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Dynamic Planner Offers Risk Profile Mapping for Single Strategy Funds

Dynamic Planner Offers Risk Profile Mapping for Single Strategy Funds
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Dynamic Planner
  • U.K.-based financial planning software company for advisors, Dynamic Planner, launched its new risk profile mapping service this week.
  • The service brings greater clarity on potential risks when building diversified investment portfolios with single strategy funds.
  • Dynamic Planner made its Finovate debut in 2022 at FinovateEurope in London.

Dynamic Planner, a financial planning software company for advisors, unveiled its new risk profile mapping service for single strategy funds this week. The new service will help advisors create diversified portfolios with greater accuracy and insight on potential risks. This will ensure that portfolios are suitable to their specific investors and their goals.

“The new service will provide them with a level of granularity not previously possible, greater efficiency and accuracy, and all within one system with a consistent level of risk throughout,” company Chief Proposition Officer Chris Jones said. “However you organize your business and decide to meet the needs of your clients, Dynamic Planner can support you.”

The Single Strategy Mapped Service precisely maps instrument-level holdings data against Dynamic Planner’s risk factors and asset risk model. By sourcing single strategy fund holding data directly from fund providers, Dynamic Planner achieves a higher than usual level of granularity. This enables the service to provide the same accuracy and efficiency in the deployment of single strategy funds that advisors have when using multi-asset solutions.

The new service will also help fund managers better deal with compliance requirements. These include new regulations such as Consumer Duty, as well as the Product Intervention and Product Governance source book (PROD) rules that came into effect in 2018. “From a PROD and Consumer Duty perspective, the Single Strategy Mapped Service also enables the fund manager to more simply and clearly communicate whether a fund is intended to be distributed as a solution or part of a portfolio,” Jones said.

Headquartered in the U.K., and founded in 2003, Dynamic Planner made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022. At the event, CEO Ben Goss and his team showed how the platform combined intuitive technology with an independent asset risk model to match the right investment strategy with the right investor. Geared toward asset managers that risk profile, target, or manage more than £250 billion in investments, Dynamic Planner leverages 2,400+ covariance correlations to help ensure investment suitability.

Dynamic Planner began 2024 with the launch of its new low code integration platform. The solution enables advisors to integrate Dynamic Planner with other CRM systems they currently use to better manage client relationships.

Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope in London next month? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.

Photo by Gilly on Unsplash

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Supply Wisdom Unveils Self-Service Real-Time Risk Intelligence Platform

Supply Wisdom Unveils Self-Service Real-Time Risk Intelligence Platform
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Supply Wisdom
  • Supply Wisdom unveiled its self-service, SaaS-based model that gives organizations the ability to conduct real-time risk monitoring.
  • The new capabilities come in the wake of the firm inking partnerships with three Fortune 100 companies.
  • Supply Wisdom made its Finovate debut in 2022 at FinovateFall in New York.

Today, Supply Wisdom launched a self-service, SaaS-based model that delivers real-time risk monitoring capability to organizations. The company noted that its new offering will help organizations operationalize location-specific risk in their decision making.

Tom Thimot, Supply Wisdom CEO, explained the challenges organizations face in terms of both new regulations and growing geopolitical risk. “Firms are starting to recognize that geographic concentration is a common risk indicator raised by DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) and many other recently introduced regulations, yet they lack adequate risk intelligence and the tooling needed to operationalize risk management,” Thimot said. To this end, the new model will help organizations deal with the growing incidence of geopolitcal disruptions to business activity.

The launch news comes in the wake of Supply Wisdom adding three new customers – all members of the Fortune 100 – to its roster. Although unnamed in the company’s statement, the new clients include one of the four largest banks in the U.S., one of the top three shipping companies in the world, and a leading U.S. financial services and insurance company. These firms have used Supply Wisdom’s platform to monitor 150+ metrics across eight location risk subdomains – including ratings and event alerts – in weeks.

“The days of hiring and training scores of staff to compile and aggregate data reporting manually are over,” Thimot said this week. “As a result, we are seeing more Fortune 100 companies across industries turn to Supply Wisdom for real-time risk intelligence. Through immediate insights, businesses can respond more quickly to minimize or avoid the potential impact of global threats.”

With more than 30 years of experience in scaling SaaS-based technology companies, Thimot joined Supply Wisdom as CEO in December. Previously, he was CEO of enterprise identity authentication firm authID. Thimot also served as CEO of Finovate alum Socure. During his tenure, Socure earned a valuation of $1.3 billion. The company also became known as a leader in day zero identity verification.

Supply Wisdom made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, the company showed how it leverages real-time risk intelligence and alerting help organizations modernize their risk management beyond point-in-time practices. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in New York, Supply Wisdom has raised $11.5 million funding, according to Crunchbase. The firm counts Fulcrum Equity Partners and Florida Funders among its investors.

Photo by Wallace Chuck

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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: Alkami Technology, Alumni News, Daily news, Finzly, Revolut, Socure

Starting off the holiday-shortened week with more than a few fintech partnership announcements in payments as well as some positive funding news in the challenger bank/neobank space.

Follow this space all week long for more updates on the latest in fintech!

Payments

Localized payment solutions network Boku introduces new Chief Executive Officer Stuart Neal.

Mangopay, a payments infrastructure provider for marketplaces and platforms, teams up with Storfund.

Integrated payments and commerce technology company Shift4 teams up with mobile payment provider MobilePay.

Worldline forges strategic partnership with Google to leverage the cloud to enhance global payments orchestration.

Canadian payment solutions provider Chimoney announces a partnership with Corpay.

DailyPay closes $175 million in funding, boosts valuation by 75%.

Netherlands-based BNPL fintech Billink raises €29.5 million.

Brightwell collaborates with Visa to enable payouts to bank accounts and wallets.

Latin American payments fintech Pomelo raises $40 million.

Banking-as-a-Service

Allied Banking Corporation turns to Finastra as it migrates its core banking operations to the cloud.

High Circle, Treasury Prime, and First Bank forge strategic partnership.

Finzly announces 2023 revenue growth was double that of 2022.

Crypto

Franklin Templeton introduces its Franklin Bitcoin ETF, EZBC.

Challenger Banking

German digital bank N26 introduces in-app stock trading.

Panacea Financial raises $24.5 million in Series B funding.

Revolut and Jabil team up to scale development of Revolut’s mobile payment POS solution, Revolut Reader.

Identity Management

U.K.-based fintech ZORRZ teams up with identity verification platform provider IDnow.

KYC profiles provider Encompass Corporation acquires CoorpID and Blacksmith KYC from ING.

Socure launches its integrated, identity fraud solutions suite, Sigma Identity Fraud V4.

U.K.-based rent data company CreditLadder adds new reporting functionality to its digital identity app, Digital ID Connect.

Digital Banking

Colorado-based Elevations Credit Union partners with digital banking platform provider Alkami.

Co-op Credit Union extends its partnership with MDT, a CUSO that hosts the Symitar core processing system from Jack Henry, and adds digital and data capabilities.

Tandem unveils Goals feature set, announces $3.7 million in seed funding.

Pinwheel collaborates with Jack Henry to streamline access to direct deposit switching solution

Mortgagetech

Obligo teams up with BNY Mellon to digitize the rental process for property managers.

Credit Risk & Analytics

Collections and credit risk specialist Akuvo announces that 21 new financial institutions have signed up for its delinquency management platform.

Insurtech

Qover launches its automobile insurance solution in the U.K.

Trust & Will announces strategic investment from Erie Strategic Ventures

Regtech

UK-based Regtech eflow Global announces global expansion plans, appoints senior hires in the U.S.

Lending

Nav introduces next best option to help SMBs that are declined for funding.

DMI acquires ZestMoney platform and will be a preferred lender on the Zest platform.

Photo by Obsahovka Obsahovka

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TreviPay Launches Universal Acceptance Solution in Partnership with Mastercard

TreviPay Launches Universal Acceptance Solution in Partnership with Mastercard
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, TreviPay
  • B2B payments and invoicing network TreviPay launched its Universal Acceptance solution.
  • The technology will enable suppliers to offer trade credit financing to qualified buyers.
  • TreviPay made its Finovate debut two years ago at FinovateFall.

Courtesy of a partnership with Mastercard, B2B payments and invoicing network TreviPay launched its Universal Acceptance solution this week. The new offering will enable suppliers who accept Mastercard to extend net terms, or trade credit financing, as well as provide SKU-level invoicing to business customers.

TreviPay CEO Brandon Spear called the launch of the Universal Acceptance solution “an industry milestone.” According to Spear, the solution eliminates much of the complexity of B2B purchasing by taking a “consumer-like” approach to the buying experience. Research commissioned by the company revealed inefficient processes, incorrect invoicing, and slow onboarding as three key pain points for international business buyers. This research also indicated that trade credit was a leading payment option among these same buyers.

To this end, TreviPay’s Universal Acceptance solution enables suppliers who accept credit cards to offer net-terms financing to qualified buyers. TreviPay automates onboarding, financing, and accounts receivable to enhance efficiency and streamline the process. The platform also automatically sends invoices to the merchant’s buyer. This means that suppliers don’t have to worry about the cost and time spent pursuing outstanding or late payments. TreviPay assumes all risks relating to collection and guaranteeing settlement to merchants upfront.

TreviPay’s platform can be implemented in its original API integration directly into the seller’s point of acceptance. Users can also deploy the platform without API integration, relying on Mastercard’s global acceptance network instead.

Rebecca Meeker, SVP, Global Partnerships and Segments, Mastercard, praised TreviPay and Mastercard’s “shared vision to bring consumer-grade convenience to B2B transactions.” Meeker underscored the “seamless invoice reconciliation and faster settlement” made possible via the partnership.

Founded in 1980, TreviPay is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. The company made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, TreviPay’s Rissi Lovern and Max Almerico demoed TreviPay’s Small Business Supplier Payments Network (SBSN). The network enables banks to offer a wide range of products to their small business customers via access to the small business B2B trade credit market.

Last fall, TreviPay launched its Financial Partner Gateway. A new suite of APIs, the Financial Partner Gateway enables banks to deliver solutions including automated accounts receivable, underwriting, and trade credit management. The Gateway gives banks new revenue opportunities while helping TreviPay expand internationally. In August, the company introduced its support for cross-currency, B2B sales.

Photo by Luciann Photography

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news

There was a lot of news week in the payments world, where we saw announcements from large firms such as Visa and PhonePe, as well as smaller players like Cleva.

Across the board, there also seem to be a fair number of C-level job shifts, which makes sense for the start of the year.

Challenger Banking

Nubank’s Nu Colombia receives formal approval to operate a financing company in Colombia.

Payments

Cleva raises $1.5 million pre-seed funding to help non-U.S. residents open a U.S.-based account to receive USD payments.

PhonePe appoints Ritesh Pai as CEO – International Payments.

Allied Payment Network receives undisclosed amount of funding from RF Investment Partners.

Optty’s merchant clients and partners to leverage Link Money’s Pay by Bank solution.

Finix launches Payouts for fast and secure money movement.

Bluefin launches new ShieldConex capability with enterprise security proxy service.

Visa Direct adds more digital wallets through Simplii and CIBC.

Currencycloud inks partnership with cashflow management platform multi.

Andaria partners with Mastercard to empower its embedded finance initiatives.

Rivero raises $7 million in Series A funding to supercharge growth.

ACI Worldwide forges payments technology partnership with U.K. retailer Co-op.

Financial management

MSU Federal Credit Union’s Reseda Group launches Ever Green Financial Wellness Center to help credit unions promote financial literacy and education.

Brazil-based expense management and corporate card company Conta Simples raises $41.5 million in Series B funding.

Intuit integrates TurboTax into Credit Karma and QuickBooks.

Wealth Management

Kinecta Federal Credit Union announces an integration with cloud-based wealth management solutions provider FusionIQ.

Bits of Stock’s Stock Rewards Checking Account is now accessible through Jack Henry’s Banno digital banking platform.

InvestCloud appoints Jeff Yabuki as Chairman and CEO.

DeFi

E-commerce company Mercari to allow Bitcoin payments.

NoahArk Tech Group secures $2.4 million in a strategic investment from EOS Network Ventures (ENV).

USDC stablecoin issuer Circle files confidentially for an IPO.

Nayms Launches an Institutional Tokenized (Re)insurance marketplace on Base.

Lending

Qashio and CredibleX launch Qashio Financing.

Owners Bank expands partnership with Biz2X to include partner origination oprtal.

Identity Management

Digital signature firm Videosign partners with digital identity verification company OneID.

Socure’s Socure ID+ platform earns authorization from the State Risk and Authorization Management Program (StateRAMP).

Digital Banking

Redwood Capital Bank taps Apiture for digital banking platform.

KlariVis reaches 100-customer milestone, secures $11 million in Series B funding.

Compliance and Regtech

Inspire Legal selects First AML to increase confidence and autonomy in AML compliance.

Photo by Viridiana Rivera

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Danske Bank Taps Backbase to Enhance Digital CX

Danske Bank Taps Backbase to Enhance Digital CX
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Backbase, Daily news
  • Danske Bank has signed a deal with engagement banking solutions provider Backbase.
  • Danske Bank will tap Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform to help tailor its digital experience to suit its users’ needs and preferences.
  • Among Backbase’s most recent partnerships are FrankieOne and SavvyMoney.

Engagement banking solutions provider Backbase inked a deal with Denmark-based Danske Bank this week.

“This engagement is a testament to our customer focus and our commitment to ensuring the best digital banking experience for the future,” said Danske Bank Chief Operating Officer Frans Woelders. “A new platform that works across the web, mobile apps, and our adviser tools is one of the ambitions in Danske Bank’s Forward ’28 strategy, and the agreement with Backbase is the next step towards achieving that ambition.”

Under today’s deal, Danske Bank will leverage to Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform, allowing the bank to enhance the customer experience by tailoring the digital experience to suit the user’s needs and preferences.

Specifically, Backbase cites four aspects of digital banking that its Engagement Banking Platform can enhance, including:

  1. A mobile-first model that guides customers between automated and expert advice.
  2. A modernized and simplified IT landscape that reduces the number of siloed applications.
  3. A unified platform that consolidates data, business logic, and workflows into a single platform for customers and bank employees.
  4. More agility, thanks to enhanced flexibility that allows for swift implementation of business capabilities.

Expounding on the last point, Danske Bank Head of Personal Customers and Financial Crime Risk and Prevention Christian Bornfeld said, “This platform will allow us to take our interaction with customers through our digital solutions to the next level and to introduce enhancements at greater speed than ever before. It will thus enable us to provide market-leading convenience and personalization for our customers with great insights, increased proactivity, and easy access to assistance and advice.”

Backbase, which is on a self-described mission “to re-architect banking around the customer,” was an early entrant to the fintech space. Founded in 2003, the Amsterdam-based company offers a range of digital banking solutions, including onboarding, lending, investing, and customer support. Among Backbase’s existing partnerships are FrankieOne, which signed with the fintech last September, and SavvyMoney, which initiated its partnership last August.

Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA

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Open Banking Firm Link Money Teams Up with Payments Platform Optty

Open Banking Firm Link Money Teams Up with Payments Platform Optty
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Open banking platform Link Money announced a strategic partnership with payments platform Optty.
  • The partnership will enable Optty’s merchant clients and partners to access Link Money’s Pay by Bank solution.
  • Optty’s platform integrates with 115+ of the most popular alternative payment methods in the world.

Pay by bank is one of the biggest trends in fintech. And a new partnership between open banking platform Link Money and payments platform Optty will help more merchants and customers take advantage of it.

“Through this partnership, we will enable merchants to shift volume away from the most expensive rails and dramatically reduce costs while also reducing fraud and churn,” Link Money VP of Strategy Shaun Vanderkaap said.

The strategic partnership will enable Optty’s U.S. merchant clients and partners to use Link Money’s Pay by Bank solution. The payment option gives merchants a way to keep processing fees low, mitigate credit card fraud, and limit customer churn. Between the convenience of account-to-account (A2A) payments and concerns over credit card fees and the threat of fraud, being able to make payments directly from bank accounts has become an increasingly popular option for consumers, merchants, and financial institutions alike.

Optty founder and CEO Natasha Zurnamer said that the collaboration supports the company’s emphasis on “payment inclusivity and choice.” Zurnamer explained, “By integrating diverse payment options into our platform, (we are) empowering merchants to offer tailored checkout experiences in minutes.”

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Singapore, Optty supports nine different dynamic payment architectures. Buy Now Pay Later, digital wallets, credit and debit cards, gift cards, cryptocurrencies, loyalty and rewards, bank transfers, and payouts are all available from Optty via a single API integration. Optty also offers services ranging from carbon calculators and fraud protection to transaction review/optimization and network tokenization. The platform supports 120 currencies, is available in 75+ markets around the world, and has 400+ individual integrations to date. The technology is available as both a white-label product as well as a directly integrated solution.

Link Money specializes in making it easy for consumers to pay directly from their bank. The company leverages open banking to give merchants an alternative payment solution that lowers costs and increases convenience. To use the service, customers securely connect to their bank, select the account from which the payment will be made, and then initiate the payment. Link Money guarantees the payment to merchants, which typically takes two-to-three days to appear in the merchant’s account. The company has connections to more than 3,400 U.S. banks, and does not store bank login information or user credentials.

Founded in 2021, Link Money is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Eric Shoykhet is CEO.

Photo by Adrien Olichon

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Mastercard Taps 4thWave’s Supply Chain Finance Platform

Mastercard Taps 4thWave’s Supply Chain Finance Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MasterCard
  • Mastercard is partnering with 4thWave to leverage its supply chain financing and collections platform for its commercial clients based in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA).
  • Mastercard will integrate 4thWave’s technology into Mastercard’s InControl for Commercial Payments solution that uses virtual account numbers to make supplier payments more flexible and secure.
  • The payments technology aims to help the 72% of organizations that experience strained vendor relationships.

Payments technology giant Mastercard is partnering with BaaS digital platform provider 4thWave to leverage its supply chain financing and collections platform. Mastercard will use 4thWave’s technology for managing B2B payments to facilitate cashflow for corporate buyers and suppliers in the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) region.

More specifically, the technology will be integrated into Mastercard’s InControl for Commercial Payments (ICCP), a B2B payments solution that streamlines payments using virtual account numbers to make supplier payments more flexible and secure. Further increasing virtual card account acceptance, Mastercard’s straight through processing (STP) will help deliver funds for approved transactions to suppliers’ bank accounts.

“In line with our commitment to helping businesses worldwide transform the way they pay and get paid, we are investing in enhanced capabilities in the commercial B2B payments space,” said Mastercard Senior Vice President of Commercial Solutions, EEMEA Clyde Rosanowski. “Our partnership with 4thWave, a result of our continued focus on solving for B2B accounts payable and receivables, will allow us to jointly provide enhanced value to all participants in the supply chain.”

Mastercard is pouring its efforts into the supply chain finance sector because of the difficulties that often arise over vendor-supplier relationships. In fact, IBM found that around 72% of organizations experience strained vendor relationships due to inefficient invoice and payment processing, leading to sub-optimal supplier relationships. Offering a supply chain financing and collections tool to its commercial clients may smooth some of these issues and allow companies to focus on their core business.

“The B2B businesses, especially in the SME & MSME segment, have been severely impacted by the slowness in collections of receivables,” explained 4thWave Chairman Dan Mishra. “This has led to severe liquidity crunch that has negative consequences for the survival of these businesses. Our combined solution with Mastercard addresses this need by providing an easy and innovative financing platform that will rekindle and spur the much-needed growth in the economies.”

Photo by Pixabay

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Thought Machine Taps Debt Resolution Innovator Flexys

Thought Machine Taps Debt Resolution Innovator Flexys
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Thought Machine
  • Thought Machine and Flexys announced a new partnership this week.
  • The partnership wil integrate Flexys Control+ debt management platform with Thought Machine’s core banking solution, Vault Core.
  • UK-based Thought Machine made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in London in 2018.

Core banking platform Thought Machine and debt management and collections company Flexys announced a new partnership this week. The partnership will integrate Flexys Control+ debt management platform with Thought Machine’s Vault Core.

Rising consumer debt levels and legacy technology in debt management have created processes that are labor-intensive, expensive, and inefficient. To this end, the real-time integration between platforms will enable banks to enhance their debt management capabilities and modernize their banking operations with a new core. Thought Machine’s Vault Core is a cloud-native, cloud-agnostic, API-first core banking platform. It features a Universal Product Engine that gives users a great deal of flexibility in the design of new financial products created by smart contracts. This is in addition to a sizable number of pre-built financial solutions. These range from savings accounts and credit cards to Islamic banking solutions and buy now pay later (BNPL) products.

“Banks can now benefit from a seamless cloud-native ecosystem, leaving behind the constraints of legacy systems to improve efficiency, minimize friction, and vastly improve the experience for customers in arrears,” Flexys CEO James Hill said.

For its part, Control+ automates and digitizes customer engagement. This improves efficiency. But it also makes it possible for agents to offer personalized, positive experiences for customers. Emphasizing engagement over confrontation, Control+’s “intelligent debt resolution” approach empowers collections agents while protecting businesses from reputational and regulatory risk.

“Thought Machine and Flexys are removing unnecessary burden and human error,” Flexys Global Head of Partnerships Randolph McFarlane said. “In turn, this enables banks to better serve their customers, providing a superior experience in a time when customer expectations are higher than ever.”

Bristol-based Flexys was founded in 2016. In recent months, the company has forged partnerships with TSB Bank and Virgin Money. In both instances, Flexys helped the institutions manage Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) repayments and Pay As You Grow (PAYG) options.

Thought Machine finished 2023 with a partnership with Mexico-based fintech Trafalgar. The partnership marked Thought Machine’s first collaboration in Mexico, and is designed to help Trafalgar better serve its SME customers. Additionally, the company plans to launch its new Thought Machine-powered platform in Q2 of this year. Trafalgar will also leverage Thought Machine’s technology to develop and offer additional financial services ranging from virtual cards to point-of-sale (POS) systems.

Founded in 2014, Thought Machine made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in London in 2018. The company has raised more than $562 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. Thought Machine includes Temasek Holdings and Intesa Sanpaolo among its investors. Paul Taylor is CEO.

Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope in London next month? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.

Photo by Pixabay

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Alkami and Chimney Help Customers Manage the Asset Side of Homeownership

Alkami and Chimney Help Customers Manage the Asset Side of Homeownership
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alkami Technology, Alumni News, Chimney, Daily news
  • A pair of Finovate alums – Alkami and Chimney – announced a strategic partnership this week.
  • The partnership will help banks offer their customers actionable advice on their home’s value, equity, and their borrowing power.
  • Alkami is one of Finovate’s earliest alums, demoing as “iThryv” in 2009. Chimney has won Finovate Best of Show honors twice since 2021.

A newly announced strategic partnership between digital banking solutions provider Alkami and two-time Finovate Best of Show winner Chimney will help banks better serve their homeowner customers as they seek information about their home’s value, home equity, and their own borrowing power. The partnership will make it easier for financial institutions to leverage digital banking to give homeowners the financial tools, data, and insights they need to understand and manage their home as not just a home, but as a financial asset, as well.

Chimney’s tools and APIs enable users to track home value, borrowing power, and access home equity from within the bank’s app. The combination of Chimney’s property data and Alkali’s financial health data gives financial institutions the resources they need to boost user engagement, cross-sell, personalize offers, and better compete against third-party real estate websites and others.

“Alkami believes innovation unlocks new growth opportunities and enhances account holder experiences” Alkami co-founder and chief strategy and product officer Stephen Bohanon said. “Chimney’s platform exemplifies this and delivers a tool that supports homeowners’ financial journeys and deepens relationships.”

Founded in 2020, Chimney is headquartered in New York. The company won Best of Show last September at FinovateFall with a demo of its Chimney Home solution. Chimney Home gives homeowners actionable advice on their home value, equity, and buying power from within their banking app. The solution offers convenience for homeowners and helps FIs better engage them with relevant, personalized offers.

As Signal Intent, the company won its first Best of Show award in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2021. The firm rebranded as Chimney two years ago.

One of Finovate’s earliest alums, Alkami first demoed on the Finovate stage in 2009 as “iThryv.” Since then, the Plano, Texas-based fintech has become a major digital banking solutions provider for regional banks and credit unions. Last month alone, Alkami announced new partnerships with Credit Union of Texas and New York-based Quontic Bank. In November, Alkami teamed up with fellow Finovate alum Plaid.

Photo by Tierra Mallorca on Unsplash

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Trust & Will Closes Earned Equity Investment Deal with Comcast’s Forecast Labs

Trust & Will Closes Earned Equity Investment Deal with Comcast’s Forecast Labs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Trust & Will
  • Trust & Will has landed an earned equity investment with Comcast’s venture arm, Forecast Labs.
  • Under the agreement, Forecast Labs will promote Trust & Will nationally via TV advertisements to reach new audiences.
  • Trust & Will was founded in 2017 and has raised $48 million.

Digital estate planning and settlement platform Trust & Will is adding to its resources this week. The California-based company has inked an earned equity investment deal with Comcast’s venture arm Forecast Labs.

Unlike a traditional equity investment, the earned equity investment is not a cash investment. Instead, under today’s agreement, Trust & Will will benefit from non-monetary resources from Forecast Labs. For example, Forecast Labs may contribute expertise, services, or assets, in exchange for equity ownership in Trust & Will. In other words, instead of providing cash upfront, Forecast Labs will earn its equity stake by delivering a specified value to the business.

Specifically in this case, Forecast Labs will promote Trust & Will nationally via TV advertisements to gain brand awareness in fresh market segments of consumers who may be less likely to have a will. As Forecast Labs Managing Director Arjun Kapur explained, “With this investment, we will play a pivotal role in introducing Trust & Will to people who have otherwise been priced out of estate planning or have had to deal with outdated ways of managing their wills and trusts.”

Trust & Will, which won Best of Show accolades at FinvoateFall last year and has raised $48 million across eight rounds of funding, was founded in 2017 as a digital-first way for users to create wills and trusts inexpensively online. Since launch, the company has helped 700,000+ families plan their own future and settle the estates of loved ones. There is plenty of room for growth in the U.S. market, however. More than 60% of Americans do not have a will.

“As we look ahead at our goals for growth in 2024,” said Trust & Will CEO and Founder Cody Barbo, “I am excited to start working with Forecast Labs to put our business in front of more Americans who have otherwise been left out. Estate planning is too important of a topic for so many people to neglect until it’s arguably too late.”

Trust & Will’s marriage of fintech and legaltech isn’t unique to the fintech world, but it is not all that common. While the fintech sphere often focuses on financial transactions and management, the incorporation of legaltech solutions like those of Trust & Will is a promising convergence of sectors. This year, we will likely see growth of fintechs in the regtech and legaltech arenas, as startups seek green pastures for innovation.

Photo by Melinda Gimpel on Unsplash

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Best of Show Winner 10x Banking Teams Up with Mortgage Origination Platform Mast

Best of Show Winner 10x Banking Teams Up with Mortgage Origination Platform Mast
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: 10x Banking, Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news

The partnership between core banking platform, 10x Banking, and mortgage origination platform, Mast, will enable real-time connectivity between the two systems. This connectivity will be a boon for lenders, who will benefit from streamlined data exchange. It will also deliver the kind of real-time mortgage servicing that eliminates the need for – and potential complications of – manual data entry between multiple systems.

“This partnership represents a key milestone in how we support the transformation of the UK mortgage and building societies market,” 10x VP and Global Head of GTM and Partnerships Frederico Venturer said. “This integration will enable customer-facing innovation that rethinks the mortgage lifecycle using cloud-native tools, unlocking new growth opportunities for our clients.”

The collaboration comes with an API integration guide on 10x Docs. The guide gives mortgage lenders in the UK a fast and straightforward integration path. The guide includes a number of different integration scenarios that are particularly germane to UK’s mortgage market. These scenarios include product creation and account onboarding.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with 10x and provide seamless integration for UK mortgage institutions,” Mast CEO Joy Abisaab said. “Together, we empower UK lenders to unlock new levels of operational efficiency and enable the delivery of exceptional customer experiences.”

London-based Mast offers cloud-native mortgage technology infrastructure that enables lenders to boost capacity, lower costs, and enhance operational controls. The company has helped clients reach more than 20% increases in conversion from Decision in Principal (DIP) to completion. Mast’s technology has also facilitated a more than 70% increase in lending for its customers – without adding operational capacity.

Founded in 2016, 10x Banking won Best of Show in its Finovate debut last year at FinovateEurope. In its live demo, the company demonstrated its 10x SuperCore Cards solution. This innovation enables banks to leverage the 10x Bank Manager interface to build a card proposition in minutes.

10x Banking’s partnership news comes shortly after the company announced a collaboration with B2B lend tech company Trade Ledger. A real-time API connection between Trade Ledger’s data platform and 10x Banking’s SuperCore platform will allow banks and alternative lenders bring complex working capital solutions to market quickly. These solutions include invoice, receivables, and supply chain finance products.

10x Banking also teamed up with compliant open banking API technology provider Ozone API late last year. The integration will enable banks to combine real-time banking capabilities with a solution that helps them take advantage of open banking. Ozone API co-founder and CEO Huw Davies praised the way the partnership will “make it easier for banks to reduce complexity in their tech stack, allowing banks to comply with any global open banking standards, so they can focus on accelerating growth and value creation.”

10x Banking has raised more than $252 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. The company’s investors include BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase.

Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope in London next month? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.

Photo by Alexander Isreb

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