TD Bank Helps Auto Dealers Send Real-Time Payments

TD Bank Helps Auto Dealers Send Real-Time Payments
  • TD Auto Finance is enabling real-time payments for its network of auto dealers.
  • The move will fund dealers throughout the day as new contracts are booked.
  • TD Auto Finance is leveraging The Clearing House’s Real Time Payments (RTP) network to fund dealers in real time.

TD Bank announced its TD Auto Finance division has enabled real-time payments for its network of auto dealers this week.

To facilitate the flow of real-time payments, TD Auto Finance will no longer send ACH batch payments overnight. Instead, the finance arm is funding dealers throughout the day as contracts are booked. As a result, dealers will have better visibility into their finances and will see improved cash flow management.

“Our goal with real-time payments is to make life easier for dealers by eliminating the need to wait for payments overnight and giving them maximum confidence in their cash position and ability to operate their business,” said Andrew Stuart, President and CEO of TD Auto Finance.

The move makes TD Auto Finance the first indirect auto lender to offer the ability to send real-time payments nationwide. We’re proud to be the first major auto lender to introduce this capability for dealers and we believe our focus on driving payments innovation is critical to deepening our dealer relationships,” added Stuart.

To help auto dealers make payments in real time, TD is leveraging The Clearing House’s Real Time Payments (RTP) network, which it first connected to in November of 2019. Since that time, TD has seen increased interest for real-time payments. To meet this demand, TD said it will “continue to invest in this capability.”

TD Auto Finance piloted this move last October with a small group of car dealers. Today’s real-time payments capabilities will be available in phases over the coming weeks to dealers whose banks use The Clearing House’s RTP network.


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Blockchain.com Raises Series D Funding at $14 Billion Valuation

Blockchain.com Raises Series D Funding at $14 Billion Valuation
  • Cryptocurrency platform Blockchain.com is now valued at $14 billion.
  • The updated valuation, which is almost 3x higher than its valuation a year ago, comes after Blockchain.com closed a Series D funding round.
  • Blockchain.com’s 37 million users have opened 82 million crypto wallets and have made transactions worth over $1 trillion to-date.

According to its most recent valuation, cryptocurrency platform Blockchain.com is now worth $14 billion. This updated value comes after the U.K.-based company closed a Series D funding round this week. The amount of the new round, which was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, was undisclosed. Blockchain.com’s funding now totals $490 million.

The new $14 billion valuation is up almost 3x from $5.2 billion, the valuation Blockchain received at its Series C financing round of $300 million in March of last year. As far as valuations in the crypto space, $14 billion is a lot, but it doesn’t place Blockchain.com at the top. Competitors Coinbase and Revolut are valued at $56 billion and $33 billion, respectively.

Blockchain.com was founded in 2011 and serves as a platform for users to buy, sell, hold, and trade cryptocurrencies. With 82 million crypto wallets, the company’s 37 million users have made transactions worth over $1 trillion to-date.

Blockchain.com has five acquisitions under its belt, including ZeroBlock, RTBTC.com, AiX, SeSocio.com, and Altonomy. The most recent buy was the OTC trading and executions business of Singapore-based Altonomy. Blockchain.com anticipates the purchase will spur the growth of its institutional business.

As for what’s next for Blockchain.com, the company is currently exploring the launch of its own NFT marketplace. The new platform, which is currently in beta, will enable users to browse, buy, sell, and store NFTs without leaving their Blockchain.com wallet.


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Goldman Sachs to Acquire NextCapital

Goldman Sachs to Acquire NextCapital
  • Goldman Sachs Asset Management is buying retirement planning and digital advice company NextCapital.
  • Goldman Sachs will integrate NextCapital’s platform into its Multi-Asset Solutions business, a group that offers custom, multi-asset portfolios.
  • Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the latter half of this year, were not disclosed.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management has agreed to acquire retirement planning and digital advice company NextCapital in a transaction that is expected to close in the second half of this year.

Terms of the deal, which ranks among the top five asset management deals Goldman Sachs has ever done, were not disclosed.

Chicago-based NextCapital offers automated, digital retirement advice to help banks deliver personalized, customizable retirement planning and managed accounts through their clients’ workplace retirement plans and IRAs. Goldman Sachs, which already leverages NextCapital’s managed account platform to power its retirement program for SMBs, anticipates the purchase will expand its services by adding personalized, managed accounts, and digital advice.

By combining the two companies, Goldman Sachs will be able to provide services to large retirement plans while working with platform clients. As Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon explained, “This acquisition furthers our strategic objective of building compelling client solutions in asset management and accelerating our investment in technology to serve the growing defined contribution market.”

After the deal closes, Goldman Sachs will integrate NextCapital’s platform into its Multi-Asset Solutions business, a group with approximately $220 billion in assets under supervision that offers custom, multi-asset portfolios. The NextCapital team will continue to operate from offices in Chicago.

Founded in 2014, NextCapital has raised $82 million. “Our vision for the future of the retirement savings market is aligned with the team at Goldman Sachs: technology that can create a differentiated experience combined with a strong culture and focus on clients forms a powerful offering for our clients and the individuals they serve,” said NextCapital CEO John Patterson. “We can leverage the resources of a global financial services firm to continue to scale our platform and offer it to new third party institutional clients and Goldman Sachs’ broader wealth management organization.”


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HR and Payroll Company Papaya Global Buys Azimo

HR and Payroll Company Papaya Global Buys Azimo
  • HR and payroll platform Papaya Global has acquired global money transfer company Azimo.
  • The deal will allow Papaya Global to offer payments in hours instead of days.
  • Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Global money transfer company Azimo has agreed to be acquired by HR and payroll platform Papaya Global. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but TechCrunch is reporting a purchase price of somewhere between $150 million and $200 million.

The Israeli payroll company will leverage Azimo’s payment platform to offer clients a payroll solution that makes immediate payouts across the globe. “We will build an innovative new payments and finance offering for clients in cash advance and credit-related products, and in cryptocurrency,” the company said in a blog post. The purchase will also enable Papaya Global to add remittance services to its lineup.

Founded by Michael Kent in 2012, Azimo offers a low-priced way for individuals and businesses to send money across the globe. The U.K.-based company charges a fee as low as $0.77 (£0.59) and boasts a more favorable exchange rate, as well. Azimo counts more than two million customers of its digital money transfer platform, which allows users to send money from 25 countries to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

In addition to its payment network, Azimo has something Papaya Global may consider quite valuable– payment licenses in the U.K., the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong. “Azimo’s global digital payment network, multiple payment licenses, and deep fintech expertise strengthens our ability to help companies manage and pay their remote teams,” said Papaya Global CEO Eynat Guez.

Azimo has raised $88.1 million in combined debt and equity. Financial terms of the deal, which will bring all of Azimo’s employees over to the Papaya Global team, were undisclosed.


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FintechOS Unveils Accelerators to Enhance SME Mobile Onboarding and Lending

FintechOS Unveils Accelerators to Enhance SME Mobile Onboarding and Lending
  • FintechOS has launched a pair of accelerators – for mobile lending and mobile onboarding – to enable institutions to support small businesses.
  • The new offerings are built for speed, enabling companies to lower account opening times to less than 15 minutes.
  • Headquartered in London and founded in 2017, FintechOS made its Finovate debut last September at FinovateFall in New York.

Digital banking and insurance solution provider FintechOS unveiled a pair of new accelerators to help financial institutions better serve their SME clients. The offerings, announced this week, support SME mobile lending and onboarding, and enable institutions to reduce the amount of time required to open a current/checking account to less than 15 minutes.

Calling SMEs “the backbone of the global economy”, FintechOS CEO and co-founder Teo Blidarus decried the “lending gap” that has kept many small businesses from being able to secure the critical funding they need in order to grow. “Our high productivity fintech infrastructure, digital and core financial technology blocks combine here with a low-code approach to help institutions close the gap by rolling out tailored financial services experiences at speed.”

FintechOS’ accelerator for mobile onboarding gives financial institutions the ability to implement a modern UX. This will enable them to readily configure both design and content, as well as journey sequence and product logic. The accelerator for mobile lending allows SMEs to access the financing solutions they need in minutes with an out-of-the-box loan origination journey that can be easily configured and requires no technical expertise. Both accelerators embrace a mobile-centric approach that allows small businesses to use their device of choice for both onboarding and financing, which will help lower abandonment risk during the account opening and lending process.

The launch of FintechOS’ account onboarding and mobile lending accelerators comes just days after the company announced a collaboration with digital transformation consultancy Tesselate Group. Together, the two companies will work to bring innovative lending solutions and strategic planning to financial institutions. The partnership will focus on product verticals including digital journey accelerators, ecosystem connectors, and lean core components.

“We’re on a mission to enable companies to build innovative financial services and products at the speed the market requires,” FintechOS VP of Ecosystem Todi Pruteanu said. “Our ecosystem is fundamental to achieving this objective, and FintechOS is investing significantly to build an industry-leading partner infrastructure.”

In February, FintechOS forged a global partnership agreement with fellow Finovate alum Onfido. The pact integrates Onfido’s identity verification solution into FintechOS’ customer onboarding, lending, and claims management journeys. Two of FintechOS’ customer-centric platforms for banks and insurers – Lighthouse and Northstar – feature Onfido’s identity verification and liveness technology.

Among Finovate’s newer alums, FintechOS demoed its technology on the Finovate stage for the first time in September at FinovateFall. At the conference, FintechOS’ Paula Costea and Steve Rooney demonstrated Sunglow, the company’s “super app for banking.” Sunglow enables consumers to finance and book vacations in a seamless, end-to-end customer experience that factors in every component of the lending and booking processes.


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Alkami Agrees to Acquire Financial Data Analytics Company Segmint

Alkami Agrees to Acquire Financial Data Analytics Company Segmint
  • Alkami has entered a definitive agreement to acquire financial analytics company Segmint for $135.5 million in cash.
  • The acquisition will combine Segmint’s data insights with Alkami’s digital account opening and digital banking technology.
  • Both companies are Finovate alums. Alkami made its Finovate debut as iThryv in 2009. Segmint made its most recent Finovate appearance at FinovateFall in 2012.

Another day, another big acquisition in the fintech space. Today we learned that cloud-based digital banking solutions provider Alkami Technology has agreed to acquire Segmint, a financial data analytics and transaction cleansing specialist. Alkami will pay $135.5 million in cash for the Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio-based company, and expects its total addressable market to grow by $1 billion courtesy of the acquisition.

“Our customers want to deepen their customer relationships and grow revenue,” Allkami CEO Alex Shootman said. “To do so, they must transform raw account and transaction data into insights that lead to highly personalized communications. Segmint applies machine learning to transaction data to help FIs better understand their account holders and automates messaging with incredible precision and personalization across multiple channels.”

The acquisition will enable financial institutions partnered with Alkami to benefit from the combination of data sets from both Alkami and Segmint. In addition to providing a more comprehensive view of account holders, the combination also will bring greater precision and additional use cases to Segmint’s data models. Further, financial institutions will be able to use this data to leverage digital banking to better target, engage, and build customer relationships.

Approved by the boards of directors of both companies, as well as Segmint stockholders, the acquisition is expected to close in Q2 of this year – assuming regulatory approvals and customer closing conditions are met.

As we noted, the Alkami/Segmint acquisition is the second big fintech acquisition involving a Finovate alum this week. We reported yesterday that Canadian identity verification company – and Finovate Best of Show winner – SecureKey – agreed to be acquired by digital security and privacy company Avast.


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Avast to Acquire Identity and Authentication Expert SecureKey Technologies

Avast to Acquire Identity and Authentication Expert SecureKey Technologies
  • Avast will acquire SecureKey Technologies in a deal expected to close next month.
  • Czech Republic-based Avast will leverage SecureKey’s North American presence to expand internationally.
  • Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

SecureKey Technologies will soon begin its next chapter. The Canada-based digital identity and authentication company recently agreed to be acquired by NortonLifeLock’s Avast, a digital security and privacy firm. Financial terms of the deal are undisclosed.

Avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek said that he envisions leveraging SecureKey to create a global and reusable identity framework. “It’s clear that digital identity is the critical enabler for many digital services and SecureKey’s success reflects the growing demand for this from consumers,” said Vlcek. “SecureKey is highly complementary to Avast’s prior work in Identity and together we will take our offer to the next level, accelerating innovation and working to establish a user-focused, global approach that aligns user, business, and government propositions. We are committed to developing offerings that will be fully inclusive for everyone, regardless of their own circumstances.”

SecureKey was founded in 2008 with a mission to simplify consumer access to secure online services and applications using secure, digital versions of the credentials they already have. The company’s digital identity solutions enable over 200 million secure digital ID transactions per year globally.

SecureKey’s flagship tool, Verified.Me, is a digital identity verification network that helps users verify their digital identity and places them in control of what they want to share with whom. Verified.Me, which also comes with a Government sign-in feature, is provided by Interac, which acquired the rights to SecureKey’s digital ID services for Canada last October.

Avast was founded in 1988 and offers tools to help individuals and businesses protect the privacy of their digital lives. Headquartered in the Czech Republic, the company anticipates the acquisition will position it for international expansion. “As the European community is investing in public-private sector digital identity infrastructure in 2022 and beyond, we see Avast well positioned as a collaborative provider of digital trust services for people, digital businesses and government,” said Avast General Manager and SVP of Identity Charles Walton. “Success for us is where digital identity becomes simple, user-centric and portable, and can enable a more trustworthy digital experience and deeper online engagement benefiting both people and business.”

The deal is expected to close early next month. Avast plans to make SecureKey’s products available in the second quarter of this year.


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Currencycloud Debuts Weekend FX Trading

Currencycloud Debuts Weekend FX Trading
  • Currencycloud launched a new tool called WeekendFX.
  • The new tool enables clients to offer competitive FX rates on weekends when markets are closed.
  • Currencycloud is launching WeekendFX in partnership with Visa, which acquired Currencycloud last July.

Visa’s Currencycloud launched a new tool this week called WeekendFX. The new offering will do just as it sounds– enable clients to offer competitive FX rates around the clock, even on weekends.

In the new digital economy, businesses are always on, operating after business hours and on weekends. However, businesses face increased risks and cost when they arrange cross-border payments on weekends because of the fluctuations subject to occur between when the trading desks close on Friday afternoon and when they open for the week on Monday morning.

Currencycloud is launching WeekendFX in partnership with its parent company Visa to help remove the risk, complexity, and cost to support cross-border payments outside of traditional operating hours. WeekendFX enables Currencycloud clients to offer a competitive fixed FX rate over the weekend and will settle at the same rate on Monday morning when the market opens.

“This is a massive step in overcoming business issues of operating 24/7,” said Partners & Enterprise Co-Founder and VP Steve Lemon. “Together with Visa we now enable our clients to execute FX transactions over the weekend in exactly the same way, using a standardized API and workflow as they would during the week. Therefore, their customers can continue to operate their businesses and execute FX conversions in exactly the same way too.”

Money transfer and payments firm Swinto and aviation business connectivity startup Tuvoli piloted the new trading tool, and ANNA Money will go live with the technology shortly.

Founded in 2012, Currencycloud facilitates cross-border, multi-currency transactions. The London-based company has processed more than $100 billion to over 180 countries for bank and fintech clients including Starling Bank, Revolut, Penta, and Lunar. 

In July of last year, Visa snapped up Currencycloud in a deal that valued the company at $963 million. Last October, the company partnered with Plaid, embedding Plaid’s Payment Initiation Services into its own solution to allow customers to fund their accounts without ever leaving the platform.


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Acorns Adds Crypto to Portfolio Options

Acorns Adds Crypto to Portfolio Options
  • Investing app Acorns now enables users to invest in bitcoin.
  • Users can invest up to 5% of their Acorns portfolio in the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF.
  • Acorns plans to add other cryptocurrencies in the future.

Millennials have been crowding around crypto investing, and micro investment platform Acorns has taken notice. The California-based company launched an option this week that will enable its 4.6 million subscribers to add bitcoin to their investment portfolios.

“We’ve always been open-minded and flexible to the idea that as other asset classes mature and become something that we can deliver to customers, we would love to include that in the appropriate way,” said Acorns Chief Investment Officer Seth Wunder in an interview with CoinDesk. “Cryptocurrency, specifically bitcoin, in our opinion has gotten to that place where it’s an acceptable piece of people’s portfolios.”

Acorns was founded in 2012 to offer an approachable way for young investors to start investing. The company’s platform automatically invests users’ spare change and allows them to deposits as low as $5 into its five ETF diversified portfolios. Starting today, users can opt to invest up to 5% of their Acorns portfolio in the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, a futures fund that debuted on the New York Stock Exchange last year.

This move comes four years after Acorn competitor Robinhood launched Bitcoin and Ethereum trading on its platform. Robinhood, a stock brokerage startup that was founded in 2013, enables its users to buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Dogecoin. Acorns plans to add other cryptocurrencies in the future, but there is no word on exact timing.

Earlier this month, Acorns closed a $300 million funding round led by private equity firm TPG. The investment valued Acorns at close to $2 billion. Noah Kerner is CEO.


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U.K.-Based ClearBank Raises $230 Million

U.K.-Based ClearBank Raises $230 Million
  • ClearBank raised $230 million (£175 million).
  • The investment was led by private equity advisory firm Apax Digital and brings ClearBank’s total funding to $627 million.
  • ClearBank will use the funds to expand internationally, first in Europe, then into North America and Asia Pacific.

Clearing and embedded banking technology company ClearBank raised $230 million (£175 million) this week. The investment brings the U.K.-based company’s total funding to $627 million.

Funds advised by private equity advisory firm Apax Digital led the round. Existing investors CFFI UK Ventures and PPF Financial Holdings, also participated. ClearBank plans to use the investment to expand its client base in Europe and eventually into North America and Asia Pacific.

Launched in 2017, ClearBank is a regulated bank that manages transactions from beginning to end, starting with order transmission and including settlement, liquidity management, and clearing activities. The company counts 200 bank and fintech clients– including Tide, Coinbase, Chip, and Oaknorth Bank– that leverage its tools to power faster payments, clearing, and payments activities. In all, ClearBank facilitates 13 million accounts totaling almost $4 billion in assets.

One of the company’s primary offerings is embedded banking tools. ClearBank enables businesses and financial services companies to offer bank accounts with FSCS deposit protection, FX tools, and multi-currency accounts to their own clients. All of the company’s regulated services can be accessed via a single API.

“ClearBank is the first proven and fully regulated cloud-native clearing bank in the U.K. for over 250 years,” said ClearBank CEO Charles McManus. “Over the last five years we have demonstrated the success of our business model and through our work with leading financial service providers, helped to both unlock their potential and bring about positive and meaningful change for U.K. businesses and consumers.”

As for what’s next, McManus points to a more global future for his company. “The next challenge is delivering this innovation globally. To achieve this, we needed a strategic partner with the right cultural fit, sector expertise and geographic experience, something we found in Apax Digital.” Additionally, ClearBank plans to add products and services that will help its clients scale internationally. To do this, the company will add direct API-based access to interbank payment schemes, enhanced multi-currency accounts, and additional FX services.

ClearBank is at the center of the flourishing banking-as-a-service trend that has both fintech and non-fintech companies adding banking services to their existing offerings. The company has experienced burgeoning growth and was recognized by Deloitte as the fastest-growing tech company in its 2021 U.K. Technology Fast 50 awards. In other accolades, ClearBank received the Best Service Award at the 2021 Card & Payments Awards.


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PayPal’s 3 Moves Help with Humanitarian Efforts in Ukraine

PayPal’s 3 Moves Help with Humanitarian Efforts in Ukraine
  • PayPal is boosting its humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.
  • The payments company is expanding upon its P2P money transfer services, waiving fees, and facilitating funds transfers to payments cards.
  • These efforts are being made in addition to the company’s Cash Pick-Up and Mobile Phone Reload tools.

Citizens across the globe have donated millions of dollars in aid to the people living in Ukraine since the Russia invasion last month. And financial services provider PayPal is paying attention. The San Francisco-based company announced three new moves yesterday that will help people living in the region access humanitarian funds.

Peer-to-peer payments expansion

PayPal is expanding upon its existing money transfer services. The company is enabling Ukrainian PayPal accountholders to send and receive peer-to-peer (P2P) payments in four currencies– USD, CAD, GBP, and EUR.

Waiving fees

PayPal is waiving its own fees until June 30 for customers sending funds to Ukrainian PayPal accounts or receiving funds into Ukrainian PayPal accounts. Additionally, PayPal’s international remittance service, Xoom, is waiving transaction fees sent to recipients in Ukraine.

Funds transfers

PayPal will allow Ukrainian accountholders to transfer funds from their Ukrainian PayPal Wallet to an eligible Mastercard or Visa debit or credit card. Once the transfer has taken place, the money will be available in the currency associated with the payment card.


In addition to these new efforts, PayPal also offers Cash Pick-Up, a feature that enables digital money transfers to be sent to be picked up at physical locations throughout Ukraine such as Oschadbank, Privatbank, and Ukrgasbank; and Mobile Phone Reload, a tool to reload mobile phone airtime at five telco carriers.

PayPal is among many other fintechs making technological efforts to stem the violence in Ukraine and bring aid the country’s citizens. And as Russia’s war crimes continue and the situation worsens, we expect to see more fintechs rise to the occasion.


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Nium’s New Solution Offers Alternative to SWIFT Settlement

Nium’s New Solution Offers Alternative to SWIFT Settlement
  • Global payments platform Nium unveiled a new payments solution.
  • The new solution helps international banks increase the speed and reduce the cost of settling transactions to select U.S. brokerages.
  • Leveraging the tool, financial institutions can save up to 90% in settlement fees.

Global payments platform Nium unveiled a new payments solution that will help international banks increase the speed and reduce the cost of settling transactions to select U.S. brokerages. As a result, international financial institutions will be able to more easily invest in U.S. equities.

“At Nium, we are constantly seeking to empower growing businesses with global reach to move money in smart, fast, and safe ways,” said Nium Chief Revenue Officer Frederick Crosby. “Our new payments solution for FIs that send money to brokerages allows their retail customers to invest in U.S. equities – fast and simple.”

The new payments tool saves Nium clients up to 90% in settlement fees when compared to SWIFT. “Nium’s new solution dramatically lowers the expense of these transactions, allowing FIs to either share cost savings with their customers or re-invest profits in the business,” added Crosby.

Additionally, the tool increases the potential for new clients by leveraging Nium’s network, decreases investment friction for end users, and does not require Nium clients to undergo new technology integrations.

Nium’s new release comes at a good time. The new decade’s digital-first customers now not only expect to conduct most of their financial activity online, they also expect things to be near-instant. Additionally, retail investors have expressed an increased desire to invest in overseas markets.

Singapore-based Nium was founded in 2015. The company serves over 130 million end customers and helps businesses pay out in more than 100 currencies to over 190 countries– 85 of those in real time.