Daily news

ICICI Bank Partners with ZestMoney to Add BNPL Feature

ICICI Bank Partners with ZestMoney to Add BNPL Feature
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • ICICI Bank is integrating ZestMoney’s EMI (Equated Monthly Installments) BNPL network into its Cardless EMI product.
  • Customers can use ZestMoney’s BNPL capabilities to make purchases of up to $12,900 (Rs. 10 lakh).
  • This BNPL tool is currently live for ICICI clients making purchases online and will be available at physical retail locations “soon.”

Another day, another onslaught of BNPL news. Following this week’s chatter on Apple Pay Later and Zopa’s entrance into the BNPL market, ICICI Bank in India announced a partnership with Equated Monthly Installments (EMI) BNPL network ZestMoney.

The tie-up will enable ICICI Bank to expand its Cardless EMI product that facilitates purchases at participating physical retail and e-commerce platforms. When using ZestMoney’s BNPL capabilities, ICICI customers can use cardless credit to make purchases of up to $12,900 (Rs. 10 lakh) online or in-store and pay for it in EMIs. ICICI customers can also use ZestMoney’s flagship Pay-in-3 offering that enables users to split their transaction into three EMIs without extra cost.

“With this partnership, millions of our pre-approved customers can shop from e-commerce platforms and retail merchants registered on ZestMoney by just using mobile phone and PAN,” said ICICI Bank Head of Unsecured Assets Sudipta Roy. “We believe this facility provides immense convenience and improves affordability of our customers, as they can purchase high-value products on EMIs in a secure, instant, and digital manner, without even carrying their cards or wallet.”

This BNPL tool is currently live for ICICI clients making purchases online at ZestMoney’s retailer network which includes Xiaomi, OnePlus, Sugar, Mamaearth, Decathlon, Boat, Yatra, Urban Ladder, Vijay Sales, Titan Eye Plus, and more. BNPL payments made at physical retail locations will be available “soon.”

Launched in 2020, ICICI Bank’s Cardless EMI feature is most popular for users between the ages of 25 to 35. The solution is most widely used in e-commerce shopping platforms, travel, education, insurance, healthcare & wellness, and fashion apparel.

Founded in 2015, ZestMoney enables its 17 million users to apply for a digital credit line within seconds. The company’s merchant network includes 10,000+ online retailers and 75,000 physical stores. In addition to winning Best use of AI/ML at last year’s FinovateAwards, ZestMoney was also selected as a 2020 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and was recognized as the second fastest-growing technology company by Deloitte India in 2021.

Photo by Jeremy Bezanger on Unsplash

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Backbase Secures $128 Million Investment from Motive Partners

Backbase Secures $128 Million Investment from Motive Partners
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Backbase, Daily news, Funding
  • Backbase raised $128 million (€120 million) in growth equity funding this week.
  • The round was led by private equity firm Motive Partners, and gave the company a valuation of $2.6 billion (€2.5 billion).
  • Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform enables banks and credit unions to leverage a cloud-based platform to offer bank customers seamless digital experiences.

Engagement banking platform Backbase secured $128 million (€120 million) in growth equity funding from private equity firm Motive Partners. The investment gives the company, which made its most recent Finovate appearance at FinovateFall 2021, a valuation of $2.6 billion (€2.5 billion). The funding also marks Backbase’s first-ever funding event since its founding in 2003.

“Today is a major milestone for more than 2,000 Backbasers and 150 customers around the world, to celebrate the incredible progress we made,” Backbase founder and CEO Jouk Pleiter said in a statement. “With this partnership, we’re even better equipped to drive our Engagement Banking vision to the next level.”

The investment from the “founder-friendly” firm will enable Backbase to commit more resources to its Engagement Banking solution, helping power the company’s mission to “re-architect” banking in a customer-focused way. Backbase’s technology gives banks and credit unions the ability to move away from disconnected, point and channel solutions. Instead, with Backbase’s cloud-based platform, financial institutions can build frictionless customer journeys across all stages of the customer lifecycle from onboarding and servicing to lending and expanding wallet share.

With more than 150 financial institutions around the world using its technology, Backbase gives banks and credit unions the ability to quickly digitize and transform their customer-facing operations to meet the expectations of increasingly digitally-savvy banking customers. At its most recent Finovate appearance last fall, Backbase demonstrated a customer onboarding solution that consolidated a customer’s finances via direct deposit, billl pay auto linking, and debit card account opening. The technology showed how financial institutions can get key insights into their customers and empower them to take more control over their financial lives.

“Backbase’s proven track record of entrepreneurship and organic growth will continue,” Jouk said. “Our formula is simple: focus on the needs of our customers and empower highly skilled teams to deliver. We’re changing a big industry, which is hard work. Having critical mass and market momentum allows us to stay laser-focused. Together we’re making it happen.”

Founded in 2003, three-time Finovate Best of Show winner Backbase maintains a global headquarters in Amsterdam.

Photo by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS

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SocietyOne Adds Digital Bank Accounts

SocietyOne Adds Digital Bank Accounts
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, SocietyOne
  • Australia digital finance platform SocietyOne is adding new checking and savings accounts, SpendOne and SaveOne.
  • SocietyOne is leveraging Westpac’s banking-as-a-service platform to offer the new accounts.
  • Today’s news comes three months after SocietyOne was acquired by alternative lender MONEYME.

It’s 2022 and digital banking is in the air. P2P lending platform SocietyOne is among the many fintechs that have added checking and savings accounts to compete with this decade’s new crop of challenger banks.

The Australia-based company recently unveiled it has tapped its long-time investor Westpac to add these new checking and savings accounts, SpendOne and SaveOne. Westpac’s banking-as-a-service platform will fuel the new accounts, which will work in conjunction with SocietyOne’s fixed rate secured and unsecured personal loans, as well as its free credit score product.

SpendOne and SaveOne can be accessed via SocietyOne’s new mobile app, which offers customers visibility of their transactions and allows them to take out a SocietyOne loan, set up automatic repayments, and access their credit score.

Today’s news comes three months after SocietyOne was acquired by alternative lender MONEYME. According to the press release, the launch of SpendOne and SaveOne “is aimed to fast-track the MONEYME Group’s goal of becoming Australia’s largest non-bank credit provider.” Once the acquisition closed in March of this year, combining the companies significantly increased MONEYME’s customer base and created a $1.2 billion loan book.

“The launch strongly aligns with MONEYME’s diversification strategy and our focus on delivering leading digital-first experiences to empower Generation Now,” said MONEYME CEO and Managing Director Clayton Howes. “The SpendOne and SaveOne accounts are designed to automate good financial habits, giving customers more freedom, flexibility, and a one-stop shop to manage their money.”

Marketed as a transaction account, SpendOne will not charge transaction or account fees. The account comes with many of the features users would expect from a large bank, including a debit card, account-to-account transfer capabilities, and ATM cash withdrawals. Additionally, SpendOne has a round-up feature that lets customers opt to round up their everyday transactions to a select amount, sending the balance to their SaveOne account.

The SaveOne account comes with an interest rate of 1% per year. In addition to the roundup feature mentioned above, SaveOne also helps users save with an autosave option that allows a percentage of customers’ deposits to be automatically transferred to their SaveOne account.

“Adding these products creates a frictionless experience for SocietyOne customers, who can now monitor and manage everyday transactions, savings, SocietyOne personal loans, and their credit score, all in one app,” said MONEYME COO Jonathan Chan. “With easy oversight and automated features to help customers save more, it provides increased control over their finances.”

SocietyOne was founded in 2012. Since then, the company’s platform has matched investors’ funds with over 35,000 customers and, last January, surpassed $1 billion in lending. SocietyOne is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MONEYME, which is listed on the ASX under the ticker MME and has a market capitalization of $220 million.

Photo by Christina Morillo

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 Eltropy Acquires Video Banking Startup POPi/o

 Eltropy Acquires Video Banking Startup POPi/o
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Eltropy, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Digital communications platform Eltropy has acquired video banking company POPi/o.
  • Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.
  • With today’s acquisition, Eltropy now helps more than 400 Credit Unions reach their members via digital channels.

Digital communications platform Eltropy announced it has acquired video banking expert POPi/o. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Eltropy expects the purchase will strengthen its digital communications platform which enables financial institutions to engage in digital channels, such as social media, in a compliant manner. Today’s acquisition adds 100 credit union clients to Eltropy’s roster. The company now helps more than 400 credit unions reach their members via digital channels.

POPi/o offers banks a range of communication technologies ranging from high-tech to high-touch. The Utah-based company offers automated chatbot technology, video support from an in-branch specialist, and collaboration tools such as co-browse, video check deposit, identity verification, document sharing, and e-sign.

“By joining forces with POPi/o, we’re empowering credit unions to build robust virtual branch capabilities and serve members anytime, anywhere, in the channel of their choice,” Eltropy Co-Founder and CEO Ashish Garg. “Our world-class digital communications platform helps credit unions deliver on the promise of digital transformation — improving online and in-branch experiences for members and allowing for more rapid expansion in new markets without the need for a physical presence.”

Founded in 2013, Eltropy offers credit unions to help them reach their customers where they are. Leveraging POPi/o’s technology, Eltropy will offer clients automated, AI-driven text messaging, video banking, secure chat and chatbots, co-browsing, screen sharing, video check deposit, and more. In addition to providing compliance in these digital capabilities, Eltropy also offers communication analytics that provide insights into member engagement.

“Throughout my career, I have been focused on the consumer experience while creating enormous value to financial institutions,” said POPi/o Founder and Chairman Gene Pranger. “Through the merger of POPio’s Video Banking and Eltropy’s sophisticated digital communications platform, we will be able to fulfill both objectives.”

Earlier this spring, Eltropy celebrated the milestone of partnering with more than 300 credit unions across the U.S. And in April, Eltropy integrated with financial services software provider MeridianLink to help the company provide text messaging capabilities, secure document collection and sync, and instant notifications from within its platform. Eltropy most recently demoed at FinovateSpring 2018.

Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

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Suze Orman’s New Startup SecureSave Raises $11 Million for its Workplace Emergency Savings Account

Suze Orman’s New Startup SecureSave Raises $11 Million for its Workplace Emergency Savings Account
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Secure
  • SecureSave raised $11 million in strategic funding this week, taking its total capital raised to $14.7 million.
  • The Kirkland, Washington-based company offers workplace-based emergency savings accounts.
  • SecureSave made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring.

SecureSave, a new workplace savings program provider that made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring 2021, has secured $11 million in a strategic funding round led by Truist Ventures. Truist Ventures is the venture capital division of Truist Financial. Also participating in the round were Stearns Financial Services Inc. and cryptocurrency platform FTX.

The investment brings SecureSave’s total capital to $14.7 million. The new capital will be used to support partnership expansion as well as further development of the company’s flagship emergency savings solution.

“This new investment is a reflection of the rapid adoption and incredible customer demand we’re seeing for SecureSave’s unique emergency savings platform and underscores the industry and investor confidence in our vision,” SecureSave CEO and co-founder Devin Miller said. “Amidst the economic uncertainty over the last two years, companies both large and small recognize (that) an ESA is as critical as an 401(k) or an HSA and not just for retention or for recruiting, but also because poor financial health is impacting companies’ bottom line.”

Headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, and founded in 2020, SecureSave offers a new type of workplace savings program that helps workers build and maintain an emergency savings account. Emergency savings accounts are funded automatically through regular payroll deductions – as well as matching contributions from the employer – and ESA holders can instantly access their funds at any time. SecureSave’s ESA also offers bonuses to accountholders for reaching financial goals and savings targets. The company reported that the average SecureSave accountholder saves $103 per month in their account and tops $400 in savings within the first four month of opening their ESA.

“While the pandemic demonstrated why an emergency savings account was a necessity, the impact of the current inflationary environment is having on employees is bringing home this point even more,” SecureSave Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder Suze Orman said. “I could not be more proud for SecureSave to better meet the needs of those in financial distress by offering an employer matched emergency savings account.”

Photo by Joslyn Pickens

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Australian Open Banking Innovator Bud Raises $80 Million

Australian Open Banking Innovator Bud Raises $80 Million
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Open banking platform Bud raised $80 million in Series B funding.
  • The investment adds to the $20 million Series A investment the U.K.-based company secured in 2019.
  • Bud brings expertise in data intelligence and machine learning to the open banking ecosystem.

Intelligent open banking platform Bud secured $80 million in Series B funding today. The round was led by Bellis Phantom Holdco, an indirect affiliate of investment funds managed by TDR Capital. The investment, which also featured participation from existing investors including Outward VC, brings the company’s total capital to more than $100 million – which includes a $20 million Series A round raised in 2019.

“Bud’s transactional intelligence services allow applications to become truly personalized for the first time,” Bud co-founder and CEO Ed Maslaveckas said. “For example, our lending customers can expect to see an increase of about 85% in capacity by combining open banking data with our AI capabilities in their affordability assessments.”

ANZ, Street UK, and TotallyMoney are among the companies that use Bud’s technology. While ANZ, Street UK, and TotallyMoney rely on Bud’s platform to automate affordability checks, other Bud clients – such as HSBC and Credit Karma – leverage Bud’s technology to help their customers better understand their own finances. The London, U.K.-based company plans to use the funds to build its client portfolio, further develop its models, and fuel international expansion.

To that last point, Maslaveckas told AltFi that he anticipated entering “two major new markets” by the end of 2022. Maslaveckas pointed to growing demand for Bud’s services, which leverage transactional AI models that help financial institutions personalize digital offerings and automate lending decisions.

Maslaveckas sees Bud as an emerging player in the open banking ecosystem, bringing innovations, data intelligence, and machine learning. He considers Bud as a fresh addition to a field that already has leading players such as Tink, Plaid, and TrueLayer that have demonstrated innovation in aggregation, connectivity, and payments.

“We are hugely excited by the potential of Bud,” TDR Capital Managing Partner Gary Lindsay said, “not only in the ability of its platform to truly harness the opportunities from open banking, but also in its far-reaching potential to help power other businesses we are invested in.”

Founded in 2015, Bud unveiled v2.0 of its Affordability API last month. The new solution helps clients take full advantage of Bud’s new Open Banking Affordability capabilities. The simplified API now enables customers to get started quickly without having to immediately think about customization options.

Photo by Ben Mack

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Western Union Taps Marqeta for Payment Card Issuance

Western Union Taps Marqeta for Payment Card Issuance
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Marqeta
  • Western Union has tapped Marqeta to enable clients in Europe to send remittances to a physical or virtual Visa card.
  • Marqeta’s open API will allow Western Union to replicate its payments card program to other geographies.
  • Thanks to Marqeta’s expertise, Western Union can now gradually add new features to its digital money transfer app.

Card issuance platform Marqeta has been busy lately and is adding to its to-do list, as well as its client base, today. The California-based company is partnering with money transfer company Western Union, which will integrate Marqeta’s payment cards solution into its digital wallet and digital banking platform in Europe.

The new relationship will enable Western Union to offer its remittance service online with the ability to disburse funds to either a physical or virtual Visa card. Ultimately, the addition of payment cards means that Western Union can now offer clients a more holistic experience.

Leveraging Marqeta’s scalable open API, Western Union can easily replicate its payments card program across international markets and will have access to real-time insights into customer card activity. “The Marqeta platform delivers all the functionality needed to support the goals of our new digital banking program, alongside the flexibility to enter new markets with ease and design new features that meet the needs of our customers,” explained Western Union Chief Data and Innovation Officer Tom Mazzaferro.

Founded in 2010, Marqeta offers a range of payments-related services, including direct deposit, ACH transfers, ATM withdrawals, and more. With today’s partnership, Western Union now has the ability to leverage this expertise by gradually adding new features to its digital money transfer app.

“We are thrilled to be working together on this exciting new venture for their European business,” said Marqeta Europe’s European Strategy Director Anna Porra. “At a time when customer expectations are rising, creating a data-driven solution that leverages modern card issuing technology, as well as the expertise of an ecosystem of global partners, is critical to help gain a share of wallet.”

Photo by Ono Kosuki

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ACI Worldwide Unveils Mobile Engagement Platform to Empower Shopping-on-the-Go

ACI Worldwide Unveils Mobile Engagement Platform to Empower Shopping-on-the-Go
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news
  • ACI Worldwide unveiled its mobile engagement platform ACI Smart Engage this week.
  • The new solution relies on location, voice, and image recognition to enable consumers to purchase goods and services remotely with a single click.
  • The launch of ACI Smart Engage comes at the same time that ACI Worldwide announced a divestment of its business banking unit, ACI Digital Business Banking.

Real-time payments software company ACI Worldwide launched its mobile engagement platform ACI Smart Engage today. The solution leverages location, voice, and image recognition technology to enable merchants to offer their entire inventory of products and services directly to consumers’ smartphones. ACI Smart Engage combines geolocation with scannable media and audio tags inside a range of media types – including TV, print and radio advertisements, posters, magazines, catalogs, window displays, and more. Consumers can use the solution to instantly purchase products and services on-the-go with a single click.

“With ACI Smart Engage, merchants can reach consumers through their smartphones no matter where they are and turn every interaction into an opportunity to sell,” ACI Worldwide head of merchant Debbie Guerra said. “ACI Smart Engage combines the in-store and online experience for consumers by reaching them on their smartphones through various media, including supermarket labels, restaurant menus, or window displays, and driving true mCommerce sales through embedded one-click payments. With ACI Smart Engage, merchants can make ‘window shopping’ a reality.”

Merchants can integrate ACI Smart Engage into their existing mobile apps using Smart Engage SDK APIs. The technology is a part of ACI Omni-Commerce, a secure omni-channel payment processing platform that supports the in-store, online, and mobile needs of modern merchants. ACI Omni-Commerce also offers consumers more of the kind of purchasing experiences they are looking for.

“Consumers are reaching for their smartphones to make informed buying decisions more than ever before,” Guerra added. “With Smart Engage, we enable merchants to reach those consumers at the right time, when they are most likely to make a purchase and then help them complete the purchase with a single click. It fosters direct engagement between merchants and their customers.”

ACI Worldwide’s launch of ACI Smart Engage comes as the company announced a decision to divest its corporate online banking solutions to middle market private equity firm, One Equity Partners. The move is part of ACI Worldwide’s “three-pillar strategy” which is designed to support value creation for shareholders via a focus on growth.

“Our efforts to accelerate organic growth are firmly on track, and we are now making progress on the third pillar, step-change value creation through M&A,” ACI Worldwide president and CEO Odilon Almeida said. “The divestment is in line with our commitment to continually review the company’s portfolio to maximize shareholder value.”

The transaction for ACI Digital Business Banking, as the technology is called, has been valued at $100 million. The deal is expected to close in Q3 of 2022.

A veteran of both Finovate and our developers conference FinDEVr, ACI Worldwide offers real-time payment solutions to help corporations process digital payments, enable omni-commerce, and manage fraud and risk. Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Miami, Florida, ACI Worldwide is partnered with 19 of the top 20 banks around the world, and works with 80,000 merchants directly and through PSPs. The company’s technology facilitates more than 225 billion consumer transactions a year.

With 2021 revenues of $1.4 billion, ACI Worldwide is a publicly-traded company (NASDAQ: ACIW) with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

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Aiia Launches New Payment Feature, Pay By Link

Aiia Launches New Payment Feature, Pay By Link
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Aiia, Alumni News, Daily news
  • Finovate newcomer Aiia launched its new payment technology, Pay by Link.
  • The new offering empowers businesses to make payments using a wide variety of common communication channels including email, PDF, SMS, and chat.
  • Aiia was acquired by Mastercard in the fall of 2021.

Leading Northern European open banking platform Aiia unveiled its new payment feature, Pay by Link. The new offering enables seamless payments for both businesses and consumers, using whatever channel they choose. These options include email, PDF, SMS, social media chat, and more.

“We’re in the process of transforming the entire way of paying bills,” Aiia CEO and co-founder Rune Mai said. “With a simple link, we make it effortlessly easy and secure to pay a bill on the go with a bank account without having to enter or remember payment details.”

Using the solution is straightforward: businesses provide Aiia with the necessary invoice information for a given payment and Aiia ensures that all vital information is visible on both the sender and receiver accounts. This lets businesses automate the payment reconciliation process, if they need to. Any company can issue a payment link for an invoice using customer-facing channels such as email, SMS, or even a physical letter.

“With Pay by Link, we give businesses the opportunity to accept and receive payments anywhere and reduce friction in the entire payment flow,” Mai added. “The new feature is bridging the opportunity gap between open banking and a wide range of businesses.”

Aiia’s open banking platform enables businesses to connect their applications to more than 3,000 banks in Europe to access financial data and offer seamless payments. The company made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateEurope 2021, demoing its technology that allows any company to make easy and cost-effective account-to-account payments with just a few lines of code. Since then, Aiia has forged partnerships with Swiss PFM startup keycount, Denmark-based IT services firm Netcompany, and Danske Bank U.K. Last fall, Mastercard announced that it had completed its acquisition of Aiia, a deal that was first reported in September.

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Ant Group Unveils ANEXT Bank, a Digital Bank for SMEs

Ant Group Unveils ANEXT Bank, a Digital Bank for SMEs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Ant Group unveiled a digital bank called ANEXT Bank focused on serving SMEs.
  • ANEXT Bank is soft launching today and will be widely available in the third quarter of this year.
  • ANEXT Bank is collaborating with Proxtera, a Singapore company that broadens access to global trade.

China tech giant Ant Group announced the launch of its own digital bank, ANEXT Bank, in Singapore.

ANEXT Bank is a digital wholesale bank focused on serving micro businesses and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Specifically, ANEXT will focus on facilitating cross-border operations for growth and global expansion.

The ANEXT business account, which will be available to SMEs in the third quarter of this year, will offer a dual-currency deposit account with remote onboarding, daily interest, and other features. The bank is soliciting ideas for other features from the public. “We believe in building solutions around your needs,” the company said on its website. “So tell us what you want from financial services. Because it’s time to bring about what’s next.”

ANEXT Bank CEO Toh Su Mei described that SMEs are doing business via digital channels and financial services organizations must meet them where they are. She added that ANEXT’s “open and collaborative” approach is key to providing SMEs with financial services that are simpler, safer, and more rewarding.

“Continuous innovation and new capabilities that digital banks are slated to bring will no doubt add more engines of growth to Singapore’s financial sector,” said Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Chief Fintech Officer Sopnendu Mohanty. “MAS expects the digital banks to thrive and synergize with our dynamic financial institutions and raise the bar in delivering quality financial services, and to uplift Singapore’s financial sector to better support the growth of SMEs in Singapore, the region and in emerging markets.”

Along with its collaboration with MAS, ANEXT also signed a two-year collaboration agreement with Proxtera, a Singapore company that broadens access to global trade. The two plan to facilitate cross-border trade among SMEs by leveraging embedded financing and fulfillment services to make marketplaces efficient and more discoverable globally.

“Seamless access and availability of trade financing solutions will help amplify business growth and accelerate expansion for SMEs,” said Proxtera CEO Saurav Bhattacharyya. “This mission is closely aligned with ANEXT Bank’s focus to serve SMEs engaging in cross-border operations. Together with ANEXT Bank’s digital-born identity and digital-first capabilities and services, I’m confident that we can make trade easier, more seamless, and efficient for SMEs.”

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Klarna Partners with Marqeta to Launch its New Card

Klarna Partners with Marqeta to Launch its New Card
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Klarna, Marqeta
  • Marqeta announced a collaboration with fellow Finovate alum Klarna to power the company’s new payment card.
  • The new card will enable Klarna customers to use the company’s Pay in 4 payment option in physical stores.
  • This week’s partnership builds upon a relationship the two companies have enjoyed since 2018.

A pair of Finovate alums have teamed up to offer a new transparent alternative to traditional credit cards.

Modern card issuing platform Marqeta reported this week that it is working with banking, payments, and ecommerce platform Klarna to power Klarna’s new payment card. The card will bring Klarna’s Pay in 4 service to a physical Visa card, and builds on a payment card partnership between the two companies that extends back to 2018. Marqeta currently enables the creation of one-time cards on Klarna’s app. The new Klarna Card will give customers the same control, convenience, and flexibility when shopping in physical stores that they currently enjoy when using Klarna’s Pay in 4 at the point of sale or via the Klarna app.

“Our U.S. customer base is growing rapidly and we’ve seen tremendous demand for our new Klarna Card offering,” Klarna Chief Commercial Officer David Sykes said. “By expanding our partnership with Marqeta, we’re leveraging their payments expertise to provide our customers with an unmatched user experience that will ultimately help our business grow.”

This latest collaboration comes just months after the two companies expanded their partnership into 13 new European markets. Klarna will leverage Marqeta’s Just-in-Time Funding functionality to gain control over the full transaction flow, and use Marqeta’s technology and 300+ open APIs to deliver customizable experiences and support Klarna’s international expansion.

“Marqeta’s continued partnership with Klarna is a testament to all the payment experiences that our modern card issuing platform can enable,” said Marqeta CEO and founder Jason Gardner. “We’re proud to offer a flexible, scalable card platform that can meet the demands of such a rapidly-growing and innovative company like Klarna.

A Finovate alum since 2012, Klarna now has more than 147 total active customers – 25 million in the U.S. – is active in 45 countries and facilitates two million transactions a day. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, the company began the year with the launch of a physical payment card in the U.K. and, in March, announced the completion of its acquisition of comparison shopping service company PriceRunner. Sebastian Siemiatkowski is CEO.

Based in Oakland, California, Marqeta made its Finovate debut at our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley, in 2016. In the years since, Marqeta has issued more than 500 million cards via its platform and processed more than $110 billion in volume in 2021. In addition to its partnership with Klarna, Marqeta also announced this week that it was joining Mastercard’s Network Enablement Partners Program in the Asia Pacific. The move will enhance Marqeta’s ability to offer its APAC customers a faster path to live issuance.

“As one of Mastercard’s first Network Enablement Partners to be onboarded in the Asia Pacific region, Marqeta is well-equipped to deliver card issuances in record time, and to help their fintech customers scale at speed across multiple geographies,” Mastercard SVP of Digital Customer Solutions APAC Ben Gilbey said.

Photo by Olya Kobruseva

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Sowing the Seeds: Tales from Crypto’s Course Correction

Sowing the Seeds: Tales from Crypto’s Course Correction
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news

Bruised but not broken, the cryptocurrency market has taken more than a few blows as the prices of leading digital assets – from Bitcoin to Ethereum – have declined significantly in recent months. This may have taken some of the steam out of many cryptocurrency ventures. But there is no sign that interest in cryptocurrencies has been lost in any critical way. Here are three headlines from this week’s news that remind us that, despite its recent fortunes, crypto remains a key part of innovation in fintech.

Leading digital asset exchange Binance announced the closure of a $500 million venture fund for investing in Web3 and blockchain-based technologies this week. The fund will be led by the company’s venture capital arm Binance and features the support of a number of global investors including DST Global Partners and Breyer Capital.

“In a Web3 environment, the connection between values, people, and economies, is essential, and if these three elements come together to build an ecosystem, that will accelerate the mass adoption of blockchain technology and crypto,” Binance CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao said.

Binance Labs has supported and incubated more than 100 firms from more than 25 countries since its inception in 2018. With an openness to projects ranging from incubation to early stage venture to late-stage growth, the fund anticipates supporting initiatives “with the potential to build and to lead Web3 across DeFi, NFTs, gaming, Metaverse, social, and more,” Zhao said.

Liminal, a digital asset wallet infrastructure company, announced receiving $4.7 million in seed funding this week. The round was led by Elevation Capital, and featured participation from a sizable number of investors. Among the company’s backers in this round were traditional investors like LD Capital and Nexux Ventures, crypto-based investors like CoinDCX and Hashed, and individual investors including Andreas Antonopoulos and Balaji Srinivasan. Liminal plans to use the capital to support both hiring and product development.

Founded in 2021 by serial entrepreneur Mahin Gupta, Liminal is the first digital wallet architecture to provide the multi-party computation (MPC) and multisignature (MultiSig) that help secure digital assets across different blockchains. A plug-and-play platform, Liminal has processed transactions over $2.5 billion and automated transactions valued at $400 million. The company currently secures approximately $50 million in assets.

“With Liminal, we solve the very real problem of securing and scaling digital assets where users have to use different wallets and infrastructure for different protocols,” Gupta said. “Our three layers provide key management, operational automation, and compliance for enterprises.”

Speaking of seed funding, digital asset startup Cloudwall Capital secured $6.3 million in seed funding this week. The company specializes in risk management in the cryptocurrency space.

The round was led by LocalGlobe and Illuminate Financial. Cloudwall will use the funding to increase the size of its team to 15 members by year’s end. The company will also leverage the new capital to support further development of its digital asset portfolio management platform, Serenity. Cloudwall anticipates being able to launch an early access program by this summer.

“Digital assets underwent explosive growth between 2020 and 2021, with almost five years of growth taking place overnight,” Cloudwall Capital co-founder and CEO Kyle Downey said. “Recent market gyrations have only increased the case for a digital asset platform to manage risk so that institutional investors have the tools and platforms to help manage their portfolios and risks.”

Serenity will combine risk management with research to provide investors with an overview of their assets and potential for volatility. A cloud-based platform, Serenity will enable them to review their portfolio holdings and examine historical data – including blockchain data and data from centralized exchanges. Investors will be able to use Serenity’s statistical and machine learning algorithms to run simulations and stress tests on their portfolios to see how they will react to different market conditions.

“It’s becoming clearer to institutional investors that they should invest in digital assets if they aren’t already, but they don’t have the tools to help them embrace this new market in a way they are used to,” Cloudwall Capital co-founder and COO Jia Yng Wee said. “We’re building Serenity to provide this solution and (to support) the careful growth of this industry.”

Cloudwall Capital was founded in 2021. The company is headquartered in New York City.

Photo by Binyamin Mellish

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