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Marqeta Inks Five-Year Exclusive Issuer Processor Partnership with Varo Bank

Marqeta Inks Five-Year Exclusive Issuer Processor Partnership with Varo Bank
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Marqeta
  • Card issuing platform Marqeta has signed a five-year deal with Varo Bank to serve as the financial institution’s issuer processor.
  • The partnership will enable Varo Bank to offer a range of new products including digital wallet tokenization via Apple and Google Wallets for its cardholders.
  • Headquartered in Oakland, California, Marqeta was founded in 2010.

Card issuing platform Marqeta has signed a five-year deal with Varo Bank to serve as the financial institution’s issuer processor. Marqeta’s ability to blend virtual, tokenized, and physical card-issuing technology with faster speed-to-market was among the factors cited by Varo Bank in teaming up with the fintech.

“We sought an issuer partner that complements our unique position as both a technology company and a regulated financial institution,” Varo Bank CEO Colin Walsh explained. “This partnership with Marqeta enables us to offer cutting-edge card issuing technology, giving our customers enhanced ability to view and manage their transactions efficiently. This advancement aligns perfectly with our mission of financial empowerment.”

Widely recognized as one of the first nationally-chartered consumer-based techbanks in the U.S., Varo Bank offers fee-free checking accounts, high-yield savings accounts, secured credit-building credit cards, instant payment solutions, and free ATM access at more than 40,000 locations. Varo Bank’s mobile app enables customers to review and improve their financial health, and now, courtesy of the institution’s partnership with Marqeta, the bank will enable digital wallet tokenization with Apple and Google Wallets for its cardholders.

“Marqeta is proud to announce this deal with Varo Bank, which relies on the latest payments and banking technologies to help Americans who are striving to get ahead,” Marqeta CEO Simon Khalaf said. “Varo’s mission is aligned with ours and we can’t wait to start innovating with the Varo team, enabling their customers to see transactions in real-time thanks to Marqeta’s APIs.”

Marqeta is an alumnus of our developers conference series, FinDEVr. The company presented its technology at our event in Silicon Valley in 2016. In the years since then, the Oakland, California-based fintech has grown into a major, modern card issuing platform operating in 40 countries and processing more than $160 billion in volume in 2022. The company’s partnership news with Varo Bank comes less than a month after Marqeta announced that it had become the first issuer processor in the U.S. that was certified to enable Visa Flexible Credential, a product that provides access to multiple funding sources from a single payment card.

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

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Blend Teams Up with Instant Payments-as-a-Service Specialist Astra

Blend Teams Up with Instant Payments-as-a-Service Specialist Astra
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Blend, Daily news

Digital banking solutions provider Blend has forged a partnership with instant payments-as-a-service company Astra. The partnership will integrate Astra’s Card to Account payment solution directly within Blend’s Deposit Account application flow. This will enable Blend customers to drive digital engagement beyond the initial application capture, lowering abandonment rates and helping consumers complete applications faster.

“Today consumers expect a frictionless, real-time product experience, and that starts at account opening,” Astra CEO and Co-Founder Gil Akos said. “Financial institutions and fintechs need to deliver a best-in-class onboarding flow to win new customers – instant account funding is the perfect solution, leading to improved activation rates of 30% or better on day one. We’re proud to partner with Blend to offer this experience to their customers.”

Funding by card is an increasingly popular option given the relative inconvenience of other methods, such as ACH transfers. By comparison, funding new accounts via debit cards is a faster and more seamless process (no routing or account numbers to remember). And because cards only enable transactions up to the available balance, card funding also helps avoid potential overdrafts when using ACH transfers, a risk for consumers who may have limited funds or irregular cash flow.

Further advantages include accelerated onboarding, more activated accounts, reduced abandonment, a smoother application experience, and less manual intervention.

Blend noted in a statement that card funding is also one of the more popular ways for consumers to fund new accounts. The company pointed to one of its customers, a major credit union, that reported that 82% of their new deposit accounts were funded using Astra card funding. Another credit union customer of Blend said that 66% of its consumers preferred funding via Astra card compared to other methods. Card funding for Blend Deposit Accounts is now generally available for all customers.

Astra offers a platform for instant payments that enables product teams to embed payments into their solutions. The company’s API facilitates seamless fund transfers between bank accounts and cards, providing a fast, secure, and built-for-scale alternative to traditional fund transfer methods such as ACH.

Astra launched its first, end-to-end instant payment solution with FedNow in the fall of 2023. In December, the company announced a partnership with merchant connectivity platform Knot to enable seamless card switching with instant funding. Founded in 2016, Astra is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.

Blend demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2016. At the conference, the company demoed its Data-Driven Mortgage solution which leverages high-fidelity data sources to drive down origination costs, maintain digital compliance, and provide a positive user experience for borrowers.

Last month, Blend announced its acquisition of applied AI company nuvu, and expanded its partnership with DataIQ. In May, Blend secured an investment of $150 million from technology-focused private equity firm Haveli Investments.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, and founded in 2012, Blend is a publicly-traded company on the NYSE. Trading under the ticker BLND, the company has a market capitalization of $678 million. Nima Ghamsari is CEO and Co-Founder.

Photo by KEHN HERMANO

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PayPal Makes Fastlane Generally Available to U.S. Merchants

PayPal Makes Fastlane Generally Available to U.S. Merchants
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, PayPal
  • PayPal is launching Fastlane, a one-click guest checkout experience for online merchants.
  • Fastlane automatically recognizes shoppers based on their phone number or email address, and autofills information forms in the checkout flow.
  • PayPal first unveiled Fastlane in January, and has been testing the solution with select merchants and ecommerce sites, including BigCommerce.

Fintech pioneer PayPal is launching Fastlane, its guest checkout tool, for all U.S. merchants this week. Fastlane aims to accelerate the guest checkout experience to help users complete their purchase in as little as one click.

Merchants can integrate Fastlane into their existing online checkout flow to create a simpler, faster checkout experience for the 43% of consumers who prefer a guest checkout experience. By using the customer’s email, Fastlane recognizes shoppers early in the guest checkout process and allows them to access their saved information with a one-time passcode sent via email. After entering their passcode, users can autofill the information in the checkout flow and complete their purchase in as little as one click.

When Fastlane does not recognize a shopper, it allows them to create a Fastlane profile by opting in during their purchase process, enabling faster transactions in the future.The tool does not require users to fill out forms or remember passwords.

“Fastlane by PayPal significantly reduces the time consumers spend using guest checkout – making for a more seamless checkout experience,” said PayPal President and CEO Alex Chriss. “With Fastlane, we are bringing an accelerated guest checkout to businesses of all sizes helping them to drive more sales.”

PayPal unveiled Fastlane in January and has since tested the technology with select businesses, including merchant SaaS provider BigCommerce, which is among the first ecommerce sites to test PayPal’s Fastlane. Over the past several months of trialing the technology, BigCommerce saw a 32% reduction in time it took for customers to check out. Additionally, as company CEO Brent Bellm noted, “Results from early-adopting test customers show that Fastlane users convert more than 80% of the time, which is up to a 50% improvement over guest shoppers who do not use Fastlane. For BigCommerce enterprise customers using PayPal, the Fastlane experience further improves on our checkout conversion rate of 71%.”

Fastlane is available for U.S. merchants on PayPal Complete Payments and PayPal Braintree, as well as via platforms including Adobe Commerce, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and others.

Photo by Martin Dusek

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Yorkshire Building Society Partners with Doshi to Educate for First-Time Homeowners

Yorkshire Building Society Partners with Doshi to Educate for First-Time Homeowners
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Doshi App
  • In partnership with financial literacy platform Doshi, Yorkshire Building Society is offering online financial education to first-time prospective homebuyers.
  • The new free tool, available on the YBS website to customers and non-customers alike, walks new homebuyers through the entire home-buying process.
  • Doshi made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateEurope in London.

Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) has teamed up with gamified financial literacy platform Doshi to launch an online educational program for first-time prospective homeowners. The new tool is available in the mortgage section of Yorkshire Building Society’s website, and guides borrowers through the process of applying for a mortgage and buying their first home.

The program walks prospective homeowners through the entire home-buying journey, including how to prepare for buying a home, how to secure financing, understanding the various steps of the home-buying process, and the importance of maintaining their home once they’ve made their purchase. The program explains important concepts and potentially unfamiliar terms, and provides a timeline of the overall process. The tool is available free of charge to both YBS customers and non-customers.

“Partnering with Yorkshire Building Society to empower aspiring homeowners is a significant step toward making homeownership more accessible,” Doshi CEO Daniel Rose said. “Our program demystifies the mortgage process, providing engaging, bite-sized guidance every step of the way. We are excited to see the positive impact on first-time buyers.”

The new offering comes in the wake of research conducted by YBS that indicated that a lack of knowledge about the home-buying process was a major barrier for would-be homeowners. YBS noted that only 18% of those surveyed felt knowledgeable about the mortgage process, with even fewer respondents – 14% – saying that they knew what financial factors were key when applying for a mortgage. The survey further indicated that only 45% of respondents believed that a good credit score was an important factor in securing a mortgage. Only 34% stated that the ability to repay debts was important when it comes to obtaining the financing necessary to buy a home.

“We know from customer research that people feel more confident in their decision making when they are informed and know what to expect, which is why we are trialing this new learning tool, aimed at helping first-time buyers understand more about the home-buying process,” YBS senior manager for digital mortgage and enabling services Geddy Meguyer said.

The third-largest building society in the U.K., Yorkshire Building Society is a financial services mutual organization that offers savings, investing, insurance, and mortgage products. Headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, YBS had total assets of more than £60 billion as of December 2023. Along with its assets – the Chelsea Building Society, the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, Accord Mortgages, and savings business Egg – known as the Yorkshire Building Society Group, the group employs more than 3,000 and serves a membership of three million.

YBS’s partnership with Doshi is the latest effort by the building society to support first-time homeowners. This spring, YBS launched its £5k Deposit Mortgage product, which enabled first-time homebuyers to buy a property worth up to £500,000 with a deposit of only £5k, rather than the typical 5% down payment. The idea behind the £5k Deposit Mortgage was to deal with the biggest obstacle prospective homebuyers tend to face – raising the funds for a down payment.

Doshi made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2024 in February. At the conference, the company demoed its white-label app, which leverages personalized learning journeys and community rewards to turn complex topics into engaging experiences. Doshi’s AI-powered financial assistant technology is built for banks, credit unions, and fintechs, and is available as an app, a plug-and-play web module, as well as via API.

Doshi was founded in 2021. The company is headquartered in London.

Photo by Pixabay

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Bilt Rewards Lands $150 Million for Resident Loyalty Program

Bilt Rewards Lands $150 Million for Resident Loyalty Program
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Bilt Rewards received $150 million in a funding round led by Teachers’ Venture Growth.
  • The new round brings the company’s total funding to $710 million.
  • The funding comes six months after Bilt Rewards’ January investment round, which valued the company at $3.1 billion.

Bilt Rewards, a rewards program that allows renters to earn points for paying rent on time, announced it has received $150 million in funding this week. The venture round was led by Teachers’ Venture Growth, while existing and new investors, such as Vanderbilt University Endowment and the University of Illinois Foundation, also participated.

Bilt Rewards was founded in 2021 to help landlords collect on-time rent payments by incentivizing residents with tailored benefits. In addition to rewarding on-time rent payments, Bilt’s platform also offers rewards when residents spend at partner merchants, enabling merchants to drive more business from local customers and acquire new customers as new residents move to the area. The company will use today’s investment to further expand its neighborhood loyalty program with merchants across the U.S. 

“Bilt Rewards has created a unique loyalty program to empower renters,” said Teachers’ Venture Growth Senior Managing Director Rick Prostko. “We’ve seen the positive reaction from both customers and all those involved as part of their ecosystem. We are excited about the opportunity to work with Ankur and the full management team and find ways to support them as a value-add partner.”

Today’s investment, which boosts Bilt’s total funding to $710 million, comes about six months after Bilt’s last investment round led by General Catalyst and Eldridge. The $200 million raise, which closed in January, valued the company at $3.1 billion. As part of the January round, Bilt appointed Ken Chenault, former American Express CEO, as company chairman.

“In January, we recognized Bilt’s unique capture of loyalty in the previously untapped rental payments space,” said Chenault. “Today, Bilt is rapidly becoming the leading platform for driving neighborhood commerce. By connecting residents, property owners, and local businesses, we’re creating a powerful ecosystem that benefits all parties involved.”

Bilt Rewards is currently partnered with seven of the 10 largest multifamily housing owners in the country. The fintech, which is expanding to single-family homes and condominiums, plans to scale its resident loyalty program to include mortgage payments later this year.

“This funding accelerates our vision of rewarding Americans for how they live and spend in their communities,” said Ankur Jain, CEO of Bilt Rewards. “We’re rapidly growing our neighborhood loyalty program, expanding into essential categories like healthcare, gas, and groceries. With members in all 50 states, we’re building a comprehensive platform that benefits residents, property owners, and local businesses across the country.”

Photo by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS

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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, AMLYZE, Bankjoy, Daily news, Doshi App, Fintech Rundown, nCino, NCR Corporation, Weekly News, Zafin

A major sell-off in the stock market is giving investors jitters as August begins in earnest. Funding news for companies in lending and wealth management leads the fintech news this week. Be sure to check back over the next few days for the latest updates and announcements.

Lending

U.K.-based SME lender Shawbrook partners with nCino to automate loan origination.

Alternative financing company for mid-sized SMEs, ThinCats, secures a £75 million mezzanine facility.

Loyalty and rewards

Bilt Rewards receives $150 million investment at a valuation of $3.25 billion.

Digital banking

NCR Voyix announces agreement to sell its digital banking business to Veritas Capital for $2.45 billion in cash.

Zafin and 10x Banking forge global partnership to accelerate core banking system modernization.

Missouri Central Credit Union partners with Bankjoy to enhance its digital banking capabilities.

Banking technology and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) innovator Mbanq launches new suite of white-label mobile digital banking apps.

Wealth management

Financial advisor platform Savvy Wealth secures $26.5 million in Series A funding.

Payments

International trading broker Markets.com selects Worldpay to monitor its global payments processing and fund disbursements.

Payments platform Thredd introduces Chief Client Officer Brian Kieley.

Kickfin to use SkyTab POS to enhance restaurants’ tip payout process.

Layer2 raises a $10 million in Series A funding.

Credit Union of America selects NCR Atleos‘ Allpoint Network to expand access to cash.

Cybersecurity and digital identity

Fingerprint Cards appoints David Eastaugh as Chief Strategy and Technology Officer.

J.P. Morgan Payments and PopID to expand biometric offerings.

Financial literacy and education

U.K.-based Yorkshire Building Society teams up with financial education company Doshi to provide online program for first-time prospective homeowners.

Regtech

Anti-financial crime solution provider AMLYZE announces strategic partnership with pre-transaction crypto compliance specialist Notabene.

Small business banking

Flywire acquires Invoiced to bolster its global B2B payment network.

Egypt-based Cartona raises $8.1 million to grow its B2B platform.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

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Comarch Forges Strategic Partnership with DSK Bank

Comarch Forges Strategic Partnership with DSK Bank
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Comarch, Daily news
  • Polish IT solutions provider Comarch announced a strategic partnership with DSK Bank.
  • The partnership will help accelerate a strategic digitization program the bank launched in 2021.
  • Comarch has been a Finovate alum for more than a decade, making its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2013 in London.

Comarch, an IT solutions provider and systems integrator based in Poland, has forged a strategic partnership with DSK Bank. The partnership will accelerate the Bulgaria-based financial institution’s ongoing strategic digitalization efforts, which began in earnest in 2021.

“We are delighted to support DSK Bank in achieving its digitalization goals with our cutting-edge IT solutions,” Comarch Group CEE Director Piotr Kusek said. “This partnership underscores our mutual commitment to introducing innovative strategies that will transform the banking landscape and elevate financial services to a new level.”

An international IT business solution provider, Comarch employs 6,400 engineers, business consultants, marketing specialists, and other professionals who help optimize operations and business processes for companies in a wide variety of verticals including telecommunications and financial services. Comarch’s clients include BP Global, Telefónica Global, and Vodafone Germany.

Part of the OTP Banking Group, DSK Bank is Bulgaria’s largest bank. The institution was founded in 1951, and has total assets of more than $15.8 million (€14.74 million). In the spring of 2022, DSK Bank teamed up with another Finovate alum, Backbase, to support its digital transformation efforts.

Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Kraków, Poland, Comarch made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2013. Within a few years, the company reported revenues in excess of PLN 1 billion, hired its 5,000th employee, and opened its 90th worldwide office. Comarch launched its modern financial platform for business, Apfino, in 2021, and unveiled Poland’s first commission-free shopping platform, Wszystko.pl, in 2023.

This year, the IT solutions provider has extended its partnership with Dutch telecommunications operator KPN, teamed up with insurance company P&V Group – which will adopt Comarch’s Employee Benefits solution – and announced a collaboration with UAE-based telecommunications company and ICT player du. Last month, Comarch joined the European Loyalty Association, partnered with charitable organization The Blind Loyalty Trust, and secured accreditation as a Peppol Service Provider in Malaysia.

Photo by Mat Kedzia

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Monto Exits Stealth, Lands $9 Million to Rethink B2B Payments 

Monto Exits Stealth, Lands $9 Million to Rethink B2B Payments 
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • B2B payments facilitator Monto is exiting stealth with a $9 million funding round.
  • The Seed funding round was led by Scale Venture Partners.
  • The company plans to use the funds to scale its growth in the U.S.

There’s a new entrant in the B2B payments space. B2B payments facilitator Monto emerged from stealth this week, simultaneously announcing a $9 million Seed round.

Scale Venture Partners led the investment, while Verissimo Ventures, F2 Venture Capital, Firsthand Alliance, Room40 Ventures, and individual investors also participated. “Our investment in Monto is the result of years of work focusing on the CFO suite and the intersection with procurement. We are very well aware of the evolution of and pain points in this trillion-plus dollar market,” said Scale Venture Partners’ Alex Niehenke. “Monto is the only company that solves the one-off workflow problem for AR teams. It is the missing piece for any AP platform, without it, suppliers suffer.”

Monto will use today’s funds to further invest in technological improvements, as well as to fuel its U.S. expansion. As a starting point, the company is opening its first U.S. office in New York City.

Founded in Tel Aviv, with offices throughout the globe, Monto seeks to help make ACH and RTP B2B payments collection as easy as tapping a card. Business finance teams can use the company’s payments tool to receive payments from their customers’ third-party payment platforms, AP portal, or supplier portal, including Workday, QuickBooks, SAP, and Microsoft Dynamics. The payments simplification helps companies reduce Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and eliminate manual work by consolidating financial data from numerous sources.

Monto’s clients include large enterprises from various industries, including Shutterstock, TechTarget, Miro, and G2. Since launch, the company has helped its customers facilitate nearly $1 billion to buyers in more than 300 portals.

Monto’s founders, Maya Cohen and Nitsan Yerushalmi, previously worked implementing ERP systems in finance departments. “Monto is a strategic decision for CFOs, future-proofing them against a landscape where most, if not all, customers will soon use portals,” said Cohen, who now serves as the company’s CEO. “With Monto, getting paid by customers will be fully automatic, a concept we call ‘zero-touch,’ and we succeed in achieving that by working with, not against, the portals, an important distinction.”

Photo by airfocus on Unsplash

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Parlay Wins Spot in Mastercard Start Path Small Business Program

Parlay Wins Spot in Mastercard Start Path Small Business Program
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MasterCard, Parlay Protocol
  • Loan intelligence system company Parlay will join Mastercard’s Start Path Small Business program. Parlay is one of eight companies selected.
  • Parlay’s technology complements a bank’s or credit union’s loan origination system to streamline and enhance small business loan processing.
  • Parlay made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2024 in May as part of our Sustainability & Inclusion Scholarship program.

Parlay, which offers an AI-powered Loan Intelligence System (LIS) to help community banks and credit unions boost small business loan volume, is one of eight startups selected to participate in Mastercard’s Start Path Small Business program.

The incoming cohort consists of startups that have shown “dedication to democratizing financial tools and providing cutting-edge services for SMEs,” Mastercard noted in a statement. The statement underscored specific functions – such as spend management, onboarding, risk monitoring, loan approvals, and embedded finance solutions – that innovative fintech startups are helping digitize for small businesses.

Joining Parlay in the upcoming cohort of the program are Ballerine, Boost, CredibleX, Digi, Merge, Prime Dash, and RedOwl. The four-month program will give these startups the opportunity to leverage Mastercard’s network and subject matter expertise to forge product partnerships that help small businesses digitize their operations.

Parlay’s embedded fintech software helps lenders achieve a 64% increase in approved loans and an 87% reduction in manual underwriting workload. A white-label solution that complements loan origination systems, Parlay’s technology enables lenders to generate high-quality loan packets and maximize the eligible applicant pool. The company’s LIS also offers readiness insights to help businesses improve their creditworthiness; pre-screening to identify prime, marginal, and ineligible candidate pools; and pipeline analytics to enable loan officers to monitor applicant progress and underwriting eligibility.

“After a decade of work in economic development, our team realized that 77% of small businesses still struggle to access affordable capital and lack the insights need to navigate the lending process,” Parlay founder and CEO Alex McLeod said in a statement announcing the final eight startups invited to join the program. “We envision a future where community lenders, powered by Parlay’s AI-driven loan intelligence system, can get millions more small businesses approved for loans using unique, personalized insights that help both lenders and borrowers.”

Parlay made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring in May as part of our Sustainability & Inclusion Scholarship program. The program is designed to spotlight underrepresented founders, as well as startups that are tackling issues such as climate change, diversity, and financial inclusion. Scholarships provide startups with complimentary demo participation, as well as the ability to network with our 2,000+ senior-level fintech attendees, fellow demoing companies, and more.

Past scholarship winners include Best of Show winning companies like Debbie, which won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2023, as well as Kobalt Labs and Remynt, both of which won Best of Show at FinovateSpring 2024.

Founded in 2022, Parlay is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia.

Photo by Tim Mossholder

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equipifi Launches Pre-Purchase BNPL Solution

equipifi Launches Pre-Purchase BNPL Solution
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • equipfi is launching Plan Your Purchase, a BNPL solution that offers consumers financing for their purchase before they make the transaction.
  • Consumers can use Plan Your Purchase to take out loans ranging from $500 to $2,000.
  • Plan Your Purchase is integrated directly into a bank’s existing digital banking app, offering more control over the user experience.

BNPL-as-a-Service provider equipfi unveiled a new solution this week called Plan Your Purchase. The new tool empowers banks and credit unions to allow their account holders to take out pre-qualified installment loans from their bank before they make a purchase.

equipfi calls Plan Your Purchase a “pre-purchase BNPL solution,” meaning that the bank offers the consumer financing for their purchase before they make the transaction. Plan Your Purchase is integrated into a bank’s existing digital banking app to provide personalized BNPL offers directly to the customers. This makes it easy for users to get the financing they need to make a qualified purchase without a credit check, additional applications, new logins, upfront cost, or dependency on merchant integration.

Using Plan Your Purchase, pre-approved consumers can take out loans ranging from $500 to $2,000. The consumer can view and accept the loans immediately, and the funds are available within moments.

“There are many moments in an account holder’s lifetime when timely access to small loans make a big difference,” said Bryce Deeney, co-founder and CEO of equipifi. “By streamlining the loan acceptance process and positioning it in the digital banking experience, Plan Your Purchase helps financial institutions give account holders access to cash flow they already qualify for wherever and whenever they need it.”

By delivering the tool through banks, equipfi puts the bank in control, allowing them to leverage consumer data to provide more personalized offers. Putting the bank in the driver’s seat also allows the bank to control credit pre-approvals to suit their own risk tolerance and offers them more control over the user experience.

The integrated approach also can help banks maintain their top-of-wallet position by offering split payments using existing debit cards. This is different from traditional BNPL providers, which rely on a credit-focused approach. This integration can also help banks drive engagement and loyalty by leveraging transaction data to generate personalized offers and streamline the user experience within their familiar banking app​.

Arizona-based equipfi was founded in 2021 to bring the benefits of BNPL financing directly to banks and credit unions. Among the company’s clients are Kane County Teachers Credit Union in Illinois, SunWest Credit Union in Colorado, FedFinancial Federal Credit Union in Washington, D.C., and Eagle Community Credit Union, which is one of the first to go live with Plan Your Purchase.

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich

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EarnUp Launches AI Advisor to Automate Financial Wellness

EarnUp Launches AI Advisor to Automate Financial Wellness
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • EarnUp is launching AI Advisor, an AI-powered chatbot to help banks promote financial wellness among their consumers.
  • AI Advisor accesses and instantly analyzes a user’s real-time banking and credit data to offer personalized, actionable answers to their financial questions.
  • By working with the consumer to help them improve their financial situation, AI Advisor can help banks build and maintain existing customer relationships.

Debt pay down platform EarnUp announced the launch of its AI-powered financial wellness tool, AI Advisor, today. The new solution will help financial institutions offer their consumers personalized financial guidance.

AI Advisor is a chatbot that offers users hyper-personalized insights and guidance to help them make informed financial decisions to ultimately achieve their goals. It does this by accessing and instantly analyzing the user’s real-time banking and credit data to offer personalized, actionable answers to their financial questions regarding HELOCs, cards, consolidation loans, and more. By combining a user’s current financial situation with their questions, AI Advisor is also able to offer tailored product recommendations.

Using an approachable chatbot as the communication engine, EarnUp seeks to ensure that every user, regardless of their financial background, benefits from its advice to power a more financially resilient future.

“In today’s competitive landscape, banks must leverage AI to deliver real value to customers,” said KeyBank Chief Financial Officer Clark Khayat. “EarnUp’s AI Advisor goes beyond traditional budget-tracking apps by analyzing financial accounts and providing personalized, actionable insights. This empowers financial institutions to engage in more meaningful interactions, ensuring customers receive the guidance they need to achieve their financial goals.”

Using AI Advisor, banks may be able to retain borrowers, cross-sell loans and other products, capture deposits, and close more loans. That’s because banks can use AI Advisor as a tool to advise consumers on how to improve their financial situation so that they are ready to take out a loan or apply for a credit card. By working with the consumer instead of rejecting them outright, banks will also build relationships with them.

“Our mission is to democratize access to actionable information that will improve financial wellness,” said EarnUp Co-Founder and CEO Nadim Homsany. “This is especially critical as interest rates remain high and borrower debt repayment capacity diminishes. In fact, a recent Bankrate survey found that over half of applicants have been denied for a loan or credit since the Fed began raising rates.”

Since it was founded in 2015, EarnUp has helped nearly three million borrowers reach financial freedom. The company views its AI Advisor tool as a next step to assist individuals in achieving their financial goals.

Photo by Ashley Batz on Unsplash

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ThetaRay Acquires Screena to Enhance its Financial Crime Detection Platform

ThetaRay Acquires Screena to Enhance its Financial Crime Detection Platform
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, ThetaRay
  • Financial crime detection technology company, ThetaRay, has acquired screening specialist, Screena.
  • Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but the companies have been partners since the spring of 2022.
  • ThetaRay made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2015.

AI-powered financial crime detection technology company, ThetaRay, has acquired European screening company, Screena. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Screena specializes in screening individuals, companies, and other entities against sanctioned party lists. The company’s APIs support syntactic, phonetic, and semantic matching, as well as multicultural recognition services. Each of these technologies is valuable at a time when more companies and financial institutions are taking advantage of opportunities in cross-border payments and trade.

From navigating spelling differences and out-of-order components to comprehending multiple alphabets including Arabic, Cyrillic, Chinese, and Thai, Screena has a near 100% true detection rate and screens 500+ transactions per second in live conditions. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Luxembourg, Screena helps financial institutions identify bad actors who may be engaged in activities ranging from money laundering to drug trafficking to terrorist financing.

Screena CEO Cédric Iggiotti said that the integration with ThetaRay was a “game-changer” for the company. “For too long, screening was siloed from other critical financial crime detection tools,” Iggiotti said. “Our partnership with ThetaRay not only meets stringent regulatory demands but also significantly enhances our crime detection capabilities, as evidenced by our recent successes with major financial institutions.”

ThetaRay and Screena have been partners since the spring of 2022, when ThetaRay chose the startup as its screening solutions partner. In a statement on this week’s acquisition, ThetaRay CEO Peter Reynolds spoke of the company’s “mission to power the global fight against financial crime” through the use of AI-enabled technologies. He added that the acquisition “furthers our commitment to delivering an end-to-end platform that enables banks, fintechs, and regulators to effectively identify financial crime – vital capabilities to grow and operate a financial institution today.”

Israel-based ThetaRay made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in 2015. Today, the company has more than one billion users, enables more than 11 billion in trusted transactions a year, and monitors more than $15 trillion in transactions annually. The company’s signature offerings include its transaction monitoring and screening solution, SONAR, as well as its Customer Risk Assessment (CRA) product unveiled earlier this year.

Reynolds was named CEO of the company last summer. He succeeds Mark Gazit, who had been ThetaRay’s CEO for more than 11 years.

Photo by Kasia Derenda on Unsplash

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