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Finovate Global: An Introduction to Islamic Finance with Musaffa’s Dilshod Jumaniyazov

Finovate Global: An Introduction to Islamic Finance with Musaffa’s Dilshod Jumaniyazov
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: CEO Interview, Finovate Global, Salt Edge

Last year, we published an edition of Finovate Global that featured new developments in Islamic finance. This week’s column will explore further the world of Islamic and Shariah-compliant financial services with Dilshod Jumaniyazov, CEO and co-founder of Musaffa.

Launched in 2020 and headquartered in New York, Musaffa offers a comprehensive platform for ethical investing, Halal stock trading, and financial education. More than 487,000 Muslim investors in 195 countries use Musaffa’s platform, which provides access to stocks in countries ranging from the U.S., U.K., and Australia to Malaysia, the UAE, and Turkey.

Musaffa recently launched its Purification Calculator, which enables Muslim investors to confidently identify and invest in Shariah-compliant businesses. And at a time when more investors are looking for investments that align with their values, Musaffa’s advanced screening tools, financial education, and other solutions can be useful to ESG-oriented investors as well as faith-based ones.

In our extended conversation, Jumaniyazov helps us understand the size and scope of Islamic and Shariah-compliant finance, the unique needs of the customers in this growing market, and how enabling technologies are bringing innovation to Islamic financial services in areas such as banking to wealth management.

How big is the market for Shariah-compliant financial solutions? How has this market grown in the West in particular? Are there countries in the West where the demand for Shariah-compliant financial solutions is especially strong?

Dilshod Jumaniyazov: The market for Shariah-compliant financial solutions is not just big—it’s growing fast. In 2022, the global Islamic finance industry expanded by 11%, reaching $4.5 trillion in assets, and it is expected to grow to $6.7 trillion by 2027, according to the ICD-LSEG Islamic Finance Development Report 2023.

In the West, Islamic finance has gained significant traction, particularly since the 2008 financial crisis, when it emerged as a more stable and ethical alternative. In the U.K., Islamic banks have doubled their assets over the past decade, reflecting a growing demand for Islamic finance. Sukuk issuances have also increased across Europe, with countries like Luxembourg and Germany leading the charge. The broader trend of sustainable and values-based investing has played a crucial role in driving this growth.

Certain Western countries stand out for their strong demand. According to Global Finance Magazine, the U.K. is a clear leader, serving as a global hub with five Islamic banks and more than 20 conventional banks offering Shariah-compliant products. Luxembourg, the first Eurozone country to issue a sovereign sukuk, hosts a wide range of Shariah-compliant funds. Germany has made significant strides by issuing sukuks and licensing its first Islamic bank, highlighting its growing interest in the sector. Meanwhile, France, with Europe’s largest Muslim population, holds enormous untapped potential despite its relatively underdeveloped Islamic finance market.

This combination of ethical investing and increasing demand in key regions has positioned the West as an emerging force in Shariah-compliant finance.

What are we talking about when we talk about Shariah-compliant finance? How is it different from financing in the West?

Jumaniyazov: Shariah-compliant finance is rooted in Islamic principles that emphasize fairness, transparency, and social responsibility. It prohibits earning or charging interest (riba), excessive speculation (gharar), and investments in harmful industries such as gambling, alcohol, and weapons. Instead, it focuses on ethical investing, risk-sharing, and linking all financial transactions to real economic activities. For example, rather than relying on traditional interest-based loans, Shariah-compliant finance uses models like mudarabah (profit-sharing) and musharakah (joint ventures), where risks and rewards are shared among all parties. This approach ensures that financial activities create tangible value and benefit society.

What sets Shariah-compliant finance apart from Western finance is its deeply embedded ethical framework. While Western finance often revolves around interest-bearing loans and speculative investments, Shariah-compliant finance requires every transaction to align with moral principles and economic justice. It’s not just about profit — it’s about creating shared prosperity and avoiding harm. This focus on equity, accountability, and real-world impact makes Shariah-compliant finance a compelling alternative, especially for those seeking a more values-driven approach to managing wealth.

How has digital transformation impacted the market for Shariah-compliant finance. Has technology made it easier to innovate and create new solutions for the community?

Jumaniyazov: Digital transformation has completely reshaped the landscape of Shariah-compliant finance, making it more accessible and innovative than ever before. With the rise of digital banking and mobile payment platforms tailored to the needs of Muslim consumers, financial services are now reaching communities that were previously underserved. This has opened up opportunities for growth and inclusion on a global scale.

Technology has also sparked exciting developments like digital sukuks and blockchain-based smart contracts, which align perfectly with Islamic principles. These innovations have not only made processes more efficient, but have also introduced entirely new ways to approach halal and ethical finance. By breaking down barriers and reducing costs, digital transformation has turned Shariah-compliant finance into a dynamic, forward-thinking sector that’s more relevant than ever in today’s world.

Is there a role for AI in Shariah-compliant finance?

Jumaniyazov: AI is revolutionizing Islamic finance by making it more efficient, innovative, and accessible while staying true to its ethical principles. One of its most significant contributions is in screening stocks and ETFs for Shariah compliance. AI can analyze large datasets to assess whether investments meet Islamic criteria, streamlining a process that would otherwise be time-intensive and complex. This ensures that investors can confidently align their portfolios with their faith.

AI is also transforming Islamic financial products, such as sukuk. By enabling smart contracts, it has improved the transparency, efficiency, and trustworthiness of sukuk issuances. With applications like blockchain integration and advanced analytics, AI is not just addressing operational challenges but also opening doors for innovation, making Islamic finance more dynamic and globally relevant while adhering to Shariah principles.

You are CEO of Musaffa, a company that has developed Shariah-compliant solutions. Can you tell us a little about Musaffa and how you came to co-found the company?

Jumaniyazov: Of course. The journey to founding Musaffa began with a deeply personal challenge. Over my 16 years of investing, I often faced a dilemma — questioning whether my investments aligned with my faith and values as a Muslim. Every time I ventured into the stock market, I carried the weight of uncertainty, wondering if I was compromising my principles. As I shared my experiences with friends and colleagues, I realized this was not just my struggle — it was a challenge faced by millions of Muslims worldwide in a financial landscape that offered little guidance or transparency for faith-aligned investing.

This realization sparked a vision over a decade ago: to create a platform that would empower Muslims globally to invest ethically and confidently while staying true to their faith. However, I quickly recognized that making this vision a reality required more than just ambition. It demanded deeper knowledge, broader experience, and substantial capital.

Determined to bridge these gaps, I pursued an MBA at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned my CFA designation to strengthen my expertise in finance. I gained invaluable experience working with the technology team at Wells Fargo Securities, where I contributed to launching several trading platforms. Alongside this, I saved diligently, setting aside funds from my paychecks and 401(k) savings over the years. By late 2020, with $250,000 of my own savings, I was ready to bring Musaffa to life.

Musaffa is more than just a platform — it’s a solution to a deeply felt problem. At its core, Musaffa provides access to over 90,000 stocks and 9,000 ETFs globally, all meticulously analyzed for Shariah compliance. The platform enables users to seamlessly buy and sell halal stocks through an integrated network of brokerages. 

Education is another cornerstone of our mission. Through Musaffa Academy, we offer tailored courses in financial literacy and Islamic finance, equipping our users with the knowledge to make informed decisions. These tools are designed not just to help Muslims invest, but also to empower them to understand and take control of their financial journeys.

As a result, Musaffa has grown to serve over 482,000 users across 195 countries. Our users trust us to provide peace of mind and a way to align their investments with their faith. With features like advanced Shariah compliance screening, integrated trading options, and a robust educational platform, Musaffa has become a trusted partner for Muslim investors worldwide.

Looking ahead, we are excited to expand our offerings by launching proprietary Shariah-compliant ETFs and further integrating into global markets. Our goal is to make halal investing even more accessible and to continue simplifying access to the $30 trillion Shariah-compliant market.

What sets Musaffa apart are not just the tools we provide but our unwavering commitment to solving real challenges. We’re not just offering a platform; we’re creating a global financial ecosystem rooted in faith, trust, and ethics.

Today, I am incredibly proud of how far Musaffa has come. It stands as a testament to years of dedication, the belief that financial success should never come at the expense of one’s values, and a vision that’s empowering Muslims around the world to invest with confidence and purpose.

Who are Musaffa’s primary customers and how do you reach them?

Jumaniyazov: Musaffa’s primary customers are individual investors worldwide who seek to invest in alignment with their values, as well as both Islamic and traditional financial institutions. We engage with them through a strategic mix of targeted digital campaigns, partnerships with Islamic organizations, and our robust education platform, Musaffa Academy, which drives the majority of our traffic. Additionally, we leverage the Musaffa Ambassador Program, which empowers passionate individuals to represent our brand and bring more users to the platform. Word-of-mouth referrals also play a pivotal role in building trust and expanding our reach within this values-driven audience. Together, these channels foster a strong and authentic connection with our customers.

You recently launched a Purification Calculator? Can you tell us about this solution: why you launched it, what it does, and how the reception of it has been so far?

Jumaniyazov: The Purification Calculator is an indispensable tool designed to ensure that Muslim investors can maintain Shariah compliance in their investments. Purification is a mandatory condition for any investment to be considered Shariah-compliant, as it involves cleansing portfolios of any unintended non-compliant income. The calculator simplifies this process by determining the exact amount that should be donated to charity, enabling investors to align their earnings with Islamic principles.

We launched this solution to address a critical concern for Muslim investors and to simplify a process that many found complex or uncertain. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, as the tool empowers users to invest with confidence, knowing their financial activities align with both their faith and values.

What are some of the most interesting things going on in Islamic finance right now to you personally?

Jumaniyazov: For me, one of the most exciting developments in Islamic finance is the growing focus on halal investment research. With more Muslims wanting to align their financial decisions with their faith, the demand for tools and analyses to identify Shariah-compliant opportunities is stronger than ever. This isn’t just about screening stocks; it’s about providing in-depth research and actionable insights that help investors make confident, informed decisions in a complex market.

Another area I find fascinating is how digital platforms are transforming access to halal investments. From sukuk to Shariah-compliant ETFs and stocks, technology is making it easier for people to find and invest in Shariah-compliant and ethical assets. This combination of research and innovation is bridging a critical gap for Muslim investors, helping them grow their wealth while staying true to their values; it’s an exciting time to see how the industry is evolving to meet both faith-driven and financial needs.

What can we expect to hear from Musaffa in 2025?

Jumaniyazov: In 2025, at Musaffa, we plan to launch a comprehensive Islamic finance education platform, introduce our proprietary Shariah-compliant trading platform, and begin offering exclusive Shariah-compliant ETFs following SEC licensing approval. Our goal is to solidify our position as the premier global platform for halal investments while significantly expanding our user base.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Blockchain and cryptocurrency infrastructure company Binance won approval from the Central Bank of Brazil to acquire a locally licensed broker-dealer.
  • Union Bank of India introduced new accessibility features to its Digital Rupee app.
  • Chilean fintech Tanner Servicios Financieros raised $40 million in funding from the International Finance Corporation.

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • South African fintech Sourcefin raised $8.2 million in funding to support SME financing.
  • Financial services provider Mukuru secured a Deposit-Taking Microfinance Institution (DTMFI) license in Zimbabwe.
  • Nigeria-based Bankit MFB launched its new web banking platform.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Digital asset infrastructure company Taurus expanded its operations in Turkey.
  • Serbian IT company Saga teamed up with Salt Edge to help banks in Serbia take advantage of opportunities in open banking.
  • German fintech Cleversoft announced its intention to acquire Turkish financial messaging and AML compliance solutions provider Fineksus.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Qatar-based Doha Bank to go live with Visa Commercial Pay, the first bank in the market to do so.
  • Iraqi fintech company Qi Card launched its app SuperQi, which serves as both a lifestyle super app and a digital bank.
  • Italian software company TeamSystem acquired Israeli fintech Morning for $150 million.

Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope 2025 in London? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.

Photo by Aa Dil

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UK-Based Insurtech Uinsure Partners with Suffolk Building Society

UK-Based Insurtech Uinsure Partners with Suffolk Building Society
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • U.K.-based insurtech Uinsure has forged a partnership with Suffolk Building Society.
  • The collaboration will make Uinsure’s insurance solutions for homeowners, landlords, and others available to Suffolk Building Society customers whether they seek insurance via the branch or online.
  • Founded in 2007, Uinsure is headquartered in Manchester, U.K. Simon Taylor is CEO.

The latest partnership announcement from Manchester-based insurtech, Uinsure, underscores the strengthening position the firm has in the U.K. financial services market in general and the country’s insurance industry in particular. Uinsure has teamed up with Suffolk Building Society, which will make the insurtech’s insurance solutions available to Suffolk Building Society’s customer base both in-branch and online.

“As a mutual society, the ‘bricks and clicks’ model is at the heart of what we do,” Suffolk Building Society Head of Membership Nathan Wade explained. “This offering from Uinsure means staff from across our branches can continue to give excellent face-to-face customer service to those who value it most. But others can easily access the insurance through our website, along with our other online services.”

Over the past year, Uinsure has teamed up with building societies including Leeds Building Society, Nottingham Building Society, Leek Building Society, and more. The insurtech also onboarded more than 230 financial intermediary partner firms in 2024, all of whom will offer insurance products to their customers by way of UinsureCX technology. Uinsure noted that it plans to announce a number of new major partners in the first quarter of 2025.

According to IBIS World, building societies in the U.K. are expected to see their revenue grow at a compound rate in excess of 22% over the five years through 2024-2025 to more than $60 billion (£49 billion). This includes estimated growth of 6.5% in 2024-2025. The largest player in the business by far is Nationwide Building Society (£272 billion in total assets), followed by Yorkshire Building Society (£74.23 billion in total assets) and Coventry Building Society (£61.73 billion in total assets). In addition to being the largest building society in the U.K., Nationwide Building Society is also the third largest mortgage lender in the country, according to Statista, with 12% of the U.K.’s gross mortgage lending. For its part, Suffolk Building Society has £799 million in total assets and is ranked 21st among U.K. building societies.

“2024 has been a transformational year for us and this partnership with Suffolk Building Society is another major step as we change perceptions of how insurance can be offered and arranged across the country,” Uinsure Chief Distribution Officer Lauren Bagley said. “We’ve seen remarkable growth that has largely been driven by our expanded partner network. Our collective commitment to customer experience is at the heart of these collaborations and is a major reason why we’ve been able to make a success of the partnerships we’ve launched this year.”

Founded in 2007, Uinsure offers home insurance, buy-to-let (BTL)/ landlords insurance, and non-standard and specialist insurance solutions. The company’s technology helps advisers remove the complexity and time-consuming aspects of accessing insurance products, leveraging Big Data and third-party integrations to, for example, pre-fill account information. To this end, Uinsure’s technology only requires an applicant’s name, date of birth, and postcode in order to provide personalized quotes in 20 seconds. Simon Taylor is Uinsure’s CEO.

Photo by JOHNY REBEL, the Explorer Panda

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Streamly Snapshot: Fusing Traditional Old School Practice with Futuristic Practice in Banking

Streamly Snapshot: Fusing Traditional Old School Practice with Futuristic Practice in Banking
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Interview, Streamly

How are banks managing the challenges of digital transformation? What do financial institutions need to do in order to ensure that new digital initiatives are aligned with customer preferences and needs?

In this Streamly interview, Finovate Senior Research Analyst Julie Muhn sits down with Milton Santiago, Global Head of Digital Solutions at Silicon Valley Bank. The two discuss the bank’s current digital transformation and the role of enabling technologies like AI in enhancing the customer experience, among other topics.

“What excites me the most about what’s going on in our bank is the fact that we continue to invest, we continue to focus really on what our customers need to grow their businesses and to be successful at a variety of life stages: be it at small inception where maybe it’s just you and me as a startup to where we have gone through multiple rounds of funding, or we’re a large company that is also publicly traded. Our needs are being met by the same financial organization, regardless of our size.”

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) serves many of the most innovative companies and investors in the world. A division of First Citizens Bank, SVB provides commercial and private banking services to individuals and companies in industries ranging from technology and healthcare to private equity and venture capital. With 70% of the 2024 Forbes Cloud 100 among its customers, SVB is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

Milton Santiago has worked for Silicon Valley Bank for more than six years and is currently Global Head of Digital Services. In this role, he is responsible for creating end-to-end omni-channel and API experiences and solutions for startup (Pre-Series A) and mature companies, alike. Santiago is also a veteran industry speaker on topics including security and fraud, mobile and emerging payments, big data, and innovation.

Photo by Pixabay

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Fintech Rundown

2025 is here! Whether you’ve kept an eye on the fintech headlines over the holiday break or took a little time off from the fray, Finovate’s Fintech Rundown is here to bring you up to date on the latest happenings and developments in fintech and financial services.

We starting off with a handful of stories from the crypto/DeFi sector including a pair of regulatory approvals, as well as some partnership news in the fraud prevention and digital banking space.

Crypto / DeFi

Blockchain and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider Binance wins regulatory approval from the Central Bank of Brazil to acquire a locally licensed broker-dealer in Latin America.

Crypto payments company MoonPay secures approval under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation and received its license on December 30.

Digital banking

Swedish fintech Doconomy forges a new partnership with European bank KBC.

Fraud prevention

Payments provider PXP Financial collaborates with Dispute Help to launch a pair of new fraud prevention solutions.

Small business services

Workforce management and business support solutions company Employer.com to acquire accounting startup Bench.

Photo by Sami TÜRK

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Infinant Secures $15 Million in Series A Funding

Infinant Secures $15 Million in Series A Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Funding, Infinant

Digital banking solutions provider Infinant has raised $15 million in Series A funding. The round was led by FINTOP Capital and JAM FINTOP BankTech, and featured participation from Raido Capital Partners, Woodforest Financial Group, and Bankers Helping Bankers.

“Financial institutions are realizing significant and responsible growth by diversifying their deposit gathering and payment channels by decoupling from the core and distributing their products across new platforms,” Infinant CEO Riaz Syed said. “FINTOP’s and JAM FINTOP’s partnership is a strong market indicator of the solution fit for Infinant in the market and will allow us to continue to grow to meet the needs of financial institutions.”

Infinant offers Interlace: a cloud-based platform that empowers banks to launch and scale their digital and embedded banking solutions. Interlace gives banks and other financial institutions greater operational and regulatory control with a platform — owned by the bank — that allows them to launch their solutions independent of the core provider or a sidecar core. Infinant supports initiatives including launching digital banks in new markets, embedding financial products and services into business applications, delivering new solutions to small businesses and commercial partners through sub-accounting, and more.

John Philpott, FINTOP partner and member of JAM FINTOP Banktech’s investment committee, credited Infinant’s embrace of what he called “a dramatic shift in the market and the approach to embedded banking and banking-as-a-service.” Noting that this new growth opportunity comes with greater oversight requirements for banks, Philpott praised the company for “meeting this need to provide banks with a platform that allows them to scale their programs while aligning to the evolving regulatory landscape.”

Infinant will use the capital to expand its product offering which currently includes Infinant’s Interlace Console for customer and account management, Settlement Ops for ledger and reconciliation management, Payments Hub for centralized payments for ACH, wire, and FedNow, as well as the company’s Card Platform that provides card issuance and processing directly to Visa DPS.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and founded in 2020, Infinant came to the attention of Finovate audiences courtesy of FinovateFall 2024. Since then, the company has forged partnerships with Missouri-based First Bank of the Lake and, most recently, with North Texas-based Legend Bank. Both financial institutions will deploy Infinant’s Interlace platform to enhance their growth strategies.

“Infinant’s deep experience in banking technology and their advanced platform tailored to bankers were key factors in our decision to select them as our partner,” Legend Bank Fintech Strategic Partnerships Lead John Michael Davis said. “The Interlace platform is flexible and adaptive to a wide variety of business models, yet also minimizes the technical burden upon us as a bank.”

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Finovate Alums Raised More Than $132 Million in Q4; More Than $553 Million in 2024

Finovate Alums Raised More Than $132 Million in Q4; More Than $553 Million in 2024
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Funding, Quarterly Funding

Seven Finovate alums raised more than $132 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, and more than $553 million for the full year. The figures trail those from 2023, in which 11 alums raised more than $307 million in Q4 and approximately $1.2 billion for the year. This data also reflects the ongoing funding challenges faced by fintech companies at a time of high interest rates and industry consolidation.

Previous Annual Comparisons

Looking specifically at the fourth quarter of this year, we see a wide range in funding levels, from Wallit’s modest $1.4 million raise to Zopa’s year-ending $87 million score. It is also worth noting that the amount of one investment, the October funding for CardFlight, the level was not disclosed.

Previous Quarterly Comparisons

  • Q4 2023: More than $1.2 billion raised by 11 alums
  • Q4 2022: More than $380 million raised by 15 alums
  • Q4 2021: More than $1.2 billion raised by seven alums
  • Q4 2020: More than $472 million raised by 17 alums
  • Q4 2019: More than $876 million raised by 21 alums

This year’s fourth quarter funding tally is the lowest Q4 in many years, representing less than half of what was raised in 2022. Q4 2024 did see a pickup in funding relative to the previous quarter, both in terms of investment total and the number of alums funded, and is slightly higher than the amount Finovate alums raised in the first quarter of the year (nine alums raising more than $113 million).

Top Quarterly Equity Investments

The top three quarterly equity investments for the quarter were Zopa’s $87 million funding in December, interface.ai’s $20 million fundraising in October, and MODIFI’s $15 million fundraising in November. These three investments combined represent more than 92% of the total funding raised by all alums in Q4 2024.

Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q4 2024.

October: More than $22 million raised by three alums

November: More than $16 million raised by two alums

December: More than $94 million raised by two alums

If you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the fourth quarter of 2024, and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at research@finovate.com. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Apiture, Featurespace, Fintech Rundown, Fiserv, Scalable Capital, SoFi, VISA

It’s a holiday-shortened week here at the Fintech Rundown. But rest assured that we’ll have you covered on the the top fintech news headlines as 2024 moves toward a close.

We’re starting off with a series of stories in the embedded finance front, including an acquisition, a new launch, and a major fundraising.

Digital banking

Data-driven statement provider HC3 forges strategic partnership with digital banking solutions company Apiture.

TBC Uzbekistan raises $37 million from majority shareholder TBC Bank Group.

Payments

Visa completes its acquisition of Featurespace.

Turkey-based private bank İşbank expands its collaboration with Alipay+.

Cybersecurity

Chainalysis acquires web3 security solutions provider Hexagate.

Embedded finance

Fiserv boosts its embedded finance capabilities with its acquisition of earned wage access company Payfare.

Embedded SME lending platform CredibleX raises $55 million in seed funding.

Kobble, an embedded finance platform, launches in Australia.

Wealth management

Scalable Capital launches its World ETF, the Scalable MSCI AC World Xtrackers UCITS ETF.

Financial wellness

SoFi reaches ten million member milestone.

Photo by Daniel Reche

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Finovate Global: 10x Banking’s Lewis Ide on High Growth Markets in APAC and Africa

Finovate Global: 10x Banking’s Lewis Ide on High Growth Markets in APAC and Africa
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: 10x Banking, Finovate Global, Interview

As 2025 approaches, where will new opportunities arise for financial institutions, financial services providers, and fintechs looking to expand into new markets?

In this week’s Finovate Global interview, I talk with Lewis Ide, Vice President for 10x Banking, about the opportunities in high-growth markets in APAC and Africa.

Part of the company’s senior leadership team, Ide is responsible for the strategy, growth, and execution of the business objectives at 10x Banking. He has a 13-year career in financial services technology with leadership roles in payments, financial infrastructure, and AML platforms.

10x Banking first introduced itself to Finovate audiences with its debut at FinovateEurope 2023 in London. The company won Best of Show for a demonstration of its 10x SuperCore Cards which enable banks to build a card proposition in minutes with 10x’s Bank Manager interface. Founded in 2016, 10x Banking is headquartered in London, U.K.

There is a lot of interest in high growth markets around the world, especially in the APAC region and in Africa. What is driving growth opportunities in these markets – starting with APAC? 

Lewis Ide: I think it comes down to demographics first of all: APAC in particular has a young, growing, digitally-native population. Economies in this region are growing rapidly and with that come opportunities for growth in the financial services industry. And typically the countries across APAC are very innovation-friendly.  

Regulation also really supports innovation. One example is in Thailand, where the regulator is releasing new digital banking licenses to support the growth of the industry from a digital-first point of view.  

This all feeds into banks being able to benefit from core transformation, moving away from batch transactions to real-time transactions. They are also able to scale in user numbers and transaction volumes as the population grows and becomes even more digital-first. And the thing that makes that growth even more sustainable is the hyper-personalization that modern cores allow for, so banks in APAC can create unique offerings that consumers need.  

What do small businesses in APAC need that they have not been getting from traditional financial services? 

Ide: I think the first thing to say here is that traditionally, SME offerings have been bucketed into either the retail or the corporate bank offerings. Neither of these is really built around what small businesses need, so there is a demand in the market for tailored solutions.  

The next thing is cost: these services are typically costly for SMEs because they aren’t tailored. I think what we’re now starting to see is a shift away from that bucketing towards banks being able to launch services that are specific and personalized to the needs of small businesses. That includes broadening access to credit, making it cheaper, and designing the products that the business needs at the time that they need them.  

And again it’s innovation that is enabling this. The availability of agile, cloud-native infrastructures allows for a much more effective cost-to-income ratio control. And that in turn means that they can pass the cost benefits on to their customers in the form of new products at compelling price points. So the shift here is from high-cost services to tailored, personalized ones. And that’s been made achievable by agile, cloud-native core platforms. 

What has prevented or limited the ability of financial institutions to respond to these pain points? 

Ide: I would say the biggest thing is the legacy technology in place. In the last decade or so, neo cores emerged as a way to address the problems of legacy infrastructures, but they now come with almost a “neo legacy” of their own with limited ability to scale or personalize. Those that are able to be personalized can be very challenging to maintain or upgrade once the code has been written.  

But in the last five to six years we’ve started to see a huge positive shift within the neobanks that has highlighted where the legacy and neo core platforms are now coming under pressure with those changing customer expectations. 

That pressure comes from the way those legacy architectures were constructed. They were monolithic in nature and didn’t necessarily allow for hyper-personalization. They were also batch-based systems, very expensive to run on the mainframe. All of this requires specific and costly resources and makes it difficult for banks to respond to all of these pain points. 

What changes have taken place or are taking place that are giving innovative companies the opportunity to step in with new solutions? 

Ide: The adoption of cloud-native platforms that are microservice and API-based has been transformational in terms of the industry opportunity. This is why we launched the world’s first meta core at 10x Banking — to give customers access to a cloud-native core banking platform that overcomes the compromises of both legacy and neo cores.  

This then allows customers to launch products at speed, gives them the hyper-personalization that they need, as well as doing so at a very low cost and with the ability to scale to hundreds of thousands of transactions per second, overcoming a number of the challenges that the industry has faced with great success. 

What specific roles do you see for AI in helping institutions improve their operations and expand their services? 

Ide: I think from our perspective, before we get to AI, it’s about data. The data structures that we use in this industry are the foundations of AI capability. You need to have access to high-quality, unsiloed data so there is a single source of truth across the business from which AI models can be launched.  

From a core banking perspective, there are many things AI can enable, but three that spring to mind. First, at the customer layer, AI can personalize recommendations, power chatbots and make credit lending more efficient. Next is integration and transformation, enabling banks to connect all their systems together in a more efficient, composable architecture. Banks have a real opportunity to leverage AI to build better migration capability here. Finally – and this is something we are looking to support at 10x – is the ability to use AI to help code and create hyper-personalized products and services.  

What the meta core allows our customers to do, for example, is get their data ready for AI, so they can unlock its full potential. So I always go back to that: making sure the data is clean and the structures are unsiloed so it’s all ready to go when you do start using AI.  

Looking at Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, what is driving growth there? 

Ide: Africa is similar in some ways to APAC, so what I mentioned before in terms of the young demographic holds true here too. It’s a massive region, of course, so it’s hard to generalize. But there are some notable nuances in the way innovation is deployed in Africa. The mobile telecommunications networks like Safaricom and M-Pesa have been at the center of that, offering money transfer services alongside the telecommunications services.  

Much of the growth here is driven by the desire to bring more people into the banked economy. Financial inclusion is big on the agenda. If you can reduce the percentage of unbanked people from, for example, 20% to 10%, that’s a big growth in customer numbers for banking and financial services. That’s a lot more people to provide services to, which again links back to the importance of scalability and personalization.

Some have suggested that Africa is the ideal example of a region unencumbered by complex legacy financial systems. Can you elaborate on how this impacts the environment for innovation and new ideas? 

Ide: I would say that’s not the full story. The mobile telephone networks and operators have driven a lot of innovation as I touched on before, and there is a broad appetite for innovation across Africa in general. But there are challenges around the continued use of mainframe infrastructure, which is slowing banks down. As that has become more obvious, banks have been looking to core modernization, as well as partnerships with the mobile networks. This will enable them to extend their capability and services, which is a benefit for both the banks and the mobile networks.  

Are there any trends in banking and financial services in the APAC or Africa that you think are underappreciated or even unrecognized? Are there opportunities there that 10x Banking is pursuing? 

Ide: The major trend that goes underappreciated at the moment is in corporate banking. We have been working and investing heavily in this area, so I can speak from first-hand experience, with active projects in Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, South Africa, and Kenya to name a few. At the moment, there is a massive shift underway in corporate banking, moving from batch to real-time transactions, modernizing their cores. This will enable them to radically increase transaction processing volumes to better serve the demands of new and existing customers in the market. 

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Israeli fintech startup and chargeback management specialist Justt raised $30 million in Series C funding.
  • Merchants in Paymob’s network in Egypt can now accept Apple Pay.
  • Middle East-based payment solutions provider Magnati partnered with Arabian Automobiles Company (AAC).

Central and Southern Asia

  • India’s Karnataka Bank partnered with hybrid multicloud computing company Nutanix.
  • TBC Uzbekistan launched Osmon Card, its first credit card product.
  • India-based high-yield savings account Curie Money raised $1.2 million in seed funding.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • El Salvador announced its intention to continue accumulating Bitcoin, but will discontinue its Bitcoin wallet Chivo as part of a financing deal with the IMF.
  • Uruguay-based cross-border payments company Bamboo teamed up with monetization platform Coda to enhance the gaming payment experience in Colombia.
  • Latin American payment platform AstroPay launched its multi-currency wallet.

Asia-Pacific

  • Singapore-based SME digital finance platform Funding Societies announced a $25 million investment from Cool Japan Fund.
  • Indonesia’s Bank Jago teamed up with Google Cloud to enhance the bank’s innovation strategy.
  • Malaysian fintech startup Swipey, which provides financial tools for small businesses, secured an investment from 1337 Ventures.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Ethiopia’s parliament passed legislation to enable foreign banks to operate in the country.
  • TechCrunch profiled African stablecoin startup Juicyway.
  • Nigeria’s Bamboo became the first Nigerian fintech to acquire a U.S. broker-dealer license.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Bulgaria joined the European Central Bank’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) service.
  • Episode Six partnered with Secupay to provide asylum seekers in Germany with payment cards to access financial assistance from the government.
  • Bank of Georgia turned to Cloudera to better leverage data analytics to enhance the customer experience.

Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope 2025 in London? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.

Photo by Rebecca Zaal

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DeepTarget Unveils AI-Powered Email Service AImail

DeepTarget Unveils AI-Powered Email Service AImail
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, DeepTarget
  • DeepTarget, a digital marketing services provider for financial institutions, has launched its AI-powered email service AImail.
  • The new offering empowers community banks and credit unions with enterprise-level marketing capabilities to enable them to deliver personalized communications at scale.
  • DeepTarget made its Finovate debut at our all-digital conference FinovateWest 2020. The company is headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama.

DeepTarget unveiled its AI-powered email service, AImail, this week. The technology is a full-service solution that provides credit unions and community banks with enterprise-level marketing services to deliver personalized communications at scale.

In a statement, the company highlighted the fact that email remains an important channel of communications between financial institutions and their customers. Email remains the most cost-effective channel for most FIs, helping them reach account holders who may not frequent a brick-and-mortar branch or take advantage of digital banking. At the same time, many community banks and credit unions have struggled to maximize email as a communications channel due to resource challenges, regulatory issues, or inadequate data analysis capabilities.

“While new channels emerge constantly, email remains the most universal and trusted way to reach account holders,” DeepTarget CEO Preetha Pulusani said. “Nearly every adult with a bank account has an email address, and not all of them visit branches or use digital banking. They expect to receive important financial communications through this channel.”

To this end, AImail combines AI technology with deep financial services expertise in the form of fractional digital marketing experts. This enables AImail to deliver compliant personalization and regulator-friendly content, as well as targeted optimization to ensure that marketing campaigns reach the best audiences for maximum impact. AImail embeds banner ads in each email campaign that use GenAI images and messages created by DeepTarget’s ADbuzz technology to enhance engagement. The solution streamlines marketing campaigns, boosting email engagement rates by up to 3x, and provides valuable metrics including built-in ROI tracking and reporting.

“What makes AImail revolutionary is its ability to transform these routine touchpoints into meaningful, personalized conversations that drive engagement and growth,” Pulusani said. “What used to take marketing teams weeks to accomplish now happens with our experts using AImail on behalf of financial institutions, with robust results and strong compliance controls.”

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, DeepTarget made its Finovate debut at our all-digital conference, FinovateWest2020. At the event, the company demonstrated its 3DStoryTeller solution. 3DStoryTeller blends the intelligence and capabilities of the company’s Digital Experience Platform with a 3D user interface that enables financial institutions to offer a unique experience featuring visual stories that engage and entertain customers.

Photo by Pablò on Unsplash

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Streamly Snapshot: Disrupting the Market with Refunds-as-a-Service

Streamly Snapshot: Disrupting the Market with Refunds-as-a-Service
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Interview, Sponsored, Streamly

One of the latest developments in the payments space, Refunds-as-a-Service, promises to bring innovation to an area of customer experience – refunds – in which more than a trillion dollars of value are exchanged every year.

In today’s Streamly interview, Jeremy Balkin, Founder and CEO of TodayPay, talks with me about his path from a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan to the launch of his refunds-as-a-service startup. Balkin explains the inspiration behind the decision, the company’s progress to date, as well as TodayPay’s upcoming direct-to-consumer product launch.

“We’re the world’s first dedicated refund payment network. It’s an alternative payment method for both merchants and consumers to receive refunds. We’re pioneering a category we like to call refunds-as-a-service, serving merchants, marketplaces, insurers, issuers, and consumers to get a better refund experience.”

A finalist in the “Top Emerging Fintech” category of the 2024 Finovate Awards, TodayPay enables merchants to offer their customers instant refunds over a variety of payment choices, including cashback. A pioneer in the field of Refunds-as-a-Service, TodayPay is part of the Visa Fasttrack program.

Before launching TodayPay, Jeremy Balkin was a Managing Director for J.P. Morgan in New York City where he led fintech innovation and corporate development in the payment space.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

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Chainalysis Acquires Web3 Security Company Hexagate

Chainalysis Acquires Web3 Security Company Hexagate
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Blockchain data platform Chainalysis has acquired web3 security solutions provider Hexagate.
  • Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  • The acquisition aligns with Chainalysis’ mission to build trust in blockchain ecosystems by integrating Hexagate’s machine learning-based threat detection and prevention technology, benefiting chains, protocols, and exchanges.

Blockchain data platform Chainalysis has acquired web3 security solutions provider Hexagate this week. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Hexagate’s security solutions detect and mitigate real-time threats, including cyber exploits, hacks, and governance and financial risks to help chains, protocols, asset managers, and exchanges keep their funds secure. The Israel-based company monitors blockchain networks and leverages machine learning to identify suspicious patterns and transactions in real-time. Hexagate’s customers include Coinbase and Consensys.

“I have long believed that in order to advance the Chainalysis mission to build trust in blockchains, we would need to expand our business beyond investigations and into prevention,” said Chainalysis Co-founder and CEO Jonathan Levin.

With billions of dollars in crypto stolen each year, Chainalysis anticipates that Hexagate will help create a safer financial platform that fosters trust in solutions. Levin added that protecting the crypto ecosystem will only become more crucial as smart contracts facilitate more value and the use of stablecoins grow. He also noted that governments are increasing the monitoring of smart contracts associated with illicit funds.

Chainalysis was founded in 2014 and has raised $537 million. Among its offerings are automated cryptocurrency transaction monitoring software, investigation software for tracing the flow of funds across blockchains, and profiles of cryptocurrency businesses. Today’s deal marks the company’s third acquisition, following its purchase of Transpose in 2023.

Photo by Bich Tran

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BVNK Raises $50 Million for its Stablecoin Infrastructure Platform

BVNK Raises $50 Million for its Stablecoin Infrastructure Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • U.K.-based stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK secured a $50 million Series B round, boosting its valuation to $750 million.
  • The round was led by Haun Ventures with participation from Coinbase Ventures and Tiger Global.
  • BVNK plans to launch in the U.S. next month with offices in New York and San Francisco.

As living proof that the stablecoin revolution is underway, stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK has raised $50 million. The investment is the U.K.-based fintech’s first round since 2022 and boosts its valuation to around $750 million.

Haun Ventures led the Series B round, which also included participation from Coinbase Ventures and existing investor Tiger Global. Notably, Haun Ventures is also an investor in stablecoin infrastructure startup Bridge, which was acquired by Stripe for over $1 billion in October of this year.

“Every competitor of Stripe is coming to us saying, ‘Stripe’s done this, how can we get involved in the space now?'” BVNK cofounder and CEO Jesse Hemson-Struthers told Fortune.

Stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat or a physical asset, have the potential to bring significant value to users. That’s because they are both instant and inexpensive, unlike payments made via traditional payments rails such as SWIFT. Stablecoins have exceptional potential for cross-border payments and remittances. They offer greater accessibility compared to traditional banking systems, while also mitigating the volatility typically associated with other cryptocurrencies.

Stablecoin infrastructure companies like BVNK and its competitor Bridge are key players in the stablecoin space, as they serve as on-and-off ramps for converting fiat into stablecoins and back.

BVNK was founded in 2021 and currently processes an annualized volume of $10 billion. The company integrates with established banking networks like SWIFT and SEPA to provide real-time settlement and the ability to operate outside of standard banking hours. BVNK has historically focused on the European and Asian markets, but plans to launch in the U.S. next month, opening offices in New York and San Francisco.

Photo by Nicolas Postiglioni

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