This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.
Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Financial infrastructure and blockchain technology company Ripple has secured $500 million in new funding at a valuation of $40 billion.
The funding comes at time of great activity for the San Francisco, California-based fintech, which has announced six acquisitions in the past two years and whose stablecoin, RLUSD, topped the $1 billion market capitalization mark this month.
As OpenCoin, Ripple made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2013.
We shared this news in yesterday’s Finovate weekly LinkedIn newsletter (subscribe if you haven’t). But we’re happy to share it with Finovate blog readers today. Financial infrastructure and blockchain technology company Ripple has raised $500 million in new funding, boosting the firm’s valuation to $40 billion. The funding follows the company’s recent $1 billion tender offer at the same valuation, and comes at a time of renewed interest in digital assets such as stablecoins and the growing importance of crypto services such as custody and trading.
“This investment reflects both Ripple’s incredible momentum and further validation of the market opportunity we’re aggressively pursuing by some of the most trusted financial institutions in the world,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said. “We started in 2012 with one use case—payments—and have expanded that success into custody, stablecoins, prime brokerage, and corporate treasury, leveraging digital assets like XRP. Today, Ripple stands as the partner for institutions looking to access crypto and blockchain.”
The investment was led by funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group, affiliates of Citadel Securities, Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Brevan Howard, and Marshall Wace. The fundraising comes as Ripple celebrates completing six acquisitions, including two valued at over $1 billion, in the past two years. The company, which first introduced itself to Finovate audiences at FinovateSpring 2013 as OpenCoin, has also expanded into new markets in prime brokerage and treasury management, adding to its existing footprint across payment, custody, and stablecoins.
This year, Ripple acquired stablecoin infrastructure company Rail to enhance its Ripple Payments offering as a full-service cross-border platform that leverages Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD and XRP to make international fund transfers faster and more efficient for businesses. The acquisition of multi-asset prime brokerage firm Hidden Road in October—now integrated into Ripple’s Ripple Prime platform—enables Ripple to offer its institutional clients a range of financial services including trading, custody, and derivatives for both traditional and digital assets. The company’s purchase of Palisade, a digital asset wallet and custody firm, will bolster Ripple’s Ripple Custody offering. Ripple Custody provides banks and other financial institutions with safe and secure ways to store digital assets, stablecoins, and Real World Assets (RWA).
Just this month, RLUSD surpassed $1 billion in market capitalization. Reaching this milestone in less than a year after it was launched, RLUSD is now the 10th largest, US dollar-backed stablecoin. RLUSD is the primary stablecoin used by Ripple for payment flows, Ripple President Monica Long noted in an interview with CoinDesk, adding that Ripple has processed “nearly $100 billion in payments volume to date.” Also this month, Ripple announced that its digital asset spot prime brokerage capabilities were now available to customers in the US.
“The launch of OTC spot execution capabilities complements our existing suite of OTC and cleared derivatives services in digital assets and positions us to provide US institutions with a comprehensive offering to suit their trading strategies and needs,” Ripple Prime International CEO Michael Higgins said.
Founded in 2012, Ripple is based in San Francisco, California.
Crypto solutions provider for businesses Ripple has announced its acquisition of digital asset wallet and custody company, Palisade. The move is designed to enhance Ripple’s custody capabilities—specifically, the company’s Ripple Custody offering—to better serve the needs of fintechs, corporates, and crypto-native companies. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Ripple Custody supports banks and other financial institutions looking for safe, secure ways to store digital assets, stablecoins, and Real World Assets (RWA). Palisade’s secure, fast, and scalable “wallet-as-a-service” technology will enable Ripple to serve a broader range of customers and use cases, especially those high-speed use cases for customers that require an out-of-the-box solution built for high-frequency transactions, on- and off-ramps, and payments.
Ripple Custody is currently being used by a number of tier-1 global institutions such as BBVA, DBS, and Societe Generale. The solution serves as a “vault” for institutional cryptocurrency holdings, supporting the management of multiple vaults and a complete view across assets and venues. Ripple Custody provides a tamper-proof audit trail and cryptographic approval process to ensure compliance.
“Secure digital asset custody unlocks the crypto economy and is the foundation that every blockchain-powered business stands on—that’s why it’s central to Ripple’s product strategy,” Ripple President Monica Long said. “Corporates are poised to drive the next massive wave of crypto adoption. Just as we’ve seen major banks go from observing to actively building in crypto, corporates are now entering the market, and they need trusted, licensed partners with out-of-the-box capabilities. The combination of Ripple’s bank-grade vault and Palisade’s fast, lightweight wallet makes Ripple Custody the end-to-end provider for every institutional need, from long-term storage to real-time global payments and treasury management.”
Palisade’s technology offers fast wallet provisioning, multi-chain support, and DeFi integration. The solution also features strong governance and security features, such as Multi-Party Computation (MPC) that divides wallet keys into key fractions or “shards,” and zero-trust architecture which mandates strict verification for all users and devices that are attempting to access the network. Per the acquisition, Palisade’s technology will also integrate directly into Ripple Payments, supporting use cases that require faster, more efficient responses. It will also provide the core infrastructure for subscription payments and collection capabilities.
“Joining Ripple marks a new chapter for Palisade,” the company noted on its LinkedIn page. “Our technology will become a cornerstone of Ripple’s next-generation wallet infrastructure, accelerating their Payments and Custody products while expanding market reach globally. This partnership combines our technology with Ripple’s enterprise network and scale, regulatory expertise, and established market presence.”
A Finovate alum since its debut at FinovateSpring 2013 (as OpenCoin), Ripple today boasts a global payments network with more than 300 customers across 40+ countries and six continents. The company’s payments, custody, and stablecoin solutions enable banks and financial institutions to simply and securely integrate blockchain and digital assets into their operations while remaining compliant. With payments settlement in three to five seconds, and more than a million custody wallets in circulation, Ripple provides 90% international FX market coverage.
Ripple’s acquisition announcement comes just days after the fintech reported the launch of digital asset spot prime brokerage capabilities for US customers via its Ripple Prime offering. The launch was made possible by Ripple’s acquisition of multi-asset prime brokerage, Hidden Road, earlier this year, and will enable Ripple’s US-based institutional clients to execute over-the-counter (OTC) spot transactions across a wide range of digital assets including XRP and RLUSD.
“The launch of OTC spot execution capabilities complements our existing suite of OTC and cleared derivatives services in digital assets and positions us to provide US institutions with a comprehensive offering to suit their trading strategies and needs,” Ripple Prime International CEO Michael Higgins said.
Founded in 2012, Ripple is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Brad Garlinghouse is CEO.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from India.
RBI pushes financial inclusion; launches digital currency sandbox
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra used the occasion of the 6th Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai to encourage technologies to emphasize financial inclusion as well as better trust and efficiency as they help build the future of the country’s financial ecosystem. Fintech will be able to participate by joining the sandbox directly or via their partner banks.
Malhotra credited Indian fintech for a range of innovations that have been the envy around the world. “India’s world-class digital public infrastructure, as symbolized by systems such as UPI, Aadhaar, and DigiLocker, has not only enhanced efficiency and service delivery, but also ensured that millions of Indians enjoy easy access to a wide range of financial services.”
UPI is India’s real-time payment system that enables instant fund transfer between bank accounts via mobile apps. UPI can be used with just a mobile number or Virtual Payment Address (VPA) and has enabled everything from peer-to-peer transfers to merchant payments. UPI processes more than 700 million transactions a day.
Aadhaar is the name of a biometric digital identity system that gives all residents a unique 12-digit identification. Aadhaar is the basis for digital KYC (Know Your Customer) processes and has use cases ranging from account opening and insurance enrollment in financial services to medical record access, government benefit disbursement, and more. DigiLocker is a cloud-based digital document storage platform that enables users to store and access official documents digitally. DigiLocker is estimated to have more than 465 million registered users.
In each case, the solution has been both a significant technological innovation and a way of bringing a wider range of financial services to a greater number of communities and businesses, and individuals.
Underscoring the compatibility between financial inclusion and technological innovation, Malhotra added, “serving the privileged will be a lucrative business, but companies must focus on serving the underserved sections of society. Build for inclusion. There may be higher profits to be made by deepening access to the haves and the privileged, but prioritize building systems to expand financial services to the unaccessed, the unreached, and the unserved segments of society.”
The RBI also made headlines with the launch of its digital currency sandbox. The initiative will enable fintech firms to build and test solutions using the central bank digital currency (CBDC) as part of its ongoing pilot project. The RBI’s first retail e-rupee pilot (India’s central bank digital currency or CBDC) went live in December 2022, and currently has more than seven million users.
The announcement was made by Suvendu Pai, General Manager at the RBI. Pai said that the launch was designed to encourage innovation in digital payments and to grow the ecosystem for India’s CBDC.
“The CBDC retail sandbox will give innovators the space to experiment and build on top of the digital rupee,” Malhotra explained. “It will help create new use cases, improve customer experience, and add value to ongoing pilots.”
Meet Finovate’s Indian alums
Would you believe that outside of the US and the UK, the next largest group of Finovate readers are based in India?
As our previous story acknowledged, India is an under-recognized superpower when it comes not only to fintech innovation, but also when it comes to making sure that technological innovations are built to benefit as many people as possible.
Finovate has been happy to host a growing number of Indian fintechs at our conference both in the US and abroad. Our most recent event, FinovateFall 2025, featured a trio of India-based fintechs—MoneyPlanned, OPL, and Sequretek—on stage and a fourth, CloudBankin, in our Impact Zone. But these are only the most recently added alums. Here are some of the Indian firms that have demonstrated their latest innovations on the Finovate stage.
Pine Labs and Indian e-commerce marketplace teamed up to introduce a new prepaid Flipkart Bharat Yatra Card.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Banco de Crédito del Perú, the largest bank in the country, has launchedCriptococos, a digital asset-compatible banking platform, in partnership with BitGo.
Chilean HR tech firm Buk acquired fintech Bemmbo to provide financial services via the new Buk Finanzas offering.
Brazilian Buy Now Pay Later firm Pagaleve raised $30 million in Series A2 funding.
Asia-Pacific
Bank of Singapore unveiled a new agentic AI tool to automate components of the KYC process.
The UK is looking to regulate Buy Now, Pay Later lenders. Meanwhile in the US, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is reducing fines on previous enforcement actions. It’s a tale of two very different regulatory trends depending on which side of the Atlantic you’re on.
We’ve got the latest regtech news along with the rest of the top headlines in fintech right here in this week’s edition of the Fintech Rundown!
Payments
Ripplereports that Zand Bank and fintech platform Mamo have deployed its blockchain-enabled payments solution, the first UAE-based financial institutions to do so.
PayPallaunches its Complete Payments service in Singapore.
Albertsons Companies offers invoice-based payment for its business customers courtesy of its partnership with TreviPay.
AAA Life Insurance partners with payments network One Inc. to support digital payment processing.
Digital banking
Finovate Best of Show winner Tuumlaunches suite of Islamic Banking solutions to enable financial institutions to offer more Sharia-compliant banking products.
Fraud prevention
Money and safety app for families, Greenlight, introducesFamily Shield to help caregivers protect seniors from financial fraud.
Identity verification and fraud prevention services provider AU10TIXlaunches continuous AML risk monitoring.
MRI Software integratesNova Credit’sIncome Navigator into its fraud prevention and application qualification solution.
DeFi / crypto
Non-custodial stablecoin wallet MiniPayis now available as a standalone application on iOS devices.
Investment / wealth management
U.S. Bank Global Fund Services turns to Fenergo to digitize and streamline its investor onboarding and service experience.
Regtech
Risk management company EverClaunches its AI-powered risk assessment solution for marketplaces, Smart Scan.
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 Rippleannounced 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.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global features an interview with Stav Levi-Neumark, CEO and Co-Founder of revenue workforce solutions provider Alta.
Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Israel, Alta leverages data and AI to help drive revenue growth at every level for businesses. The company’s AI Revenue Workforce agents ensure that everyone on the team is connected, aligned, and equipped with the data insights and AI automation they need to enable their businesses to scale efficiently and grow faster. Alta’s agents have helped produce a 3x increase in qualified leads, a 15% increase in win rates, and a 80% reduction in costs.
Our conversation with Levi-Neumark is also a part of Finovate’s and Finovate Global’s commemoration of Women’s History Month. Be sure to check out her thoughts on gender diversity, current opportunities for women in fintech, as well as her advice for female CEOs.
Can you tell us a little bit about Alta and the revenue workforce solutions business?
Stav Levi-Neumark: AI is impacting almost every industry now. But go-to-market and revenue teams across many vertical markets are struggling to fully harness AI for sustained growth. Choosing the right tools to enhance capabilities of salespeople while also automating relevant tasks is a real challenge.
Alta is an AI revenue workforce that is data-driven. It supports revenue teams, allowing each person to be like a 10x version of themselves.
Alta agents automate repetitive and mundane tasks that require limited human oversight, such as researching potential leads and conducting personalized outreach across multiple channels. The agents also provide actionable insights based on real-time data across all revenue functions. This streamlined workflow helps companies achieve improved revenue growth by working more efficiently, accelerating their sales cycle, and enabling humans to focus on relationship-building opportunities, strategic, and creative work.
Who are Alta’s primary customers and how do you reach them?
Levi-Neumark: Alta has really diverse customers across virtually every business sector, and they range from SMBs to Fortune 500 companies. We’ve been able to ramp up the number of clients we have really quickly as well, adding almost 100 customers in less than six months.
Your latest solution—AI Revenue Workforce—leverages innovations in agentic AI. Can you talk about how this technology and new product empower go-to-market and revenue teams?
Levi-Neumark: Agentic AI has endless potential to dramatically improve efficiency and drive revenue growth. By leaving automated tasks to AI agents, human-led go-to-market and revenue teams can work smarter and faster, focusing their attention where it matters most: developing strategy, building relationships, closing deals, and increasing ROI through creative thought.
AI agents in Alta’s workforce include Katie, a Sales Development Representative (SDR), Luna, an AI RevOps agent, and Alex, an AI Calling agent. The workforce can integrate into more than 50 internal and external marketing, sales, and revenue systems that include CRMs, ERPs, payment, advertising, social media tools, and more.
Alta is a very young company, founded in 2023. There has been a lot of discussion about the current environment for tech startups. How would you characterize the climate for startups today?
Levi-Neumark: The founders who thrive will be those who can harness technological advancements while building businesses with solid foundations that can stand on their own, beyond the AI hype. Here’s the advice I typically share when talking with other tech founders:
Success means your customers attribute significant revenue growth directly to your product. When they look at their business results and can clearly see your impact on their bottom line, that’s when you’ll know you’ve truly succeeded.
Maintaining balanced, healthy growth is key. While it may be tempting to focus more attention on one specific area of your organization, it’s critical to ensure all departments grow at an equal pace.
Be proactive rather than reactive to market shifts to position yourself ahead of certain trends. When deeply focused on product development and customer acquisition, it’s easy to miss emerging signals from the broader ecosystem.
Alta recently secured $7 million in seed funding. What does this investment mean for the company and what will it enable Alta to do?
Levi-Neumark: This funding solidifies Alta’s position as an industry leader in workforce intelligence automation. It will allow Alta to continue developing out-of-the-box solutions that redefine the relationship between AI and sales teams to unlock limitless revenue growth opportunities.
We plan to utilize the investment to expand into new markets, grow operations, scale R&D, and accelerate product development to meet increasing market demand from enterprise and mid-market customers. In fact, we are currently developing our newest AI agent, Greg, a sales assistant for account executives, to further bolster our workforce’s capabilities.
You are one of very few female CEOs in the enterprise AI space. Are there unique challenges to greater gender diversity in enterprise AI compared to other areas of technology, fintech, or financial services?
Levi-Neumark: I don’t feel there are unique challenges specific to the AI space compared to other tech sectors. The gender diversity issues we face in enterprise AI mirror what we see across technology, fintech, and financial services more broadly.
The fundamental challenges remain consistent: representation gaps, unconscious bias in hiring and promotion, and the need for more visible role models.
That said, I prefer to focus on the opportunity. AI is still a relatively young field, and at the end of the day, our success is what will define us. I hope more female founders and women will enter this market and look forward to welcoming them.
What advice would you give to female CEOs, especially those who are new to the role?
Levi-Neumark: I would advise female CEOs, especially those new to the role, to build strong support networks early. Connect with other female founders and executives who understand your specific challenges—these relationships become invaluable resources for candid advice and emotional support that you can’t always find within your company.
Trust your unique leadership style and perspective. There’s often pressure to conform to traditionally masculine leadership traits, but the most effective leaders bring their authentic selves to the role. Your different viewpoint is actually a strategic advantage that can help identify opportunities others might miss.
Be strategic about which battles to fight. As a female CEO, you’ll likely face additional scrutiny and challenges. Learn to distinguish between issues that are worth addressing directly and those where it’s better to let your results speak for themselves.
Prioritize building a diverse leadership team from the start. This not only leads to better decision-making, but also creates a culture where different perspectives are valued.
Finally, remember that your visibility matters. By succeeding in your role, you’re creating pathways for others. Share your journey, mentor upcoming leaders, and when possible, be the voice and representation you wished you had when starting out.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Asia-Pacific
UK-based open banking payments company Atoa announced an integration with New Zealand-based small business platform Xero.
The week begins with news of investment in insurtech, financial wellness, and risk management. We are also seeing a number of new partnerships in payments and fraud prevention. Check back here all week long at Finovate’s Fintech Rundown for updates on the latest fintech headlines.
Digital banking solutions provider Apiture and digital solutions company Omnicommanderteam up to help banks and credit unions better communicate with their customers and members.
Gold Coast Federal Credit Union enlistsTyfone to accelerate digital transformation.
Crypto / Defi
Ripplepartners with currency exchange provider Unicâmbio to bring crypto-enabled cross-border payments to Portugal.
Insurtech
Australian digital-first insurance broking firm UpCoversecures $19 million in Series A funding.
Via its brand Polly, European digital insurance broker CLARKlaunches its first fully digital underwriting solution in the UK.
Financial software and technology company CSI partners with Mitek Systems to launch its proprietary check fraud detection solution for NuPoint customers.
Backbase and Feedzaiteam up to integrate advanced security capabilities into Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform.
Regtech and compliance
Sardine AIraises $70 million to make fraud and compliance teams more productive.
Investing / wealth management
Halal investment research platform Musaffalaunches new equity crowdfunding round.
BrightwaveintegratesQuartr’s global database of first-party information from public companies with its document analysis capabilities.
Datalignsecures $9 million Seed funding to accelerate AI-powered financial advisory solutions.
Lending and credit
FinastralaunchesAssist.AI, an AI-powered assistant to enhance the trade finance operations within its Trade Innovation solution.
With Halloween and the U.S. election on the horizon, things may be getting spookier, but that’s not the case in fintech! We’ve seen some potential good news in VC funding trends and expect that there is more to come. Stay tuned throughout the week to read the latest news this week as we post updates and evolutions.
Regulatory reporting software provider Regnology is acquiring CG3-1, a company that specializes in regulatory calculations for the U.S. broker-dealer industry.
Relyanceraises $32 million to help companies comply with data regulations.
Open banking
Token.io and Santander team up to leverage open banking to enhance credit card repayments.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global highlights recent fintech news from India.
A strategic partnership between financial software applications and marketplace company Finastra and Tech Mahindra, announced today, will help corporate banks accelerate their digital transformation journeys. Specifically, the partnership will make Tech Mahindra the exclusive global implementation partner for Finastra’s Cash Management platform. Tech Mahindra will also become the preferred partner for Finastra’s Trade Innovation and Corporate Channels solutions in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
“This is an important partnership that aligns closely with our commitment to helping our customers navigate today’s challenges and embrace much needed digitalization,” Finastra CEO Simon Paris said. “The broad portfolio of services and deep experience offered by Tech Mahindra are a valuable complement to our modern and open software. With this combination, we look forward to propelling the digital transformation of even more banks and financial institutions around the world.”
The partnership will enable the two companies to offer a variety of cross-functional solutions across digital advisory, system integration, integrated infrastructure, and cloud services. These solutions will help corporate and institutional banks streamline and digitalize their operations. Financial institutions will further benefit from faster time to value for customers courtesy of faster implementations and upgrades.
“This partnership brings together two global leaders in digital transformation and financial services applications to help corporate banks scale at speed,” said Tech Mahindra CEO and Managing Director Mohit Joshi. “We believe our joint efforts will redefine the way banks digitize to improve their profit margins.”
Founded in 1986, Tech Mahindra is an international IT services and consulting company, headquartered in Pune, India. Part of the Mahindra Group, Tech Mahindra has more than 147,000 employees in 90+ countries serving 1,100+ clients. The firm offers solutions and expertise in verticals ranging from banking, insurance, and telecommunications, to media, entertainment, and retail. The first Indian company to earn the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Terra Carta Seal, Tech Mahindra is publicly traded on India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) and has a market capitalization of $17.8 billion (₹1.5 trillion).
The product of a union between Finovate alum Misys and D+H in 2017, Finastra offers software and solutions for financial institutions across lending, payments, treasury and capital markets, as well as retail, digital, and commercial banking. The company’s technology for banks helps them develop their direct banking relationships and to grow through new channels such as Banking-as-a-Service and embedded finance. More than 8,000 institutions – including 45 of the world’s top 50 banks – rely on Finastra’s technology.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been making fintech, financial, and economic news of late. On the fintech side, the RBI has granted cross-border payment licenses to three fintechs: BillDesk, Amazon Pay, and Adyen. These licenses will enable these companies to operate as cross-border payment aggregators and, ultimately, to offer their customers payment services for both imports and exports.
The RBI has been actively encouraging many fintechs to secure payment aggregator licenses; more than 20 companies have been granted PA licenses to date. In many of these instances, the RBI has suggested that companies interested in cross-border payments in particular apply for these licenses. Another firm that recently secured its PA license for cross-border payments for import and export from the RBI is Cashfree Payments.
In order to secure PA licenses, fintechs must register under the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) in order to become authorized to process transactions. Fintechs must also maintain a minimum net worth of Rs 15 Cr ($1.8 million) during application, a sum that will increase to Rs 25 Cr ($2.9 million) after March 2026.
Speaking of payments, the RBI is now a part of Project Nexus. The first project from the payments sector of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the project seeks to connect the Faster Payment Systems of four Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries – Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand – and India. While India’s RBI has collaborated with a number of other countries via its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to support bilateral payments, RBI’s participation in Project Nexus is the first time the bank has officially joined a multilateral project of this scope.
Additional countries are expected to be added over time. The project will help small and medium-sized businesses in India make faster, less expensive, and more reliable cross-border payments. To this end, the project will also make it easier for Indian banks to offer cross-border payment services to a broader range of countries. Speed and greater transparency are also among the benefits highlighted by observers.
Are you a fan of CBDCs? This week, the RBI reported that its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot has five million users and 420,000 participating merchants as of June 30. According to Reuters, transactions in the digital rupee are running at a pace of 100,000 a day, significantly below lofty expectations and hopes of one million transactions a day by 2023. It has also been pointed out that the digital rupee may suffer from competition with the country’s popular faster payments system, UPI.
Nevertheless, the digital rupee may be getting a bit of a boost courtesy of cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, which launched digital rupee payments on its platform this week. According to Cointelegraph, the digital rupee will be available as a wallet-based payment option, along with the exchange’s payment options in rupees via bank transfer, third-parties such as Paytm, and India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
“By incorporating the eRupee payment, Bybit aims to elevate the payment experience for INR (Indian rupee) users, fostering trust and reliability in every transaction,” said Bybit sales and marketing director Joan Han. “Furthermore, this initiative is expected to attract a wider pool of merchants to the platform, driving business growth and expanding the reach of Bybit’s services within the market.”
Founded in 2018, Bybit is the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume in the world, with more than 37 million users.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Faye, an insurtech startup based in Israel, raised $31 million in Series B funding.
Egyptian B2B platform Cartona secured $8.1 million in a Series A extension round led by Algebra Ventures.
Israel-based financial crime detection company ThetaRayacquired screening company Screena.
Central and Southern Asia
Bangladesh-based fintech Nagad teamed up with Huawei Technologies.
The Reserve Bank of India approved cross-border payment licenses for BillDesk, Amazon Pay, and Adyen.
Texas-based migration fintech Vesti announced an expansion to Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Caribbean-based PROVEN Bank partnered with Ireland’s Fenergo to enhance its transaction monitoring and AML operations.
Mexican fintech platform for the underbanked and microbusinesses Aviva raised $5.5 million in funding.
Rippleteamed up with the National Federation of Associations of Central Bank Servers (Fenasbac) to promote fintech innovation in Brazil.
Asia-Pacific
ADVANCE.AI launched its KYB business intelligence service to enhance its operations in Singapore and Malaysia.
Decentralized finance company Ripple acquired Standard Custody & Trust Company, a firm that offers institutional-grade custody, escrow, and settlement platform for digital assets.
The California-based company says the purchase not only underscores its commitment to regulatory compliance, but that it will also help bolster its existing product offerings.
Terms of the deal were undisclosed.
Blockchain and crypto solutions company Ripple announced its fourth acquisition today. The company bought Standard Custody & Trust Company for an undisclosed amount.
Ripple said the move serves two purposes. First, it underscores the company’s “commitment to regulatory compliance,” and second, it will enable Ripple to strengthen its existing offerings and add new products to its lineup. Specifically, the California-based company has its eye on Standard Custody’s limited purpose trust charter and its money transmitter licenses. Both will complement Ripple’s existing portfolio of regulatory licenses.
“Ripple and Standard Custody are dedicated to enabling enterprises to reap the benefits of blockchain across a host of financial use cases building institutional-grade solutions to tokenize, store, move, and exchange value. By expanding our licenses portfolio and making smart acquisitions, Ripple is well-positioned to take advantage of the current market opportunities and further strengthen our crypto infrastructure solutions,” said Ripple President Monica Long. “We will continue to leverage our strong financial standing to expand our product offerings, support new initiatives on the product roadmap and serve a broader segment of customers.”
Owned by blockchain infrastructure company PolySign, Standard Custody was founded to create an institutional-grade custody, escrow, and settlement platform for digital assets. “Together with Ripple, we will further innovate and extend our leadership position in providing crypto infrastructure,” said Standard Custody CEO Jack McDonald.
Amid an environment of increased scrutiny of decentralized finance tools and digital assets, Ripple is looking to conduct its operations in the most transparent, regulatory compliant way. The company and its subsidiaries have acquired a New York BitLicense, nearly 40 U.S. money transmitter licenses, a Major Payment Institution License from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and a Virtual Asset Service Provider registration with the Central Bank of Ireland.
Ripple was founded in 2012 and offers tools for global money transfers, CBDCs, and digital assets. Last year, the company acquired digital asset management solutions company Metaco for $250 million. Additionally, Ripple has recently partnered with HSBC, BBVA, and Zodia Custody, and launched its payments offering in Africa. The company supports live commercial custody offerings in 20 regulatory jurisdictions, and facilitates payments to 70 countries worldwide.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech news from Colombia.
The largest Spanish-speaking country in South America, Colombia is located in the northwest corner of the continent. With a population of more than 52 million, Colombia has the third largest economy in South America and the fourth largest in Latin America. More than 11 million people live in the country’s capital city of Bogota.
Earlier this year, the Colombian government indicated its support for open banking and open finance. Specifically, the government included the establishment of an open banking scheme as part of its National Development Plan. The fact that the current government endorsed an initiative that began with the previous administration was seen as an especially constructive sign for the future of open banking and open finance in Colombia.
One way to keep up with fintech news from Colombia is via Colombia Fintech. With information in both Spanish and English, Colombia Fintech is an association of fintech companies based in Colombia. The association provides news on Colombian fintechs, updates on relevant developments on the government and regulatory front, as well as opportunities for networking. Colombia Fintech counts more than 240 members in its community. The association was formed in 2016.
As for recent Colombian fintech news, Bogota-based payments and data security company Intexusannounced a partnership with security software company Entrust this week. Intexus will use Entrust’s digital card and instant issuance technology to support its card-as-a-service solution. The partnership is designed to enable banks and credit unions in Latin America to benefit from a unified payment card program.
“We have long been in the digital era and today’s consumers are accustomed to having resources at their fingertips instantaneously,” Intexus CEO David Rojas said. “Our partnership with Entrust allows us to simplify payment enablement for our bank and credit union customers throughout Latin America so they can focus on building relationships with their cardholders and members.”
Intexus serves clients in eight Latin American countries and issues more than 100,000 cards a month. The company was founded in 1997. Entrust provides solutions to help businesses offer trusted experiences for identity, payments, and data. Founded in 1969, the company has been a Finovate alum since 2015 when it presented its technology as part of our developers conference, FinDEVr SiliconValley.
Speaking of partnerships between Finovate alums and Colombian financial interests, we also learned this week that Ripple has entered into a new collaboration with the country’s central bank. As reported in CoinDesk, Banco de la República will test the effectiveness of Ripple’s CBDC platform to enhance Colombia’s high-value payments system. The pilot is being conducted in partnership with the country’s Ministry for the Information and Communications Technologies (MinTIC). Spanish blockchain company Peersyst Technology is also participating.
The goal of the project is to demonstrate the platform’s ability to improve the speed and reduce costs for large scale, wholesale payments, RTGS systems and similar operations, Joe Vollono, a director of CBDC business development at Ripple indicated. The project is scheduled to continue through the end of the year, and is being conducted in a controlled environment without compromising public resources.
As noted in The Paypers coverage of the announcement, Ripple previously partnered with Colombia last year to put land titles on the blockchain as part of a land redistribution program. Peersyst Technology was also a part of this initiative to permanently store and authenticate property titles on Ripple’s public blockchain.
Founded in 2012, Ripple made its Finovate debut as OpenCoin at FinovateSpring the following year. Rebranded as Ripple in 2015, the company has since grown into an innovative payment protocol and exchange network. Use cases of the company’s technology range from cross-border payments to crypto liquidity to CBDCs. Ripple’s customers include Novatti, Modulr, and Siam Commercial Bank. Chris Larsen is CEO.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
The acquisition will help Ripple enter into the crypto custody market, enabling clients to custody, issue, and settle any type of tokenized asset.
Both BNY Mellon and NASDAQ have made recent moves in the crypto custody market.
Blockchain-based payments network Rippleannounced its latest acquisition this week, picking up digital asset management solutions company Metaco for $250 million.
The move will help Ripple enter into the crypto custody market, which is expected to reach $10 trillion by 2030. Specifically, it will enable Ripple to expand its offerings, providing customers the technology to custody, issue, and settle any type of tokenized asset.
“Metaco is a proven leader in institutional digital asset custody with an exceptional executive bench and a truly unmatched customer track record,” said Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. “Through the strength of our balance sheet and financial position, Ripple will continue pressing our advantage in the areas critical to crypto infrastructure. Bringing on Metaco is monumental for our growing product suite and expanding global footprint.”
Founded in 2015, Metaco helps non-traditional financial institutions securely build their digital asset capabilities. The Switzerland-based company’s flagship offering, Harmonize, helps banks, regulated exchanges, and fintechs issue, store, trade, transfer, settle, and service digital assets. Metaco has more than 100 employees that serve clients in more than 15 countries.
Regarding today’s acquisition, Metaco Founder and CEO Adrien Treccani said, “This deal will enable Metaco to leverage Ripple’s scale and market strength to reach our goals and deliver value to our clients at a faster pace. We look forward to continuing to serve unprecedented levels of institutional demand with the utmost excellence in delivery, as our clients have come to expect.”
Today’s acquisition comes during a time when interest in the crypto custody space is heating up. BNY Mellon offers digital asset custody for U.S. asset managers, and NASDAQ is planning to launch crypto custody services for Bitcoin and Ethereum by the end of this summer.
Ripple was founded in 2012 and offers tools for global money transfers, CBDCs, and digital assets. Earlier this month, the company expanded its Middle East operations, opening a new office location in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
