Sage Capital Bank Partners with Digital Banking Solutions Provider Apiture

Sage Capital Bank Partners with Digital Banking Solutions Provider Apiture
  • Texas-based Sage Capital Bank has partnered with digital banking solutions provider Apiture.
  • Courtesy of the partnership, Sage Capital Bank will deploy Apiture’s Consumer Banking, Business Banking, and Digital Account Opening solutions, as well as its Data Intelligence solution.
  • Headquartered in North Carolina, Apiture most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2023.

Sage Capital Bank, an independent, Texas-based community financial institution, has chosen digital banking solutions provider Apiture to power its online and mobile banking services. The bank will deploy Apiture’s Consumer Banking, Business Banking, and Digital Account Opening solutions and enhance the online and mobile experience for its customers with a modern, intuitive user interface and comprehensive feature set.

The bank will also take advantage of Apiture’s Data Intelligence solution that will enable Sage Capital to offer highly personalized experiences to customers via digital channels to enhance customer satisfaction and engagement.

“At Sage Capital, we recognize that our consumer and business customers are on-the-go and expect banking services that let them bank anytime, anywhere,” Sage Capital EVP and CTO Gene Stroman said. “With Apiture as our partner, we will elevate their digital banking experience through capabilities like peer-to-peer payments, real-time fraud detection, robust business entitlements, and Positive Pay. We are thrilled to work with this forward-thinking solution provider.”

Chartered as American National Bank in 1984 by a team of business owners from Gonzales, Texas, Sage Capital Bank today has $700 million in assets. The bank has branches in eight cities in Texas including Lockhart — where the bank opened its first branch in 1995 — and Austin.

“Apiture and Sage Capital share a commitment to both partnership and innovation, and we are eager to support the bank’s digital evolution and growth objectives,” Apiture CEO Chris Babcock said. “By choosing our comprehensive platform, Sage Capital can deliver a banking experience tailored to its community’s unique needs while delivering the very latest in digital innovation.”

Apiture most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2023. At the conference, Apiture showed how its Sensei solution leverages AI to produce a real-time assessment of a customer’s financial circumstances and provide proactive recommendations customers can follow in order to improve their financial standing. Sensei analyzes data — including transaction history, account balances, and engagement metrics — to help banks and credit unions build better, more personalized relationships with their customers and members.

Founded in 2017, Apiture is headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina. The company’s partnership announcement with Sage Capital Bank comes one month after Apiture announced a strategic partnership with data-driven statement provider HC3. The partnership will empower Apiture’s community bank and credit union customers to provide account holders with secure, immediate access to digital statements, powered by HC3, directly from their online and mobile banking channels.


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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

It’s a holiday-shortened week here at the Fintech Rundown. But rest assured that we’ll have you covered on the the top fintech news headlines as 2024 moves toward a close.

We’re starting off with a series of stories in the embedded finance front, including an acquisition, a new launch, and a major fundraising.


Digital banking

Data-driven statement provider HC3 forges strategic partnership with digital banking solutions company Apiture.

TBC Uzbekistan raises $37 million from majority shareholder TBC Bank Group.

Payments

Visa completes its acquisition of Featurespace.

Turkey-based private bank İşbank expands its collaboration with Alipay+.

Cybersecurity

Chainalysis acquires web3 security solutions provider Hexagate.

Embedded finance

Fiserv boosts its embedded finance capabilities with its acquisition of earned wage access company Payfare.

Embedded SME lending platform CredibleX raises $55 million in seed funding.

Kobble, an embedded finance platform, launches in Australia.

Wealth management

Scalable Capital launches its World ETF, the Scalable MSCI AC World Xtrackers UCITS ETF.

Financial wellness

SoFi reaches ten million member milestone.


Photo by Daniel Reche

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

As summer draws to a close, there may be a big acquisition on the horizon in the fraud and financial crime prevention space. Be sure to check in with Finovate’s Fintech Rundown all week long for the latest in fintech news.


Fraud and financial crime prevention

Is Visa looking to acquire fraud fighting platform Featurespace?

Financial wellness

Canadian fintech Koho launches Rent Reporting to help renters improve their credit.

Cryptocurrency / DeFi

Payments bank Banking Circle unveils Euro-pegged stablecoin.

Digital asset infrastructure provider Bitpanda partners with CoinMENA.

Digital banking

MyStateBank turns to Backbase for its new digital banking platform.

Surety Bank partners with Apiture for its digital banking platform.

Lyft teams with earned wage access company Payfare to launch new features for its Lyft Direct debit card and banking app. 

Neobank Comun lands $21.5 million.

G2 Risk Solutions unveils solution to integrate merchant risk management.

Payments

Payments processor Adyen introduces new Chief Technology Officer Tom Adams.

Payroll and payments platform Thera raises $4 million in seed funding.

U.S. Bank acquires healthcare-based payments platform Salucro.

Vault expands payments capabilities of its accounts payable platform.

Viamericas partners with Paisamex to expand remittances to Mexico.

Identity verification

Verification platform Sumsub becomes the first identity verification provider to secure Global Digital Identity Certification (GDIC).

Socure introduces new Chief Revenue Officer Matt Thompson.

AuthenticID unveils enhanced Smart ReAuth for instant biometric reauthentication.

E-commerce

Real-time shopping platform Tilt secures $18 million in Series A funding.

Sephora selects Paze online checkout experience for its Beauty Insider loyalty members.

Lending

FICO unveils new enhancements to its platform to improve real-time decision-making.

Rogers Communications partners with Nova Credit, a cross-border credit bureau, to help newcomers to Canada build credit and finance a new smartphone.

Liberis and Sezzle partner to provide funding to small businesses across the United States.

Happy Money appoints Matt Potere as Chief Executive Officer.

Wealth management and investing

Digital investment platform Webull begins offering options trading to its customers.

Insurtech

Insurance brokerage software provider FullCircl inks multi-year agreement with international insurance intermediary group Howden.

Business finance solutions

Galileo enhances B2B expense management offering with Mastercard Smart Data.

Conotoxia launches multi-currency cards for businesses.

Communication

Glia launches ChannelLess AI-powered interactions for financial services.


Photo by Daniel Frese

Gridspace Unveils Emotional Intelligence Capabilities for Virtual Voice Agent Grace

Gridspace Unveils Emotional Intelligence Capabilities for Virtual Voice Agent Grace
  • Conversational AI technology company Gridspace announced new emotional intelligence capabilities for its virtual voice agent Grace.
  • The update enables Grace to respond more swiftly and empathetically, and enhances the agent’s ability to express its own emotional states.
  • Gridspace made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York.

Voice technology and AI software innovator Gridspace unveiled new emotional intelligence capabilities for its virtual voice agent Grace. The new capabilities enable Gridspace’s voice agent for business to respond faster and more empathetically to the speaker’s emotions. The enhancements also improve Grace’s ability to express its emotional states.

“Grace’s new emotional intelligence capabilities make voice calls with Grace even more natural,” Gridspace CEO Evan Macmillan said. “We are excited to further advance customer satisfaction with voice agents and make it even easier for businesses to deploy them.”

Bringing emotional intelligence capabilities to voice agents is a major advance in spoken dialog systems, according to Gridspace. Because so many contact center interactions involve customers experiencing frustration, being able to respond appropriately is paramount. Grace’s enhancements will enable the voice agent to manage more complex interactions with greater nuance, and also act as a buffer for high-volume contact centers. To this point, human agents working with Grace have reported not only being able to spend more time on complex calls, but also are experiencing less stress, lower burnout rates, greater productivity, and higher job satisfaction.

Founded in 2012, Gridspace made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. The California-based company was created through a collaboration between SRI Speech Labs – the entity behind Siri – and a diverse team of designers and engineers. Gridspace has been innovating in fields such as high-performance voice telephony, automated speech recognition (ASR), hyper-realistic TTS (text-to-speech), low-latency spoken dialog systems, as well as tools and solutions to help institutions deploy and manage conversational AI.

Gridspace has raised more than $27 million in funding and includes Private Investors and USAA among its investors.


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Apiture to Power Commercial Digital Banking for FORUM Credit Union

Apiture to Power Commercial Digital Banking for FORUM Credit Union
  • FORUM Credit Union has selected Apiture’s Business Banking solution to enhance its commercial digital banking experience.
  • FORUM Credit Union anticipates the move will expand its commercial member base.
  • “The comprehensive functionality available in Apiture’s Business Banking solution coupled with the company’s commitment to innovation made Apiture the right choice for our members and employees,” said FORUM Credit Union Chief Technology and Risk Officer Cameron Piercefield.

Digital banking solutions provider Apiture announced today that FORUM Credit Union will use the fintech’s digital banking capabilities to power its commercial digital banking suite.

FORUM, a $2.1 billion, not-for-profit cooperative based in central Indiana, selected Apiture’s Business Banking solution to enhance the online and mobile banking experience for its commercial members. The credit union is also hoping to expand its commercial member base. FORUM was interested in Apiture’s ability to create a customized tool that integrates with its existing retail banking solution.

“As a member-owned organization with the mission of ‘helping members live their financial dreams,’ FORUM is committed to providing technology solutions that optimize our members’ banking experience,” said FORUM Credit Union Chief Technology and Risk Officer Cameron Piercefield. “The comprehensive functionality available in Apiture’s Business Banking solution coupled with the company’s commitment to innovation made Apiture the right choice for our members and employees.”

Apiture was founded in 2017 to help credit unions compete with larger banks and credit unions when it comes to digital banking experiences. The company’s solutions, which work with more than 40 cores, offer both consumer and commercial banking experiences, along with account opening, embedded banking, and data intelligence tools. Powering these capabilities are Apiture’s network of more than 200 pre-vetted fintech partners, including GliaDeluxeMXMambu, and DefenseStorm.

“We are proud to partner with FORUM Credit Union to support its growth objectives and drive member satisfaction,” said Apiture CEO Chris Babcock. “With integrations to more than 200 best-of-breed fintech partners and an API-first approach that enables rapid innovation, our Business Banking solution will empower FORUM to deliver a fully featured banking experience that supports businesses of all sizes.”

Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, Apiture also has offices in Austin, Texas. The fintech has raised $69 million from investors including T. Rowe Price, Live Oak Bank, and others.


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Finotta and Constellation Help Credit Unions Enhance the Member Experience

Finotta and Constellation Help Credit Unions Enhance the Member Experience
  • Embedded finance and digital banking solutions provider Finotta has announced a strategic partnership with Constellation Digital Partners (Constellation).
  • Constellation will integrate Finotta’s Personified platform into its own solution to help credit unions offer personalized financial guidance to their members.
  • Finotta made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York.

Embedded finance and digital banking solutions provider Finotta forged a strategic partnership with Constellation Digital Partners (Constellation). A cloud-native digital banking services provider, Constellation will integrate Finotta’s Personified platform into its own solution to give credit unions new resources to boost member engagement and satisfaction, as well as drive digital growth.

“More than 90% of consumers expect their financial institution to offer a modern digital banking platform, but this is table stakes,” Finotta Founder and CEO Parker Graham said. “The key is differentiating the experience based on what members need and want, which is financial guidance. Unfortunately, this is also where massive missteps are made. Many traditional PFMs inadvertently shame consumers for poor financial habits rather than encourage positive behavior, killing the overall experience. As a result engagement is down considerably.”

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, Finotta made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York. At the conference, the company demoed Personified, a suite of products that enable FIs to provide personalized financial guidance via their mobile banking apps. Personified helps financial institutions anticipate member and customer needs, increase product conversions, and deliver actionable financial guidance – all in a single solution. The platform helps banks and credit unions leverage the digital channel to generate more revenue, improve financial performance, and boost profitability for members and customers.

Last year, Finotta noted that its Personified platform had increased user engagement compared to other mobile banking apps, with an average use of 13 minutes per month per user. According to Graham, this compares favorably to the “less than one minute per month” that users spend on the average mobile banking app. Not only does this reflect a significant lack of engagement from users, it also limits the FIs ability to cross-sell other products and services. Finotta also pointed to a study from Oracle that suggested as much as 40% of customers believe that independent PFM apps are superior to the offerings provided by most financial institutions.

“Embedded (Finotta’s) technology into our platform will equip credit unions with the tools they need to thrive in the digital age while delivering personalized, seamless, and exceptional service to their members every step of the way,” Constellation SVP and Head of Product Aaron Oplinger said. “We look forward to the value this will bring our industry.”

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, Constellation Digital Partners is a leading provider of mobile and digital banking solutions for community-based financial institutions. The company is dedicated to empowering both credit unions and community banks with innovative solutions for mobile banking, online account management, personalized financial insights, and more. The company has raised $17 million in funding via a Series A round completed in 2020. Kris Kovacs is President and CEO.


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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

With neobank Monzo’s big investment and multi-billion dollar valuation on one side and the continued woes of BaaS provider Synapse on the other, “interesting times” continue to characterize the fintech landscape as we slide into the summer months.

Be sure to check our Fintech Rundown all week long for the latest updates and fintech headlines.

Insurtech

Indian insurtech CoverSure raises $4 million in pre-Series A funding in a round led by Enam Holdings.

Payments

First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) turns to Derivative Path for advanced FX payments.

Quest Payment Systems to provide payment technology to Australian public sector POS payment company NSW Government.

Turkey’s United Payment secures e-money license from the Central Bank of Azerbaijan.

Chinese digital payments solutions provider Lianlian DigiTech receives e-money license in Luxembourg.

Deel extends strategic investment to Alviere to enhance U.S. worker payments.

Five million businesses now transacting on Versapay’s B2B payment network.

DailyPay appoints Stacy Greiner as interim Chief Executive Officer.

Pidgin partners with Corelation to enable real-time payments for credit unions nationwide.

Curve plans to launch digital payment solution on iOS to compete with Apple Pay.

Fraud prevention and compliance

Fraud and financial crime prevention platform DataVisor announces partnership with financial services compliance consultancy firm Davies.

Blockchain-based SaaS platform Henoscene partners with Lithuanian regtech iDenfy to enhance its KYC operations.

Solutions by Text secures $110 million growth round led by Edison Partners and StepStone Group.

Ocorian appoints Chief Financial Officer.

Sift announces RiskWatch to simplify fraud decisioning and catalyze growth.

AMLYZE announces strategic partnership with Aura Cloud to enhance financial crime prevention. 

Embedded finance

Embedded finance solutions provider Finotta announces strategic partnership with digital banking services provider Constellation Digital Partners.

Treasury Prime partners with onboarding identity provider Footprint.

Digital banking

Crédit Agricole Next Bank taps InvestGlass to enhance its lead management and CRM.

Sikoia joins the NayaOne marketplace.

Data

Transcend raises $40 million in Series B funding to fix privacy for the enterprise.

Small business finance

Rewards network Ascenda to provide Ramp customers more ways to redeem points earned on U.S. spend. 

Inter&Co to acquire the remaining 50 percent of Granito, a Brazil-based merchant acquirer.

Kintsugi lands $6 million in Series A funding to simplify tax compliance with AI-powered automation.

Crypto

Ledger starts shipping its high-end hardware crypto wallet.

Wealth management

DriveWealth introduces new Chief Product Officer Kyla Murphy.

Alternative asset platform Alto launches Alto Marketplace, offering curated private alternative investment opportunities for eligible investors.

PureFacts Financial Solutions selects BridgeFT’s WealthTech API to enhance data infrastructure for end-to-end revenue platform.

Identity management

AU10TIX launches free Risk Assessment Model to help companies conduct initial assessment of identity fraud risk.


Photo by Nathan Cowley

More Than $113 Million Raised by Nine Alums in Q1 2024

More Than $113 Million Raised by Nine Alums in Q1 2024

Nine Finovate alums raised more than $113 million in Q1 of 2024. The relatively low fundraising results for the first three months of the year do reflect larger trends in fintech funding. But the fact that nearly half of the alums that raised funds in Q1 did not disclose the amounts raised tells us that the quarterly funding haul for Finovate alums was higher than the $113 million we have been able to confirm.

Previous quarterly comparisons

  • Q1 2023: $453 million raised by 13 alums
  • Q1 2022: $365 million raised by 11 alums
  • Q1 2021: $3.3 billion raised by 26 alums
  • Q1 2020: $1.3 billion raised by 14 alums

The biggest fundraising month of Q1 was likely January, which featured the $58 million investment secured by Digital Onboarding. Again, the high number of “amount undisclosed” investments makes comparison difficult.

Top Equity Investments from Q1 2024

  • Digital Onboarding: $58 million
  • Argyle: $30 million
  • Amplify Life Insurance: $16.3 million
  • Altro: $4 million

As noted above, Digital Onboarding pulled in the biggest investment of any Finovate alum in the first three months of the year. Also noteworthy was the $30 million raised by Argyle, a real-time income data platform that made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring in 2022.


Here is our detail alum funding report for Q1 2024.

January: More than $58 million raised by three alums

February: More than $21 million raised by three alums

March: More than $34 million raised by three alums

If you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the first quarter of 2024 and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at research@finovate.com. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.


Photo by Matthias Groeneveld

Apiture to Power Online and Mobile Banking for New Washington State Bank

Apiture to Power Online and Mobile Banking for New Washington State Bank
  • Indiana-based New Washington State Bank (NWSB) has selected Apiture’s Digital Banking Platform to power its online and mobile banking solutions.
  • The community bank will also deploy Apiture’s Account Opening and Data Intelligence solutions to onboard customers faster and to offer tailored campaigns.
  • Apiture made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. The company is headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina.

New Washington State Bank (NWSB), a community financial institution serving Southern Indiana for 116 years, has partnered with Apiture to power its online and mobile banking offerings. The bank will deploy Apiture’s Digital Banking Platform, and implement the fintech’s Consumer Banking, Business Banking, Account Opening, and Data Intelligence solutions.

“With integrations to more than 200 best-of-breed fintech partners and an API-first approach that enables rapid innovation, the Apiture Digital Banking Platform will empower NWSB to provide the unified, intuitive banking experience today’s technologically savvy customers expect,” Apiture CEO Chris Babcock said.

The partnership follows the bank’s decision to migrate from a multi-vendor strategy to a single platform for both its online and mobile banking operations. NWSB Chief Strategy Officer Chris Bottorff said that providing a “cohesive and consistent digital experience” is a priority for the institution as it seeks “to improve the financial lives of those living and working in the communities we serve.” Bottorff praised Apiture as a partner that will help the Indiana-based bank better engage its existing customers as well as attract new ones.

To this point, NWSB underscored its readiness to take advantage of two of Apiture’s solutions in particular: Account Opening and Data Intelligence. The former enables customers to open and fund accounts in minutes. The latter provides tools to build personalized campaigns to better engage both individuals and businesses.

Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, Apiture made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 and returned the following year to demo at FinovateFall 2023. At the conference, Apiture showed how its AI-based solution, Sensei, provides a real-time assessment of an individual’s finances. The technology analyzes a variety of data sources, including account balances and transaction histories, to provide proactive insights into the ways the individual can improve their financial wellness.

Apiture’s partnership news with NWSB comes just a few weeks after the fintech reported that Edwards Federal Credit Union (Edwards FCU) of California had selected its Consumer Banking solution. Like NWSB, Edwards FCU will also deploy Apiture’s Data Intelligence solution as part of its data strategy. Apiture began 2024 by teaming up with Redwood Capital Bank, which chose Apiture’s Digital Banking Platform to power its online and mobile banking operations.

Apiture has raised $69 million in funding. The company includes T. Rowe Price and Live Oak Bank among its investors.


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Greg Palmer and the Finovate Podcast Showcase Black Voices in Fintech

Greg Palmer and the Finovate Podcast Showcase Black Voices in Fintech

The stage is not the only place where Finovate celebrates the accomplishments of Black and African-American fintech and financial services professionals.

Since inception, Greg Palmer and the Finovate Podcast have showcased Black and African-American innovators, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders in the fintech and financial services space.

As part of our continued commemoration of Black and African-American History Month, today we highlight those conversations. Click the image to access the interview.


Nneka Ukpai – Better

Nate Gibbons – QuickFi

Jacqueline Baker – Author, The Unexpected Leader

Joseph Akintolayo – Deposits

Ariam Sium – FinGoal

William Crowder – Aperture Venture Capital

Sesie Bonsi – Bleu

Sharon Kimathi – Fintech Futures

Adrienne Harris – Superintendent NYS Department of Financial Services

Tosin Agbabiaka – Octopus Ventures

Fonta Gilliam – Invest Sou Sou


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Greg Palmer, the Finovate Podcast, and the Best of Show Winners from FinovateFall

Greg Palmer, the Finovate Podcast, and the Best of Show Winners from FinovateFall

Join Finovate VP and host of the Finovate Podcast Greg Palmer as he talks with the entrepreneurs whose innovative companies took home top honors at FinovateFall 2023 in New York this year.

From new tools for credit unions members to embedded micro life insurance solutions to strategies to help FIs better engage mortgage-holders, the Finovate Podcast is a great way to keep up with the trends driving fintech today.

Follow Greg on X at @GregPalmer47.


Podcast host Greg Palmer catches up with Rachel Lauren of Debbie (demo video) to talk about consumer debt reduction and the credit union ecosystem. EP 193.


Greg Palmer chats with Alex Matjanec of Wysh (demo video) about micro life insurance, customer retention, and financial inclusion. EP 192.


Greg Palmer sits down with Chase Neinken of Chimney (demo video) to discuss strategies for productively engaging your mortgage-holding customers. EP 190.


Photo by Blaz Erzetic

Apiture Garners $10 Million in Funding

Apiture Garners $10 Million in Funding
  • Apiture received $10 million in funding, bringing its total raised to $79 million.
  • The round was led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price with participation from existing investors.
  • Apiture offers credit unions access to a digital banking platform that ties in partnerships with more than 300 fintechs.

Digital banking solutions provider Apiture landed a $10 million funding round this week. The Venture round was led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price with participation from existing investors Live Oak Bank, Truist Ventures, and Pinnacle Financial Partners. The fresh funds boost Apiture’s total funding to $79 million.

The Wilmington, North Carolina-based company will use the $10 million to accelerate product development initiatives. It will also expand its sales and marketing efforts for its Apiture Digital Banking Platform. Launched last year, the company’s Digital Banking Platform serves more than 300 banks and credit unions.

“Apiture is relentlessly focused on delivering best-in-class digital banking solutions through continuous innovation and integrations with best-of-breed fintechs,” said company CEO Chris Babcock. “This additional funding enables us to further accelerate development initiatives that will help our clients thrive in a highly competitive market.”

Founded in 2017, Apiture helps credit unions compete with larger banks and credit unions when it comes to digital banking experiences. The company’s solutions, which work with more than 40 cores, offer both consumer and commercial banking experiences, along with account opening, embedded banking, and data intelligence tools. Powering these capabilities are Apiture’s network of more than 200 pre-vetted fintech partners, including Glia, Deluxe, MX, Mambu, and DefenseStorm, which signed with Apiture earlier this month.


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