Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Alternative Data Platform Thinknum Raises $11.6 Million.
  • SigFig Appoints Anne Morrissey as its First CFO.

Around the web

  • Modo taps Matt McBride as its new Chief Information Security Officer.
  • eToro to end commissions for U.K. customers trading on its platform.
  • Avaloq joins Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.
  • Kofax launches its Robotic Process Automation (RPA) 10.4 solution.
  • Vymo wins FICCI (The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce) Award for Innovation in Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics.
  • TurnKey Lender opens new office in Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

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

  • Nordigen, Sensibill Earn Spots in Fintech Europe’s Incoming Cohort.
  • Jumio Unveils Automated AML Screening Solution.
  • Community Access from Urban FT Brings Digital Tools to Small Banks.

Around the web

  • PayPal teams up with JP Morgan Chase to offer instant transfer option.
  • Coinbase’s Custody service completes its first over-the-counter trade directly from offline storage.
  • HackerOne announces detecting vulnerabilities in up to 43 digital asset projects.
  • Ping Identity wins the DeveloperWeek 2019 Devies Award and the Info Security Global Excellence Award.
  • The Paypers interviews Modo CEO and founder Bruce Parker.

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

  • AI Foundry Launches New Automation, Mortgagetech Solutions.
  • Video Conferencing Specialist 24sessions Scores $1.1 Million.
  • Voleo and Nasdaq Launch Second Student Equity Trading Contest.
  • Figo to Merge with Finreach Solutions.

Around the web

  • Modo launches its /Checkout solution to make payments easier for ecommerce merchants.
  • Al Taif Islamic Bank to deploy Sharia-compliant, core banking technology from Finastra, Fusion Islamic.
  • First State Community Bank picks ProfitStars’ Commercial Lending Center Suite.
  • CardFlight adds invoicing functionality to its SwipeSimple solution.

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

  • CuneXus Starts New Year Signing its 100 Customer.
  • Credorax Partners with Temenos to Enhance Payment Services.

Around the web

  • Zurich Topas Life, part of Zurich Group, selects Vymo as its sales productivity solution.
  • Modo powers new loyalty solution from FIS, Pointopia.
  • Baker Hill announces major 2018 milestones.

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

  • Roostify Powers TD Bank’s Digital Mortgage Experience.

Around the web

  • iQuantifi launches RoboPlanner roboadvisory tool for millennials.
  • Nummo selects MX to power user account aggregation.
  • Signicat digitizes in-store signing of credit agreements for Resurs Bank retail partners.
  • Kony helps PSECU deliver an updated digital banking application to enhance the digital user experience.
  • InComm partners with Japanese pharmacy chain Welcia to launch four mobile barcode payment solutions in its stores.
  • Sezzle adds ShipStation as client.
  • Ocurrency interviews Radoslav Albrecht, Founder & CEO of Bitbond.
  • Insuritas partners with Sound Community Bank to launch bank-owned digital insurance agency platform.
  • Bill.com partners with First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) to offer enhanced digital business payments solutions.
  • Lighter Capital’s investment in Springboard Retail reaches $1.1 million.
  • Provident Bank chooses Gro Solutions to boost mobile-first user-experience and drive account growth.

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.

Modo Receives $13 Million Investment

Modo Receives $13 Million Investment

Payments technology company Modo has just boosted its total funding to $16 million. This comes after today’s successful completion of a $13 million Series A funding round.

Investors include Deutsche Bank– whose participation was announced in August– as well as new and existing strategic and angel investors. Modo will use the funding to grow its team and expand on its offerings.

Deutsche Bank will leverage Modo’s technology to boost its digital business-to-business and business-to-consumer payments and extend its payment capabilities into non-traditional channels such as the mobile wallets and peer-to-peer networks of Alipay, Paypal, M-Pesa, and WeChat.

Rick Striano, managing director of digital product development at Deutsche Bank said the bank is committed to bringing continued innovation to its customers. He anticipates that partnering with Modo and other fintechs will enable the bank to accomplish that goal faster. “We believe Modo has developed a compelling proposition to address the needs of an evolving payments landscape and increasingly digital economy. We are proud to add them to our list of partners,” said Striano.

We have some big ideas for the future of the payments industry, and having these world class investors in our corner puts us that much closer to our goal of reducing friction in payments for everyone,” said Modo CEO Bruce Parker, who founded Modo in 2010. “Completing our Series A is a great way to confirm that we’ve built something great, and this is just the beginning of our growth phase,” he added.

Instead of integrating its solutions, Modo focuses on interoperability. The company exchanges payment data across platforms on behalf of banks, payment networks, and providers, enabling them to store, share, and track payment event data. Modo presented at FinovateFall 2016, where it showcased its Modo Digital Payments Hub. In the past year, the company’s transaction volume has grown 7x. In August, Modo partnered with Etihad to create a loyalty solution as a part of the FinTech Abu Dhabi Innovation Challenge.

Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Asia-Pacific

  • InComm launches Google Play gift cards in Thailand as it celebrates its 10th anniversary in the Asia-Pacific region.
  • Bank of Thailand announces plans to develop a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
  • Indonesia’s KoinWorks, an online P2P lending marketplace, locks in $16.5 million in funding.
  • Singapore-based crypto payments startup, Terra, raises $32 million in funding.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Azimo forges strategic partnership with African payments business, Interswitch Group.
  • Nigerian payment startup Paystack picks up $8 million Series A investment in round led by Stripe.
  • South Africa-based bitcoin wallet Luno tops two million customer milestone.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Sberbank becomes Founding Partner of World Economic Forum Centre for Cybersecurity.
  • A pair of fintech entrepreneurs from Latvia have bought Colorado National Bank for $8.97 million.
  • Bank of Russia’s Corporate University hosts workshop on functioning of regulatory sandbox.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Modo teams up with Etihad Airways to build loyalty solution for airline industry.
  • Emirates NBD launches DirectRemit service to the U.K.
  • Forbes Middle East profiles the fintech industry in Lebanon.

Central and South Asia

  • India-based startup PaySpoon to provide mobile-first credit options for consumers.
  • ZestMoney, a digital lending startup based in Begaluru, has raised $13.4 million in Series A funding.
  • Entrepreneur India explains why new entrepreneurs should “consider fintech as a sweet spot.”

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Compass Plus migrates Brazilian prepaid card issuer, BPP, to its platform.
  • PYMNTS.com looks at partnerships between fintechs and traditional FIs in Mexico.
  • Wirecard Brazil introduces new financial features for its entrepreneur customers.

Top image designed by Freepik

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Diebold Nixdorf Receives $650 Million Capital Commitment.
  • Mint Brings User Interface into 2018.
  • A Framework for Your 2019 Fintech Strategy.

Around the web

  • Mitek announces departure of CEO Jim DeBello.
  • The SaaS Report recognizes bpm’online CEO and managing partner, Katherine Kostereva, as one of its Top 50 SaaS CEOs of 2018.
  • ACI Worldwide integrates with tax filing technology firm, SPAN Enterprises.
  • Modo teams up with Etihad Airways to build loyalty solution for airline industry.
  • Vera welcomes Carlos Delatorre as CEO.
  • Temenos launches Temenos Learning Community Engine.

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.

Deutsche Bank Takes Equity Stake in Modo Payments

Deutsche Bank Takes Equity Stake in Modo Payments

Payments technology company Modo Payments announced this afternoon it received an equity investment from Deutsche Bank. The amount was undisclosed. Prior to today’s announcement, Modo had raised a total of $11.3 million since it was founded in 2010.

The German bank plans to leverage Modo’s technology to expand its digital business-to-business and business-to-consumer payments. Specifically, Deutsche hopes to extend its payment capabilities into non-traditional channels, such as the mobile wallets and peer-to-peer networks of Alipay, Paypal, M-Pesa, and WeChat.

John Gibbons, head of global transaction banking at Deutsche Bank, refers to payments as the “bloodline of banking.” In the press release, he noted that Modo will give Deutsche “more flexibility” in facilitating non-traditional transactions. “Going forward, we will be able to directly process payments to mobile wallets and app-based payment solutions,” Gibbons added.

“The Modo team is focused on doing the most good for the most people by reducing friction in payments. That is why we do what we do every day, and this partnership with Deutsche Bank is a great opportunity to work with one of the world’s largest payment providers that can implement our technology on a global scale and further our reason for being” said Bruce Parker, founder and CEO at Modo. “We’re excited to see where this relationship can take us and how we can continue creating interoperability between payment systems around the world.”

Modo exchanges payment data across platforms on behalf of banks, payment networks, and providers, enabling them to store, share, and track payment event data. The company presented at FinovateFall 2016, where it showcased its Modo Digital Payments Hub. Late last year, Modo appointed former CEO of Klarna North America, Brian Billingsley, as its Chief Revenue Officer. More recently, the company earned top honors at the ETA TRANSACT Payments Pitch-Off earlier this year.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • PaySimple Adds New Integrations for Targeted Email Marketing.
  • Deutsche Bank Takes Equity Stake in Modo Payments.

Around the web

  • US Alliance Group looks to Fiserv Debit Gateway and Accel Network partnership to support growth.
  • Xero opens new Americas HQ in downtown Denver.
  • Sberbank becomes Founding Partner of World Economic Forum Centre for Cybersecurity.

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.

Modo Payments Wins Top Prize at ETA TRANSACT Payments Pitch-Off

Modo Payments Wins Top Prize at ETA TRANSACT Payments Pitch-Off

Payments interoperability innovator Modo took home top honors at the Payments Pitch-Off sponsored by fellow Finovate alum Worldpay. The Texas-based company, which demonstrated its Digital Payments Hub at FinovateFall 2016, made their winning case before a judging panel of venture capitalist and payments industry executives, besting nine other participants.

“We couldn’t smile big enough to truly express our excitement,” Modo tweeted, announcing the news. “But trust us we are so excited to win the #ETATRANSACT PitchOff.”

At the event, Modo showed how a merchant could use Modo’s technology to add and remove PSPs into their systems with the “simple click of a button.” Modo provides a cloud-based payments utility that enables interoperability between banks, networks, payments processors, and their partners. Its one-to-many interface takes the friction out of payments by delivering any source of value (traditional or non-traditional) to any destination and back again without requiring any changes to the client’s infrastructure. Modo’s partners include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Alliance Data, and Verifone, as well as fellow Finovate alums FIS and Klarna.

“The Payments Pitch-Off at TRANSACT gives innovative startups the keynote stage to show off their products and services to the industry’s preeminent leaders at the world’s largest payments industry event,” ETA CEO Jason Oxman said. The Payments Pitch-off is part of the TRANSACT conference held by the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA). As the pitch-off winner, Modo picked up a $30,000 cash prize. A $5,000 cash prize for the “audience favorite” was awarded to Menusifu’s Restaurant Go app, a contactless payment solution for diners.

Fellow Finovate alum Sezzle also participated in the competition. Additionally, the event featured its 2018 Star Awards which honored individuals who had “made a significant difference in the payments industry through innovation, business practices, or contributions to the association.” These included representatives from Finovate alums including TSYS, Mastercard, and FIS.

PYMNTS.com interviewed company CEO Bruce Parker about payments in the cloud last month. Modo ended 2017 by adding former CEO of Klarna North America Brian Billingsley as Chief Revenue Officer. The company participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr New York, in 2016, discussing how its Digital Payments Hub can be used to design and manage the complete digital payment transaction lifecycle. Later that year, Modo demonstrated the four components of its technology: Payments System Connectors, Payments Transactions, Credentials Vault, and Digital Experiences at FinovateFall 2016.

Founded in 2010, Modo has raised more than $11 million in funding. The company’s investors include Tim Keith, CEO of Central Texas Partners; John Beletic, partner at Oak Investment Partners; and Jay Kassing, owner of fintech company Marquis.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • HooYu Brings KYC, Enhanced Customer Onboarding to Gold-as-Currency Enabler Glint.
  • Modo Payments Wins Top Prize at ETA TRANSACT Payments Pitch-Off.

Around the web

  • FBI Director Wray highlights Symphony as a model of “responsible encryption” that solves the problem of “going dark.”
  • Luxoft builds blockchain adapter for Appian’s low-code Rapid Application Development (RAD) platform.
  • eToro adds trading support for EOS, expands list to 10 cryptocurrencies.

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.