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Sprint and Wirecard to Deliver the Internet of Payments

Sprint and Wirecard to Deliver the Internet of Payments
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news

Telecommunications giant Sprint and German financial services provider Wirecard announced they are teaming up to deliver the Internet of Payments.

Under the agreement, Sprint will integrate Wirecard’s commerce solutions into its Curiosity Internet of Things (IoT) platform. Essentially, the two will embed payment capabilities into IoT deployments.

Sprint’s Curiosity IoT combines Curiosity Core, a virtualized IoT network, with Curiosity OS, an IoT operating system. The project will be piloted in the retail sector where the two will work together to “deliver the retail experience of the future” by enabling a connected purchasing experience.

“This opens up many commercial opportunities, and also delivers an unparalleled commerce solution for our global clients and their customers,” said Ivo Rook, Sprint’s senior vice president of IoT and product development. “As IoT becomes even more central to how enterprises run, we look forward to identifying new opportunities and use cases for these technologies. The growing internet of things will lead to new and innovative transactions, like directly between devices, and this collaboration will power such use cases.”

IoT has a wide range of applications in the payments space. With IoT, consumers can move beyond traditional payment devices and instead pay using wearables, their car, and voice-enabled devices such as Alexa. In many settings these types of payment methods are already possible but they are not widespread.

Georg von Waldenfels, executive vice president of group business development at Wirecard said that the collaboration will help Wirecard “meet a growing demand for commerce without barriers.” Waldenfels added that teaming up with Sprint is a “significant step toward developing the shopping experience of the future.”

This isn’t Sprint’s first foray in the IoT space with a fintech. In 2018, the company partnered with Dynamics to launch the Wallet Card, an IoT connected, battery-powered payment card.

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ING’s Katana Becomes a Standalone Fintech

ING’s Katana Becomes a Standalone Fintech
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news

Dutch financial services corporation ING announced today it is spinning off Katana into its own entity called Katana Labs.

As a part of its move to independence, Katana has closed $3.9 million in funding, half of which ING contributed “to enable further growth and to pave the way for an independent future for Katana.”

Katana began as one of 25 of ING’s innovation initiatives. The project follows in the footsteps of Yolt and Cobase, former ING innovation initiatives that scaled up outside of ING’s labs.

“Supported by ING Labs, we developed, tested and validated the technology. Now it’s time to move to the next phase as an independent fintech,” said Santiago Braje, CEO of Katana. “We are very excited about the opportunities we see in developing our platform and expanding our client base.”

ING launched Katana to help traders leverage predictive analytics to determine bond pricing based on historic and real time data. In 2018, ING enhanced the tool with the launch of Katana Lens, a tool for bond market investors that identifies the most promising trades based on historical data. Last year, Global Finance Magazine highlighted Katana as Innovator 2019.

“In the past few years, Katana has managed to grow from an internal innovation project to a serious value proposition for bond investors. We attracted major clients who see the added value of this super smart AI-tool. I’m proud that with our support Katana grew out to a fully-grown fintech that is ready for an independent future,” said Annerie Vreugdenhil, head of Innovation at ING Wholesale Banking.

Katana Labs has incorporated in the U.K. and is now headquartered in London.

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Nebula Merges with Open Lending, Forming a New Publicly Traded Company

Nebula Merges with Open Lending, Forming a New Publicly Traded Company
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions

Lending solutions provider Open Lending has agreed to merge with Nebula Acquisition Corporation, an acquisition company sponsored by True Wind Capital.

The merger will take place via an acquisition in which, once finalized, Nebula will purchase Open Lending and form a new Delaware holding company called Open Lending Corporation. The new entity will be publicly-traded on NASDAQ with an estimated value of $1.3 billion.

Members of Open Lending’s executive team– John Flynn, cofounder, president, and CEO; and Ross Jessup, cofounder, CFO, and COO– will lead the new company. Flynn commented that there is “significant runway” for new growth, considering Open Lending’s existing banking relationships and “untapped opportunities” with new partnerships.

Open Lending was founded in 2000 and offers automated lending solutions to banks, specializing in automotive lending. Ultimately, Open Lending helps banks offer near-prime borrowers more attractive borrowing rates without changing the risk profile for the bank. In 2019, Open Lending facilitated more than $1.7 billion in automotive loans for 275+ financial institutions.

“Open Lending’s ability to demonstrate consistent organic growth and high levels of profitability represents an exciting investment opportunity within the risk-based analytics ecosystem,” said Adam Clammer, Nebula co-CEO and founding partner of True Wind. “John and his team have developed a highly-scalable technology platform that helps hard working consumers get into a new or used car at the best rate possible. We look forward to partnering with Open Lending’s management team and Bregal at this exciting inflection point in the company’s growth.”

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B-North Lands $2.6 Million Ahead of Launch

B-North Lands $2.6 Million Ahead of Launch
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding

E.U.-based alternative lending company B-North announced this week it landed $2.6 million (£2 million) in new funding. The investment comes as part of crowdfunding efforts via Crowdcube and Growthfunders.

Combined with the $5.5 million (£4.2 million) the company has already raised, today’s round brings B-North’s total funding to just over $8 million, according to FSTech. The company will use the new capital to increase its workforce and boost its infrastructure.

While B-North has yet to launch, the company plans to do so in “mid-2020.” Taking a step in that direction, last month B-North partnered with Newcastle Strategic Solutions, which will provide a deposit-taking solution for the new lender.

While there are multiple alternative lending companies in the fintech sector, B-North aims to differentiate itself by lending up to 10x faster than incumbent players, placing core banking functions closer to the customer, and tapping its commercial finance broker channels for distribution. Much of this will be accomplished through “lending pods,” as the company calls them, which will launch across Manchester in the second half of this year.

B-North was founded in 2015. Jonathan Thompson is co-founder and CEO.

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