This week’s Finovate Global will take a look at some news from a pair of European alums that are expanding into new markets and collaborating with fellow fintechs.
First up is Finland’s ReceiptHero, which announced this week that it has launched operations in Switzerland. The launch is part of a multi-party collaboration with Noerdkantine – which refers to itself as a “charming and diverse event location with probably the most beautiful roof garden in Zurich – along with the business’ POS provider, TC POS, and its card payment provider Worldline. Noerdkantine is the first international merchant to take advantage of ReceiptHero’s services.
“This has been a fifteen-month process in the making,” ReceiptHero Country Manager, DACH, Mikko Rieger said. “We’re excited to have finally got the core platform now setup in Switzerland and we’re ready to onboard merchants.” Added Christian Mattle, Managing Director of Zucchetti Switzerland SA, the company behind TC POS: “We’re happy to be part of this milestone for ReceiptHero and we’re excited to support with rolling out the service towards our other Swiss merchants.”
Founded in 2019 and making its Finovate debut in Berlin, Germany at FinovateEurope a year later, ReceiptHero enables digital receipts from merchants to be delivered directly to customer banking and accounting apps. On a mission to “banish the paper receipt” and replace it with an alternative that adds value to purchases while putting a premium on privacy, ReceiptHero is building a digital ecosystem for receipts that benefits both business and individual consumers. Courtesy of ReceiptHero’s API platform, customers get the same data available on a paper receipt, including tax amounts, company information, and product level data. Individual customers benefit from having more enriched transaction data imported directly into their banking apps, which enhances the ability of features like budgeting to give users more accurate spending insights.
Importantly, the inclusion of international digital payment and transactional service company Worldline will make it easier for ReceiptHero to secure additional partnerships in Switzerland as well as throughout Europe.
“It’s been a long time coming, but it’s great that we now have ReceiptHero up and running,” Worldline Head of Partner Management Daniel Wirthlin said. “We look forward to being part of the sustainability journey and support our partner ReceiptHero to provide real and add-on value to merchants based on their existing terminal infrastructure in the DACH region.”
ReceiptHero finished 2020 with a $2.27 million (€2 million) seed funding round led by Lifeline Ventures, Superhero Capital, and Vidici Ventures. Joel Ojala is CEO.
Next up is news from Latvian fintech Nordigen, which most recently appeared on the Finovate stage at FinovateEurope 2019 in London. The company leverages open banking and its account data analytics technology to help banks and lenders make faster, more accurate credit decisions. Offering account-based income verification, transaction categorization, and behavioral scoring solutions in 13 countries, Nordigen announced a pair of partnerships this week that underscore how its technology can benefit a variety of fintechs and financial services companies.
Early in the week, Nordigen announced that it was teaming up with SME lending platform Spotcap. The Lending-as-a-Service provider will use Nordigen’s technology – specifically the company’s access to financial transactions and enhanced credit reports – to make more thorough analysis of borrower finances en route to better credit decisioning.
“With Nordigen’s API, Spotcap can securely and quickly gather customer data to enhance existing products,” Spotcap SVP of Technology Viktor Kocherga said. “We share a joint purpose, to create convenient and comprehensive services using data, and Nordigen has the necessary tools to help us achieve this.”
Later in the week, Nordigen announced that it was also partnering with personal finance management app Everst. The two companies will collaborate to enable Everst to provide its users with a comprehensive financial overview that includes transactional data. Everst founder and CEO Felix Goosmann referred to Nordigen as “the perfect partner” in its goal of “challeng(ing) that status quo of personal finance management.” He added that the two companies “share a common goal of broader access to open banking.”
Available on both iOS and Android, Everst’s app includes a multi-currency dashboard, and the ability to connect multiple accounts from up to 2,000 banks and fintechs.
“Through the use of integrated PSD2-regulated APIs, Nordigen safely provides Everst with the necessary open banking data for their app,” Nordigen CEO and co-founder Rolands Mesters said. “Our account information services supply the application with crucial financial information needed for automation and an excellent overall user experience.”
Nordigen was founded in 2016, and is headquartered in Riga. In addition to its partnerships with Spotcap and Everst, the company also has teamed up this year with Denmark-based Buy Now Pay Later company Anyday and accounting solution provider CH Konsultatsioonid which serves customers in Estonia, Finland, and Lithuania. Nordigen has raised $4.2 million in funding from investors including Black Pearls VC, Inventure, Change Ventures, and Seedcamp.
FinovateEurope 2022 is right around the corner. If you are an innovative fintech company with new technology to show, then there’s no better time than now and no better forum than FinovateEurope. To learn more about how to demo your latest innovation at FinovateEurope 2022 in London, March 22-23, visit our FinovateEurope hub today!
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Middle East and Northern Africa
- UAE-based independent digital banking platform YAP announces a partnership with integrated payments and payment processor Financial Software and Systems.
- Israel-based customer personalization and engagement platform Personetics secured $85 million in growth funding.
- Top Egyptian fintech MNT-Halan added Buy Now Pay Later functionality to its platform.
Central and Southern Asia
- India-based embedded finance platform M2P secured $56 million in growth funding.
- Pakistan-based Taro Technologies raised $3.5 million in pre-seed funding.
- Millennial and Gen Z-focused financial services app Zindigi went live in Pakistan this week.
Latin America and the Caribbean
- Online payment solution provider AstroPay went live with its Payment Links solution in Brazil.
- TechHQ profiled Mexican fintech Bankaya and its novel approach to acquiring customers.
- Brazilian credit fintech SuperSim secured $5 million in Series A financing.
Asia-Pacific
- UnionBank of the Philippines announced a partnership with Metaco and IBM to support its digital asset management business.
- Leading Hong Kong-based virtual bank ZA Bank earned a Type 1 SFC license to deal in securities, the first financial institution of its kind in the territory to do so.
- DealStreetAsia profiled Vietnamese payment unicorn, MoMo.
Sub-Saharan Africa
- DPO Group secured a license to provide payment services in Nigeria.
- BlackPay launched new loan solutions to support cultural and financial inclusion in South Africa.
- African fintech Finclusion raised $20 million in debt and equity pre-Series A financing.
Central and Eastern Europe
- PoS system provider Phos announced a partnership with Bulgarian payment services company BORICA.
- Berlin, Germany-based corporate credit card provider Moss reached a valuation of more than $567 million (€500 million) after closing a $85 million (€75 million) Series B funding round.
- Latvia’s Nordigen announced partnerships with SME lending platform Spotcap and PFM platform Everst.
Photo by Fede Roveda from Pexels