Alumni News

Xero Clients Can Now Offer BNPL Payments via Klarna

Xero Clients Can Now Offer BNPL Payments via Klarna
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Klarna, Xero
  • Xero and Klarna have partnered to allow small businesses to offer buy now, pay later (BNPL) options at checkout, giving consumers more flexible payment choices.
  • Under the partnership, Xero’s small business clients will have access to BNPL capabilities that may help boost revenue and enable more large-ticket sales.
  • This collaboration has the potential to help Xero’s small business clients maintain healthy cash flow by getting paid upfront.

Small business accounting software company Xero and global payments network and shopping platform Klarna announced this week that they have teamed up.

The deal is essentially a distribution partnership for Klarna, which will help Xero’s small businesses clients accept buy now, pay later (BNPL) payments from their consumers. Xero small business customers in all regions except Australia can offer Klarna at checkout as a payment option, providing a credit card alternative while still getting paid for the goods or services up front.

“We know that maintaining a healthy cash flow is critical to a successful business, and offering more ways to pay supports increased business growth and getting paid faster,” said Xero SVP Payments & Ecosystem Bharathi Ramavarjula. “In fact, our recent research report shows that if a business doesn’t offer customers their preferred way to pay, they are prepared to take their business elsewhere. By enabling our customers with more ways to pay, including Klarna, we can help them retain customers and increase their revenue.” 

Klarna’s BNPL tools include a four-payment, interest-free installment plan, a 24-month financing option, and a pay-in-30 day option. Before a customer makes their purchase, Klarna verifies their eligibility and offers transparent terms of the payment. Once the purchase is made, the company follows up with reminders to help ensure that shoppers stay current on their payments. According to Klarna, 99% of the financing is repaid and 40% of orders placed are repaid early.

The partnership has the potential to provide BNPL capabilities to small businesses that would normally not be able to offer flexible payments or financing. By offering a more flexible payment option, these businesses have the potential to close more larger-ticket deals. It also has the potential to help businesses maintain healthy cashflow, as merchants using Klarna will receive the payment up front.

“This partnership brings Klarna’s flexible payment options to micro businesses of all kinds so business owners can get paid on time and their customers can choose how and when to pay,” said “Klarna Chief Commercial Officer David Sykes. “This includes businesses where gardeners and landscaping services using Xero can now offer a Klarna BNPL payment option, plumbers and heating engineers using Xero can fix their customers’ boilers and let them spread the cost while small businesses involved in the construction industry could spread the cost of smaller projects over three interest-free installments.”

Both Klarna and Xero have been in the fintech news cycle in recent months for different reasons. Last month, Klarna unveiled plans to cut its workforce in half in favor of AI-driven productivity. And earlier this month, Xero announced plans to acquire collaborative reporting tool Syft Analytics.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

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Best of Show Winner Illuma Labs Raises $9 Million in Series A Funding

Best of Show Winner Illuma Labs Raises $9 Million in Series A Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, Funding, Illuma Labs

Voice authentication technology innovator Illuma Labs has raised $9 million in funding. The Series A round was led by LiveOak Ventures and featured participation from Forefront Ventures, Curql Fund, UsNet, Capital Factory, Connexus, and TDECU.

As the first major investment for the company, the capital will help accelerate the development of Illuma’s voice verification offerings to help banks and other institutions fight fraud, voice cloning, deep fakes, and more. Illuma Labs also plans to leverage the funding to expand its reach to more credit unions and banks across the country.

“While we are excited about the capital infusion to accelerate our development of fraud prevention and deep fake detection tools, we are equally excited about bringing in new partners to fuel Illuma’s continued commercial growth,” Illuma Co-Founder and CEO Milind Borkar said. He praised both LiveOak Ventures and Forefront Ventures for their operational expertise and industry connections and thanked investors Curql Fund, UsNet, Capital Factory, Connexus, and TDECU for their “continued support.”

Illuma Labs offers banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions the ability to replace their traditional, knowledge-based authentication protocols with a secure, real-time voice authentication solution. The company’s flagship product, Illuma Shield, delivers effortless authentication that enhances the customer experience, improves operational efficiency, and prevents fraud in contact centers.

The funding news arrives one month after the identity verification specialist inked a partnership with Americu Credit Union. The New York State-based CU added voice recognition technology to its Member Contact Center courtesy of a partnership with Illuma announced in August. Earlier this year, Illuma announced that SF Fire Credit Union was adding voice authentication technology to its call center via a collaboration between Illuma and fellow Finovate alum Glia.

Headquartered in Plano, Texas, and founded in 2016, Illuma Labs made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2019. The company most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage earlier this month at FinovateFall, winning Best of Show for its latest deepfake detection technology that helps banks fend off a new generation of AI-enabled fraudsters.

Photo by panumas nikhomkhai

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Revolut to Launch Standalone Wealth Management App

Revolut to Launch Standalone Wealth Management App
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Revolut
  • Revolut is spinning out its wealth management offering into a standalone app called Revolut Invest.
  • The move will allow Revolut to attract users outside of its existing bank client base.
  • Revolut counts 45 million users, has 3 million active traders, and 20,000 subscribers to its premium investment account.

U.K.-based fintech Revolut unveiled today that it plans to spin out its wealth management offering into a standalone app.

The new app, Revolut Invest, will feature capabilities from Revolut’s $9.5 billion (€8.5 billion) wealth management business, as well as additional functionality. At present, Revolut offers its users stock trading as well as a roboadvisor tool. The new app will offer much of the same features: access to 5,000 assets, including U.S. and European stocks, ETFs, commodities, and bonds. The app will also come with new products, such as contracts for difference (CFDs). Revolut Invest will offer the option to upgrade to Revolut’s premium subscription tier called Trading Pro that offers reduced commission fees, increased limits, and analytics.

One of the key advantages for Revolut in making its investing services a standalone tool is the ability to attract customers beyond its current user base. New investors using Revolut Invest won’t need to be existing Revolut banking clients, allowing the company to more easily expand its 3 million active traders and its 20,000 Trading Pro subscribers.

New Revolut Invest users will also be given the option to add Revolut’s banking services during the onboarding process. Conversely, Revolut’s banking clients will not need to download the new trading app, as they will still be able to conduct their investing activities within Revolut’s banking app.

Revolut is currently piloting Revolut Invest in Greece, Denmark, and the Czech Republic. The company is aiming to double the number of investments available in the app in the next three months. To fuel this growth, Revolut is scheduled to launch the investment app in other European Economic Area countries by the end of the year and also revealed plans to launch it in the U.K., U.S., Singapore, and Australia, as it already has the licensing in place in these regions.

With more than 45 million retail customers and 500,000 business customers, Revolut supports more than 25 currencies for users in more than 140 regions. The company offers current accounts, savings accounts, and debit cards that feature the ability to pay in multiple currencies. Revolut also has a credit card product in the U.S., Ireland, Lithuania, and Poland.

Last month, Revolut’s valuation was billed at $45 billion, cementing its reputation as Europe’s most valuable fintech. Earlier this summer, the company earned its banking license from the U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), adding deposit insurance for its users in the region. These two factors place Revolut in a good position to go public; and it is likely the company will favor a NASDAQ listing over listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash

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FICO and Jersey Telecom Team Up to Fight Authorized Push Payment Fraud

FICO and Jersey Telecom Team Up to Fight Authorized Push Payment Fraud
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, FICO
  • Global analytics software company FICO has teamed up with Jersey Telecom to offer a new solution to combat Authorized Push Payment (APP) fraud.
  • The new offering, the FICO Customer Communications Service Scam Signal, combines real time network data with customer and payment data to identify and mitigate APP fraud as it happens.
  • FICO made its Finovate debut at our developers conference, FinDEVr New York, in 2016.

A partnership between analytics software company FICO and Jersey Telecom (JT) has yielded a new solution to provide direct, near real-time intervention to protect customers from financial crime in general and Authorized Push Payment (APP) fraud in particular.

The solution, the FICO Customer Communications Service Scam Signal, works by identifying the most relevant telephony signals that indicate a scam is taking place. The new offering represents the first real-time combination of telephony data, customer data, and payment data to deal with the problem of Authorized Push Payment fraud.

“Authorized Push Payment fraud is where customers are tricked into sending authorized payments to scammers,” JT Head of Mobile Intelligence Solutions Clare Messenger said. “This type of fraud is growing around the world; 2023 losses in the U.K. alone reached £460 million. To protect customers from being caught by such scams, the new FICO and JT solution enables direct intervention with the customer to quickly determine if a payment should proceed.”

To achieve the new solution, Jersey Telecom worked with the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) and the U.K. Mobile Network Operators to access mobile network insights while adhering to a privacy compliance framework that protected customers’ personal information. Meanwhile, FICO uncovered strong correlations between a customer’s mobile phone behavior and the potential that an active scam is occurring. The Scam Signal leverages this combination of real-time network data, customer data, and payment data to identify and mitigate the social engineering tactics that can trick and ultimately defraud account holders.

“The integration of Scam Signal within the FICO Customer Communications Service allows banks to present customers with personalized, omni-channel, and highly contextualized messages that break the scammer’s spell for high-risk activities,” FICO VP of Product Management Adam Davies said.

“These messages can be built into conversation ‘flows’ that respond in real-time to the actions the customer takes,” Davies explained. “For example, if a customer hesitates or looks to progress a payment, additional messages can be sent, and different options offered, such as suggesting delaying the payment or offering to speak to a fraud prevention specialist.”

The new offering is currently available in the Channel Island of Jersey, the U.K., and Spain, and there are plans to eventually expand to additional markets. Nevertheless, FICO reported that “major high-street banks in the U.K.” are already deploying Scam Signal. One institution piloting the new technology said that it had reduced the number of people being scammed by 41%, lowered fraud losses from scams by 44%, and reduced the number of false positives by 55%.

Last month, Scam Signal won the Silver Medal at Datos Insights’ Fraud Impact Awards for “Best Scam and APP Fraud Prevention” solution. The technology has also been shortlisted for the “Anti-Fraud Solution of the Year” award at the 2024 U.K. Payments Awards.

FICO made its Finovate debut in 2016 at our developers conference, FinDEVr New York. Today, businesses in more than 100 countries use FICO’s technology and solutions to defend customers against fraud, advance financial inclusion, boost supply chain resiliency, and more. The company’s FICO Score has become the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the U.S., and is used by 90% of the country’s top lenders.

Founded in 1956 and headquartered in San Jose, California, FICO is publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker FICO. The company has a market capitalization of $47 billion.

Photo by Pixabay

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PNC and Plaid Repair Relationship to Empower Open Banking

PNC and Plaid Repair Relationship to Empower Open Banking
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Plaid
  • PNC and Plaid have partnered to allow PNC customers to connect to and share their financial data with third party financial applications.
  • Plaid will help connect PNC customers to apps, while PNC’s API provider Akoya will ensure that PNC’s customer data is securely shared with third party apps powered by Plaid.
  • Today’s announcement comes five years after PNC blocked multiple data aggregators, including Plaid, claiming they circumvented PNC’s security protocol.

Getting a head start on Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, PNC Financial Services Group announced recently that it has partnered with financial data access company Plaid. The two have signed a data access agreement to enable PNC customers to connect and share their financial data with third party financial applications through Plaid.

PNC will also leverage its API service provider Akoya. Through this partnership, Plaid will help connect PNC customers to apps, while as the API provider, Akoya will ensure that PNC’s customer data is securely shared with third party apps powered by Plaid, without needing to share login credentials.

The collaboration among the three players will ultimately offer a better user experience. That’s because Plaid will help to increase security by eliminating screen scraping and other fraud-prone data collection techniques. The partnership will also allow consumers to access their financial data without having to share their credentials with the third parties themselves. Additionally, Plaid will offer the customer control​ of their own data, allowing them to determine which third party apps may have access to their data.

“Through this new partnership with Plaid, PNC customers will be able to achieve greater data security, privacy, and control while using the third-party financial apps and services they enjoy,” said PNC Executive Vice President, Digital and Payments Natalie Talpas. “PNC’s use of its Akoya-provided API allows for all data recipients, including Plaid, to get connected fast, while also enabling customers to reliably control what financial data they are permissioning without having to share their login credentials with third parties.”

This partnership is notable not just for PNC and its customers, but also for bank customers across the U.S. That’s because PNC’s partnership with Plaid indicates a positive change in attitude toward open banking in the U.S. In the past, PNC has notoriously held a stance against open banking. The bank not only prevented its customers from accessing Venmo in 2019, it also blocked multiple data aggregators, including Plaid, claiming they circumvented PNC’s security protocol.

With today’s partnership, however, the two now appear to be on good terms. “We are pleased to have reached a data access agreement with PNC that further supports their customers securely connecting to applications and services powered by Plaid,” said Plaid Head of Open Finance Partnerships Christy Sunquist. “Moving the industry away from credential-based access is a top priority for Plaid, and our alignment on key principles around security, access and control played a definitive role in establishing this partnership. We look forward to future collaboration for many years to come.”

Photo by Tim Douglas

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Walmart Taps Fiserv to Offer Pay by Bank

Walmart Taps Fiserv to Offer Pay by Bank
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Fiserv
  • Walmart is partnering with Fiserv to enable pay-by-bank payments for online purchases starting in 2025.
  • Benefits to Walmart include lower transaction costs, faster settlement, reduced fraud, and fewer payment declines, while customers can avoid stacked pending transactions.
  • Consumers may face challenges like added friction and lost credit card rewards, but early pilot results have exceeded Walmart’s expectations for pay-by-bank adoption.

Walmart made its latest move in the fintech space this week after announcing it has partnered with Fiserv to offer pay-by-bank for online purchases.

Bloomberg unveiled this week that, while the retailer has offered pay-by-bank via Walmart Pay for a few months now, the payments were routed through ACH payment rails and still took days to clear. Beginning in 2025, however, Walmart will leverage Fiserv’s NOW Network, which will route the payments through The Clearing House’s Real Time Payments network and the Federal Reserve’s FedNow. Launched in 2014, Fiserv’s NOW Network aims to reach as many banks as possible to provide consumers and businesses the ability to send, receive, and access funds immediately while supporting credit push payments.

Starting next year, customers will be able to make online purchases using pay-by-bank by connecting their bank account through Fiserv’s AllData platform. The platform will facilitate authentication and securely link bank accounts. This will be done through integrations with Plaid, MX, Akoya, and Finicity, ensuring a seamless and secure connection to customer accounts.

Leveraging Fiserv to power real time payments is an important move for Walmart as it enters the pay-by-bank game. As Fiserv Head of Digital Payments Matt Wilcox told Bloomberg, “As an industry we believe we need to create this connectivity. FedNow and RTP, they don’t necessarily talk to one another. The NOW Network can play that role in the industry of bringing all these networks together to enable applications like pay-by-bank.”

Walmart stands to receive multiple benefits when consumers choose to pay-by-bank. The retailer will face lower transaction costs by bypassing credit card networks; increased cash flow, since bank transfers settle faster than card transactions; reduced fraud and fewer declines, since the pay-by-bank payments offers direct access to and will authenticate a customer’s bank account; and the potential to reach more consumers who may not have a credit or debit card.

From a consumer perspective, the benefits of pay-by-bank are more difficult to find. Unlike the merchant, they don’t experience any cost savings for opting for pay-by-bank, there is added friction involved in connecting their bank account to Walmart’s platform, they lose out on credit card rewards, and in the event their account is hacked, fraudsters will have the option to make purchases directly from their account, instead of on a credit card that would offer an extra layer of protection while the customer disputes the transaction.

That said, Walmart is touting the ability for pay-by-bank to help consumers avoid stacked pending transactions. “When the transaction processes as a real time payment, customers get immediate access to see that payment come through, I see it hit my account and I can properly budget,” said Walmart Vice President of Emerging Payments Jamie Henry. “It’s not as if I’ve got this phantom payment out there that’s going to take place a couple days down the road.”

And while I remain skeptical on the mass consumer adoption of pay-by-bank, perhaps Walmart’s customer base is more well suited for these types of transactions. Henry said that the initial pilot of pay-by-bank was surprising. “It’s certainly surpassed our expectations of the amount of customers that have registered and actually use the payment type,” he said.

Photo by Marques Thomas on Unsplash

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Oblinor Partners with Open Banking Innovator Neonomics

Oblinor Partners with Open Banking Innovator Neonomics
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Neonomics
  • Open banking solutions provider Neonomics is streamlining and enhancing the deposit experience for customers of Oblinor.
  • Oblinor offers a digital real estate investment platform that enables users to build a portfolio of secured property loans.
  • Based in Oslo, Norway, Neonomics made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin, Germany.

Digital real estate investment platform Oblinor has turned to open banking solutions provider Neonomics to streamline and enhance the deposit experience. Oblinor, founded in 2018 and headquartered in Norway, has integrated Neonomics’ checkout offering, which will facilitate a faster, more secure process for investors when they deposit funds for their accounts.

“We’re excited to integrate open banking into our platform,” Oblinor Lead Engineer Christopher Maxwell said. “Neonomics has made the transition smooth and effortless, allowing us to offer a faster, more secure, and incredibly user-friendly way to fund investments. This is just the beginning, and we’re excited about the potential to continue driving innovation in financial services alongside Neonomics.”

Oblinor enables individuals to invest in loans to Norwegian property companies and to build a portfolio of secured property loans. Its partnership with Neonomics will enhance the deposit experience by instantly populating details such as account numbers, amounts, and KID numbers, reducing the amount of manual work typically required to enter transaction data. In addition to accelerating the deposit experience, the partnership with Neonomics will provide greater security and less risk of fraud, as well.

“Neonomics is a perfect fit for what Oblinor is building,” Neonomics CEO Christopher Andvig said. “By integrating open banking, we’re adding real value for their users–making it easier, more secure, and more efficient to invest. As the potential of open banking continues to grow, we’re excited to see what’s next in this partnership.”

Founded in 2017, Neonomics made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin. At the event, the Norway-based fintech showed how its technology can be used to facilitate instant payments and bank transfers directly from an app or website. Today, the company unifies access to more than 2,500 banks and 150 million bank customers across Europe. A licensed payments institution authorized by the Norwegian FSA, Neonomics provides payments initiation and account information services for customers ranging from banks to fintechs to payment service providers and more.

Earlier this month, Neonomics introduced new Head of Growth and Interim Country Manager for Finland, Panu Poutanen. Most recently, Poutanen was General Manager of Finland for European cloud-based payment services provider Viva.com. In August, Neonomics announced a partnership with charitable giving platform company Støtte. The company will leverage Neonomics’ open banking technology to facilitate account-to-account payments for its micro-donation offering.

Photo by Oliver Cole on Unsplash

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CSI to Acquire Velocity Solutions

CSI to Acquire Velocity Solutions
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Velocity Solutions
  • CSI announced plans to acquire deposit growth firm Velocity Solutions.
  • CSI will integrate Velocity’s solutions that drive revenue, service, and compliance for community banks and credit unions into its existing offerings.
  • Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Community bank technology provider CSI announced plans to acquire deposit growth firm Velocity Solutions. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Velocity Solutions was founded in 1995 to offer tools that help drive revenue, service, and compliance for community banks and credit unions. The company’s Velocity Intelligent Platform powers its solutions, among which are a Retail Performance Engine, Consumer Liquidity Engine, and Digital Business Lending. These tools leverage machine-led intelligence to help firms manage risk, drive revenue, increase engagement, and boost non-interest income.

Velocity Solutions, which demoed its Akouba cloud-based lending platform at FinovateFall 2021, services more than 30 million consumers and business owners.

“Our customers rely on us to provide the advanced tools and software that drive revenue, efficiency and cost savings,” said CSI CEO and president David Culbertson. “Velocity’s data-driven approach to deposit management and its intelligent overdraft decisioning engine are each designed to deepen relationships with account holders while minimizing risk exposure for financial institutions.”

CSI plans to integrate Velocity’s solutions into its existing financial services suite, which includes everything from core banking to lending to managed IT and cybersecurity, advisory services, and more. “We’re eager to identify more opportunities to evolve the differentiated financial software and technology solutions that make CSI the first choice for community and regional financial institutions nationwide,” added Culbertson.

“The CSI and Velocity teams are united by the same mission to empower community and regional financial institutions to compete and win against the largest banks in the country,” said Velocity Solutions CEO Christopher Leonard. “Our customers are facing increasing pressure to grow in a challenging rate and deposit environment and require innovative ways to acquire and serve their account holders. We are eager to tap into CSI’s deep expertise and development prowess to expand our banking management platform and support customers in meeting their goals.”

CSI expects that today’s purchase will complement the acquisition of community bank loan servicing platform, Hawthorn River, the company made in December of last year.

CSI, which recently launched an expanded developer portal, was founded in 1965. The company received an investment of an undisclosed amount from private equity firm TA Associates in January 2024.

Photo by Martin Adams on Unsplash

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ID-Pal Forges Strategic Partnership with CLOWD9

ID-Pal Forges Strategic Partnership with CLOWD9
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, ID-Pal
  • Identity verification specialist ID-Pal announced a global strategic partnership with CLOWD9.
  • The partnership will integrate ID-Pal’s AI-powered identity verification technology into CLOWD9’s payment solutions portfolio.
  • ID-Pal made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024 in New York.

Fresh off its Finovate debut at FinovateFall this month, identity verification specialist ID-Pal has announced a global strategic partnership with CLOWD9. Courtesy of the partnership, CLOWD9 will offer ID-Pal’s AI-powered identity verification technology via its payment solutions portfolio.

“This strategic partnership will allow CLOWD9 clients to access both a compelling end-to-end identity solution and an AML screening solution with advanced AI-fraud detection capabilities,” CLOWD9 CEO and Co-Founder Suresh Vaghjiani said.

Using a combination of document, database, and biometrics checks, ID-Pal enables businesses to verify the identity of their customers in real-time. Available via API, SDK, or through the Salesforce App Exchange, ID-Pal’s technology detects AI-generated documents, deepfakes, and injection attacks, providing advanced fraud detection without requiring direct access to customer data. ID-Pal also streamlines OFAC, AML, and KYC processes into a single compliant workflow to ensure a comprehensive audit trail.

“We’re delighted to be adding our award-winning identity verification solution to the CLOWD9 technology portfolio,” ID-Pal Enterprise Sales Manager Mark O’Hara said. “Together we can help financial institutions adapt and thrive in a new world of digital payments and enhanced security by democratizing secure, robust fraud prevention tools.”

The partnership with CLOWD9 advances the company’s mission to revolutionize the payment industry through a combination of advanced payment processing and AI-powered identity verification. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in London, CLOWD9 was among the first B Corp certified payments companies. The firm offers a cloud-native, decentralized issuer payments processing platform that serves challenger, consumer, and SME banks; e-wallets and crypto exchanges; virtual and corporate card programs; and more.

ID-Pal is not the only Finovate alum that CLOWD9 has teamed up with in 2024; the company announced a partnership with reconciliation and reporting services provider Kani Payments in June. Like ID-Pal, Kani is a relative newcomer to Finovate, debuting at FinovateSpring last year. Additionally, this week’s news from CLOWD9 comes just days after the company introduced new Chief Technology Officer Paul Hansford. Hansford comes to CLOWD9 after six years as head of software engineering for payment company Thredd.

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, ID-Pal made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024. At the conference, company CEO and Founder Colum Lyons demoed ID-Pal’s technology that uses “pure AI, not people,” to provide real-time identity verification. In his remarks, Lyons highlighted the fact that many legacy vendors in the space rely as much on people for identity verification as they rely on technology. In contrast, he said, ID-Pal’s 100% AI-powered platform leverages 160+ trusted data sources and 7,000+ identity documents to provide more accurate results and greater efficiency.

Photo by Luciann Photography

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Xero to Acquire Syft Analytics

Xero to Acquire Syft Analytics
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Mergers & Acquisitions, Xero
  • Xero announced plans to acquire Syft Analytics, a collaborative reporting tool.
  • Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but the deal is expected to close between October and December of this year.
  • Xero plans to integrate Syft’s technology into its existing accounting offering, and it will also continue to maintain Syft as a standalone company.

Small business accounting software company Xero has announced plans this week to acquire collaborative reporting tool Syft Analytics. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

South Africa-based Syft was founded in 2017 to help small businesses leverage their financial data. In addition to automated, customizable reports, businesses can also create financial reports and disclosures. The tool can also consolidate financial information from any accounting software, trial balance, transaction list, or ERP.

“We’ve worked closely with Xero’s teams and customers over the past seven years,” said Syft CEO Vangelis Kyriazis. “Having met Xero’s senior leadership team over the past few months, we knew that joining Xero was a natural fit and would advance our shared goal of helping small businesses succeed.”

Xero has worked with Syft since February of 2018. The two first partnered when the New Zealand-based company added Syft to its App Store, which allowed Xero customers to leverage Syft’s custom reporting features.

Once the acquisition is finalized, Syft will continue to operate as a standalone offering for small businesses, accountants, and bookkeepers – regardless of whether they are Xero clients or not. Xero also plans to embed Syft’s functionality into its existing platform, aiming to enhance its own analytics and reporting capabilities.

“We look forward to bringing this exciting vision to life by strengthening our insights, advanced reporting and analytics offerings through capabilities such as benchmarking, long term cash flow forecasting and multi-entity reporting,” the company said in a blog post. “Our goal is to bring the power of premium insights and advanced reporting functionality to our customers so they can reap the value for their business.”

The acquisition is expected to close between October and December 2024.

Founded in 2006, Xero listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) in 2007 and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in 2012. In January 2018, the company consolidated to list solely on the ASX and now boasts a market capitalization of $22.58 billion. The company counts 4.2 million subscribers.

Earlier this year, Xero launched new inventory management software called Xero Inventory Plus, which it anticipates will help goods-based small business owners track and manage their inventory across different channels.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

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MoneyLion Taps TransUnion to Personalize Offerings

MoneyLion Taps TransUnion to Personalize Offerings
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, TransUnion
  • MoneyLion will integrate TransUnion’s data and credit solutions into its hosted enterprise credit-decisioning platform and direct-to-consumer finance tools.
  • Leveraging TransUnion’s data will help MoneyLion deliver more personalized and relevant financial offers, and ultimately improve the user experience.
  • TransUnion also offers marketing, fraud, risk, and advanced analytics tools. The company showcased its Enchanced BreachIQ tool at FinovateSpring earlier this year.

Mobile banking platform MoneyLion will be adding personalized touches to its consumer-focused products and services thanks to a partnership with TransUnion.

Under the agreement, MoneyLion will integrate TransUnion’s data and credit solutions into its hosted enterprise credit-decisioning platform and direct-to-consumer finance tools. By using the data from TransUnion, MoneyLion will be able to deliver more personalized and relevant financial offers to its clients, which it expects will improve the user experience. For its part, TransUnion will see its credit solutions expand their reach into not only the MoneyLion platform, but also to its partner network.

TransUnion Executive Vice President and Head of Financial Services Jason Laky said that the partnership will drive efficiency and innovation in the industry. “By integrating our comprehensive credit data with MoneyLion’s innovative digital acquisition platform,” he added, “we can offer a more robust experience to consumers and our partners alike, ensuring informed decision-making and greater consumer satisfaction.”

TransUnion was founded in 1968 and entered into the consumer credit reporting industry in 1969. Since then, the Illinois-based company has expanded its services to offer marketing, fraud, risk, and advanced analytics. As part of its risk portfolio, TransUnion offers Enhanced BreachIQ, which it demoed earlier this year at FinovateSpring. The technology behind BreachIQ originated from Breach Clarity, a fintech founded by Jim Van Dyke that won Best of Show honors at FinovateSpring 2020.

New York-based MoneyLion, which was founded in 2013, offers both direct-to-consumer banking tools as well as a marketplace of embedded banking tools, called Engine, for businesses. This enterprise technology suite serves as a marketplace for financial products, enabling financial services and non-financial services companies alike to add embedded finance to their business leveraging MoneyLion’s API.

“This partnership with TransUnion exemplifies MoneyLion’s commitment to creating a dynamic digital consumer finance ecosystem where consumers can seamlessly access the financial tools and insights they need, while also enabling financial institutions to engage with customers more effectively,” said MoneyLion Co-Founder and CEO Dee Choubey. “By integrating our leading platform with TransUnion’s credit data solutions, we can offer consumers more personalized and relevant financial products that meet their unique needs at every stage of their financial journey.”

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

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Finastra Teams Up with Prelim to Enhance Account Onboarding

Finastra Teams Up with Prelim to Enhance Account Onboarding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Finastra, Prelim
  • Financial services software provider Finastra has teamed up with onboarding specialist Prelim.
  • Courtesy of the partnership, Finastra will integrate Prelim’s technology into its Finastra Phoenix core solution to enhance the account opening experience.
  • Finastra was formed via a merger between Misys and D+H in 2017. Prelim made its Finovate debut in 2022.

Financial services software company Finastra announced a partnership with onboarding specialist Prelim. Finastra will integrate Prelim’s technology into its Finastra Phoenix core solution to enhance the deposit account opening experience for both retail and commercial accountholders.

“In a digital-first society, consumers and businesses expect their financial solutions to be agile and transform as needed to keep pace with their needs,” said Peter Longo, VP of Product Management for U.S. Mid-Market Banking Solutions at Finastra. “As we look to continuously enhance our offerings, Prelim is a trusted partner to support this transformation and our Open Finance ecosystem. We look forward to working together to deliver the innovations community banks and credit unions across the United States need to stay ahead of the competition.”

Prelim’s technology automates the application process, as well as internal processes such as reviewing, processing, underwriting, and servicing. This accelerates account opening and simplifies complex back-office operations. Prelim integrates seamlessly with Phoenix APIs, and newly created accounts are reflected in the digital banking solution, ensuring a cohesive, user-friendly experience.

“Customers expect an easy-to-use, real-time onboarding process when applying for a new financial product or service,” Prelim CEO and Co-Founder Heang Chan said. “We’re excited to be partnering with Finastra to help accelerate retail and commercial deposit account opening for financial institutions around the world.”

Finastra was forged in 2007 as a result of the integration between Finovate alum Misys and D+H. Headquartered in the U.K., the company provides financial services software applications for payments, lending, treasury, capital markets, and both retail and digital banking. Finastra has more than 8,100 clients in 130 countries, including 45 of the world’s top 50 banks.

In recent months, Finastra has forged partnerships with technology consultancy and digital solution provider Tech Mahindra, supply chain finance platform CredAble, and full-cycle verification platform Sumsub. The company’s technology powered new offerings like cloud-first ORO Bank of Bhutan and Bank Midwest’s digital-only OnePlace.bank. Finastra introduced Mike Stawchansky as its new Chief Technology Innovation Officer in March.

Prelim made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022. At the conference, the San Francisco, California-based fintech demonstrated its white-labeled platform that helps banks build more than 100 financial apps and digital experiences for customers and members. Prelim’s clients use the platform to add deposit accounts, treasury services, credit cards and more to their offerings. Point-to-point integrations enable Prelim to orchestrate and automate KYC, KYB, and AML in real time.

Earlier this year, Prelim announced a partnership with The Harbor Bank of Maryland. Founded in 2017, Prelim has raised more than $4 million in funding from investors including EJF Capital and Y Combinator.

Photo by Engin Akyurt

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