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HDFC Bank Turns to Zeta to Power its Credit Line on UPI Offerings

HDFC Bank Turns to Zeta to Power its Credit Line on UPI Offerings
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Zeta
  • Next-generation banking technology company Zeta has partnered with India’s HDFC Bank to power its Credit Line on UPI (CLOU) solutions.
  • The bank will leverage Zeta’s Digital Credit as a Service technology, which enables banks to manage a credit product from origination through processing without requiring multiple integrations.
  • Zeta won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at our all-digital fintech conference in 2020.

Banking technology provider Zeta has inked a partnership with India’s HDFC Bank to power its new Credit Line on UPI (CLOU) solutions. Announced by India’s National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2023, the CLOU scheme will make it easier for individuals to access credit and help banks leverage the UPI ecosystem to reach a significantly wider audience. HDFC’s partnership with Zeta will enable the bank to use the CLOU scheme to launch a range of new credit products by connecting pre-approved credit lines to the UPI user base.

Zeta Co-Founder, Global CTO, and CEO APAC Ramki Gaddipati referred to CLOU as “a credit superhighway.” He added, “Our solution is architected to leverage its innovative capabilities across the entire credit distribution lifecycle spanning underwriting, origination, distribution, usage, repayments, collections, and more.” Gaddipati emphasized that Zeta’s solution was built to fit the new technology, saying it would deliver a “UPI-first, mobile-first, and cloud-native credit products ecosystem.”

HDFC’s CLOU offerings will be powered by Zeta’s Digital Credit as a Service (DCaaS) solution. Unveiled earlier this year in India, Zeta’s technology enables banks to manage a credit product from origination to processing–as well as rewards, customer services, and more–without having to integrate multiple software packages and services. DCaaS also provides specific product blueprints to streamline the development of different types of credit lines on UPI products.

The technology was developed as Zeta recognized that the growing popularity of UPI was putting a strain on core banking systems–and that this strain could impact credit lines on UPI, as well. The company believes that CLOU will become a $1 trillion opportunity for banks by 2030.

The CLOU announcement is only the latest achievement of the partnership between Zeta and HDFC Bank. This spring, the bank announced that its PayZapp mobile app–developed in partnership with Zeta–had won the Celent Model Bank Award 2024. The app notched more than seven million customers since its launch in March 2023, and is among the top-rated apps in the Finance section on Indian app stores.

“We are glad to develop the Credit Line on UPI offering with Zeta enabling our customers to enjoy the benefits of an affordability program combined with the ease of doing a UPI transaction,” HDFC Bank Sr. EVP Rajanish Prabhu said.

HDFC Bank offers a wide range of banking products and solutions, including consumer, commercial, private, and investment banking; investment, asset, and wealth management; insurance; credit cards; and more. As India’s leading private sector bank, the Mumbai-based institution is the 10th largest bank by market capitalization ($145 billion), and the 16th largest employer in India.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Zeta won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at our all-digital conference in 2020. The company returned the following year to demo its modern, cloud-native, omni stack banking platform at FinovateFall 2021. Zeta achieved unicorn status that year courtesy of a $250 million round led by SoftBank.

Photo by Mitchell Ng Liang an on Unsplash

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Spend Management Platform Coupa Unveils a Slew of New Features

Spend Management Platform Coupa Unveils a Slew of New Features
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Coupa announced a handful of AI-powered product enhancements this week.
  • The updates will help Coupa clients leverage their data to simplify workflows, save time, and improve collaboration.
  • The updates will go live next month for select Coupa clients.

Spend management platform Coupa announced its new product enhancements this week. The California-based company recently unveiled more than a dozen innovations that it says will help companies create efficiencies, improve productivity, and free up their employees to work on more important tasks.

Coupa was founded in 2006 to offer businesses spend management solutions that help them view and control their indirect spending. Some of the company’s business spend management tools include e-invoicing, travel and expense management, spend analysis, treasury management, and more. Since launch, Coupa has created an AI-driven platform that helps businesses leverage their data by extracting insights, simplifying workflows, and improving collaboration without requiring new code or change management. 

“Our goal to be a margin multiplier for every business large and small worldwide requires a relentless focus on co-innovation with our customers. As market dynamics continue to shift and operating capital becomes more limited, companies are searching for more ways to drive profitable, sustainable growth. Coupa’s leading total spend management platform underpinned by our community-generated AI gives customers predictive insights, prescriptive decisions, and automated actions needed to drive smarter and more profitable decisions,” said Fang Chang, Chief Product Officer, Coupa. “By replacing archaic processes with Coupa’s AI-driven solutions, businesses will run more efficiently, grow more effectively, and operate more confidently.”

The four major enhancements the company unveiled include:

  • Coupa Navi, which aims to increase productivity by helping customers find document status and approvals faster, accelerate requests, and access Navi’s knowledge base for instant answers to questions.
  • Contract Intelligence, which provides customers with risk-informed clause recommendations that can help reduce exposure to potential issues. The tool also offers generative AI-generated legal agreement summaries.
  • The Coupa Advantage Marketplace, which offers businesses quick access to goods from a range of suppliers. Coupa’s marketplace offers pre-negotiated rates and financial benefits and helps teams identify savings opportunities and improve visibility into their spending.
  • Service Maestro helps customers create, view, and manage contingent worker records and assignments.

The updates will be available to select customers starting in September.

“Our September release, and each of our product releases, drives the Coupa platform forward so our customers can reach their ambitious goals,” said Chang. “We continue to invest in new and powerful AI use cases, which gives our customers a disproportionate advantage to achieving top-line growth and bottom-line performance gains.”

Coupa went public in 2016 and was acquired by Thoma Bravo for $8 billion in 2022. Earlier this month, Coupa partnered with communications platform RingCentral, which deployed Coupa to improve its spend and business operations. 

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich

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Themis and Sei Leverage AI to Enhance Marketing Compliance for Banks

Themis and Sei Leverage AI to Enhance Marketing Compliance for Banks
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Themis
  • Governance, risk, and compliance platform Themis has partnered with regulatory compliance company Sei.
  • The partnership integrates Sei’s marketing compliance engine into Themis’ platform to enable financial institutions to maintain marketing compliance across all channels.
  • Themis won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. Neepa Patel is founder and CEO.

A partnership between regtech Themis and AI-powered regulatory compliance company Sei will provide financial institutions and fintechs with new tools to manage their marketing compliance operations. Integrating Sei’s marketing compliance engine into Themis’ platform will help institutions remain compliant across multiple marketing channels.

Sei’s technology leverages Large Language Models (LLMs) to convert regulations into actionable code. This can be used by compliance and risk teams to automate a variety of complex tasks. The integration of Sei’s AI agents into Themis’ platform will enable companies to screen partner websites and social media, automate the review of marketing content before it is shared with the public, and identify potential compliance issues.

Financial institutions and fintechs will benefit from access to advanced AI models that detect compliance issues across text, image, audio, and video. Sei’s AI agents support multiple languages, and are enabled with contextual understanding to ensure that only the most relevant issues are flagged.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Themis, the leading GRC platform for banks and fintechs, to offer Sei’s Marketing Compliance AI agent,” Sei founder Pranay Shetty said. “Together, we aim to improve consumer protection and help companies navigate an increasingly complex regulatory environment.”

Backed by Y Combinator and PayPal, Sei offers AI agents that work with risk and compliance teams to boost their efficiency, impact, and ability to scale. Founded in 2023 by Ramkumar Venkataraman, the New York-based company serves customers across three continents with solutions for marketing, customer support, and communications compliance, and regulatory change management.

Headquartered in New York and founded in 2021 by CEO Neepa Patel, Themis made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. The company won Best of Show for its demo of its GRC solution that serves as a one-stop shop for compliance. In addition to managing internal compliance workflows, Themis’ GRC solution can also be used to help banks and other financial institutions accelerate their partnerships with fintechs by examining their compliance controls in real-time.

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

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InvoiceASAP Teams Up with Adyen to Offer Instant Payouts

InvoiceASAP Teams Up with Adyen to Offer Instant Payouts
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, invoiceASAP
  • InvoiceASAP has partnered with global payments platform Adyen to facilitate instant access to deposited funds.
  • The partnership combines InvoiceASAP’s Invoice to Pay solution with Adyen’s Instant Payouts and Cash Out functionality to enable businesses to better manage cash flow.
  • Oakland, California-based InvoiceASAP made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2013.

A partnership between invoicing and payments solutions provider InvoiceASAP and business payments platform Adyen will enable InvoiceASAP to offer its users instant access to deposited funds. This is a critical issue for InvoiceASAP’s small- and medium-sized business customers, who often require quick and ready access to capital to better manage their expenses.

“InvoiceASAP is building the most advanced Invoice-to-Pay solution,” company CEO Paul Hoeper said. “Adyen gives us access to the most advanced payment products and tools, including FedNow for Instant Deposits. We are fully focused on providing the fastest velocity of bank deposits for our over 23,000 merchants. By combining Adyen’s Instant Payouts and new Cash Out functionality, we can provide our users with unmatched velocity.”

InvoiceASAP will take advantage of Adyen’s global solution – Adyen for Platforms. The offering enables users to sign up, sell, and get paid through a single solution. The company will also leverage Adyen’s Cash Out feature to provide its users with instant access to pending funds, without having to wait multiple days.

“Our partnership with InvoiceASAP underscores Adyen’s commitment to continued innovation,” Adyen North America President Davi Strazza said. “Our FedNow certification allows for instantly-available deposits and cash advances, enabling InvoiceASAP users to better manage cash flow, scale operations, and invest in the tools they need to thrive.”

With customers ranging from Microsoft and Meta to Uber and H&M, Adyen provides end-to-end payments capabilities, data-driven insights, and financial products to businesses around the world. Headquartered in Amsterdam, Adyen processed more than €970 billion in payment volume in 2023. This month, in addition to its partnership with InvoiceASAP, Adyen announced a collaboration with PayPal to offer its Fastlane product on the Adyen platform. Also in August, Adyen reported that it has extended its partnership with BMW and expanded its operations in India. The publicly traded firm has a market capitalization of $45 billion.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Oakland, California, InvoiceASAP made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring in 2013. In the years since then, the company has grown into a major, fully-integrated mobile invoicing solution provider with more than 400,000 customers in 120+ countries. InvoiceASAP enables merchants to generate and pay invoices on the go using either a smartphone or a tablet. The company’s technology connects with major accounting platforms, including QuickBooks and Xero, to ensure compatibility with the merchant’s accounting software.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

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LenderLogix Integrates with Truv to Enhance the Borrower Applicant Verification Process

LenderLogix Integrates with Truv to Enhance the Borrower Applicant Verification Process
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Truv
  • Consumer-permissioned data platform Truv announced an integration with mortgage point-of-sale (POS) and automation software provider LenderLogix.
  • The integration will enable mortgage lenders to more easily verify income and employment data from mortgage applicants.
  • Truv was founded in 2020 and made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022.

Making it easier for lenders to access the data they need in order to provide credit to worthy borrowers is one of the key promises of open finance. A new integration between consumer-permissioned data platform Truv and mortgage point-of-sale (POS) software provider LenderLogix will leverage open finance to enable lenders to more easily and accurately verify income and employment information from mortgage applicants. The integration will enable mortgage lenders to access Truv’s platform via LenderLogix’s point-of-sale system LiteSpeed to secure direct-to-source income and employment verification.

“With the integration of Truv’s verification capabilities and LiteSpeed, lenders can now enjoy a streamlined workflow that reduces administrative tasks and frees up resources for improved customer service,” LenderLogix Co-Founder and CEO Patrick O’Brien said. “This powerful combination eliminates the need for third-party verification services, leading to significant cost savings and lower overall loan processing expenses. Additionally, the automation speeds up loan approvals, allowing lenders to close loans faster and optimize their operational throughput.”

Lenders will benefit from Truv’s coverage of 96% of the U.S. workforce and the immediate access to data through LenderLogix’s LiteSpeed. This will accelerate the mortgage application process by removing manual document collection and by being able to access more data-rich, complete loan files at the point of application. For borrowers, the partnership will provide an application process that is faster and more straightforward, with fewer touchpoints.

“Our integration with LenderLogix marks a significant advancement in our mission to revolutionize the mortgage origination process,” Truv CEO Kirill Klokov said. “By combining our strengths, we are providing mortgage lenders with the tools they need to deliver exceptional service to their clients while improving operational efficiency.”

Founded in 2020, Truv made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, the company demonstrated its income and employment verification and direct deposit switch technology. The company’s income and employment verification solution delivers verified identity, income, and employment data points within 60 seconds. Truv credits its direct deposit switch solution for enabling institutions to increase direct deposits by up to 65%.

This spring, Truv teamed up with digital mortgage automation solutions provider Floify and with point-of-sale (POS) mortgage lending platform – and fellow Finovate alum – BeSmartee. Truv has raised more than $28 million in funding from investors including Kleiner Perkins and NYCA.

Are you an innovative fintech with new technology that’s ready for prime time? Join us in New York next month for FinovateFall and take advantage of the opportunity to showcase your solution before an audience of 2,000+ decision-makers.

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PayQuicker Teams Up with Thunes to Boost e-Wallet Payout Capabilities

PayQuicker Teams Up with Thunes to Boost e-Wallet Payout Capabilities
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, PayQuicker, Thunes

International payouts orchestration company, PayQuicker, has forged a partnership with cross-border payment infrastructure firm Thunes to expand its e-Wallet payout capabilities around the world.

The integration is designed to better serve the growing demand for diverse and flexible payout methods. This demand is especially acute in emerging markets, where access to traditional banking is limited and tools like e-Wallets play a major role in helping individuals manage finances and make payments. McKinsey estimates that up to 60% of those in emerging markets prefer to use e-Wallets instead of traditional banks.

Integrating enhanced e-Wallet capabilities into its global payouts solutions mix will help PayQuicker fulfill its objective of providing faster, easier payouts around the world. The company said that it will offer access to more than 120 e-Wallets in key emerging markets, courtesy of the new partnership. Among the e-Wallets that will be accessible are popular e-Wallets such as the Philippines’ GCash, China’s Alipay, and both Orange Money and M-Pesa of Africa.

“Digital wallets are transforming the way people manage their finances, especially in regions where traditional banking infrastructure is lacking,” PayQuicker CEO Paul Beldham said. “By teaming up with Thunes, we’re further enabling millions of people around the world to receive their funds faster and more securely, providing the flexibility of a bank alternative. This not only empowers individuals to better manage their day-to-day finances but also supports the economic growth of emerging markets by facilitating more reliable transactions.”

Headquartered in Rochester, New York, PayQuicker made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, the company demoed its Payouts OS solution, which packages the company’s payments technology into a payouts payment orchestration platform that intelligently determines and facilitates the fastest, most cost-effective payouts across 200+ countries in 40+ currencies.

Thunes was formed in 2019 when Finovate alum TransferTo rebranded as two separate businesses: one, Thunes, focusing on cross-border payments and the other, DT One, focusing on mobile top-up and rewards. Earlier this month, Thunes announced a partnership with Alipay+ to enable merchants in Paris to accept payments from 15 international e-Wallets and mobile partnerships. In July, Thunes added cross-border payment service provider LianLian Global to its global network.

Photo by JÉSHOOTS

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Gridspace Unveils Emotional Intelligence Capabilities for Virtual Voice Agent Grace

Gridspace Unveils Emotional Intelligence Capabilities for Virtual Voice Agent Grace
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Gridspace
  • Conversational AI technology company Gridspace announced new emotional intelligence capabilities for its virtual voice agent Grace.
  • The update enables Grace to respond more swiftly and empathetically, and enhances the agent’s ability to express its own emotional states.
  • Gridspace made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York.

Voice technology and AI software innovator Gridspace unveiled new emotional intelligence capabilities for its virtual voice agent Grace. The new capabilities enable Gridspace’s voice agent for business to respond faster and more empathetically to the speaker’s emotions. The enhancements also improve Grace’s ability to express its emotional states.

“Grace’s new emotional intelligence capabilities make voice calls with Grace even more natural,” Gridspace CEO Evan Macmillan said. “We are excited to further advance customer satisfaction with voice agents and make it even easier for businesses to deploy them.”

Bringing emotional intelligence capabilities to voice agents is a major advance in spoken dialog systems, according to Gridspace. Because so many contact center interactions involve customers experiencing frustration, being able to respond appropriately is paramount. Grace’s enhancements will enable the voice agent to manage more complex interactions with greater nuance, and also act as a buffer for high-volume contact centers. To this point, human agents working with Grace have reported not only being able to spend more time on complex calls, but also are experiencing less stress, lower burnout rates, greater productivity, and higher job satisfaction.

Founded in 2012, Gridspace made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. The California-based company was created through a collaboration between SRI Speech Labs – the entity behind Siri – and a diverse team of designers and engineers. Gridspace has been innovating in fields such as high-performance voice telephony, automated speech recognition (ASR), hyper-realistic TTS (text-to-speech), low-latency spoken dialog systems, as well as tools and solutions to help institutions deploy and manage conversational AI.

Gridspace has raised more than $27 million in funding and includes Private Investors and USAA among its investors.

Photo by Vlado Paunovic

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SigFig Brings AI to its Financial Advisor Collaboration Platform Engage

SigFig Brings AI to its Financial Advisor Collaboration Platform Engage
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, SigFig
  • Wealth management solutions and technology company SigFig has added a number of new capabilities to its financial advisor collaboration platform, Engage.
  • The new capabilities include a range of AI-powered tools and solutions to enhance client engagement and boost efficiency for advisors and their teams.
  • San Francisco-based SigFig has been a Finovate alum since its FinovateFall debut in 2011.

Digital wealth management solutions and technology provider SigFig announced a range of new capabilities for its financial advisor collaboration platform, Engage. These new capabilities include AI-powered tools and solutions that boost the effectiveness of advisors and their teams. SigFig also has added enhanced core integrations with leading industry systems to promote greater efficiency. Together, the new functionalities enhance the digital experiences available via the platform and deepen client engagement.

“AI has the ability to dramatically increase financial advisor productivity and effectiveness,” SigFig founder and CEO Mike Sha said. “We know that advisors need to be able to focus on fostering impactful relationships with their clients, truly understanding their pain points and goals. Engage acts as a hub to drive richer, more personalized client experiences, taking care of those time-consuming, but necessary, administrative tasks, so advisors can do exactly that.”

The new AI capabilities include AI-powered smart tips, including in-meeting prompts and customized recommendations based on real-time conversation analysis. Engage will now also feature proactive surfacing of the right content, tools, paperwork, and workflows, all based on an analysis of real-time discussions. Other new AI-driven additions include automated transcripts, meeting summaries, and post-meeting notes.

Streamlining integration with systems from Salesforce, Docusign, Microsoft, and Google is another major platform enhancement announced by the company late last week. The CRM integration, for example, creates a bi-directional data synch that enables advisors to view client data on the Engage platform as well as sync meeting notes, client details, meetings, and other tasks into Salesforce. This not only helps advisors provide more personalized advice, but also helps advisors accelerate the sales process as well as client conversions.

SigFig made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2011. In the years since then, the company has grown into a comprehensive digital wealth solutions business with nearly 1.5 million customers and 6,000+ advisors on its platform. The firm, founded in 2006 and headquartered in San Francisco, counts financial institutions such as UBS, Wells Fargo, and Scotiabank among its partners.

Are you an innovative fintech with new technology that’s ready for prime time? Join us in New York next month for FinovateFall and take advantage of the opportunity to showcase your solution before an audience of 2,000+ decision-makers.

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3 Ways Fintechs are Helping Financial Institutions Fight Fraud

3 Ways Fintechs are Helping Financial Institutions Fight Fraud
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alkami Technology, Alumni News, Daily news, Experian, List series, Socure

The battle against fraud is a never-ending one. And recent fintech news headlines have helped remind us all of how broad the frontlines are. From the challenge of AI-powered deepfakes to the sad fact that many of our own bad habits continue to keep fraudsters in business, fintechs are busy developing solutions to help us get and stay at least one step ahead of the bad guys. Here are a trio of stories highlighting the latest efforts by fintechs to combat financial crime.

Digital identity verification innovator Socure has unveiled its Selfie Reverification solution. The new capability provides a way to validate return consumers online in less than two seconds with just a selfie. The technology matches incoming selfies with previously verified ID headshots, and features a true match rate of 99.9%. Built on the company’s Document Verification (DocV) solution, Selfie Reverification also detects signs of deepfaking, and readily identifies age discrepancies between the photo and the credential.

“Identity verification isn’t a one-time event. As consumers interact with an online service over time, their risk profile can change. That’s why it’s important to determine you are still who you say you are, without going through the full verification process again,” explained Socure Chief Product and Analytics Officer Pablo Abreu.

Selfie Reverification prompts the user to take a selfie, and sends real-time feedback on positioning, angle, and lighting. Once taken, the selfie undergoes a Level 2 NIST PAD compliant liveness check to prevent spoofing, as well as Socure’s injection attack detection process which makes sure that a fraudster has not injected a false or altered credential into the session. Lastly, the selfie is compared against a set of hundreds of thousands of curated deepfake samples created by more than 20 different AI generators.

The technology leverages biometric analytics to evaluate more than 80 facial features, from eye distance and nose width to jawline contours and emotional expression, to create a facial map and ensure an accurate match. Use cases for Selfie Reverification include preventing account takeover, securing high-risk transactions, streamlining account recovery and re-verification/re-validation, and more.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Incline Village, Nevada, Socure most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2017. Today, the company has more than 2,500 customers, including four of the top five banks, the top credit bureau, and 400+ fintechs. Businesses ranging from Capital One and SoFi to DraftKings and the State of California rely on Socure’s technology for accurate identity verification and fraud prevention. Johnny Ayers is Socure’s founder and CEO.

Digital banking solution provider Alkami has added credential stuffing protection to the challenge-response authentication process for its digital banking platform. The new functionality automatically checks for human behavior in the background, but does not require visual puzzles or any additional time spent by the user.

“This enhancement in Alkami’s platform has given us the ability to provide an additional layer of security for our account holders,” Quontic Bank SVP of Digital Banking Grace Pace said. “The secure and seamless login experience has contributed to reducing potential fraudulent activities, offering our customers greater peace of mind without added complexity.”

Credential stuffing refers to a type of cyberattack in which a hacker uses credentials obtained through data breaches or purchased from the dark web in order to attempt to access another service. A typical case of credential stuffing, for example, could involve a hacker using the credentials from a breach at a retail store to attempt to log into a bank’s website.

Credential stuffing is a common attack in part because it takes advantage of the tendency of individuals to reuse usernames and passwords. But its commonality takes nothing away from the damage these attacks do. One estimate determined that credential stuffing costs businesses $6 million a year on average, to say nothing of the negative reputational impact that often accompanies it.

The addition of credential stuffing protection is the latest example of Alkami’s layered approach to fraud detection and prevention in digital banking. “Alkami continues to evolve its platform as the security threats change for our customers, and we’re proud to integrate credential stuffing as part of our standard solution for everyone,” Alkami Director of Product Management Brad Cranford said. “Our goal is to help our customers manage security while providing the best experiences for their account holders.”

Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Alkami made its Finovate debut in 2009 as “IThryv.” Alex Shootman is CEO.

Data and technology company Experian is adding behavioral analytics to its fraud detection capabilities courtesy of a newly announced acquisition of NeuroID.

More specifically, Experian is looking to bolster its defenses against AI-generated fraud threats. With their ability to apply fraud detection strategies to key vulnerabilities such as origination and account management, insights from behavioral analytics can help mitigate fraud in real time and defend users against a range of malevolent actions including identity theft, account takeover, bot attacks, and fraud rings.

“Our acquisition of NeuroID highlights our commitment to provide our clients with world-class data, analytics, and insights to prevent fraud,” said President of Experian’s North American Identity & Fraud business, Robert Boxberger. “Together with NeuroID, we’re excited to build new blended offerings that detect risk but also empower businesses to confidently navigate the online landscape and trust in their transactions.” He added, “In today’s highly competitive and digital-first world, the use of behavioral analytics is now vital for innovating for the future of fighting fraud.”

NeuroID’s solutions are now available via CrossCore on the Experian Ascend Technology platform. The integration will enable platform users to use a single service provider to monitor and analyze real-time digital activity.

“NeuroID unlocks a new view into a user’s riskiness based on behavioral interactions,” NeuroID CEO Jack Alton said. “This view arms companies with a proactive, first line of defense to detect sophisticated fraud rings and bot attacks. By joining forces with Experian, we’re looking forward to helping companies confidently navigate this new era with solutions that enable more secure and frictionless experiences.”

A Finovate alum since 2011, Experian most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall in New York in 2018. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, the company employs more than 22,000 people, including more than 9,000 technologists and product developers, working in 32 countries.

Are you an innovative fintech with new technology that’s ready for prime time? Join us in New York next month for FinovateFall and take advantage of the opportunity to showcase your solution before an audience of 2,000+ decision-makers.

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

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Lucinity and Knights Analytics Leverage AI to Enhance Financial Crime Compliance

Lucinity and Knights Analytics Leverage AI to Enhance Financial Crime Compliance
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Lucinity
  • Financial crime compliance platform Lucinity announced a strategic partnership with AI data management company Knights Analytics.
  • The partnership will bring advanced AI-powered data management capabilities to bear to fight financial crime.
  • Lucinity made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2023 in San Francisco.

Lucinity has forged a strategic partnership with Knights Analytics, bringing advanced AI data management capabilities to its financial crime compliance platform.

The integration will enable Lucinity customers to consolidate, standardize, and reconcile their data within Lucinity’s unified Case Management system. The strategic partnership will also introduce additional ways to deploy Generative AI capabilities, including entity resolution, network analysis, and automated data extraction from documents. Users can also engage with their data via Lucinity’s AI copilot Luci, which offers actionable insights that are both intuitive and fully explainable.

“We are thrilled to simplify the ability to integrate more data within Lucinity’s platform,” Knights Analytics CEO Alex Ridden said. “Combining our data matching and entity resolution solutions with Lucinity ensures financial institutions make the most of their data. Financial institutions these days are sitting on a wealth of information that they don’t utilize effectively.”

Knights Analytics helps companies extract insights from large and siloed datasets. The firm specializes in combining graph analytics and AI, transforming structured and unstructured data into a high-quality, unified data layer. Leveraging innovations in data linkage and entity resolution technologies, Knights Analytics enables businesses to build a solid data foundation from which they can accelerate business processes and derive actionable insights.

“Partnering with Knights Analytics will take the Luci AI copilot to the next level by enhancing data accuracy, reducing manual analysis, and increasing the reliability of financial crime investigations through advanced data linkage and profile analysis,” Lucinity CEO Guðmundur Kristjánsson said. “This integration will unlock new use cases like on-demand entity resolution, enabling AI-driven automations and insights to streamline case investigations.”

Lucinity made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring 2023. At the conference, the Reykjavik, Iceland-based company demonstrated its AI-powered copilot, Luci. Luci can conduct internet searches, background checks, fraud detection, sanctions screening, and more. This ability to manage and streamline tedious and time-consuming tasks enables compliance professionals to focus their decision-making on more complex issues.

Lucinity was founded in 2018. The company has raised more than $25 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. Keen Venture Partners and Experian are among the firm’s investors. Last month, Lucinity won the 2024 ICA Award for Innovation in Financial Crime Prevention for its Luci copilot. The company has also received accolades in recent months from Chartis Research and Microsoft, which named Lucinity one of its partners of the year for both its technological innovation and its commitment to “significant social impact and growth.”

Read our profile of Lucinity from earlier this year.

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Apiture to Power Commercial Digital Banking for FORUM Credit Union

Apiture to Power Commercial Digital Banking for FORUM Credit Union
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Apiture, Daily news
  • FORUM Credit Union has selected Apiture’s Business Banking solution to enhance its commercial digital banking experience.
  • FORUM Credit Union anticipates the move will expand its commercial member base.
  • “The comprehensive functionality available in Apiture’s Business Banking solution coupled with the company’s commitment to innovation made Apiture the right choice for our members and employees,” said FORUM Credit Union Chief Technology and Risk Officer Cameron Piercefield.

Digital banking solutions provider Apiture announced today that FORUM Credit Union will use the fintech’s digital banking capabilities to power its commercial digital banking suite.

FORUM, a $2.1 billion, not-for-profit cooperative based in central Indiana, selected Apiture’s Business Banking solution to enhance the online and mobile banking experience for its commercial members. The credit union is also hoping to expand its commercial member base. FORUM was interested in Apiture’s ability to create a customized tool that integrates with its existing retail banking solution.

“As a member-owned organization with the mission of ‘helping members live their financial dreams,’ FORUM is committed to providing technology solutions that optimize our members’ banking experience,” said FORUM Credit Union Chief Technology and Risk Officer Cameron Piercefield. “The comprehensive functionality available in Apiture’s Business Banking solution coupled with the company’s commitment to innovation made Apiture the right choice for our members and employees.”

Apiture was founded in 2017 to help credit unions compete with larger banks and credit unions when it comes to digital banking experiences. The company’s solutions, which work with more than 40 cores, offer both consumer and commercial banking experiences, along with account opening, embedded banking, and data intelligence tools. Powering these capabilities are Apiture’s network of more than 200 pre-vetted fintech partners, including Glia, Deluxe, MX, Mambu, and DefenseStorm.

“We are proud to partner with FORUM Credit Union to support its growth objectives and drive member satisfaction,” said Apiture CEO Chris Babcock. “With integrations to more than 200 best-of-breed fintech partners and an API-first approach that enables rapid innovation, our Business Banking solution will empower FORUM to deliver a fully featured banking experience that supports businesses of all sizes.”

Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, Apiture also has offices in Austin, Texas. The fintech has raised $69 million from investors including T. Rowe Price, Live Oak Bank, and others.

Photo by Alesia Kazantceva on Unsplash

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Baker Hill Brings on New CEO

Baker Hill Brings on New CEO
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Baker Hill, Daily news
  • Baker Hill has appointed Andy Ivankovich as CEO.
  • Ivankovich is taking the reigns from former CEO John Deignan.
  • Ivankovich founded iLendx and oversaw Fiserv’s lending and deposit software products and services division.

Small business lending solutions provider Baker Hill announced this morning it has appointed Andy Ivankovich as its new CEO. Ivankovich takes the place of John Deignan, who has served as Baker Hill CEO since 2017.

Baker Hill tapped Ivankovich for his background in lending technology. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, he spent his early career managing a $14 billion lending portfolio as a product executive with USAA. During his time as a banker, he developed and was named as inventor on USAA’s lending technology patents. Ivankovich went on to become the founder of iLendx, which he sold to Fiserv in 2018. After the acquisition, he stayed on to oversee Fiserv’s lending and deposit software products and services division.

“I am truly honored to be appointed Baker Hill’s Chief Executive Officer and look forward to building upon the strong foundation Baker Hill has built over its 40-year history,” said Ivankovich. “Baker Hill is consistently recognized as a leading fintech company with world-class products. The team has cultivated a reputation for driving innovation in lending for banks and credit unions to better serve their communities. I am proud to join this team of experts and look forward to leading Baker Hill through its next stage of growth and ushering in a new era of innovation for our clients.”

In his new role, Ivankovich aims to promote innovation across the company’s product suite to ultimately enable financial institutions to modernize their lending operations.

“Andy has demonstrated forward-thinking leadership throughout his career, and he is well-acquainted with Baker Hill’s mission,” said Chairman of the Board for Baker Hill and former CEO of Wolters Kluwer Financial and Compliance Services Brian Longe. “His product and client focused approach, entrepreneurial background, and forward-thinking innovation make him an excellent choice to lead Baker Hill.”

Founded in 1983, Baker Hill offers banks and credit unions a SaaS solution for commercial, small business, and consumer loan origination, as well as risk management tools. The company, which most recently demoed at FinovateFall 2021, has recently formed partnerships with Harmony Bank, Union Bank, and Amalgamated Bank.

Last spring, Baker Hill agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Flexpoint Ford for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition offered Baker Hill access to Flexpoint’s resources and expertise, including its experienced team and capital to fund ongoing product innovation and acquisitions.

Photo by Jake Hills on Unsplash

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