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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Small business banking tools company NorthOne pulled in $67 million in funding this week.
The Series B round increases the company’s total raised to more than $90 million.
NorthOne has big ambitions, and is seeking to be “the digital finance department powering every small business in America.”
Small business banking tools company NorthOnelanded $67 million in a Series B funding round this week. The investment boosts the New York-based company’s total funds to more than $90 million.
New and existing investors, including Battery Ventures, Don Griffith, Drew Brees, Ferst Capital Partners, FinTLV, Next Play Capital, Operator Stack, Redpoint Ventures, Tencent, and Tom Williams, participated in the round.
NorthOne was founded in 2016 to offer small businesses an approachable digital banking experience. The company said that the funds will enable it to raise the standard of products and services that business owners should expect from their banking partners.
“Through an obsessive focus on our customers’ needs, we’ve been able to predictably build a business banking experience that unlocks an incredibly strong product-market fit,” said NorthOne CoFounder and CEO Eytan Bensoussan. “As our customers grow, their problems evolve beyond the bank account. By connecting the data layer between accounting, receivables, payables, lending, payroll—all the financial operations—and the bank account ledger, we can provide a transformative offering that’s always felt out of reach for our customers: a world-class finance department built for their business.”
NorthOne, whose services are powered by The Bancorp Bank, has big ambitions. The fintech is aiming to be “the digital finance department powering every small business in America.” To reach this goal, the company is currently working on building new capital and credit products, faster payment solutions, and more integrations.
Deutsche Bank and Fiserv are teaming up to launch Vert, a payment acceptance and processing company aimed to serve small businesses.
Unlike other tools on the market, Vert will also offer traditional banking services.
Deutsche Bank has a built-in client base of around 800,000 small-to-medium-sized businesses who will be able to access the new solutions.
Deutsche Bank and Fiservannounced a partnership this week that will change the landscape of payments competition in Germany. The two have teamed up to launch Vert, a payment acceptance and processing company that also offers traditional banking solutions.
Aimed to serve small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs), Vert provides a single, integrated offering that streamlines access to banking products. The new service differentiates itself by providing next-banking-day pay-outs, which enables merchants to improve their cashflow with faster access to their funds. Vert also offers acceptance of common payment types and comes with an online dashboard that helps companies analyze transaction data and view a variety of business reports.
“By combining the strength of Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, with Fiserv, the world’s largest merchant acquirer, we can provide our Vert members with a secure, fast and technologically advanced payment acceptance solution,” said Vert Managing Director of Sales & Product Thorsten Woelfel.
Vert is launching with three products:
CloverFlex is a portable payment acceptance device that offers a tip function and business management apps.
A Go by Vert app that enables merchants to accept payments on their own Android device using secure PIN entry that allows the merchant to accept payments above contactless-only limits.
The PAX A50 is a small card reader device that enables merchants to accept card payments without having to carry around a heavy device.
“With a unique combination of payment and banking capabilities, Vert is already helping small and mid-sized enterprises in Germany do business more easily, with less complexity,” said Fiserv Head of EMEA John Gibbons. “We look forward to helping thousands of merchants streamline their operations and continue to delight their customers.”
Deutsche Bank comes with a merchant client base of its own. Between the bank’s retail banking division Postbank and entrepreneur-focused digital bank Fyrst, Deutsche Bank counts around 800,000 SMBs who will be able to access the new solutions. In fact, some of these merchants are already live with Vert. The bank also expects to attract business customers from outside of its own client base.
“The valuation underscores investors’ confidence in Airwallex’s core business value and fundamentals,” Airwallex CEO and co-founder Jack Zhang said. He added that the market environment going forward remained “challenging in the foreseeable future,” but said the investment would help fuel the company’s objectives with regards to growth, product expansion, and talent acquisition. “By strengthening the breadth of our global reach and product offering, we can better empower our customers to unlock new market opportunities,” Zhang said.
The investment takes Airwallex’s total capital to $900 million. Participating in this week’s funding were existing investors Square Peg, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Lone Pine Capital, Hermitage Capital, 1835i Ventures, and Tencent. Other investors included Australian superannuation fund, HostPlus, and a pension fund based in North America.
Airwallex’s payments and banking platform helps businesses accept payments, move money around the world, and enhance their financial operations. The company also offers a business account that features global accounts, borderless cards, transfers and foreign exchange, payment links, business expense reconciliation, and integration with accounting platform Xero. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, Airwallex has enjoyed revenue growth of 184% in the past year and is currently processing nearly $50 billion in annualized transactions.
Named Startup of the Year in the U.S. FinTech Awards and FinTech of the Year at the Asia FinTech Awards, Airwallex announced in August that it was committing an additional HK$2.25 million ($286,650 USD) into its Hong Kong SMEs Initiative. Launched in April, the effort is designed to help small businesses recover from the economic fallout from the COVID pandemic. This latest commitment brings Airwallex’s total support of the initiative to HK$4.5 million ($573,300 USD).
Banking software firm Alogent has acquired document imaging and tracking software company AccuSystems.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Adding AccuSystems’ technology will help Alogent expand to new market segments.
Banking software firm Alogent announced this week it has acquiredAccuSystems, a document imaging and tracking software company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition combines two players in the enterprise content and information management space and expands the automation capabilities Alogent makes available to its bank and credit union clients. This is especially important because having a centralized data and document management platform that offers data analysis is becoming table stakes for financial institutions.
“The addition of AccuSystems to our process automation suite allows us to extend workflow experiences to new market segments with complementary capabilities proven to drive higher asset growth, improved efficiencies, and profitability for banks and credit unions,” said Alogent CEO Dede Wakefield.
AccuSystems Founder and CEO Alan Wooldridge said that the acquisition will help AccuSystems become “more impactful” by providing clients with “increased access to resources and an expanded banking ecosystem of solutions.”
Headquartered in Colorado, Accusystems provides bank document imaging and management to help banks increase control, accountability, and efficiency. The company’s imaging, exception, and loan approval workflows work with more than 30 cores and loan origination solutions and are used by more than 15,000 financial institutions. The company was founded in 1996 by Mel Hatch.
Alogent’s enterprise content and information management solution helps banks replace paper-based processes and automate workflows. Alogent was founded in 1995 and its other acquisitions include Finance Genius, Finovate alum Jwaala, and Bluepoint Solutions.
Financial solutions provider Finastra announced a strategic collaboration with digital trade finance network Contour.
Finastra also announced a partnership with India’s Kotak Mahindra Bank, bringing its Unified Corporate Portal solution to support the institution’s corporate banking portal Kotak FYN.
Formed via a merger between Misys and D+H in 2017, Finastra also recently announced the appointment of Chief People Officer Helen Cook.
Financial solutions company Finastra recently announced a pair of partnerships. The U.K.-based firm, which launched its open platform for innovation FusionFabric.cloud in 2017, has entered a strategic collaboration with digital trade finance network Contour. The collaboration will integrate Finastra’s Fusion Trade Innovation technology with Contour’s platform, boosting access to trade finance and streamlining back-office workflow.
The collaboration helps financial institutions take advantage of the multi-trillion dollar global trade business that both corporate customers and consumer depend upon every day. The partnership between Finastra and Contour will give financial institutions a network that supports collaborative workflows between trading parties. The new integration facilitates digital adoption, lowers costs and reliance on paper, and reduces risk.
“Our partnership with Finastra is an important step forward in breaking down barriers to adoption and increasing access to trade finance,” Contour CEO Carl Wegner said. “By integrating Finastra’s Fusion Trade Innovation, financial institutions and corporates will have access to an end-to-end ecosystem of services that will enable them to transact seamlessly and securely.”
Finastra also announced a partnership with India’s Kotak Mahindra Bank, specifically supporting the firm’s new integrated corporate banking portal, Kotak FYN. The bank will rely on Finastra’s Unified Corporate Portal solution, expanding a partnership with Finastra that extends back to October of 2021. The new enterprise portal will enable bank customers to conduct trade services. By the final quarter of the year, the portal will also offer account services, payments, and collections.
“Working together with Finastra, the Unified Corporate Portal will allow us to make the Kotak FYN portal even more revolutionary,” Kotak Mahindra Bank President for Global Transaction Banking Shekhar Bhandari said. “We can provide intuitive, easy-to-use access to many products and user journeys through a single platform, reducing complexity and friction for our customers and providing a truly differentiated user experience.”
The Bank’s Unified Corporate Portal will leverage Finastra’s Corporate Channels framework. This will empower banks to offer their corporate clients a seamless experience for account services, payments, trade, supply chain finance, and lending. The portal will enable banks to unify data across portals and back office systems to give users a single view of transactions, positions, and balances. Finastra noted that the integration will support self-service operation and boost efficiency.
Finastra’s partnership news comes in the wake of a new C-suite hire: the appointment of Helen Cook as the company’s Chief People Officer. Announced late last week, Cook comes to Finastra from Natwest Group, where she worked as Chief Human Resources Officer. At Finastra, Cook will be tasked with helping the company fulfill its goal to be “the most inclusive and diverse employer in the fintech industry,” according to a statement.
“Finastra’s vision is built on collaboration, and its commitment to become a truly inclusive workplace and enhance the skills of its workforce,” Cook said. “I’m thrilled to support in growing and developing the company’s global talent.”
Finastra was formed in 2017 as a merger between Finovate alum Misys and D+H. The company’s technology is used by more than 8,600 institutions, including 90 of the top 100 banks in the world. Simon Paris is CEO.
Hong Kong-based digital asset investment startup xalts received $6 million in funding.
The round was co-led by Citi Ventures and Accel.
The investment marks a first for Citi; it is the first digital asset manager in which the bank-owned venture firm has invested.
Digital asset investing company xaltslanded $6 million in funding in a Seed round co-led by Citi Ventures and Accel.
The investment, which is xalts’ first round of capital, also marks a first for Citi Ventures. xalts is the first digital asset manager in which the bank-owned venture firm has invested. “xalts is our first investment in a digital asset manager, and we support its vision of creating innovative products to meet the growing appetite of institutional investors for more efficient and robust crypto-access investments,” said Citi Ventures Managing Director Luis Valdich.
While the investment is a first for Citi, however, the move into crypto is not uncommon for traditional financial firms. In fact, just a few weeks ago, Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, and Fidelity Investments announced the launch of a new cryptocurrency exchange, EDX markets, to serve both individual and institutional investors.
Headquartered in Hong Kong, xalts is a global digital investment firm that helps financial institutions across the globe access digital assets while remaining compliant. The company was founded earlier this year by Goel Ashutosh and Supreet Kaur.
“With xalts, we are building innovative, institutional-grade investment products and solutions which focus on high compliance and control standards – things institutional investors care about,” said Goel, xalts’ Chief Investment Officer. “The next leg of growth in digital assets will be driven by institutional participation in the asset class. We are starting to see the early signs of that with a lot of new initiatives coming from banks and asset managers.”
Merrill Wealth Management launched Merrill Advisor Match, a tool to connect people with the right advisor.
Using Merrill Advisor Match, customers answer a set of questions that helps match them with a list of financial advisors.
The launch comes at a time when one third of affluent Americans are not currently working with an advisor.
Bank of America’s Merrill Wealth Managementunveiled a new offering this week that offers a technological approach to matching consumers with financial advisors.
The tool, Merrill Advisor Match, connects people seeking financial advice with a Merrill financial advisor that suits their preferences and needs. After answering a set of questions, consumers looking to be matched with an advisor receive a personalized list of potential candidates who they can review. Once they’ve finalized their decision, they can use the tool to schedule a meeting with the advisor of their choice.
The questionnaire asks customers where they are on their financial journey, which areas of their finances they would like help with, how they prefer to spend time during their meeting, if they are a planner or are spontaneous, and more.
Mobile screenshots of Merrill Advisor Match
“We’ve combined a century of bringing Wall Street to Main Street with a personalized digital experience that takes the guesswork out of finding the right advisor,” said Merrill Wealth Management President Andy Sieg. “Merrill Advisor Match is an industry-changing innovation that reflects our modern Merrill strategy, helping to connect more investors to advice from the best advisors in the industry.”
Merrill Advisor Match partners advisors with consumers based on a number of factors, including the customer’s engagement preferences, guidance style, and personality traits. These elements are assessed in the questionnaire and are based on a Merrill study that indicated that 90% of affluent Americans prefer to work with an advisor who matches their communication style, 83% select an advisor based on their personality, and 93% choose their advisor based on whether they deliver financial results.
This digital-first approach to selecting an advisor will resonate with affluent Americans, one-third of whom are not currently working with an advisor. By leveraging matchmaking technology, Merrill Advisor Match creates a user experience similar to those used with dating and social sites that customers are accustomed to. This familiarity ultimately makes the process more approachable.
“For those who don’t have a connection in their personal network,” explained Merrill Chief Operating Officer Kirstin Hill, “Merrill Advisor Match uses research and qualitative analysis to break down barriers to professional financial advice.”
Cash management innovator Jiko raised $40 million in Series B funding today.
The company’s technology enables businesses of all sizes to store their cash in higher yielding “spendable T-bills.”
Jiko also announced the launch of its Jiko Money Storage solution, which will soon enable 34/7 money movement on the Jiko Network.
Among the more interesting fintechs innovating in the cash management space, Jikoraised $40 million in Series B funding today. Jiko enables companies of all sizes to move cash into and out of short-term U.S. Treasury bills (known as T-bills).
Jiko “spendable T-bills” provide transparent pricing and near instant liquidity, blending the safety and yield of T-bills with the flexibility of cash. The Oakland, California-based fintech leverages its status as a broker-dealer, as well as its technology stack and bank charter, to operate more cost-efficiently than other cash storage options.
“Today’s CEOs, CFOs, and corporate treasurers must be increasingly nimble in the face of factors such as inflation, supply chain disruption, and geopolitical conflict, while still managing their company’s risk exposure – making it paramount that cash deliver yield through safe and secure strategies,” CEO and co-founder of Jiko Stephane Lintner said.
“That need is at the heart of why we created Jiko, and with this additional funding, we look forward to continuing our work to transform how money can be moved and stored – exemplified by our milestone launch of Jiko Money Storage.”
Jiko Money Storage, also announced today, enables businesses to store cash securely in the form of T-bills with on-demand liquidity at leading custody bank BNY Mellon. Jiko will soon make the holdings movable 24/7 on the Jiko network.
The company’s Series B round was led by Red River West. Trousdale Ventures, Owen Van Natta, Temaris & Associates, La Maison Partners, BPI France, Airbus Ventures, Anthem Ventures, Upfront Ventures, and Radicle Impact also participated. The investment adds to the $47.7 million the company has raised to date via its Series A and seed funding rounds.
“It’s rare to come across a fintech team quite as ambitious as Jiko’s,” Airbus Ventures Partner Claas Kohl said. “Jiko’s network presents uncompromised safety combined with the efficiency of a modern tech stack and is equipped to soon support multi-currency financial activity.” Former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Jiko advisor Larry Summers said, “In today’s macro environment, cash should be put to work – not sit idly in bank accounts. I don’t endorse any products or platforms, but I am excited by the innovation that Stephane and his team are delivering for money storage and look forward to continuing to advise them.”
AML surveillance technology specialist Hawk AI forged a strategic partnership with digital onboarding and business KYC solutions provider Know Your Customer.
The partnership will give businesses an integrated anti-fraud solution that will help them avoid the problem of siloed compliance technologies.
Munich, Germany-based Hawk AI made its Finovate debut in May, demoing its technology at FinovateSpring in San Francisco, California.
Hawk AI, an anti-money laundering surveillance technology company for banks and fintechs, announced a strategic partnership with Know Your Customer this week. The alliance will combine Know Your Customer’s digital onboarding and business KYC solutions with Hawk AI’s transaction monitoring technology. The new offering will give businesses an integrated anti-fraud solution to enhance their defense against financial crime.
“There is a wave of technological innovation taking place in RegTech,” Hawk AI CTO and co-founder Wolfgang Berner said, “from cloud native infrastructure enabling scalability, real-time native processing in a performant, safe and secure way, to fully explained AI and machine learning that augment traditional AML approaches and ensure efficient and effective crimefighting.”
Berner also underscored the challenge of fraud prevention solutions that are not well integrated. “Cutting-edge technology is not enough if information remains siloed,” he said. Berner noted that Know Your Customer shared Hawk AI’s “vision of modular solutions that foster a more holistic approach to fighting financial crime.”
Hawk AI’s Steve Liú, General Manager North America
Processing billions of transactions in more than 60 countries every year, Hawk AI’s technology leverages explainable AI and cloud technology to detect financial crime while keeping false positives low. The company reported that reducing false positives can help AML compliance officers save up to 70% of their workday, enabling them to focus on more complex compliance challenges.
Hawk AI made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateSpring 2022 in San Francisco. Headquartered in Germany, and founded in 2018, the company demoed its AML Surveillance Suite. The technology blends AI with traditional, rule-based strategies to monitor financial transactions in real-time and help financial institutions and fintechs better detect suspected cases of fraud, financial crime, and money laundering. This method helps identify minor, easily missed anomalies that can be overlooked by traditional rule-based approaches alone.
Hawk AI includes financial services consultancy Capco, and KYC and customer onboarding specialist Ondato – as well as fellow Finovate alums like Visa, Mambu, and Diebold Nixdorf – among its partners. A member of the RegTech 100, Hawk AI has raised $10 million in funding from investors including BlackFin Capital Partners and Picus Capital. Co-founder Tobias Schweiger is CEO.
Embedded finance player Railsr closed a $46 million Series C round comprised of $26 million in equity and $20 million in debt.
Company CEO and Co-founder Nigel Verdon is calling the investment “a significant step” in the company’s route to profitability.
The new capital brings Railsr’s total funding to $187 million.
Four months after rebranding from Railsbank, embedded finance platform Railsrclosed $46 million in funding today. Company CEO and Co-founder Nigel Verdon is calling the investment “a significant step” in the company’s route to profitability.
The Series C round consists of $26 million of equity, which was led by Anthos Capita and included existing investors Ventura, Outrun Ventures, CreditEase, and Moneta. The rest of the round was comprised of $20 million in debt, which was led by Mars Capital.
Railsr said that the new capital, which brings its total funding to $187 million, will empower the company to continue to invest in its platform and help it enable its customers to offer embedded finance experiences to their end users.
“We set out to challenge old finance and this is what we will continue to do. Our strategy and success to date has come from the way we prioritize customers, invest in technology, empower teams and execute relentlessly to continue our journey,” said Verdon.
With more than 300 customers– including HelloCash, Sodexo, and Payine– Railsr offers a range of embedded finance offerings. The company believes that customers want to focus on frictionless and fun experiences, not finance. Railsr offers banking-as-a-service, along with embedded payment cards, mobile wallets, credit tools, and rewards tools.
Railsr has been keeping busy as of late. Along with its rebrand, the company recently appointed Rick Haythornthwaite as its first Chairman, promoted Chief Product Officer Stuart Gregory to Chief Operating Officer, and promoted Jane Thorburn to serve as Chief of Staff.
Headquartered in the U.K. and founded in 2016, Railsr declined to disclose its current valuation but referred to it as a “fair value.”
U.S. Bank introduced a new tool to give small business owners the ability to see a 90-day forecast of their cash flow.
The new offering is the latest innovation from U.S. Bank’s Business Essential suite of banking and payments solutions.
U.S. Bank made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateFall 2021. At the conference, the bank demoed its Cards-as-a-Service (CaaS) technology.
U.S. Bank unveiled a new solution to enable small business owners to see a 90-day forecast of their cash flow. The tool allows users to leverage external data from their clients along with their own U.S. Bank accounts to provide more comprehensive insights. The offering is designed to address what U.S. Bank Chief Digital Officer Irv Henderson called “a top concern for today’s business owners.”
“Giving our clients the ability to forecast their cash flow outlook, including, in the future, the capability to consider various scenarios, will provide them with vital information to make smart decisions for today and the future,” Henderson said.
U.S. Bank’s new cash flow tool gives users a 90-day historical view along with its forecast of account balances up to 90 days ahead. The bank plans to introduce additional functionality to enable users to build “what if” scenarios and observe the impact of those scenarios on future cash flow.
The tool is currently available to clients of U.S. Bank from their online dashboard. Part of U.S. Bank’s Business Essentials suite of banking and payments solutions, the cash flow tool is the bank’s latest effort to “bring together digital capabilities and the power of data” to provide small businesses with actionable insights, according to Henderson.
U.S. Bank made its Finovate debut a year ago at our all-digital FinovateFall 2021 conference. At the event, the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based bank demonstrated its Card-as-a-Service (CaaS) technology that enables companies to extend corporate credit digitally. With the touch of a button, virtual cards -with precise spend limits, tokenization, and encryption – can be pushed to users’ mobile wallets in real time. The Card-as-a-Service solution also gives businesses the ability, via API integration, to build custom virtual payment experiences in their ecosystem.
The parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, U.S. Bancorp serves millions of customers through a range of businesses including consumer and business banking, payment services, corporate and commercial banking, wealth management, and investment services. The institution has $591 billion in assets as of June 2022.
Today’s global expansion marks Lemonade’s fourth European country. In addition to the U.S. and U.K., Lemonade is also available in France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Lemonade entered the insurance sector with its flagship renters insurance offering in 2015 and now has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion.
U.S. insurtech Lemonade already has notoriety among mainstream consumers in the U.S., and today, the New York-based company is once again expanding its geographic reach by launching in the U.K.
“Insurance as we know it hails from the U.K., as do I. So both professionally and personally bringing Lemonade to the U.K. is a homecoming of sorts,” said Lemonade Co-CEO and Co-founder Daniel Schreiber. “We believe the millions of local renters will appreciate what Lemonade has to offer. After all, who doesn’t want instant, transparent, personalized, and mission-driven insurance?”
Starting today, U.K. residents can sign up for Lemonade’s personal property coverage, Lemonade Contents insurance. Coverage plans start at $4.52 (£4) a month. The Contents insurance covers individual personal items of up to $2,260 (£2,000) each, and offers total coverage up to $113,000 (£100,000). Lemonade also offers add-on coverage for theft and loss-related incidents, accidental damage to mobile devices, and expert help through legal protection.
This isn’t Lemonade’s first international expansion. The company has also launched in France, Germany, and the Netherlands. For this move, however, Lemonade is relying on the U.K.’s largest insurance carrier, Aviva, which counts 18.5 million customers across the globe.
“By joining forces we can ensure compelling propositions reach a broader range of customers, including renters, an under-served yet growing segment of the U.K. insurance market,” said CEO of Aviva U.K. & Ireland General Insurance Adam Winslow. “In our 325 year history we have adapted and thrived in a changing world and our partnership with Lemonade is a marker of our intent to continue just this.”
Lemonade entered the insurance sector with its flagship renters insurance offering in 2015, when AI-driven, digital first insurance offerings were hardly commonplace. Today, the company has expanded to offer homeowners, auto, pet, and life insurance products. Lemonade went public in 2020 and now trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker LMND with a market capitalization of $1.54 billion.
