Alumni profile

TransUnion Rebrands Business Solutions

TransUnion Rebrands Business Solutions
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, TransUnion

TransUnion’s business solutions are getting a fresh start this week with a new look. The global information and insights company has rebranded its lines of business solutions in the U.S., organizing them into seven different categories.

“TransUnion’s rebrand clarifies our product offerings and better demonstrates our expertise in both our heritage and new markets, while also making it easier for customers to find what they need,” said company President and CEO Chris Cartwright. “It’s the next logical step in the company’s evolution. We can now offer more powerful consumer insights than ever before, allowing us to meet the needs of our customers in more ways, and at a much deeper level.”

The seven business solutions leverage TransUnion’s “organic investments,” as well as the company’s recent acquisitions of digital identity solutions companies Neustar and Sontiq which TransUnion purchased in 2021 for $3.1 billion and $638 million, respectively. The company has built upon its expertise in consumer identity to expand beyond credit into fraud management, marketing solutions, and communications.

TransUnion’s new business solutions include:

  • TruAudience includes omnichannel audience targeting and advanced analytics to enhance marketing and media performance. The solution includes all TransUnion marketing products, as well as all marketing offerings from Neustar.
  • TruValidate offers fraud prevention and identity proofing products. TruValidate includes all of TransUnion’s fraud products, as well as all fraud offerings from Neustar.
  • TruVision is comprised of risk management products that help balance risk and identify best-fit customers across the account. Among the products in the TruVision line are all TransUnion risk tools, including those formerly known as CreditVision, CreditVision Link, and DriverRisk.
  • TruIQ offers advanced analytics products and services that provide insights into the decision-making process. TruIQ includes offerings formerly known as Prama and Innovation Lab, as well as other custom analytic services.
  • TruEmpower is comprised of consumer engagement products including consumer-facing tools such as those formerly known as CreditView Dashboard, as well as offerings from IdentityForce and Cyberscout.
  • TruLookup offers investigative products that help organizations conduct faster due diligence or issue resolution, and includes TLOxp, TransUnion’s skip tracing, investigative research, and risk management tool.
  • TruContact includes communications and contact center products to help restore trust in communications, enhance customer outreach, and streamline delivery of telecom connectivity services. TruContact includes products from Neustar’s Communications and Contact Center Solutions.

TransUnion’s Chief Global Solutions Officer Tim Martin anticipates that the move to rebrand will both simplify its offerings and allow customers from a range of industries to navigate the products.

Launched as a consumer credit reporting agency in 1968, TransUnion has since pivoted to focus more holistically on data. The company is publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker TRU and has a market capitalization of $12.8 billion.

Photo by Vojtech Okenka

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Digital Asset Platform Bakkt Bets on B2B, Pivots from Consumer Crypto

Digital Asset Platform Bakkt Bets on B2B, Pivots from Consumer Crypto
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Bakkt, Daily news

The decision by digital asset platform Bakkt to pivot toward B2B technology solutions and away from consumer-based crypto products appears to be part of the greater re-evaluation that many fintechs are doing in the wake of the crypto crash of 2022. The company, which made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall last September, announced this week that it was turning the page on its consumer-facing app, launched in March 2021. Instead, the Alpharetta, Georgia-based fintech will focus on helping businesses provide crypto and loyalty experiences to its customers via SaaS and API solutions.

“As we continue to gain traction with our B2B2C strategy, we are laser focused on providing our partners and clients with seamless solutions that best serve their needs,” Bakkt President and CEP Gavin Michael said. “The discontinuation of the app ensures we are supporting the relationship our partners and clients have with their customers. With this move, we are focusing our investment on our core solutions that have product-market fit and are positioned to scale quickly.”

Bakkt’s decision to shutter its consumer-based crypto app comes in the wake of the company’s agreement to acquire crypto trading platform Apex Crypto from Apex Fintech Solutions back in November 2022. With more than 30 fintech partners and more than five million customers, Apex Crypto is expected to help support Bakkt’s B2B2C strategy of bringing more crypto-based solutions to clients in a range of verticals.

Bakkt’s consumer crypto app is set to sunset just over one month from now, on March 16. Current users of the app will continue to be able to access their crypto and cash on the platform courtesy of a new online, device-agnostic solution. The new experience will enable users to check crypto balances, as well as access transaction reports for tax purposes.

Founded in 2018, Bakkt demoed its Crypto Connect technology at FinovateFall last year. The solution helped consumers use their current financial services institution’s mobile app to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies in a secure, trusted environment. In December, Bakkt laid off 15% of its exempt employee base in a bid to better control costs as the cryptocurrency downturn and FTX scandal soured the much of the public – as well as investors – on the space.

A publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange since the fall of 2021, Bakkt is listed under the ticker “BKKT.” The firm has a market capitalization of $433 million.

Photo by RODNAE Productions

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Listerhill Credit Union Taps Glia for Digital Customer Service

Listerhill Credit Union Taps Glia for Digital Customer Service
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Glia

When every year is declared the year of the customer, it means more firms are motivated to upgrade their customer service technology. That may be why Listerhill Credit Union selected digital customer service company Glia to overhaul its digital customer service technology.

“Glia has enabled us to provide online service that mirrors our personalized, in-branch experience, allowing members to feel connected as a part of the Listerhill community regardless of communication channels,” said Listerhill Digital Strategist Dustin Holland.

Listerhill is leveraging Glia’s Digital Customer Service (DCS) suite, which includes online collaboration tools such as co-browsing to support its 92,000 members across five U.S. states. The credit union has implemented DCS in its mortgage lending department to guide members through mortgage applications and help them if they have a question or need assistance completing the process.

Listerhill said that this application of Glia’s DCS has resulted in “significant” new growth for its mortgage business. In fact, the credit union’s mortgage application conversion rate is four times the industry average, which has added up to an additional $2 million in mortgage sales year-over-year.

“By seeing who is actively reviewing mortgage information on our site, I’m able to connect and offer assistance that can help move a member closer to applying for a mortgage with Listerhill, without bothering members who are looking for other services,” said Listerhill Mortgage Originator Specialist Angela Underwood. “It’s a high-touch sales process that aligns to Listerhills’ focus on great member experiences.”

New York-based Glia was founded in 2012 as SaleMove. The company offers digital communication environments, on-screen collaboration, and AI-enabled assistance tools for clients who need to support end customers online, over the phone, in home office environments, and via video. Glia has taken home 10 Finovate Best of Show awards for its live demos and most recently showcased its tools at FinovateSpring 2021. 

Last June, Glia acquired conversational AI creator Finn.ai for an undisclosed sum. Last month, Glia announced a major update to its call center platform that integrates Finn.ai’s conversational AI to automate phone interactions and facilitate banks’ migration from phone-centric to digital-first customer service.  

Since it was founded in 2012, Glia has raised $152 million. The company has partnered with more than 400 credit unions, banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions, and was recently named a Deloitte Technology Fast 500 company for a third year in a row. Daniel Michaeli is CEO.

Photo by MART PRODUCTION

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Trulioo Unveils New Global Identity Verification Platform for Individuals and Businesses

Trulioo Unveils New Global Identity Verification Platform for Individuals and Businesses
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, Trulioo
  • Trulioo unveiled a new global identity verification platform this week.
  • The new offering combines both individual and business verification with no-code workflow building, low-code integrations, and more into a single platform.
  • A Finovate alums since 2014, Trulioo won Best of Show in its most recent Finovate appearance at FinovateEurope last March.

Identity verification specialist Trulioo launched a new global identity verification platform this week. The new offering combines individual and business verification solutions with no-code workflow building, low-code integrations, and more in a single platform. The platform will give companies the ability to provide a streamlined onboarding experience, as well as the kind of intuitive user experiences that help build both trust and inclusivity.

“Trulioo is the identity platform businesses turn to in order to solve the inherent complexity in onboarding customers globally,” Trulioo CEO Steve Munford said. “We enable businesses to offer their goods and services in nearly every country in the world and remain compliant. We provide our customers with industry-leading capabilities backed by best-in-class customer success so they can focus on their business and customers.”

With a single contract, the new offering will enable Trulioo customers to readily access:

  • Personally identifiable information matching
  • Identity document verification
  • Utility data for proof of address
  • Business verification for in-depth person-of-significant-control
  • Ultimate-beneficial-owner verification
  • Watchlist screening and monitoring
  • Anti-fraud capabilities

“Trulioo is the only company that delivers an integrated, high-performance platform with comprehensive capabilities, out-of-the-box processes and models, easy no-code configurability, and the ability to customize and amend functionality,” Trulioo Chief Product Officer Michael Ramsbacker said. “We are giving our customers the power to create verification workflows that best meet their needs with just one contract and in one intuitive platform.”

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, Trulioo has been a Finovate alum since 2014. Demoing its latest technology on the Finovate stage most recently at FinovateEurope 2022 in London, Trulioo won Best of Show for its GlobalGateway Business Verification to Identity Verification workflow. This functionality, using Trulioo’s GlobalGateway Orchestration, enabled easy-to-do business verification, simple verification of owner identities, and world-class orchestration and workflow building.

The company’s new product launch this week comes as a growing number of businesses are pursuing opportunities in online commerce, mobile payments, and digital currencies. And while these avenues represent significant innovation and progress, they also bring with them new concerns over fraud and financial crime. Being able to know your customer, know your business, identify money laundering and more have become critical – and complex – compliance issues for businesses of all sizes. As such, it is as important for growing companies to have a verification solution that is customizable to their particular needs and workflows, while at the same time providing the requisite scale to support rapidly expanding enterprises. This is especially true when it comes to international expansion.

Trulioo’s platform reaches more than five billion consumers in 195 countries, and enables companies to access more than 450 data sources globally to provide broad, comprehensive identity and business verification. The company has raised more than $474 million in funding from investors including TCV, which led Trulioo’s $394 million Series D round in 2021; and Goldman Sachs, which led the company’s $52 million Series C in 2019.

Photo by Min An

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Sandstone Technology Appoints New CTO

Sandstone Technology Appoints New CTO
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Sandstone

Banking technology company Sandstone Technology appointed a new CTO this month. The company unveiled today it has selected Anthony McKew to fill the role.

With more than 35 years of experience in banking and technology, McKew has worked for companies including Linkly, Premier Technologies, and SecurePay. He has expertise in designing and managing enterprise-grade platforms for major retailers, government agencies, and digital operations for vendors and service providers.

“I am extremely pleased with the addition of Anthony to our Leadership team as our Chief Technology Officer,” said Sandstone CEO Abhish Saha. “This is an essential role, supporting our customers across the globe and being a key driver of our ongoing business strategy and growth. Anthony’s intimate understanding of Financial Institutions and their security and technology needs will be of great value to both our customers and our staff.”

McKew, who began his appointment on January 9th of this year, fills the shoes of Sandstone’s former CTO Chaitanya Pinnamaneni.

Sandstone was founded in 1996 and currently offers a suite of tools for loan origination, its BankFast mobile app that offers end users a seamless experience between web and mobile channels, and intelligent document processing tools that enable banks to capture, classify, and extract data stored in borrower-submitted documents.

The Australia-based company formed its most recent partnership with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank to offer a single platform that covers all its third party origination channels and limits exposure to legacy systems. In March of last year, Sandstone launched an innovation hub to capture emerging opportunities from new enabling technologies.

“At Sandstone we pride ourselves on our longstanding strategic partnerships with our customers, where we look to solve business problems together, not just provide a service,” said Sandstone CEO Michael Phillipou. “As the banking landscape continues to evolve apace, we’re excited to start working alongside our customers to develop solutions that grasp tomorrow’s opportunities, as well as today’s.”

Photo by Scott Webb

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Savings Platform Plinqit Teams Up with SUMA FCU to Help Members Enhance Financial Wellness

Savings Platform Plinqit Teams Up with SUMA FCU to Help Members Enhance Financial Wellness
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, Plinqit

The jury is still out on whether or not January is officially Financial Wellness Month. But savings platform Plinqit isn’t waiting around for any verdict. The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based fintech announced this week that it has partnered with SUMA Federal Credit Union to help give the institution’s 7,000+ members the resources they need to become better savers.

The partnership will enable SUMA FCU’s members to access tools such as Plinqit’s Build Skills solution. Build Skills provides users with content that helps them build their personal finance awareness and savings skills, and then pays them for learning new skills. In turn, the funds earned from learning more about financial wellness can help propel users toward their Plinqit savings goals. SUMA FCU members will be able to access the functionality via SUMA FCU’s digital banking platform, thanks to Plinqit’s integration with Jack Henry’s Banno Digital Toolkit.

SUMA FCU expects the new technology will help attract new members to the credit union as well as enhance the banking experience for existing members. The institution serves communities in Yonkers and Spring Valley, New York, as well as New Haven and Stamford, Connecticut. Both regions feature sizable populations of Ukrainian immigrants and parishioners of St. Michael’s Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church. Established more than 55 years ago, SUMA FCU has more than $400 million in assets today.

“Credit unions are known for having strong relationships with their member base and SUMA Federal Credit Union has exemplified this for decades,” Plinqit CEO and founder Kathleen Craig said. She highlighted SUMA FCU’s support of local institutions, including churches, Ukrainian youth groups, and other cultural organizations. “Plinqit is proud to partner with an institution that consistently strives to make a meaningful impact in its community,” Craig said.

Plinqit made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2019 in New York. At the conference, Plinqit demoed its Build Skills offering – “created by Millennials for Millennials” – which aligns data, behavior, and incentives to make savings goals easier to set and attain. Last year, the company secured $5 million in Series A funding. The round, co-led by Fintop Capital of Nashville, Tennessee, and JAM FINTOP of New York, took Plinqit’s total funding to nearly $10 million.

Plinqit’s partnership announcement comes just a week after the company released its latest State of Savings Report. This survey, which measures top savings priorities for consumers, showed that 43% of consumers are actively contributing to an emergency fund for both short-term and long-term potential expenses. “While the price increases for everyday necessities leave many U.S. households with financial stress, consumers remain focused on building up their emergency savings even in these trying times,” Craig said. “Providing tools to help them be successful in their savings goal is critical for financial institutions.”

Photo by Dany Kurniawan

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Jumio Helps Car-Sharing Company GetGo Onboard New Drivers

Jumio Helps Car-Sharing Company GetGo Onboard New Drivers
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Jumio

Digital identity solutions company Jumio announced yesterday that Singapore car-sharing company GetGo has selected its technology to help onboard new drivers.

As one of the largest car-sharing services in Singapore, GetGo seeks to offer a user-friendly online ecosystem that promotes shared and sustainable mobility. The company was founded in 2020 to help users rent and share cars, enabling users to book a car using their mobile phones. GetGo focuses on simplicity, flexibility, and accessibility. These three attributes add up to one thing– customer centricity.

In order to help drivers onboard to the GetGo platform, GetGo will leverage Jumio’s identity verification tools that leverage biometrics and AI to automatically authenticate GetGo users. Jumio will help GetGo protect its fleet of 1,700 vehicles against theft by requiring drivers to provide a valid government-issued ID and a selfie. The partnership will reduce the time it takes GetGo customers to onboard down to minutes.

“Jumio’s facial verification technology allows GetGo to simultaneously raise its trust and safety standards while enhancing its customer onboarding experience,” said GetGo Product Lead Lionel Fong. “GetGo looks forward to a long-term partnership with Jumio in pushing the boundaries on bringing a reliable and frictionless verification experience to the masses.”

Jumio was founded in 2010 and came close to collapse when it filed for bankruptcy in 2016. After restructuring, Jumio sold to Centana Venture Partners, which acquired the company for $850,000 two months after its bankruptcy filing.

Jumio has come a long way since its dip in 2016. The company has processed over one billion transactions from over 200 countries and territories. What’s more, Jumio acquired KYC and anti-fraud solutions company 4stop in 2021 and compliance firm Beam in 2020. The company’s most recent funding round took place in March of 2021 when it closed a $150 million round from Great Hill Partners, bringing its total funding to $255 million.

Photo by Lisa Fotios

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FinovateEurope’s Alumni Alley Showcases Fintech’s Pioneers

FinovateEurope’s Alumni Alley Showcases Fintech’s Pioneers
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni profile, FinovateEurope 2023

To close out 2022, we highlighted our upcoming FinovateEurope Alumni Alley showcase. This event, part of FinovateEurope in London, March 13 through 14, will feature the companies that made their Finovate debuts at our annual European conference. Find out more about Alumni Alley and how you and your company can take advantage of this unique opportunity.

We commemorated the announcement of Alumni Alley with this multi-part look back at some of FinovateEurope’s earliest alums. Click the image to enjoy a little stroll down fintech’s memory lane.

Featuring Cardlytics, D3 Technology (formerly Lodo Software), and AcceptEasy (formerly AcceptEmail)

Featuring Xero, Tilte (formerly known as Striata), and DirectID (formerly miiCard)

Featuring Finantix, BusinessForensics, and StockTwits

Featuring Backbase, Boku, and SecureKey.

Featuring Meniga, Linxo, and eToro

Photo by Peter Spencer | Additional art credits in the original articles

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Green Dot and Wealthfront Extend Relationship

Green Dot and Wealthfront Extend Relationship
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Green Dot, Wealthfront

Wealth management provider Wealthfront is extending its relationship with digital bank and banking-as-a-service provider Green Dot this week.

Wealthfront originally tapped Green Dot in 2020 to use the company’s banking-as-a-service tools to offer its Cash Account clients access to checking features. Today, the two announced they are continuing the relationship.

Wealthfront’s Cash Account leverages Green Dot to offer features competitive with other digital banks, including the ability to receive direct deposits up to two days early, pay bills, send and deposit checks, and use a debit card to access cash at ATMs. The account requires a $1 initial deposit, offers unlimited free transfers, automated savings features, near-instant transfers into Wealthfront’s Investment Accounts, and more.

Additionally, Wealthfront’s Cash Accounts pay a 3.80% APY, a huge improvement over what most firms were offering during the recent near-zero interest rate environment. The competition among digital banking providers has intensified, and competing on interest rates will be a good way for these newcomers to gain new customers and increased deposits. That’s because many large traditional banks are paying an average of just 0.24% APY.

Other players in the wealth management space are also currently offering high interest rates on their checking accounts. Personal Capital just announced it will pay 3.85% and Betterment is paying 3.75% on its high-yield account.

“Today’s investors want smart saving and investing products that help them build wealth in all market conditions, which is why we’re proud to offer the Cash Account to help our clients earn more on their uninvested savings,” said Wealthfront VP of Product Dave Myszewski. “With one of the highest rates on the market plus checking features powered by Green Dot, we’re able to provide a best-in-class Cash Account that is far superior to what a traditional bank can offer, so our clients can grow their long-term wealth easily and conveniently.”

Wealthfront had a hopeful start to 2022 when UBS agreed to acquire the California-based company for $1.4 billion in January. Nine months later, however, UBS called off the agreement because of “unspecified regulatory concerns.” Along with the termination, UBS gave Wealthfront $70 million in financing at a $1.4 billion valuation. “With this fresh round of funding under our belt along with the ability to begin self-funding the business, we are committed to building a lasting company that positively impacts the lives of our clients for decades to come,” said Wealthfront Chief Executive Officer David Fortunato.

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Railsr Taps Featurespace for Fraud Prevention

Railsr Taps Featurespace for Fraud Prevention
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Featurespace

Embedded finance platform Railsr is teaming up with fraud prevention company Featurespace this week to bolster fraud prevention efforts for Railsr as a company, as well as for its clients.

Railsr will leverage Featurespace’s ARIC Risk Hub, combined with its own fraud teams, to provide its clients with a compliance tool to stay on top of regulations. The fraud tools will be available to Railsr clients with a single integration, making it easier for them to focus on growth while remaining compliant.

“As the market accelerates towards embedded finance, consumers expect a frictionless payment experience that is built into the transaction process. With Featurespace’s AI and ML capabilities, Railsr can provide an enhanced level of customer experience, making consumers’ lives simpler and safer,” said Railsr Global Head of Product for Fincrime and Operations Stuart Hartley.

The ARIC Risk Hub will enable Railsr customers to view and manage their fraud analytics, as well as offer them a single place to access Featurespace’s fraud and AML (FRAML) solutions.

“The Railsr platform is a natural fit for Featurespace,” said Featurespace Chief Commercial Officer Matt Mills. “As embedded finance increasingly becomes expected by consumers, making sure they are protected from fraud and financial crime must be expected in equal measure. Railsr have recognized this early and added a critical layer of self-learning technology to ensure their customers get only the best experience.”

Railsr anticipates the new fraud tools will be available within the next year.

Today’s news comes amid a string of high-profile partnerships for Featurespace last month, including with BBVA, Diebold Nixdorf, and Global Processing Services. Featurespace has more than 30 major bank clients including four of the five largest banks in the U.K. Among Featurespace’s customers are HSBC, TSYS, Worldpay, RBS NatWest Group, Danske Bank, ClearBank, and more.

Founded in 2005 by a university professor and his PhD student, Featurespace has raised $108 million, including its most recent investment of $37 million received in 2020.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

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ACI Worldwide Appoints Thomas Warsop Interim CEO

ACI Worldwide Appoints Thomas Warsop Interim CEO
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news

Real-time payments software company ACI Worldwide has appointed Thomas Warsop as its Interim Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Warsop was formerly the non-executive Chair of the ACI Worldwide Board of Directors. He replaces Odilon Almeida, who was the company’s CEO from March 2020 until now. Almeda was named CEO after Philip Heasley – who had served as CEO and President for 15 years – retired. Independent board director Adalio Sanchez will assume the role of non-executive Board chair.

“As ACI advances its vision to lead the real-time payments revolution, the Board is determined that now is the right time to transition to a new leader focused on accelerating our technology transformation and delivering operational excellence across our business,” ACI Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Chair Mary Harman said.

A member of the company’s board of directors since the summer of 2015, Warsop became non-executive chairman seven years later in June of 2022. In addition to his tenure on the ACI board, Warsop brings his experience as Group President at Fiserv to his new position. Warsop has led a number of private equity firms previous to joining the ACI board including One Call Care Management, York Risk Services Group, and The Warranty Group. He also held executive roles at Electronic Data Systems, ranging from President of the firm’s Business Process Outsourcing unit in the Asia Pacific to Vice President of Global Financial Services.

“ACI is uniquely positioned to support banks, merchants, and billers around the world,” Warsop said in a statement. “We have market-leading software platforms in use at many of the world’s leading financial institutions and are poised not just to benefit from, but to drive, the rapidly approaching real-time payments revolution.”

ACI Worldwide’s C-suite news comes less than a week after the company announced third quarter results. The report included a 35% year over year increase in new ARR bookings, as well as “notable booking success across all segments, providing visibility into future revenue growth,” then-CEO and president Almeida said. At the same time, the company the impact of inflationary pressures on both interchange revenue and foreign exchanges rates. Adjusted EBITDA for Q3 was down year over year, but the company did iterate its full-year guidance.

Challenges notwithstanding, ACI Worldwide has continued to forge partnerships with institutions around the world, helping them enhance their payment operations. The company teamed up with Sweden’s Westpay in September, who will deploy ACI Secure eCommerce to bring new capabilities to its in-store payment solutions. Also that month, ACI Worldwide announced a partnership with loan management software provider GOLDPoint Systems. ACI will help the Provo, Utah-based company to digitize its billpay operations via its ACI Speedpay solution, which is used by thousands of billers in the U.S.

Founded in 1975 in Omaha, Nebraska, ACI Worldwide is currently headquartered in Miami, Florida. The company is a leading force driving innovation in real-time electronic payments for banks, processors, billers, networks, and more. ACI Worldwide serves 19 of the top 20 banks worldwide, enables more than 80,000 merchants, and provides electronic billpay technology for thousands of organizations. Processing more than 225 billion consumer transactions a year, the company serves more than 6,000 customers in 95 countries around the world.

A publicly traded fintech on the NASDAQ under the ticker “ACIW,” ACI Worldwide has a market capitalization of $2.4 billion. The company has been a Finovate alum since 2011, demoing its business banking solution in partnership with mShift at FinovateFall. ACI Worldwide returned to the Finovate stage five years later to lead a presentation on its latest innovations in ecommerce payment technology at our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley in 2016.

Photo by Pixabay

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Bluefin Payment Systems Acquires TECS Payment Systems

Bluefin Payment Systems Acquires TECS Payment Systems
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Bluefin, Bluefin Payment Systems, Mergers & Acquisitions

Payment and data security company Bluefin Payment Systems announced it will acquire TECS Payment Systems, an omnichannel payment solutions provider.

Once the deal is finalized, Bluefin and TECS will serve a combined 34,000 merchants and close to 300 global partners in 55 countries. And for both Atlanta, Georgia-based Bluefin and Austria-based TECS, the acquisition will expand their geographical footprint.

“We are delighted to welcome TECS’ employees, customers and partners to Bluefin,” said Bluefin CEO John M. Perry. “This combination brings together two companies that focus relentlessly on meeting merchant needs for next-generation payment processing and management as well as the secure exchange of PHI and PII data with PCI-validated encryption and tokenization.”

Bluefin will leverage the purchase to offer its customers omnichannel payments and smartPOS capabilities, which will be integrated into the company’s existing payments and data security suite. TECS clients will benefit from added data security solutions, as well as additional resources for its TECS product and solution suite.

Founded in 2007, Bluefin offers encrypted and tokenized payments for point-of-sale transactions. Additionally, the company’s data security platform, ShieldConex, tokenizes payments, Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and Protected Health Information (PHI) entered online. Last month, the company appointed a new CRO to fuel its growth. And, earlier this fall, Bluefin partnered with commercial hardware manufacturer Sunmi.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

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