Alumni News

Ripple Moves into Prime Brokerage with Hidden Road Acquisition

Ripple Moves into Prime Brokerage with Hidden Road Acquisition
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Ripple
  • Ripple will acquire Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, making it the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker.
  • The acquisition expands Ripple’s offerings beyond payments into trading, custody, and lending services, providing financial institutions the infrastructure they need for crypto adoption.
  • Between recent regulatory shifts in the US and Hidden Road’s capabilities, Ripple is positioning itself to become a full-service financial hub as digital assets gain mainstream traction.

Blockchain and crypto solutions company Ripple announced plans to acquire multi-asset prime brokerage company Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. The deal will make Ripple the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker.

Hidden Road was founded in 2019 to offer financial institutions a one-stop-shop of services such as clearing, prime brokerage, and financing across foreign exchange (FX), digital assets, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income. The UK-based company clears $3 trillion annually across markets with more than 300 institutional customers. 

Hidden Road anticipates that being backed by Ripple will exponentially expand its capacity to service firms in its pipeline. “With new resources, licenses, and added risk capital, this deal will unlock significant growth in Hidden Road’s business, allowing us to increase capacity to our customer base, expand into new products, and service more markets and asset classes,” said Hidden Road Founder and CEO Marc Asch. “Together with Ripple, we’re bringing the same level of trust and reliability that institutional clients are accustomed to in traditional markets—designed and optimized for a digital world.”

For Ripple, buying Hidden Road will make it a major back-end infrastructure provider for big investors trading digital assets. The company will not just offer crypto payments, but also trading, borrowing, and custody services.

“We are at an inflection point for the next phase of digital asset adoption–the US market is effectively open for the first time due to the regulatory overhang of the former SEC coming to an end, and the market is maturing to address the needs of traditional finance,” said Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. “With these tailwinds, we are continuing to pursue opportunities to massively transform the space, leveraging our position and the strengths of XRP to accelerate our business and enhance our current solutions and technology.”

There are a few reasons why this acquisition is a huge deal for both Ripple and decentralized finance. First, it will help Ripple move beyond payments into full-scale financial services. The company, which is best known for cross-border payments using XRP, will now be able to offer trading, custody, and lending, which is the essential “plumbing” that institutional investors rely on.

Second, Hidden Road gives Ripple the infrastructure that institutions need to trade crypto confidently. By bundling execution, clearing, custody, and credit services all together, hedge fund and asset managers will be more likely to move more funds into crypto.

Finally, the acquisition positions Ripple as a strong player as US markets shift toward a more friendly crypto stance. Last week, the SEC published its official statement on stablecoins, ruling that they are generally not considered securities as long as they are pegged to USD and aren’t used or marketed for investment purposes.

With all of these aspects combined, the timing of today’s acquisition is ideal. Hidden Road will help Ripple become a full-service financial hub for crypto just as institutions are starting to take digital assets seriously again. It’s also a reminder that the structure of the future of finance will not look like it does today. Instead, it will likely be built on blockchain and driven by AI.

Photo by The Lazy Artist Gallery

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Hawk Raises $56 Million in Series C Funding to Help Banks Fight Financial Crime

Hawk Raises $56 Million in Series C Funding to Help Banks Fight Financial Crime
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Funding, Hawk:AI
  • AI-powered anti-money laundering (AML) company Hawk has raised $56 million in Series C funding.
  • The investment will fuel product innovation for the Munich, Germany-based fintech, as well as power the company’s expansion plans.
  • Hawk made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022 in San Francisco. The company was founded in 2018.

Hawk , a company offering AI-powered anti-money laundering (AML), screening, and fraud prevention solutions, has secured $56 million in Series C funding. The fintech, which made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022, will use the capital to help Tier 1 banks leverage AI to fight financial crime. The investment adds to the more than $134 million the company has already raised.

“Every financial institution that wants to reduce compliance workloads and increase the accuracy of risk detection should be using AI to achieve those goals,” Hawk CEO Tobias Schweiger said. “The results are compelling—we’ve been able to increase alert accuracy to almost 90% in some cases, while significantly cutting false positives. We’re also uncovering twice as many previously undetected cases of ‘novel’ criminal activity.”

Hawk’s funding round was led by One Peak, which joined existing investors Macquarie Capital, Rabobank, BlackFin Capital Partners, Sands Capital, DN Capital, Picus, and Coalition.

Hawk’s technology empowers banks to move beyond traditional, rules-based anti-money laundering and fraud fighting methods that often produce a sizable number of false positives that require human review and intervention. This drives up the cost of fighting financial crime. Further, fraudsters are increasingly adept at circumventing and subverting rules-based AML and fraud detection strategies. To address this, Hawk puts AI-powered technology to work increasing the fraud detection accuracy to find more crime while keeping false positives low.

“AI is in our DNA at Hawk,” Schweiger said. “Our mission is to provide financial institutions with the technology, the expertise and the support that they need to realize the transformative impact that machine learning and generative AI can have across their anti-financial crime operations.”

With more than 80 customers around the world, Hawk boasts partners ranging from large Tier 1 banks to mid-market financial institutions and fintechs. Hawk’s latest investment will help bring continued product innovation to these firms, as well as support the company’s expansion plans.

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Munich, Germany, Hawk made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022 in San Francisco. At the conference, the company demonstrated its AI Surveillance Suite, which uses a combination of AI and traditional rules to identify anomalous behavior in real-time.

Hawk began this year with the launch of its Anti-Money Laundering AI Overlay, which enables banks to reduce false positives and detect novel crime without having to swap out the current AML systems. The solution, according to Hawk Chief Product Officer Wolfgang Berner, is “delivering prediction accuracy in excess of 85% (and) reducing false positives to less than 15%.” Berner underscored that the overlay achieved all of this via AI optimization “rather than a total system overhaul.”

In February, the company appointed Ben Pannier as Chief Technology Officer. Pannier comes to Hawk having held leadership positions at firms including Tide, Zalando, and PayU. That same month, Hawk was named to the Chartis 2025 Financial Crime and Compliance 50 for its real-time transaction monitoring technology.

Photo by Matthias Schröder on Unsplash

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Topicus Unveils Composable Banking Platform, Akkuro

Topicus Unveils Composable Banking Platform, Akkuro
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Topicus
  • Netherlands-based software platform company Topicus launched Akkuro, its composable banking platform.
  • The new offering combines multiple Topicus Finance solutions with capabilities from fellow Finovate Five Degrees, which Topicus acquired in 2023.
  • Topicus most recently demonstrated its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateEurope 2023.

Software platform developer Topicus unveiled its latest solution this week. The company launched Akkuro, its composable banking platform, which leverages a wide variety of capabilities to enable banks and fintechs to build and deploy new financial solutions quickly, with greater flexibility and control.

Akkuro combines the functionality of multiple Topicus finance solutions with the deep capabilities of fellow Finovate alum Five Degrees, which Topicus acquired in 2023. The new offering consolidates Five Degrees’ Matrix CRM and Neo Core Banking products with Topicus finance solutions such as Fyndoo Lending to provide end-to-end financial experiences, as Topicus Finance CEO Clint van Haalen underscored in a statement.

“Akkuro allows us to orchestrate the entire banking lifecycle, from investments and core banking to CRM for banks and lending,” van Haalen said. “We’re merging decades of banking expertise with a relentless drive for innovation, delivering a unified platform that empowers financial institutions to build scalable, intuitive, and future-ready solutions.”

One of the biggest trends in digital transformation, composable banking gives financial institutions a way to create and deliver financial products and services faster, and with greater flexibility. Via embedded technologies, APIs, and third-party partnerships, the modularity of composable banking enables financial institutions to respond more quickly not only to new innovations and shifting customer preferences but also to changing regulatory guidelines and mandates.

Topicus made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2014 in London. The company most recently appeared on the Finovate stage at FinovateEurope 2023, where it demonstrated its Fyndoo lending platform. Topicus acquired Five Degrees later that year. The company began 2025 by taking a stake in another Finovate alum, Asseco Poland, acquiring a 9.99% position in the IT solutions provider.

Topicus is headquartered in Deventer, the Netherlands.

Photo by Daan Rink

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Zempler Bank Teams Up with Wise Platform to Launch its Outbound Payments Service

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Wise
  • Money movement innovator Wise Platform has partnered with UK-based digital bank Zempler Bank.
  • The partnership will enable Zempler Bank to launch a new Outbound International Payments service that will allow its customers to make international payments in both USD and EUR.
  • Wise has 16 million individual and business users around the world. The London-based company made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2013.

Wise Platform has partnered with UK-based digital bank Zempler Bank, which helps small businesses, startups, entrepreneurs, and individual customers do business globally. Courtesy of the partnership, Zempler Bank will launch a new Outbound International Payments service that will empower more than 500,000 Zempler customers to send payments internationally in both USD and EUR directly within the Zempler app.

The integration will give Zempler customers fast, secure international payments when sending money to USD accounts in the US and when sending funds to EUR accounts inside the SEPA region. The integration will also provide transparent pricing and no hidden fees; Wise relies on the mid-market exchange rate without mark-up. Lastly, all transactions are handled within the Zempler app—though a desktop-based online banking version of the technology is expected to be available soon.

“We know that the launch of Outbound International Payments will be a popular benefit for many of our customers, particularly the ambitious small businesses looking to develop relationships with overseas suppliers and partners,” Zempler Bank CEO Rich Wagner said.

The partnership comes as small businesses face significant barriers to global expansion. One of the challenges is the complexity and cost of cross-border banking. Based on a survey commissioned by Wise from international research firm Edgar, Dunn & Company (EDC), small businesses in the UK sent more than £485 billion overseas last year, with the amount expected to grow to nearly £530 billion in 2025. Yet, at the same time, small businesses are expected to lose more than £5 billion in hidden fees this year alone.

“We understand that even the smallest businesses might want or need to work internationally, whether that’s importing a key product or component or outsourcing a task to an overseas expert,” Wagner added. “Many of our business customers are already using Wise, so it was a natural choice to partner with them to integrate that familiar functionality within our own simple-to-use banking app.”

Making its Finovate debut in 2013 as TransferWise, the company rebranded to Wise ten years later. Today, the UK-based firm offers an account that individuals and businesses can use to hold more than 50 different currencies, transfer funds between countries, and spend money overseas. Co-founded by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus and launched in 2011, Wise currently boasts 16 million users around the world. The company processes £9 billion in cross-border transactions every month, saving consumers £1.5 billion a year.

Wise’s partnership news comes as the company announces the opening of a new, larger office in Singapore. The new office comes as Wise notes that its Singapore team has doubled since 2022. Additionally, Wise’s local customer base in the region grew by 30% last financial year.

“Singapore is a cornerstone of our operations in Asia Pacific, and this new office is a key milestone in strengthening our regional presence,” Shrawan Saraogi, Singapore CEO and APAC Head of Expansion at Wise, said. “It reflects our continued investment in the country’s fintech ecosystem and our mission to provide the best way to move and manage money globally.”

Photo by Jean van der Meulen

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Plaid’s $575 Million Round Signals Strength Despite Valuation Drop and Delayed IPO

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Plaid
  • Plaid raised $575 million in a down round valuing the company at $6.1 billion, which is less than half its 2021 valuation.
  • The funding will support employee restricted stock units tax obligations and provide internal liquidity.
  • Plaid’s delayed IPO likely reflects US open banking uncertainty, as the CFPB finalizes its data access rule. Waiting for regulatory clarity and consumer awareness could position Plaid for a stronger public debut down the road.

Financial data network Plaid announced it has brought in $575 million in a round led by new investor Franklin Templeton, with existing investors NEA and Ribbit Capital, as well as new investors BlackRock and Fidelity, also contributing.

The Venture Round is a sale of common stock; Plaid has directly issued the new shares to raise capital. In a company blog post announcement, Plaid CEO and Co-Founder Zach Perret said that the funds will be used “to address employee tax withholding obligations related to the conversion of expiring restricted stock units (RSUs) to shares, and to offer some liquidity to our current team.”

While today’s funds increase Plaid’s total funding to $1.3 billion, the round revealed a decreased valuation for the California-based fintech. Once valued at $13.4 billion during fintech’s brief hype days of 2021, Plaid’s valuation is currently less than half that, at $6.1 billion.

In explaining the significant gap in valuation to the Financial Times, Perret said, “In 2025, tech multiples have massively compressed between the time that we raised last and today. What I will say is that the fundamentals of the business underneath are dramatically stronger than they were in 2021. Revenue is much higher.”

Plaid’s $575 million comes at a time of growth for the company. Not only did the fintech expand its product suite, but it also saw an increase in organizations building with its account connection tools. In 2024, Plaid boasted positive operating margins, saw a revenue increase of more than 25%, and experienced an increase in both the number companies and markets it serves. As a result, more than 1 in 2 Americans have used Plaid.

​If you are wondering when Plaid plans to IPO, you’re not alone. A company spokesperson told TechCrunch that Plaid will not go public this year, but it plans to continue tracking towards a public listing. “An IPO is certainly a part of the longer-term plan. We have not attached a specific timeline to it,” Perret told the Financial Times. “As I’ve said in the past, it will not be this year.”

Plaid’s decision to hold off on an IPO may also be a strategic move given the evolving state of open banking in the US. Unlike regions such as the UK and EU, where open banking is well-established and governed by clear regulatory frameworks such as PSD2, the US market remains in flux. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is currently working toward finalizing its proposed Personal Financial Data Rights rule under Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act, but the lack of formalized standards has created uncertainty for data aggregators like Plaid.

By delaying its public debut, Plaid may be seeking to ride out regulatory headwinds and position itself on more solid ground once clearer guidelines are in place. In addition to regulatory clarity, Plaid may also benefit from a recognition and understanding from mainstream consumers, many of whom have never heard the term “open banking.” Once regulations go into effect, banks will slowly begin in educate consumers on the benefits of open banking, and the concept of the value that Plaid brings will come to light. This regulatory clarity, combined with consumer understanding, could improve investor confidence and support a stronger valuation when the company ultimately decides to go public.

Image courtesy David Clarke via Unsplash


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SumUp Introduces Suite of New Solutions to Address Merchant Pain Points

SumUp Introduces Suite of New Solutions to Address Merchant Pain Points
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, SumUp
  • SumUp announced the launch of a wide range of new products and solutions at its annual event this week.
  • The new offerings include a proprietary Tap to Pay on Android solution, an upgraded Business Account, as well as enhancements to its point of sale solution.
  • London-based SumUp won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2013.

Ecommerce and payments platform SumUp took the occasion of its annual Beacon event to announce the launch of a range of new products designed to address a variety of merchant pain points. These solutions include an in-house Tap to Pay solution for Android, and a number of new features to its platform designed to help merchants of all sizes improve cash flow, efficiency, and customer engagement as they scale.

“Each of the products we launched demonstrates how the SumUp product ecosystem has grown to cover the critical needs of businesses at each stage of operations, from micro businesses to established ones with complex operations and many employees,” SumUp Chief Product Officer Anna Kuriakose said. “We believe that SumUp’s integrated ecosystem—which brings together the different aspects of running a business—is incomparable in the value it delivers to our customers.”

SumUp’s Tap to Pay on Android enables merchants to accept contactless payments directly from the thousands of phone brands and models that are not iPhones. The size and variety of the Android market, relative to iOS, has given Android a larger market share in EU countries in particular. SumUp’s proprietary Tap to Pay solution will provide a faster, more streamlined, and more reliable experience for merchants and consumers who have opted for Android. Further, SumUp’s solution features enhanced card detection, PIN entry to boost security at checkout, and delivers higher transaction success rates thanks to SumUp’s payment infrastructure and the absence of upfront costs.

Tap to Pay is currently active in Europe and Brazil. The company plans to introduce the technology in Chile, Colombia, Peru, the US, and Australia “soon.”

SumUp also unveiled a handful of new tools for merchants. These include enhancements to its SumUp Business Account. With SumUp’s new Business Account Plus, merchants will benefit from new features for multiple balances, as well as the ability to issue and track several cards and bulk transfers. The new Plus accounts are slated to go live across core markets later this month.

Additionally, SumUp introduced an upgrade to its Point of Sale solution called POS Plus. Designed with retailers such as restaurants and beauty salons in mind, POS Plus offers features such as PIN-based employee profiles, one-tap promotions, kitchen order management, and the ability to flag out-of-stock items. POS Plus is expected to be introduced to select EU markets in April.

Along with these new solutions, SumUp also announced the release of its new Solo Lite card reader, a new Kitchen Display System (KDS) to help streamline restaurant operations, and more.

Founded in 2012, SumUp won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2013 in London. In the years since then, the UK-based fintech has become the partner of more than four million merchants in 36 markets around the world. With 3,000+ employees in 20 offices globally, SumUp offers payment acceptance solutions, tools to help merchants better manage and save money, and innovative technologies to enhance order management and sales. Co-Founder Daniel Klein is SumUp’s CEO.

Most recently, SumUp announced a partnership with FreedomPay to provide retail and hospitality businesses with a payment system with offline capabilities—including for remote merchants. The system will also feature the ability to access a payment processing service from a single provider, regardless of location.

“At SumUp, we are dedicated to empowering merchants with payment solutions that are as straightforward as they are secure,” SumUp Commercial Lead Joey Oliver explained. “With FreedomPay as our partner, we’re advancing our commitment to making top-tier payment technology accessible and effective for every business.”

Photo by Ivan Samkov

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Rocket Companies Acquires Mr. Cooper for $9.4 Billion

Rocket Companies Acquires Mr. Cooper for $9.4 Billion
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Mr. Cooper

Rocket Companies has announced its second acquisition in as many weeks. The Michigan-based company is buying Mr. Cooper, one of the largest non-bank mortgage servicers and mortgage lenders in the US. The deal is expected to close in an all-stock transaction of $9.4 billion in equity value, based on an 11.0x exchange ratio.

Mr. Cooper, which demoed its mobile app at FinovateSpring 2018, was founded in 1994 to challenge the conventional mortgage experience to bring borrowers a better, more straightforward home buying process. With 9,000 employees, the Texas-based company serves more than six million homeowners with its refinancing and mortgage products.

“Mr. Cooper has been on a journey to transform the homeownership experience, and we have built the most advanced servicing platform in the mortgage industry,” said Mr. Cooper Group Chairman and CEO Jay Bray. “By combining Mr. Cooper and Rocket, we will form the strongest mortgage company in the industry, offering an end-to-end homeownership experience backed by leading technology and grounded in customer care. I am deeply grateful for the dedication of the Mr. Cooper team and look forward to our continued work as we lead our industry into the future of homeownership.”

Once finalized, Rocket Companies and Mr. Cooper will serve a combined 10 million clients with a servicing book of $2.1 trillion, which represents one in six mortgages in America. Rocket will leverage the acquisition to bring its mortgage recapture capabilities to this new, enlarged client base. This will help produce higher loan volume, drive long-term client relationships, and provide greater recurring revenue while lowering client acquisition costs.

Holding a significantly larger servicing portfolio will help Rocket sustain its retention and 83% recapture rate. And by attaching Rocket’s title, closing, and appraisal services to Mr. Cooper’s existing originations, Rocket anticipates it will generate $100 million in additional pre-tax revenue, as well as an extra $400 million in savings from streamlining operations, expense, and technology investments.

When the deal is complete, Mr. Cooper Group’s Chairman and CEO Jay Bray will become President and CEO of Rocket Mortgage, while Dan Gilbert will remain Chairman of Rocket Companies. The company’s board will consist of 11 members, nine from Rocket’s board and two from Mr. Cooper’s.

“Servicing is a critical pillar of homeownership—alongside home search and mortgage origination,” said Rocket CEO Varun Krishna. “With the right data and AI infrastructure we will deliver the right products at the right time. That’s how we build lifelong relationships, by proactively unlocking benefits and meeting needs before they arise. We look forward to welcoming Mr. Cooper’s nearly 7 million clients.”

Today’s announcement comes just two weeks after Rocket unveiled plans to acquire real estate brokerage website Redfin for $1.75 billion. Together, the two deals fuel Rocket’s vision of owning the entire homeownership journey—from search to close and beyond.

With Redfin, Rocket gains a home search platform and a network of real estate agents; with Mr. Cooper, it secures a large servicing portfolio and deep operational infrastructure. By consolidating core pieces of real estate and lending processes under one roof, Rocket is positioning itself not just as a mortgage lender, but as a full-stack digital homeownership platform with the potential to recreate how Americans buy, finance, and manage their homes.

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Atomic Raises $10 Million to Boost Innovation and Expansion

Atomic Raises $10 Million to Boost Innovation and Expansion
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Atomic FI, Daily news, Funding
  • Atomic has raised $10 million in a strategic round led by Capital One Ventures, Citi Ventures, and FNB Corporation, bringing its total funding to nearly $79 million.
  • Atomic provides APIs that connect payroll and HRIS systems to financial institutions, supporting services like direct deposit switching, income verification, and subscription management.
  • With backing from top banks and FNB as both an investor and a client, Atomic aims to fuel deposit growth and power the next wave of personalized, real-time financial services.

Financial connectivity fintech Atomic is the latest fintech basking in this year’s fintech spring. The Utah-based company announced it has raised $10 million, adding to its $68.6 million previously raised, bringing its total funding to almost $79 million.

Today’s strategic round comes from Capital One Ventures, Citi Ventures, and FNB Corporation, which join Atomic’s previous investors Greylock, Portage Ventures, ATX Venture Partners, Mercato Partners, and Core Innovation Capital.

Atomic, founded in 2019, aims to connect consumer data with modern financial solutions. The company partners with eight of the top 10 US financial institutions, along with many leading fintechs, to provide seamless access to a suite of services—including direct deposit switching, income and employment verification, payment method updates, and subscription management—through integrations with payroll systems, HRIS platforms, and merchants.

Atomic said the new funding will fuel both innovation and expansion. The company plans to deepen its investment in existing solutions while also accelerating the development of new products to better serve its financial institution and fintech partners.

“We’re excited to have these industry leaders join us on our mission to champion upward financial mobility,” said Atomic Co-founder and CEO Jordan Wright. “Together, we’re building the infrastructure that will drive the next generation of financial products and unlock deposit growth, as well as improved experiences for our customers and the customers that work with them.”

In addition to investing in Atomic, FNB is also a client of the fintech. FNB tapped Atomic to lower acquisition costs, increase lifetime value, and become consumers’ primary financial hub.

“Through our omnichannel Clicks-to-Bricks strategy and eStore, FNB is driven to remain a banking industry leader in client engagement and innovation. We will continue to invest in and develop creative technology solutions that bring the full array of banking products and services to our digital platform and branch system,” said FNB Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Vincent J. Delie, Jr. “Our investment in Atomic is another investment in the future of banking. By integrating their solutions with eStore, we can offer our customers more personalized, real-time financial services that meet their needs in today’s fast-paced world.”

Atomic most recently demoed at FinovateSpring 2024, where the company showcased PayLink, a tool to simplify subscription management by allowing consumers to manage, modify, and optimize their recurring payments and subscriptions within their bank.

Photo by Jakub Zerdzicki

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Transcard Brings Generative, Agentic AI to Smart Vendor Network Management

Transcard Brings Generative, Agentic AI to Smart Vendor Network Management
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, TransCard
  • Tennessee-based paytech Transcard has brought generative and agentic AI capabilities to its vendor network management solution, SMART Exchange.
  • The new capabilities will automate onboarding and Know Your Business (KYB) processes to modernize B2B payments.
  • Founded in 2005, Transcard made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016.

Payments technology company Transcard has enhanced its vendor network management solution, SMART Exchange, by adding generative and agentic AI capabilities. The new capabilities will automate onboarding and Know Your Business (KYB) processes, modernizing B2B payments with an improved user experience and transforming the way buyers and suppliers integrate and orchestrate payments.

“I’m excited about the modern enhancements and agentic AI capabilities we are adding to our SMART Exchange payment solution,” Transcard CEO Greg Bloh said. “The new streamlined onboarding process and dedicated portals are set to revolutionize how businesses interact, pay, and manage their vendors.”

Transcard’s AI-powered solution removes the need for using call centers for vendor onboarding and enablement. In addition to streamlining and automating the supplier KYB process, the technology benefits buyers by making vendor information and payment instructions easier to manage, and integrates seamlessly with ERP or systems of record to ensure data synchronization with updates in near real-time. The enhancements provide suppliers with a streamlined onboarding process that enables them to validate business information, choose payment preferences, receive payments, and more. Suppliers also can access early financing options to boost cash flow and leverage a self-service portal that helps them manage business information, historical transactions, documentation, and payment preferences.

“We crafted these enhancements to address the struggles daunting buyer and supplier payments today and we’re excited to provide our customers with a modern, digital B2B solution powered by AI,” Bloh added.

Thanks to the addition of generative AI and agentic AI capabilities, Transcard’s SMART Exchange platform will provide proactive recommendations on trends and ways that companies can optimize cash flow and automate manual tasks. The solution can be embedded within a customer’s ERP or core system and connects to existing bank accounts to support payment orchestration for businesses regardless of size. Part of Transcard’s SMART Suite family of embedded payment solutions, the technology supports disbursements, receivables, account-to-account (A2A) payments, cross-border payments, AI insights, and supply chain financing.

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Transcard made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016. Today, Transcard has served more than 500 companies and offers 50+ separate payment functions. The company began the year announcing an expansion to Canada and, shortly afterwards, unveiled its multi-party lienholder payment solution, which streamlines the multi-party payment process when a lienholder is involved.

“Designed in collaboration with major insurers, mortgage servicers, and banks, we look forward to transforming the current lienholder endorsement process to an improved digital experience that reduces weeks to minutes,” Transcard EVP and Global Head of Insurance Hodgen Mainda said.

Photo by Kelly

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TreviPay Goes Live with New B2B Purchase Controls

TreviPay Goes Live with New B2B Purchase Controls
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, TreviPay
  • B2B payments and invoicing network TreviPay has introduced new B2B purchase controls.
  • The controls will leverage automation to help reduce manual reconciliation activity and enhance compliance with procurement requirements.
  • Headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, TreviPay made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York.

Global B2B payments and invoicing network TreviPay recently unveiled new, advanced purchase controls. This new offering will enable businesses to configure and enforce customized B2B purchase policies that are aligned with their procurement requirements. The purchase controls respond to pain points in the B2B purchasing process, automating controls to reduce payment delays, minimizing manual reconciliation, and making it easier for companies to remain compliant.

“Creating frictionless B2B commerce experiences is critical for driving long-term buyer loyalty for our clients,” TreviPay Chief Product and Technology Officer Dan Zimmerman said. “TreviPay’s advanced purchase controls provide businesses with the flexibility to customize guardrails ahead of the ordering process so they can optimize access to spending and help maintain accurate records.”

The new offering comes as businesses increasingly recognize the value of invoice customization when it comes to offering a seamless purchasing experience. According to a study conducted in partnership with Murphy Research, 78% of B2B buyers indicated a need to customize or control aspects of their purchasing experience. To this end, TreviPay’s advanced purchase controls feature a variety of configurable options including:

  • Purchase Order (PO) Number Requirements to ensure that charges cannot be processed without a valid PO number
  • Amount-Based PO Thresholds to automatically enforce PO requirements for transactions that exceed a buyer-defined threshold
  • Unique PO Number Validation to prevent duplicate PO numbers to maintain accurate records and avoid issues with reconciliation
  • Custom PO Number Format to ensure all PO numbers follow the specific format required by the buyer’s system.

In a statement, the company noted that these options work across all purchasing channels, whether online, in-store, or via sales teams. Automatically flagging and stopping non-compliant transactions at the point of purchase helps businesses avoid the time-consuming and costly communications that are often required in order to answer questions and resolve discrepancies when issues with purchase orders arise.

“Traditional complexities in the order-to-cash process, such as missing or incorrect purchase order information, can cause delays in merchants getting paid,” Zimmerman explained. “By addressing common challenges or slowdowns in the ordering processes, we’re helping our clients minimize the strain on A/R teams and grow their business, without compromising the quality of the buying experience.”

Headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, TreviPay made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York. At the conference, the company demonstrated its Small Business Supplier Payments Network (SBSN). SBSN empowers banks to expand their offerings to small businesses by enabling them to access the small business B2B trade credit market. Member banks can leverage SBSN to customize their solutions, define and execute go-to-market strategies, manage risk, and set supplier fees—all while establishing exposure targets, growth rates, and profitability.

In addition to the purchase controls announcement, TreviPay also recently unveiled new features including risk-based pricing to boost credit accessibility, shared buyer codes in its mobile app to share or extend purchasing ability to unauthorized users on a temporary basis, and enhanced visibility into upcoming disbursements.

March has been a busy month for TreviPay. Along with launching new features, the company reported that it is the latest issuer on UATP’s network for corporate business travel payments. Also this month, TreviPay announced a new collaboration with HSBC to streamline B2B payments for businesses via flexible payment options and financing solutions at the point of sale.

“Supporting a seamless e-commerce and omni-channel purchasing journey and offering the right payments and invoicing options are gateways to building loyalty with business buyers,” TreviPay CEO Brandon Spear said. “With HSBC on board, TreviPay has additional tools to scale our technology and leverage an API-based model to move into new markets.”

Photo by Bl∡ke

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Lloyds and Taulia Team Up to Offer Virtual Payment Cards

Lloyds and Taulia Team Up to Offer Virtual Payment Cards
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Taulia
  • Supply chain finance fintech Taulia partnered with Lloyds to embed Visa-enabled Virtual Cards into SAP Business Suite solutions, streamlining supplier payments.
  • Businesses using Taulia’s platform will be able to issue virtual cards globally through Lloyds, enhancing automation, cash flow visibility, and payment efficiency.
  • This collaboration builds on Taulia’s previous partnership with Visa, further integrating modern digital payments directly into enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

Supply chain finance fintech Taulia announced this week that it has partnered with Lloyds to issue Visa-enabled Virtual Cards. Taulia will embed the new virtual card offering across a range of its SAP Business Suite solutions.

“We are passionate about helping businesses unlock new value streams and our clients are fast recognizing the efficiency and financial benefits of deploying virtual cards for supplier payments,” said Lloyds Head of Commercial Cards Linda Weston. “We are thrilled about our partnership with Taulia as it enables truly embedded B2B payments processes in the SAP technology eco-system, making it easy for clients to adopt virtual payments and realise their strategic objectives.”

Taulia was founded in 2009 to help companies make use of cash tied up in their payables, receivables, and inventory. The company, which was acquired by SAP in 2022, maintains a network of 3+ million businesses to fuel its clients with more working capital. 

Taulia customers who have purchased its Virtual Cards solution can receive credit from Lloyds and issue virtual cards to their suppliers across the globe. The embedded Virtual Cards solution can be seamlessly integrated into non-financial platforms, allowing businesses to offer a better customer experience that will enhance automation, cash flow visibility, and payment efficiency.

Taulia will leverage Visa’s APIs to integrate Visa virtual payment credentials, acceptance solutions, and supplier enablement services into the end-user’s ERP applications.

“Embedding virtual cards directly within the ERP landscape and having Lloyds as an issuing partner is a game-changer for corporate payments,” said Taulia Chief Product Officer Danielle Weinblatt. “This collaboration redefines how businesses manage spend, bringing greater control, automation, and working capital optimization directly into their existing workflows. By seamlessly integrating virtual cards into enterprise systems, we are not only streamlining payments but also empowering companies to unlock liquidity, enhance cash flow intelligence, and modernize their financial operations—driving smarter, more agile growth in an evolving global economy.”

This partnership comes a year after Taulia first announced it had partnered with Visa to embed Visa’s digital payments technology into its Virtual Cards offering. “By partnering with Taulia, we create synergies in working capital management and the enablement of a world class ERP provider,” Visa SVP, Global Head of Large, Middle Market Segments and Working Capital Solutions Alan Koenigsberg said in the announcement last year.

Photo by Dom J

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NAGA Announces Strategic Partnership with TipRanks

NAGA Announces Strategic Partnership with TipRanks
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, TipRanks
  • German trading and investing platform NAGA has announced a strategic partnership with stock research company TipRanks.
  • The partnership will bring advanced stock analysis and institutional-grade research tools to retail investors.
  • Founded in 2012, TipRanks won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2013. The company took home Best of Show honors again at FinovateFall later that year.

Germany-based fintech NAGA has teamed up with stock research firm TipRanks. The strategic partnership will bring advanced stock analysis and institutional-grade research tools to retail investors.

“We are delighted to partner with NAGA. Both our companies are laser-focused on making data and information more readily available to all investors,” TipRanks CEO Uri Gruenbaum said. “We believe technology has an important role to play in improving outcomes for every investor, giving individuals access to the tools and insights that were once only the domain of large-scale institutions.”

The partnership will enable NAGA users to access detailed forecasts from industry analysts. This includes specific price targets for stocks, as well as recommendations for stocks over varying time periods. The partnership will also allow users to better see how hedge funds are investing in different markets, and how well the managers of those funds are performing.

Users will also benefit from TipRanks’ enhanced Smart Score solution. Smart Score ranks stocks from one to 10 based on eight key factors, including how the stock is viewed by top-performing stock analysts, whether or not hedge funds are in the process of accumulating or distributing the stock, and more. Enhancements have made the tool faster and easier to use when evaluating stocks and making buy and sell decisions.

“Our collaboration with TipRanks will yield significant benefits for our users,” NAGA CMO Valentin Ilioi said. “These enhancements represent our commitment to providing innovative tools that give our traders a competitive edge. By continually improving our platform with TipRanks’ insights, we’re ensuring NAGA remains at the forefront of social trading innovation.”

All-in-one trading platform NAGA facilitates trading and investing in more than 4,000 assets including CFDs on stocks, Forex, indicies, commodities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), bonds, and cryptocurrencies. NAGA also offers social trading which includes an Autocopy tool that enables traders and investors to benefit from the experience of other traders and investors by following and copying their market moves. With more than 1.5 million users on its platform, NAGA is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, and was founded in 2015.

Founded in 2012, TipRanks won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2013 in San Francisco. The startup scored a second Best of Show award when the company returned to the Finovate stage for FinovateFall later that same year. Most recently, the Tel Aviv-based firm launched Spark AI, a comprehensive AI-powered stock analyst solution that provides data-driven insights on penny stocks and blue chip equities alike. The technology generates reports that detail strengths, risks, financials, and peer comparisons to give traders and investors the information they need in order to make better buy and sell decisions in the market.

Photo by energepic.com

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