Mergers & Acquisitions

Finastra Sells Off Treasury and Capital Markets Division

Finastra Sells Off Treasury and Capital Markets Division
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Finastra, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Finastra is selling its Treasury and Capital Markets (TCM) division to an affiliate of private equity firm Apax Partners.
  • TCM will become a standalone company under Apax ownership and will receive investment to accelerate product innovation, enhance cloud capabilities, and improve the customer experience.
  • The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026.

UK-based financial services software provider Finastra announced that it is selling its Treasury and Capital Markets (TCM) business unit to an affiliate of private equity firm Apax Partners. Once the transaction closes in the first half of 2026, Apax will rebrand TCM and operate it as a standalone business.

The deal gives Finastra room to double down on its core banking software, while TCM gains the backing to modernize and grow under independent ownership.

Finastra’s TCM facilitates risk management, regulatory compliance, and capital markets operations with its suite of software products, which include Kondor, Summit, and Opics. The business unit has more than 340 financial institution clients.

Under the ownership of Apax, TCM will be able to invest further in new product development, marketing, and technology infrastructure. Additionally, Apax will help TCM sharpen its strategic and operational focus, enhance its customer experience, and accelerate its cloud technology offering.

“We’re excited to partner with the TCM team as the business begins a new chapter as an independent organization,” said Apax Partner Gabriele Cipparrone. “With the backing of the Apax Funds, we expect TCM to benefit from accelerated innovation and enhanced operations, delivering even greater value to its clients.”

In addition to TCM, Apax has invested in other companies in the application software industry. Some of the firm’s more notable investments include Paycor HCM, Zellis Group, ECi Software, OCS / Finwave, Azentio, EcoOnline, and IBS Software.

Finastra anticipates that selling TCM will streamline its product portfolio and free up cash to reinvest in the business.

“This sale marks an important milestone for Finastra that will help further launch our next phase of growth with a focused suite of mission-critical financial services software,” said Finastra CEO Chris Walters. “It will provide capital to accelerate our strategy and reinvest in our core business, while providing our award-winning TCM platform with the backing of an experienced, long-term technology investor to support its continued success moving forward.”

With customers in 135 countries, Finastra serves 8,100 financial institutions with its software applications across lending, payments, and retail banking. The company was founded in 2017 as a combination of Misys and D+H. Earlier this year, Finastra appointed Chris Walters as CEO.

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Robinhood Acquires WonderFi, Growing its Canadian Presence

Robinhood Acquires WonderFi, Growing its Canadian Presence
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Robinhood has announced plans to acquire Canada-based decentralized trading platform WonderFi.
  • The all-cash deal is expected to close for $179 million.
  • The acquisition will help Robinhood move into the Canadian market.

Digital stock brokerage app Robinhood plans to acquire decentralized trading platform WonderFi in an all-cash deal totaling $178.56 million (CA$250 million). The deal is expected to close in the second half of this year.

WonderFi was founded in 2021 to help democratize access to digital assets. The company, which operates regulated cryptocurrency trading platforms Bitbuy and Coinsquare, serves both novice and experienced investors. Among WonderFi’s services are crypto trading and staking, investor education, and over-the-counter transactions. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, WonderFi processed over $2.56 billion (C$3.57 billion) in crypto trading volumes last year, a 28% increase over the volume it processed in 2023.

“Through a long and focused effort, WonderFi successfully built one of Canada’s largest registered Crypto-Trading platforms,” said WonderFi Executive Chairman Bobby Halpern. “This transaction is the culmination of those efforts and the launchpad for Robinhood to democratize finance across Canada. The arrangement provides WonderFi shareholders with all-cash consideration at an attractive premium to our recent trading levels.”

Robinhood will acquire all WonderFi shares for $0.25 (C$0.36) per share. The purchase price represents a premium of approximately 41% to the closing price of the common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange on May 12, 2025, and approximately a 71% premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average trading price.

California-based Robinhood launched its commission-free, mobile-first trading platform in 2013 to attract the newest generation of investors. The company’s app enables users to trade stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrencies, and also offers wealth management, retirement accounts, and banking services. Robinhood serves more than 25 million customers with $193 billion in assets under custody.

Robinhood will leverage WonderFi to accelerate its international expansion, providing it with access to WonderFi’s over 1.6 million registered Canadian users and more than $717 million (C$1 billion) in assets under custody. While Robinhood does not serve any Canadian customers, today’s acquisition will allow it to leverage WonderFi’s infrastructure, licensing, and experience navigating the Canadian regulatory environment.

“WonderFi and Robinhood are united in our visions of making crypto accessible and bringing more people into the crypto space,” said WonderFi President and CEO Dean Skurka. “We’re delighted to be joining the Robinhood team and to super-charge our product offerings for customers.”

Today’s acquisition isn’t Robinhood’s first move into international markets. The company officially launched its trading platform in the UK on November 30, 2023 and doubled-down on its operations in the region after purchasing European exchange Bitstamp for $200 million in June of 2024.

Photo by Andre Furtado

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Clearwater Analytics Acquires Risk Analytics Firm Beacon

Clearwater Analytics Acquires Risk Analytics Firm Beacon
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Beacon Technology, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Clearwater Analytics has completed its acquisition of risk analytics and developer infrastructure company Beacon.
  • The acquisition will boost Clearwater’s capabilities in complex portfolio management for both public and private markets.
  • Beacon made its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia in Hong Kong in 2018. The company is headquartered in New York.

First announced in March, investment management technology platform Clearwater Analytics reported this week that it has completed its acquisition of enterprise risk analytics and developer infrastructure company Beacon. Clearwater acquired the company for approximately $560 million. The company paid 60% of the purchase price in cash and the balance in shares of Clearwater Class A common stock.

The acquisition enhances Clearwater’s capabilities in complex portfolio management—including structured products, private credit, and derivatives—for both public and private markets. Clearwater will integrate Beacon’s cross-asset risk modeling with the front-office capabilities and alternative asset intelligence from its acquisitions of Enfusion Inc. and Blackstone’s Bistro platform, respectively.

This will enable Clearwater to offer a unified platform that covers the entire investment lifecycle from trading and modeling to accounting and regulatory reporting. The platform eliminates front-, middle-, and back-office siloes to provide real-time data, transparency, and scale without the hindrance of legacy software and infrastructure.

“With Beacon, we’ve expanded our platform to deliver end-to-end support across the entire investment lifecycle—from front-office modeling to middle- and back-office operations,” Clearwater CEO Sandeep Sahai said. “Together, along with Enfusion and Bistro, we’re transforming a fragmented industry landscape with a unified platform built for today’s institutional investors—streamlining complexity, accelerating decision-making, and driving performance across public and private markets.”

Founded in 2014, Beacon provides a unified, cross-asset trading and risk management solution for investment and risk management teams. The company’s platform offers pre-built trading and risk applications, as well as the flexibility to build and scale custom analytics and models quickly and efficiently. Beacon’s technology is used by banks to improve risk management and visibility, by investment managers to optimize position and portfolio management, and by energy and commodities firms, as well as alternative asset management firms, to adapt to new markets and more efficiently operate in illiquid markets.

“Beacon’s mission has always been to bring transparency and control to the most complex parts of financial markets,” former CEO and Co-Founder of Beacon Kirat Singh said. Singh is now President, Risk & Performance at Clearwater. “By joining Clearwater, we can now deliver these capabilities at scale. Together, we’re helping investors move beyond reporting to real-time action, with the infrastructure global institutions need to succeed.”

Headquartered in New York, Beacon made its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia 2018 in Hong Kong. The company secured its first banking clients the following year, forging partnerships with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, SMBC Capital Markets, and others. Beacon announced its first European energy clients in 2020 and, in 2021, secured Series C funding in a round led by Warburg Pincus. More recently, Beacon reported that UK-based long-term savings and retirement firm Phoenix Group had deployed Beacon as its first quantitative development platform.

Photo by energepic.com

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Feedzai Acquires Demyst to Enhance Data Orchestration

Feedzai Acquires Demyst to Enhance Data Orchestration
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, DemystData, Feedzai, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Feedzai is acquiring Demyst to unify its AI-powered risk management with external data orchestration, enabling faster, smarter fraud detection and compliance decisions.
  • The integration of Demyst’s Zonic platform will help financial institutions streamline onboarding, enhance fraud prediction, and reduce friction in real-time risk operations.
  • As demand grows for dynamic, real-time data in financial services, this deal will enable Feedzai to offer a more comprehensive risk intelligence platform.

Risk management provider Feedzai is acquiring data-as-a-service (DaaS) platform Demyst this week. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Feedzai will use Demyst to unify its risk management solutions with external data orchestration to offer faster, smarter fraud detection.

“There is no shortage of data in our industry—the trick is how to access the right data as quickly as possible so that you can accelerate risk decisions with the fewest consumer friction points,” said Feedzai CEO and Co-founder Nuno Sebastiao. “Demyst is a first mover and leader in accessing necessary data—internal or external—at the critical moment for any part of the user journey. Paired with Feedzai’s market-leading AI, this ensures every data point is fully utilized to drive smarter and faster decisions. More broadly, this acquisition marks a pivotal moment in continuing Feedzai’s evolution from a data consumer to a data provider.”

Feedzai aims to leverage Demyst’s Zonic data workflow orchestration platform, intellectual property, and sophisticated data-integration capabilities to unify data orchestration and risk management into a single platform. Together, the two companies will deliver a data orchestration platform with fraud prevention measures, enhanced account opening capabilities, contextual intelligence for fraud prediction and prevention, better customer experiences, improved risk insights, and operational efficiency.

Founded in 2011, Feedzai is a risk operations platform specializing in identity verification, fraud prevention, and financial crime detection. The company’s AI-powered solutions span KYC, AML, watchlist screening, and transaction fraud monitoring to help financial institutions stop fraud in real time without compromising the customer experience. Today, Feedzai protects over one billion consumers in more than 190 countries and safeguards over $8 billion in transactions annually.

“External data is the next frontier of business impact for financial institutions, yet it is notoriously complex, involving a labyrinth of sources for KYC/AML, identity, fraud, credit checks, and compliance,” said Demyst CEO Mark Hookey. “We’re thrilled to join Feedzai to bring AI and data together at scale for our customers. Together we are building the most advanced solution for customer onboarding, fraud prevention, and risk management.”

Hookey, along with other key members of the Demyst team, will remain with Feedzai.

Demyst was founded in 2010 as an external data platform that enables financial institutions to discover, evaluate, and deploy third-party data quickly and securely. By streamlining access to hundreds of curated data providers across categories like identity, income, business verification, and credit risk, Demyst helps banks and fintechs make smarter decisions faster, without the typical data integration friction.

The deal highlights a growing interest in data orchestration and AI-driven risk management. As financial services companies grapple with increasingly sophisticated fraud tactics and regulatory demands, the ability to access, integrate, and act on real-time data is becoming crucial, especially as the costs of accessing and analyzing the data are increasing. By combining Feedzai’s AI and risk operations platform with Demyst’s external data orchestration capabilities, the deal positions Feedzai to offer a more holistic, end-to-end risk intelligence solution.

Photo by Markus Spiske

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Embedded Finance Solutions Provider Pipe Acquires Glean.ai

Embedded Finance Solutions Provider Pipe Acquires Glean.ai
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Glean AI, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Embeddeed finance solutions company Pipe has acquired spend management innovator Glean.ai.
  • The acquisition will enable the combined entity to respond to two main pain points for small- and medium-sized businesses: access to capital and effective spend management.
  • New York-based Glean.ai made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022.

Embedded finance solutions provider Pipe announced its strategic acquisition of AI-powered spend management innovator Glean.ai. Founded in 2020, Glean.ai offers a spend management solution for small- and medium-sized businesses that provides one-click access to spending trends, billing mistakes, and opportunities to uncover savings. Glean.ai’s solution also features real-time, cross-functional budgeting and billpay tools, and leverages AI to examine spending patterns over time to help business owners and managers make better decisions.

“Today, I’m thrilled to share that Glean.ai is joining forces with Pipe, a fintech company that offers embedded financial solutions within the software platforms business owners use every day to manage their operations,” Glean.ai CEO Howard Katzenberg said in a statement. “This is a huge milestone—not just for us, but for every finance team we’ve had the privilege to support. Pipe shares our vision for intelligent finance infrastructure and their commitment to innovation makes this partnership even more exciting.”

The acquisition comes at a time when many small businesses (nearly half according to the U.S. Small Business Administration) are relying on personal credit cards to help fund their businesses. Moreover, in many instances, these business owners are not separating their personal from their business expenses. With this acquisition, Pipe is seeking to serve small- and medium-sized businesses with the kind of spend management tools they typically have not been able to access. The acquisition will complement Pipe’s embedded capital and business charge fraud solutions, which are made available via the company’s payments and vertical software partners. Pipe noted that Glean.ai will continue to be available to current and new customers directly from Glean.ai.

Pipe CEO Luke Voiles called the acquisition a strategic move that “empowers us to address the two biggest pain points faced by small businesses today—access to capital and effective spend management.” Voiles added, “by combining Pipe’s innovative technology, resources, and expertise with Glean, we’re giving business owners the precise tools they need to thrive.”

Founded in 2019, Pipe builds embedded finance solutions for growing businesses that reside inside the software those firms are already using. With partners ranging from vertical SaaS companies to payments platforms, Pipe’s technology integrates seamlessly into existing platforms, enabling companies to easily launch customer-friendly solutions, go to market in weeks rather than months, and drive growth. The company’s flagship offerings include an embedded working capital solution, Capital, and a branded business card to optimize spend management.

New York-based Glean AI made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, the company demonstrated its strategic Accounts Payable (AP) platform that leverages automation and deep insights to help firms pay the right vendors the right amounts at the right times.

Photo by Rock Staar on Unsplash

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Fiserv Acquires Pinch Payments to Enhance its Payments Offerings in Asia Pacific

Fiserv Acquires Pinch Payments to Enhance its Payments Offerings in Asia Pacific
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Fiserv, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Fiserv has acquired Australia-based PayFac Pinch Payments to strengthen its digital payments offerings and expand its merchant reach across the Asia Pacific region.
  • Pinch’s cloud-based SaaS platform and PayFac expertise will help Fiserv deliver more flexible solutions for PayFacs, ISVs, BPSPs, ISOs, and enterprise clients.
  • Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Payments innovator Fiserv has acquired Australia-based payment facilitator (PayFac) Pinch Payments for an undisclosed amount.

Fiserv anticipates that bringing Pinch into its ecosystem will help it offer more flexible options for PayFacs, ISVs, BPSPs, ISOs and enterprise clients. Pinch will enhance Fiserv’s reach with its access to a greater number of merchants. It will also help fuel Fiserv’s delivery of new payments solutions such as Pinch’s cloud-based SaaS business operating platform for merchants across Asia Pacific. 

“This acquisition further demonstrates Fiserv’s commitment to the local payments market, following our recent launch of Clover in Australia,” said Fiserv Head of Australia Gavin Jones. “By integrating our leading digital payments solutions with Pinch’s innovative technology and local expertise, we are able to deliver innovative payment solutions to empower merchants across the APAC region. We welcome the Pinch associates to the Fiserv family and are committed to seamless integration of services for our customers.”

Pinch was founded in 2017 and currently serves 2,000 merchants throughout Australia and New Zealand. The company is best known for its PayFac enablement and its management platform Glassbox. The company serves both enterprises and small businesses, and also offers a developer API, providing a comprehensive set of tools to help businesses facilitate payments more efficiently at scale. 

“Joining Fiserv is an incredible opportunity for the Pinch team and furthers our mission to provide seamless partner experiences to a growing number of merchants,” said Pinch Payments Co-Founder and CEO Paul Allen. “Having worked closely with the Fiserv team, I am confident in our roadmap to expand into new markets.”

The acquisition of Pinch Payments highlights a broader trend in the payments industry as demand grows for faster, more flexible, and embedded payment experiences. Traditional card-based transactions are increasingly being challenged with alternative payment methods such as pay-by-bank, in which consumers make direct, account-to-account transfers without the need for a card network. This shift is being driven by the rise of open banking and a push for lower-cost, real-time payment options.

As businesses and consumers across the Asia Pacific region look for more efficient ways to move money, partnerships and acquisitions like this one position companies like Fiserv to offer a wider range of solutions for customers in more geographies. With PayFac enablement, cloud-based platforms, and emerging capabilities like pay-by-bank, the payments landscape is now offering more speed, transparency, and options.

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Ripple Moves into Prime Brokerage with Hidden Road Acquisition

Ripple Moves into Prime Brokerage with Hidden Road Acquisition
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Ripple
  • Ripple will acquire Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, making it the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker.
  • The acquisition expands Ripple’s offerings beyond payments into trading, custody, and lending services, providing financial institutions the infrastructure they need for crypto adoption.
  • Between recent regulatory shifts in the US and Hidden Road’s capabilities, Ripple is positioning itself to become a full-service financial hub as digital assets gain mainstream traction.

Blockchain and crypto solutions company Ripple announced plans to acquire multi-asset prime brokerage company Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. The deal will make Ripple the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker.

Hidden Road was founded in 2019 to offer financial institutions a one-stop-shop of services such as clearing, prime brokerage, and financing across foreign exchange (FX), digital assets, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income. The UK-based company clears $3 trillion annually across markets with more than 300 institutional customers. 

Hidden Road anticipates that being backed by Ripple will exponentially expand its capacity to service firms in its pipeline. “With new resources, licenses, and added risk capital, this deal will unlock significant growth in Hidden Road’s business, allowing us to increase capacity to our customer base, expand into new products, and service more markets and asset classes,” said Hidden Road Founder and CEO Marc Asch. “Together with Ripple, we’re bringing the same level of trust and reliability that institutional clients are accustomed to in traditional markets—designed and optimized for a digital world.”

For Ripple, buying Hidden Road will make it a major back-end infrastructure provider for big investors trading digital assets. The company will not just offer crypto payments, but also trading, borrowing, and custody services.

“We are at an inflection point for the next phase of digital asset adoption–the US market is effectively open for the first time due to the regulatory overhang of the former SEC coming to an end, and the market is maturing to address the needs of traditional finance,” said Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. “With these tailwinds, we are continuing to pursue opportunities to massively transform the space, leveraging our position and the strengths of XRP to accelerate our business and enhance our current solutions and technology.”

There are a few reasons why this acquisition is a huge deal for both Ripple and decentralized finance. First, it will help Ripple move beyond payments into full-scale financial services. The company, which is best known for cross-border payments using XRP, will now be able to offer trading, custody, and lending, which is the essential “plumbing” that institutional investors rely on.

Second, Hidden Road gives Ripple the infrastructure that institutions need to trade crypto confidently. By bundling execution, clearing, custody, and credit services all together, hedge fund and asset managers will be more likely to move more funds into crypto.

Finally, the acquisition positions Ripple as a strong player as US markets shift toward a more friendly crypto stance. Last week, the SEC published its official statement on stablecoins, ruling that they are generally not considered securities as long as they are pegged to USD and aren’t used or marketed for investment purposes.

With all of these aspects combined, the timing of today’s acquisition is ideal. Hidden Road will help Ripple become a full-service financial hub for crypto just as institutions are starting to take digital assets seriously again. It’s also a reminder that the structure of the future of finance will not look like it does today. Instead, it will likely be built on blockchain and driven by AI.

Photo by The Lazy Artist Gallery

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Rocket to Acquire Redfin for $1.75 Billion

Rocket to Acquire Redfin for $1.75 Billion
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Rocket Companies is acquiring real estate platform Redfin for $1.75 billion.
  • Rocket anticipates that adding Redfin into its offerings will create a more seamless home-buying experience by integrating home search, real estate brokerage, and mortgage financing.
  • The acquisition brings Redfin’s 50 million monthly visitors, 1 million active listings, and 2,200+ real estate agents into Rocket’s ecosystem.

Rocket Companies is ready for takeoff with its latest acquisition today. The Michigan-based corporate group announced plans to purchase real estate brokerage website Redfin for $1.75 billion.

Washington-based Redfin was founded in 2004 and is now one of the most recognized real estate search and brokerage platforms. The company hosts more than 1 million for-sale and rental listings, as well as a brokerage that consists of more than 2,200 agents.

“Rocket and Redfin have a unified vision of a better way to buy and sell homes,” said Rocket Companies CEO Varun Krishna. “Together, we will improve the experience by connecting traditionally disparate steps of the search and financing process with leading technology that removes friction, reduces costs, and increases value to American homebuyers.”

Rocket Companies consists of 11 separate brands, including Rocket Mortgage, Amrock, Rocket Money, Rocket Loans, Lowermybills.com, and others. Rocket has been around for 40 years and currently provides home financing in all 50 states.

Rocket anticipates that integrating Redfin’s home search and real estate agent network with its mortgage origination and servicing capabilities will offer users a more seamless experience, as Redfin will bring home search capabilities to Rocket’s mortgage financing and closing processes.

Specifically, Rocket will benefit from Redfin’s almost 50 million monthly visitors, 1 million active purchase and rental listings, and its 2,200+ real estate agent employees across 42 states. Rocket expects that, after its combination with Redfin, it will achieve more than $200 million in projected, annualized savings by 2027, including around $140 million saved from eliminating duplicate expenses.

“Rocket and Redfin’s approaches to lending and brokerage service have always been two halves of one vision to make the whole home-buying process magical,” said Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman. “We want a customer to be able to check her phone to find out what she can afford, see which homes are just right for her, schedule a tour with a local, expert Redfin agent, and get pre-qualified for a loan, all in a matter of minutes. Varun and I see how much better real estate could be when AI guides customers not just through that first step in their search, but all the way home, through the sale, the loan and then a lifetime of accumulating equity and wealth.”

Rocket Companies’ acquisition of Redfin is a major move in mortgagetech, which has generally remained one of the least disrupted subsectors of fintech. This is good news for consumers, who have traditionally had to navigate multiple fragmented steps to purchase a home. By bringing Redfin’s search and brokerage capabilities under its umbrella, Rocket will help streamline the home buying journey and create a more approachable experience, especially for first-time buyers.

The move also positions Rocket to capture more mortgage business at a time when refinancing demand has declined due to higher interest rates. Integrating Redfin’s platform and user base could significantly increase its share of purchase loans, allowing the company to compete more effectively against traditional banks and other real estate fintechs.

Photo by David McBee

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India’s Perfios to Acquire Clari5 (CustomerXPs)

India’s Perfios to Acquire Clari5 (CustomerXPs)
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, CustomerXPs, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Financial data company Perfios has acquired Clari5 to enhance its fraud prevention and risk management capabilities using Clari5’s real-time financial crime management platform.
  • Clari5 offers AI-driven fraud detection tools, including customer-looped alerts, identity resolution, trade-based AML, and real-time transaction monitoring across multiple channels.
  • Perfios anticipates that the acquisition will strengthen its presence in India, the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Financial data analysis company Perfios has agreed to acquire Clari5 (also known as CustomerXPs). India-based Perfios will use Clari5 to strengthen its own fraud and risk management capabilities. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Clari5 was founded in 2006 to help protect banks against fraud and money laundering. Among the company’s tools for fighting fraud are a customer-looped alert management service, payments fraud reporting, identity resolution, trade-based anti-money laundering, an inbound scam detection solution, and more. Additionally, Clari5 uses AI-driven analytics and machine learning to improve the detection of fraud patterns. The company monitors transactions in real-time across multiple channels to ensure that financial services organizations can quickly detect and prevent fraud.

“Joining forces with Perfios marks a new chapter of growth and innovation for Clari5,” said Clari5 CEO Rivi Varghese. “With Perfios’ deep expertise in the financial technology ecosystem and our advanced real-time financial crime management platform, we are creating a powerful synergy to redefine fraud prevention, risk intelligence, and AML compliance at scale. This partnership enables us to expand our reach, accelerate product innovation, and strengthen our ability to help financial institutions combat evolving financial crime with unmatched speed and precision. Perfios’ scale, global presence, and stability position us to serve the largest banks worldwide, enabling us to deliver impactful solutions to financial institutions of all sizes and complexities.”

Founded in 2008, Perfios builds customized solutions for financial services firms to make data-based, real-time decisions in lending, wealth management, embedded finance, insurance, and KYC. The company serves over 1,000 lenders in India, including each of the top 10 banks.

Perfios anticipates that adding Clari5 will help it build its leadership in the financial sector in India. The company also plans to use the move to strengthen its presence across its key geographies, including the Middle East, North Africa (MENA), and Southeast Asia (SEA).

“The acquisition of Clari5, a leader in EFRM and AML, marks a significant milestone in our journey to build the most comprehensive fraud and risk management ecosystem,” said Perfios CEO Sabyasachi Goswami. “Clari5’s real-time financial crime management platform, trusted by marquee financial institutions worldwide, perfectly complements Perfios’ mission to deliver secure, scalable, and tech-first solutions. Together, we are set to redefine fraud prevention, risk intelligence, and AML compliance, empowering financial institutions to stay ahead of evolving threats while powering financial security to billions across the globe.”

Photo by Christina Morillo

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Abrigo Acquires Integrated Financial Solutions

Abrigo Acquires Integrated Financial Solutions
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Abrigo, Alumni News, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Austin, Texas-based regtech Abrigo has acquired Integrated Financial Solutions (IFS). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
  • The acquisition will make IFS’s end-to-end lease and loan origination and management automation platform, IFSLeaseWorks, available to more organizations and institutions.
  • Abrigo made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateFall 2024 in New York.

Abrigo, a compliance, credit risk, and lending solutions provider for financial institutions, has acquired Integrated Financial Solutions (IFS). Terms were not disclosed.

Integrated Financial Solutions is the provider of IFSLeaseWorks, an end-to-end lease and loan origination and management automation platform. Abrigo’s acquisition will enable the firm to help financial institutions become more efficient via front- and back-office automation.

“Financial institutions are eager to grow while keeping an eye on profitability. That’s why the automation provided by the IFS solution is a great complement to the lending automation that Abrigo provides to our 2,400 financial institutions today,” said Jay Blandford, Abrigo Chief Executive Officer.

IFSLeaseWorks brings segments of equipment and vehicular financing to Abrigo’s existing loan origination and management platform. The solution also adds to Abrigo’s set of automation tools and boosts its asset management capabilities. This will help financial institutions both diversify their portfolios and potentially earn additional interest income. IFSLeaseWorks enhances efficiency and digitalization throughout the entire lease and loan transaction lifecycle. This includes transaction structuring and pricing through application processing, credit decisioning, documentation, billing, collection, and remarketing.

The acquisition comes at a time when the market for equipment leasing and software in the U.S. is growing. Based on research from the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, the market grew at an annualized rate of 7% in the second quarter of 2024. The IFS/Abrigo combination will help meet this demand with solutions that bring digitalization and greater efficiency.

“The IFS team has built a powerful application for leasing companies,” IFS founder and CEO Mitch Kaufman said. “By joining with Abrigo, we see a bigger opportunity to share these capabilities with the market and continue innovating for our clients.”

Founded in 2000, Abrigo made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024 in New York. At the conference, the Austin, Texas-based company demonstrated its fraud detection technology that combines AI/ML check image analysis, a nationwide fraud data consortium, and a configurable rules engine to spot altered items, forgeries, and fraudulent checks. Abrigo’s “targeted efficiency” approach reduces fraud losses and protects customers while saving time for financial institution personnel.

Photo by Mitchell Kmetz on Unsplash

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Neonomics Acquires Ordo to Expand Open Banking Expertise in the UK

Neonomics Acquires Ordo to Expand Open Banking Expertise in the UK
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Neonomics
  • Neonomics has acquired UK-based payments and data provider Ordo to expand its services in the UK and beyond.
  • Specifically, Neonomics will leverage Ordo’s expertise in Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) and pay-by-bank tools.
  • The acquisition has been approved by the UK Financial Conduct Authority and Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway.

Norway-based open banking innovator Neonomics has offered its payments and financial data solutions since 2017. This week, the company purchased Ordo, a UK-based open banking payments and data service provider.

Financial terms of the agreement, which was approved by both the UK Financial Conduct Authority and the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway, were not disclosed.

Ordo was founded by former members of the UK Faster Payments scheme in 2014, becoming an FCA authorized open banking payments provider. The company’s payments and data services include variable recurring payments as well as pay-by-bank tools.

“We are proud to join forces with one of the most well positioned independent open banking providers in Europe, to jointly scale our offering to both existing and new customers across the UK and Europe,” said Ordo CoFounder and Managing Director Fliss Berridge. “The two teams bring a wealth of experience in developing tailored solutions in a complex and highly regulated environment at what we believe will be among the industry’s most competitive commercial terms.”

Neonomics delivers payment initiation and account information services to a wide range of businesses, as well as a pay-by-bank app directed at consumers. The company also offers a newly launched AI tool, Nello AI, to serve as a personal finance manager app to motivate consumers with a monthly financial review, daily spending meter, a chatbot, and more.

“The team at Ordo represents some of the most experienced payments experts in the UK, having a leading voice across many of the most important forums that span the UK and EU in shaping how open banking will evolve,” said Neonomics Founder and CEO Christoffer Andvig. “This acquisition strengthens our commercialization strategy and time to market while expanding our product offering.”

Neonomics will leverage Ordo to help it accelerate its growth by offering services in the UK and other regions. With Ordo’s UK-centric payment tools, including its Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) capability, Neonomics plans to build a more open and connected economy.

The agreement comes as new payments regulations, including the Payments Services Regulation (PSR) and the third Payment Services Directive (PSD3), sit on the horizon. These regulations are expected to standardize open banking practices, enhance consumer protection, and drive further adoption of open banking solutions across Europe.

Acquiring Ordo positions Neonomics to benefit from these changes. The company’s payment suite and data tools are suited to offer more connected and seamless payments that are tailored to the continuously evolving regulatory landscape.

Photo by sl wong

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Amazon to Acquire India-Based BNPL Fintech Axio

Amazon to Acquire India-Based BNPL Fintech Axio
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Amazon has announced plans to acquire India-based BNPL company Axio.
  • The deal is reportedly worth over $150 million, pending approval from the Indian central bank.
  • The acquisition builds on Amazon’s previous financial services deals, having previously held an equity stake in Axio and acquiring Emvantage Payments, PayFort, and Tapzo.

Online retail giant Amazon plans to acquire buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Axio, as announced on the India-based fintech’s blog. According to TechCrunch, the deal is expected to close for over $150 million, pending approval from the Indian central bank.

Founded in 2013, Axio is a consumer finance company that has provided money management, pay later, and personal credit services. The company’s offerings are three-tiered. The finance planning tool allows users to review their expenses, maintain a budget, track bills, and split expenses. The BNPL offering facilitates instant credit and allows users to pay in installments while rebuilding their credit. Axio’s personal loans offer users simple registration with timely approval.

Axio has raised $226 million in funding over 14 rounds from investors including Peak XV Partners, Ribbit Capital, and Elevation Capital.

Today’s announcement comes six years after Amazon first took an equity stake in Axio. With a mission to make credit available to everyone, Axio has served over 10 million customers, noting that Amazon has been an invaluable partner in the journey.

“This means reaching more under-served customers, diversifying our offerings to address more unmet needs, and continuing to strike the right balance of customer experience, risk management, and affordability as we strive to responsibly expand access to credit across the country,” the company said in a blog post.

Amazon offers a range of payments services on its platform, including Amazon Pay, a payment service that includes Amazon Pay Express and Amazon Pay UPI; Checkout by Amazon; Amazon Flexible Payments Service; and Pay with Alexa. Among the retailer’s previous acquisitions in the financial services space are India-based Emvantage Payments, Dubai-based PayFort, and Tapzo, which the company later shuttered.

Photo by cottonbro studio

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