For all the talk of challenger banks in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the U.K., the movement to bring alternative banking options to consumers and small businesses in the U.S. may deserve more attention than it tends to get. And this week’s news that SME-based challenger bank NorthOne has raised $21 in Series A funding, is a reminder of why.

“We created NorthOne to serve businesses that are often underserved by big banks,” bank CEO Eytan Bensoussan explained. “Having grown up in a family of small business owners myself, I know first-hand what to expect when it comes to small business banking.”

The round was led by Battery Ventures’ Shiran Shalev, and featured participation from Redpoint Ventures and Tom Williams. The investment takes the bank’s total capital to more than $23 million.

“With this funding,” Bensoussan added, “NorthOne will be able to continue to develop solutions that simplify the most painful part of managing a small business, its finances.” The additional capital will also enable the challenger bank to add to its product and engineering teams, as well as spend more on marketing and customer acquisition.

NorthOne offers small and medium-sized businesses a digital, FDIC-insured, business checking account with mobile ACH, wires, check deposits, and access to 300,000 fee-free ATMs across the U.S. NorthOne’s mobile-first, API-enabled platform also offers overseas vendor payments, and software integration with expense management, accounting, and e-commerce systems. The company noted that, in the second half of last year, it has signed up 1% of all small businesses that applied for bank accounts in the U.S.

“Millions of dollars are spent using NorthOne debit cards every month,” Bensoussan wrote on the company’s blog today. “And we expect those numbers to keep rising as we open thousands upon thousands of new NorthOne bank accounts each month.”

Founded in 2016, NorthOne launched its small business banking account last fall, in partnership with Radius Bank.

Financial commerce technology provider Wirecard announced today it has partnered with Grab, a super app based in Southeast Asia that provides users with everyday services including on-demand transportation and food delivery.

Under the partnership Wirecard will process transactions made using Grab’s ewallet GrabPay in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore.

Grabpay, which is accepted by 600,000+ merchants, works for both online and brick and mortar transactions. Along with payment processing, Wirecard will help introduce Grabpay to more merchants, expanding acceptance across Southeast Asia.

While mobile payment functionality may not be impressive to U.S. users, keep in mind that mobile wallets are much more popular in Asia. In fact, mobile wallets are almost 2x more popular in Southeast Asia than they are worldwide. Among consumers in the region, 44% regularly choose their mobile wallet as a payment method. In comparison, the global average mobile wallet usage is 25%.

Senior Managing Director of Grab Financial Group Reuben Lai explained that Wirecard will help the company build a cashless economy for millions of businesses across Southeast Asia. “Wirecard’s innovative mobile payments solutions will not only complement our GrabPay e-wallet platform, but also offer businesses and consumers the opportunity to transact with greater security, convenience and flexibility,” he said.

Today’s announcement comes just days after Wirecard partnered with another player in the gig economy. Earlier this month the Germany-based company partnered with Xolo to offer more robust financial tools to entrepreneurs and micro-businesses.

Deutsche Bank Group is giving Deutsche Bank Wealth Management a boost today by teaming up with wealthtech firm QPLIX. The partnership also comes with an investment for QPLIX; Deutsche Bank has acquired a minority stake in the Germany-based company.

“With this cooperation, we are combining the innovative power and digital expertise of QPLIX with Deutsche Bank’s large client base and many years of experience in serving ultra-high net-worth clients,” said Kai Linde, co-founder and managing director of QPLIX.

With the collaboration, Deutsche Bank’s Wealth Management arm will use QPLIX to help clients manage and control investments among all asset classes, including illiquid investments such as real estate, on a digital platform. The bank will also tap QPLIX’s software for Deutsche Private Port, the digital investment office of Deutsche Bank Wealth Management.

For its part, QPLIX will leverage Deutsche Bank to offer its clients access to 100 data interfaces.

“With comprehensive asset mapping, we are meeting a need of our top clients and strengthening our market leadership in Germany,” said Deutsche Bank’s Head of Wealth Management Germany Frank Schriever.

Kyndi, Featurespace, Onfido Recognized as AI Innovators in Fintech – A trio of Finovate alums are among the 100 companies highlighted by CB Insights in its newly-available report, AI 100: The Artificial Intelligence Startups Redefining Industries. The report, CB Insights’ 4th edition, focuses on companies that are innovating in the fields of “synthetic voice, quantum machine learning, protein modeling, and more.”

Top level takeaways from the report include the fact that 10% of the companies in the 2020 AI 100 are unicorns with a valuation of more than $1 billion. Most of the companies (65%) are U.S.-based, with Canada and the U.K. coming in second with eight startups each. China has six companies represented in CB Insights’ AI roster.

Kyndi demonstrated its Explainable AI platform at FinovateSpring 2018. The technology leverages machine learning to streamline regulated business operations and provide auditable AI systems. The company was founded in 2014, and is headquartered in San Mateo, California. An alum of FinovateFall, U.K.-based Featurespace demonstrated its ARIC Fraud Manager at FinovateFall 2016. This solution uses machine learning and adaptive behavioral analytics to identify potential fraud based on anomalous behavior.

Demonstrating its Facial Check with Video solution at FinovateFall 2018, Onfido showed how its technology used machine learning to compare images on identity documents with facial biometric data and digitally verify people’s identities.

Agora Scores $2 Million in Funding – Digital platform banking solution provider Agora is in the process of securing $2 million in funding. News of the investment comes as the company announces opening a new headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

“We selected Atlanta because the region provides us the best combination of access to business development and talent, while also being a part of the growing fintech community,” Agora Services founder and CEO Arcady Lapiro said. Agora made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring, demonstrating its mobile banking solution for teenagers.

Regional banks and credit unions leverage Agora’s technology to provide a digital experience for their customers without having to replace their core banking systems. Agora enables institutions to offer their customers popular digital banking and financial management solutions such as shared accounts, PFM, card controls, money pools, and children’s account management.

“In order for financial institutions to remain competitive,” Lapiro said, “they must have the latest and most robust digital offerings. Banks have to move beyond a website, a standard app, or mobile check deposit. They must compete with the latest fintech technology.”

Here is our weekly look at the latest news from our Finovate alums.

• ECOMMPAY becomes the first PSP to integrate with the new PayPal commerce platform.
• Singapore Exchange accepts Ayondo’s application to extend submission deadline for its proposal to resume trading.
• MYHSM partners with ACI Worldwide to integrate its Hardware Service Module into ACI’s UP platform.
• TransferWise goes live in Portugal in partnership with Activo Bank.
• Fiserv acquires merchant services company MerchantPro Express.

• Leading Vietnamese commercial bank, MSB, will deploy Mambu’s cloud-native banking platform by the end of this year.
• Vantage Bank Texas to deploy digital banking technology from Backbase.
• Forte Payment Systems launches its new BillPay solution.
• Cryptoslate features Crypterium.
• CIO Magazine ranks Insuritas’ iNSURE a top 10 U.S. agency management platform.

• InComm debuts prepaid products in South Africa.
• TurnKey Lender partners with Cambodia-based Sambat to bring real-tie decisioning to their loan application processing.
• DemystData to provide contextual data for SparkBeyond.
• Roostify expands deal with TD Bank to include home equity loans and lines of credit.
• HousingWire names Loan Scorecard a 2020 HW Tech100 Mortgage Winner.
• Larky joins Visa’s Fintech Fast Track program to integrate Larky’s nudge engagement platform with VisaNet’s global payment network.
• New Hampshire Mutual Bancorp migrates to Jack Henry & Associates SilverLake System core platform

Finovate Alum Features and Profiles

PayPal Takes to the Google Cloud – Google Cloud has unveiled its latest data center and announced that PayPal will be among the first to move key components of its payments infrastructure to Google’s cloud region.

AlphaPoint Garners Additional $5.6 Million in Funding –  The news follows the company’s last round in 2018 when it pulled in $15 million. Today’s investment brings AlphaPoint’s total funding to $23.9 million.

Conversational AI Innovator Clinc Inks Partnership with Visa – Courtesy of a newly-announced partnership between Visa and the conversational AI innovator, customers of participating banks and credit unions will be able conduct a wide variety of banking operations by communicating directly with their bank accounts using natural, conversational language.

How a Banking License Evolved Neo’s Vision – Neo was founded in 2017 with a vision, as described by CEO Laurent Descout, “to create a platform that can replace the old fashioned banking platform. A true ‘one-stop shop’ that offers all the financial products a corporate client needs to operate in a global environment.”

New Investment Gives Ant Financial a Minority Stake in Klarna – Chinese conglomerate Ant Financial has purchased a minority stake in Sweden’s e-commerce payments innovator Klarna. The terms of the investment were not disclosed, but the company said that the funding amounts to a 1% stake.

Equifax Adds Rental Payment History to Credit Insights – Consumer insights company Equifax is partnering with U.K.-based Credit Ladder, a rent reporting service. Under the partnership, Equifax will leverage data from Credit Ladder to help tenants who pay their rent on time access fairer credit rates. 

Thought Machine Locks in $83 Million in Growth Funding – U.K.-based, cloud native, core banking technology provider Thought Machine has just secured Series B funding that will help the U.K.-based company expand into the Asia-Pacific.