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nCino Teams Up with Ashman Bank to Enhance Banking for Property SMEs

nCino Teams Up with Ashman Bank to Enhance Banking for Property SMEs
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, nCino
  • FinovateEurope alum nCino announced a partnership with U.K.-based Ashman Bank.
  • The alliance will enable Ashman Bank to deploy nCino’s Bank Operating System to better serve its small businss customers in the U.K. property market.
  • nCino is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ under the ticker NCNO. The company has a market capitalization of $3.5 billion.

A new partnership between cloud banking innovator nCino and U.K.-based Ashman Bank is designed to “transform the banking experience” for small and medium-sized businesses in the country’s property market. Ashman Bank, which was awarded its banking license earlier this year, will deploy nCino’s Bank Operating System to support its life cycle property finance solution.

“Partnering with nCino takes us one step closer to being able to transform the banking experience for property SMEs,” Ashman Bank Chief Commercial Officer Caroline Luxmore said. “nCino gives us the best and most efficient platform for us to realize our ambitions as a digital-first bank, and we believe that together we can create a meaningful change in the U.K. real estate market.”

Implementing nCino’s technology will enable Ashman Bank to offer a variety of products and services that will allow SMEs to access the financing they need to support their growth. The bank is scheduled to launch early next year and focuses on providing real estate lending solutions – ranging from commercial mortgages and buy-to-let to development and bridging finance – to “conscientious businesses”. Ashman Bank has made a point of helping businesses become more sustainable by providing them with proprietary digital tools to enable them to understand their environmental and societal impacts.

Ashman Bank is an ambitious new entrant that will provide real estate lending for conscientious businesses in the U.K.,” nCino Managing Director of EMEA, Charlie McIver said. “It is bringing an innovative approach to commercial real estate, and nCino can help the Ashman team execute, grow, and adapt as the bank expands.”

Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, nCino made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2017. At the conference, the company introduced its Bank Operating System, which leverages the Salesforce platform to provide financial institutions with an end-to-end digital banking solution.

nCino began October with news that Pennsylvania-based independent community financial institution PeoplesBank went live with its Small Business Banking Solution. The bank had previously deployed nCino’s Commercial Banking Solution, and recognizes the new technology as a way to better serve its small business clients. “Our industry is rapidly changing and we’re very proud of our ability to better support small business owners in our community with premier technology offerings,” PeoplesBank SVP and Chief Commercial Banking and Lending Officer Amy Doll said. “Their success relies on being agile and able to scale and, with nCino, we now provide tailored experiences that evolve with our clients as their businesses grow.”

Photo by Kristina Paukshtite

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Cinchy Lands $14.5 Million in Funding

Cinchy Lands $14.5 Million in Funding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Cinchy, Daily news, Funding
  • Data access and control firm Cinchy received $14.5 million in funding this week.
  • The series B round was led by Forgepoint Capital and brings Cinchy’s total funding to $24.2 million.
  • As part of the investment, Forgepoint Managing Director Leo Casusol and Senior Associate Reynaldo Kirton will join Cinchy’s Board of Directors.

Cinchy, a fintech that is focused on helping firms set their data free, announced this week it received $14.5 million in a Series B funding round. This brings the Canada-based company’s total funding to $24.2 million.

Led by Forgepoint Capital, the investment brings Forgepoint’s Managing Director Leo Casusol will join Cinchy’s Board of Directors. The firm’s Senior Associate Reynaldo Kirton joins the board as an advisor. 

Cinchy was founded in 2017 to leverage data fabric to help banks access data from apps and other silos and assemble it within an easy-to-access data network. Today’s investment will help the company seize a recent spike in demand for data fabric and data mesh solutions.

“Our mission is to liberate and harness the power of data, giving it back to teams and organizations to accelerate digital transformation and growth,” said Cinchy CEO and Co-Founder Dan DeMers. “This latest round of funding helps us expand our team and release new offerings that include pre-built dataware solutions designed to help organizations instantly liberate both trapped data and siloed SaaS applications.”

Cinchy– whose clients include TD bank, Colliers International, AIS, and Natixis– has been named a Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Company to Watch and a Top Growing Canadian Company by The Globe and Mail. The company most recently demoed at FinovateFall 2021 and won best of show for its demo at FinovateFall 2019.

Photo by Neale LaSalle

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Finovate Global Pakistan: Embedded Finance, Digital Wallets, and Payment Apps

Finovate Global Pakistan: Embedded Finance, Digital Wallets, and Payment Apps
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

Pakistan-based embedded finance platform Neem forged a strategic partnership with BPC this week. The first Pakistan fintech to be enabled by BPC, Neem will use the company’s SmartVista platform to power its embedded finance infrastructure.

Neem is targeting the more than 200 million consumers and 3.3 million micro, small, and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) that are un- or underbanked in Pakistan. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Karachi, Neem offers both a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform and a lending platform.

“In BPC, we have a strong technology partner with a deep understanding of the global trends and local market dynamics,” Neem co-founder Nadeem Shaikh said. “We are building our infrastructure together, firstly for Pakistan and then for the emerging markets.”

Neem’s partnership news comes a month after the company announced a strategic partnership with JS Bank. The alliance will enable Neem to leverage JS Bank’s Open Banking platform to enable Neem’s embedded finance community partners to embed payment services into their platforms. Shaikh said that the partnership takes advantage of the “core strengths” of both companies and will lower the time to market for its financial solutions as well as give un- and underbanked consumers “the trust and credibility of a Tier 1 Bank.”

Also in September, Neem announced that it had secured $2.5 million in seed funding. The investment came from local and international backers including Korean SparkLabs Fintech, Taarah Ventures, My Asia VC, Concept Vines, and Building Capital, among others. The funding will help Neem scale its operations as it pursues a license from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to operate as a non-banking financial company. This would enable Neem to pursue its lending businesses on its own. The company is currently running its lending operations via licensed partners.

In addition to fintech and MSMEs, Neem’s products and services are used in businesses in agriculture, e-commerce, logistics, and healthcare.

Elsewhere in Pakistan’s fintech ecosystem, payment app SadaPay announced that it was partnering with Verimatrix. The company will deploy Verimatrix XTD (Extended Threat Defense) technologies to help ensure secure transactions for its customers

“SadaPay aims to eliminate the complexity of banking and simplify money through modern technologies and an unmatched, delightful customer experience,” SadaPay CEO and founder Brandon Timinsky said. “We are excited to deploy Verimatrix’s award-winning cybersecurity solutions to safeguard our mobile apps as well as monitor and defend our endpoints against potential attacks.”

SadaPay offers payment apps that enable customers to shop online, send money, pay bills, and withdraw cash for free at any ATM in Pakistan. The company also offers a free, numberless, Mastercard debit card with in-app card controls. With Verimatrix XTD, SadaPay will be able to provide comprehensive mobile app protection including continuous monitoring of apps to identify and stop cyberthreats.

“SadaPay’s mission to help serve the unbanked through distinctly simple and fee-free services is also accompanied by a commitment to protect user information, as well as their money,” Verimatrix VP of Cybersecurity Juha Högmander said.

An American, Timinsky launched SadaPay during a visit to Asia following the acquisition of his previous U.S.-based startup. Upon traveling to Pakistan, Timinsky was struck by the opportunity he saw in the country’s sizable population of smartphone-equipped young people, a relatively unsophisticated legacy banking industry, high cellular and broadband penetration, and a government that was increasingly emphasizing the values of digitization.

SadaPay has raised $20 million in funding, including $10.7 million in seed extension funding secured this spring. The company received the funding news just one day after SadaPay won approval from the State Bank of Pakistan to offer financial services via its app.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Mexican-based digital payments platform Clip earned a spot in Fast Company’s 2022 Brands That Matter roster in the international category.
  • The Chilean Congress has approved the Fintech Bill. The legislation – which includes the establishment of an open banking system to exchange customer data – awaits the president’s signature in order to become law.
  • Mattilda, a Mexican fintech that helps private schools manage payment collections, raised $10 million in seed funding.

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Uganda-based small business credit and asset financing platform Tugende secured $10 million in combined debt and equity funding.
  • African payments company Cellulant teamed up with Mastercard to enable e-commerce payments.
  • The Ecobank Fintech Challenge presented its six African fintech finalists, representing Senegal, Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, and Nigeria.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Schufa, a private credit bureau based in Germany, launched its score simulator to support credit rating transparency.
  • Latvian open banking platform Nordigen teamed up with enterprise resource planning solution myCorazon ERP.
  • Worldline acquired a majority stake in Polish fintech SoftPoS.

Photo by Aa Dil

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InComm Acquires Australian Gift Card Innovator The Card Network

InComm Acquires Australian Gift Card Innovator The Card Network
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, InComm, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Incomm Payments acquired Australian gift card provider The Card Network (TCN). Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  • The Card Network, founded in 2019, offers a wide range of multi-brand gift cards that aggregate popular consumer brands on a single card.
  • Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Incomm Payments made its Finovate debut in 2011 at FinovateFall in New York.

International paytech InComm Payments has acquired Australia-based gift card provider The Card Network (TCN). The acquisition will help InComm create and offer personalized gift card solutions, as well as support the growth of its brand and retail partners. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Available in-store at leading retailers in Australia as well as online, TCN’s multi-brand gift cards aggregate consumer brands onto a single card, giving card recipients greater choice and flexibility. Examples of TCN’s multi-brand gift card products are the company’s The Active Card, which includes athletic and recreational brands such as Nike, Adidas, and New Balance; The Shop
Card, which features retail brands like Calvin Klein, H&M, and peteralexander; and The Baby Card, which aggregates brands like Toyworld, Kidstuff, and BabyBunting.

“TCN is a pioneer of the multi-brand gift card category with a proven record of delivering reliable products to both the gift giver and the recipient,” InComm SVP of Financial Services and Asia-Pacific Adam Brault said. “We could not be more excited to welcome TCN’s expertise and creativity to our global team.”

Founded in 2019 by Nick Sims and Richard Hewitt, TCN also provides Australian companies with gift solutions for loyalty and rewards programs, as well as B2B gifting opportunities. This week, the company announced the availability of new special edition gift cards “for the MATE that always has your back, for the STAR in your workplace, for the CHAMP that’s always up for a yarn, for the CUTIE that makes you smile, or the BESTIE you can’d do life without.” Unveiled for the winter holiday gift giving season, the new cards enable recipients to choose from more than 30 retailers on a single card. The new offering is available courtesy of a partnership with Coles Group Supermarkets, where the special edition cards can be purchased.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, InComm has been a Finovate alum since its first appearance on the Finovate stage in 2011. In the years since, the company has grown into an international payments technology provider with more than 525,000 points of retail and online distribution, and a presence in more than 30 countries. InComm has been active in both Australia and New Zealand since 2010, helping bring international brands to the region’s gift card market. Brooks Smith is CEO.

Photo by Karen Laårk Boshoff

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Three Elements of the CFPB’s Financial Data Rights Rulemaking

Three Elements of the CFPB’s Financial Data Rights Rulemaking
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: List series, Thought Leadership

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which is tasked to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices, has had a busy month. The bureau is in the headlines once again this week, this time with an update on the organization’s stance on regulating open banking and open finance.

In an address to the audience at Money20/20, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra laid out the CFPB’s proposal of requirements to protect consumers’ financial data rights. In his keynote, Chopra detailed three aspects of the CFPB’s plan, as well as the organization’s process and timeline to get there.

Requiring financial institutions to set up secure data sharing methods

Chopra said the bureau plans to require financial institutions that offer deposit accounts, credit cards, digital wallets, prepaid cards, and other transaction accounts to set up API-based data sharing. For now, it looks as if this will be limited to organizations that offer the aforementioned financial products, but Chopra made it clear that the CFPB will add the requirement in the future to those offering products not on the list, such as investing and lending.

The purpose of the rule will be to facilitate new approaches to underwriting, payment services, personal financial management, income verification, account switching, and comparison shopping. The requirement will also serve as a “jumping-off point” for a standardized approach to infrastructure allowing consumer-permissioned data sharing.

Screen-scraping is still a common practice in the U.S. and doesn’t offer customers input into which organizations use their data and how they use it. An API-first approach, like the one Chopra is suggesting, would put an end to screen scraping in financial services.

Stopping institutions from improperly restricting consumers’ access to control over their own data

The CFPB said it is looking at “a number of ways” to stop large traditional financial institutions from restricting consumers’ access to their own data. The group wants to ensure that when consumers opt to share their data, it is only used for the purpose the consumer intends.

This rule intends to target not only financial institutions themselves, which may use consumer data for marketing purposes, but also seeks to target those who use consumer data for nefarious purposes.

“While Americans are becoming numb to routine data breaches, including massive ones like the Equifax failure, we know that more needs to be done to stop this underworld from intercepting even more highly sensitive personal data,” said Chopra.

Chopra did not list specifics on how he planned to give consumers meaningful control while limiting bad actors, but he said that when a consumer gives organizations consent to use their data, the firm should not be able to exploit that data for other purposes.

Preventing excessive control or monopolization of the market

The new set of requirements will seek to limit monopolies and oligopolies present in credit reporting, card networks, core processors, and others by creating a decentralized, open system. “It’s critical that no one ‘owns’ critical infrastructure,” Chopra said.

Chopra cited Big Tech firms and incumbents as those who may set standards to rig the system in their own favor, jeopardizing an open ecosystem.

Next steps

Before these rules come into effect, the CFPB must gather a group of small firms representative of the market to provide input on our proposals. The CFPB is moving fast on this and plans to release a discussion guide for small organizations to make their voices heard this week.

After the CFPB culls input from this group, the organization will solicit input from what it is calling “fourth parties,” or intermediaries that facilitate data transfers.

Once this process is complete, the CFPB will publish a report on the input, which it will use to guide in the process of crafting a rule. The CFPB plans to publish its findings in a report in the first quarter of 2023, will issue the rule in late 2023, and will finalize the rule in 2024. The timing of the implementation relies on feedback from the small firms and intermediaries.

In other news

The news comes at an interesting time for the CFPB. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that the organization’s funding structure is unconstitutional. A panel of judges determined that the way the bureau is funded, “violates the Constitution’s structural separation of powers.”

“This isn’t an esoteric point of theory; it means the CFPB cannot do anything unless and until Congress appropriates funding for it,” said Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General James Burnham. “That’s a big deal.”

The CFPB is expected to appeal to the Fifth Circuit and then to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, however, the CFPB’s power in the Fifth Circuit region, which includes Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, is limited.

Photo by Polina Kovaleva

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Blockchain.com Launches Debit Card for U.S. Users

Blockchain.com Launches Debit Card for U.S. Users
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Blockchain, Daily news
  • Blockchain.com is launching a Visa debit card in partnership with Marqeta today.
  • The fee-free card enables users to spend their crypto balance or cash within their Blockchain.com wallet.
  • Blockchain.com counts 50,000 sign-ups for the card from users on its waitlist.

Cryptocurrency platform Blockchain.com is making it easier for users to transact using crypto from their Blockchain.com wallet. The company has released the Blockchain.com Visa debit card today, allowing U.S. users to spend their crypto balance or cash within their Blockchain.com wallet to pay for goods and services online or in person.

The new card does not charge fees and pays a reward of 1% back in crypto for all card purchases. Facilitating the launch are Visa, which provides the payment network, and Marqeta, which powers the card issuing process. Marqeta’s Just-in-Time Funding feature is key to Blockchain.com’s card launch. It enables users to spend from their available crypto balance while settling the transaction in fiat currency in the back end.

“As one of the crypto industry’s oldest and most trusted platforms, we’re excited to roll out the natural next step to make crypto easy to use in the real world and accessible to as many people as possible,” said Blockchain.com CEO and Co-Founder Peter Smith. “This is a prime example of digital assets making their mark on the existing financial services industry, as we shape the future of (mainstream) finance.”

At launch, Blockchain.com already has 50,000 sign-ups for the card from users on its waitlist. Once the rollout of the card in the U.S. is complete, Blockchain.com will make the card available to customers in more countries starting next year.

In launching a payment card tied to its crypto wallet, Blockchain.com joins its competitor Coinbase in this effort. The company initially launched a payment card in partnership with The Shift Card in 2015. However, after the debit card company closed up shop in 2019, Coinbase unveiled its own white-labeled Visa debit card issued by Pathward in 2020.

Blockchain.com was founded in 2011 and serves as a platform for users to buy, sell, hold, and trade cryptocurrencies. With 82 million crypto wallets, the company’s 37 million users have made transactions worth over $1 trillion to-date.

Blockchain.com has raised a total of $490 million in funding, including its most recent Series D round earlier this year that valued the company at $14 billion at the time.

Photo by Shubham Dhage on Unsplash

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Experian and Prove Team Up to Boost Financial Inclusion Worldwide

Experian and Prove Team Up to Boost Financial Inclusion Worldwide
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Experian
  • Experian announced a partnership with digital identity company Prove.
  • The partnership will integrate up to four Prove solutions into Experian’s digital identity and fraud risk mitigation platform, CrossCore.
  • Experian has been a Finovate alum since 2011. Earlier this month, the company announced a collaboration with U.K.-based NewDay.

A global partnership between information services company Experian and digital identity company Prove Identity is designed to help drive financial inclusion around the world via innovations in identity verification technology. The alliance, announced this week, will help companies bring their financial services to a wider range of customers, including members of un- and underbanked communities. The partnership will also enhance access to “faster, easier, and more secure experiences” for consumers.

As part of the deal, Prove will integrate a number of solutions into Experian’s digital identity and fraud risk mitigation platform, CrossCore. The specific integrations will vary by region, but include:

  • Prove Pre-Fill – enables auto-fill of application forms with verified data from authoritative sources
  • Prove Identity – validates consumer-provided personal identity information (PII)
  • Trust Score – provides a real-time assessment of phone number reputation for identity verification and authentication
  • Mobile Auth – provides real-time authentication of a consumer’s status on a mobile network

“At Prove, we believe that all consumers should have access to the digital economy, regardless of whether you already have a credit file or not,” Prove co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Rodger Desai said. “We’re proud to be partnering with Experian, which shares our vision for a more financially inclusive digital world. Together, we are giving more companies across the globe access to advanced identity technology, such as cryptographic authentication, that they can use to verify more consumers in a quick and secure manner.”

Prove specializes in verifying identities for members of un- and underbanked communities, many of whom have little or no traditional credit history. The company’s approach to verification leverages mobile phone-centric identity tokenization and passive cryptographic authentication to ensure security and privacy across digital channels while at the same time keeping friction low. More than 1,000 enterprises use Prove’s platform, processing 20 billion customer requests a year in industries ranging from banking and lending to crypto and payments.

“The rapid surge in demand for digital services and the growth of online accounts has accelerated the need for robust, real-time identity verification solutions with the broadest coverage and greatest inclusion,” Experian SVP of Global Identity & Fraud Marika Vilen said. “Integrating Prove’s industry-leading identity solutions with CrossCore and offering them as part of the CrossCore partner program strengthens our state-of-the-art cloud platform, identity verification, and fraud defense while also enabling our customers to verify more customers.”

A Finovate alum since 2011, Experian made its most recent Finovate appearance at FinovateFall in 2018. The company’s partnership announcement with Prove comes less than a week after Experian reported that it was working with U.K.-based unsecured credit provider NewDay. That partnership is geared toward helping Experian Boost customers access a broader array of credit options.

Be sure to join Experian next month for our webinar presentation, Digital Identity: Fintech’s Key to Unlocking Growth, featuring Chief Innovation Officer for Decision Analytics Kathleen Peters.

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich

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Investor Cash Management Brings Inclusive Finance to Delaware State University

Investor Cash Management Brings Inclusive Finance to Delaware State University
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Sponsored

This post is sponsored by Delaware Prosperity Partnership

  • Investor Cash Management (ICM) is working with Delaware State University to help the university promote financial wellness.
  • Among ICM’s other partners are BNY Mellon, PIMCO, Visa, Trusted Capital Group/HUB Financial, and the National Education Association.
  • Originally headquartered in Chicago, ICM relocated its headquarters and customer service center to Wilmington, Delaware last year.

Delaware-based Investor Cash Management (ICM) is on a mission to help investors of all stripes achieve their financial goals.

“We’re helping individuals build wealth by offering a better financial product that eliminates the fees, confusion and inaccessibility traditionally associated with investing,” said ICM CEO Fred Phillips. “We’re creating a community where everyone has equal access to quality investment funds, including those previously unavailable to many individuals.”

ICM develops API-based technology that links investor cash management accounts directly to both a bank account and a brokerage account. The company’s technology transforms investment products such as mutual funds, ETFs, and shares into digital currencies that users can transact with using a debit card, ATM, P2P transfer, and online bill pay. As a result, investors receive higher returns and immediate access to their bank and brokerage assets.

Among the company’s partners are BNY Mellon, PIMCO, Visa, Trusted Capital Group/HUB Financial, the National Education Association, and– most recently– Delaware State University (DSU), a Historically Black College or University. DSU is a good fit for ICM because of its focus on teaching financial literacy to its students and alumni. The University has integrated ICM’s financial wellness product into its existing financial literacy program.

“Investor Cash Management is proud to provide the technology that empowers Delaware State University to deliver actionable financial education and reduce persistent, pernicious gender and racial investment gaps,” said Phillips. “Through our mission-driven partnership to democratize investment, DSU’s program provides access to innovative financial services and a foundation to develop products that address important needs of the broader community.”

In another effort to back its mission of supporting underserved investors, ICM has partnered with The Chicago Network, an organization of prominent and influential female leaders whose purpose is to empower women to lead. The organization recently honored Delaware Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall-Long and Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton for supporting the advancement of women leaders in business, finance and technology.

Launched in Chicago in 2018, ICM relocated its headquarters and customer service center to Wilmington, Delaware last year. The company expects to employ more than 400 people by the end of 2024. Backed by the founders of Morningstar and Ariel Investments, ICM has been listed by Capgemini and UBS as one of the world’s 10 leading fintech companies. Earlier this year, the company was selected for one of 20 inaugural PHL Inno Fire Awards.

Learn more about fintech in Delaware by visiting the Delaware Prosperity Partnership website or by contacting Becky Harrington, DPP’s vice president of Business Development, at bharrington@ChooseDelaware.com.

Photo by Alex Korolkoff on Unsplash

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PayPal Offers Passkey Authentication to Apple Users and Venmo Payments to Amazon Shoppers

PayPal Offers Passkey Authentication to Apple Users and Venmo Payments to Amazon Shoppers
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, PayPal, Venmo
  • PayPal will enable Apple users to log in to their accounts with passkeys rather than passwords.
  • PayPal also announced that Amazon had authorized Venmo as a payment option.
  • PayPal made its Finovate debut more than a decade ago at FinovateSpring 2011.

Two days in and it’s already been a pretty good week for PayPal.

On Monday, the payments innovator announced that it had teamed up with Apple. The partnership will enable Apple users to log in to their accounts using a passkey rather than a password. Developed by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium – along with Apple, Google, and Microsoft – passkeys use cryptographic key pairs. These key pairs consist of a public key that is stored in the cloud and a private key that is stored on the users’ device.

This authentication method has a number of advantages. The fact that the keys are separated means that if a cyberattack compromises a given server, the attacker will not be able to access account credentials. It also makes it harder for individuals to share authentication data between different platforms – a significant challenge for password-based systems, as companies like Netflix have learned.

The passkeys are available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users. PayPal says that it will bring passkeys to other platforms as support is available. U.S. customers will be able to use the passkeys this week. Other markets likely will be able to access the technology early next year.

Today, PayPal added to its roster of Big Tech partners with news that Amazon will enable its customers in the U.S. to pay with Venmo on both Amazon.com and on its mobile app. Available to “select Amazon customers” today, the ability to pay with Venmo will be available to all customers in the U.S. by Black Friday – November 25th, the notorious shopping day after Thanksgiving.

Launched as a free service in 2009 and owned by PayPal since 2013, Venmo traditionally has been a convenient way for friends and family to transfer funds to each other. Last year, Venmo facilitated $230 billion in transactions. But increasingly, merchants ranging from Shopify to Lululemon have embraced the popular payment solution as a way to pay for retail goods and services. With today’s announcement, Amazon users will be able to add their Venmo accounts as an Amazon payment option and to select Venmo as their payment preference at checkout.

“We want to offer customers payment options that are convenient, easy to use, and secure – and there’s no better time for that than the busy holiday season,” Amazon Worldwide Payments VP Max Bardon said. “Whether it’s paying with cash, buying now and paying later, or now paying via Venmo, our goal is to meet the needs and preferences of every Amazon customer.”

Venmo Purchase Protection is available on all eligible transactions. Amazon’s A-to-Z Guarantee applies as well in the event of an issue with an order. Nearly 90 million consumers in the U.S. actively use Venmo.

Finovate audiences were introduced to Venmo in 2013 by Braintree. The company bought Venmo the previous year for $26 million, and demoed its Venmo Touch solution at FinovateSpring 2013. Braintree was acquired by PayPal later that year for $800 million. PayPal made its own Finovate debut at FinovateSpring in 2011.

Photo by Brett Jordan

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Marqeta Launches Suite of Banking Products

Marqeta Launches Suite of Banking Products
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Marqeta
  • Card issuance company Marqeta is launching a suite of banking products for its clients to offer their end customers.
  • Marqeta for Banking is comprised of seven banking products made available through Marqeta’s banking partners.
  • The new tools include Demand Deposit Accounts, Direct Deposit with Early Pay, ACH with Plaid Integration, Cash Loads, and Fee-Free ATMs, which are now available to Marqeta’s U.S. customers. Bill Pay and Instant Funding will be available in beta early next year.

Marqeta announced today that it is expanding further into the banking world beyond card issuance. The California-based company unveiled a suite of seven banking products through what it’s calling Marqeta for Banking.

Marqeta for Banking offers the company’s businesses customers access to more than 40 banking APIs that enable them to create customized banking services. The capabilities are made available through Marqeta’s banking partners and include Demand Deposit Accounts, Direct Deposit with Early Pay, ACH with Plaid Integration, Cash Loads, Fee-Free ATMs, Bill Pay, and Instant Funding capabilities.

“Consumers increasingly expect their financial services to be digital-first and mobile friendly, delivered by a brand they trust,” said Marqeta Founder and CEO Jason Gardner. “This is especially true for a rising generation of consumers who are less likely to have visited a physical bank branch or use a plastic card, and will instead begin their banking relationship on a mobile phone, which is doubling as a payment tool. Marqeta for Banking is fully designed to help customers meet the needs of today’s changing behaviors while building products for tomorrow’s consumer.”

Marqeta for Banking includes:

  1. Demand Deposit Accounts are tied to a debit card and are offered by an FDIC-insured institution. These accounts offer higher spend limits and no maximum balances.
  2. Direct Deposit and Early Pay is an earned wage access tool that enables users to receive their paycheck up to two days early.
  3. ACH with Plaid integration enables ACH payments between bank accounts.
  4. Cash Loads allow end users to deposit cash into their account at more than 180,000 retail locations. The deposited funds are available immediately in the user’s account.
  5. Fee-Free ATMs enable Marqeta customers to provide access to fee-free ATMs via the Allpoint and MoneyPass networks.
  6. Bill Pay will enable end users to pay their bills from within the app.
  7. Instant Funding will enable end users to instantly fund their accounts using an external debit or prepaid card.

All but the last two products in the Marqeta for Banking suite are available in the U.S. The beta versions of Bill Pay and Instant Funding will launch early next year. A handful of customers are already leveraging elements of Marqeta for Banking, including Coinbase, Branch, and Fold.

Marqeta’s card issuing platform enables its clients to manage their own card programs by creating configurable and flexible payment tools as well as customizing payment cards for their end customers. The company was founded in 2010 and is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker MQ. Marqeta has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion.

Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash

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SKU Data Network Company Banyan Secures $43 Million in Series A Funding

SKU Data Network Company Banyan Secures $43 Million in Series A Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, BANYAN, Daily news, Funding
  • SKU data network company Banyan raised $43 million in Series A funding.
  • The round consisted of $28 million in equity and $15 million in venture debt, and gives the company a total of $53 million in equity funding.
  • Banyan made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2021 in New York, and returned to the Finovate stage this year for FinovateSpring in San Francisco.

In a round led by Fin Capital and M13, SKU data network company Banyan has raised $43 million in funding. The Series A round includes $28 million in equity and $15 million in venture debt, taking the total equity capital raised by Banyan to $53 million. In addition to Fin Capital and M13, the round featured participation from FIS Impact Ventures, Bridge Bank, Interplay, and TTV Capital.

The financing will be used to help accelerate Banyan’s technology and infrastructure growth. Banyan enables retailers and financial institutions to leverage enriched, item-level data capabilities to boost consumer engagement and financial wellness, as well as improve business expense management. The company offers the world’s largest SKU data network, which helps “unlock a new world of valuable information in the form of item-level receipt data,” according to Banyan founder and CEO Jehan Luth. Luth added that the funding was “evidence of market validation for Banyan as the first to deliver the next level of Precise Commerce applications to merchants and financial services.”

Banyan’s network is used by both Fortune 150 corporations as well as convenience stores. The company’s solution suite enables dramatic reductions in the time spent on expense reports by integrating item-level purchase data into banking and expense management apps. Banyan’s technology also provides shopping and loyalty offers that help merchants and their partners better target the offering of incentives, keying on the specific item, category, and aisle-level categories they want to reward. Fin Capital founder and managing partner Logan Allin said that Banyan’s solutions help businesses “re-imagine the experiences they can bring to consumers.”

Banyan demonstrated its Enrich solution at FinovateSpring earlier this year. At the conference, Banyan showed how its technology enables banks, fintechs, and their retail partners to use item level data to drive both everyday spending and top of wallet behavior. Relying on both API calls for individual transactions and batch calls for unlimited records, Banyan’s at-scale network lets retailers share receipt data with banks and fintechs to make financial apps more impactful for the digitally-oriented financial services customer.

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey, Banyan has processed more than $400 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV), more than 10.3 billion in bank and fintech partner transactions, and more than 10.4 billion in purchase receipts from network retailers. The company also has more than four million UPCs catalogued in its network.

Earlier this year, Banyan introduced new Chief Marketing Officer Andrea Gilman, formerly SVP with Mastercard. This spring, Banyan announced a rebrand – including a new logo and a website refresh – to reflect what Luth called the company’s “defined path to disrupt and change the retail landscape while bringing new benefits to consumers.”

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

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The Conversation Continues: Greg Palmer and the Finovate Podcast with FV Bank, Daylight, Microsoft and More!

The Conversation Continues: Greg Palmer and the Finovate Podcast with FV Bank, Daylight, Microsoft and More!
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: David's column, Podcasting

In addition to hosting the biggest FinovateFall to date, Finovate VP Greg Palmer has spent the month of September talking with some of the most interesting achievers in fintech. From CEOs of digital banks to entrepreneurs working to bring about greater financial inclusion, Greg Palmer’s Finovate Podcast is a great way to meet the people who are driving innovation in our industry.

Below is a rundown of recent episodes from late August through September.

Find the Finovate podcast at Soundcloud and follow Greg Palmer on Twitter for the latest in programming news and updates.

Miles Paschini, Chief Executive Officer, FV Bank

Finovate Podcast host Greg Palmer sits down with Miles Paschini to discuss FV Bank’s mission to serve fintechs and bring new technologies to the mainstream. Episode 147.

“The regulated segment of the industry was not matching up to the creator side of the industry … FV stands for Fintech Ventures Bank and the purpose of developing FV Bank was so that we could create a regulated banking environment where fintech creators would have a place to work with people who were really there to help them grow their business as opposed to keep(ing) them out.”

Suneera Madhani, CEO and Founder, Stax Payments

Suneera Madhani of Stax Payments and Greg Palmer talk about the challenges of building a more inclusive fintech ecosystem. Episode 146.

“I learned very quickly that men are actually given investment for their potential, while women are given investment for what they’ve done. That’s definitely been one of my biggest lessons. And the stats are also horrendous. You know, we’re in 2022 and less than 3% of the venture capital still just goes to women in general, less than 1% to minorities.”

Roman Chwyl, Managing Director Fintech Unicorns, Microsoft; Paul Walker, SVP, Revenue and Partnerships, Helix

Greg Palmer talks about the power of partnerships to help bring financial services to the unbanked and underbanked with Microsoft’s Roman Chwyl and Helix’s Paul Walker. Episode 145.

“Currently we’re helping several brands together, like Acorns, Credit Karma, Gusto … These are all brands that have real scale and are focused on (underserved) segments. One of my key goals today is just to make real impact and change, and (talk about) how Helix and Microsoft can share our partnership story and work with other companies out there looking to do the same.”

Brad Oberwager, Executive Chair, Linden Lab

Brad Oberwager of Linden Lab discusses virtual worlds and virtual economies with podcast host Greg Palmer. Episode 144.

“Linden Lab was started a long time ago, and is actually the parent company of Second Life, which is the sort of OG metaverse. You’ve heard a lot of talk about the metaverse and virtual worlds. Second Life was the first one that really created an economy … A guy named Philip Rosedale, who happens to be one of my closest friends, came up with the idea. Building a virtual world.”

Billie Simmons, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Daylight

Billie Simmons of LGBTQ-supporting digital bank Daylight and Finovate podcast host Greg Palmer talk about supporting customers and enabling them to live their best lives. Episode 143.

“It’s an incredibly expensive, time-consuming, potentially dangerous process to get your name and gender updated across all of your banking services. You have to go to court. You have to get documents notarized. You have to out yourself multiple times as trans … I just realized through talking about these things that we can do so much better. That’s really how Daylight was born.”

Photo by SplitShire

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