Finovate Global

Finovate Global Peru: Digital Wallet Partnerships and Innovations in Payment Services

Finovate Global Peru: Digital Wallet Partnerships and Innovations in Payment Services
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ecolytiq, Finovate Global, MasterCard, Revolut, VISA, WorldPay

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from the South American nation of Peru.

EBANX partners with Peruvian digital wallet Yape

Brazilian payments company EBANX announced a direct integration with Peruvian digital wallet, Yape. Designed for cross-border commerce and relying on an easy user enrollment process, Yape enables users to pay for purchases on international ecommerce websites using either their Yape wallet balance or a linked card. The wallet supports recurring, one-click and on-file payment solutions and, in 2024, was responsible for the largest share of the volume transacted online through a digital wallet in the country. This is according to research from Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence (PCMI).

“With over 14 million active Peruvian users, Yape empowers millions of consumers with reliable daily transactions,” Yape Head of Payments Claudia Silva said. “This direct integration with EBANX marks a significant step in expanding our reach to global merchants, allowing them to tap into the vast potential of the Peruvian market.”

Digital wallets are a major component of Peru’s payment ecosystem. The fourth most commonly used payment in the country, digital wallets represented 10% of all digital commerce transactions in Peru in 2024. PCMI anticipates a digital wallet annual growth rate of 17% by 2027 and much of this growth, according to Silva, can be credited to Yape. According to the firm’s own data, Yape’s digital wallet delivers a 93% approval rate on transactions, an especially valuable achievement as digital wallets are increasingly becoming the preferred payment method for recurring transactions.

“Through its partnership with Yape, EBANX enables merchants to access a seamless, secure, and high-conversion payment solution that drives immediate results for one-time purchases as well as for subscription-based services and recurring payments,” said Juliana Etcheverry, Director of LatAm Country Growth—South Cone at EBANX. “This partnership goes beyond payments; it’s about fostering scalable, long-term growth for merchants in a rapidly evolving market.”

Founded in 2016, Yape is headquartered in Lima, Peru. The company’s payment app has more than 20 million users and more than 2.5 million affiliated businesses. Yape expanded to Bolivia in 2023, reaching two million users (“Yaperos”) a year later.

Paysafe goes live with PagoEfective ewallet in Peru

As if to underscore the rising popularity of digital wallets in Peru, payments platform Paysafe announced that it is expanding its eCash brand, PagoEfectivo, into a digital wallet. As a brand, PagoEfectivo has been a major force in Latin America’s eCash payment ecosystem, supporting the transactions of millions of online consumers. As a digital wallet, the brand will enable users to load funds instantly, make online transactions, receive payouts from participating merchants, transfer funds to others, and more.

“Our recent survey with Peruvian consumers found that 81% would use a digital wallet from PagoEfectivo,” Paysafe Head of Latin America Estaban Sarubbi said. “With that strong sign, we’re launching a solution that meets consumers’ payment needs.” Paysafe CEO Bruce Lowthers added, “Consumers in Peru already trust PagoEfectivo for everything from iGaming and digital goods to travel and ecommerce. With the launch of our new digital wallet, we’re giving them a more convenient way to pay—one that reflects Paysafe’s commitment to powering the experiential economy.”

Headquartered in London, Paysafe processed $152 billion in annualized transactional volume in 2024. A leading payments platform, Paysafe empowers businesses and consumers to connect and transact through its capabilities in payment processing, digital wallets, and online cash solutions. Delivering services across 260 payment types in 48 currencies, Paysafe’s integrated platform is designed for mobile-initiated transactions, real-time analytics, and facilitating the convergence between in-store and online payments.

Do Payment launches pay-in service Do Pay in regional expansion

Peruvian paytech Do Payment has launched its own pay-in service, Do Pay. The new offering is designed bring greater speed, lower costs, and more flexibility to the payments process by enhancing liquidity for clients and reducing reliance on intermediate parties. Do Pay also creates a single provider for both pay-in and pay-out payment solutions thanks to leveraging its own proprietary infrastructure and direct connections with banks, acquirers, and local payment networks.

“In Latin America, companies face a critical challenge: the slowness of fund availability, with delays of 48 to 72 hours and even up to one week, directly impacting their liquidity,” Do Payment Chief Product Officer Valentina Brero said. “Against global solutions poorly adapted to the region, Do Pay emerges as a service specialized in payment collection with the fastest settlement in the market, ideal for operators who need to use the funds for daily operations.”

Do Payment’s new offering enables firms to better manage a range of problems faced by companies in Latin America when it comes to collecting and making payments. These challenges include having to work with multiple partners—often different providers for both collecting and disbursements—as well as multiple technologies, high fees, and long waiting times. Do Pay, in contrast, enables firms to leverage a single platform for both collection and dispersal, which enhances operational liquidity and ensures that funds are credit faster.

Founded in 2022 by CEO Cristian Valderrama, Do Payment is based in Lima, Peru. The company is already active in seven countries—Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Panama, and the US—with its pay-out service. In addition to Peru, Do Payment will go live with its Do Pay pay-in solution in Mexico and Ecuador, with the goal of expanding to both Chile and Colombia subsequently. Do Payment also noted that it plans to grow its footprint in Brazil in the second half of 2025.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Payments platform Paysafe launched its digital wallet, PagoEfectivo, in Peru.
  • Mexican fintech and edtech Mattilda partnered with payment orchestration platform Gr4vy to power its new white-label payments solution, Mattilda Pay.
  • Uruguay-based paytech dLocal announced plans to acquire Kenyan cross-border payments solutions provider AZA Finance.

Asia-Pacific

  • Revolut partnered with Ant International to enable its customers to send money to China.
  • Visa unveiled its Security Roadmap for New Zealand, featuring a three-year plan to leverage AI to fight fraud and other cyberthreats against consumers and businesses in the country.
  • Worldpay went live with domestic acquiring services in Thailand.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian cryptocurrency exchange Roqqu acquired Kenyan crypto startup Flitaa as part of its expansion into East Africa.
  • Daily Investor profiled South African entrepreneur Lungisa Matshoba, co-founder of Yoco.
  • South African paytech Stitch acquired Efficacy Payments in order to offer card acquiring services directly to merchants.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Clarity AI acquired Berlin, Germany-based Sustainability-as-a-Service innovator ecolytiq.
  • Azerbaijan-based fintech PashaPay inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mastercard.
  • German online bank N26 announced plans to offer stock trading to customers in Austria and Germany.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Egypt’s Faisal Islamic Bank partnered with Intellect to launch its Shariah-compliant digital transformation.
  • According to research from Mordor Intelligence, the fintech market in the United Arab Emirates is expected to grow to more than $6.4 billion by 2030.
  • Egyptian digital investment platform Thndr raised $15.7 million in a round led by Prosus Ventures.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Pakistan-based ecommerce startup Bazaar Technologies announced that it is nearing profitability following its acquisition of Pakistani paytech Keenu.
  • Indian cross-border investing and financial management platform Belong is now available to non-resident Indians living in the UAE.
  • Central Asian digital banking ecosystem TBC Uzbekistan launched a new insurance vertical, TBC Insurance.

Photo by Aarom Ore on Unsplash

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Finovate Global Africa: Investments, Acquisitions, and Partnerships

Finovate Global Africa: Investments, Acquisitions, and Partnerships
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Revolut, ThetaRay, TransUnion, Xero

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from Nigeria and South Africa.

BAS Group acquired a majority stake in Nigeria’s Zuvy

Nigeria-based diversified financial services group BAS Group announced this week that it has acquired a minority stake in Zuvy, a local fintech that specializes in invoice financing. The move gives BAS Group more than 50% of the company, a stake that analysts estimate could be valued between $1.5 million and $3 million. The transaction will also place BAS Group Chief Operating Officer, Adnan Kayode, at the helm of Zuvy—although the firm will continue to operate independently.

“This acquisition of Zuvy goes beyond simply expanding our investment portfolio—it represents a strategic alignment with our core mission of developing a comprehensive, technology-enabled financial ecosystem for Africa,” BAS Group Founder and CEO Abdulateef Hussein said.

Co-founded in 2023 by Angel Onuoha and Ahmed Shehu, Zuvy provides invoice financing to businesses in the FMCG (“fast-moving consumer goods”) and healthcare sectors, as well as to companies in supply chain industries. Zuvy reports financing invoices worth more than ₦1 billion ($650,000) for 1,500 small businesses over the past two years. As part of the deal, Onuoha and Shehu will retain minority stakes in the company, but will no longer have operational roles. The two founders have moved on to focus on their new healthcare venture, Avelis Health.

“We take great pride in Zuvy’s accomplishments and the positive impact we’ve created for thousands of Nigerian enterprises,” Onuoha said. “BAS Group represents the perfect partner to advance Zuvy’s growth trajectory while we focus our efforts on addressing critical healthcare challenges in the American market.”

BAS Group’s deal for Zuvy comes after the firm launched a lending business that provides collateralized loans to small and medium-sized businesses. The majority stake in Zuvy will enable BAS Group to add uncollateralized lending to its offering.

South African fintech Lesaka acquired Bank Zero

Lesaka Technologies reported that its subsidiary, Lesaka Technologies Proprietary Ltd, has agreed to acquire Bank Zero Mutual Bank (Bank Zero). Subject to customary closing conditions, the acquisition will be settled via a combination of new share issuance and up to ZAR 91 million ($5.1 million) in cash. The total value of the transaction is estimated to be $61 million.

“The acquisition of Bank Zero is a transformative event in Lesaka’s journey, enabling us to better serve our consumers, merchants, and enterprise clients by embedding a trusted, well-engineered neobank capability into our fintech platform,” Lesaka Chairman Ali Mazanderani said. “I am delighted to welcome the Bank Zero team to Lesaka as partners.”

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, Bank Zero is a modern “app-only” bank for both individuals and businesses. As of April 2025, the institution had a deposit base of more than ZAR 400 million ($22.4 million), and more than 40,000 funded accounts across South Africa. Co-launched by Michael Jordaan (Chairman) and Yatin Narsai (CEO), Bank Zero boasts 45% black- and 20% female-ownership. Post-acquisition, Jordaan will join the Lesaka Board of Directors while Narsai continues to serve as CEO.

“Bank Zero was built from the ground up to deliver a secure, digital-first banking experience that puts control back in the hands of customers,” Narsai said. “Our focus has always been on using technology to remove friction, lower costs, and challenge legacy banking norms. Joining forces with Lesaka allows us to accelerate that mission at scale—reaching more customers, faster—while staying true to the principles that define who we are.”

TransUnion invests, partners with Omnisient

Speaking of minority investments, TransUnion announced that it has secured a minority investment in—and a strategic partnership with—South Africa-based fintech Omnisient. Omnisient offers a data collaboration and advanced analytics platform that enables companies to securely access high-value consumer data ecosystems and integrate alternative data sets to support smart decision-making.

The strategic partnership will enhance TransUnion’s ability to bring more of the estimated 500 million un- and underbanked Africans into the formal financial system. By leveraging alternative data at scale, TransUnion’s partnership with Omnisient will enable more new-to-credit and credit-underserved consumers to begin building a credit profile and start the journey toward greater, long-term financial empowerment and opportunity.

“Traditional data models often fail to reflect the lived realities of African consumers, leaving millions without access to credit and the opportunities it enables,” TransUnion Africa Regional President/CEO Lee Naik said. “Financial inclusion is central to unlocking economic growth across the continent. That’s why we’re committed to leading with bold, Africa-born solutions designed to see the unseen and serve the credit-invisible by integrating alternative datasets alongside traditional credit data in ways that reflect uniquely African contexts and realities.”

Along with the investment (amount undisclosed) and strategic partnership, a member of TransUnion will join Omnisient’s board of directors.

TransUnion’s investment and strategic partnership comes at a time when demand is rising worldwide for access to alternative data and solutions that leverage this data while ensuring privacy, enhancing trust, and creating value for financial institutions. Omnisient’s technology uses tokenized keys to represent personal information in the data set, avoiding the transfer of raw data and providing privacy throughout the entire process. The company’s many-to-many data connectivity between banks and other financial services providers and third-parties helps promote innovation in the field of data collaboration.

“Our privacy-preserving data collaboration platform brings financial services and consumer brands together, allowing them to discover, validate, and commercialize new alternative sources of consumer behavioral and transactional data without having to exchange sensitive personal information,” Omnisient Co-Founder and Group CEO Jon Jacobson said.

Founded in 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa, Omnisient is currently headquartered in the UK. TransUnion most recently demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2024, showing how its Enhanced BreachIQ solution provides modern, gamified consumer identity protection.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Indian paytech Pine Labs announced plans for an IPO and a goal of a $6 billion valuation.
  • UnaFinancial and JSCB Microcreditbank partnered to launch a digital credit service in Uzbekistan.
  • SEBI-registered Online Bond Platform Provider (OBPP) IndiaBonds.com raised $3.77 million in funding.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Open payments platform Belvo and digital bank Ualá teamed up to launch new digital credit-scoring model leveraging a large-scale integration of employment data.
  • Paytech EBANX forged a partnership with Mexican BNPL fintech APLAZO.
  • Revolut announced plans to acquire Argentina-based lender Banco Cetelem from BNP Paribas.

Asia-Pacific

  • South Korean banks formed a consortium to issue a Won-backed stablecoin.
  • New Zealand-based accounting platform Xero agreed to acquire SMB bill pay platform Melio.
  • Australian open banking platform provider Frollo introduced its Frollo for Brokers online portal for mortgage brokers.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • TransUnion announced a minority investment in and strategic partner with South African fintech Omnisient.
  • Financial crime compliance company ThetaRay partnered with Africa-based financial services firm I&M Group.
  • Kenya-based PesaLink inked a Memorandun of Understanding with Fintech Alliance to advance inclusive payment solutions.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Germany-based insurer Munich Re teamed up with Instnt to enhance its ID fraud loss insurance coverage.
  • NaroIQ, a German digital platform that helps firms launch and manage ETFs and mutual funds, raised $6.5 million in seed funding.
  • Deutsche Bank turned to Silverflow for the launch of its European cloud-native payments platform.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Israeli-based fintech Tipalti acquired AI-powered cash flow management specialist Statement.
  • Egyptian payments platform Octane secured $5.2 million in new funding.
  • Libya’s Central Bank launched the country’s first electronic payment forum in a bid to spur fintech modernization.

Photo by onaopemipo Rufus

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Finovate Global Southeast Asia: Payments, Lending, and the Rise of Islamic Digital Banking

Finovate Global Southeast Asia: Payments, Lending, and the Rise of Islamic Digital Banking
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AMLYZE, Finovate Global, Mambu, MoneyGram, Revolut, VISA

This week’s edition of Finovate Global showcases recent fintech news from three countries in southeast Asia: Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Visa brings Click to Pay to Vietnam

A growing number of Vietnamese banks have become early adopters of Visa’s Click to Pay service. Click to Pay provides a faster, more secure, and convenient checkout experience for online transactions by enabling cardholders to make their purchases with fewer clicks—including relieving them of the need to manually enter card and shipping details. Instead, Click to Pay allows users to identify themselves through their email address or mobile phone number. The service uses advanced security technology—including the Visa Token Service—to keep transaction data secure and is designed to meet EMVCo standards for digital checkout.

“With e-commerce being so prevalent in Vietnam and aligning with the Vietnamese government’s digitization objectives, we are pleased to introduce this solution through our banking partners,” Visa Country Manager for Vietnam and Laos Dung Dang said. “Click to Pay with Visa has the potential to transform online shopping and support the development of a more connected digital economy.”

Cardholders with Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) and Vietnam Prosperity Joint-Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) can enroll in the Click to Pay service through their banking apps or with participating online merchants. Visa has also teamed up with Vietnamese payment platform Payoo, which will integrate Click to Pay across its merchant ecosystem. Visa announced that cardholders using Click to Pay at Payoo-affiliated merchants will be eligible for exclusive promotional offers “in the near future”. Additional merchants are expected to be added in the coming months.

BNPL provider Atome secures $75 million to support Philippines operations

Singapore-based Buy Now, Pay Later fintech Atome has received an asset-back financing facility of $75 million. The financing, from Lending Ark Asia Secured Private Debt Fund, will help support Atome’s expansion in the Philippines.

“The Philippines is a key growth market for Atome,” Atome Chief Commercial Officer Andy Tan said. “This financing reflects the continued confidence in Atome’s ability to deliver inclusive, risk-managed credit at scale.”

Atome is part of Advance Intelligence Group, a fintech and AI platform backed by investors such as SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Warburg Pincus, Northstar, and Singapore-based EDBI. This week’s funding comes as the company has been expanding its BNPL offering throughout Southeast Asia, bringing alternative credit solutions to unbanked and underbanked populations in the region. The financing also arrives one year after Atome secured a three-year term loan facility from EvolutionX Debt Capital.

“The launch of innovative and fit-for-market solutions like the Atome Card (PayLater Anywhere) and lending products demonstrates their ability to expand offerings while leveraging local market expertise,” EvolutionX Partner Rahul Shah said.

Malaysia’s KAF Digital Bank goes live with Temenos

The growth of Islamic digital banking is one of the most underappreciated developments in international fintech. Helping power this trend are companies like Temenos which recently partnered with Malaysia’s KAF Digital Bank as the institution launches its new Islamic digital bank in the country.

“Powered by Temenos SaaS, KAF Digital Bank is redefining Shariah-compliant banking with smarter, simpler financial solutions and a seamless, customer-first digital experience,” KAF Digital Bank CEO Rafiza Ghazali said. “The successful go-live and early access customer launch marks a key milestone in our journey, enabling Malaysians to take control of their financial futures with greater confidence.”

Temenos SaaS will enable KAF Digital Bank to offer a range of Shariah-compliant financial solutions that make financial management easier for customers who require or simply prefer Islamic banking. The offering includes comprehensive core and digital banking services with payments, analytics, and Temenos Data Hub on Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure. In a statement, Temenos APAC Managing Director Will Dale noted the growth and importance of the Islamic banking customer in the country.

“This go-live not only strengthens Temenos’ regional footprint in SaaS, but also shows the unique breadth of functionality and advanced technology we deliver,” Dale said. “With proven capabilities tailored to the Malaysian market and Islamic banking, Temenos SaaS empowers KAF Digital Bank to achieve faster time-to-market, greater efficiency, and drive future growth.”

KAF Digital Bank secured approval to operate as a digital bank at the beginning of the year, and will be the fourth digital bank to operate in the country. The bank was launched by KAF Investment Bank Berhad, in partnership with Carsome, MoneyMatch, Jirnexu, and StoreHub. KAF Investment Bank Berhad was established in 1975.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Saudi Arabian finance app tiqmo partnered with global payments network MoneyGram.
  • Revolut reported that it has entered talks with the Bank of Israel to expand operations in the country.
  • MENA-based financial institution Mashreq launched its NEO PLUS Saver Account.

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazilian fintech Matera partnered with Circle to integrate stablecoins as a payment method.
  • Cross-border payment platform dLocal teamed up with payment infrastructure solutions provider JusPay.
  • Tether announced an investment in Chiliean crypto exchange Orionx to support financial inclusion and digital payment adoption in Latin America.

Asia-Pacific

  • Visa launched its Click to Pay solution in Vietnam.
  • Buy Now, Pay Later provider Atome secured a $75 million asset-backed financing facility to support its expansion to the Philippines.
  • A new trading platform, moomoo, has gone live in New Zealand.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Africa.com profiled African fintech giant Paystack.
  • Online payment service provider PayU GPO launched account-to-account payments in Nigeria.
  • Critics warn that Kenya’s 1.5% tax on crypto transactions could hamper the development of the country’s fintech industry.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Berlin-based paytech Payrails raised $32 million in Series A funding.
  • Lithuania’s largest credit union, Lietuvos centrinė kredito unija (LCKU), inked a long-term agreement with regtech AMLYZE.
  • German SaaS cloud banking platform Mambu announced that Sweden-based Marginalen Bank has migrated to its core.

Photo by Pixabay

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Finovate Global Ireland: Investing in Payments and Partnerships

Finovate Global Ireland: Investing in Payments and Partnerships
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finastra, Finovate Global, Temenos

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from Ireland.

Nomupay Raises $40 Million at $290 Million Valuation

Courtesy of an investment from SBPS, a subsidiary of Japan’s SoftBank, Irish fintech Nomupay has secured €35 million ($40 million) in new funding. The capital gives the company a valuation of $290 million and comes as part of an alliance that will enable Nomupay to expand its reach into the Asian market.

“Since our inception in 2021 we have been robustly active in the region; the SBPS investment now enables us to double down and support inter regional commerce by adding additional countries and payment methods to the platform in order to support bi-directional access between Japan, Asia, and the rest of the world,” Nomupay Group CEO Peter Burridge said.

Nomupay’s unified payment platform streamlines payment processes—including acquiring, treasury, and payouts—for businesses operating in fragmented, emerging markets. The company aggregates local payment methods into a single, consistent API; and offers treasury and reconciliation tools that provide real-time visibility, automated fund flows, and multi-currency management. Nomupay helps businesses go to market faster and in-line with local regulations, without needing to engage with multiple PSPs and other partners.

The partnership will enable Nomupay to expand and solidify its presence in Asia by way of Japan. SBPS will benefit from access to Nomupay’s single API and gateway-agnostic, single, back office platform, offering a range of payment options and scalability.

“With Nomupay as a key partner, we will leverage Nomupay’s payment solutions to support our clients entering the Asian market,” SBPS Representative Director, President, and CEO Jun Shimba said. “Nomupay offers a wide range of services in the payment field in Asia, and can meet flexible and diverse needs. Nomupay is a highly reliable partner.”

Founded in 2021, Nomupay is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

TransferMate Announces Strategic Partnership with Deutsche Bank

Embedded B2B payments infrastructure-as-a-service company TransferMate has forged a strategic partnership with Deutsche Bank. The partnership will enable TransferMate to provide in-country collections, cross-border payments, and local fund storage. Working with Deutsche Bank only adds to TransferMate’s extensive local collection capabilities, helping make the company’s platform among the largest fintech payment infrastructures in the world.

“Our collaboration with Deutsche Bank is another significant milestone as we continue to grow our global footprint and be the embedded B2B partner of choice,” TransferMate CEO Gary Conroy said. “This partnership further strengthens our reach, our capabilities, and the value we bring to our partners and their clients.”

Initially, the partnership will focus on facilitating operations in APAC markets, with other regions to be added over time as TransferMate leverages Deutsche Bank’s extensive international network. In a statement, Deutsche Bank’s Head of Cash Management & Head of CB APAC MEA, Ole Matthiessen, highlighted the opportunity in APAC.

“This strategic collaboration between TransferMate and Deutsche Bank underscores the immense potential of fintech-bank partnerships in accessing and scaling global markets, particularly navigating the high-growth yet diverse Asia Pacific landscape. This showcases the strength of our offering, aligning seamlessly with our Global Hausbank strategy,” Matthiessen said.

Founded in 2010 by Terry Clune, TransferMate manages a global payments network that covers 200+ countries and territories and 140+ currencies. The company is headquartered in Kilkenny, Ireland.

Paytech Splink Partners with Global Payments

Payments platform Splink announced a strategic partnership with international payment processor Global Payments this week. The collaboration will enable Splink to go live with Global Payments’ SoftPOS technology, which enables any smartphone to accept tap-to-pay transactions with no additional, external hardware required.

“Splink brings excellent technology combined with commercial agility and an impressive team that perfectly complements our infrastructure, distribution, reach, and the key attributes we look for in a partner,” Global Payments Head of UK and Ireland Partnerships Tom Woods said. “We’ve had some recent successes together with key merchant wins in Ireland and the UK and we’re excited to see the partnership grow.”

Founded in 2019 by Mark Lyttleton and headquartered in Dublin, Splink offers a flexible payments solution that allows businesses to choose from among more than 20 different payment options. Splink enables companies to receive and request payments, as well as set up an online shop that helps boost transaction volumes. Splink’s solution is also available as a white-label offering, allowing companies to set up their own digital payments business and add a new source of recurring revenue.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • UAE-based fintech Qashio raised $19.8 million in both equity and non-equity financing.
  • Saudi Arabian fintech Nqoodlet secured $3 millioon in seed funding to help SMEs access financing.
  • Zain Fintech launched its Bede Mobile Wallet in Sudan.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Singapore-based KYC, data intelligence, payments, and debt collections solutions provider Decentro raised Rs 30 crone ($3.5 million) ahead of plans to relocate to India.
  • Indian fintech Spense secured $1.85 million in pre-seed funding.
  • The National Bank of Kazakhstan unveiled its new, crypto card, retail payments initiative.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Uruguayan fintech dLocal acquired cross-border payments company AZA Finance.
  • Finastra and consulting firm TCMpartners teamed up with Banco de Costa Rica as the firm launches its International Trade Automation Project.
  • Swedish Pay-by-Bank solutions company Zimpler earned certified Payment Institution (PI) status in Brazil.

Asia-Pacific

  • Malaysia’s KAF Digital Bank went live with Temenos SaaS to power its new Islamic digital bank offering.
  • Hong Kong-based LianLian announced a strategic partnership with UnionPay.
  • Australian fintech platform Complii Fintech Solutions to bring its capital raising solution to the UK.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Photo by Gregory DALLEAU on Unsplash

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Finovate Global North Africa: Financial Inclusion Mobile Money, and Investing in Payments

Finovate Global North Africa: Financial Inclusion Mobile Money, and Investing in Payments
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, VISA

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at fintech headlines from companies headquartered in North Africa.

Fayda wallet goes live in Ethiopia

Designed to revolutionize the way Ethiopians access digital services, Ethiopia’s National ID Program (NIDP) has launched its FaydaPass wallet. The solution, developed in partnership with TECH5 and Visa, will help promote financial inclusion and address the need for verified electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) services throughout society.

The wallet makes it easier for Ethiopians to secure a digital copy of the Fayda credential by enabling them to download the official app and request their digital ID credentials via the wallet. The Fayda ID system uses its data to generate the secure credential, which is delivered directly to the user’s mobile device as a verifiable credential (VC). The verifiable credential supports secure on- and offline verification for a wide range of use cases including payments and digital access to government services.

“A credential wallet would be a container for government and private sector issued standardized verifiable credentials,” NIDP Executive Director Yodahe Zemichael said. “It’s an exciting new way of delivering value to citizens and extending the functionality of Fayda Digital ID.”

Ethiopian digital-first Coopbank announced that it would leverage the Fayda app and its advanced biometric eKYC verification to enable customers to open new bank accounts. The institution’s CEO Deribie Asfaw said that the new offering will help it “reach financially marginalized communities who have long been excluded from the formal financial system due to the absence of such robust infrastructures.” Asfaw added, “This brings us one step closer to the community and reinforces our commitment to leaving a meaningful mark on the country’s digital transformation journey.”

Founded in 2005, Coopbank (Cooperative Bank of Oromia) was established by farmers and still counts farmers as more than half of its shareholders. With a focus on the country’s micro, small, and medium-sized farming and agricultural sector businesses, the institution has assets of ETB 139.56 billion ($1.04 billion), operates 745 branches, and has more than 14.5 million accountholders.

TerraPay, Wave Mobile Money partner on remittances to Mali

A partnership between international money movement company TerraPay and African mobile money provider Wave Mobile Money will enhance cross-border remittances services in Mali. The collaboration will enable Malians to receive funds from family and friends living and working abroad directly into their Wave mobile wallets. This will provide for a faster, more accessible, and cost-effective international remittance experience.

Mobile phone penetration in Mali is high, with more than 80% of the population using the technology. Many Malians rely on mobile phones for mobile money and digital wallet services, making the devices a key component of financial inclusion in the country for millions—especially the un- and underbanked. The partnership between TerraPay and Wave Mobile Money will facilitate remittance flows from Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) through the US, Canada, and Europe to Mali via a single integration.

“Our partnership with Wave Mobile Money marks a significant milestone in our mission to power borderless money movement,” TerraPay Vice President—Sub Sahara Africa, Willie Kanyeki said. “By enabling instant, cost-effective, and fully compliant remittances from key markets like the US, Canada, and Europe, we are simplifying financial access and driving financial inclusion in Mali.”

TerraPay enables payments to 150+ receiving countries and 210+ sending countries. The company’s platform facilitates payments to more than 3.7 billion mobile wallets, 7.5 billion bank accounts, and more than 12 billion cards. Founded in 2014, TerraPay is headquartered in London. Co-founder Ambar Sur is CEO.

Founded in 2018 and operating in Mali since 2021, Wave Mobile Money offers domestic and cross-border transfers, bill payments, and business services to customers in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, Wave Mobile Money is on a self-described mission to make Africa “the first cashless continent.” Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk are Co-Founders.

Tunisia’s Konnect Networks secures investment

Tunisia’s Konnect Networks has raised an undisclosed amount from Attijariwafa Ventures. The investment was part of a wider fundraising effort that featured Utopia Capital Management, 54 Collective, Visa, Plug and Play Tech Center, Renew Capital, Digital Africa Ventures, and Sunny Side Venture Partners as investors. The company said it would use the capital to help fuel both its continued expansion and further innovation in payments technology.

Founded in 2021 by Amin Ben Abderrahman, Konnect Networks provides payment links, e-commerce plugins, and APIs. Serving both retail and business customers, the firm’s payment orchestration platform covers online and point-of-sale payments, payment aggregation, and real-time transaction capabilities. The company’s funding news comes in the wake of it being approved as a Payment Facilitator (PayFac) by Tunisia’s central bank. Konnect Networks currently has 2,000 users of its technology in Tunisia.

Konnect Networks is just one of a number of innovative new fintechs headquartered in Tunisia making fintech headlines of late. Other notable startups in the news include financial super app Flouci, named one of 2025’s 50 most influential fintechs in MENA by Forbes Middle East, and EasyBank, a fintech offering digital banking solutions that raised $370,000 at the beginning of the year.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • South African fintech Sava secured $2 million in pre-seed funding.
  • International money movement company Terrapay teamed up with Wave Mobile Money to enable cross-border remittances for users in Mali.
  • Disrupt Africa discussed the relationship between traditional savings systems and fintech innovation.

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • MENA-based digital private wealth platform Vault went live this week.
  • Israel-based fintech Sequence raised $7.5 million at a valuation of $14.5 million to support its financial management platform.
  • Emirates NBD selected global Know Your Payee (KYP) validation provider iPiD.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Indian fintech CRED secured $75 million in funding to further develop its credit card business.
  • TBC Bank Uzbekistan integrated customer experience solution provider Genesys’ Engage platform into its customer care operations.
  • Times of India looked at the current state of the country’s fintech sector, including its potential for growth via product expansion.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • The Japan International Cooperation Agency inked a deal to invest in Brazilian agri-fintech Agrolend.
  • Mercado Pago announced plans to apply for a banking license from the Central Bank of Argentina.
  • Méliuz became Brazil’s first publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company this week.

Asia-Pacific

  • Paytech Tribe Payments entered into a strategic collaboration with Singapore-based fintech Finmo.
  • Visa went live with Click to Pay in Hong Kong in partnership with digital bank ZA Bank.
  • Cryptocurrency exchange ByBit secured a Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) license in Australia.

Photo by MELIANI Driss

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Finovate Global Germany: Funding for Startups and Financing for Sellers

Finovate Global Germany: Funding for Startups and Financing for Sellers
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Finovate Global, Temenos, WorldPay

This week’s edition of Finovate Global showcases fintech news from companies operating in Germany.

Aufinity raised $26 million in Series C funding

A specialist in the field of payment management for the automotive market, Aufinity Group announced this week that it has successfully completed a $26 million Series C round of funding. The round was led by BlackFin Capital Partners, and featured re-investments from current investors PayPal Ventures and Seaya Ventures. The German fintech will use the funds to power its European expansion and to help forge partnerships with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).

“With this round, we are focusing on accelerating our growth across Europe even further, “Aufinity Group Co-Founder and CEO Lasse Diener said. “Through new strategic partnerships with leading OEMs and by continuing our focus on dealerships, we are preparing to redefine the industry standard for the whole of Europe.”

Aufinity Group’s eponymous platform offers car dealers and OEMs a digital payment management solution that is optimized and white-label-capable. The technology serves both vehicle sales and after-sales, and features optimized payment processes to provide faster incoming payments, greater liquidity and efficiency, and a superior customer experience. Founded in 2018, Aufinity Group is headquartered in Cologne; the company pointed to growing demand for its technology and a successful expansion to Italy and Spain in 2024 in explaining its goal to pursue more international markets in 2025.

“Our core business in Germany is already solidly positioned,” Diener added. “However, the high level of interest from the international market has prompted us to push ahead with our expansion into more countries earlier than planned, which is a great market confirmation for our business and platform.”

YouLend and eBay Germany team up to help finance marketplace sellers

Embedded financing platform YouLend has partnered with eBay Germany to provide integrated financing to sellers on the platform. Part of the eBay Seller Capital Program, the partnership will enable German eBay sellers to access pre-approved financing of up to €2 million ($2.26 million). Financing is based on the sellers’ performance data, and does not require an additional, separate application process.

“Sellers benefit from a chain reaction: quicker inventory restocks, improved product listing, or targeted marketing leading to greater visibility, higher sales, and more growth opportunities—all of which can be financed through YouLend,” Leonard Strigel, YouLend General Manager Germany, said. “This cycle of funding, growth, and reinvestment helps increase seller revenues.”

The partnership will give sellers personalized, pre-approved financing offers, informing them of exactly how much capital they are eligible for before they apply for funding. Direct integration of YouLend’s technology into the eBay platform supports a seamless application process that is “simple, digital, and reliable,” Strigel added.

Founded in 2016, YouLend launched in the UK and Ireland in 2018, entered Europe in 2022, and went live in the US the following year. In 2024, YouLend announced a £4 billion financing investment from J.P. Morgan.

eBay has maintained a presence in Germany since the company’s 1999 takeover of auction platform Alando. eBay Germany currently has more than 150 million visits per month.

German expense management platform Circula secured €15 million

An extended Series A round has given Berlin-based, AI-powered expense management platform Circula €15 million ($17 million) to help bring autonomous finance workflows to medium-sized business in Germany and beyond. The investment will enable the firm to boost its AI capabilities and offer additional automation features for finance teams.

Participating in the funding were existing investors Alstin Capital, Capnamic Ventures, Peak Capital, Wenvest Capital, and Storm Ventures. CIBC Innovation Banking also participated in the investment.

“We have a clear goal: to become Germany’s AI-based champion in expense and spend management for small and medium-sized businesses,” Circula CEO Nikolai Skatchkov said. “With hundreds of millions of euros in transaction volume, hundreds of thousands of active users, and the trust of countless tax advisory firms, we are in an ideal position to realize our vision of a seamless workday for finance teams in the coming years.”

Circula, founded in 2017, counts firms such as Aston Martin, DATEV, and Securitas among its customers. The company’s modular SaaS platform streamlines business expense management with features including AI-powered receipt capture, automated tax-compliant data extraction, and real-time booking verification. More than 150,000 workers throughout Europe rely on Circula’s technology to manage their business travel expenses, credit card transactions, employee benefits, and more.

Circula’s announcement comes at a time when less than 9% of medium-sized businesses in Germany report fully automating their expense workflows, according to research from ERP firm Diamant. In contrast, Circula captures 70%+ of employee expenses when they happen, and enables companies to reduce manual work by 80% and reduce monthly closing cycles.

“Circula is transforming traditional paperwork into smart, AI-powered processes—setting new standards in digital expense management,” CIBC Innovation Banking Director Charlotte Goggin said. “We are excited to support this growth.”

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Asia-Pacific

  • CIMB Bank, Malaysia’s second largest financial services provider, teamed up with payments technology innovator ACI Worldwide.
  • Singapore-based payments platform Airwallex raised $300 million in Series F funding at a valuation of $6.2 billion.
  • Philippine-based universal bank EastWest Bank turned to Temenos to modernize its core.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Payment infrastructure company areeba and digital banking solutions provider Foo forge strategic partnership to enhance digital payments in the Middle East.
  • Zawya looked at how the Qi card is bringing greater digitization to Iraq’s financial services industry.
  • Egyptian-based digital lending marketplace Qardy agreed to be acquired by Catalyst Partners Middle East (CPME) via SPAC.

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Photo by anna-m. w.

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Finovate Global Lithuania: Making Card Payments More Profitable with Torus

Finovate Global Lithuania: Making Card Payments More Profitable with Torus
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BioCatch, Finovate Global, Nubank, Torus, Wise

This week, Finovate Global travels to Lithuania to talk about payment card optimization with Torus’ Kirill Lisitsyn.

The payment card business is among the most competitive areas of financial services. But are some of the greatest opportunities for companies to profit being overlooked? A growing number of fintechs have developed strategies and technologies to help card issuers and acquirers access millions of dollars in cost savings and missed revenue by better controlling card network fees and enhancing transactional profitability.

Lithuania-based Torus is one such fintech. Founded in 2021 and making its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2024, Torus offers a SaaS intelligence platform for banks and acquirers that enhances profits on card transactions by up to 50%. The company enables card issuers and merchant acquirers to optimize card scheme fees and boost transactional earnings via pricing optimization and profitability analysis at the card and merchant level.

To discuss this field, and the opportunities it presents for card issuers and merchant acquirers, we caught up with Torus Co-Founder and CEO Kirill Lisitsyn (pictured). Lisitsyn brings to bear more than 15 years of experience leading payments consulting projects at firms such as Accenture and Mastercard.

Torus most recently demonstrated its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateEurope in February.

What problem does Torus solve and who does it solve it for?

Kirill Lisitsyn: Torus is a SaaS platform for in-depth analysis and optimization of scheme fees (Visa, Mastercard) for issuers, merchant acquirers, and now large merchants. We automate the collection, forecasting, and reconciliation of both transaction flows and invoice data, so that our clients can see accurate cost and profit metrics at the level of transaction, product, merchant, region—and beyond.

How does Torus solve this problem better than other companies or solutions?

Lisitsyn: We provide nearly 98% fee prediction accuracy, and our plug-and-play setup enables end-to-end analytics with minimum resources needed from the customer side. Torus goes beyond pretty dashboards to deliver optimization recommendations backed by industry benchmarks and detailed “what-if” simulations.

Who are Torus’ primary customers. How do you reach them?

Lisitsyn: Our clients include banks, fintechs, BaaS providers, PSPs, and large merchants across Europe, the UK, Central Asia, and Japan. We reach them through targeted outreach, industry conferences, high-visibility publications, and strategic partnerships with top-tier industry players.

We’re also building a community around card economics. I run a LinkedIn page where I share insights on scheme fee mechanics, analysis pitfalls, and market updates.

Many clients come to us after seeing just one number: $1M+ in annual losses that could be avoided with better visibility.

Can you tell us about a favorite implementation or deployment of your technology?

Lisitsyn: One EU-based e-commerce acquirer used to assess profitability by portfolio averages—and was losing up to 10% on hidden merchant-level losses. With Torus, they switched to granular analysis, identified low-margin segments, updated pricing, and increased overall portfolio margin by 30%. These are real, realized gains—not slideware.

What in your background gave you the confidence to tackle this challenge?

Lisitsyn: We have productized over a hundred years of joint team expertise in the card payments industry—coming from different segments of the industry, players like Mastercard, Global Payments, Societe Generale, Worldline, and various other banks. This is our unfair advantage which gives us a deep understanding of where the pain points are. When your team includes former scheme insiders, “scheme fees” stop being scary and start becoming manageable.

What is the fintech ecosystem in Lithuania like? What is the relationship between fintechs, banks, and traditional financial services companies in Lithuania?

Lisitsyn: Lithuania is a magnet for fintech startups: a responsive regulator, fast-track licensing, and tech-forward infrastructure. Banks here are increasingly open to partnerships, and startups are learning to scale responsibly and operate under real-world pressures. 

Torus is a great example of how legacy banking know-how and fintech velocity can combine into something powerful. We are proud to both actively contribute to the Lithuanian ecosystem and represent it internationally.

You demoed at FinovateEurope earlier this year. How was your experience?

Lisitsyn: This year we demoed our product for BaaS providers. We showcased how Torus enables these players to accurately calculate scheme fees and interchange per transaction, allocate costs, and build margin-based pricing for their fintech partners.

We demonstrated that BaaS can move beyond volume games and become a margin game.

Finovate is built for showing working products to real decision-makers—and our demo generated several highly relevant inbound requests for our BaaS module.

What are your goals for Torus? What can we expect to hear from you in the months to come?

Lisitsyn: We’re scaling fast. This year includes multiple product launches and major feature updates. Just a month ago, we released our new product, Merchant Cost Indicator—a tool that estimates transaction costs without needing real data. It predicts interchange and scheme fees based on country, MCC, and channel, giving acquirers and BIN sponsors instant, reliable margin calculations.

Coming next is a dynamic profit-based pricing module, embedded analytics for BaaS, and AI agents to support profitability control, pricing and decision workflows.

We’re shaping a new standard of transparency and profitability controls in card economics. Our strength lies in combining deep industry expertise with true product velocity. We know where the market is heading—and we’re already moving to clear the path.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

  • The Stock Exchange of Thailand announced deployment of risk and surveillance platforms courtesy of its expanded strategic technology partnership with the Nasdaq.
  • Adyen selected Fiskil as its data-sharing partner to enhance onboarding and account verification for merchants in Australia.
  • Vietnam-based securities company Kafi went live with Horizon Trading Solutions.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Israel-based BioCatch and The Knoble co-launched an anti-scam guide and cost calculator.
  • MENA-based virtual assets trading platform BitOasis expanded to Bahrain.
  • The government of Dubai partnered with Crypto.com to enable crypto payments for government fees.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Forbes profiled Razorpay co-founder Harshil Mathur.
  • Pakistani fintech ABHI partnered with UAE-based LuLuFin to enhance financial inclusion and remittance solutions.
  • Indian fintech unicorn Moneyview readies for an initial public offering.

Photo by Maksim Shutov on Unsplash

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Finovate Global: Meet the International Alums of FinovateSpring 2025

Finovate Global: Meet the International Alums of FinovateSpring 2025
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: APIMatic, Cinareo Solutions, Finovate Global, Hyperdesk

If our European fintech conference, FinovateEurope, is our most international event, then FinovateSpring—which kicks off next week in San Diego, May 7 through 9—is our most homegrown. This year, for example, only three of the 40+ companies that will be demoing their innovations live on stage are headquartered outside the United States.

This week’s edition of Finovate Global leads off with an introduction to these three fintechs. Hailing from New Zealand, Canada, and Mexico City, respectively, these innovators will provide insights into the kinds of financial challenges faced and solutions sought by businesses and consumers alike.

APIMatic – Auckland, New Zealand

Founded in 2014, APIMatic is a developer experience platform for APIs that enables organizations to drive fast, widespread adoption of their APIs. The platform supports every stage of the API journey, from design and dynamic SDKs to code sample generation and end-to-end automation. Adeel Ali is Founder and CEO.

Cinareo Solutions – Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Cinareo Solutions offers a capacity planning platform that provides pro-active resource planning and financial analysis to cost-efficiently manage front- and back-office team members, as well as support staff. Launched in 2022, the company is a winner of Finovate’s Sustainability & Inclusion Scholarship Program. Karen Elliott is CEO.

Hyperdesk – San Francisco, California and Mexico City, Mexico

Founded in 2025, Hyperdesk provides an AI-powered search engine that helps credit unions and community banks grow their loans and deposits by better engaging with local businesses. Eric Yáñez is Founder and CEO.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Mongolia-based digital lender LendMN secured $20 million in debt financing from Lendable.
  • TBC Uzbekistan launched its new SME lending product this week.
  • Business Today India profiled Indian fintech Nucleus Software.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian fintech and microfinance bank, Bankly, has been acquired by C-One Ventures.
  • Fintech startup Djamo raised $17 million to boost financial inclusion in French-speaking Africa.
  • The Central Bank of Nigeria imposed a $190,000 fine on Paystack for operating its latest solution, Zap, without the appropriate licensing.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Slovenian payment processing company Bankart partnered with Iliad Solutions as its payment testing provider.
  • Berlin, Germany-based corporate card platform Pliant raised $40 million in Series B funding.
  • Polish fintech BidFinance raised €1.6 million in seed funding from 4growth VC, FundingBox, and a group of business angel investors.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • UAE-based Islamic bank Ruya introduced a new service to enable customers to trade cryptocurrencies via its mobile app.
  • The MENA Fintech Association (MFTA) welcomed Iraq-based digital payments and identity services provider International Smart Card (ISC).
  • Alfardan Exchange partnered with iPiD to launch Qatar’s first real-time payee verification service.

Photo by Gaël Gaborel – OrbisTerrae on Unsplash

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Finovate Global Brazil: Debt Management, BNPL, and Building a Bigger Bitcoin Reserve

Finovate Global Brazil: Debt Management, BNPL, and Building a Bigger Bitcoin Reserve
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Nubank

This week’s edition of Finovate Global features the latest fintech news and headlines from Brazil.

Nubank unveils Recomeço to help borrowers renegotiate debt

Brazilian fintech Nubank unveiled its latest and largest campaign to help customers with outstanding payments renegotiate their debts. The program, Recomeço, enables eligible customers to receive discounts of up to 99.9% for a limited time. These customers will be notified via the Nubank app, where they will be provided personalized details about their renegotiation options and next steps.

“At Nubank, our customers and their financial well-being are our priority,” CEO of Nubank in Brazil, Livia Chanes, said. “This was the main reason for creating Nubank: to combat complexity and empower people. We are committed to providing personalized solutions with the best possible conditions, contributing to long-term financial health. We want to support our customers, who have trusted Nubank, to start over.”

Eligible customers will need to have a “generally good credit history” and engagement with Nubank. The fintech hopes that the program will benefit those customers who do not tend to have recurring debts, but may have recently experienced financial difficulties. Recomeço also features resources and tools to support credit recovery and smart financial decision-making. These resources include a blog with tips on financial wellness and education.

Nubank’s Recomeço news comes less than a week after the fintech unveiled NuScore, a credit rating tool for its customers. NuScore provides customers with a score from 0 to 1,000, a classification—very high, high, average, low, and very low—and access to the behavioral and historical factors that guided the scoring. These factors include credit card usage, savings patterns in Nubank’s personalized digital savings accounts called Caixas, the amount of debt in the market, and the customer’s score analysis from credit bureaus. Customers will also benefit from recommendations on how they can improve their credit profile and overall financial health.

“Our goal is to establish a solid partnership with our customers to build a robust credit profile, promoting satisfaction, increasing eligibility and engagement with credit products that meet their needs in a responsible manner,” said Arthur Valadão, general director for Nubank’s Roxinho (credit card) segment.

Founded in 2013, Nubank is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. The company is an alum of Finovate’s developer conference, FinDEVr, having participated in the event in New York in 2016. Today, Nubank offers one of the region’s and the world’s biggest digital banking platforms, with more than 100 million customers in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.

Brazilian BNPL provider raises $26.7 million in series A funding

Capim, a startup that offers a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) payment option for Brazilians paying for dental services, has secured $25.7 million in Series A funding. The round, which consisted of two parts, featured Valor Capital and QED Investors as co-leads. Existing investors ONEVC, Canary, and NXTP also participated, along with new investors Endeavor, Saison, and Actyus. The Series A takes Capim’s total capital raised to $29 million. Valuation information was not disclosed.

A vertical SaaS company specializing in the dental sector, Capim helps dentists leverage digital technology to better manage their offices. In addition to providing payment options like BNPL, Capim helps dental patients schedule their appointments digitally at connected clinics. The funding will help Capim expand its offerings to include a point-of-sale (POS) terminal that will offer dentists lower merchant discount rates. Terminals will accept credit and debit cards, and payments from Brazil’s real-time payment system, PIX. The terminals will be fully integrated with Capim’s SaaS financial management module.

“At Capim, we know that being a dentist is much more than taking care of smiles—it is transforming lives every day,” the company noted on LinkedIn when the investment was announced. “With our verticalized software, we develop, with our customers, incredible products, ensuring resources and all the support that really make a difference.”

Founded in 2021, Capim is headquartered in São Paulo.

Méliuz proposes expanding bitcoin reserves

Brazilian fintech Méliuz is considering an expansion of its Bitcoin holdings and making the digital asset a strategic asset on the company’s ledger. The company initiated its bitcoin strategy earlier this year, devoting 10% of the company’s cash to purchase 45.7 Bitcoin worth $4.1 million. According to the Brazil Crypto Report, this marks the first time a Brazilian, publicly listed company used cash funds from its treasury to buy Bitcoin for investment purposes.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Belo Horizonte, Méliuz provides digital solutions via a platform that integrates marketplaces and financial services. With more than 800 partner stores, Méliuz promotes discounts, services, and coupons through its website, app, and browser extension. The company also builds special cashback programs for its marketplace and financial services partners.

The final decision on expanding Méliuz’s Bitcoin holdings will be based on a shareholder meeting and vote on May 6, the company noted in a securities filing.

Earlier this year, Méliuz reaffirmed its strategic alliance with Banco Votorantim (banco BV), initially forged in 2022. Also that year, Méliuz announced a partnership with Liqi, a blockchain-based asset tokenization startup.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Emirates NBD teamed up with Visa to enhance international money transfers.
  • Egyptian fintechs Basata Holding for Financial Payments and Connect Money launched a new card to boost payment security.
  • CTech interviewed Israeli fintech entrepreneur-turned-investor Alon Huri.

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazilian fintech Nubank launched its credit rating tool, NuScore, for Nu customers.
  • Latin American Open Finance platform Belvo raised $15 million in funding.
  • Chilean acquiring network Klap went live with Visa and Mastercard acquiring services in partnership with BPC.

Asia-Pacific

  • Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) launched phase two of their cross-border QR payment scheme.
  • Australia-based lender Bizcap brought its same-day funding solution to Singapore.
  • The Bank of Thailand (BOT) approved three new digital banks led by Krungthai Bank, SCBX, and Ascend Money.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Photo by F Cary Snyder on Unsplash

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Finovate Global Spain: Payments, Mortgagetech, and Leveraging AI for CX in Banking

Finovate Global Spain: Payments, Mortgagetech, and Leveraging AI for CX in Banking
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Hawk:AI

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from Spain.

Payments and liquidity solutions company Wannme raises €7M

Wannme, a Madrid-based fintech that specializes in payments and liquidity solutions, announced a €7 million strategic financing from IDC Arena Credit Ventures, a division of IDC Network, with Arena Investors also participating in the funding.

The company will use the financing to continue providing marketplace sellers with instant payment advances. This allows them to secure earnings on a daily basis instead of having to wait more than 14 days, as is typically required by marketplaces. Wannme Founder and CEO Jaime de Villa said that the credit facility will enable the company to “empower more sellers with the liquidity needed to sell more and grow.”

“This partnership marks an important milestone for Wannme as we scale our impact in the marketplace ecosystem in Europe,” de Villa added. “IDC Arena Credit Ventures understood our business model and structured a financing solution aligned with our growth strategy.”

Founded in 2017, Wannme facilitates e-commerce by automating and optimizing payment flows to help solve payments and liquidity issues for online merchants. The company provides merchants with advances of up to 90% of their net sales daily, and also offers an online payment gateway that enables them to accept a wider variety of payment methods, including recurring and automated payments. These methods also include both Apple Pay and Google Pay, which Wannme integrated into its platform in February.

Mortgage platform Wypo partners with financial app Plazo

Wypo, a Spanish mortgagetech platform that helps would-be homeowners locate and sign customized mortgages online, has struck a strategic partnership with financial wellness app Plazo. A division of Spanish fintech ID Finance, Plazo will offer Wypo users access to credit lines of up to €5,000 through its Plazo Credit solution directly from the Plazo app.

“This partnership is a great opportunity to deliver complete and accessible financial solutions to our users,” Wypo CEO Elena Ansótegui said. “At Wypo, we are committed to offering resources that meet real needs. The alliance with Plazo strengthens our focus on continuously improving the customer experience and enables us to go a step further in offering key financing options when users need them most.”

Wypo customers will benefit from digital access to both debit and credit solutions courtesy of the partnership with Plazo. Also included are the ability to participate in an extensive cashback program and access to free, online legal and medical advice through a service called MeetingPros.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Wypo and to provide added value to new homeowners, helping them cover initial expenses for refurbishments or repairs, buy furniture, appliances, home decor items, and more,” Plazo CMO Carlos Martín said. “They’ll also benefit from all the additional features offered by Plazo, designed to bring greater financial peace of mind.”

Founded in 2021, Wypo is headquartered in Torrelavega, Cantabria. The mortgagetech’s partnership news comes amid a significant increase in home purchase loans in Spain, reflecting an 11% year-over-year gain. This has been accompanied by a comparable rise average housing prices in the country. Wypo’s partnership with Plazo will help the firm provide additional services to its customers, further differentiating its offering from competitors.

CaixaBank and Salesforce team up to leverage AI to personalize CX in banking

A newly signed agreement between Spain’s CaixaBank and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution provider Salesforce will help “jointly advance artificial intelligence projects for the digital transformation of banking services.” More specifically, CaixaBank will leverage Salesforce technology to enhance its customer relationship channels to improve the customer experience.

This technology includes solutions such as AI-based Agentforce—the integrated AI assistants on the Salesforce platform—as well as Salesforce Data Cloud for data management and analysis. Agentforce enables the deployment of AI agents to offer specialized assistance to CaixaBank employees and customers alike. These agents operate proactively and continuously across apps, chatbots, physical offices, and call centers, processing large amounts of data quickly to optimize decision-making and improve the efficiency of task execution.

By implementing Salesforce Data Cloud, CaixaBank will leverage the cloud data management and analysis technology to manage the transmission of data produced by the institution to ensure it is immediately available for any query. The data will be recorded securely and will allow for real-time consultation.

Based in Valencia, CaixaBank is the leading financial group in the Spanish market. With a digital customer base of nearly 12 million, the company provides banking, insurance, and investment services. CaixaBank’s partnership with Salesforce is part of the firm’s overall digital transformation strategy, which has enabled the institution to earn recognition as the Best Bank in Western Europe and Best Bank in Spain in 2024 by Global Finance.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Munich-based, AI-powered anti-money laundering and fraud prevention firm, Hawk, raised $56 million in new funding.
  • Nets, a division of European payment technology company Nexi Group, teamed up with Latvian financial institution, BluOr Bank.
  • Turkish embedded finance company Sipay secured $78 million in funding at a valuation of $875 million.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

  • National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), the country’s central bank, joined the Regional Payment Connectivity (RPC) initiative.
  • Bank payment company GoCardless forged a partnership with Australian payments API platform Optty.
  • Philippines-based financial institution, Security Bank, selected Identity-as-a-Service innovator Entrust to enhance its eKYC processes.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Photo by Aleksandar Pasaric

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Finovate Global Canada: Mitigating Currency Volatility, Earning Banking Licenses, and More!

Finovate Global Canada: Mitigating Currency Volatility, Earning Banking Licenses, and More!
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Klarna, MasterCard

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech developments in Canada.

Float Unveils Float FX to Help Canadian Businesses Save on Currency Conversion Costs

Toronto, Ontario-based business finance platform Float unveiled a new solution for Canadian businesses this week. The new offering, Float FX, will enable Canadian companies to instantly convert funds at rates as much as 90% lower than with traditional banks. Float noted that the solution is part of the company’s broader goal to help support businesses that do business in the US as they navigate volatility in both currency markets and US trade policy.

“With the Canadian dollar under pressure and potential trade disruptions looming, we designed Float FX to give Canadian businesses an advantage when operating across the border,” Rob Khazzam, Co-Founder and CEO of Float, said. “Combined with offering high-yield interest on CAD and USD balances, Float provides material opportunities for companies to save on costs and protect margins—at a time when every dollar counts.”

Even before recent trade tensions with the US, businesses in Canada were facing significant challenges when it came to currency exchange. According to a recent survey—The Financial Outlook of SMBs in 2025—Float learned that more than half of the Canadian businesses queried said that they struggled to deal with high fees and poor exchange rates. In their report, Float pointed to legacy banking infrastructure and inefficient processes as the culprit, noting that many companies continued to patronize financial institutions that required time-consuming in-person visits and manual reviews, or long settlement times. This leaves businesses with exposure to fluctuations in potentially volatile exchange rates, as well as increasing their vulnerability to hidden fees.

Float FX will offer fees of 0.25% all-in, a figure that is up to 90% lower than that offered by Canadian banks. Companies will also benefit from seamless, built-in currency conversion within the Float platform, enabling them to convert, hold, and spend USD in a single location.

With more than 4,000 Canadian companies as customers, Float offers a business finance platform that helps businesses spend, save, and scale. Founded in 2019, the company provides corporate cards, automated expense management, next-day billpay, high-yield accounts, and more.

Float began the year securing $70 million CAD in Series B financing in a round led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. OMERS Ventures, FJ Labs, Garage Capital, and Teralys also participated in the investment. The funding brought the company’s total funding to more than $120 million CAD in the past year. Float has used the capital to expand its product offerings and recruit talent.

Banco Santander, Kraken Secure Key Canadian Approvals to Fuel Expansion

Canadian regulators are in a “yes” mood of late when it comes to helping fintechs expand operations in the country. This week we learned that Banco Santander has secured a Canadian banking license as part of the financial institution’s effort to grow its footprint in the Americas. Also this week, crypto exchange Kraken reported that it had obtained a Restricted Dealer registration from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).

First up, Banco Santander. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), Canada’s banking regulator, authorized Banco Santander’s Santander Consumer Bank to begin operations in March. Banco Santander has been active in the Canadian market since acquiring car financing company Carfinco Financial Group in 2014. The firm applied for a Schedule II banking license in 2019, which allows subsidiaries of foreign banks to offer financial services including deposits, lending, wealth management, and credit cards. Santander Consumer Bank was incorporated as a federally regulated financial institution in 2024 by Canada’s Minister of Finance, with OSFI approval being the final step.

Second, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has secured a Restricted Dealer registration in Canada that will enable the firm to better serve its customers in the country. As part of the announcement, the exchange announced that it would offer free Interac e-Transfer deposits to all of its Canadian clients.

“This achievement marks the culmination of a rigorous pre-registration undertaking (PRU) process, during which Kraken consistently enhanced its governance, security, and compliance protocols to meet the highest industry standards,” the Kraken blog stated this week. “As a result, our Canadian clients now benefit from a solid regulatory foundation, ensuring access to some of the most innovative and secure crypto products in the local ecosystem under the supervision of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).”

In addition to securing its restricted dealer registration, Kraken also announced the appointment of Cynthia Del Pozo as the company’s new Canadian General Manager. With nearly 15 years of experience in corporate development, operations, and fintech consulting, Del Pozo will guide an operation that has grown significantly in recent years, including surpassing $2 billion CAD in combined client assets under custody and a doubling of both team size and the number of monthly transacting users during the PRU process.

“Canada is at a turning point for crypto adoption, with a growing number of investors and institutions recognizing digital assets as a vital part of the financial future,” Del Pozo said in a statement. “The Restricted Dealer registration is a testament to the high bar Kraken has always set for consumer protection, client service, and robust security.”

Founded in 2011, Kraken enables more than 10 million traders and investors to buy and sell more than 200 digital assets and six different national currencies including USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, CHF, and AUD on its platform. David Ripley and Arjun Sethi are co-CEOs.

Meet Finovate’s Newest Canadian Alums!

Over the past year, Finovate has been proud to host a handful of innovative fintechs headquartered in Canada. Below is a look at four firms, all Canada-based, that have demonstrated their fintech innovations live on the Finovate stage of late.

PromoComply – Montreal, Quebec – FEU 2025: Offers technology that automates compliance for financial promotions, reducing legal risks, and enhancing transparency for consumers in real time.

TRIYO – Toronto, Ontario – FS 2024: Offers a work intelligence platform that integrates with existing systems, processes, and workflows to bring visibility to high-value processes across financial services.

Brim Financial – Toronto, Ontario – FF2024: Works with financial institutions, fintechs, and brands to enable them to offer their customers an end-to-end credit card and payments platform.

ZayZoon – Calgary, Alberta – FF2024: Offers an embedded Earned Wage Access (EWA) solution to enable small and mid-sized businesses to offer EWA directly from their own platforms.

Next month at FinovateSpring, we’re happy to introduce our audience to one more Canadian fintech, Cinareo Solutions (Toronto). For more about our upcoming FinovateSpring conference, visit our FinovateSpring hub today!

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

  • Laybuy by Klarna relaunched in New Zealand this week.
  • Aspire subsidiary ASG2 secured a Capital Markets Services License (CMS) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
  • Australian digital payment provider Fat Zebra acquired SecurePay from the Australia Post.

Photo by Luis Ruiz

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Finovate Global Israel: Talking Revenue Workforce Solutions with Stav Levi-Neumark of Alta

Finovate Global Israel: Talking Revenue Workforce Solutions with Stav Levi-Neumark of Alta
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: CEO Interview, Finovate Global, MasterCard, Ripple, VISA, Xero

This week’s edition of Finovate Global features an interview with Stav Levi-Neumark, CEO and Co-Founder of revenue workforce solutions provider Alta.

Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Israel, Alta leverages data and AI to help drive revenue growth at every level for businesses. The company’s AI Revenue Workforce agents ensure that everyone on the team is connected, aligned, and equipped with the data insights and AI automation they need to enable their businesses to scale efficiently and grow faster. Alta’s agents have helped produce a 3x increase in qualified leads, a 15% increase in win rates, and a 80% reduction in costs.

Our conversation with Levi-Neumark is also a part of Finovate’s and Finovate Global’s commemoration of Women’s History Month. Be sure to check out her thoughts on gender diversity, current opportunities for women in fintech, as well as her advice for female CEOs.

Can you tell us a little bit about Alta and the revenue workforce solutions business?

Stav Levi-Neumark: AI is impacting almost every industry now. But go-to-market and revenue teams across many vertical markets are struggling to fully harness AI for sustained growth. Choosing the right tools to enhance capabilities of salespeople while also automating relevant tasks is a real challenge.

Alta is an AI revenue workforce that is data-driven. It supports revenue teams, allowing each person to be like a 10x version of themselves.

Alta agents automate repetitive and mundane tasks that require limited human oversight, such as researching potential leads and conducting personalized outreach across multiple channels. The agents also provide actionable insights based on real-time data across all revenue functions. This streamlined workflow helps companies achieve improved revenue growth by working more efficiently, accelerating their sales cycle, and enabling humans to focus on relationship-building opportunities, strategic, and creative work.

Who are Alta’s primary customers and how do you reach them?

Levi-Neumark: Alta has really diverse customers across virtually every business sector, and they range from SMBs to Fortune 500 companies. We’ve been able to ramp up the number of clients we have really quickly as well, adding almost 100 customers in less than six months.

Your latest solution—AI Revenue Workforce—leverages innovations in agentic AI. Can you talk about how this technology and new product empower go-to-market and revenue teams?

Levi-Neumark: Agentic AI has endless potential to dramatically improve efficiency and drive revenue growth. By leaving automated tasks to AI agents, human-led go-to-market and revenue teams can work smarter and faster, focusing their attention where it matters most: developing strategy, building relationships, closing deals, and increasing ROI through creative thought.

AI agents in Alta’s workforce include Katie, a Sales Development Representative (SDR), Luna, an AI RevOps agent, and Alex, an AI Calling agent. The workforce can integrate into more than 50 internal and external marketing, sales, and revenue systems that include CRMs, ERPs, payment, advertising, social media tools, and more.

Alta is a very young company, founded in 2023. There has been a lot of discussion about the current environment for tech startups. How would you characterize the climate for startups today?

Levi-Neumark: The founders who thrive will be those who can harness technological advancements while building businesses with solid foundations that can stand on their own, beyond the AI hype. Here’s the advice I typically share when talking with other tech founders:

  1. Success means your customers attribute significant revenue growth directly to your product. When they look at their business results and can clearly see your impact on their bottom line, that’s when you’ll know you’ve truly succeeded.
  2. Maintaining balanced, healthy growth is key. While it may be tempting to focus more attention on one specific area of your organization, it’s critical to ensure all departments grow at an equal pace.
  3. Be proactive rather than reactive to market shifts to position yourself ahead of certain trends. When deeply focused on product development and customer acquisition, it’s easy to miss emerging signals from the broader ecosystem.

Alta recently secured $7 million in seed funding. What does this investment mean for the company and what will it enable Alta to do?

Levi-Neumark: This funding solidifies Alta’s position as an industry leader in workforce intelligence automation. It will allow Alta to continue developing out-of-the-box solutions that redefine the relationship between AI and sales teams to unlock limitless revenue growth opportunities.

We plan to utilize the investment to expand into new markets, grow operations, scale R&D, and accelerate product development to meet increasing market demand from enterprise and mid-market customers. In fact, we are currently developing our newest AI agent, Greg, a sales assistant for account executives, to further bolster our workforce’s capabilities.

You are one of very few female CEOs in the enterprise AI space. Are there unique challenges to greater gender diversity in enterprise AI compared to other areas of technology, fintech, or financial services?

Levi-Neumark: I don’t feel there are unique challenges specific to the AI space compared to other tech sectors. The gender diversity issues we face in enterprise AI mirror what we see across technology, fintech, and financial services more broadly.

The fundamental challenges remain consistent: representation gaps, unconscious bias in hiring and promotion, and the need for more visible role models.

That said, I prefer to focus on the opportunity. AI is still a relatively young field, and at the end of the day, our success is what will define us. I hope more female founders and women will enter this market and look forward to welcoming them.

What advice would you give to female CEOs, especially those who are new to the role?

Levi-Neumark: I would advise female CEOs, especially those new to the role, to build strong support networks early. Connect with other female founders and executives who understand your specific challenges—these relationships become invaluable resources for candid advice and emotional support that you can’t always find within your company.

Trust your unique leadership style and perspective. There’s often pressure to conform to traditionally masculine leadership traits, but the most effective leaders bring their authentic selves to the role. Your different viewpoint is actually a strategic advantage that can help identify opportunities others might miss.

Be strategic about which battles to fight. As a female CEO, you’ll likely face additional scrutiny and challenges. Learn to distinguish between issues that are worth addressing directly and those where it’s better to let your results speak for themselves.

Prioritize building a diverse leadership team from the start. This not only leads to better decision-making, but also creates a culture where different perspectives are valued.

Finally, remember that your visibility matters. By succeeding in your role, you’re creating pathways for others. Share your journey, mentor upcoming leaders, and when possible, be the voice and representation you wished you had when starting out.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Asia-Pacific

  • UK-based open banking payments company Atoa announced an integration with New Zealand-based small business platform Xero.
  • Vietnam-based Buy Now, Pay Later platform Fundiin announced a strategic partnership with Visa to enhance its credit scoring model.
  • Australia’s Bank of Queensland Group teamed up with digital lending technology company Trade Ledger.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • African money movement company Chipper Cash partnered with Ripple to provide crypto-enabled cross-border payments.
  • Payment orchestration platform FinMont announced a partnership with South African online payment gateway Payfast by Network.
  • Ethio Telecom integrated its mobile money platform with Mastercard Africa to enhance finanical inclusion in Ethiopia.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Hamburg-based fintech Flexvelop secured $47.4 million (€44 million) to grow its business equipment financing model.
  • Romanian trading and investing app NAGA announced zero commissions for Romanian stocks on its platofmr
  • Estonian fintech Hoovi raised $8.6 million (€8 million) from Finish Multitude International Bank.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Dubai-based embedded payments company Enza secured $6.75 million in funding.
  • National Bank of Kuwait announced enhancements to its mobile banking app.
  • Australia-based debt resolution company InDebted launched operations in the UAE.

Central and Southern Asia

  • India-based fintech Findi raised $28.4 million (INR 243 Cr) to enhance operations of its majority-owned Indian subsidiary TSI.
  • Mastercard inked an agreement with Dubai-based Mashreq to support its launch as a digital bank in Pakistan.
  • Indian startup OneStack secured $2 million in Series A funding, with another $1 million expected.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Colombian fintech Gold raised $50 million in Series C funding to fuel further development of its e-payment solutions.
  • Uruguayan cross-border payments company dLocal enabled Airtel Mobile Money as a payment method for Google Play in Kenya.
  • UK-based AstroPay expanded access to its multicurrency wallet to users across Latin America.

Photo by davebusiness GT13

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