Funding

Bento for Business Raises $9 Million in New Funding

Bento for Business Raises $9 Million in New Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Bento for Business, Funding

In a round led by Edison Partners and featuring participation from current investor Comcast Ventures and new investor MissionOG, Bento for Business has raised $9 million in funding. The financial management solutions provider will use the capital to bolster its marketing and engineering efforts with new hires, and to expand the Bento for Business platform across payments, spend management, and business banking.

“Time and again, research says that poorly managed business spend is the single largest threat to the profits of small and midsize businesses in the U.S.,” Bento for Business founder and CEO Farhan Ahmad explained. “We solve this problem and bring our customers an intelligent financial management solution that stops unauthorized spending before it happens.”

The funding nearly doubles Bento for Business’ total capital to $18.5 million.

Bento for Business provides SME owners with a card-based digital spending management solution that enables employers to prevent unauthorized expenditures by controlling when, where, and how much their employees spend at the point of sale. The platform stops unapproved business spend before the purchase, saving time and money on returns and cancellations. The technology also has features like receipt upload and the ability to automatically sync Bento with popular accounting systems like Quickbooks to reduce the need for expense reports.

The company’s solutions include expense cards, API virtual cards, and ghost cards. Bento’s tiered levels of service range from a free program that supports up to two cards to its enterprise level offering with unlimited cards for $149 a month. Bento does not charge a setup fee and all paid programs (Team, Professional, and Enterprise) come with free, 60-day trials.

Bento for Business demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2015. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, the company was featured in Inc.com’s article 7 Cool Productivity Tools You Probably Haven’t Heard Of last month. Bento’s technology was also highlighted in CardRates.com in March, the same month the company launched its Business Fraud Risk Calculator. The calculator is a two-minute diagnostic test that identifies potential fraud risk factors at small businesses by asking questions about expense policies, receipt handling, and accounting systems.

In February, Finovate founder Jim Bruene featured Bento in his look at startup challenger banks with a small business focus. Last fall, the company unveiled a suite of new solutions, opened up its APIs, and announced a partnership with The Bancorp.

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Unison Raises $40 Million to Promote the American Dream

Unison Raises $40 Million to Promote the American Dream
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Unison

Homeownership and investment company Unison unveiled its latest round of funding today. The company pulled in $40 million in Series B financing led by F-Prime Capital, whose partner, David Jegen, will join Unison’s board. Additional contributions came from Citi Ventures and Royal Bank of Canada.

The California-based company will use the new investment to fuel growth, build brand awareness, expand business operations, hire new talent, and advance its platform. Unison did not disclose its total funding to-date, but the company reported in 2017 that it “has raised tens of millions in operating capital and secured investment mandates totaling several billion.”

“I built Unison with home buyers, home owners and institutional investors top of mind and to bridge two massive needs: provide a form of capital for consumers and make residential real estate an investable asset class,” said Thomas Sponholtz, CEO of Unison. He added that Unison is “liberating consumers from debt-only solutions that have saturated the marketplace.”

Founded in 2004, Unison most recently demoed its two flagship products at FinovateFall 2017. The first is Unison HomeBuyer, which provides a percentage of the down payment needed to purchase a home in exchange for a percentage of the home’s equity upon selling. The second product is Unison HomeOwner, which allows homeowners to liquidate some of the equity in their home without interest or monthly payments. The company also showcased at FinovateSpring 2017, where it won Best of Show.

Unison has reported a handful of notable achievements recently, including a 10x increase in loan originations in Q1 2018 compared to the same quarter last year. The company also expanded its availability to 22 states and appointed Cari Jacobs as CMO.

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Munnypot Picks Up Investment from Livingbridge

Munnypot Picks Up Investment from Livingbridge
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Munnypot

Robo advisory platform Munnypot began the month announcing a new relationship with business process management specialist Capita. Now the U.K.-based FinovateMiddleEast alum is ending the month with news of a major new investment from private equity firm, Livingbridge.

The amount of the investment was not disclosed. Livingbridge typically invests equity of as much as $6.6 million (£5 million). Munnypot said it will use the funds to further develop its robo advisory solution.

“We are delighted with Livingbridge’s investment which will enable us to scale up our business and further develop our offer for consumers,” Munnypot CEO Andrew Fay said.

Munnypot CEO demonstrating the company’s robo advisor platform at FinovateMiddleEast 2018.

Munnypot provides automated financial investment services for as little as £25 a month and/or a single £250 investment. The platform leverages chatbot technology to encourage investors to maximize annual ISA allowances, and monitors fund performance against goal-based objectives. If performance is out of line, Munnypot automatically suggests alternatives for the investor to consider.

“We are excited to be supporting Munnypot in the early stages of their development,” Livingbridge investment director Steve Cordiner said. “The robo advisor sector has grown quickly in recent years and Munnypot has a strong proposition; delivering low cost and affordable advice to consumers.”

Munnypot’s funding news comes just weeks after the company announced a strategic “scaling” partnership with Capita, which took a minority stake in the robo advisor. Via this partnership, Munnypot will help Capita develop solutions for wealth management companies. Earlier this year, Munnypot reported that it would power the robo advisor platform for Jyske Bank in Denmark. The deal represented the company’s first European white label partnership.

“We know, first hand, the time and resources required to build a robust online investment advice proposition,” Fay said in a statement accompanying the partnership announcement. “For most firms, partnering is the best and most efficient route to developing an innovative, client-engaging service.”

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Crawley, U.K., Munnypot demonstrated its goal-based, online investment advice solution at the inaugural FinovateMiddleEast conference earlier this year. Unlike many robo advisors that seek customers from among the mass affluent, Munnypot is designed for those who traditionally have not been able to access financial advice, as well as investors looking for a cost-competitive alternative to other advisory services.

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Newchip Lands $2 Million in Seed Funding

Newchip Lands $2 Million in Seed Funding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Newchip

For its first round of funding, investment marketplace Newchip has closed on a $2 million Seed round this week. Participating in the round are JadeValue Fintech, Yeoman’s Capital, Spunik ATX, Youbi Capital, and Polymath.

“We’re very excited about the funding partnerships we’ve accomplished and the value those investors bring to the company. We started Newchip with a dream to open up access to investments for both entrepreneurs and investors and now, with the closing of our seed funding round, we can achieve what we set out to do,” said Ryan Rafols, founder and CEO of Newchip.

Founded in 2016, Newchip’s marketplace allows users to invest in opportunities they care about for as little as $100. The low minimum investment, combined with Newchip’s varying investment marketplace, allow investors to curate a diversified portfolio. Some of the investment types include small business, pre-IPO companies, high growth startups, blockchain, and real estate.

Since launch, the Austin-based company has built its user base to 50,000 individuals. This success is thanks in part to Newchip’s popularity in the Apple app store, where the app recently reached the top 100 list for finance. The app is currently ranked #1 for startup investing, and is in the top 10 for fundraising and stock market investing.

Newchip debuted its investment app at FinovateSpring 2017. In April, the company began offering security token-based offerings and blockchain powered companies in its marketplace.

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P2Binvestor Earns $17+ Million in Funding

P2Binvestor Earns $17+ Million in Funding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, P2BInvestor

Peer-to-peer crowdlending platform P2Binvestor (P2Bi) received more than $17 million in combined debt and equity funding this week. The debt investment come from more than 20 participants, all sourced from the P2Bi marketplace that consists of banks, private investors, and institutional investors. The equity funds come from Angel investors.

The Colorado-based startup has not disclosed the breakdown of debt vs. equity but we estimate around $13.4 million of the total is debt and about $3.6 million is equity. This is based on P2Bi’s report that today’s investment is its fourth round of equity funding, bringing its total equity raised to $13 million. While the company did not comment on its total funding, Crunchbase estimates P2Bi’s combined debt and equity at $33.76 million.

P2Bi will use the funds to power its new bank partnership program. Launched last year, the bank partnership program offers access to working capital to small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) who don’t qualify for traditional financing. It not only allows banks to invest in local businesses, but also helps them tap into a new asset class. Under the partnership, banks will front 50% of the capital with a senior secured position. P2Bi’s base of private investors will provide the remaining half of the capital and businesses will receive the funds with a blended interest rate of 8% to 12%. New Resource Bank, which began piloting the bank partnership program last October, has already closed seven loans worth over $16 million.

“Over the course of the past few months, P2Bi has focused on building a new partnership model with community banks that is proving to be very successful,” said Krista Morgan, CEO and cofounder of P2Binvestor. “Growing businesses love the idea that we can graduate them to cheaper financing without the hassle of switching, and banks love that they can be the first lender to a growing business building a valuable, long-term relationship. This raise enables us to onboard new banks into the program.”

Founded in 2012, P2Bi debuted at FinovateSpring 2013 and showcased its borrower application and loan management platform at FinovateFall 2014. Earlier this spring, MonJa featured Morgan in an interview and last fall the company made Credit Donkey’s list of Best Finance Technology.

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SmartAsset Scoops Up $28 Million in New Funding

SmartAsset Scoops Up $28 Million in New Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, SmartAsset

New York-based fintech SmartAsset, which provides personalized, automated financial solutions, has raised $28 million in new funding. The Series C round takes the company’s total equity capital to more than $51 million and featured the participation of Focus Financial Partners, Javeline Venture Partners, TTV Capital, IA Capital, and Citi Ventures, as well as other investors.

The company will use the investment to build its audience as well as expand its platform to help more people improve their finances and connect with qualified personal financial advisors.

“This investment will accelerate our mission of becoming the web’s premier resource for personal finance tools and content,” SmartAsset CEO and co-founder Michael Carvin said. “In doing so, SmartAsset will become the largest marketplace for investors trying to find financial advisors and advisors trying to meet new prospective clients.”

More than 45 million people use SmartAsset’s personal finance information and online resources every month. The company’s automated financial modeling software, demonstrated live at FinovateSpring, powers SmartAsset’s tools, financial calculators, and data-driven research and content to give consumers information on personal finance topics ranging from planning for a first-time home purchase or saving for retirement.

SmartAsset also helps individuals find the right financial advisor based on their specific needs. By answering a series of questions – your location, your preferred retirement timeline, how you currently manage your money, and so on – SmartAsset can assess the individual’s general investment preferences and goals and provide up to three recommendations for financial advisors. All of SmartAssets’ recommended advisors are carefully vetted and registered with the SEC or appropriate state regulator.

A finalist for the 2018 Benzinga Fintech Awards, SmartAsset announced a partnership with CRM software provider Wealthbox in April to integrate its SmartAdvisor lead generation solution into the Wealthbox platform. In February, SmartAsset teamed up with America Saves and the American Savings Education Council to promote positive savings behavior during America Saves Week.

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SigFig Raises $50 Million in Series E

SigFig Raises $50 Million in Series E
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, SigFig

Automated wealth management advisory specialist SigFig has raised $50 million in new funding in a round led by General Atlantic. The Series E round also featured the participation of existing investors UBS, Eaton Vance Corporation, DCM Ventures, New York Life, Nyca Partners, and Bain Capital Ventures.

“For over a decade, SigFig has provided access to premium, tech-enabled financial services for customers, banks, and wealth advisors,” CEO and co-founder of SigFig, Mike Sha said. “We are now aggressively expanding our services and reach to improve how banks utilize technology with their clients and increase the number of everyday people using technology to manage their finances.”

The company said it will use the additional capital to invest in new technology and to expand its service to larger FIs like current partners UBS and Wells Fargo. This week’s investment takes SigFig’s total capital to $117 million.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, SigFig demonstrated its portfolio management service at FinovateFall 2011. The company enables financial service providers to offer their customers a way to build tax efficient, diversified investment portfolios that are personalized, mobile-accessible, and less expensive than using traditional financial advisors. SigFig’s platform provides tax reduction strategies, reinvests dividends, and monitors the portfolio, rebalancing when allocations get out of balance.

SigFig clients get their first $10,000 managed free and accounts can be opened with as little as $2,000. Accounts above $10,000 are charged a 0.25% annual fee. All clients get free portfolio monitoring and analysis, unlimited access to professional investment advisors, and minimized brokerage commissions.  SigFig supports individual and joint accounts, as well as all IRA types.

General Atlantic Managing Partner Paul Stamas, who will join SigFig’s board of directors as part of the investment, praised the company’s B2B2C business model, which he said could help SigFig take advantage of the growing market for “digitally-native investment advisors.” Stamas added that the company “leverages its industry-leading technology alongside its partners’ existing physical infrastructure and human capital to create a best-in-class advice solution.”

The funding for SigFig comes in the wake of a pair of major deployments of its platform. Earlier this year, UBS Wealth Management USA went live with SigFig-powered, robo advisory solution, UBS Advice Advantage. The UBS solution is geared toward clients with $10,000 to $250,000 in investable assets, and follows just a few months after Wells Fargo unveiled its own SigFig-developed robo advisor.

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AlphaPoint Raises $15 Million in Series A Led by Galaxy Digital Ventures

AlphaPoint Raises $15 Million in Series A Led by Galaxy Digital Ventures
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AlphaPoint, Funding, Fundings

AlphaPoint, a New York-based fintech that leverages distributed ledger technology to enable financial institutions to digitize, trade, and manage any asset, is celebrating its fifth anniversary with news that it has raised $15 million in new funding. The Series A round was led by Galaxy Digital Ventures, and brings the company’s total capital to $16.6 million. AlphaPoint says it will use the funds to double the size of its team by year’s end.

“We are delighted to have Galaxy Digital Ventures as a strategic investor who shares our vision to unlock the value of illiquid assets for a wider audience of investors and traders,” AlphaPoint CEO Salil Donde said. “This investment allows us to continue our focus on our customers’ success.”

Galaxy Digital Ventures managing director Greg Wasserman credited AlphaPoint for having the combination of talent and technology in order to take advantage what he called a “tremendous” demand for the digitization of illiquid assets. AlphaPoint estimates the total value of the illiquid asset market – including gold and real estate – at more than $11 trillion and sees its technology as a way to provide badly needly liquidity. “Consumers are demanding increased access, transparency, and trust,” said Wasserman, who will join AlphaPoint’s board of directors as part of the strategic investment. “Businesses are seeking increased liquidity with reduced fraud, risk, and cost.”

Founded in 2013, AlphaPoint demonstrated its AlphaPoint Distributed Ledger Platform (ADLP) at FinovateFall 2017. The general-purpose blockchain platform streamlines the deployment of distributed financial applications, and enables financial institutions to participate in digital asset issuance, confidential smart contracts, and automated workflows. Running in live production since 2013, the solution has facilitated  transactions totaling more than $100 billion to date for platform customers. The company’s partners include Intel – with whom AlphaPoint teamed up last fall – Microsoft, and RedHat. The CME Group, London Block Exchange, and BTCC are a few of AlphaPoint’s more than 30 global clients.

Earlier this year, AlphaPoint announced completion of a blockchain trial with Scotiabank that explored a variety of use cases for the company’s ADLP. In April, AlphaPoint teamed up with CME Group and The Royal Mint to support the Royal Mint Gold initiative, a trading platform for digital gold. And last month, AlphaPoint introduced its Regulated Asset Backed Token (RABT), a new framework designed to support the launch of blockchain tokens supported by regulated assets. The goal is to leverage blockchain technology to add liquidity to the real estate market.

Donde took over the CEO spot at the company last fall – at the same time AlphaPoint unveiled plans for a new public blockchain network. He arrived at AlphaPoint after serving as EVP of Global Information Services at Nasdaq.

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Nextmarkets Picks Up $6.9 Million in New Funding

Nextmarkets Picks Up $6.9 Million in New Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, nextmarkets

Courtesy of a just-completed Series A round, Cologne-based nextmarkets has raised $6.96 million (€6 million) in capital. The round featured participation from existing investors FinLab, Peter Thiel and Falk Strascheg, as well as new investors Axel Springer Media for Equity GmbH, Cryptology Asset Group PLC, and British hedge fund manager Alan Howard.

The Series A takes the company’s total equity to nearly $14 million. Howard commended the firm for its “impressive technology” which he said will add to the company’s future innovations to make a “lasting impact on the retail investment space.”

The funding news is only one headline nextmarkets has made this week. The company also launched its real-money offer, which enables customers to open real money accounts and participate in equity markets on the nextmarkets platform. The company plans to add crypto market options soon. Nextmarkets also announced that its subsidiary, nextmarkets Trading Limited, has obtained a Category 3 Investment Service License in Malta.

“With obtaining the license and going live we have taken a major milestone in our success story,” nextmarkets co-founder and CEO Manuel Heyden said. “From now on we will focus on dynamic growth in Europe and soon globally with our highly scalable, transactional business model.”

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Cologne, Germany, nextmarkets demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2015. A specialist in the field of curated investing, nextmarkets enables individual investors and traders to benefit from the expertise of 14 investment professionals who provide real-time trading insights via the web or smartphone on more than 1,000 markets, including equities, indices, foreign exchange, and commodities.

And with both ETF and crypto currency markets to be added soon, nextmarkets will make it even easier for traders and investors to remain vigilant for market opportunities – especially in sectors with which they are less familiar. “As an active investor, I always wonder who has the time to analyze the wide range of stocks and cryptos,” nextmarkets co-founder and CTO Dominic Heyden said. “Now I have my own investment professionals in my pocket and will be backed by them on the markets. If one of my coaches makes a profit in his bitcoin analysis, I do it on my account.”

The Heyden brothers have a history in social investing, having co-founded ayondo in 2008. Ayondo participated in FinovateEurope 2013, where the brothers – along with CMO Alexander Surminski – demonstrated the third edition of its social trading platform.

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German Banking Software Provider NDGIT Raises $4.7 Million in Series A Funding

German Banking Software Provider NDGIT Raises $4.7 Million in Series A Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, NDGIT

Here’s a bit of funding news from a new Finovate alum that slipped beneath the radar earlier this year. Open banking and insurance platform NDGIT has raised $4.7 million (€4 million) in new funding. The investment comes courtesy of a Series A round led by Capnamic Ventures and featured participation from PROfounders and existing investors Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures and business angels. The funding takes NDGIT’s total capital to $5.8 million.

The Munchen, Germany-based fintech said the additional capital will be used to grow its team and further product development. NDGIT, which stands for “Next Digital Banking”, is the developer of the first API platform for both banking and insurance, and its technology helps banks leverage open banking APIs and PSD2-ready solutions to work and integrate with digital partners. NDGIT includes Swiss bank Hypothekarbank Lenzburg and Germany’s Bank fur Sozialwirtschaft among its bank, fintech, and insurance company clientele.

“In Capnamic we have gained a leading investor with experience in the FinTech and InsurTech sectors,” NDGIT founder and CEO Oliver Dlugosch said in a statement. “In light of the common PSD2 Directive and international Open Banking developments, the investment by PROfounders Capital provides further proof of NDGIT’s European market relevance. With the support of our partners we intend to accelerate our growth and keep on driving NDGIT’s development into a market-leading Open Banking platform in Europe.”

Founded in 2016, NDGIT made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateEurope 2018 where the company demonstrated its Ecosystem Builder solution. Ecosystem Builder is based on NDGIT’s open banking platform and enables banks to build app stores to offer their fintech partner network to their clients. The solution gives FIs an engaging front end that provides an overview of all the apps available via the banking portal, an SSO connection to fintech partners, secure data integration with the bank’s systems, as well as analytics and reporting.

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LendStreet Raises Additional $117 Million to Help Borrowers Restructure Debt

LendStreet Raises Additional $117 Million to Help Borrowers Restructure Debt
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, LendStreet

Debt restructuring platform LendStreet added $117 million in combined debt and equity to its funding total this week. Of that amount, $7 million is equity and $110 million is debt. Today’s influx brings the California-based company’s total combined financing to $149 million, comprised of $39 million in equity and $110 million in debt.

The $7 million Series A equity investment was led by Prudential Financial and Radicle Impact, with participation from existing investors Accion, the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), Serious Change, Crunchfund, Kapor Capital, and Cross Culture Ventures. The debt portion comes from Prudential and Community Investment Management.

Jerry Nemorin, founder and CEO of LendStreet discussed the company’s plans for the financing in a blog post, saying, “These investments will enable us to scale our platform and reach more consumers who are struggling with too much debt.” Nemorin added, “Prudential, CIM, Radicle Impact, and our other investors share our vision of finally giving mainstream Americans access to an equitable and transparent alternative for their mounting credit card debt.”

Founded in 2010, LendStreet helps consumers and small businesses consolidate, restructure, and refinance debt. The company helps borrowers in distress and negotiates their old debt with their previous creditor for a lower monthly payment amount and lower interest rate. These debts are restructured as a loan, funded by accredited investors on the LendStreet platform, who buy a share of each loan. After the borrower’s new monthly payment plan is organized, LendStreet sets them up with educational tools and resources to help them rebuild their credit and take control of their finances.

“The LendStreet platform provides a solutions-based user experience for consumers under financial stress,” said Tom Coombs, Co-Founder and Vice President of Product Development at LendStreet. “Understanding your options to pay down debt and rebuild your credit is not easy. LendStreet is giving overbanked consumers a more manageable, transparent and sustained path to restructuring debt and improving their financial health.”

Miljana Vujosevic, Vice President of Impact Investments, as well as Catha Groot, Principal at Radicle, will join R. Jerry Nemorin, Michael Snyder, and KG Charles-Harris on LendStreet’s Board of Advisors.

Since launching in 2013, LendStreet has helped customers reduce their debt by almost 40% and improve their credit score by an average of 100 points. At FinovateSpring 2011, Nemorin debuted the LendStreet platform on stage with Jason Mars, who has since transitioned to become the founder and CEO of Clinc, which first appeared on the Finovate stage in 2016. Earlier this year, LendStreet earned its its place on the Tech Tribune’s list of the 10 best startups in Oakland.

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OutSystems’ $360 Million Funding Round Boosts Valuation Above $1 Billion

OutSystems’ $360 Million Funding Round Boosts Valuation Above $1 Billion
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Outsystems

Low-code platform OutSystems has proven today that there is quite a market for fast application development without the need to learn code. The proof comes from the $360 million in funding the company received, along with its new valuation the company described as “well over” $1 billion.

Today’s funds come from KKR and Goldman Sachs, which now have a minority stake in the Atlanta, Georgia-based company. OutSystems’ total funding now stands at $422 million. The company will use today’s investment to accelerate expansion and boost software automation R&D efforts.

“We believe we are in the early innings of what will be an extended period of significant growth in the low-code application development market, and we are very excited to be backing a category leader like OutSystems,” said Stephen Shanley, director at KKR.

OutSystems leverages AI, automation and third party integrations to help users build their own apps in a visual way, without the need to know or learn to code. This approach not only cuts down on development costs, it also makes for a much faster time-to-launch.

Founded in 2001, OutSystems has revenues of $100+ million and is growing that figure at more than 70% per year. The company’s 700 employees serve thousands of customers in more than 50 countries. OutSystems’ client list includes Toyota, Logitech, Deloitte, Ricoh, Schneider Electric, and GM Financial.

At FinDEVr New York 2017, OutSystems gave a presentation titled Low-Code, The Next Evolution in App Dev Platforms (Oh, and 5X Faster). Last month, the company launched OutSystems Sentry, a new proactive security monitoring service for the company’s PaaS clients. And In April, OutSystems partnered with Atos to help companies accelerate their digital transformation initiatives.

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