Alumni News

Carrington Labs Partners with Taktile to Enhance Credit Risk Strategies for Lenders

Carrington Labs Partners with Taktile to Enhance Credit Risk Strategies for Lenders
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Carrington Labs
  • Credit risk analytics company Carrington Labs has teamed up with decision platform Taktile to help lenders optimize their credit risk strategies.
  • Lenders will be able to access Carrington Labs’ custom models directly from Taktile’s platform, enabling them to gain a better, more complete financial picture of loan applicants.
  • Carrington Labs made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateFall 2024 in New York. The company is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

Credit risk analytics company Carrington Labs announced a partnership with decision platform Taktile to help lenders optimize their credit risk strategies for both consumer and SMB loans. Carrington Labs offers custom models that analyze a wide variety of data types—including transaction data, credit bureau data, and behavioral insights—to give lenders a more comprehensive understanding of a would-be borrower’s financial status. This leads to more accurate credit risk scoring, more approvals, and fewer defaults.

“Every lender is looking to modernize their approach to decisioning, offer management, and monitoring. Taktile’s low-code decision platform enables our clients to deploy Carrington Labs models and tools quickly, while also giving lenders much better visibility and control over their process,” Carrington Labs CEO Jamie Twiss said.

Courtesy of the partnership, lenders will be able to access Carrington Labs’ models directly from Taktile’s platform. Firms will be able to combine the models with their own business rules to boost approval accuracy and quantify the probability of default. The models will also help them improve underwriting accuracy and launch faster without requiring major system overhauls or technical implementations. Via a single interface, lenders will have end-to-end control over the optimization of their credit risk strategy.

“I’ve seen how tough it can be for lenders to not only build strong risk models but also connect them to flexible, automated decision workflows,” Taktile CEO and Co-Founder Maik Taro Wehmeyer said. “That’s why I’m excited about our partnership with Carrington Labs. Lenders can now directly integrate their sophisticated credit risk models into the workflows they build on Taktile, making it easier to develop inclusive, data-driven underwriting strategies and continuously improve them at scale.”

Taktile’s technology helps lenders and other financial services companies better manage risk: from onboarding and underwriting to fraud detection, compliance, and collections. The company empowers risk teams to build, test, and update their risk strategies without requiring engineering talent. Companies working with Taktile have reported a 67% reduction in logic deployment time and a 95% reduction in decision time. Headquartered in New York, with offices in Berlin, Germany, and London, Taktile was founded in 2020.

Sydney, Australia-based Carrington Labs made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024 in New York. At the conference, the company demonstrated its AI-powered, alternative credit risk scoring and loan limit recommendation technology. Carrington Labs leverages non-traditional data, credit expertise, and commercial acumen to provide lenders with a more complete picture of a loan applicant’s creditworthiness. This enables lenders to be more inclusive while at the same time boosting revenues, lowering default rates, and improving margins.

Carrington Labs’ partnership announcement comes just a month after the company reported that it was working with decisioning platform Oscilar to help shorten integration times for lenders and improve credit risk workflows for banks, credit unions, and other financial services providers.

Photo by Liam Pozz on Unsplash

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Fiserv Launches Stablecoin for Banks

Fiserv Launches Stablecoin for Banks
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Fiserv
  • Fiserv is leveraging Paxos, Circle, and Solana to launch FIUSD, a new stablecoin integrated into its global banking and payments infrastructure.
  • FIUSD is designed for traditional banks and offers a compliant, SDK-based solution that maintains control over the customer experience while enabling 24/7 settlement and programmable payments.
  • Fiserv is positioning FIUSD as a “bank-friendly coin,” making it possible for banks to participate and compete in the tokenized financial ecosystem.

In a move that signals growing mainstream adoption of digital assets, payments giant Fiserv has unveiled plans to launch its own stablecoin, FIUSD. The Wisconsin-based company is embedding the blockchain-based payments tool directly into its global financial infrastructure by the end of the year.

Fiserv will leverage stablecoin infrastructure from Paxos and Circle and will make FIUSD available to its clients via Web3 infrastructure player Solana. The new stablecoin will be made available at no additional cost to clients, giving them access to a new, interoperable digital asset service to integrate into their banking and payment flows.

Along with today’s announcement, the company also said that it is evaluating the use of tokenized deposits as an alternative to stablecoins. Tokenized deposits offer many of the same advantages that stablecoins do, such as speed, interoperability, and programmability. However, tokenized deposits are designed to align more closely with regulatory and capital requirements. This approach may offer banks a more familiar path to leveraging blockchain-based payment infrastructure without taking on the balance sheet complexities of non-deposit stablecoins.

For traditional banks, FIUSD offers a safe and controlled on-ramp into stablecoins. By partnering with a trusted infrastructure provider like Fiserv, banks can experiment with programmable money without needing to become crypto-native themselves.

Fiserv anticipates FIUSD to scale quickly, as it will be launched across its global network that includes relationships with 10,000 financial institution clients and six million merchant locations that process 90 billion transactions each year. Leveraging stablecoins and tokenized deposits in traditional banking and payments is expected to rapidly expand due to their ability to settle 24/7, streamline processes, increase efficiency, and power use cases where existing options may be limited.

“Through our privileged position as a trusted infrastructure provider to financial institutions, merchants, and their customers worldwide, we are relentlessly focused on delivering state-of-the-art innovation, efficiency, and choice to all of our partners,” said Fiserv Chief Operating Officer Takis Georgakopoulos. “With our scale, reach, and technology leadership, Fiserv is uniquely positioned to advance stablecoin-powered payments and help democratize access to blockchain financial services. Together with our other cloud-native banking and merchant platforms, we believe FIUSD will provide our clients with the efficiency and optionality they need to thrive in the evolving banking and payments ecosystem.”

Fiserv is differentiating FIUSD as a “bank-friendly coin,” stating that it enables banks to maintain full control of the customer experience. Unlike traditional public stablecoins like USDC or USDT, FIUSD is designed specifically for financial institutions. The stablecoin is delivered via an SDK that fits into Fiserv’s existing platforms and offers integrated fraud monitoring, risk tools, and a regulatory-first approach, positioning the stablecoin as a bank-grade alternative that blends innovation with institutional trust.

“FIUSD is designed with our clients in mind, a financial institution-friendly coin that simplifies stablecoin access through a secure and scalable ecosystem,” said Sunil Sachdev, Head of Embedded Finance at Fiserv. “We are excited to begin collaborating with our clients, partners, and other ecosystem players to create modernized financial experiences.”

Fiserv noted that this is the first of “a series of announcements” surrounding digital asset products it plans to release. Notably, the announcement comes the week after the US Congress passed the GENIUS Act, which will serve as a foundation for US banks to participate in a regulated digital asset ecosystem.

The news comes two months after Fiserv acquired Australia-based payment facilitator Pinch Payments. Fiserv has been involved in the payments space since it was founded in 1984. The company serves merchants, banks, and fintechs with payments tools, customer analytics, and fraud prevention technology. Fiserv is publicly listed on the NYSE under the ticker FI and has a market capitalization of $92.3 billion.

With FIUSD, Fiserv is not just staying ahead of the evolution of the DeFi economy, but it is also making it possible for banks to participate and compete in the tokenized financial ecosystem. As one of the first traditional movers in the stablecoin space, Fiserv could set a new benchmark as a bank-grade DeFi provider.


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NetGuardians and Intix Merge to Form Vyntra

NetGuardians and Intix Merge to Form Vyntra
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, NetGuardians
  • NetGuardians and Intix have merged to form Vyntra, a new company focused on unifying transaction observability and financial crime prevention for banks and financial institutions.
  • Vyntra will deliver real-time transaction intelligence to help over 130 financial institutions across 60+ countries detect fraud, ensure AML compliance, and resolve payment issues before they impact customers.
  • Vyntra aims to strengthen operational resilience and support instant payments by offering a more transparent, secure, and intelligent financial infrastructure.

Fraud and risk protection company NetGuardians is joining forces with financial messaging platform Intix. The two announced this week that they have merged to form Vyntra, which aims to bring transaction intelligence to financial institutions.

Vyntra combines NetGuardians’ expertise in financial crime prevention with Intix’s transaction observability. Vyntra will help its more than 130 financial institution clients in 60+ countries receive real-time intelligence about their customers based on their transactions.

“Vyntra represents a new chapter—not just for us, but for the financial institutions we serve,” said Vyntra CEO and former Group CEO of both Intix and NetGuardians Joël Winteregg. “Whether it’s monitoring transactions and payment flows, ensuring anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, or detecting fraud as it happens, Vyntra unifies transaction observability and financial crime prevention under one roof. Our mission is simple: to help financial institutions navigate complexity with clarity and protect the integrity of every transaction.”

Vyntra is launching at a time when financial institutions need real-time, full observability of transactions to enhance compliance, reduce risk, and strengthen operational resilience. The company will leverage fraud prevention, AML compliance, and transaction observability to help financial institutions see, secure, and optimize every transaction in real time. The intelligence will also help firms protect instant payment networks and detect and resolve payment issues before they impact customers.

“The merger of NetGuardians and Intix was designed to support a safer and more transparent financial system,” said Gisle Glück Evensen, Partner at Summa Equity. “Now, as Vyntra, this vision becomes a reality. We’re proud to support the team as they lead the way in transaction observability and financial crime prevention.”

Switzerland-based NetGuardians offers tools to help companies reduce payment and internal fraud and monitor transactions to meet AML requirements. The company also provides its own NetGuardians Community Scoring and Intelligence service that generates actionable insights to help firms expand their risk signals.

Photo by Lance Grandahl on Unsplash

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Icon Solutions Secures Investment from UBS

Icon Solutions Secures Investment from UBS
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Funding, Icon Solutions
  • Payments company Icon Solutions has secured a new equity investment in a round led by UBS. Citi and NatWest, existing Icon Solutions investors, also participated.
  • The investment will help Icon Solutions bring its Icon Payments Framework (IPF) to more banks to enable them to develop and deploy new payment processing solutions faster.
  • Headquartered in the UK, Icon Solutions made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2017.

UK-based paytech Icon Solutions announced a new equity investment led by Swiss bank UBS. Citi and NatWest, current Icon Solutions investors, also contributed funding. The amount of the total investment was not disclosed.

“This investment round is further endorsement of our founding belief that banks should be empowered to lead their own payments transformation,” Icon Solutions Co-Founder and Director Tom Kelleher said. “With IPF now internationally proven and increasingly adopted by major financial institutions, we look forward to continuing our close partnerships with Citi, NatWest, and UBS to build on this global momentum and deliver truly innovative and ground-breaking payments solutions.”

Both Citi and NatWest have deployed Icon Solutions’ Icon Payments Framework (IPF) to enhance their respective payments programs. IPF offers banks a payments development framework that enables them to build, test, and deploy payment processing solutions faster, allowing them to accelerate the transformation of their own payments infrastructure.

“This investment reinforces our partnership with Icon and confirms our commitment to deliver faster to market, future-ready payment solutions for our clients,” UBS Head of Group Operations and Technology Office for Personal & Corporate Banking and GWM Switzerland & International Pieter Brouwer said. “The collaboration helps us drive innovation at scale and enhances our capabilities for seamless instant payments and advanced transaction processing.”

Founded in 2009, Icon Solutions demoed its technology at FinovateEurope 2017 in London. The company’s core solution—the Icon Payments Framework—is a payment development framework relied upon by tier 1 banks around the world including Citi, NatWest, BNP Paribas, and UBS. Built to integrate seamlessly with multiple payment schemes, IPF helps financial institutions accelerate transformation of their payment infrastructure, while maintaining control of both timeline and costs. Cloud and ISO 20022-native, IPF reduces cost of ownership by up to 50%, accelerates speed to market by up to 4x, and enables real-time payments adoption in six months.

This spring, Icon Solutions introduced new Director of People Hannah McKechnie. Formerly Head of HR for the company, McKechnie, in her new role, will oversee Icon’s ‘People and Purpose’ programs, including support for Icon’s partnerships with the Social Mobility Foundation and with purpose-led technology training and services company Digital Futures.

Photo by Heidi Fin on Unsplash

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Pendo Unveils AI Agent Performance Analytics Solution

Pendo Unveils AI Agent Performance Analytics Solution
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Pendo
  • Software experience management platform Pendo launched its Pendo Agent Analytics solution today.
  • The new offering enables companies to analyze and review the performance of their AI agents as well as measure the adoption rates of the technology.
  • Pendo made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022. The company is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

How effective are your AI agents really? A new offering from software experience management platform Pendo is designed to answer that question.

Pendo Agent Analytics, introduced today, enables companies to measure the performance of their AI agents and to measure the adoption of their agentic AI technology as readily as they do for their SaaS applications.

“The shift to intelligent software is happening faster than we could ever imagine, and enterprises are faced with improving their SaaS applications, while accelerating agent and AI innovation,” Pendo CEO and Co-Founder Todd Olson said. “I’m proud that we are supporting customers wherever they are on their transformation journey.”

The new offering is designed to provide companies with systems to help them better understand and optimize the way AI agents have become a part of org charts, workflows, and product roadmaps. From IT teams that have compliance and productivity concerns, to R&D teams focused on business outcomes, achieving greater transparency in AI agent operations is a critical step in the road to broader and more effective adoption of the technology.

To this end, Pendo Agent Analytics provides metrics and reports that track both homegrown and third-party agent operations along with usage of traditional software. The technology also provides insight into how users act before and after they interact with an agent, analyzes conversations with agents to identify prompt trends, and maps agent usage to task completion to help measure ROI.

Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, Pendo made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022. At the conference, the company demonstrated how its platform helps firms analyze, assess, and act to enhance software investments across online, mobile, SaaS, AI, and agentic applications. With more than 14,000 companies in 163 countries around the world using Pendo’s technology, the company has collected a total of 23 trillion events, providing a wealth of insights for training conversational AI and agentic software systems.

Pendo’s new product offering comes as the company announced a raft of platform enhancements designed to meet the needs of the “agentic era” of AI. These included AI agent deployment tools, optimized user acquisition tools, enhanced support analysis and AI-powered bug reporting, and improved data cleanliness and insights integration.

“Nearly every week our teams are showing me new prototypes and ideas for the future of Pendo. Our summer release includes so much of that work, new features and products that will improve your SaaS foundation and set you up with a strong AI foundation,” Olson said.

Photo by Brandon Griggs on Unsplash

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SmartStreamAir Expansion Takes Company into the Insurance Business

SmartStreamAir Expansion Takes Company into the Insurance Business
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, SmartStream
  • Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM) solutions provider SmartStream is entering the insurance business with the latest expansion of its reconciliation and data management platform, SmartStream Air.
  • SmartStream Air leverages AI and machine learning to automate the process of reconciling and managing large volumes of data.
  • Founded in 2000 and headquartered in London, SmartStream made its FinovateEurope debut in 2022.

London-based financial Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM) solutions provider SmartStream is bringing its technology to the insurance sector. The company announced an expansion of its AI-powered reconciliation and data management platform, SmartStream Air, that will help insurers deal with rising transaction volumes, data quality challenges, and an increasingly complex regulatory environment.

For companies that have front office systems that need to report to back office systems or are transitioning from legacy infrastructures to new technologies, SmartStream checks and assures data integrity throughout the process. SmartStream Air enables institutions to reconcile and manage large volumes of data, leveraging AI and machine learning to automate this process.

In the insurance business, this means identifying and resolving discrepancies in data such as payments, reimbursements, claims, policyholder transactions, or investment operations. SmartStream Air can serve numerous insurance-specific use cases including premium collection and processing, commission payments, claims management, financial reporting, reinsurance settlements, policyholder refunds, investment account reconciliation, data validation, risk and reserve management, expense tracking, and fraud detection.

SmartStream’s announcement comes as regulations like IFRS 17 and DORA create new challenges for insurance companies when it comes to accounting and operational resilience, respectively. These challenges—and others—have exposed both operational inefficiencies and compliance risks. And while analysts such as Celent’s Karlyn Carnahan expect this to be a “transformative year in insurance,” there is still a sense that “getting arms around AI from a compliance and use case perspective is difficult.” To this, SmartStream’s AI-powered solution serves as opportunity, in Carnahan’s words, to deploy “proven technologies from other industries” that will help insurers grow effectively and efficiently.

SmartStream Global Head of Reconciliations Robin Hasson highlighted this point. “Our heritage and experience in working with the world’s top 100 banks gives us a strong foundation to support the insurance sector as firms identify use cases for increased automation.” Hasson added, “We’re already partnering with leading insurers to implement AI-powered solutions that enable data-driven agility. In today’s environment, insurers must respond swiftly to market shifts and customer expectations, or risk falling behind due to inefficiencies and increased exposure.”

Founded in 2000, SmartStream made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022. At the conference, the company demonstrated how SmartStream Air provides fast AI and machine learning data quality analysis without requiring training or an IT skillset. The company has more than 2,000 customers and analyzes more than one billion SaaS transactions monthly.

This spring, SmartStream launched its RegRegistry Service as part of its Reference Data Services (RDS) business. The company’s RegRegistry Service identifies counterparty and trading venues as required by regulatory authorities such as ESMA, FCA, GLEIF, CFTC, and ISO MIC. Also this year, SmartStream announced a partnership with fellow Finovate alum Finastra to extend collateral management workflows across treasury and capital markets.

Photo by Chris Panas

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Autobooks Taps Fundbox to Launch Autobooks Capital

Autobooks Taps Fundbox to Launch Autobooks Capital
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Autobooks, Daily news
  • Autobooks is launching Autobooks Capital, a short-term working capital tool embedded directly into its platform and powered by Fundbox.
  • The embedded lending experience helps financial institutions retain small business clients by offering fast, flexible funding without requiring third-party apps or extra accounts.
  • By partnering with Fundbox, Autobooks is enabling over 2,000 financial institutions to deliver capital access seamlessly inside their digital banking platforms.

Small businesses often face a frustrating gap between sending an invoice and getting paid. Payment and accounting platform Autobooks is seeking to change that with the launch of Autobooks Capital, a funding product embedded within the Autobooks platform. The new short-term working capital tool is powered by embedded capital infrastructure provider Fundbox.

With fast underwriting, competitive rates, and flexible repayment options, Autobooks Capital is designed to complement traditional lending programs by helping small businesses access working capital. By embedding Fundbox’s funding tools directly into its platform, Autobooks enables financial institutions to retain customers, compete with alternative lenders, and serve as the primary operating hub for small business clients.

“While Fintech 1.0 tried to sidestep financial institutions, we believe that working with banks where small businesses already manage their finances is critical to addressing the trillion-dollar SMB capital opportunity,” said Fundbox CEO Prashant Fuloria.

Teaming up with Fundbox will allow Autobooks to offer flexible funding directly within its platform without redirecting the borrower or requiring extra accounts. By placing Autobooks Capital within the Autobooks product suite, the company is able to offer small business owners working capital right when and where they need it. Autobooks’ product suite also includes digital invoicing, payment acceptance, automated bookkeeping, and financial reporting.

The embedded aspect of Autobooks Capital is key. Embedding lending tools directly into digital banking platforms helps turn lending products into seamless, context-aware experiences. Instead of sending small businesses to third-party lenders or apps, Autobooks Capital meets business owners where they already manage cash flow tasks such as invoicing, payments, and bookkeeping.

“The launch of Autobooks Capital gives financial institutions a powerful new way to support small business growth with fast, flexible funding, delivered right inside digital banking,” said Autobooks CEO Steve Robert. “By partnering with Fundbox and leveraging our distribution network of over 2,000 financial institutions, we’re embedding capital access directly into the banking experience—in a way that complements and does not compete with financial institutions. It’s seamless, intuitive, and built to help bridge short-term cash flow gaps for small businesses.”

Founded in 2013, Fundbox is a digital-first provider of capital infrastructure for small businesses. Its platform enables customers to seamlessly embed financial tools into their own user experiences. To date, Fundbox has helped over 150,000 small businesses access more than $6 billion in capital.

With more than 2,000 financial institutions in its distribution network, Autobooks is well-positioned to scale this offering rapidly. As embedded finance continues to mature, embedded products like Autobooks Capital will be a successful way for small businesses to access capital from inside their banking app.

Autobooks was founded in 2015 and now serves more than 60,000 small businesses with a range of tools including digital payment acceptance, online invoicing, online enrollment, accounting, bookkeeping, financial reporting, billpay, and now lending. The company white labels its technology to firms including TD Bank, Alkami, Bottomline, CSI, FIS, Jack Henry, NCR, and Q2.

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Coinbase Unveils New Business Platform

Coinbase Unveils New Business Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Coinbase
  • Coinbase announced plans to launch Coinbase Business, a crypto operating account designed to help small businesses send, receive, and manage crypto payments with no fees.
  • The platform offers instant settlements, high-yield USDC savings of up to 4.1% APY, and integrations with QuickBooks and Xero to streamline crypto-powered financial workflows.
  • With this move, Coinbase enters the commercial crypto space, competing with Circle and Fireblocks.

Crypto exchange platform and wallet Coinbase is expanding its horizons into the business world. The California-based company revealed plans to launch Coinbase Business, a crypto operating account that small businesses can use to manage payments, crypto assets, and automated payouts.

“At Coinbase, we’ve spent over a decade building the trusted foundation for the cryptoeconomy to increase economic freedom around the world,” the company announced on its blog. “Now, we’re bringing that same security, scale, and compliance to everyday businesses with Coinbase Business—a modern financial stack built with the speed and scale of crypto.”

The new, fee-free accounts will allow businesses to benefit from the fast, borderless, and low-cost aspects of transacting in crypto and stablecoins. Coinbase built its Business accounts to streamline financial workflows and create a single place for businesses to send and receive payments, manage crypto assets, and automate payouts.

Coinbase Business is designed for startups managing global contractors, ecommerce companies accepting stablecoin payments, DAOs distributing tokens, or service providers working with clients in emerging markets. With automated USDC payouts and integration with QuickBooks and Xero, Coinbase is allowing businesses to leverage crypto as not just an investment tool, but also use it as a part of their working capital infrastructure.

Among the features of Coinbase Business are: crypto payments with instant settlements, no delays, and no chargebacks; the ability to buy, sell, and exchange crypto directly from the business account; high interest savings of up to 4.1% APY earned on USDC; simplified onboarding; and streamlined accounting with reconciliation into QuickBooks and Xero.

Coinbase’s entrance into the commercial space highlights a growing interest that small businesses have shown in crypto infrastructure. As traditional banking systems remain slow, expensive, and siloed across regions, crypto can serve as an alternative for faster money movement, especially across borders. With Coinbase Business, companies can avoid high foreign exchange fees, streamline vendor payments, and integrate crypto into day-to-day operations without needing specialized knowledge.

The launch places Coinbase in competition with other crypto-native business tools like Circle’s USDC treasury services, Fireblocks, and even legacy fintech platforms that are starting to explore stablecoins. Coinbase, however, can differentiate itself with its built-in user base, regulatory compliance, and direct access to a deep liquidity pool via its exchange.

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ID-Pal Unveils Reusable KYC Solution

ID-Pal Unveils Reusable KYC Solution
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, ID-Pal
  • Identity verification innovator ID-Pal has unveiled its reusable KYC solution, ID-Pal Once.
  • The new offering streamlines the verification process, enabling users to complete identity verification as much as 5x faster.
  • Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, ID-Pal most recently demoed its technology at FinovateEurope 2025.

AI-powered identity verification specialist ID-Pal has introduced its reusable KYC solution ID-Pal Once. The offering will enable organizations to streamline identity verification processes, control costs, and enable them to focus on growing their businesses. As a reusable identity verification solution, ID-Pal Once enables returning users to complete the verification process up to five times faster. The company estimates that this produces an 80% time savings.

“With ID-Pal Once, we’re not just speeding up KYC, we’re removing unnecessary friction, ID-Pal Once is an incredibly powerful solution that meets and exceeds the needs of organizations and customer expectations, underpinned by our existing full suite of world-class biometric, document, and database checks,” ID-Pal Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer Robert O’Farrell said. “ID-Pal Once ensures that only genuine, verified identities are reused and importantly, doesn’t use humans to access the data. This is about secure identity reuse that respects the time of organizations and customers and respects your data.”

ID-Pal Once works by building profiles from previously-verified identity data, re-validating the data against the organization’s risk rules so as not to require users to repeat the data submission process. An accurate, secure, and real-time liveness check is all that is required in order for the technology to recognize returning users and reduce the verification process to a matter of seconds. The solution scales as organizations grow, allowing companies to continue to rely on consistent, policy-aligned identity verifications across regions, products, and channels. Deployed to power step-up authentication efforts for high-risk or high-value transactions, time-based re-checks for compliance requirements, as well as instant re-verification of returning customers, ID-Pal Once is already being used by the company’s customers in verticals ranging from financial services to telco to gaming.

“ID-Pal Once marks a major leap forward in how organizations can manage identity verification,” ID-Pal Head of Product Rob Sheehan said. “By enabling secure re-verification linked to biometrics, we’re eliminating redundant steps, reducing operational costs, and dramatically improving the user experience. It’s a win for both our partners and their customers.”

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, ID-Pal made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024 and returned to the Finovate stage a year later for FinovateEurope in London. In its most recent appearance, ID-Pal showed how its platform uses 100% AI-powered technology to provide real-time verification that detects AI-generated documents, deepfakes, injection attacks, and more.

ID-Pal’s product news comes a month after the firm announced a partnership with UK-based financial services consultancy, Albany Beck. The partnership will combine Albany Beck’s AML/KYC Academy with ID-Pal’s identity verification and AML screening technology. The Academy is designed to instruct consultants on best-practices and provide them with practical skills to review AML/KYC processes and ensure regulatory compliance.

“Our partnership with ID-Pal marks a significant step forward in enhancing KYC/AML programs. By combining our training and development expertise with ID-Pal’s advanced technology, we can deliver unparalleled value to our clients, providing experts who will continue to deliver immediate impact, protecting the firms we work with and their end customers,” Albany Beck Partner Head of AML/KYC Emer McPartland said.

Photo by Matheus Câmara da Silva on Unsplash

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ANNA Money Partners with Episode Six

ANNA Money Partners with Episode Six
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, ANNA
  • Business account provider ANNA Money has teamed up with card infrastructure company Episode Six.
  • Via the partnership, ANNA Money has migrated its business card program to Episode Six’s platform to better serve its small business customers.
  • Headquartered in Cardiff, Wales, ANNA Money made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2020.

All-in-one business account provider ANNA Money has partnered with card issuing and ledger infrastructure company Episode Six. ANNA Money has successfully migrated its business card program to Episode Six’s platform to better meet the product, expansion, and integration needs of its customers.

“We needed a partner with proven infrastructure and the ability to match our pace and expansion,” ANNA Money COO Alex Kokovin said. “Episode Six delivered on all fronts, addressing the limitations we previously faced. Their technology allows us to offer business debit cards, deliver a seamless experience to our customers, and scale with confidence. We reviewed a large number of vendors and Episode Six stood out for their experience, agility, and proven ability to migrate live card programs successfully.”

ANNA Money has leveraged Episode Six’s modern card infrastructure to integrate virtual and physical card capabilities into its mobile-first business account solution. The integration enables visibility into real-time transactions, instant card issuance, and the ability to configure both features and workflows. A core component of ANNA Money’s offering, business debit cards enable the fintech’s customers to pay suppliers and make business payments directly from their account conveniently and securely. In their announcement, the companies noted that their partnership comes as demand for modern card solutions is growing among SMEs in the UK. A 2024 study by Juniper Research estimated that the number of cards issued by modern card issuing platforms will soar from 748 million in 2024 to 1.4 billion in 2029.

“ANNA Money is a great example of what’s possible when fintechs pair vision with the right infrastructure,” Episode Six CEO and Co-Founder John Mitchell said. “By leveraging our platform, they’ve migrated to a sophisticated card platform to enhance the overall ANNA Money offering for its business customers, at scale and with speed.”

Episode Six helps banks, fintechs, and brands launch card, deposit, and credit products at speed and scale their offerings without having to rewrite their core. The company’s technology enables firms to build consumer, business, and secured credit cards; prepaid and debit cards; commercial cards and spend controls; multi-currency cards and wallets; virtual accounts and embedded wallets; installments, BNPL, lending features, and more. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Episode Six operates in 50 markets around the world, has more than 70 enterprise customers, and more than 40 million end users.

Headquartered in Cardiff, Wales, and founded in 2017, ANNA Money made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2020. At the conference, ANNA Money demoed how its tax and VAT accounting functionality provides self-assessment and VAT returns without the cost of relying on dedicated accountants. The technology automatically categorizes and reconciles expenses, calculates VAT and tax in real time, and submits completed tax and VAT returns to the HMRC.

This week’s announcement comes weeks after ANNA Money reported that it was working with Australian fintech Shaype, which helps businesses embed banking and payment options into their offerings. The partnership enabled Shaype to launch an all-in-one business finance super app that consolidates services including business banking, taxes, expenses, company formation, and corporate cards into a single platform.

Photo by Balazs Bezeczky

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Parlay Finance Secures $2 Million in Seed Funding for its Loan Intelligence System

Parlay Finance Secures $2 Million in Seed Funding for its Loan Intelligence System
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Funding, Parlay Protocol
  • Loan intelligence system (LIS) company Parlay Finance has secured $2 million in seed funding in a round led by JAM FINTOP.
  • The funding will help Parlay expand product development and grow its network of community lenders.
  • Parlay made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2024.

In a round led by JAM FINTOP, loan intelligence system (LIS) company Parlay Finance has raised $2 million in seed funding. The funding will help the Virginia-based fintech expand product development, deepen integrations with existing systems of record, and expand its network of community lenders.

“JAM FINTOP’s investment and network of banks creates a powerful multiplier effect for our technology,” Parlay CEO and Co-Founder Alex McLeod said. “Through this partnership, we’re empowering community lenders nationwide to maintain rigorous underwriting standards while drastically improving operational efficiency and insight. By democratizing access to AI-powered technology, Parlay is helping community banks to better compete while advancing their mission to serve local businesses.”

Parlay Finance offers a solution that helps lenders boost loan volume, enhance operational efficiency, and maximize profitability without incurring additional risk. The company’s loan intelligence system complements existing loan origination systems (LOS) and features capabilities including digital customer onboarding, information verification, and a decision management system—powered by AI—that streamlines the processing of Small Business Administration (SBA) loans, which are notoriously complex and costly to underwrite.

In a statement, Parlay noted that it also has intensified its relationships with banks in the JAM FINTOP network. JAM FINTOP Investor Stephen Schroder, who will join Parlay’s board of directors, underscored the opportunity for its partnering banks. “Parlay has built what our banks need: a system of intelligence that integrates with existing systems of record to deliver substantial improvements in both volume and efficiency,” Schroder said. “We are confident the team’s deep understanding of banking operations and proven ability to execute will drive value for financial institutions nationwide.”

Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, Parlay Finance made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2024. At the conference, the company showed how its technology helps lenders generate high-quality loan packets and provide scalable technical assistance for small business applicants. This helps boost customer loyalty, improve the efficiency of lending operations, and create interest and fee revenue for Parlay’s lending partners.

Last month, Parlay Finance partnered with credit-decisioning firm and fellow Finovate alum Stratyfy. The strategic partnership will combine Parlay’s platform with Stratyfy’s credit solutions to offer a frictionless intake and underwriting experience that helps banks increase lending to qualified small business borrowers.

Photo by Jenna Hamra

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PayPal to Ship Physical Credit Card

PayPal to Ship Physical Credit Card
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, PayPal
  • PayPal launched a physical credit card, expanding PayPal Credit’s reach from online use to in-store purchases, with no annual fee and flexible repayment options for travel purchases.
  • At launch, the card is offering buy now, pay later flexibility that will allow customers to spread travel costs over six months and access additional BNPL loans at checkout.
  • Despite its practicality, PayPal’s new card takes a more conventional approach compared to other fintechs that offer bold designs, tiered rewards, or unique incentives like stock or credit-building tools.

In a time dominated by digital payments, physical cards are holding strong. This week, fintech pioneer PayPal introduced a new physical credit card, extending the reach of PayPal Credit from online purchases to in-store payments.

The new card, which is issued by Synchrony, will allow customers to leverage buy now, pay later (BNPL) payment options. At launch, new card customers will have the option to pay for their travel purchases made by January 31, 2026, over the course of six months. Leveraging the BNPL model in combination with the flexibility of a credit card gives account holders more ways to pay for travel purchases by spreading the cost over time to best suit their cash flow.

For further payment flexibility, customers can also apply for a PayPal Buy Now Pay Later loan at the point of sale to break their purchases into smaller payments over weeks or months. The card also comes with no annual fee, purchase protection, ID theft protection, and travel concierge services.

“PayPal Credit is one of our most popular products and customers have long been requesting the ability to use it on-the-go as they look for more choice and flexibility wherever they shop,” said PayPal SVP, Global Head of Consumer Financial Services Scott Young. “From our buy now pay later options to our credit cards, we continue to bring customers a range of solutions to help them manage cash flow and pay in the ways that suits their budgets for the things they love and need.”

Credit is not new to PayPal. The company launched PayPal Credit, formerly known as Bill Me Later, in 2008, after PayPal’s then-parent company eBay acquired Bill Me Later for $945 million. Physical cards are not new for PayPal, either. The California-based company launched its Business Debit Mastercard in 2003 and began issuing debit cards for Venmo users in 2018.

PayPal said that the physical card will begin rolling out “in the coming weeks” to US customers.

PayPal’s move into physical credit cards comes as no surprise, but its approach is. While many consumer-facing fintechs have leaned into creative card designs and differentiated perks like sleek metal cards, bold rainbow finishes, or eco-friendly recycled materials, PayPal has opted for a more traditional route. Other fintechs have layered in tiered rewards, credit-building features, or even stock-based incentives. Though PayPal’s flexible repayment option for travel purchases adds some value, its new card feels relatively conservative compared to the more imaginative offerings from its fintech peers.

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