This week’s edition of Finovate Global features recent fintech news and headlines from the Netherlands.
Netherlands-based digital banking platform Plumery secured $3.3 million in funding this week. The investment came from of early-stage investor DN Capital and Fontes, managed by international VC firm QED Investors, and raises the company’s total funding to date to $7.8 million. Plumery added that it is preparing for a larger Series A round next year.
“Our commitment to product excellence and expansion into key markets (are) central to our roadmap, and this funding will propel us even further,” Plumery Founder and CEO Ben Goldin said. “We look forward to working with our partners in this next phase of our evolution and sustained growth in today’s competitive market.”
Plumery will put its new capital to work in a variety of ways. The company plans to expand its sales and marketing efforts, bolster international partner management, and enhance its platform’s capabilities for SMEs, consumers, lenders, and microfinance companies. Plumery will also look to add talent, particularly in product, engineering, and commercial roles.
Founded in 2022, Plumery offers a digital banking platform that enables businesses to rapidly customize and deploy their banking operations. The firm’s platform enables mobile and online banking interfaces and experiences to be built on top of legacy core platforms at a lower cost and at up to 80% faster than traditional methods. In its funding statement, the company noted that it plans to launch additional features including conversational banking and AI-driven automation and insights as part of its expansion plans.
It’s hard to imagine a Finovate Global look at fintech in the Netherlands that didn’t include a nod to Engagement Banking Platform Backbase. Especially upon hearing news that the company has moved to new headquarters in Amsterdam.
This week, Backbase celebrated the grand opening of its 5,000 square-meter, international headquarters at Oosterdoksstraat 114. Backbase CEO and Founder Jouk Pleiter said in a statement that the new HQ was “more than just a building,” noting that “it represents the outcome of a 20-year journey fueled by entrepreneurship, perseverance, and focus on innovation and customer success — all driven by our people.”
And at a time when many companies are struggling to encourage workers to spend more time in the office, it is hard not to be touched by the comments of Carolien Roos, partner at Firm Architects and designer of Backbase’s new headquarters. “Our vision was to create a space that not only inspires innovation but also brings people together,” Roos said. “The design encourages the kind of serendipitous encounters and discussions that often lead to groundbreaking ideas — a key ingredient in Backbase’s recipe for success.”
Backbase has been putting that recipe to good use of late. Also this week, the company announced that it was teaming up with business identity platform, and fellow Finovate alum, Middesk to enhance KYB verification for both banks and credit unions. Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform, integrated with Middesk, will give financial institutions access to real-time verification data sourced from multiple databases including the offices of all fifty Secretaries of State, the IRS, the USPS, OFAC, and more.
“Businesses today want a seamless verification process that meets compliance standards while limiting delays during the onboarding process,” Backbase VP of Product Robert Soetens said. “Together with Middesk, Backbase is continuing to implement modern, flexible, scalable, and API-first solutions (for) banks and credit unions, helping them deliver the best-in-class digital experiences to their business clients.”
Headquartered in San Francisco and founded in 2019, Middesk made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, the company demoed its Verification solution that provides a complete and accurate view of customers — from entity names to watchlist screening. Middesk counts Affirm, Brex, and fellow Finovate alums Plaid and Gusto among its customers. Kyle Mack is CEO and Co-Founder.
In addition to forging new partnerships, Backbase launched its Intelligence Fabric Layer last week. The new offering is a set of data/AI infrastructure and development capabilities that embed natively in the Enterprise Banking Platform. These capabilities, which include Agentic AI, help banks realize “significant productivity gains” in both customer servicing and sales. The Intelligence Fabric leverages Backbase’s Grand Central Integration Platform-as-a-Service, which unifies data from multiple sources, including core banking systems, payment gateways, fintechs, and non-fintech systems such as CRMs.
“We see a future where AI Agents will work autonomously in the background, handling tasks, managing processes, and collaborating with customers and employees,” Pleiter said. “The adoption and evolution of these new-gen, super-powerful agents will dramatically reduce internal and external labor spend on overheads such as sales, marketing, customer service, and compliance operations.”
A Finovate alum since 2009, Backbase most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall in 2021. The four-time Finovate Best of Show winner was founded in 2003 and counts more than 150 financial institutions around the world as users of its Engagement Banking Platform.
For more on Agentic AI, check out our primer from Senior Research Analyst Julie Muhn.
Finovate has been happy to introduce our audiences to a number of fintech innovators based in the Netherlands over the last decade-plus. Check out this roster of Dutch fintechs that have demoed their innovations on the Finovate stage.
24sessions – FinovateEurope 2019
AcceptEmail – FinovateEurope 2011, 2012; FinovateFall 2015
AdviceRobo – FinovateEurope 2016, 2019
Backbase – FinovateFall 2009-2014, 2016, 2017, 2021; FinovateEurope 2011-2018; FinovateSpring 2010, 2011; FinovateAsia 2012, 2013
Cobase – FinovateEurope 2021
Figlo – FinovateEurope 2011, 2012; FinovateSpring 2011; FinovateAsia 2012
InvoiceSharing – FinovateEurope 2015, 2016, 2017
MyOrder – FinovateEurope 2014
Ohpen – FinovateFall 2012
Topicus.Finance – FinovateAfrica 2018; FinovateAsia 2018; FinvoateEurope 2014, 2015, 2022, 2023
VATBox (now Blue dot) – FinovateEurope 2015
WUA – FinovateEurope 2021
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Middle East and Northern Africa
- Edge Middle East profiled UAE-based fintech startup Sav.
- Vision Bank launched its digital banking app in Saudi Arabia.
- Denmark-based Heimdal and Dubai-based emt Distribution teamed up to bring enhanced cybersecurity solutions to the MENA region.
Central and Southern Asia
- Indian API infrastructure provider M2P Fintech is “on track” to raise $80 million in new funding.
- Sonali Bangladesh UK turned to Finastra to enhance its digital banking services.
- Indian neobank Jupiter is reportedly in talks to acquire a stake in SBM Bank India, according to TechCrunch.
Latin America and the Caribbean
- Binance secured Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license to operate in Argentina.
- Trinidad and Tobago inked an agreement with NPCI International Payments to build a real-time payments system based on India’s UPI.
- Paysend partnered with Mastercard to launch Paysend Libre in Mexico to promote financial inclusion.
Asia-Pacific
- Malaysia’s Maybank partnered with China’s Bank of Hangzhou to enhance cross-border financing and innovation in AI.
- Worldline teamed up with Bank of China Hong Kong to launch an open platform card solution for customers in Hong Kong.
- A coalition of banks and other financial institutions in Malaysia have launched a new, integrated platform, the National Fraud Portal (NFP), to fortify the capabilities of the country’s National Scam Response Centre (NSRC).
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Kazang Pay launched its card acceptance solution for merchants in Zambia.
- African payment infrastructure company Fincra secured a Third Party Payment Provider (TPPP) license in South Africa.
- Bitcoin News looked at the licensing challenges faced by fintechs in Kenya.
Central and Eastern Europe
- Polish paytech BLIK secured authorization from the National Bank of Romania to develop the BLIK payment system in local currency.
- Canadian open banking innovator Salt Edge partnered with Eastern European financial services provider Erste Group.
- Georgian payment service provider UniPAY teamed up with TransferGo to bring U.K. and EU IBAN payout services to the central European nation.