If our European fintech conference, FinovateEurope, is our most international event, then FinovateSpring—which kicks off next week in San Diego, May 7 through 9—is our most homegrown. This year, for example, only three of the 40+ companies that will be demoing their innovations live on stage are headquartered outside the United States.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global leads off with an introduction to these three fintechs. Hailing from New Zealand, Canada, and Mexico City, respectively, these innovators will provide insights into the kinds of financial challenges faced and solutions sought by businesses and consumers alike.
APIMatic – Auckland, New Zealand
Founded in 2014, APIMatic is a developer experience platform for APIs that enables organizations to drive fast, widespread adoption of their APIs. The platform supports every stage of the API journey, from design and dynamic SDKs to code sample generation and end-to-end automation. Adeel Ali is Founder and CEO.
Cinareo Solutions – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Cinareo Solutions offers a capacity planning platform that provides pro-active resource planning and financial analysis to cost-efficiently manage front- and back-office team members, as well as support staff. Launched in 2022, the company is a winner of Finovate’s Sustainability & Inclusion Scholarship Program. Karen Elliott is CEO.
Hyperdesk – San Francisco, California and Mexico City, Mexico
Founded in 2025, Hyperdesk provides an AI-powered search engine that helps credit unions and community banks grow their loans and deposits by better engaging with local businesses. Eric Yáñez is Founder and CEO.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Central and Southern Asia
- Mongolia-based digital lender LendMN secured $20 million in debt financing from Lendable.
- TBC Uzbekistan launched its new SME lending product this week.
- Business Today India profiled Indian fintech Nucleus Software.
Latin America and the Caribbean
- Uruguay-based cross-border payment platform dLocal announced a strategic partnership with online international education platform 51Talk.
- International identity verification firm Veriff opened new offices in São Paulo, Brazil.
- FinMont, an international payment orchestration platform, unveiled new offices in Bogotá, Colombia.
Asia-Pacific
- Singapore fintech Surfin raised $26.5 million to provide financial solutions for the underbanked.
- Hong Kong-based Airstar Bank partnered with Tencent Cloud to migrate its operations to the cloud.
- Malaysia announced the operational launch of its Malaysian Blockchain Infrastructure (MBI).
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Nigerian fintech and microfinance bank, Bankly, has been acquired by C-One Ventures.
- Fintech startup Djamo raised $17 million to boost financial inclusion in French-speaking Africa.
- The Central Bank of Nigeria imposed a $190,000 fine on Paystack for operating its latest solution, Zap, without the appropriate licensing.
Central and Eastern Europe
- Slovenian payment processing company Bankart partnered with Iliad Solutions as its payment testing provider.
- Berlin, Germany-based corporate card platform Pliant raised $40 million in Series B funding.
- Polish fintech BidFinance raised €1.6 million in seed funding from 4growth VC, FundingBox, and a group of business angel investors.
Middle East and Northern Africa
- UAE-based Islamic bank Ruya introduced a new service to enable customers to trade cryptocurrencies via its mobile app.
- The MENA Fintech Association (MFTA) welcomed Iraq-based digital payments and identity services provider International Smart Card (ISC).
- Alfardan Exchange partnered with iPiD to launch Qatar’s first real-time payee verification service.
Photo by Gaël Gaborel – OrbisTerrae on Unsplash
