Mergers & Acquisitions

TrueLayer to Acquire Pay-by-Bank Fintech Zimpler

TrueLayer to Acquire Pay-by-Bank Fintech Zimpler
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • TrueLayer plans to acquire Sweden-based Zimpler, expanding its footprint in the Nordics and strengthening its position in Europe’s growing pay-by-bank sector.
  • The deal combines TrueLayer’s European network with Zimpler’s Nordic expertise and Swish integration, creating a strong alternative to traditional card payments.
  • The acquisition highlights the rise of account-to-account payments in the debt-averse Nordic region, where pay-by-bank adoption already leads the world.

UK open banking platform TrueLayer unveiled today that it will acquire Sweden-based pay-by-bank company Zimpler. The financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

TrueLayer will leverage Zimpler’s strong standing in the Nordic market to expand its network and expertise. The purchase will support TrueLayer’s mission to build a payments alternative in Europe, which will in turn create competition and increase value for customers.

“We’re not just expanding our footprint in the Nordics—we’re combining talent, technology, and scale to accelerate Pay by Bank adoption across the continent,” said TrueLayer Co-Founder and CEO Francesco Simoneschi.

Zimpler was founded in 2012 with a mission to democratize payments and enable growth for businesses across industries and markets. The company connects businesses with over 350 million customer bank accounts across more than 25 markets.

“Joining forces with TrueLayer is a fantastic opportunity to build the leading Pay by Bank provider in Europe,” said Zimpler CEO Johan Strand. “TrueLayer has a proven track record of innovation and a powerful network. Our combined strengths will allow us to offer an even more compelling proposition to the market. Joining TrueLayer will enable us to reach new heights and drive the next wave of growth in the industry. At the same time, we remain firmly anchored in Sweden, with our local license and expertise ensuring continuity for our customers.”

Europe, specifically the Nordic region, has some of the highest adoption rates of account-to-account payments in the world. The debt-averse culture of the Nordics leads to low credit card usage. Only around 35% to 45% of Swedish adults have an active credit card. Because of this, pay-by-bank is widely adopted and accepted.

By acquiring Zimpler, TrueLayer will strengthen its pan-European network to more than 20 million users and will add coverage across key markets such as Sweden, Finland, and will add A2A capabilities through the Swish payment rail integration. This significantly strengthens TrueLayer’s pan-European network, accelerating the shift to smarter, safer, and more cost-effective payments.

TrueLayer’s acquisition of Zimpler consolidates pay-by-bank in Europe. As open banking matures, scale and network coverage are two key differentiators. Combining TrueLayer’s European reach with Zimpler’s Nordic expertise, plus its connectivity to Swedish mobile banking app Swish, the partnership creates a strong alternative to traditional card networks.

“I am excited to welcome the Zimpler team to TrueLayer,” said Simoneschi. “We’ve long admired their progress, and we’re excited to add such an incredible group of builders and payment experts to the TrueLayer team. We’re not just expanding our footprint in the Nordics—we’re combining talent, technology, and scale to accelerate Pay by Bank adoption across the continent, and further strengthening Pay by Bank as a force of disruption that is changing how the world pays.”

Photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash

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Payments Optimization Meets Fraud Prevention: Spreedly Acquires Dodgeball

Payments Optimization Meets Fraud Prevention: Spreedly Acquires Dodgeball
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Mergers & Acquisitions, Spreedly
  • Payments optimization platform Spreedly has acquired fraud prevention company Dodgeball. Terms were not disclosed.
  • The acquisition will combine payments optimization and fraud prevention into a single platform.
  • Founded in 2008 and headquartered in North Carolina, Spreedly has been a Finovate alum since 2013.

Open payments platform Spreedly announced its acquisition of fraud orchestration company Dodgeball. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition combines payments optimization and fraud prevention in a single platform and helps bolster Spreedly’s strategy for both AI and open payments.

“For most merchants, payments and fraud aren’t separate challenges—they’re two sides of the same coin,” Spreedly CEO Justin Benson said. “You can’t optimize payments without addressing fraud, and you can’t fight fraud without understanding the payment flow. This acquisition brings these critical functions together, allowing us to deliver immense value to our customers and accelerate our vision for an AI-powered, open payments future.”

The acquisition is designed to give Spreedly’s customers additional reliability, as well as insights to help eliminate fraud and make more intelligent e-commerce decisions. The company noted that the acquisition will also enhance Spreedly’s workflow engine and help build the foundation for an AI-powered payments copilot. Post acquisition, the Dodgeball brand, as well as the Dodgeball team, will be integrated into Spreedly. This will not only enable Spreedly to maximize the benefit of Dodgeball’s expertise, but will also help ensure a smooth transition for customers with no service interruption and complete access to Spreedly’s global support and account management teams.

“We leapt at the opportunity to join forces with Spreedly, in order to help more merchants build best-of-breed fraud management solutions while still promoting growth,” Dodgeball CEO Adam Hiatt said. “The partnership will also help us provide much greater value to our existing customers. All of us at Dodgeball are excited to get started on integrating our offering with Spreedly’s.”

Most recently having demoing its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2018 in New York, Spreedly has been a Finovate alum since 2013. The company, founded in 2008 and headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, counts major brands such as BMW, HBO Max, Priceline, The New York Times, and others among those that use its payments technology. Spreedly processes more than $50 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) on behalf of more than 400 customers in 100+ countries.

Spreedly’s acquisition announcement came shortly before the company released its State of Checkout 2025 Survey, conducted by Talker Research on Spreedly’s behalf. The survey noted that many US executives remain concerned that AI could bring greater complexity to what they consider to be fragile checkout flows, leading to greater challenges and even financial losses.

“AI has incredible potential to transform payments,” Spreedly President Peter Dougherty said. “But executives in the survey also revealed they’re already paying a steep ‘engineering tax’—with as much as a quarter of their engineering teams dedicated to maintaining fragile checkout flows. AI should be layered thoughtfully to strengthen these payment systems, not replace them entirely and introduce new risks.”

Photo by Colin Rowley on Unsplash

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Coupa Acquires Supplier Discovery Platform Scoutbee

Coupa Acquires Supplier Discovery Platform Scoutbee
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Coupa has acquired AI-powered supplier discovery platform Scoutbee to enhance transparency and efficiency in supplier sourcing, onboarding, and transactions.
  • The move expands Coupa’s procurement ecosystem, adding Scoutbee’s collaborative tools and AI-driven supplier intelligence to Coupa’s $8 trillion spend management platform.
  • As competition in AI-enabled procurement heats up, Coupa’s acquisition positions it to better compete with SAP’s Ariba and JAGGAER in building a dynamic, resilient global supply chain network.

Spend management platform Coupa revealed today that it has acquired supplier discovery platform Scoutbee for an undisclosed amount.

Coupa anticipates that integrating Scoutbee’s tools into its platform will offer business clients greater transparency and efficiency in supplier discovery, onboarding, and transactions.

Scoutbee was founded in 2015 to connect buyers and suppliers through its AI-powered procurement platform, which includes a robust supplier database and collaboration tools. The California-based company has raised $76 million in funding to help organizations discover new, relevant suppliers and unlock new opportunities.

“We founded Scoutbee with the premise that AI can transform real-time sourcing and procurement by enabling buyers and suppliers to seamlessly connect, collaborate, and transact,” said Scoutbee co-founder and CEO Gregor Stühler. “Joining Coupa allows us to bring our mission to a global stage, and provide an exceptionally data-rich and comprehensive buyer-supplier network and B2B marketplace at scale.”

Coupa launched its AI platform for total spend management in 2006. The company’s platform contains a community-generated, $8 trillion dataset and brings autonomous AI agents, 10 million buyers and suppliers, and apps to automate the buying process. In 2022, Coupa was acquired by Thoma Bravo for $8 billion in cash.

“Coupa and Scoutbee share a fundamental belief that better data leads to better AI, better decisions, and ultimately, a better world through more resilient supply chains,” said Coupa Chief Product and Technology Officer Salvatore Lombardo. “Together, we are creating the world’s most comprehensive, dynamic, and data-rich network. This acquisition enables us to deliver a truly effortless buyer-supplier matching experience and further enhances our network that will power the future of global trade.”

Bringing Coupa and Scoutbee together under a united front will help fortify Coupa’s position in the race to dominate the AI-powered procurement and supplier intelligence space. With rivals like SAP’s Ariba Network doubling down on AI-enabled sourcing and JAGGAER investing heavily in autonomous commerce, Coupa’s move will deepen its supplier intelligence capabilities, reinforcing its position as a data-rich, network-first procurement ecosystem.

Photo by Tiger Lily

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From Demo to Deal: FinovateEurope Alumni Turn Innovation into Acquisition

From Demo to Deal: FinovateEurope Alumni Turn Innovation into Acquisition
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Finovate Marketing, FinovateEurope 2026, Mergers & Acquisitions

Each year, FinovateEurope brings together the brightest innovators in fintech to demo the future of financial technology. But for many companies, demoing their technology on the Finovate stage is more than just a moment in the spotlight, it’s a launching pad for growth.

Over the past 15 years, dozens of FinovateEurope alumni have captured the attention of major industry players, leading to high-profile acquisitions and partnerships. Below, we highlight some of the companies that turned their Finovate demo into their next big deal.

These success stories underscore how FinovateEurope has helped fintechs showcase their newest fintech innovation and connect it with the institutions and investors ready to scale it. From early-stage disruptors to industry leaders, the companies that have taken the Finovate stage prove that a seven-minute demo can spark partnerships, acquisitions, and growth.

As we look ahead to FinovateEurope 2026, we’ve already started to help the newest wave of fintechs prepare to take the spotlight. If the past 15 years are any indication, the ideas you will see on stage next February could be the ones reshaping fintech in the years to come.

Join us for FinovateEurope 2026 on February 10 through 11 in London. Tickets are available today at a discount, so register today and save!

Photo by Cytonn Photography

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FIS Acquires Digital Banking and Lending Fintech Amount

FIS Acquires Digital Banking and Lending Fintech Amount
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, FIS, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • FIS has acquired Chicago-based Amount, adding the fintech’s digital banking and lending SaaS platform to its portfolio; terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  • The acquisition strengthens FIS’s digital banking strategy, enabling banks, lenders, and credit unions to streamline account origination, lending, deposits, cards, and fraud prevention.
  • Amount brings 158 employees and a fintech growth story marked by unicorn status, layoffs, and $313 million raised.

Fintech giant FIS has finalized the acquisition of digital banking and lending SaaS platform Amount. The financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

“After years of successful partnership, we are thrilled to welcome Amount’s talented team and innovative capabilities to FIS,” said FIS CEO and President Stephanie Ferris.

Founded in 2019 and spun out of online lending company Avant a year later, Chicago-based Amount helps banks offer unified digital banking origination and decisioning experiences across lending, cards and deposits. The company’s solution offers embedded AI functionality to simplify the online account opening experience for banks, lenders and credit unions.

FIS anticipates that adding Amount will help it strategically expand its solutions portfolio. Specifically, the Florida-based company will leverage Amount to empower financial institutions to boost efficiency, streamline lending, improve customer service, simplify account opening while reducing fraud, and optimize credit card issuance and payments. The deal will offer FIS’ bank clients the ability to provide a more unified and seamless digital account opening process for the retail and commercial clients.

“Our strategy and investments have positioned FIS to lead the next generation of banking solutions, enabling financial institutions to thrive in today’s digital-first world with confidence, innovation and reliability. The Amount platform, integrated into FIS digital, core banking and card systems, will help FIS clients grow deposits, loans and card portfolios efficiently and securely,” added Ferris.

Established in 1968 and based in Florida, FIS serves 15,000 clients across the globe. The company’s product suite includes payment solutions, risk management services, and customer communication tools. Its technology supports the processing of $50 trillion in transactions annually and oversees assets totaling $16 trillion.

“Joining forces with FIS marks an exciting new chapter for Amount,” said Amount CEO Adam Hughes. “FIS provides global scale, robust infrastructure, and regulatory expertise that will allow us to strengthen our market offering and deliver seamless, innovative customer experiences and accelerate digital transformation. Becoming part of the FIS organization will create a unique asset and the industry’s most comprehensive digital banking platform.”

Logistically, all of Amount’s 158 employees have joined FIS and the fintech will maintain its headquarters in Chicago.

Today’s agreement comes after a roller coaster ride for Amount. After it began operating independently in 2020, the fintech went on to raise $81 million with a $1 billion valuation and later acquired small business lending platform Linear for $175 million. In June 2022, however, as fintech began to slump, Amount had to cut 18% of its workforce and later that year had to lay off another quarter of its workforce. The company picked things up again last year when it raised another $30 million, bringing its total raised to $313 million. The company’s updated valuation is unknown.

FIS’s move to acquire Amount is yet another example of how established fintechs are leveraging incumbents to meet demand for secure and seamless digital experiences. As competition heats up in the US and beyond, the acquisition will ultimately help FIS strengthen its leadership in end-to-end digital banking.

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

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Gusto To Acquire Retirement Specialist Guideline

Gusto To Acquire Retirement Specialist Guideline
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Gusto, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Payroll and HR platform Gusto plans to acquire retirement plan provider Guideline, expanding its small business benefits offerings.
  • While terms of the deal were not disclosed, Guideline was valued at $1.15 billion in 2021, and given that fintech valuations have compressed by around 26%, is estimated to be worth around $851 million today.
  • The combined companies aim to simplify retirement plan access for tens of thousands of small businesses, especially as states increasingly mandate employer-sponsored retirement options.

Payroll, benefits, and HR management solutions company Gusto unveiled plans to acquire retirement plan provider Guideline.

While financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, Guideline had a $1.15 billion valuation in 2021 and claimed an annualized revenue of $140 million as of January 2025. Generally speaking, fintech valuations have been compressed by about 26% on average since 2021, so it is roughly estimated to be valued at $851 million today.

Gusto, originally known as ZenPayroll, was founded in 2011 to provide a cloud-based payroll, benefits, and HR management solution. The company’s tools help businesses track time and attendance, onboard new employees, manage existing talent, and more. In 2015, Gusto added to its small business offerings by offering health insurance and workers’ compensation, and a year later launched 401(k) retirement plans via a partnership with Guideline. Today, the San Francisco-based company serves more than 400,000 small businesses and is now valued at $9.3 billion.

Founded in 2015, Guideline helps businesses offer 401(k) and IRA retirement benefits to their team in a simplified approach. The California-based company works with small-to-mid-size businesses, franchises, and self-employed individuals across multiple industries, with dentist offices being the top category.

While Guideline has a direct-to-business approach, it also offers its plans via distribution partnerships with ADP, Block, Intuit, Paylocity, TriNet, and Rippling—all competitors of Gusto. Interestingly, Guideline plans to maintain integrations with those partners even after the acquisition closes.

Together, the two will serve tens of thousands of small businesses, offering them an integrated approach to adding retirement benefits, no matter the size of their team. Today’s deal will help Gusto serve its customers with more of Guideline’s services without having to worry about revenue sharing.

“We’re going to have the ability, in the right moment at the right time, to help [small business customers] if they want. It’s never going to be something they have to do—it’s always their choice—but help them understand that they can actually go provide retirement benefits to their team,” said Gusto CEO and Co-Founder Josh Reeves. “And so one thing I’m really, really excited about is I think we’re going to have a chance to help a lot more companies with retirement benefits by being together than if we had stayed separate.”

The acquisition is especially salient for Gusto, given that some states have passed mandates that now require businesses to provide their employees with retirement plans. The move also helps Gusto differentiate itself from competitors like ADP and Paychex by owning more of the retirement infrastructure directly, rather than relying solely on partnerships. In doing so, Gusto is strengthening its full-service appeal as the go-to HR and benefits provider for small businesses.

Photo by MART PRODUCTION

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Electronic Payments Acquires Handpoint

Electronic Payments Acquires Handpoint
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Handpoint, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Electronic Payments is acquiring Handpoint to expand into Europe, gaining offices in the UK, Iceland, and Spain.
  • Handpoint’s tools include mobile payment acceptance, an embedded payments platform, a card-present gateway, and real-time transaction reporting.
  • The deal strengthens Electronic Payments’ mobile and embedded offerings, helping it compete with newer players like Stripe and Square.

New York-based Electronic Payments has agreed to acquire UK-based Handpoint for an undisclosed amount.

Handpoint was founded in 1999 to provide in-person payments tools. The company helps its customers accept payments on smartphones, tablets, and handhelds, and enables merchants to accept card payments securely. In addition to hardware, Handpoint also offers an embedded payments platform, a card-present gateway, and provides real-time transaction data that gives merchants in-depth reporting. Before today’s announcement, Handpoint had raised a total of $8 million, most recently pulling in $2.4 million in 2021.

Handpoint demoed at FinovateFall 2012 and FinovateEurope 2012, at the height of the mobile payment acceptance wave that Block (then Square) kicked off in 2010.

Electronic Payments was founded in 1998 and offers a network of POS value-added resellers (VARs), agent banks, sales agents, and independent sales offices (ISOs) to businesses across multiple industries. Among the company’s products are Cygma, a full-stack authorization and clearing platform; Exatouch, a full-featured point-of-sale device; and ProCharge Gateway, a virtual terminal that helps process and manage payments from one central location.

Handpoint will give Electronic Payments an immediate European presence, as Handpoint maintains offices in the UK, Iceland, and Spain, new territories for Electronic Payments. Integrating Handpoint’s tools could allow US merchants that require cross-border capabilities to tap into a single payments partner on both sides of the Atlantic. Additionally, Electronic Payments could integrate Handpoint’s embedded payments platform with its Cygma clearing system, which would facilitate a more omnichannel approach.

Purchasing Handpoint will also help Electronic Payments strengthen its mobile and embedded payments offerings. This will help it compete with the self-service model that new players, like Stripe and Square, offer.

Photo by Ivan Samkov

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Starling to Acquire Tax and Bookkeeping Startup Ember

Starling to Acquire Tax and Bookkeeping Startup Ember
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Starling Bank has agreed to acquire Ember with plans to integrate Ember’s tax and bookkeeping tools into its business banking platform, giving small businesses streamlined support for invoicing, expenses, payroll, and tax submissions.
  • Ember’s software currently serves customers of major UK banks, but will become exclusive to Starling customers in 2026.
  • The move positions Starling to help businesses comply with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) Making Tax Digital mandate by April 2026.

UK-based Starling Bank announced this week that it will acquire fellow UK fintech Ember, a tax and bookkeeping platform. Starling will build Ember’s resources into its banking platform to provide small business owners with tools they need to manage their transactions and tax submissions. Terms of the acquisition are undisclosed.

Ember was founded in 2019 to give small businesses a human accountant to work with throughout the year to offer real-time insights into their finances and automated bookkeeping. The company offers tools for invoicing, expense management, payroll, tax optimization, and more to do the heavy lifting of tax and VAT compliance while maximizing companies’ visibility into their finances.

“Ember’s platform is beautifully designed to simplify complex accounting tasks through a user-friendly interface,” said Starling Bank Managing Director of SME Banking Adeel Hyder. “As Starling ramps up the roll-out of best-in-class solutions for small businesses, we will continue to build, partner, or buy as best meets customers’ needs.”

Ember currently serves thousands of UK-based small businesses, including customers of HSBC, Revolut, Barclays, and Lloyds. Under the agreement with Starling, however, the company’s software will be exclusively available to Starling Bank customers starting in 2026. Also, as part of today’s deal, Starling will discontinue Ember’s accountancy advisory services.

This is a key move for Starling and strategic timing, given that His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has mandated a Making Tax Digital requirement starting in April of 2026. Starling’s integration of Ember’s tools will help the many businesses that aren’t prepared for online tax reporting to integrate Ember’s HMRC-recognized software by the end of 2025.

The integration of Ember will be available to Starling’s business customers as part of a suite of business services. Among the bank’s other commercial customer tools are Spaces, a tool that allows business owners to put money aside for designated purposes; Bills Manager, which helps businesses pay suppliers on time; and Spending Intelligence, an AI-powered spending tracker.

“We are a natural fintech consolidator, so targeted acquisitions like Ember will form a key part of our strategy as we continue to develop Starling Bank in the UK and Engine by Starling overseas,” said Starling Group Chief Financial Officer Declan Ferguson. “Just as Fleet Mortgages has flourished since we bought it in 2021, I’m confident that Ember’s best-in-class tools will become a fantastic addition to Starling Bank’s offering.”

Photo by Peťka Šurinová

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Crypto Exchange Kraken Acquires Capitalise.ai

Crypto Exchange Kraken Acquires Capitalise.ai
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Capitalise, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Crypto exchange Kraken has announced its acquisition of no-code, natural language-based trading tools provider Capitalise.ai.
  • The acquisition will enable traders and investors on Kraken’s platform to build and execute complex trading strategies using everyday language rather than code.
  • Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, Capitalise.ai won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2017.

Crypto exchange Kraken has acquired Capitalise.ai, an Israel-based fintech that provides no-code, natural language-based trading and analytic tools for investors and traders. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Capitalise.ai won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2017 in San Francisco. At the conference, the company demonstrated how its technology can translate a wide variety of data inputs—including financial, social, and weather data—into actionable investment ideas across equities, cryptocurrencies, currencies, futures, options, and more. Capitalise.ai provides automated trade execution and the ability to optimize investment strategies quickly to analyze, predict, and improve performance.

“This acquisition gives Kraken Pro clients a powerful new way to act on ideas in real-time—testing, optimizing, and executing bespoke strategies with unprecedented speed and confidence,” Kraken Head of Exchange Shannon Kurtas said. “Capitalise.ai’s technology transforms how people interact with financial data—breaking down barriers that have long kept scalable, advanced strategies in the hands of a few. This is a major leap forward in democratizing access to pro-grade trading tools.”

Capitalise.ai’s functionality will be integrated into the Kraken Pro trading app in a phased rollout later in 2025. The company’s co-founders CEO Amir Shiovich and CPO Shahar Rabin, along with members of Capitalise.ai’s product and engineering team, will join Kraken.

The acquisition comes as the evolution of Kraken’s Pro platform, with its advanced features, has increasingly required both technical skill and deep trading expertise in order for users to make the most of the solution. Capitalise provides an effective response to this challenge, enabling clients regardless of background to build, test, and automatically execute often complex trading strategies using simple, everyday language.

“I founded Capitalise.ai alongside my partner Shahar Rabin, with the goal of democratizing advanced capabilities that were once reserved for hedge funds—through a simple, intuitive text interface,” Capitalise.ai’s Shiovich wrote on LinkedIn this week. “Over the years, we’ve partnered with world-leading brokers, served thousands of clients, and supported the trading of billions of dollars. By joining Kraken, we now have the opportunity to scale and drive meaningful impact across the trading industry.”

Founded in 2015, Capitalise.ai is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. Earlier this year, the company announced an expanded partnership with FOREX.com that enabled FOREX.com’s customers in the EU and the UK to access Capitalise.ai’s platform.

Among the longest-standing cryptocurrency platforms in the world, Kraken offers trading in more than 200 digital assets and six different national currencies including EUR, GBP, USD, CAD, CHF, and AUD. Founded in 2011, the company has been a pioneer in spot trading with margin, parachain auctions, staking, regulated derivatives, and index services. Kraken supports more than 15 million clients in 190+ countries and has more than $207 billion in quarterly trading volume on its platform.

Photo by Angela García

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Incode Acquires Identity Verification Company AuthenticID

Incode Acquires Identity Verification Company AuthenticID
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, authenticID, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Incode has acquired AuthenticID to combine AI-driven fraud detection with enterprise-scale expertise, aiming to become a top global identity verification provider.
  • The deal strengthens Incode’s defenses against rising AI threats like deepfakes and synthetic fraud.
  • Together, the companies serve major banks, telecoms, and neobanks worldwide.

Identity verification company AuthenticID has been acquired by biometric identity organization Incode. The acquisition will bring together Incode’s AI solutions with AuthenticID’s enterprise expertise to combat fraud. The amount of the deal is undisclosed.

Incode said that the acquisition will accelerate its growth and position it as a leader in the identity authentication market. California-based Incode has seen an 80% year-on-year organic growth rate, and with AuthenticID on board, the company aims to broaden its global reach and solidify its position as a top-tier provider of end-to-end identity verification solutions.

“In the age of synthetic fraud, AI impersonation, and Agentic AI, verifying human identity has become the foundation of digital trust. Together with AuthenticID, we’re hardening the front line against these threats, so every enterprise can trust every interaction,” said Incode Founder and CEO Ricardo Amper.

Founded in 2015, Incode offers advanced neural networks and large visual language models that help detect and prevent identity fraud in real time. AuthenticID will add its expertise in regulated environments that require a high volume of verification.

Together, Incode and AuthenticID will strengthen defenses against advanced AI-driven threats, including deepfakes, which have fueled a 300% year-over-year surge in account opening fraud, and AI agents operating without identity safeguards. Collectively, the two companies serve eight of the ten largest US banks, protect eight of the nine biggest telecom providers in North America, work with four of the top five banks in Latin America, secure three leading global neobanks, and safeguard hundreds of organizations against retail fraud.

AuthenticID was founded in 2001 and offers identity proofing, ID verification, biometric authentication, and fraud shield tools to support the fight against cybercrime. Additionally, the company’s Identity Fraud Taskforce continuously develops new algorithms to improve AuthenticID’s identity decisioning engine to help identify and stop fraud. Last June, the company launched a new solution to detect deepfake and generative AI injection attacks. 

“As AI-driven fraud becomes more sophisticated, our clients need more than just point solutions—they need a holistic AI-first approach delivered by a true strategic partner,” said AuthenticID CEO Reed Taussig. “Incode’s vision and AI technology leadership, leveraging foundational vision models, enable us to deliver an identity orchestration platform that is fast, secure, and highly adaptive across our expanded customer base.”

Today’s deal is a good example of how identity verification is a strategic pillar of digital trust. As AI-driven fraud accelerates and regulators tighten controls, financial services firms need partners that can combine speed, accuracy, and adaptability at scale. By uniting Incode’s AI-first innovation with AuthenticID’s enterprise and regulatory expertise, the acquisition signals a future where identity is more holistic.

Photo by cottonbro studio

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EverC Announces Merger with G2 Risk Solutions

EverC Announces Merger with G2 Risk Solutions
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Ever Green 3C, Mergers & Acquisitions

AI risk classification platform EverC revealed today that it is joining forces with G2 Risk Solutions (G2RS). The two are combining to pursue a collective mission to protect global digital payments and defend e-commerce from threats. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

Moving forward, the two will leverage EverC’s AI capabilities and bring G2RS’s risk and compliance capabilities to the payments risk ecosystem. When the deal is finalized, the two companies will collectively serve most major payment providers across the globe, including banks, merchant acquirers, marketplaces, and online platforms.

EverC was founded in 2015 to help marketplaces and online sellers grow by bringing trust and security to the ecommerce ecosystem. The company combines AI with its expertise in risk intelligence, data science, fintech, payments, and financial risk. In addition to its Risk Insights solution, EverC also offers two products, MerchantView, a merchant onboarding and monitoring platform; and MaketView, an automated, AI-driven solution that identifies and eliminates hazardous, counterfeit, and illicit products in online marketplaces.

G2RS offers risk and compliance management for financial institutions and online platforms. The California-based company offers a suite of solutions covering merchant risk, digital commerce monitoring, transaction laundering detection, identity verification, bankruptcy risk, and regulatory data services. Founded in 1989, G2RS leverages data, analytics, and human-curated insights to help its clients navigate evolving regulatory landscapes and complex risk challenges. Today’s deal isn’t G2RS’s only change to its operations this year. In the first quarter, the company acquired WebShield owner ZignSec AB for an undisclosed amount.

“G2RS and EverC have long traveled toward the same North Star, safeguarding digital commerce and the people who depend on it,” said G2RS CEO Brian Longe. “We move forward as one team with a shared vision to redefine what market leadership looks like in the merchant risk space. Leveraging each other’s strengths as a unified force on a singular track, we will accelerate to deliver faster, smarter business outcomes and solutions for our clients and the global digital economy. We’re poised to achieve more together than we ever could apart, aligned in our commitment to root out fraud and illegal activities and help our customers grow with confidence and integrity.”

Logistically, Longe will serve as CEO of the combined company, while EverC CEO Ariel Tiger will serve as an adviser through the end of the year as the companies transition into a single entity. Employees of both companies will continue to operate globally with offices in the US, Europe, India, and Israel.

“We share a purpose to stop the increasingly sophisticated global threats from bad actors who seek to exploit the payments ecosystem,” said Tiger. “With our two teams working together, our impact can be exponential. This elevates our game in every facet of the business, pushing the envelope technologically and setting new standards for merchant portfolio performance.”

At FinovateFall 2021, EverC demoed how MerchantView helps mitigate transaction laundering by identifying illicit activity in order to help clients reduce and avoid fines, maintain regulatory compliance, and protect their brand.

Photo by DS stories

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Two-Time Best of Show Winner Array Acquires Fellow Finovate Alum MoneyKit

Two-Time Best of Show Winner Array Acquires Fellow Finovate Alum MoneyKit
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Array, Mergers & Acquisitions, MoneyKit
  • Embedded software platform company Array has acquired data aggregation specialist MoneyKit. Terms were not disclosed.
  • The partnership will enable Array’s customers to benefit from deeper connectivity that will facilitate more dynamic customer experiences including personalized credit insights and intelligent subscription management.
  • Array won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2021 and again at FinovateSpring 2022. MoneyKit made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024.

Embedded software platform Array, which has twice won Finovate’s Best of Show award, announced its acquisition of data aggregation solutions company (and fellow Finovate alum) MoneyKit. Terms of the transaction were not immediately available.

“MoneyKit has built a trusted and secure foundation for financial connectivity in just a few years,” Array Founder and CEO Martin Toha said. “Combining their capabilities with Array’s embeddable financial security components unlocks a new era of intelligent, personalized, and privacy-first experiences for millions of consumers.”

Array offers an embeddable platform that provides fintechs, financial institutions, and digital brands with a variety of private-label fintech solutions. MoneyKit is a specialist in data aggregation and trusted financial connectivity infrastructure. Together, the two firms seek to deliver a range of secure, consumer-first financial experiences—from embedded credit monitoring to streamlined access to financial data—to help consumers improve and better manage their finances. Post-acquisition, Array customers will benefit from deeper connectivity courtesy of MoneyKit’s technology, enabling them to access more dynamic experiences including personalized credit insights, intelligent subscription management, and more.

“Joining Array allows us to scale our mission and bring powerful new capabilities to the ecosystem,” MoneyKit CTO Michael Del Monte said. “We’re excited to be a part of the next wave of tools that help consumers feel more secure, informed, and in control.”

Headquartered in New York, MoneyKit made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024. At the conference, the company demonstrated its MoneyKit Connect solution that leverages intelligent routing to enhance bank data aggregation. The technology makes real-time routing decisions based on its unique insights into the specific institution, time of day, and data products requested to ensure that the connection goes to the best possible underlying aggregator. MoneyKit was launched in 2021 by the serial founders who started both Cash App and Quovo.

Winning Best of Show in its appearances at FinovateFall 2021 and FinovateSpring 2022, Array most recently demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2023. The company’s platform helps financial institutions and financial service providers boost engagement and revenues by providing them with tools like anti-identity theft solution HelloPrivacy and an intelligent Subscription Manager that can be embedded in a matter of weeks.

Founded in 2020, Array is based in New York.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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