Alumni News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Envestnet, Fintech Rundown, FIS, Marqeta, MoneyHub, MX, Plaid, Weekly Alumni News, Zafin

We’re already well into the second month of 2024, and while funding has slowed down a bit, news in the decentralized finance world has picked up. Take a look at some of the top headlines in fintech and banking this week.

Digital Banking

Israel-based digital bank oneZero unveils its new GenAI-powered assistant, Ella.

HighRadius acquires Cforia.

Payments

Tuition payments solution for trade and technical school students Mia Share raises $6.5 million in funding.

Fiserv expands in-person bill payment network to NCR Atleos ATMs.

Airbase appoints Mathew Schulz from Forrester as its new Vice President of Procurement Strategy. 

Blackhawk Network launches Select Codes to allow quick distribution of rewards.

NMI launches NMI Payments, a comprehensive embedded payments solution.

Tradeshift appoints Iain Balchin as Chief Financial Officer.

i2c Inc. adds new clients in Brazil, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru, and Puerto Rico.

Banking-as-a-Service

Nordic Capital inks agreement to acquire majority stake in SaaS core modernization provider Zafin.

Crypto

Crypto wallet app COCA introduces virtual cards.

Cryptocurrency exchange OKX expands to Argentina.

Crypto custodian BitGo acquires private securities and alternative investment infrastructure provider Brassica.

Open banking / Open finance

Moneyhub named supplier of Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) Open Banking Dynamic Purchasing System framework for the U.K. government.

Akoya, Envestnet | Yodlee, MX, and Plaid to integrate into FIS’ Open Access platform.

FIS and Banked partner to create new pay-by-bank solutions.

Wealth management & Investing

Swedish investment platform Kameo secures $1.3 million (£1.1million) investment from Incore Invest.

Attune Solutions launches Attune WealthData powered by BridgeFT.

Clearwater Analytics launches Clearwater MLx, mortgage loan investment solution.

Blue Ocean Technologies and DriveWealth partner to expand geographic reach and trading services.

Exponential Markets receives strategic investment from Citi.

Card Issuance/Management

Card issuing platform Marqeta inks travel management software company, Internet Travel Solutions (ITS).

ConnexPay launches ConnexPay Flex, a new variable-rate virtual card.

Mastercard and the Bank of Punjab expand their partnership to cover the commercial segment.

Lending

Yardline and AMZ Pathfinder partner on ecommerce funding.

Traditional finance

Barclays to acquire Tesco Bank’s retail banking business.

AtlasClear combines with SPAC and acquires Wilson-Davis & Co.

NCR Atleos to bring surcharge-free cash access to American Express checking customers.

Clearwater Analytics extends support for accounting with fund accounting and pooled participant interaction.

Fraud & security

Signzy launches one-touch KYC for seamless digital onboarding.

TruShield Insurance collaborates with Visa to help address cybersecurity risks facing small businesses.

Tina Stewart joins Utimaco as Chief Marketing Officer.

Data Zoo names former London Stock Exchange Group executive Charlie Minutella as new CEO.

Canada’s EQ Bank partners with Trulioo for identity document and biometric verification.

Armilla AI lands $4.5 million in Seed funding to help de-risk AI adoption for enterprises.

Mortgagetech

Better launches digital VA loans powered by Tinman.

Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash

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Revolut to Add New Telecom Service

Revolut to Add New Telecom Service
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Revolution Money
  • Revolut has partnered with 1Global to offer telecom services to its users.
  • Starting this week, Revolut will offer eSIMs to customers in all five membership tiers.
  • Users in Revolut’s Ultra membership tier will benefit from 3GB of data they can use across international borders. Members in other tiers can pay to top up their data.

In an exclusive announcement with CNBC, global financial services innovator Revolut revealed it plans to begin offering telecom services in the U.K. The move, which is made possible via a partnership with 1Global, will make Revolut one of the only fintechs to offer telecom services.

Starting this week, Revolut will begin rolling out eSIMs, which are small, programmable chips embedded directly into a smartphone, tablet, or wearable device. While eSIMs serve the same purpose as a traditional, physical SIM card, the eSIM is permanently embedded into the device and cannot be removed or swapped out.

While the new eSIM service is available to Revolut members under any of the company’s five plans, customers that pay for the Ultra membership tier will receive 3GB of data they can use across the globe, with no roaming charges. The company launched the Ultra membership option last year. For $69.47 (£55) per month, users will benefit from a platinum-plated payment card and “top-of-the-line experiences” such as airport lounge access, up to 10% cashback on travel accommodations, and more.

Users that fall into the other four Revolut membership categories will receive the standard eSIM plan, which allows them to access the Revolut app at any time and top up their Revolut phone plan if they run out of data with their current provider. The company is offering its non-Ultra members 100MB of free data if they sign up before May 1.

Adding telecom services will bolster the company’s robust travel benefit offerings. Revolut’s Premium, Metal, and Ultra subscribers receive cashback on accommodations, global medical insurance, winter sports insurance, fee-free currency exchange, and more. Adding a benefit as essential as communication is a logical next step, and may convince the company’s Standard and Plus members to pay the extra money to level up their memberships.

The London-based company made it clear that the eSIM benefit is about more than just an added travel reward. As Revolut GM of Premium Products Tara Massoudi explained to CNBC, “Our ambition is very much to be the financial super app. This is really in that direction.”

Since the company was founded in 2015 it has received $1.7 billion in funding and has expanded to serve 35+ million personal customers and more than 500,000 business customers.

Interestingly, not many fintechs have made similar moves into the telecom space. India-based credit card fintech Zolve began offering eSIM and SIM services last August in packages ranging from $30 per month to $60 per month.

Photo by Andrey Matveev

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Finastra and Tesselate Team Up to Power Trade Finance Digitization

Finastra and Tesselate Team Up to Power Trade Finance Digitization
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Finastra
  • Finastra and Tesselate announced a partnership to facilitate faster and easier trade finance digitization.
  • The two companies launched Tegula Trade Finance as a Service which enables banks to automate manual processes, increase efficiencies, and reduce processing times.
  • Finastra was formed in 2017 from a merger between Finovate alum Misys and D+H.

A partnership between Finastra and digital transformation consultancy Tesselate will facilitate faster and easier trade finance digitization courtesy of a new end-to-end pre-packaged service. Launched today, Tegula Trade Finance as a Service empowers banks in the U.S. to automate manual processes and adapt to emerging events with a faster time to market and value. Banks can also leverage Finastra FusionFabric.cloud to integrate fintech applications and take advantage of enabling technologies such as AI and the blockchain.

“Our combined service with Tesselate delivers the automation and intelligence needed to increase efficiencies and decrease processing times, risk, errors, and total cost of ownership,” Finastra Managing Director and Head of Enterprise Sales and Strategic Partnerships, Americas, Jim McMahon said. “Importantly, the all-in-one solution promotes interoperability of trade finance processes to reduce friction and complexity, while giving banks the agility to enhance existing or launch new services.”

The new offering is powered by Finastra Trade Innovation and Corporate Channels. Finastra Trade Innovation is an end-to-end solution that facilitates frictionless trade and supply chain finance via straight-through processing, digitization, and data analytics to support growth and agility. Corporate Channels is a digital banking platform that gives banks a unified portal for trade, cash, supply-chain finance, lending, and treasury services for corporates. These technologies, and easy integration, help make Tegula Trade Finance as a Service a tool banks can use in order to boost revenue, take advantage of new market opportunities, enhance security, and future-proof their business.

“By delivering our all-in-one joint solution as a highly secure managed service, banks do not need to invest in significant amounts of additional resources or take them away from their core business to pursue digitization,” Tesselate Chief Revenue Officer and Managing Partner Alexandre Arnoux said. “Banks can take a modular approach to implementation for better cost and resource control, and we provide the ongoing updates, enhancements, and new capabilities at speed.”

A digital transformation consultancy and integrator headquartered in Paris, France, Tesselate advises FIs on digital strategy and supports them in their digital transformation journeys. This includes helping them implement and integrate enabling technologies and software solutions from Tesselate’s partners to improve operational efficiency and support growth. Founded in 2010, the company last month announced a partnership with Swiss fintech MITech.

Formed via a merger between Finovate alum Misys and D+H in 2017, Finastra serves financial institutions of all sizes with a wide variety of solutions and services across lending, payments, treasury and capital markets, as well as universal banking. The company’s offerings help FIs develop and grow banking relationships via channels such as embedded finance and Banking as a Service. More than 8,000 institutions – including 45 of the top 50 banks in the world – use Finastra’s technology to support open banking and fuel collaboration.

Headquartered in London, Finastra began the year announcing an upgraded partnership with Allied Banking Corporation and a new collaboration with Vietnam-based LPBank. The company also announced last month that it has teamed up with data and AI company Databricks. The partnership will enable Finastra to further leverage its data and to deliver value-added solutions with Generative AI capabilities. Finastra has also used Databricks to set up a data platform, Secure Zone, for its developers. Simon Paris is Finastra’s CEO.

Photo by Pixabay

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Entrust Confirms Plans to Acquire Onfido

Entrust Confirms Plans to Acquire Onfido
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Entrust Datacard, Onfido
  • Payments, identities, and data security company Entrust confirmed that it has entered “exclusive discussions” to acquire identity verification technology company Onfido.
  • The acquisition will bring AI/ML-based biometric and document IDV technology to Entrust’s portfolio of identity solutions.
  • Both Entrust and Onfido are Finovate alums. Entrust has twice presented at our developers conference, FinDEVrSiliconValley. Onfido made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2018.

Trusted payments, identities, and data security company Entrust may be on the verge of acquiring identity verification (IDV) technology company Onfido. Entrust confirmed this week that it has entered “exclusive discussions” on the potential deal.

The acquisition would add an AI/ML-based biometric and document IDV tech stack to Entrust’s current portfolio of identity solutions. Entrust would also be able to leverage biometric, phishing-resistant authentication for use in high-value transactions.

Entrust President and CEO Todd Wilkinson praised Onfido’s IDV team, capabilities, and tech stack, calling them “best-in-class.” Wilkinson also pointed to the evolution of fraud – driven by new AI capabilities – that have created new challenges for identity verification. “Deepfakes and synthetic identity are driving a global need for a powerful level of identity assurance that facilitates crucial digital journeys in banking, finance, government, travel, and more,” Wilkinson said. “Step-up authentication using biometric-based, AI-driven identity verification will be critical to ensuring security, privacy, and trust in these high-value digital-first interactions.”

Headquartered in London and founded in 2012, Onfido leverages machine learning, AI, and automation to offer a digital identity solution that creates trust at the point of onboarding and beyond. The company’s technology helps businesses acquire new customers and keep costs low, while remaining compliant with regard to both KYC and AML. Onfido made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2018 and returned to the Finovate stage months later for FinovateFall in New York.

Most recently, Onfido launched its Compliance Suite. The new offering, unveiled in late January, is an all-in-one identity verification solution that brings qualified electronic signature (QES) and One-time Password (OTP) to Onfido’s Real Identity Platform. The combination enables businesses to customize their onboarding workflows to meet local compliance obligations, increase customer conversions, and keep fraudsters at bay.

Entrust made its Finovate debut at our developers conference, FinDEVrSiliconValley 2015, and returned the following year to participate in FinDEVrSiliconValley 2016 (as “Entrust Datacard”). The company rebranded to “Entrust” in 2020, in a move that Wilkinson called “an evolution of our brand that honors our heritage as we look forward to our critical role in enabling companies to secure identity, payments, and data protection in a rapidly changing world.”

Today, Entrust has issued more than 20 billion payment cards, protects more than 100 million workforce and consumer identities, and encrypts and secures 24+ Swift messages daily. Founded in 1969 as DataCard Corporation, the company acquired Entrust in 2013, and Entrust Datacard was launched the following year.

Photo by fauxels

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Expense Management Platform Fyle Integrates with American Express

Expense Management Platform Fyle Integrates with American Express
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Fyle
  • Expense management innovator Fyle integrated with American Express this week.
  • The integration will enable U.S. Business and Corporate Card members to issue on-demand virtual cards linked to their physical cards.
  • Fyle made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall last year.

Expense management platform Fyle has announced an integration with American Express. The partnership will enable U.S. Business and Corporate Card members to issue on-demand virtual cards from the Fyle platform. The virtual cards feature built-in controls, as well as enhanced security. The integration was made possible by Fyle’s participation in the American Express Sync Commercial Partner Program.

The ability to issue unlimited virtual cards linked to existing physical cards provides a number of benefits. Among them are:

  • Card-specific controls including spending limits and expiration dates
  • Real-time transaction data and notifications via text message
  • Automated receipt collection to accelerate reconciliation via Fyle’s expense management platform

The integration will also provide payment flexibility. Companies can leverage virtual cards to pay suppliers and take advantage of their American Express billing cycle to manage cash flow until their card payment is due.

“We are teaming up with American Express to give our customers access to the control, enhanced security, and cash flow management that come with using an American Express virtual card, alongside the ability to automate receipt tracking, credit card reconciliation, and expense accounting with Fyle,” company founder and CEO Yashwanth Madhusudhan said. “The integration helps us provide an elevated user experience and more value to our customers.”

Founded in 2016, Fyle made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023. At the conference, Madhusudan showed how Fyle’s technology brings a modern, “fintech-like” experience to bank-issued card programs.

Photo by Paul IJsendoorn

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: 10x Banking, Alumni News, American Express, Daily news, Entrust Datacard, Fintech Rundown, FIS, Fyle, Jack Henry, Lending Club, MX, nCino, Onfido, Temenos, Thought Machine, Trustly, Weekly Alumni News, WorldPay

This week’s Fintech Rundown features partnership and expansion news from a handful of Finovate alums, as well as some interesting fundings in the cryptocurrency and charitable giving space.

Wealth Management

Digital wealth and payments company Mogo expands its relationship with data cloud company Snowflake.

U.K.-based wealth app Chip launches its first Cash ISA.

WiseAlpha unveils new wealth management portal and white-label solution.

Digital Banking

Segura Bank International (SBI), an FI based in Puerto Rico, launches a new digital bank powered by Temenos’ core banking platform.

North Carolina-based Mechanics & Farmers Bank has gone live on the nCino Cloud Banking Platform.

Indian payment solutions provider PayU migrates its credit service LazyPay to Thought Machine’s core banking platform.

10x Banking announces expansion to Africa, starting in South Africa.

Core banking provider Tuum raises $26.8 million (EUR 25 million) in Series B financing.

HSBC U.K. introduces its Cash Pod to expand customer access to cash in areas without bank branches.

Mortgagetech

Phoebus launches its SaaS-based mortgage servicing platform.

Raymond James Bank deploys ICE Mortgage Technology’s Encompass lending solution.

Payments

Atlantic Money secures authorization to bring its money transfer service to the U.S., Canada, and Australia.

Overflow, a fintech that facilitates charitable giving, raises $20 million in new funding.

Worldpay completes its separation from FIS.

Airwallex forges multi-year partnership with McLaren Formula 1 team to support its treasury management and cross-border payout operations.

MENA-based payment orchestration solution provider PayTabs Group partners with Saudi Arabian payment-infrastructure-as-a-service fintech Nearpay.

Lending

Pagaya secures a five-year, $280 million credit facility led by BlackRock, JPMorgan, and others.

Allica Bank completes more than £2 billion in lending to businesses in the U.K.

Challenger banking

LendingClub moves closer to fulfilling the requirements to launch a new bank.

Open banking / Open finance

MX and Jack Henry announce an expanded agreement to enhance data sharing.

Trustly integrates MX data enhancement as part of its Open Banking product suite.

Norway-based open banking company Neonomics teams up with credit management firm Lowell.

Expense management / BFM

The Boston Celtics name Brex as its corporate card and spend management partner.

Expense management platform Fyle forges new integration with American Express.

Cryptocurrencies / DeFi

Oobit, a cryptocurrency payments app based in Singapore, raised $25 million in Series A funding.

Fnality to bring its blockchain-based payment system to the U.S. following its successful launch in the U.K.

Embedded finance

EY announces an alliance with embedded finance platform MoneyLion.

Identity Verification/Management

Entrust confirms that it is negotiating a potential acquisition of ID verification firm Onfido.

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

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Liberis Teams Up with Identity Risk Management Company Alloy

Liberis Teams Up with Identity Risk Management Company Alloy
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alloy, Alumni News, Daily news
  • Embedded finance platform Liberis announced a partnership with identity risk management innovator Alloy.
  • The partnership will enable Liberis to leverage Alloy’s platform to add automated compliance verifications to the funding application process.
  • Alloy made its Finovate debut at our developers conference, FinDEVrSilicon Valley 2016.

Embedded finance platform Liberis has teamed up with identity risk management innovator Alloy. Courtesy of the newly announced partnership, Liberis will leverage Alloy’s technology to integrate automated compliance verifications directly into the funding application process. The integration enables Liberis to accelerate its international growth and simplify the merchant experience.

“Alloy is designed to help businesses take control of fraud, credit, and compliance risk, while growing with the clearest picture of their customers,” Alloy CEO Tommy Nicholas said. “We’re confident that our partnership will help Liberis achieve its goal and provide its merchants with a seamless onboarding experience.”

LIberis will gain access and integrations to a global network of more than 190 data sources to streamline KYC, KYB, and AML operations and stop financial crime. The platform will also support the creation of custom, white-label onboarding experiences for partners.

“Alloy’s platform will allow us to enter new markets quickly, optimize our merchants’ fully digitized application for funding and scale to meet our partners’ demand, while also maintaining our high standards for compliance,” Liberis’ Chief Legal & Compliance Officer Alexis Alexander said. Alexander added that one main challenge with compliance checks is that they can increase friction during the onboarding process. To this end, Alloy’s identity risk solution automates and manages onboarding, fraud monitoring, and credit underwriting processes, reducing the amount of paperwork. For those businesses that need more extensive documentation, Liberis will provide a custom, white-label experience tailored to the needs of merchants and partners alike.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in New York City, Alloy made its Finovate debut at our developers conference, FinDEVrSiliconValley 2016. Today, more than 500 banks and fintechs have partnered with Alloy to manage identity risk at origination as well as throughout the customer lifecycle. Alloy processes millions of identity decisions daily for the world’s top banks and fintechs in 40 countries across North America, EMEA, Latin America, and APAC. The company has raised more than $207 million in funding from investors including Avid Ventures and Felicis.

Just a few days ago, Alloy issued its 2024 State of Fraud Benchmark Report. The report featured some good news on the fight against fraud. According to the 450+ financial industry fraud decision makers who responded to the firm’s survey, the number of reported fraud attacks has begun to “even out – and for some organizations, to decelerate.” Nevertheless, there were devils in the details, including the number of companies reporting an increase in attempted fraud attacks via consumer accounts (61% of companies) and as well as through business accounts (54% of companies).

“It’s encouraging to see companies getting fraud volume under control using the wide array of identity data and technology available on the market,” Nicholas said when the report was release in late January. “But fraud remains a critical problem because bad actors are always finding new tools – such as generative AI – to steal increasingly large amounts of money.” Indeed, Alloy’s report noted that 56% of respondents lost more than EUR 500,000 ($537,000) to fraud in the last 12 months. Over the same time period, a quarter of respondents had lost more than EUR 1 million ($1.7 million).

Photo by SHOCKPhoto by Szoka Sebastian

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Privakey Unveils Single Sign-On Solution for Enterprises

Privakey Unveils Single Sign-On Solution for Enterprises
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Privakey
  • Authentication platform Privakey has launched its Single Sign-On (SSO) solution, Privakey SSO.
  • The new offering enables enterprises to leverage passwordless authentication and authorization.
  • Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Privakey made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2017 in New York.

Passwordless authentication solution provider Privakey launched its Single Sign-On (SSO) solution last week. Designed for enterprises, Privakey SSO responds to the demand for passwordless authentication as cybercriminals leverage social engineering to take advantage of traditional password-based systems.

“Privakey SSO is designed for speed and simplicity in both implementation and user experience,” company CEO Charles Durkin explained. “Small and medium-sized businesses can have Privakey SSO up and running within hours. Large enterprises benefit from a single, highly secure passwordless gateway to authorized applications and services.”

The new offering leverages a strong cryptographic authenticator to incorporate biometric data, PIN, and passkey for both authentication and authorization. Users supply the biometric or PIN, and a device-based secure passkey provides an additional layer of security by verifying the user’s identity as initially registered. Privakey SSO removes the inconvenience of passwords and out-of-band codes. Businesses can deploy the technology as a standalone, company identity platform, or integrate it to enable passwordless login to enterprise identity solutions from companies ranging from Microsoft to Google to Okta.

“We’ve engineered our solution to be fast, easy to use, scalable, and robust, ready to help you eliminate passwords – the primary target of cybercriminals,” Durkin said. He added that the solution was “ideal” for a variety of verticals including financial services, ecommerce, and IT.

Privakey is currently inviting companies interested in its technology to participate in its Privakey SSO Free Beta Test. The beta testing period runs from January 30, 2024 to May 31, 2024.

Headquartered in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, and founded in 2016, Privakey made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2017 in New York. At the conference, the company demoed its cloud-based, password-free alternative to identity authentication that is consistent, convenient, and secure.

Photo by Aphiwat chuangchoem

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BILL Taps Adyen to Deliver Acquiring and Issuing Experiences

BILL Taps Adyen to Deliver Acquiring and Issuing Experiences
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Bill.com
  • BILL has selected Adyen to offer advanced acquiring and issuing experiences for its accounts payable and accounts receivable solutions.
  • The company has integrated Adyen’s card issuing tools into its virtual card offering.
  • Formerly known as Bill.com, the company rebranded to BILL in 2022.

Small business financial automation solutions provider BILL unveiled this week it has selected payments technology platform Adyen to offer advanced acquiring and issuing experiences for its accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) solutions.

BILL has integrated Adyen’s card issuing services into its virtual card offering as part of its AP and AR solutions. The California-based company expects Adyen’s technology to drive more opportunities for SMBs and help them deliver more seamless payment experiences.

“We are proud to be a part of BILL’s focus on helping SMBs thrive as we scale our relationship into card issuing with a category leader in financial operations,” said Adyen SVP of Platforms and Financial Products Blake Breathitt. “With our licensing framework and embedded financial products both integrated together, we look forward to being a part of BILL’s robust ecosystem of card products and services.”

Sweden-based Adyen was founded in 2006 and offers payment acceptance, embedded payments, virtual card capabilities, authentication, risk management, insights, and more. Among the company’s corporate clients are Meta, Uber, H&M, eBay, and Microsoft.

BILL was founded as Bill.com in 2006, went public in 2019, and rebranded to its current name in 2022. The company has a current market capitalization of $8.19 billion. Regarding today’s move with Adyen, company Chief Commercial Officer Loren Padelford said, “Helping our SMB customers manage their cash flow means making their payments easy and secure. Because of their trust in BILL, our customers can easily make their payments and get back to running their business.”

Photo by Pixabay

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Blackhawk Network to Acquire Tango Card

Blackhawk Network to Acquire Tango Card
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Blackhawk Network, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Tango Card
  • Blackhawk Network is acquiring incentive delivery technology company Tango Card.
  • Founded in 2009, Tango Card has experienced 800% growth since 2018.
  • Terms of the deal, which is expected to close later this year, were undisclosed.

It takes two to tango. That’s what prepaid card and payments products provider Blackhawk Network (BHN) may have realized this week. The California-based company has acquired incentive delivery technology company Tango Card for an undisclosed amount.

Once the deal closes, BHN clients, along with Tango’s existing customers, will benefit from Tango’s B2B incentives platform and customer support. Tango was founded in 2009 to help enterprises reward their employees with a prepaid card, charity donation, direct deposit, or via a selection of more than 1,000 gift cards. The company, which first demoed at FinovateFall 2016, experienced significant growth in the past six years, having grown 9x, equivalent to 800%.

“Joining BHN at this time provides a once-in-a-company opportunity to continue innovating in this space, better support our customers’ evolving global needs and create awesome experiences for recipients,” said Tango Founder and CEO David Leeds.

BHN, which is best known for its gift cards and egifts, also offers rewards and incentives tools for enterprises to gift employees, customers, and suppliers. Additionally, the company has a digital payment system for corporate payouts, relief support, and more.

“We have been a longtime partner to Tango and were also an early investor. We are thrilled with the opportunity to combine the best of BHN with the best of Tango to provide leading, global, scalable solutions and innovation to the rewards and incentives industry,” said BHN President and CEO Talbott Roche.

The deal, which marks BHN’s 14th acquisition since it was founded in 2001, is expected to close later this year.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki

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Plumery Partners with Identity Verification Platform Sumsub

Plumery Partners with Identity Verification Platform Sumsub
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Sumsub
  • Digital banking technology company Plumery forged a technology partnership with identity verification platform Sumsub.
  • Via the partnership, Plumery has integrated Sumsub’s verification technology into its banking engagement platform.
  • Headquartered in London, Sumsub made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin.

Mobile and digital banking technology company Plumery will integrate verification technology from Sumsub into its banking engagement platform. The integration comes courtesy of a newly announced technology partnership between the two companies. Of Sumsub’s various capabilities, Plumery first will launch Sumsub’s Know Your Customer (KYC) suite.

“Using our APIs, Plumery has been able to create a completely seamless end-to-end onboarding journey for its users,” Sumsub co-founder and CEO Andrew Sever said. “Through this partnership, we can now combine their innovation-focused digital experience … with the highest levels of compliance and fraud protection, provided by our platform.”

Plumery’s banking engagement platform, Headless, enables banks, fintechs, and financial institutions of various types to build apps on top of its APIs. Headless can be deployed without requiring companies to make changes to the user interface (UI) of their apps or to their core banking technology. The partnership with Sumsub will add KYC and anti-money laundering (AML) solutions to verify new customers by leveraging data such as email addresses, tax residency, and proof of address (PoA). The solution will also screen identity documents and make sure new users pass liveness tests as part of the verification process.

The goal of the combined offering is to give both traditional and challenger banks the ability to provide customizable onboarding flows for their customers while remaining fully compliant. In a statement, the companies noted that the integration can save businesses up to 80% on implementation costs and time. The integration also saves companies more than 50% of onboarding costs for each customer.

“Digital and mobile onboarding has become an essential part of any digital banking experience in the last five years,” Plumery CEO Ben Goldin said. “Now, together with Sumsub, our joint customers can integrate this capability faster and more cheaply than ever before, to launch new propositions and whole banks in record time.”

Founded in 2015, Sumsub – which stands for “Sum & Substance” – has raised more than $37 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. The company made its Finovate debut four years ago at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin. At the conference Sumsub demoed its all-in-one technical and legal platform that manages all of a company’s KYC/KYB/AML requirements. The solution enables firms to covert more customers, accelerate the verification process, lower costs, and reduce fraud.

Sumsub began the year with an announcement that it had joined the MENA FinTech Association (MFTA). The company’s new membership in the six-year old organization will help it boost business growth in the Middle East and Northern Africa, as well as raise awareness about the challenges of identity fraud in the region.

Photo by Pixabay

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Jack Henry Unveils Banno Business to Help Regional FIs Bring Banking Innovations to SMEs

Jack Henry Unveils Banno Business to Help Regional FIs Bring Banking Innovations to SMEs
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Jack Henry
  • Jack Henry has launched its cloud-native business banking solution, Banno Business.
  • The new solution will help community and regional banks bring modern banking solutions to small and medium-sized businesses.
  • A Finovate alum since 2010, Jack Henry was founded in 1976.

Jack Henry unveiled its cloud-native business banking solution, Banno Business, last week. The new offering enables community and regional financial institutions to bring the innovations of modern banking to SMEs.

“Banno Business centralizes the business banking capabilities and partnerships we’ve created over the years into a single platform,” Jack Henry Managing Director of Digital Solutions Julie Morlan said. “We’ve built our platform to be highly configurable and scalable, enabling banks and credit unions to compete across the business spectrum. With Banno Business, financial institutions can expand and monetize their market share – a $370 billion revenue opportunity – while making a continued impact in their communities.”

Banno Business combines business solutions – such as cash management and commercial lending – with embedded payment capabilities, cash flow tools, reporting, and other features to help business owners better manage their finances. SMEs can also link external accounts to their financial institution via an integration with Finicity (a Mastercard company). Banno Business empowers regional and community financial institutions to leverage their relationships with and knowledge of their local businesses and business owners.

Institutions like High Plains Bank of Colorado are using Banno Business to attract more small and medium-sized businesses as customers, while at the same time helping local businesses improve their finances. The bank’s Chief Experience Officer Brian Otteman praised the ease with which business owners can “manage permissions for their employees, simplify their money movement, and understand their cashflow.” Freedom First Credit Union, a community-based financial institution headquartered in Virginia, is leveraging Banno Business to ingratiate itself to the local business community. “Having a full business solution with the digital user experience that our members know and trust makes for an easy transition to new markets,” Freedom First CU President and CEO Paul Phillips said. “Banno Business positions us to mature existing member relationships and grow net new business; it’s a win for our deposit acquisition strategy and diversifies our portfolio.”

Headquartered in Monett, Missouri, and founded in 1976, Jack Henry made its Finovate debut at Finovate 2010 in New York. The company returned to the Finovate stage four years later at FinovateEurope in London. A leading fintech and solution provider for financial institutions, Jack Henry empowers banks and credit unions to attract commercial accountholders, grow revenues, improve efficiency, and bolster the financial health and banking experience of their customers and members. Jack Henry has approximately 7,500 clients, and more than 10.5 million registered users of its Banno retail platform, which supports the company’s Banno Business offering.

Jack Henry is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker JKHY. The firm has a market capitalization of $12 billion. Last week, Jack Henry announced that CEO and Board Chair David Foss will transition to a new role as Executive Board Chair at the end of June. The company will name current President and Chief Operating Officer Greg Adelson as CEO and President on the first of July.

Photo by Adrien Olichon

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