Alumni News Archives - Page 48 of 97

Ripple Acquires Metaco for $250 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 17, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Ripple

Ripple acquired Metaco for $250 million.
The acquisition will help Ripple enter into the crypto custody market, enabling clients to custody, issue, and settle any type of tokenized asset.
Both BNY Mellon and NASDAQ have made recent moves in the crypto custody market.

Blockchain-based payments network Ripple announced its latest acquisition this week, picking up digital asset management solutions company Metaco for $250 million.

The move will help Ripple enter into the crypto custody market, which is expected to reach $10 trillion by 2030. Specifically, it will enable Ripple to expand its offerings, providing customers the technology to custody, issue, and settle any type of tokenized asset.

“Metaco is a proven leader in institutional digital asset custody with an exceptional executive bench and a truly unmatched customer track record,” said Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. “Through the strength of our balance sheet and financial position, Ripple will continue pressing our advantage in the areas critical to crypto infrastructure. Bringing on Metaco is monumental for our growing product suite and expanding global footprint.”

Founded in 2015, Metaco helps non-traditional financial institutions securely build their digital asset capabilities. The Switzerland-based company’s flagship offering, Harmonize, helps banks, regulated exchanges, and fintechs issue, store, trade, transfer, settle, and service digital assets. Metaco has more than 100 employees that serve clients in more than 15 countries.

Regarding today’s acquisition, Metaco Founder and CEO Adrien Treccani said, “This deal will enable Metaco to leverage Ripple’s scale and market strength to reach our goals and deliver value to our clients at a faster pace. We look forward to continuing to serve unprecedented levels of institutional demand with the utmost excellence in delivery, as our clients have come to expect.”

Today’s acquisition comes during a time when interest in the crypto custody space is heating up. BNY Mellon offers digital asset custody for U.S. asset managers, and NASDAQ is planning to launch crypto custody services for Bitcoin and Ethereum by the end of this summer.

Ripple was founded in 2012 and offers tools for global money transfers, CBDCs, and digital assets. Earlier this month, the company expanded its Middle East operations, opening a new office location in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

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Where Are They Now? Catching Up with FinovateSpring 2022’s Best of Show Winners

By David Penn Posted on May 17, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, FinovateSpring 2022, List series

FinovateSpring 2023 is only days away! If you have already registered for our annual spring fintech conference – May 23 through May 25 – great! We’re looking forward to showing you the latest innovations from many of fintech’s most exciting companies. We’re also happy to be returning to San Francisco, California – where there’s plenty of opportunity for both networking and leisure when the conference day is done.

And if you have not already registered, then there’s no better time than the present to visit our FinovateSpring 2023 hub and save your spot. To whet your appetite, here’s a look back at what the Best of Show winners from last year’s event have been up to in the time since taking home Finovate’s top prize.

Array

HQ: New York City, New York
Founded: 2020
CEO: Martin Toha

**Pictured:** Leigh Gross, SVP, Sales and Business Development

Demoed Array’s financial enablement platform, specializing in embeddable tools and white label solutions, used by leading financial institutions. Demo video.

Updates since Spring 2022

Partnered with Jack Henry to offer consumers personalized credit and financial insights.
Teamed up with Alkami to helps banks boost digital engagement.
Integrated with Q2’s digital banking platform to offer products including My Credit Manager.
Launched Credit-Builder Loans-as-a-Service solution, BuildCredit Loan, a private-label installment loan product.

FinGoal

HQ: Boulder, Colorado
Founded: 2019
CEO: David Nohe

**Pictured:** Ariam Sium, VP of Product | Jenn Underwood, Product Analyst

Demoed FinGoal’s insights platform that cleans, enriches, and analyzes personal financial data to better understand users and provide actionable insights. Demo video.

Updates since Spring 2022

Secured funding in round led by Naples Technology Ventures.
Partnered with Envestnet | Yodlee to build first-ever aggregation switch kit.
Selected by CB Insights as one of the “Top Core Banking Services for Banking Leaders.”

Horizn

HQ: Toronto, Canada
Founded: 2011
CEO: Janice Diner

**Pictured:** Colm Bermingham, Director Sales | Steve Frook, SVP Global Sales

Demoed Horizn’s platform that helps banks globally accelerate digital banking knowledge, fluency, and adoption with both customers and employees. Demo video.

Updates since Spring 2022

Partnered with ebankIT to support digital transformation.
Won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2022 in New York.
Teamed up with Coventry Building Society to provide skill development for branch workers.

Keep Financial Technology

HQ: Atlanta, Georgia
Founded: 2022
CEO: Rob Frohwein

**Pictured:** Rob Frohwein, CEO | Troy Deus, Co-founder & Head of Experience

Demoed Keep Financial Technology’s innovation that solves the hiring and retention challenges of companies by introducing a new form of employee compensation called Cash Vesting Plans. Demo video.

Updates since Spring 2022

Raised $9 million in seed funding in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Launched its Keep compensation platform and initial Keep Vesting Cash Plans.
Introduced KEEP Performing, adding defined goals to its platform.

QuickFi

HQ: Fairport, New York
Founded: 2018
CEO: Bill Verhelle

**Pictured:** Nate Gibbons, Chief Operating Officer | Jillian Munson, Technology Project Manager

Demoed QuickFi’s 100% digital, self-service mobile equipment financing platform that enables business equipment financing in minutes. Demo video.

Updates since Spring 2022

Won “Best SMB/SME Banking Solution” at the 2022 Finovate Awards.
Announced a partnership with 3D printing ecosystem manufacturer Ackuretta.
Named “Best Overall LendTech Company” in the 2023 FinTech Breakthrough Awards for a second year in a row.

Spave

HQ: East Lansing, Michigan
Founded: 2021
CEO: Susan Langer

**Pictured:** Susan Langer, CEO | Sarah York, Chief Marketing and Digital Officer | Christen Wright, Head of Product

Demoed Spave’s all-in-one financial wholeness app that allows users to effortlessly save and give as they spend. Demo video.

Updates since Spring 2022

Announced that its founder CEO Susan Langer has been named a “2022 Dealmaker of the Year” by Smart Business Dealmakers of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Featured its partnership with non-profit chaplaincy, Salt & Light Partners.
Commemorated Financial Literacy Month with new nonprofit partner Lemonade Day Houston.

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NTT Data Payment Services Taps Facctum to Stop Financial Crime

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 17, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, NTT Data

NTT Data’s payments arm, NTT Data Payment Services, announced it has teamed up with risk analytics platform Facctum. The India-based payment company will leverage FacctView, Facctum’s anti-financial crime technology.

FacctView will help NTT Data Payments Services detect and assess sanctions, terrorism financing, and money laundering on its e-commerce platforms. In addition to protecting customers, FacctView’s technology also helps firms stay compliant. Because payment service providers are subject to increased regulation as fraudulent incidents increase, many have invested in risk screening capabilities.

“The payments ecosystem is facing a growing threat from financial criminals,” said Facctum Founder and CEO K.K. Gupta. “This is increasing the need for regulatory and compliance countermeasures. Leaders of PSPs have therefore recognized the vital importance of robust and resilient anti-financial crime technology to meet the challenges of regulatory change and ever-changing risks. I am humbled that NTT Data Payment Services has trusted Facctum technology to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of risk controls.”

Facctum’s FacctView leverages parallel processing technology and relies on a library of risk detection algorithms to detect financial crime risks on a comprehensive scale. FacctView also offers scalable, low-latency batch processing that supports bulk uploads and scheduled batch runs.

“Facctum technology is a great match for the needs of our high-growth and customer-focused PSP business in India,” said NTT Data Payment Services CEO Takeo Ueno. “Its addition to our anti-financial crime defenses shows our commitment to protecting customers and providing the highest standards of compliance effectiveness. This approach extends the capabilities of the business to provide continuous robust compliance whilst also improving the speed of services for customers.”

Facctum was founded in 2021 by former users and architects of financial crime compliance (FCC) technology. The London-based company has operations in Dublin, Johannesburg, Pune, and Bengaluru.

An alum of FinovateFall 2019, NTT Data offers a range of consulting, industry solutions, business process services, IT modernization, and managed services. The Japan-based company has made 26 acquisitions, including NTT Data Payment Services– then known as Atom Technologies. The company is publicly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under the ticker TYO:9613.

Photo by Mikhail Nilov

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Solve Finance Unveils Latest Debt Management Partnerships

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 16, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Solve Finance

Solve Finance has partnered with credit analysis tool ScoreNavigator and home financing ecosystem Better.com.
The company’s Debt Optimizer is helping its customers understand their debt-to-income ratio (DTI), and ultimately qualify for financing.
The company is teaming up with Better.com to launch a feature to optimize consumers’ home-buying power.

Solve Finance recently unveiled two new fintech partners. The New York-based company has tied up with credit analysis tool ScoreNavigator and home financing ecosystem Better.com.

Solve Finance’s technology will help ScoreNavigator’s clients navigate their credit journey by looking at more than just their credit score. The company’s Debt Optimizer tool also shows them their debt-to-income ratio (DTI), a key metric in receiving a mortgage or refinancing an existing property.

“By partnering with Solve Finance, our members will get a complete analysis of their DTI, along with a plan to help them qualify for financing,” said ScoreNavigator CEO Rusty Bresse. “Solve Finance is making it easier for our members to navigate home finance by aligning incentives and automating the best possible borrowing outcomes with data and AI. We couldn’t be more pleased with this recent partnership.”

“Home affordability is especially tough in today’s environment, and we can’t wait to add a path to make the best-possible borrowing outcomes available to everyone,” added Solve Finance CEO Sean Hundtofte.

Solve Finance has also partnered with home financing platform Better.com by launching a feature to optimize consumers’ home-buying power. The new tool helps shift debt burdens and optimize up-front and monthly liquidity. Solve Finance reports it has been able to increase the mortgage users are able to afford by over 20%.

“This strategic alliance combines Solve Finance’s innovative financial technology and expertise with Better Mortgage’s innovative lending solutions,” the company said in a statement. “This partnership has significantly reduced the financial barriers to homeownership. This collaboration exemplifies Solve Finance’s commitment to driving financial inclusion and ensuring homeownership is attainable and affordable for individuals and families.”

This feature is currently in a pilot stage with mortgage lenders and homebuying platforms across the country. Ultimately, Solve Finance hopes to address consumers’ confusion about how much home they can afford in today’s interest rate environment and tackle financial exclusion in homeownership.

Solve Finance, which demoed at FinovateSpring 2022, was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in New York. The company’s Debt Optimizer tool, which is available as an API or as a direct-to-consumer platform, leverages real-time market and credit data to serve as a financial debt advisor and save users money.

Photo by Monstera

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Consumer Engagement Platform SKUx Launches New Card Program with Highnote

By David Penn Posted on May 16, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Highnote

Embedded finance company Highnote is powering the new card program from SKUx.
SKUx is a payments technology and consumer engagement platform headquartered in Florida.
San Francisco, California-based Highnote made its Finovate debut last May at FinovateSpring 2022.

SKUx, a payments technology and consumer engagement platform, has launched a new card program. The company has teamed up with embedded finance company Highnote to power the new offering. SKUx noted in a statement that the partnership will help the Florida-based company continue to innovate in the disbursements space.

Highnote’s card platform technology enables a range of solutions from SKUx. Among these products are SKUx Customer Care and Recovery, which streamlines the product recall process, and SKUx Crisis Disbursements, which streamlines emergency payments to individuals. These new solutions join SKUx’s flagship solution, SKUPay, for product-based payments redeemed at the point of purchase.

In a statement, SKUx co-founder and President Bobby Tinsley highlighted the “magnitude of money” that moves between merchants and customers. Tinsley also bemoaned the fact that so much of these flows take place over “outdated and clunky” systems. He added, “We are obsessed with powering the best experiences by providing payments at the speed of today’s consumer – designing products optimized for digital wallets, mobile payments, and QR codes. Our partnership with Highnote enables us to continue this vision at both the quality and service our clients demand.”

Founded in 2021, Highnote is based in San Francisco, California. The company made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring last year. At the conference, Highnote demoed its GraphQL API-based card issuance platform, showing how the technology enables organizations to make card issuance an embedded feature in their solution. The platform uses notifications and SDKs to empower developer teams to bring card products to market quickly. A no-code dashboard enables management and support, as well as providing product-wide visibility.

“The average consumer has become more digitally savvy, and their expectations around ease of use and instant access to funds have risen,” Highnote CEO John MacIlwaine said. “SKUx has tapped into this trend by providing more elegant and modern solutions to consumer needs, and we couldn’t be more proud to be their enabler in driving this digital transformation.”

Highnote has raised more than $104 million in funding. The company’s investors include Costanoa Ventures and Oak HC/FT.

Photo by SHVETS production

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Generative AI-Powered Business Automation Specialist Kognitos Secures $6.75 Million

By David Penn Posted on May 15, 2023
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Kognitos

Business automation specialist Kognitos raised $6.75 million in seed funding. The investment takes the company’s total capital to $9.35 million.
Kognitos leverages Generative AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to enable business users to build automations using “English as code.”
Kognitos made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring last year.

Here’s a funding announcement from a new alum that slipped beneath our radar. Business automation solution provider Kognitos raised $6.75 million in seed funding earlier this year. The round was led by Clear Ventures. Engineering Capital and Wipro Ventures, the corporate investment arm of Wipro, also participated. The investment takes Kognitos’ total funding to $9.35 million.

Kognitos will use the capital to expand its cloud-based Koncierge platform. The platform leverages an AI engine that interprets English as well as humans do. This enables businesses to build automations using natural language. Koncierge blends business data and logic with logic learning machine (LLM) technology to automate business processes at cloud scale.

“It’s time for computers to behave like humans, and humans to stop behaving like machines,” Kognitos founder and CEO Binny Gill said. He referred to the technology as an “unprecedented engine that runs English as Code.” He also noted that now “anyone can describe what they want to be automated, and their automation is generated – all in auditable English. That means no developers, no complex tools, no bots.”

Kognitos’ technology responds to two challenges. On the one hand there is a growing opportunity in business automation. On the other hand, there is a relative lack of skilled workers in the automation field. Kognitos’ solution tackles these issues with a combination of Generative AI and NLP to enable automation of a wide variety of processes from invoicing processing and insurance claims to credit card payment reconciliation. The ability to use natural language also gives Kognitos’ technology an advantage over many no code/low code solutions. This is because those technologies still require the involvement of IT and other service providers. Clear Ventures founder and General Partner Rajeev Madhavan underscored the value of avoiding this obligation. “Kognitos already has several customers using this capability in production,” Madhavan said, “saving significant time and resources in their businesses, without the need for developers.”

Founded in 2020, Kognitos made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring 2022. At the conference, Gill and VP of Growth Jason Langone explained how its business automation solution helps all business users contribute to the company’s competitive advantage. By enabling them to build automations and microservices with NLP and Generative AI, Kognitos technology empowers users and helps remove obstacles and technical barriers-to-entry for a wide variety for businesses.

Kognitos is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Photo by Brett Sayles

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Expensify Now Facilitates Global Reimbursements

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 12, 2023
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

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 11, 2023
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

By David Penn Posted on May 11, 2023
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

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 10, 2023
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

By David Penn Posted on May 10, 2023
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

By David Penn Posted on May 9, 2023
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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