Finovate Alumni News

Around the web

  • Sezzle announces its availability via Visa’s CyberSource payment management platform.
  • Klarna to open its latest House of Klarna pop-up store in Manchester next month.
  • German online lender Kreditech looks to expand operations in India in the wake of $22 million equity fundraising.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • BNP Paribas to Deploy Dynamic Hedging Tech from Kantox.
  • Terafina Teams Up with Alabama’s Listerhill Credit Union.

Around the web

  • Klarna deepens ties with H&M to enable customers to shop now and pay later using the H&M app.
  • NICE’s AML and fraud SaaS solutions to power financial crime strategy for both anti-money laundering compliance and enterprise fraud protections.
  • Terafina to power Listerhill Credit Union’s omnichannel sales strategy and continue its digital transformation to increase member satisfaction and deepen relationships.
  • OurCrowd expands U.S. operations, opens office in Chicago.
  • ID R&D’s IDLive Face to power remote customer account openings and digital ID verification for Innov8tif’s EMAS eKYC.
  • ndgit and Synpulse launch international fintech marketplace in Switzerland.
  • Macrosoft joins Quadient’s Partner Advantage Program.
  • Onfido reports strong revenue growth momentum for Q2 2019; earns recognition from The Sunday Times as one of the fastest growing private companies in the U.K.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate

  • Twisto Raises $15 Million in Series B Funding
  • Finovate Global: Mexican Fintech Minu Makes History; India’s Namaste Credit Becomes a Neobank.

Around the web

  • Five Degrees adds OneSpan as a new partner in its Open Banking Marketplace.
  • Axiata Group Berhad and Telenor Group end merger discussions.
  • Klarna expands existing partnership with online fashion retailer boohoo group and its four brands.
  • Xero adds BP as latest partner for its Xero Connect e-invoicing solution.
  • Authority Magazine interviews Talbott Roche, CEO and president of Blackhawk Network.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

King Klarna: New Investment Boosts Valuation to $5.5 Billion

King Klarna: New Investment Boosts Valuation to $5.5 Billion

An investment of $460 million in Swedish e-commerce payments innovator Klarna takes the company’s valuation to $5.5 billion, and makes it the largest private fintech firm in Europe. The funding will help fuel Klarna’s international growth, especially in the United States, where it has been gaining new customers at a rate of six million a year.

Dragoneer Investment Group led the round. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, HMI Capital LLC, Merian Chrysalis Investment Company Limited, Första AP-Fonden (AP1), IPGL, IVP, and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock also participated. Combined with the financing from a round this spring, the investment gives Klarna more than $1.2 billion in total capital.

For company CEO and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the funding comes at a moment of great opportunity for fintechs like Klarna that are innovating in the area of consumer finance. “This is a decisive time in the history of retail banking,” he said. “Finally, transparency, technology and creativity will serve the consumer, and there will be no more room for unimaginative products, non-transparent terms of use or lack of genuine care of ones customers.”

Klarna’s Shop Now Pay Later approach to e-commerce enables consumers to pay for purchases at leading, brick and mortar retailers as well as with online merchants, with a variety of interest-free, no-fee financing offerings. These include a four installment payment option that charged every other week to the customer’s credit or debit card, and 30-day payment period that begins once the item is shipped or received.

Klarna has more than 60 million shoppers using its offerings, and 130,000 retailer partners around the world. Richard Watts of Merian Chrysalis Investment Company credited Klarna with providing its merchant partners with “considerable improvement in customer engagement and sales.” In fact, Klarna reports that merchants that are offering its four installment payment plan have experienced a 68% increase in average order value, a 44% increase in conversion v.s. cards, and a 21% higher purchase frequency.

“Klarna is one of Europe’s great fintech success stories and the company continues to develop truly innovative payment solutions,” Watts said.

The funding news for Klarna arrives amid a flurry of new service offerings, such as making its Shop Now Pay Later option available in-store, as well. It has also been a big year for products, from the launch of its global customer authentication platform to unveiling of its open banking platform. 2019 has also been a busy year in terms of partnerships: Klarna joined global fashion retailer ASOS in an expansion to the U.S., teamed up with U.K. fashion brand Superdry, and partnered with Canadian e-commerce and in-store point-of-sale financing company PayBright.

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Klarna demonstrated its platform at FinovateSpring 2012.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Switzerland’s CREALOGIX Gets SaaSy.
  • King Klarna: New Investment Boosts Valuation to $5.5 Billion.
  • LendingClub Unveils Select Plus for Sophisticated Investors.

Around the web

  • Israel’s third largest bank Mizrahi-Tefahot to deploy core banking technology from Temenos.
  • Experian reports surging interest in Open Banking, with the number of API requests made in the U.K. growing by more than 2x since February.
  • Russia’s Tinkoff Bank to sell the speech recognition technology behind its Oleg chatbot to corporate customers.
  • LeapXpert earns spot in 2019 FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific.
  • Mortgage Cadence enhances data verification, fraud prevention and compliance with integration of DataVerify to its Enterprise Lending Center.
  • AT&T launches new bug bounty program in partnership with HackerOne.
  • Jumio takes gold in the Security Software category of the 2019 IT World Awards.
  • Lendio tops $1.5 billion in small business loans financed.
  • Ondot introduces Transaction Intelligence to make it easier for consumers to recognize purchases.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • AccountScore and Validis Bring the Benefits of Open Banking to U.K. SMEs.
  • Emailage and Featurespace Target Online Application Fraud.
  • Business Valuation Specialist BizEquity Teams Up with UBS.

Around the web

  • ID R&D launches facial liveness detection solution, IDLive Face.
  • Klarna and global fashion retailer ASOS to expand to the U.S.
  • Banking and payments solution provider Contis deploys Featurespace’s ARIC Fraud Hub.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Ondot Unveils New Cloud Service to Help Smaller Banks Compete.
  • Urban FT Acquires Remote Deposit Capture Innovator CFC Technology Group.

Around the web

  • TransUnion launches its consumer data mapping solution, TrueVision.
  • Coinbase to offer exclusive trading data to all customers.
  • Plaid unveils its Liabilities endpoint to support development of apps to help combat student loan debt.
  • Signifyd announces general availability of its Signifyd INR Protection add-on, bringing coverage of item-not-received (INR) chargebacks to its fraud protection solution.
  • Klarna partners with Superdry to enable the company’s customers in the U.K. to pay later or pay in three installments.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • AIFC and Fidor Solutions to Boost Fintechs in Kazakhstan.
  • Visa and PayPal’s New Deal.

Around the web

  • Apex Clearing partners with Apex Crypto to launch cryptocurrency platform that helps financial advisors introduce digital currency trading into their clients’ portfolios.
  • Revolut taps banking veteran Richard Davies as Chief Operating Officer.
  • Klarna and BigCommerce expand partnership to also include Klarna’s European core markets.
  • eToro’s cryptocurrency wallet adds support for 120 ERC-20 standard tokens.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Bento Unveils Venmo Style Digital Payments Solution for SMEs.
  • Cybercrime Fighter ThetaRay Announces Strategic Investment from ABN AMRO.

Around the web

  • Identitii wins award for Best Workplace Diversity at The Finnies 2019.
  • InComm launches barcode payment solutions at DFS Duty-Free stores in Japan.
  • Klarna expands its UK operations with a new office in Manchester.
  • INTELid.io to integrate ValidSoft’s voice biometrics into its private digital identity blockchain.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Simple’s Payments Go Analog with Paper Checks.
  • Fenergo Supports Bahrain’s Blockchain-Based KYC.
  • Flywire Offers Chinese Students and Patients Discounted FX Rates.
  • doxo and Plaid Team Up to Bring Overdraft Protection to Billpay.

Around the web

  • ACI extends partnership with Vocalink into Saudi Arabia to facilitate the adoption of real-time payments through ACI’s UP Real-Time Payments solution.
  • First National Bank selects ProfitStars’ Commercial Lending Center Suite.
  • Centrale Kredietverlening selects nCino for its Bank Operating System.
  • Wipro develops blockchain-based solution with R3 to power digital currency transactions for Thailand banks.
  • Klarna and Stripe partner to offer Klarna’s Pay in 3 to Hideout festivalgoers through ticketing platform Kaboodle.
  • Forbes highlights BioCatch’s behavioral biometrics fraud prevention technology.
  • Insuritas and Tower Hill Specialty partner to bring Tower Hill’s property products to market through Insuritas’ bank partner network.
  • NIIT Technologies partners with Blue Chip to bring its wealth management application to Blue Chip’s IBM POWER.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Klarna Brings its Alt Payment Options to Brick and Mortar Retail Shoppers

Klarna Brings its Alt Payment Options to Brick and Mortar Retail Shoppers

E-commerce payments innovator Klarna announced today that its pay later options are now available in-store as well as online.

“Shoppers today want more control over their buying experience,” Klarna U.K. General Manager Luke Griffiths said. “Our mission is to make payments as seamless and stress-free as possible. We’re now bringing more payment flexibility to the in-store environment, so shoppers can move smoothly through the purchase journey, whether they choose to shop online or on the high street.”

The announcement means that Klarna’s alternative payment options will now be available for transactions in retail, brick and mortar stores. The company has three offerings to simplify the transaction experience:

  • the option to pay later, up to 30 days after delivery
  • three equal installment payments collected monthly
  • a six to 36-month consumer financing offering for more expensive items

Consumers can use Klarna via their connected smartphone. First they make their purchase using their smartphone to scan either a QR code at the checkout register or after receiving and clicking on a payment link sent to the customer by email or SMS. Second, the customer adds their information and chooses a Klarna payment option.

The financing decision occurs in real-time, and average completion times run about one minute – ensuring that the in-person shopping experience is as seamless as possible. For the merchant, this means faster checkouts, happier customers, and increased conversions and sales.

Klarna’s news comes just weeks after the company announced it was extending its partnership with Swedish fashion house Acne Studios. “We’ve been impressed with Klarna’s work in Europe – particularly in our home country of Sweden,” Acne Studios CEO Mattias Magnusson said. “(We) are pleased to partner with them in other markets to accelerate our international sales.”

Also in April, Klarna launched its Mindful Money financial management content hub to help Gen Z and Millennials learn more about budgeting and spending. Mindful Money will feature insights and recommendations from personal finance commentators and journalists.

Klarna also launched its global customer authentication platform last month, providing global businesses with an easy and secure authentication process. In March, the company unveiled its open banking platform, enabling access to more than 4,300 European banks via a single access to account API.

Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Klarna demonstrated its flagship solution at FinovateEurope 2012. The company has raised more than $774 million in funding, and includes Sequoia Capital, General Atlantic, and Creandum among its investors. Klarna was founded in 2005.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Refundo to Return Tax Refunds in Bitcoin.
  • Klarna Brings its Alt Payment Options to Brick and Mortar Retail Shoppers.

Around the web

  • Kony and Micronotes team up to bring Micronotes’ personalized conversation solution to banks using Kony DBX.
  • SecureKey’s Verified.Me identity verification solution is now available for consumers of CIBC, Desjardins, RBC, Scotiabank and TD across Canada.
  • Fenergo working with Bahrain’s Electronic Network for Financial Transactions to design and implement a KYC solution that incorporates blockchain technology.
  • NIIT Technologies’ AdvantageGo launches Underwriting, a solution that consolidates and provides all underwriting functions into a single platform.
  • GreatHorn awarded U.S. patent for new email impersonation detection method.
  • Onfido, Alphapoint earn spots in the inaugural cohort of cross-border regulatory sandbox, Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN).
  • Envestnet unveils new suite of analytical tools for financial advisors, Envestnet Advisor Analytics.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.