Daily news

DeepTarget Helps Banks and Credit Unions Personalize Customer Communications

DeepTarget Helps Banks and Credit Unions Personalize Customer Communications
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, DeepTarget
  • Financial services digital marketing innovator DeepTarget has launched its 3D Story on the Go product extension to its Digital Experience Platform (DXP).
  • The new solution enables banks and credit unions to add immersive and adaptive user experiences to email, SMS, and social media marketing campaigns.
  • Alabama-based DeepTarget made its Finovate debut at FinovateWest 2020.

DeepTarget has unveiled the new 3D Story On the Go product extension to its Digital Experience Platform (DXP). The new addition leverages consumer and business intelligence, as well as AI, to help banks and credit unions personalize customer communications and launch more effective marketing campaigns via email, SMS, and social media.

“Today’s consumers are digital users first and expect their financial institutions to deliver seamless, personalized, relevant experiences,” DeepTarget CEO Preetha Pulusani said. “As much as personalization is a growing expectation for consumers, achieving it is a growing challenge for many financial institutions, especially in understanding how and when to leverage consumer data.”

DeepTarget’s 3D Story On the Go enables banks and credit unions to boost engagement through some of the most widely-used channels by creating immersive and adaptive, prismatic user experiences. These AI-powered and insights-based, visually appealing experiences can be used for onboarding new customers, sending personalized offers and promotions, product announcements, and more. Crane Credit Union VP of Marketing Michael Hostetler highlighted the way DeepTarget’s technology has brought additional value to its email marketing efforts. “We use email extensively to communicate with our members based on DeepTarget’s AI-based predictive campaigns,” Hostetler said. “With 3D Story On the Go, it will be great to easily deliver a new, elevated level of AI-based personalized experience to our members.”

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, DeepTarget made its Finovate debut at FinovateWest in 2020. At the event, the company demoed its 3D StoryTeller solution which brings an innovative, 3D user experience to DeepTarget’s Digital Experience Platform. The new offering helps financial institutions take advantage of social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat.

The introduction of 3D Story On the Go comes weeks after DeepTarget announced that MDT Credit Union, a credit union service organization (CUSO), would offer the DeepTarget integration into the Banno Digital Platform to its credit union customers. MDT President and CEO Larry Nichols underscored the importance of the digital experience to credit unions and their members, noting that DeepTarget’s technology helps them “maintain their differentiators – human connection, empathy, and exceptional service – within the digital network.”

Photo by Maksim Goncharenok

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Proptech Firm Casavo Raises $408 Million

Proptech Firm Casavo Raises $408 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Casavo has raised $408 million in a debt and equity financing round.
  • The round is comprised of $306 million in debt and $102 million in equity, and brings Casavo’s total funding to $798 million.
  • The company will use the funds to grow its existing operations, while expanding into France.

Casavo, a France-based fintech that seeks to make it easier for users to buy and sell their homes, has raised $408 million in combined debt and equity. The round is comprised of $306 million in debt, along with $102 million in Series D equity financing, and brings Casavo’s total funding to $798 million.

The equity round was led by Exor NV, along with contributions from existing investors Greenoaks, Project A Ventures, 360 Capital, P101 SGR, Picus Capital, and Bonsai Partners; as well as new investors Neva SGR, Endeavor Catalyst, Hambro Perks, Fuse Venture Partners, and others. Casavo reports that the funds bring the company’s borrowing capacity to more than $510 million, which will be key to scaling its home-buying business.

Casavo was founded in 2017 to simplify the process of buying and selling homes. The company originally launched as a home-buying platform and has since evolved to offer a marketplace that serves both home sellers and buyers. Sellers can either receive a purchase offer from Casavo or find a buyer through the company’s partner agent network, and buyers can access Casavo’s inventory of properties and receive integrated services such as mortgages.

“The round will allow us to consolidate our leadership in Europe by growing across our existing markets in Italy, Spain and Portugal, while expanding into new ones, with France being a priority,” said Casavo Founder and CEO Giorgio Tinacci. “We’ll continue investing in our mission to simplify the way people sell and buy homes, having evolved from a pure home-buying platform to a leading next-generation European residential marketplace.”

Today’s funding comes just four months after Casavo’s last fundraise in March, when the company received a $203 million investment. Casavo currently has 4,000 homes in Italy, Spain, and Portugal listed on its platform. So far, the company has sold 3,200 properties for a total value of $1+ billion.

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People Driven Credit Union Partners with Larky to Deliver Customized Push Notifications to Members

People Driven Credit Union Partners with Larky to Deliver Customized Push Notifications to Members
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Larky
  • Customer engagement and communications innovator Larky is partnering with People Driven Credit Union (PDCU).
  • The partnership will enable the Michigan-area credit union to deploy Larky’s nudge platform to send predictive communications and customized push notifications to its members.
  • A Finovate alum since 2014, Larky also recently teamed up with Michigan State University Federal Credit Union, which will also deploy the company’s nudge solution.

People Driven Credit Union (PDCU), a full-service financial institution based in Southfield, Michigan, has teamed up with customer engagement specialist Larky. The credit union will leverage Larky’s nudge solution to send predictive communications to its target audiences. The partnership also will enable PDCU to deploy customizable push notification campaigns to market branch projects and initiatives without requiring additional staff, time, or cost.

Once integrated into a financial institution’s mobile banking app, Larky’s nudge provides lock-screen alerts and/or location-based notifications to guide account holders toward relevant and useful financial information and opportunities such as promotions for loan offers. Larky’s nudge platform enables FIs to create, edit, manage, and deploy tailored, turnkey mobile push notification campaigns based on their specific marketing priorities. The result boosts app engagement and encourages use of the FI’s mobile banking app.

“Today’s credit union member is increasingly digital-first,” People Driven Credit Union VP of Marketing Dave Sullivan said. “They check and use their mobile devices far more than they walk into the branch of a credit union.” Sullivan added that this meant ensuring that PDCU provides a quality member experience via the mobile channel that meets member needs. “Larky’s nudge makes it possible for us to share relevant, timely messages with our members regardless of their location and better support them with choice of product or service as they move throughout their daily lives,” Sullivan said.

People Driven Credit Union was founded in 1928 as Detroit Federal Employees Credit Union. The institution changed its name to Peoples Trust Credit Union in 2005 and, in 2014, merged with Community-Driven Credit Union to become People Driven Credit Union. PDCU currently has assets of more than $342 million and more than 25,000 members in Genesee, Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw, and Wayne counties in Michigan.

Larky’s partnership with PDCU comes just a few months after the company announced that Michigan State University Federal Credit Union would deploy Larky’s nudge platform to provide tailored messaging to its 300,000+ members. In beta testing before the launch, Michigan State University FCU has experienced an aggregate tap rate of more than 16% for its nudge messages, with the test’s most successful message – the company’s satisfaction survey – earning a 12% completion rate.

“Mobile will continue to shape the future of banking,” Larky CEO and co-founder Gregg Hammerman said. “Credit union members are accustomed to – and often prefer – leveraging the mobile channel for everything from ordering a cup of coffee to securing flights abroad. This familiarity is also seen in the usage of push notifications, keeping members abreast of a transaction in progress. With the nudge platform, credit unions and other FI leaders can now bring this experience that is widely known and encountered in the retail environment to the banking industry.”

Founded in 2012, Larky is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Photo by Uri Espinosa

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Mastercard Forges Multi-Year Strategic Alliance with Quantum Computing Company D-Wave Systems

Mastercard Forges Multi-Year Strategic Alliance with Quantum Computing Company D-Wave Systems
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MasterCard
  • Mastercard announced a multi-year strategic alliance with quantum computing leader D-Wave.
  • The partnership will explore applications for quantum computing technology in financial services.
  • D-Wave builds both annealing and gate-model quantum computers, the only firm in the world to do so.

Will quantum computing take the place of crypto in terms of the fintech zeitgeist?

Mastercard announced this week that it has forged a multi-year strategic alliance with D-Wave Systems, a leader in quantum computing systems, software, and services. The goal of the collaboration will be to accelerate the adoption of quantum-based computing solutions.

Specifically the partnership will seek to develop “quantum-hybrid” solutions to solve problems in consumer loyalty and rewards, cross-border settlement, and fraud management. The two companies will use D-Wave’s annealing quantum computers and quantum hybrid solvers through the Leap quantum cloud service to deliver real-time access to quantum applications powered by Mastercard’s network.

“People expect hyper-personalized experiences,” Mastercard Chief Innovation Officer Ken Moore said. “Quantum computing’s unique ability to analyze huge numbers of potential combinations can deliver optimal solutions that will improve efficiency and provide choice.” Moore said that the partnership will explore applications of quantum computing technology that offer “practical, real-world” solutions in financial services.

The world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers, D-Wave is the only firm building both annealing quantum computers and gate-model quantum computers. D-Wave’s technology has been used to solve challenges in a wide range of fields including logistics, drug discovery, cybersecurity, and financial modeling. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, D-Wave has partnered with firms such as NEC Corporation, Volkswagen, Lockheed Martin, and the University of Southern California. PSP Investments, Goldman Sachs, and BDC Capital are among D-Wave’s investors.

“D-Wave and Mastercard have a shared vision of harnessing the power of technology to positively affect business and society,” D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz said. “This alliance supports that vision by delivering quantum innovation that will tackle increasingly complex problem sets across applications like loyalty programs, fraud management and anti-money laundering in financial services and, ultimately, unlock more value for customers.”

Photo by Antonio Friedemann

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Fundrise Launches $1 Billion Growth Equity Fund

Fundrise Launches $1 Billion Growth Equity Fund
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Fundrise is launching a $1 billion growth equity fund called the Fundrise Innovation Fund.
  • The new VC-like fund will facilitate crowdsourced investments in private technology companies.
  • The move is Fundrise’s first significant expansion outside of private real estate.

Alternative investment firm Fundrise was originally founded to give retail investors access to invest in private real estate. Today, the Washington, D.C.-based company is expanding its horizons, adding access to another area of investing with limited access for everyday investors– venture capital (VC).

The company is launching the Fundrise Innovation Fund, a $1 billion growth equity fund aimed to democratize access to investments in top private technology companies. The move is Fundrise’s first significant expansion outside of private real estate.

“The proprietary systems and technology infrastructure we created to tap into private real estate are now capable of disrupting ownership of other asset classes previously inaccessible to individuals,” Fundrise said in a blog post announcement. “…in short, Fundrise has the potential to not only open up but completely transform the entire $10 trillion private market.”

Fundrise was founded in 2010 to offer investors an alternative to stocks and bonds. In 2012, the company launched its real estate investment platform that allows users to invest as little as $10 in private real estate. Today, Fundrise has 300,000 users and has acquired more than 200 assets, collectively worth more than $5.1 billion, on behalf of its investors. The company takes a low-fee approach, charging a 0.15% annual investment advisory fee along with a 0.85% annual asset management fee for each fund.

Fundrise said it selected to expand into VC investing because it has proven to be one of the best-performing investments as well as one of the most exclusive investments, since the general public is excluded from investing in a company until after it goes public.

With the VC fund, Fundrise will enable users to invest in a diversified portfolio of high-growth private tech companies ranging from mid-to-late stage, as well as some public equities. The company’s fee model for the fund will not come with a “carried interest” profit sharing component.

Fundrise will open VC investing to current users of its real estate offerings first, though “on a limited basis.”

Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash

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Wealthtech Orion Advisor Solutions Acquires TownSquare Capital, Redtail Technology

Wealthtech Orion Advisor Solutions Acquires TownSquare Capital, Redtail Technology
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Orion
  • Wealth management solutions provider Orion Advisor Solutions has closed two acquisitions in recent weeks.
  • The Omaha, Nebraska-based fintech closed its acquisition of CRM company Redtail Technology in June, and finished its acquisition of investment and trading platform TownSquare Capital in July. Terms were not disclosed about either transaction.
  • Orion Advisor Solutions made its Finovate debut in 2019 at FinovateFall, demonstrating its trading and rebalancing platform, Eclipse.

Wealthtech innovator Orion Advisor Solutions has recently closed a pair of acquisitions. Both deals are designed to help Orion expand its wealth management business and give financial advisors a “single-source solution to prospect, plan, invest, and achieve,” said Orion founder and CEO Eric Clarke.

At the beginning of the month, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company announced that it has completed its acquisition of investment and trading platform TownSquare Capital (TownSquare). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but the acquisition will add $6 billion in turnkey asset management program (TAMP) assets to Orion’s wealth management platform.

Post-acquisition, TownSquare will continue to operate as a standalone entity, serving as an indirect subsidiary of Orion Advisor Solutions. Headquartered in Provo, Utah, and founded in 2016, TownSquare offers custom investment solutions for institutions, wealth advisors, accounting firms, high net worth individuals, and banks.

“Combining TownSquare with Orion’s wealth management and advisor technology capabilities brings tremendous value to financial advisors and their clients,” Orion Chief of OCIO Services Kurt Brown said. “With the full weight of Orion’s resources and relationships behind us, we can continue providing best-in-class investment strategies to the advisors and clients we serve.”

Orion’s TownSquare announcement comes just one month after the wealth management firm reported that it has completed the acquisition of web-based client relationship management (CRM) software company Redtail Technology. Announced this spring, the combination of the two firms will provide financial advisors with a range of technology and outsourced solutions to help them serve their clients better. Specifically, the integration of Redtail’s CRM technology into Orion’s open architecture will give advisors a foundational tech stack courtesy of an integrated “most-in-one” platform that is built around a CRM hub.

“Redtail joining Orion will greatly benefit financial advisors who seek an integrated suite of technology to grow their businesses,” Orion’s President of CRM Brian McLaughlin said. “We aim to solve some of advisors’ tech integration challenges by bringing together the technology pieces they need to be successful and freeing advisors up to spend more time engaging with their clients and prospects in meaningful ways.”

With Redtail on board, Orion gained insights into more than $3 trillion in assets under management. Before closing its deal with Redtail, the company had been serving 4.7 million technology accounts and supported more than 2,300 independent advisory firms representing $1.9 trillion in assets under administration and $60 billion of wealth management assets.

Founded in 1999, Orion Advisor Solutions made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2019. At the event, the company demoed its fully-integrated trading and rebalancing platform, Eclipse. The technology leverages ASTRO’s institutional-grade portfolio optimization engine to create custom Direct Indexing products, as well as provide advisors with client-specific overlays to strategies that feature custom ESG solutions.

Photo by Leonardo Rossatti

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Digital Banking Solutions Provider Apiture Secures $29 Million Investment

Digital Banking Solutions Provider Apiture Secures $29 Million Investment
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Apiture announced an investment of $29 million to help the company meet demand for its digital banking platform. The round was led by Live Oak Bank.
  • The platform, unveiled earlier this year, combined Apiture’s Xpress and Open products into a single, API-based solution.
  • Apiture’s total funding now stands at $69 million.

Digital banking solutions provider Apiture has raised $29 million in new funding in a round led by Live Oak Bank. The company will use the capital to boost sales and marketing, accelerate product development plans, and help meet demand for its flagship solution, the Apiture Digital Banking Platform.

“Our platform is built by bankers, for bankers, which uniquely positions Apiture to deliver best-in-class solutions that help financial institutions of all sizes level the playing field with national brands,” Apiture CEO Chris Babcock said. He added that much of the capital raised in this latest round has “come from investors that are also Apiture clients” and highlighted Live Oak Bank, which led the round, as well as Pinnacle Bank and BHF Financial.

The investment brings Apiture’s total capital raised to $69 million.

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, Apiture offers a digital banking platform that is secure, reliable, and core agnostic with more than 40 core integrations. Launched in February of this year, the platform consolidates Apiture’s existing products – Apiture Xpress and Apiture Open – into a singular solution. The platform leverages partnerships with more than 200 fintechs to help banks and credit unions access the technology they need in order to create the kind of digital experiences that are most appropriate for their customers and members. More than 300 banks and credit unions in the U.S. use Apiture’s digital banking platform.

“Financial institutions are keenly aware of the importance of digital channels and the need to elevate the onilne and mobile banking experience for their consumer and business customers,” Live Oak Bank Chief Strategy Officer Stephanie Mann said. “We are thrilled to support Apiture as it accelerates enrichments to its cloud-based, API-first technology platform while scaling to serve a growing number of banks and credit unions.”

This year, Apiture has forged partnerships with Ephrata National Bank and Martha’s Vineyard Bank, both of which will deploy Apiture’s Digital Banking Platform to power both their online and mobile banking solutions. With assets of $1.6 billion, Ephrata National Bank is headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and has served communities in the area since 1881. Martha’s Vineyard Bank, based in Edgartown, Massachusetts, has assets of more than $1.9 billion and operates 10 locations on Martha’s Vineyard and in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

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Klarna Integrates with Blackhawk Network Bringing Buy Now, Pay Later to Grocery Stores and Beauty Salons

Klarna Integrates with Blackhawk Network Bringing Buy Now, Pay Later to Grocery Stores and Beauty Salons
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Blackhawk Network, Daily news, Klarna
  • Blackhawk Network and Klarna have teamed up to bring Klarna’s alternative payment solutions to customers shopping with physical merchants.
  • The partnership comes as consumers show greater interest in using Buy Now, Pay Later payment options at retailers such as grocery stores, as well as for services.
  • Among Finovate’s earliest alums, both companies made their Finovate debuts in 2012: Klarna at FinovateSpring, Blackhawk Network at FinovateFall.

Branded payments provider Blackhawk Network and ecommerce innovator Klarna have forged a new partnership that will make it easier for consumers to use Klarna’s interest-free alternative payment offerings with brick-and-mortar merchants. Specifically, consumers will be able to use payment alternatives including Buy Now, Pay Later at physical retailers in Blackhawk’s U.S. network ranging from grocery stores to electronics shops to beauty salons.

“During a time of strained budgets and increasing costs, our partnership with Klarna is a significant development for retailers and grocers who are focused on meeting the needs of consumers and enabling them to shop how they want, where they want,” Blackhawk Network Head of Global Commerce Brett Narlinger said. “With Buy Now, Pay Later on a major growth trajectory, the collaboration between Blackhawk and Klarna will provide innovative purchasing options for consumers and retailers.”

The partnership demonstrates the growth in use cases for Buy Now, Pay Later by including both consumer staples like groceries as well as services such as beauty salon visits. In its 2021 Shopping Pulse Report, Klarna noted that not only are grocery stores among the most frequently shopped categories in physical stores, but also that 64% of the report’s respondents would use Buy Now, Pay Later to purchase groceries if the service were available.

“While online retail is on the rise, consumers today still value the in-store experience and expect the same level of service and convenience everywhere they shop,” Klarna Head of North America Kristina Elkhazin said. “We are proud to partner with Blackhawk, an industry leader and pioneer, to integrate its in-store capabilities with Klarna’s in-store payment solutions to make this new commerce and shopping opportunity for retailers across all categories a reality.”

The partnership follows news of Klarna’s launch of a new Loyalty Card feature in its app. The additional functionality, which comes courtesy of Klarna’s acquisition of mobile wallet provider Stocard last year, enables users of the app to store and access their physical loyalty cards as digital cards. The feature supports more than 8,000 loyalty reward programs around the world.

Blackhawk Network most recently made fintech headlines with its partnership with LibertyX. The collaboration, announced in June, will enable consumers to use their LibertyX accounts to purchase bitcoin at participating U.S. retailers such as Fresco y Más, Tops, and Winn-Dixie. A part of the NCR Corporation, LibertyX operates one of the oldest and largest retail networks of bitcoin ATMs, cashiers, and kiosks in the U.S.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

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3 Things You Need to Know About Highnote’s New Partnership with Plaid

3 Things You Need to Know About Highnote’s New Partnership with Plaid
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Highnote, List series

All-in-one card issuer and program management platform Highnote has teamed up with fellow Finovate alum Plaid. The new partnership will enable frictionless money transfers for card solutions powered by Highnote. The company will leverage Plaid’s account auth and balance solution to enable its customers to seamlessly make their transactions without needing to worry about account or routing numbers. Highnote customers will also be able to use Plaid Link to instantly authenticate cardholder accounts and then automatically create a Highnote Processor Token to enable fund transfers between card accounts and external bank accounts.

Here are three things you need to know about Highnote and its partnership with Plaid.

Highnote helps open finance work for embedded finance

Companies have pursued embedded finance as a way to expand or re-envision their business models. Those businesses that seek to make card issuance a part of their business face challenges in terms of providing a secure, frictionless user experience. Courtesy of Highnote’s partnership with Plaid, businesses will be able to instantly authenticate cardholder accounts, and end users will be able to easily authenticate with their financial institutions and choose which accounts to use for payments.

Removing friction is key to enhancing the customer experience

Helping customers – individuals or businesses – get from point A to point B quickly is the most immediate way for businesses to show they have their customers’ interests – and their time – top of mind. Highnote’s partnership with Plaid is all about removing friction and creating seamless experiences for customers of all kinds. By automating and making instantaneous operations such as account authentication and bank verification, the partnership between Highnote and Plaid is one small step for money movement, and a large leap in the direction of making financial services more accessible and convenient.

The collaboration with Plaid is Highnote’s newest strategic partnership

Highnote – in collaboration with Mastercard – began the year helping business credit platform Tillful launch its Tillful Card. This spring, Highnote announced a collaboration with GoDo as the company introduced its GoDo Card designed to bring earned wage access to underbanked workers.

“We built Highnote to enable companies like GoDo to create truly unique and game-changing payment solutions for their customers,” Highnote co-founder and CEO John MacIlwaine said. “The earned-wage-access market needs modernized payment solutions that can power innovative digital experiences and we’re here to deliver that.”

Highnote made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateSpring in San Francisco. At the event, Highnote demonstrated the developer experience on its cloud-native, GraphQL API-based issuer-process platform. The company also showed how the platform’s interface gives customer management teams control over the payment transaction lifecycle, as well as provide access to transaction processing data.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Highnote has raised $54 million in funding. This include a $42.5 million Series A round closed in September of last year.

Photo by César Vonc

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Berlin Insurtech Wefox Closes $400 Million Funding Round

Berlin Insurtech Wefox Closes $400 Million Funding Round
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Digital insurance agency Wefox raised $400 million in a combined debt and equity round.
  • The funds boost Wefox’s valuation from $3 billion to $4.5 billion.
  • Wefox relies on technology to take a “prediction and prevention” approach, rather than relying on a “repair and replace” mindset.

Digital insurance agency Wefox just raised $400 million in a combined debt and equity round led by Mubadala Investment Company. EDBI, Eurazeo, LGT, Horizons Ventures, OMERS Ventures, and Target Global also participated. The investment brings Wefox’s total funding to $1.3 billion.

The round boosted Wefox’s valuation from $3 billion to $4.5 billion in 12 months. This increase comes at a time when other fintechs are closing funding in down-rounds, meaning their valuation has decreased.

“This new valuation of $4.5 billion is a clear validation of our business model, which focuses on indirect distribution via agents rather than direct,” said Wefox CEO and Founder Julian Teicke. “This makes our business one of the most credible insurtechs in the market right now.”

According to Teicke, Wefox doubled its revenue, which stood at $320 million last year. Within the first four months of this year, Wefox saw $200+ million in revenues, which positions the company to generate $600 million by the end of this year.

Founded in 2015 and with more than two million customers, Wefox is a licensed digital insurance company that sells insurance through intermediaries, not directly to customers. The company relies on technology to take a “prediction and prevention” approach, rather than relying on a “repair and replace” mindset, which many insurance companies take.

Wefox will use today’s funds for product development and to expand across Europe, Asia, the U.S. The company aims to reach three million customers by year-end.

“Wefox is in the strongest position ever,” said the company’s CFO and Founder Fabian Wesemann.  “In successfully closing this funding round we reinforce our strategy and enable faster acceleration on our path to greater revenues and profit.”

Photo by Erik Mclean

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Black-Owned Fintech Kinly Partners with Data Aggregation and Enhancement Platform MX

Black-Owned Fintech Kinly Partners with Data Aggregation and Enhancement Platform MX
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Diversity in Fintech, Funding
  • Black-founded and run fintech Kinly announced a partnership with open finance company MX.
  • The partnership will bring MX’s financial data aggregation and enhancement solutions to Kinly via the Lehi, Utah-based company’s open finance APIs.
  • MX is a multiple-time, Finovate Best of Show winner. Founded in 2020, Atlanta, Georgia-based Kinly has raised $20 million in funding.

Kinly, a digitally-oriented financial services company dedicated to helping African Americans build generational wealth, has teamed up with financial data aggregation and enhancement solutions platform MX to power its custom-built financial tools.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and founded in 2020 by CEO Donald Hawkins, Kinly leverages financial education, savings and wealth building, and other strategies to help improve financial outcomes. The company offers a deposit account, a Visa debit card, early wage access, overdraft protection up to $100, and cash back rewards for purchases made at participating Black-owned businesses as well as thousands of popular retailers. There are no hidden fees, no minimum balance required, and Kinly customers can also take advantage of fee-free ATM withdrawals nationwide. Deposits are FDIC-insured, and Kinly’s banking services are provided by The Bancorp Bank.

Hawkins praised MX for both its mission and its “passion for diversity.” He added, “I’ve been impressed with MX’s world-class financial data platform for years and look forward to partnering with them. MX’s open finance APIs will help fuel our mission to help serve and improve the financial livelihood of our broad community.”

The partnership with Lehi, Utah-based MX – a multiple-time Finovate Best of Show winner – will bring valuable data aggregation and enrichment to Kinly courtesy of MX’s open finance APIs. This connectivity will enable Kinly to quickly and securely link to and verify data for a wide variety of financial use cases ranging from account opening and money movement to underwriting.

“Working closely with Kinly to help provide data enhancement and personalized financial advice for the Black community aligns perfectly with our mission to empower the world to be financially strong,” MX Chief Product Officer Brett Allred said. “We’re big fans of Kinly and the underrepresented community it serves and look forward to its continued growth and ongoing partnership into the future.”

Kinly joins a growing ecosystem of Black and African American-based financial institutions, including Greenwood, CapWay, and Guava. The company has raised a total of $20 million in funding courtesy of a $5 million seed round in November of 2020 and a $15 million Series A round in August of 2021. Forerunner Ventures led Kinly’s Series A, which featured participation from Kapor Capital, Anthemis Group, and Point72 Ventures, as well as from individual investors from the world of professional sports such as Marshawn Lynch and Kevin Durant.

Photo by Elijah O’Donnell

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Kids Finance App GoHenry Acquires Pixpay

Kids Finance App GoHenry Acquires Pixpay
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • U.K.-based GoHenry has acquired France-based Pixpay for an undisclosed sum.
  • The deal will help GoHenry expand further into Europe.
  • GoHenry and Pixpay will operate under their own brands with no change in staffing or headquarters.

Kids money management app GoHenry has acquired France-based Pixpay for an undisclosed amount.

The move will help U.K.-based GoHenry expand further into Europe, taking advantage of Pixpay’s teen mobile banking operations in France, Spain, and eventually Germany and Italy.

“Pixpay is the most developed player in Europe,” said GoHenry CEO Alex Zivoder, “and we’re excited to combine our expertise in financial education to accelerate not only GoHenry’s growth but to accelerate the financial fitness of even more kids and teens globally.”

Founded in 2019, Pixpay’s mobile banking app targets a slightly older user base then GoHenry. Pixpay is aimed at pre-teens and teenagers, while GoHenry caters to kids as young as six years old. Both seek to not only help kids spend and save money, but also to teach them responsible money habits at an early age. With almost 200,000 users, Pixpay has raised €11.1 million. Benoit Grassin is co-founder and CEO.

“We are delighted to be joining the GoHenry Group as we prepare to accelerate Pixpay’s expansion across Europe,” said Grassin. “GoHenry’s experience and heritage will only serve to strengthen the already strong proposition offered by Pixpay.”

The acquisition will not impact current operations at either company. Both GoHenry and Pixpay will function under their own brands with no change in staffing or headquarters. The two plan to work together to improve their products and “further transform financial education across the globe.”

GoHenry launched in 2012 and has since raised $66.2 million. The company expanded into the U.S. in 2019 and now counts more than two million members across the U.S. and the U.K.

“So as we expand into Europe, we’re excited to empower even more young people with the money management skills they need to thrive in today’s digital economy,” the company said in its announcement.

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