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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
It’s been nearly a year since we celebrated the innovators crowned Best of Show winners at FinovateSpring 2024. As we gear up for our upcoming FinovateSpring 2025 event in sunny San Diego, taking place May 7 through 9, we’re taking a moment to reflect on the impressive achievements of last year’s standout demo companies. These fintechs have continued their momentum from FinovateSpring by making waves in the fintech industry.
Business Insider listed Cascading AI as one of 15 Most Promising AI-Powered Fintech Startups to Watch in 2025.
Gartner identifies Casca as a key vendor for GenAI in lending.
Prosperity Now announces Lukas Haffer, CEO and Co-founder of Casca, as second place award winner of the RISE Challenge Award for its solution to improve loan assistance and identification.
Cascading AI featured in AI in Business Lending Report fro Datos Insights.
Finopotamus features how Remynt rethinks debt collection.
Fox 26 interviews Remynt Founder and CEO Gwyneth Borden on the state of debt in Texas.
Badcredit.org highlights how Remynt brings empathy to collection practices.
FinovateSpring 2025 kicks off May 7 through 9 in San Diego, California. Visit our FinovateSpring hub today to learn more about our emerging speaker lineup, demoing companies, and how to plan your visit to Finovate’s first conference in SoCal!
Earlier this week, we highlighted some of the women who will be introducing their companies to Finovate audiences via the demo stage at FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego, May 7 through 9.
Today, as part of our continued Women’s History Month commemoration, we feature the “content” side of Finovate conferences by showcasing the women who will be discussing and interpreting many of the trends and technologies that are shaping fintech today.
Ipsita Basu
Product Management Leader, Shopify
Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Shopify is an international commerce company that provides tools to enable entrepreneurs to start, grow, manage, and market a retail business of any size. The company powers millions of businesses in more than 175 countries.
Behavioral scientist and Managing Director, Irrational Labs
Irrational Labs leverages behavioral science to make people happier, healthier, and wealthier. The company applies behavioral economics findings to product, marketing, and organizational design problems. Through environment design and thoughtful interventions, Irrational Labs improves decision-making for both companies and their customers.
SVP, Chief Marketing Officer, Valley Strong Credit Union
With more than 350,000 members, Bakersfield, California-based Valley Strong Credit Union offers checking and savings accounts, credit cards, personal and auto loans, mortgage and home loans, investing and retirement services, and more.
Headquartered in London, Wise provides currency management and exchange solutions that enable individuals and businesses to hold more than 40 currencies, move money between countries, and spend money abroad. Launched in 2011 as “TransferWise,” the company serves 16 million people and businesses around the world.
Culture Fluid is a monthly newsletter, published on LinkedIn, that offers “a new way to think in a post-AI world.” Recent newsletter topics include “What is Creativity in an AI Age?” “DeepSeek: Searching for Answers in the Depth of the US-China AI War,” and “The Agentic Future and How it Will Change Work.”
Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) provides independent perspectives, interactive data, and research across a variety of industries and international markets. The BI team features 400 research professionals who help clients make more informed decisions in an ever-shifting investment landscape.
A paid subscription service of Amazon, Amazon Prime gives users access to a range of additional services including one- or two-day goods delivery; streaming music, video, e-books, gaming, grocery shopping services, and more. The company has more than 200 million subscribers around the world.
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, TTV Capital invests in fintechs that serve the diverse needs of businesses in financial services as well as the consumers of financial products. With more than 100 years of venture capital and relevant industry operating expertise, TTV creates value for entrepreneurs and investors, helping them grow and succeed.
Chief Research and Digital Experience Officer, MSU Federal Credit Union
MSU Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU) was founded in 1937 in order to help its members secure financial success and stability during challenging economic times. MSUFCU has 23 locations including five in Oakland County, one in downtown Detroit, two in Grand Rapids, and two in Traverse City.
Built by community bankers to help community banks innovate, evolve, and thrive, BankTech Ventures is a strategic investment founded in 2021. Based in Costa Mesa, California, BankTech Ventures seeks to generate both strategic value and financial returns for their investors. The fund sources, vets, invests in, and introduces bank-enabling technology solutions to boost the competitive positions of its community bank partners.
Innovator, Technologist, and Connector, Unconventional Ventures
Unconventional Ventures provides boutique consulting services to drive innovation that enhances financial wellness. The firm connects founders to funders, provides mentorship to entrepreneurs, advises a broad range of corporates, and helps broaden opportunities for diversity with financial services. Unconventional Ventures works with banking clients, fintech startups, and technology firms alike
Managing Director, Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence (PCMI)
Based in San Francisco, California and founded in 2022, Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence (PCMI) works with payment and technology companies from around the world to help them make strategic decisions in emerging markets through research, data analysis, and innovative thinking. PCMI is a subsidiary of Latin America-based market intelligence company Americas Market Intelligence (AMI).
Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869. A leading global investment banking, securities, and investment management firm, Goldman Sachs offers a range of financial services including investment banking, securities trading, asset management, and wealth management to corporates, governments, financial institutions, and individuals.
A digital bank serving small businesses, startups, and investors in the innovation economy, Grasshopper Bank offers digital solutions for small businesses, venture-backed firms, fintech-based Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and commercial API banking platforms, as well as both SBA and commercial real estate lending. Founded in 2019, Grasshopper Bank is based in New York.
U.S. Bank is the fifth-largest commercial bank in the United States. The firm offers a diversified mix of businesses, including commercial and institutional banking, business banking, payments, wealth management, and consumer banking. The company is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Finovate conferences showcase cutting-edge banking and financial technology through a unique combination of live, short-form technology demonstrations and mainstage presentations from thought leaders and analysts in fintech and financial services.
Head of Embedded Payments, SVB, a Division of First Citizens Bank
SVB, a Division of First Citizens Bank, is known for its role in supporting innovative companies, entrepreneurs, and investors. More than 70% of cyber companies featured on the Fortune Cyber 60 list are SVB clients as are 50% of all US VC-backed technology companies with 2024 IPOs.
Curinos was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in New York. The firm leverages AI-based decisioning tools, predictive analytics, and science-based platforms to enable clients to spot emerging opportunities that lead to better decision-making and enduring performance gains.
Head of Credit / Trade Finance, Crescendo Asset Management
Crescendo Asset Management offers a trade finance strategy focused on supply chain finance, embedded finance, accounts receivable purchasing, structured trade and other trade finance structured products that support the SME (small and mid-sized enterprise) market in the US as well as around the world.
SVP, Chief Retail Officer, Valley Strong Credit Union
Headquartered in Bakersfield, California and founded in 1938, Valley Strong Credit Union serves its community with extensive loan programs—including home and auto—as well as the latest in digital technology, retirement and wealth management services.
Headquartered in San Diego, California, Symphonic Capital is a pre-seed venture capital fund. Led by veteran pre-seed investors and operators, the fund bets on founders at their earliest stages and matches them with the tools, guidance, and capital they need in order to succeed.
Founded in 2011 and known as “TransferWise” when it made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2013 in London, Wise today facilitates the movement of $37 billion (£30 billion) across borders each quarter. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) under the ticker WISE, and has a market capitalization of $11.5 billion.
Last week, we showcased five companies—all led by female CEOs—who demonstrated their latest innovations at FinovateEurope in London in February. Part of Finovate’s annual Women’s History Month commemoration, the post not only highlighted the achievements of women in fintech, it also helped introduce five new companies to our Finovate audience.
With that last point in mind, we’re thrilled this week to introduce you to some of the women who will be leading their companies on the Finovate stage next month at FinovateSpring in San Diego, May 7 through 9.
First, meet the two companies—Cinareo Solutions and Cratoflow—that were selected to participate at FinovateSpring as part of our Female Founder Scholarship program. Second, we introduce two additional companies—Penny Finance and Instarails—both with female CEOs, and both slated to demo their latest innovation at FinovateSpring next month.
Elliott (LinkedIn) is CEO and Co-Founder of Cinareo Solutions, a SaaS platform that provides capacity planning for agents and support staff, financial management, what-if scenario modelling, and multi-skilling simulation.
Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Cinareo Solutions sets a new standard for workforce planning and decision support for multi-channel contact centers. This provides robust and pro-active resource planning and financial analysis to cost-efficiently manage front and back-office staff, as well as all support staff.
Patel (LinkedIn) is CEO of Cratoflow, a company that helps organizations to save up to 110 hours a week, reduce errors, and acclerate payments, enabling faster decision-making and driving operational efficiency and cost savings.
Based in Anaheim, California, and founded in 2021, Cratoflow offers a no-code financial workflow solution that centralizes and simplifies complex daily accounting processeas with an intuitive user interface. The platform leverages machine learning and AI to sync with third-party financial systems to systematically complete revenue, banking, and expense entries.
Sagar (LinkedIn) is founder and CEO of Instarails, a global payment network infrastructure that helps credit unions, community banks, and businesses attract and retain more clients while accelerating revenue growth,
Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Instarails leverages blockchain technology to make direct, real-time, cheap, inclusive, and transparent payments. Clients connect to Instarails’ network via SaaS API and send transactions. These transactions are routed through Instarails’ network and recipients get funds instantly through their bank, e-wallet, or via cash pickup.
Cole (LinkedIn) is CEO and Founder of Penny Finance, an online financial planning engagement engine that attracts, retains, and services the digital generation of credit unions and community banks by providing tailored education, resources, rewards, and services to their members and customers at large.
Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and founded in 2020, Penny Finance connects the dots between a financial institution’s products and services and member and customer needs, all while creating efficiency for their marketing organizations.
FinovateSpring 2025 kicks off May 7 through 9 in San Diego, California. Visit our FinovateSpring hub today to learn more about our emerging speaker lineup, demoing companies, and how to plan your visit to Finovate’s first conference in SoCal!
FinovateSpring 2025 takes place in San Diego on May 7 through May 9. Register to attend by March 28 and save $400.
FinovateSpring is making it’s SoCal debut this May with an unmissable showcase featuring over 50 trailblazing fintech innovations.
With just 7 minutes each, they’ll unveil the cutting-edge technology shaping 2025 and beyond.
This year’s carefully curated demo lineup dives into technology trends including:
Third-party risk management for FI vendors
Contact center capacity planning
Earned-wage access and pre-emptive pay gap planning
BaaS from retail and commercial angles
Enhanced compliance workflows that scale
Streamlined KYC/B through biometrics and automation
Agentic AI for improved customer experience
. . . and much more!
Join us to develop a strong foundation for your fintech success early this year.
Demo applications are still open to those driving innovation in financial services. Whether a startup, bank, public entity, or established leader–all organizations can demo.
With main stage speaking, plug-and-play expo stand, speaker passes, lead generation reports, coaching calls with Finovate’s host and resident expert, and marketing and media exposure, this is unparalleled exposure with a high ROI. Apply now.
