership Platform at FinovateSpring 2022. The technology, a blockchain orchestration platform, enables auto dealers and other retailers of “big ticket” items to accept cryptocurrency as payment. The company ended last year with a new partnership, teaming up with fellow Finovate alum upSWOT to bring embedded finance solutions to wealth managers and commercial loan brokers to help them serve their SME customers. UPTIQ raised $12 million in seed funding a little over a year ago in a round led by Green Visor Capital and 645 Ventures.

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Ncontracts Launches its Risk Management Suite

Ncontracts Launches its Risk Management Suite
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Ncontracts
  • Risk management and compliance software company Ncontracts unveiled its new risk management suite, Ncontracts RPM, this week.
  • Ncontracts RPM integrates four of the company’s solutions — Nrisk, Nvendor, Ncomply, and Nfndings – into a combined offering that will help FIs leverage data to enhance risk and compliance management.
  • Headquartered in Tennessee, Ncontracts made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in September.

Integrated risk management and compliance software provider Ncontracts launched its risk management suite this week. The Ncontracts RPM Suite blends risk, vendor, compliance, and finding management solutions to help boost efficiency and drive better-decision making. Known separately as Nrisk, Nvendor, Ncomply, and Nfindings, the combined elements of Ncontracts’ RPM Suite help financial institutions turn data into the kind of relevant, actionable insights to reduce the burden of risk and compliance management.

“Financial institutions need better, more comprehensive risk management tools to successfully respond to digital disruption, economic uncertainty, regulatory change, staffing shortages, and other challenges,” Ncontracts CEO Michael Berman said. “Our RPM suite brings knowledge and insights to our clients to create a high-performing system that helps financial institutions efficiently leverage data to drive success.”

Headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, and founded in 2009, Ncontracts made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. With a customer base of more than 4,200 financial institutions, mortgage companies, and fintechs in the U.S., Ncontracts offers a cloud-based technology solution that encompasses vendor, organizational, audit, and compliance risk management.

In the months since the company’s Finovate appearance in September, Ncontracts added C-suite talent in the form of new Chief Customer Officer Melissa Outlaw, new Chief Sales Officer Michelle Amato, and new Chief Human Resource Officer Cathy Guthrie. Named to the Inc. 5000 roster of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. for the fourth year in a row in 2022, Ncontracts raised $1.1 million in funding prior to being acquired by Gryphon Investors in 2020 for an undisclosed sum.

“The risks facing financial institutions are multiplying and becoming more complex, and no bank, regardless of size, can justify using spreadsheets today to manage the process when the stakes are so high,” Gryphon Investors Software Principal Jon Cheek said when the acquisition was announced. “Ncontracts’ software has made it easy for financial institutions of all sizes to manage the spectrum of complex risks and regulations facing them today.”

Photo by Martin

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American Express Retires the Kabbage Brand with the Launch of Business Blueprint

American Express Retires the Kabbage Brand with the Launch of Business Blueprint
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, American Express, Daily news, Kabbage
  • American Express is launching American Express Business Blueprint, a set of digital cash flow management tools for small businesses.
  • Small businesses can access the MyInsights cash flow solution within Business Blueprint at no charge.
  • Business Blueprint evolved out of Kabbage, an alternative lending startup that the company acquired in 2020. With the launch of Business Blueprint, the Kabbage brand is now retired.

Cash flow management tools are not new to fintech, but the industry gets excited when card giant American Express launches new tools. That’s the case today– the company unveiled American Express Business Blueprint, a set of digital cash flow management tools for small businesses.

Business Blueprint offers small business users digital financial products, payment card management tools, and cash flow insights via its MyInsights tool. The platform offers to lighten the load of small business owners by helping them manage cash flow, take out a loan, pay bills and vendors, check their account balances, deposit checks, accept card payments, and more. Additionally, the tool projects cash balances out to 30 days and sends spending alerts, as well as enables users to view and redeem their membership rewards points.

“Business Blueprint marks a critical next step in American Express’s vision of becoming a digital one-stop shop for small businesses’ financial needs, whether to manage their cash flow, make payments, get paid, or access working capital,” said company Group President of Global Commercial Services and Credit & Fraud Risk Anna Marrs.

American Express is onboarding small businesses onto Business Blueprint for free, and offering its MyInsights cash flow solution to them at no charge. That’s because the company is looking to sell businesses on its small business lending products, including:

  • American Express Business Line of Credit for a commercial line of credit ranging from $2,000 to $250,000 with interest rates ranging from 2% to 27%, depending on the term
  • American Express Business Checking for a digital business checking account that earns 1.30% APY on balances up to $500,000, and the ability to earn Membership Rewards points
  • American Express Payment Accept for accepting all major card payments from customers online

The new offering is rising out of the ashes of Kabbage, an alternative lending company launched in 2009 that American Express acquired in 2020. As Kabbage Co-Founder Rob Frohwein explained in a post on LinkedIn, “The end of era – for me and my Kabbage from American Express colleagues. Our company is fully integrated with Amex (and I’ve been gone for over a year).”

Frohwein went on to reminisce about how the day his team named the company “Kabbage.” One of the company’s early investors, Nicholas Steele, wanted to go with the name Cabbage. However, the “C” was changed to a “K” when the team discovered the cost of the Kabbage domain name was $73,800 cheaper. “Congrats to all Kabbagers – old and current. You may now refer to our business as Business Blueprint, but you’ll always bleed green and think twice when you enjoy actual cabbage in your salad or soup,” Frohwein added.

Photo by Alena Darmel

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B2B Payments Innovator TreviPay Teams Up with Cashflow Specialist Cloudfloat

B2B Payments Innovator TreviPay Teams Up with Cashflow Specialist Cloudfloat
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, TreviPay
  • B2B payments and invoice networking operator TreviPay announced a partnership with B2B cashflow specialist Cloudfloat.
  • The goal of the partnership is to help stimulate business opportunities for both companies. TreviPay serves the enterprise market. Cloudfloat specializes in serving small and medium-sized businesses.
  • TreviPay made its Finovate debut last September at FinovateFall in New York.

B2B payments and invoice networking innovator TreviPay has partnered with B2B cashflow specialist Cloudfloat. The collaboration is designed to bring new business opportunities to both parties: TreviPay – with $7 billion in transaction volume across 34 countries – serves mostly the enterprise market while Cloudfloat specializes in serving small and medium-sized businesses. Via the partnership, the companies expect to serve as valuable references for each other’s respective customer type.

“TreviPay is delighted to be a referral partner with Cloudfloat,” TreviPay Managing Director, APAC, Piers Gorman said. “As the B2B payments landscape matures, there is a significant runway to support all areas of the B2B economy. With opportunities for merchants of all sizes, our referral relationship with Cloudfloat will help bring best-in-class payment options to businesses of all sizes.”

Cloudfloat, founded in 2020 and headquartered in Australia, provides small and medium-sized businesses with time-of-purchase financing, enabling them to make full, timely purchases without immediately impacting cashflow. The financing comes with terms up to 90 days, with no interest charged. The company has realized month-on-month growth of 10% since inception, serving businesses in verticals ranging from hospitality and construction to retail and digital services. “This partnership presents a tremendous opportunity for our business because it unlocks business opportunities which have the potential to help us grow exponentially,” Cloudfloat founder and CEO Aleem Habibullah said.

TreviPay made its Finovate debut last September at FinovateFall in New York. At the conference, the Overland, Kansas-based fintech demoed its Small Business Supplier Payments Network (SBSN). The network provides a way for banks to grow their small business product suite via a solution that enables them to tap into the small business, B2B trade credit market.

In the months since then, TreviPay has partnered with BlueSnap, integrating card-based payments processing into its platform; acquired payment platform Apruve (terms not disclosed); and hired Allen Bonde as its new Chief Marketing Officer.

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger

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Trulioo Unveils New Global Identity Verification Platform for Individuals and Businesses

Trulioo Unveils New Global Identity Verification Platform for Individuals and Businesses
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, Trulioo
  • Trulioo unveiled a new global identity verification platform this week.
  • The new offering combines both individual and business verification with no-code workflow building, low-code integrations, and more into a single platform.
  • A Finovate alums since 2014, Trulioo won Best of Show in its most recent Finovate appearance at FinovateEurope last March.

Identity verification specialist Trulioo launched a new global identity verification platform this week. The new offering combines individual and business verification solutions with no-code workflow building, low-code integrations, and more in a single platform. The platform will give companies the ability to provide a streamlined onboarding experience, as well as the kind of intuitive user experiences that help build both trust and inclusivity.

“Trulioo is the identity platform businesses turn to in order to solve the inherent complexity in onboarding customers globally,” Trulioo CEO Steve Munford said. “We enable businesses to offer their goods and services in nearly every country in the world and remain compliant. We provide our customers with industry-leading capabilities backed by best-in-class customer success so they can focus on their business and customers.”

With a single contract, the new offering will enable Trulioo customers to readily access:

  • Personally identifiable information matching
  • Identity document verification
  • Utility data for proof of address
  • Business verification for in-depth person-of-significant-control
  • Ultimate-beneficial-owner verification
  • Watchlist screening and monitoring
  • Anti-fraud capabilities

“Trulioo is the only company that delivers an integrated, high-performance platform with comprehensive capabilities, out-of-the-box processes and models, easy no-code configurability, and the ability to customize and amend functionality,” Trulioo Chief Product Officer Michael Ramsbacker said. “We are giving our customers the power to create verification workflows that best meet their needs with just one contract and in one intuitive platform.”

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, Trulioo has been a Finovate alum since 2014. Demoing its latest technology on the Finovate stage most recently at FinovateEurope 2022 in London, Trulioo won Best of Show for its GlobalGateway Business Verification to Identity Verification workflow. This functionality, using Trulioo’s GlobalGateway Orchestration, enabled easy-to-do business verification, simple verification of owner identities, and world-class orchestration and workflow building.

The company’s new product launch this week comes as a growing number of businesses are pursuing opportunities in online commerce, mobile payments, and digital currencies. And while these avenues represent significant innovation and progress, they also bring with them new concerns over fraud and financial crime. Being able to know your customer, know your business, identify money laundering and more have become critical – and complex – compliance issues for businesses of all sizes. As such, it is as important for growing companies to have a verification solution that is customizable to their particular needs and workflows, while at the same time providing the requisite scale to support rapidly expanding enterprises. This is especially true when it comes to international expansion.

Trulioo’s platform reaches more than five billion consumers in 195 countries, and enables companies to access more than 450 data sources globally to provide broad, comprehensive identity and business verification. The company has raised more than $474 million in funding from investors including TCV, which led Trulioo’s $394 million Series D round in 2021; and Goldman Sachs, which led the company’s $52 million Series C in 2019.

Photo by Min An

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AKUVO Partners with Eltropy to Help Credit Unions Leverage Text to Improve Collections

AKUVO Partners with Eltropy to Help Credit Unions Leverage Text to Improve Collections
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Eltropy
  • Digital communications platform Eltropy and collections platform provider AKUVO announced a new partnership, integrating Eltropy’s texting functionality into AKUVO’s Aperture solution.
  • The integration will enhance the collections process for community financial institutions (CFIs).
  • Eltropy made its Finovate debut in 2017 and returned to the Finovate stage last year for FinovateFall in New York.

A newly-announced partnership between digital communications platform Eltropy and cloud-based collections platform provider AKUVO will enable credit unions to leverage the texting capabilities of Eltropy’s platform to enhance collections operations. Now, credit unions, community banks, and other community financial institutions (CFIs) will be able to access Eltropy’s texting communications platform from AKUVO’s Aperture solution.

“Integration between Eltropy and AKUVO’s Aperture will provide collectors with a powerful texting platform to guide their account holders through a proactive, effective collections experience,” AKUVO Chief Revenue and Operating Officer Steve Castagna said.

Headquartered in California and founded in 2014, Eltropy made its Finovate debut in 2017 and most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2022 last September. At the conference, Eltropy demoed its Eltropy One offering, an all-in-one omni channel solution that lets financial institutions manage both inbound and outbound member and customer communications from a single console. Text, secure chat, video, voice, co-browse, chatbot, and secure file exchange are among the functionalities Eltropy provides – all in a secure and compliant fashion.

In addition to facilitating the delivering of seamless omnichannel customer experiences, Eltropy’s platform leverages AI to help CFIs better resolve issues and consumer inquiries. The technology detects both subjective conditions like consumer sentiment and mood as well as objective data like specific relevant keywords and phrases to provide real-time guidance and personalized recommendations. The company’s partnership with AKUVO, according to Castagna, underscores a shared “visionary approach” to using both data and analytics to help enhance the financial wellness of members and customers.

“One of our primary goals in 2023 is to build stronger integrations with vendors who have strengths in areas of need from our CFI customers, so we look forward to partnering with AKUVO who is making waves in the collection industry with their Aperture platform,” Eltropy VP of Strategic Partnerships Jason Smith said.

With $25 million in funding, Eltropy closed out 2022 with new partnership announcements with digital banking solutions provider Tyfone and credit union lending technology company Origence. Also last year, Eltropy acquired both video banking company POPi/o and AI conversational intelligence platform Marsview.ai. Ashish Garg is Eltropy’s founder and CEO.

Learn more about Eltropy in its upcoming Finovate webinar, 7 trends for community financial services in 2023.

Photo by Lukas

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Marqeta Acquires Fintech Infrastructure Company Power Finance for $275 Million

Marqeta Acquires Fintech Infrastructure Company Power Finance for $275 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Marqeta, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Marqeta is acquiring credit card program management platform Power Finance.
  • The company will add Power Finance’s credit card program management capabilities to its own card issuing platform.
  • Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Global card issuer Marqeta agreed to acquire credit card program management platform Power Finance. Terms of the deal, which is scheduled to close in the first quarter of this year, were not disclosed.

Power Finance was founded in 2021 by CEO Randy Fernando and CFO Andrew Dust to offer credit card program management services to companies seeking to create new credit card programs. The company’s platform takes care of credit card management, customer experience, application decisioning, transaction processing, and more. And because Power Finance is pre-integrated with third-party data vendors, it saves companies time when setting up KYC and underwriting processes.

“Companies like ours were made possible because of the path Marqeta blazed in modern card issuing, demonstrating the possibilities in payments with flexible and modern payment infrastructure,” said Fernando. “At Power, we built a full-stack, cloud-native credit card issuance platform, and by becoming a part of Marqeta we have the ability now to bring this innovation to a much larger market at global scale.”

Once the deal is finalized, Fernando will lead the product management of the Marqeta credit card platform.

Marqeta will leverage the acquisition by adding Power Finance’s credit card program management capabilities to its own card issuing platform. “It will allow us to accelerate processing revenue derived from credit programs, and improve our competitive positioning when competing for new deals, offering our customers a holistic credit card program management solution,” Marqeta said in a blog post announcement.

Marqeta launched its card issuing platform in 2010 to enable clients to manage their own card programs. The company offers configurable and flexible payment tools and customizes payment cards for their end customers. Earlier this month, Marqeta launched a Web Push Provisioning Solution to enable consumers to transact from their mobile wallets without having to download a separate mobile app.

Marqeta is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker MQ. The company has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion.

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich

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Hawk AI Scores $17 Million to Help Banks Fight Money Laundering and Fraud

Hawk AI Scores $17 Million to Help Banks Fight Money Laundering and Fraud
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Hawk:AI
  • Germany-based fraud prevention and AML solution provider Hawk AI has raised $17 million in Series B funding this week.
  • The round was led by Sands Capital and featured participation from DN Capital, Coalition, BlackFin Capital Partners, and Picus Capital, and adds to the $10 million Hawk AI raised in 2021.
  • Hawk AI made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022.

In a round led by Sands Capital and featuring participation from DN Capital, Coalition, BlackFin Capital Partners, and Picus Capital, Germany-based fraud prevention and anti-money laundering solution provider Hawk AI has raised $17 million in Series B financing. The capital adds to the $10 million in Series A funding the company raised in June of 2021, and will be used to help fuel both product development and global expansion.

“My co-founder Wolfgang Berner and I started this business based on the strong belief that only leading edge, real-time surveillance technology can deliver the change needed to fight financial crime,” Hawk AI CEO and co-founder Tobias Schweiger said. “This contrasts (with) the obvious, drastic deficiencies in legacy technology. Hawk AI’s growth will continue to be fueled by industry-wide demand for AI, cloud outsourcing, and a convergence of fraud and AML technology.” Schweiger added that this week’s investment would help Hawk AI “become the leading global surveillance platform faster.”

Founded in 2018, Hawk AI made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring in San Francisco. At the conference, the company demoed its AML Surveillance Suite, which combines explainable AI with traditional rule-based strategies to monitor transactions for fraud and evidence of potential money laundering in real time. The technology alerts financial crime specialists when suspicious behavior is detected while at the same time significantly limiting the number of false positives – by more than 70% – compared to legacy systems.

In its funding announcement, Hawk AI noted that more than $2 trillion is laundered every year, with U.S. fraud losses in 2022 topping $41 billion. Additionally, for what the company referred to as “high-growth markets,” fraud increased by more than 37% over the past 12 months. This has put additional pressure on institutions as both the volume and sophistication of financial crime continue to grow. Complicating matters further are an ever-changing array of regulations which Sands Capital’s Chris Eng said has made fighting financial crime “historically” challenging. To this end, Eng noted that, “Hawk AI’s sophisticated technology and use of explainable artificial intelligence present critically needed straightforward solutions for institutions across the payments landscape.”

Hawk AI’s funding news comes in the wake of a year in which the company realized year-over-year revenue growth of nearly 3x. Hawk AI also expanded its operations to Singapore last year, and now operates in more than 60 countries across Europe, North America, Asia, and Latin America. Hawk AI includes fellow Finovate alums VISA, Diebold Nixdorf, and Mambu among its partners.

Photo by Frans van Heerden

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