Alumni News

Boss Insights Teams Up with MX to Boost Business Lending with Real-Time Financial Data

Boss Insights Teams Up with MX to Boost Business Lending with Real-Time Financial Data
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Boss Insights, Daily news, MX, Partnership Outlook
  • Finovate alums Boss Insights and MX are partnering to give SMEs access to real-time financial business data.
  • The partnership will support faster, more accurate lending and funding for SMEs, as well as enhancing payment services.
  • A multiple-time Finovate Best of Show winner, MX is headquartered in Lehi, Utah. Boss Insights is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

A partnership between open finance company MX and business data aggregation innovator Boss Insights will make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to access real-time financial business data. Announced late last week, the collaboration will help banks and other financial institutions better serve their SME customers.

Courtesy of the new partnership, firms will have a 360-degree view of their business customers’ financial health via a single API. The API offers real-time access and integration with accounting, banking, and commerce data from more than 1,000 sources including QuickBooks, Xero, Shopify, Stripe, and Amazon.

“Boss Insights shares MX’s view that finances should be simple, useful, and intuitive,” Boss Insights CEO Keren Moynihan said. “Together, MX and Boss will empower fintechs, private lenders, and financial institutions with a platform to originate, decide, and monitor the business requests of their SMB and commercial business customers. This will help them make faster, more accurate lending, funding, and payment decisions.”

Among Finovate’s newer alums, making its Finovate debut in 2019, Boss Insights leverages big data and AI to accelerate the lending process for SMEs. The company’s Smart Capital product suite offers automated screening, due diligence, and portfolio management, and empowers lenders with real-time insights that lower risk and boost revenue opportunities. Founded in 2017, Boss Insights is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

“The partnership of MX and Boss Insights demonstrates the power and role of connectivity and data in the future of finance,” MX EVP of Partnerships Don Parker said in a statement. “As a leader in Open Finance, MX is committed to expanding our partner ecosystem with reputable partners who align to our overarching mission and stringent data and security standards. Today’s partnership with Boss Insights demonstrates our commitment to Power the Open Finance Economy.”

The newly-announced collaboration with Boss Insights is one of a number of partnerships that Lehi, Utah-based MX has announced in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the company teamed up with omnichannel payments platform Qolo Partners to help fintechs and neobanks scale their businesses faster. In March, MX worked with fellow Finovate alum Fiserv to enable secure consumer financial data access and sharing. That same month, MX announced that it had forged a new data access partnership with the University of Wisconsin Credit Union.

Photo by Luis Ruiz

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Deserve Launches Commercial Credit Card Program

Deserve Launches Commercial Credit Card Program
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, Deserve, SelfScore

Payment-card-as-a-service startup Deserve announced it can now empower its banks and B2B clients via a new tool, the Commercial Card Platform, that enables customers to add a commercial payment card offering to their product lineup.

“We are extending our digital, cloud-native, mobile-first platform from consumer cards to commercial,” said Deserve CEO and Cofounder Kalpesh Kapadia. “With this, we will enable any financial institution or platform that serves other businesses to embed and issue commercial credit cards. For non-banks, this can be a significant source of revenue and can enhance brand loyalty. Our platform will enable those who serve small and medium-size businesses and corporations to offer true credit combined with sophisticated expense management.”

Formerly known as SelfScore, Deserve has re-imagined traditional credit cards by transforming the application and onboarding processes, as well as the credit card itself by bringing them into the digital-first era. The company enables businesses to provide a white-labeled or co-branded card program made possible via a set of configurable APIs and SDKs.

The new Commercial Credit Card product helps companies, banks, and online lenders offer a white-labeled or co-branded credit card product for their business customers. The full-service card product offering will include underwriting, instant virtual card issuance, digital wallet provisioning, and enterprise controls that will enable management to track, manage, and understand business expenses.

Customers Bank, which is headquartered in Pennsylvania and counts $19.6 billion in assets, will be the first bank on Deserve’s Commercial Card Platform. “Together with Deserve, we are looking forward to offering an exciting and valuable product to our small business customers, combining credit with powerful expense management,” said Customers Bank President and CEO Sam Sidhu.

Founded in 2013, Deserve raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Visa last fall, adding to the company’s $287 million in total funding. Among Deserves investors are Mastercard, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Sallie Mae, Ally Ventures, Visa, Accel, Pelion Venture Partners, Aspect Ventures, and Mission Holdings.

Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

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Zilch Partners with Experian to Enhance BNPL Affordability Criteria

Zilch Partners with Experian to Enhance BNPL Affordability Criteria
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Experian
  • Zilch is partnering with Experian to update its Buy Now, Pay Later affordability criteria.
  • Experian and Zilch will share reporting of payment plan data, which will provide a more complete picture of consumer finances when applying for BNPL financing.
  • The collaboration comes as many observers have begun to worry about the potential hazards that BNPL could represent for consumers.

At a time of growing scrutiny over the Buy Now, Pay Later e-commerce craze, companies like Zilch are taking the extra step to ensure that consumers using its BNPL service are not getting over their heads when taking advantage of the latest consumer financing option.

This week, Zilch announced that it has partnered with Experian in a reciprocal credit data reporting collaboration that will offer a holistic, 360 degree view of a consumer’s affordability at a given point in time. The data exchange plan takes place under the auspices of the U.K.’s Credit Reporting Act (CRA), which manages rules regarding the supply of products, services, and digital content in the B2C sector. In a statement, Zilch noted that adding Experian’s reporting of payment plans, along with CRA and open banking data, and its own proprietary behavioral statistics, will enable the company to better assess the affordability of its two million customers.

“Zilch was built with financial health at its core, which is why we were one of the first BNPL to work with the FCCA to secure a consumer credit license,” Zilch co-founder and CEO Philip Belamant said. “Today, by partnering with Experian, we are continuing to transform the way affordability is assessed which is the key to us delivering financial inclusion to all.”

Consumers using Zilch pay 25% of their purchase upfront at checkout, then pay the rest of the balance for their purchase in three installments two, four, and six weeks later. Zero interest is charged, and Zilch offers a 2% cashback reward for consumers using Zilch who pay for their purchase in full on the first payment (“Pay in 1”). Rewards can be used to discount future purchases or saved to be spent later on a full purchase.

Zilch was founded in 2018. Last month, the company announced that it surpassed the two million customer milestone. A double unicorn with a valuation of more than $2 billion, London-based Zilch entered the U.S. market late last year and, shortly afterward, announced the launch of its gift card solution, Gift Cards by Zilch. The company has raised more than $339 million in funding, according to Crunchbase.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

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eToro Expands into NFTs

eToro Expands into NFTs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, eToro
  • Social investing platform eToro is launching eToro Art, a $20 million fund to support NFT creators.
  • Once the company’s $20 million collection of NFTs is complete, eToro will be one of the world’s leading NFT collectors.
  • eToro has made it clear that, while its new project supports creators, it is not an NFT marketplace.

When it comes to trends in fintech, NFTs are red hot. To capture some of this heat, social trading and investment network eToro is launching etoro Art, a $20 million fund to support NFT creators, agencies, and brands by purchasing blue chip NFTs and investing in emerging creators and NFT projects.

As part of etoro Art, the Israel-based company has amassed its own collection of NFTs, which includes projects from Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, World of Women, and pieces from emerging artists. After eToro spends the full $20 million on NFTs, the company will be one of the world’s leading NFT collectors. This week, eToro will debut its NFT collection during an event at the Bass Contemporary Art Museum in Miami.

eToro Cofounder and CEO Yoni Assia said that the company’s entrance into the NFT space “is only natural” and that the move will serve as the bridge to bring its community of 27 million registered users into NFTs and the metaverse. “We’re incredibly excited to see the developments in this space over the coming months,” Assia added.

As part of today’s move, eToro will spend an additional $10 million to support up-and-coming creators and brands on new, emerging projects. Creators simply fill out an intake application and, if they are selected to participate, eToro will offer “a range of support and services” to help them bring their project to fruition.

“As the leading social investing platform, eToro is well positioned to lead this space,” said eToro Art Managing Director Guy Hirsch. He added, “eToro.art will bring creators and investors together through technology, uniting communities around art.”

The company is making it clear that it is not launching an NFT marketplace. “No NFTs may be purchased through eToro by use of the services provided by eToro, and eToro is not responsible for any trading activity in NFTs which may occur on any third-party platforms to which eToro may direct its customers,” the company said in a statement. Instead, eToro Art is simply an aggregation platform with referral to third-party platforms.

Founded in 2007, eToro went public in a $10 billion SPAC last year. The company was an early adopter of cryptocurrency, having purchased 100 bitcoin in 2012.

Photo by Andrey Metelev on Unsplash

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Visa to Bring Buy Now Pay Later to Air Canada

Visa to Bring Buy Now Pay Later to Air Canada
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, VISA
  • Visa is bringing its Installment Solution to Air Canada, allowing customers to pay for their qualifying purchases over time.
  • According to Visa’s recent survey, a third of Canadians interested in using installments plans would do so for travel and entertainment.
  • Air Canada will be among the first group of airlines to use Visa’s BNPL tool.

If you’re looking to fly now, pay later in the friendly Canadian skies, you’re in luck. Visa announced this week it will collaborate with Air Canada to bring its Visa Installment Solution, a buy now, pay later (BNPL) solution to the Canadian airline.

Air Canada, Canada’s largest airline, will be among the first group of airlines to use Visa’s BNPL tool. The Visa Installment Solution offers eligible cardholders a more flexible way to pay for qualifying purchases. At checkout, customers can opt to convert their purchase into smaller, equal payments made over time. With Visa’s Installment Solution, the card issuer sets attributes such as the duration of the installment plan, interest, and fees.

Keith Wallis, senior director Distribution and Payments, Air Canada expects the additional payment option will elevate the customer experience. “Visa is one of the most trusted brands in Canada and their close collaboration with major Canadian financial institutions provides a unique opportunity to deliver an exceptional shopping experience to our mutual customers,” Wallis said.

According to Visa’s recent survey, a third of Canadians interested in using installments plans would do so for travel and entertainment. In fact, BNPL is on the rise across the board. A separate survey found that one third of shoppers use BNPL at least once a month, while 9% of consumers surveyed use it more than once a week.

Last August, Visa announced it was collaborating with payment solutions company i2c, which is using the Visa Installment Solution to launch BNPL capabilities for their participating issuers in North America. The partnership offers merchants an accelerated path to providing consumers with a BNPL option at checkout. Visa has also formed partnerships with Moneris, CIBC, Commerce Bank, Desjardins Group (Desjardins), Equinox Payments, ScotiaBank Versapay, HSBC, ANZ, GHL Systems Malaysia, Quest Payment Systems, Home Credit Bank, Russian Standard Bank, Cybersource, FIS, Global Payments, and TSYS to enable the Visa Installments Solution.

Photo by Sasha Prasastika

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iProov Snags New CIO from Santander

iProov Snags New CIO from Santander
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, iProov
  • Biometric cybersecurity company iProov appointed Miguel Traquina as Chief Information Officer.
  • Traquina comes to iProov from Santander U.K., where he served as Chief Information Officer for Operations and Economic Crime.
  • The appointment was made possible by the $70 million investment iProov received earlier this year, which the company set aside to “rapidly build on its leadership in the United States.”

When it comes to C-level hires, there may be plenty of fish in the sea, but only a select few make the best catch. Biometric cybersecurity company iProov announced today it snagged a good one, landing Miguel Traquina as Chief Information Officer.

“I am delighted to welcome Miguel to iProov, as we further grow our business,” said iProov CEO Andrew Bud. “The scale and scope of our technology activities are expanding rapidly. Miguel’s extensive experience with financial technology for a major bank complements and extends our team’s outstanding capabilities, enabling us to innovate and operate on more fronts globally.”

Traquina comes to iProov from Santander U.K., where he served as Chief Information Officer for Operations and Economic Crime. He has also spent time working at Accenture, where he was responsible for financial services projects in Europe and Latin America.

Launched in 2013, iProov helps governments, banks, and businesses securely verify the identity of their customers. The company’s differentiating technologies include Liveness Assurance and Genuine Presence Assurance, which help organizations protect against spoof attacks, digital injection attacks, and deepfakes by ensuring that the online customer is the right person, a real person, and is authenticating right now. Among iProov’s clients are the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.K. Home Office, the U.K. National Health Service, GovTech Singapore, Rabobank, and ING.

Bringing Traquina on board is made possible by the $70 million private equity investment iProov closed in January. The company allocated the funds to “rapidly build on its leadership in the United States” as well as expand its international customer base, and grow its global partner network.

Photo by Wynand van Poortvliet on Unsplash

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Secure Document Exchange Platform FutureVault Teams up with Envestnet | Yodlee

Secure Document Exchange Platform FutureVault Teams up with Envestnet | Yodlee
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Envestnet, FutureVault, Yodlee
  • Secure document exchange and digital vault platform FutureVault announced a partnership with Envestnet | Yodlee.
  • FutureVault made its Finovate debut in 2016 at FinovateFall in New York.
  • FutureVault CEO Daniel Kenny took the helm of the Toronto, Ontario, Canada-based company in January.

Last week we announced that Envestnet | Yodlee had partnered with fellow Finovate alum Backbase to bring new data aggregation, account verification, and enriched transaction data insights to banks. This week we report that Envestnet | Yodlee has forged a collaboration with another Finovate alum, FutureVault.

The partnership will enable FutureVault to leverage Envestnet | Yodlee’s data aggregation and analytics platform to enhance its ability to serve its financial services and advisor clients with advanced document exchange solutions. FutureVault’s platform supports front, middle, and back-office teams with the tools they need to securely access, share, and manage sensitive information and documents. These tools give organizations the ability to aggregate and centralized financial documents and data from multiple institutions into FutureVault’s secure digital vault, provides financial planning professionals with a holistic view of client finances, and enables trusted advisors to build better relationships with their customers.

“The integration with Envestment | Yodlee is another milestone in our aggressive 2022 technology roadmap,” FutureVault CEO Daniel Kenny said. “This integration is driven by our plan to continue building the most comprehensive digital vault solution and will contribute toward our strategic platform vision that brings together Documents, Data, and Digital Assets.”

FutureVault put the partnership in the context of the company’s Personal Life Management initiative. This thesis is based on aggregating financial documents and data in a secure location while giving financial planners and advisors the ability to leverage FutureVault’s technology to provide a “family office” type of service.

“This integration with Envestnet | Yodlee is not only driven by improving the relationship advisors will have with their clients,” FutureVault co-founder and Executive Chairman G. Scott Paterson said. “It is about ultimately providing clients with access to the best tools to manage their financial lives that extend beyond the advisor.”

FutureVault made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2016 in New York. Recently, the company has partnered with companies like PureFacts to facilitate secure and automatic delivery of financial statements, and with enterprise wealth management platform d1g1t. With this collaboration, FutureVault’s secure document exchange technology will help the d1g1t better manage its compliance, document retention, and document sharing responsibilities.

“We know that there is a significant need across the industry for all-encompassing solutions,” Kenny said when the strategic partnership with d1g1t was announced in late March. “By partnering with the exceptional team at d1g1t, we can bring that type of integrated solution to the market that addresses the many workflow challenges firms and advisors face, while elevating the experience for both clients and advisors.”

Founded in 2014, FutureVault has raised $2.3 million in funding. Current CEO Daniel Kenny was appointed to the position in January of this year after serving briefly as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. Previously, Kenny was an executive at HSBC for more than 22 years.

Photo by Tara Winstead

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Blockchain.com Raises Series D Funding at $14 Billion Valuation

Blockchain.com Raises Series D Funding at $14 Billion Valuation
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Blockchain, Daily news, Funding
  • Cryptocurrency platform Blockchain.com is now valued at $14 billion.
  • The updated valuation, which is almost 3x higher than its valuation a year ago, comes after Blockchain.com closed a Series D funding round.
  • Blockchain.com’s 37 million users have opened 82 million crypto wallets and have made transactions worth over $1 trillion to-date.

According to its most recent valuation, cryptocurrency platform Blockchain.com is now worth $14 billion. This updated value comes after the U.K.-based company closed a Series D funding round this week. The amount of the new round, which was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, was undisclosed. Blockchain.com’s funding now totals $490 million.

The new $14 billion valuation is up almost 3x from $5.2 billion, the valuation Blockchain received at its Series C financing round of $300 million in March of last year. As far as valuations in the crypto space, $14 billion is a lot, but it doesn’t place Blockchain.com at the top. Competitors Coinbase and Revolut are valued at $56 billion and $33 billion, respectively.

Blockchain.com was founded in 2011 and serves as a platform for users to buy, sell, hold, and trade cryptocurrencies. With 82 million crypto wallets, the company’s 37 million users have made transactions worth over $1 trillion to-date.

Blockchain.com has five acquisitions under its belt, including ZeroBlock, RTBTC.com, AiX, SeSocio.com, and Altonomy. The most recent buy was the OTC trading and executions business of Singapore-based Altonomy. Blockchain.com anticipates the purchase will spur the growth of its institutional business.

As for what’s next for Blockchain.com, the company is currently exploring the launch of its own NFT marketplace. The new platform, which is currently in beta, will enable users to browse, buy, sell, and store NFTs without leaving their Blockchain.com wallet.

Photo by Arthur Mazi on Unsplash

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Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee Partner to Bring Data Aggregation, Account Verification, and Enriched Transaction Data to Banks

Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee Partner to Bring Data Aggregation, Account Verification, and Enriched Transaction Data to Banks
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Backbase, Envestnet, Yodlee
  • Two Finovate alums, Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee are teaming up to help financial institutions better serve their customers.
  • The collaboration will offer pre-built integrations with Envestnet | Yodlee’s Data Aggregation, Account Verification, and Transaction Data Enrichment solutions.
  • Both Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee made their most recent Finovate appearances at FinovateFall in New York in September.

A newly announced partnership between Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee will enable financial institutions to offer their customers a holistic view of their finances, as well as an improved customer experience. Specifically, the partnership will bring account data aggregation, account verification, and transaction data enrichment from Envestnet | Yodlee to the Backbase Engagement Banking platform. The move enhances Backbase’s financial wellness capabilities and intuitive customer journeys, and supports the company’s goal of becoming a category leader in the engagement banking platform space.

Backbase CPO Karan Oberoi called the collaboration a “major milestone” in the company’s efforts to “bring value to every step of the full customer lifecycle on a single, unified platform.” Oberoi highlighted the ability of the Backbase Engagement Banking platform to help financial institutions leverage technologies from innovative fintechs like Envestnet | Yodlee “while limiting implementation, procurement, and risk assessment time.”

Adding Account Data Aggregation to the platform will enable customers to combine and maintain all of their financial accounts in a single application. In addition to making it easier for customers to better understand their financial status, the feature also increases stickiness – as well as the potential for cross-selling opportunities – as customers spend more time on the bank’s app. Account Verification allows customers to add and verify their financial accounts in a single app without requiring the use of micro-deposits. Both KYC and AML compliance are also enhanced by the addition of the account verification capability. Lastly, by providing transaction data enrichment, the platform will lower the cost- of-serve for financial institutions and improve customer engagement.

“Entering into this strategic partnership with Backbase is another proof point on how industry leaders are relying on quality data, comprehensive coverage, and intelligent insights from Envestnet | Yodlee to meet fast-growing banking demands,” Envestnet Data and Analytics Group Head Farouk Ferchichi said.

Both multiple-time Finovate Best of Show winners, Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee made their most recent appearances on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall in New York last September. Backbase demoed a customer onboarding solution that consolidates customer finances via direct deposit, billpay auto linking, and debit card account opening. Envestnet | Yodlee showed how Conversational AI technology can be deployed to deliver hyper-personalized financial insights and goals-based micro-savings applications.

Photo by Essow

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HR and Payroll Company Papaya Global Buys Azimo

HR and Payroll Company Papaya Global Buys Azimo
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Azimo, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • HR and payroll platform Papaya Global has acquired global money transfer company Azimo.
  • The deal will allow Papaya Global to offer payments in hours instead of days.
  • Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Global money transfer company Azimo has agreed to be acquired by HR and payroll platform Papaya Global. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but TechCrunch is reporting a purchase price of somewhere between $150 million and $200 million.

The Israeli payroll company will leverage Azimo’s payment platform to offer clients a payroll solution that makes immediate payouts across the globe. “We will build an innovative new payments and finance offering for clients in cash advance and credit-related products, and in cryptocurrency,” the company said in a blog post. The purchase will also enable Papaya Global to add remittance services to its lineup.

Founded by Michael Kent in 2012, Azimo offers a low-priced way for individuals and businesses to send money across the globe. The U.K.-based company charges a fee as low as $0.77 (£0.59) and boasts a more favorable exchange rate, as well. Azimo counts more than two million customers of its digital money transfer platform, which allows users to send money from 25 countries to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

In addition to its payment network, Azimo has something Papaya Global may consider quite valuable– payment licenses in the U.K., the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong. “Azimo’s global digital payment network, multiple payment licenses, and deep fintech expertise strengthens our ability to help companies manage and pay their remote teams,” said Papaya Global CEO Eynat Guez.

Azimo has raised $88.1 million in combined debt and equity. Financial terms of the deal, which will bring all of Azimo’s employees over to the Papaya Global team, were undisclosed.

Photo by Kaboompics .com

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FintechOS Unveils Accelerators to Enhance SME Mobile Onboarding and Lending

FintechOS Unveils Accelerators to Enhance SME Mobile Onboarding and Lending
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, FintechOS
  • FintechOS has launched a pair of accelerators – for mobile lending and mobile onboarding – to enable institutions to support small businesses.
  • The new offerings are built for speed, enabling companies to lower account opening times to less than 15 minutes.
  • Headquartered in London and founded in 2017, FintechOS made its Finovate debut last September at FinovateFall in New York.

Digital banking and insurance solution provider FintechOS unveiled a pair of new accelerators to help financial institutions better serve their SME clients. The offerings, announced this week, support SME mobile lending and onboarding, and enable institutions to reduce the amount of time required to open a current/checking account to less than 15 minutes.

Calling SMEs “the backbone of the global economy”, FintechOS CEO and co-founder Teo Blidarus decried the “lending gap” that has kept many small businesses from being able to secure the critical funding they need in order to grow. “Our high productivity fintech infrastructure, digital and core financial technology blocks combine here with a low-code approach to help institutions close the gap by rolling out tailored financial services experiences at speed.”

FintechOS’ accelerator for mobile onboarding gives financial institutions the ability to implement a modern UX. This will enable them to readily configure both design and content, as well as journey sequence and product logic. The accelerator for mobile lending allows SMEs to access the financing solutions they need in minutes with an out-of-the-box loan origination journey that can be easily configured and requires no technical expertise. Both accelerators embrace a mobile-centric approach that allows small businesses to use their device of choice for both onboarding and financing, which will help lower abandonment risk during the account opening and lending process.

The launch of FintechOS’ account onboarding and mobile lending accelerators comes just days after the company announced a collaboration with digital transformation consultancy Tesselate Group. Together, the two companies will work to bring innovative lending solutions and strategic planning to financial institutions. The partnership will focus on product verticals including digital journey accelerators, ecosystem connectors, and lean core components.

“We’re on a mission to enable companies to build innovative financial services and products at the speed the market requires,” FintechOS VP of Ecosystem Todi Pruteanu said. “Our ecosystem is fundamental to achieving this objective, and FintechOS is investing significantly to build an industry-leading partner infrastructure.”

In February, FintechOS forged a global partnership agreement with fellow Finovate alum Onfido. The pact integrates Onfido’s identity verification solution into FintechOS’ customer onboarding, lending, and claims management journeys. Two of FintechOS’ customer-centric platforms for banks and insurers – Lighthouse and Northstar – feature Onfido’s identity verification and liveness technology.

Among Finovate’s newer alums, FintechOS demoed its technology on the Finovate stage for the first time in September at FinovateFall. At the conference, FintechOS’ Paula Costea and Steve Rooney demonstrated Sunglow, the company’s “super app for banking.” Sunglow enables consumers to finance and book vacations in a seamless, end-to-end customer experience that factors in every component of the lending and booking processes.

Photo by Pixabay

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Alkami Agrees to Acquire Financial Data Analytics Company Segmint

Alkami Agrees to Acquire Financial Data Analytics Company Segmint
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alkami Technology, Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Segmint
  • Alkami has entered a definitive agreement to acquire financial analytics company Segmint for $135.5 million in cash.
  • The acquisition will combine Segmint’s data insights with Alkami’s digital account opening and digital banking technology.
  • Both companies are Finovate alums. Alkami made its Finovate debut as iThryv in 2009. Segmint made its most recent Finovate appearance at FinovateFall in 2012.

Another day, another big acquisition in the fintech space. Today we learned that cloud-based digital banking solutions provider Alkami Technology has agreed to acquire Segmint, a financial data analytics and transaction cleansing specialist. Alkami will pay $135.5 million in cash for the Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio-based company, and expects its total addressable market to grow by $1 billion courtesy of the acquisition.

“Our customers want to deepen their customer relationships and grow revenue,” Allkami CEO Alex Shootman said. “To do so, they must transform raw account and transaction data into insights that lead to highly personalized communications. Segmint applies machine learning to transaction data to help FIs better understand their account holders and automates messaging with incredible precision and personalization across multiple channels.”

The acquisition will enable financial institutions partnered with Alkami to benefit from the combination of data sets from both Alkami and Segmint. In addition to providing a more comprehensive view of account holders, the combination also will bring greater precision and additional use cases to Segmint’s data models. Further, financial institutions will be able to use this data to leverage digital banking to better target, engage, and build customer relationships.

Approved by the boards of directors of both companies, as well as Segmint stockholders, the acquisition is expected to close in Q2 of this year – assuming regulatory approvals and customer closing conditions are met.

As we noted, the Alkami/Segmint acquisition is the second big fintech acquisition involving a Finovate alum this week. We reported yesterday that Canadian identity verification company – and Finovate Best of Show winner – SecureKey – agreed to be acquired by digital security and privacy company Avast.

Photo by Anthony

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