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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Visa is expanding its integration with Square’s instant transfer feature into Canada.
Square’s Canadian merchant clients can access their funds in real time, instead of waiting for the next business day.
Instant transfers are enabled by Visa Direct, a VisaNet processing capability that facilitates real-time delivery of funds.
One of the themes at FinovateFall earlier this month was how organizations can leverage real time data. When it comes to the movement of money, timing is everything. So it’s no surprise to see Visa’s announcement this week that it will expand its integration with Square’s instant transfer feature into Canada.
Under the new integration, Square’s Canadian merchant clients can now access their funds faster than the next business day. When they link an eligible debit card, Square’s Canada-based merchant clients can transfer funds instantly to an external bank account.
Used for rapid merchant settlement, Square’s instant transfers are enabled by Visa Direct, a VisaNet processing capability that facilitates real-time funds delivery directly to bank accounts. As a result, businesses experience increased cash flow, which can be a major pain point, especially for small businesses.
“Cash flow management and more immediate access to funds is critical for small businesses to survive and thrive in a rapidly evolving payments ecosystem,” said Visa Canada’s VP and Head of New Payments Jim Filice. “Together with Square, we’re committed to supporting Canadian small businesses and helping to identify solutions that can benefit them by delivering fast, reliable and secure access to funds.”
Fintech is a broad industry, and with the breadth of its sub-sectors comes a large range of trends that change year after year. But with all of the new, hot trends to follow, it’s impossible for banks and fintechs to focus on everything at once.
That’s why our team set out at FinovateFall earlier this month to ask people from across the industry what trend we should be paying attention to. We received a large range of answers, but here were the top picks:
Fraud mitigation and security
Business intelligence
Money movement and payments
Consumer-permissioned data
Processing data using AI
Financial inclusion
Embedded payments and embedded banking
Detailed transparency in machine learning solutions
Customer obsession and customer experience
Check out the full video below, which includes explanations and reasonings behind each of these trends:
We have several people to thank for answering this very broad question, including Gregory Wright, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at Experian; Derek Corcoran, SVP Financial Services Strategy at Woodridge Software; Estela Nagahashi, EVP and Chief Operating Officer at University Credit Union; Bill Harris, CEO of Nirvana Money; Craig McLaughlin, CEO of Finalytics; Rikard Bandebo, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at VantageScore; Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, Head of Global Payments at Silicon Valley Bank; Lora Kornhauser, Co-founder and CEO at Stratyfy; Vivek Bedi, Author of You, the Product; Steven Ramirez, CEO of Beyond the Arc; and Chad Rodgers, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Connexus Credit Union.
The collaboration will enable merchants to rely on a chargeback alert system that notifies them in the event of an impending chargeback. Notifications are made via the ChargebackZero dashboard, which combines a variety of alert types from card issuers with ChargebackZero’s dispute management tools. The alerts allow merchants to identify and revolve customer disputes with the customer’s issuing bank in near-real time. By preventing chargebacks, including chargebacks that occur post-authorization, the partnership will make it easier for merchants to accept more orders without increasing their exposure to potentially fraudulent activity.
Ethoca offers a suite of solutions to help merchants and issuers eliminate chargebacks, reduce card not present (CNP) fraud, recover lost revenue, and improve the customer experience with a better dispute resolution process. Ethoca’s Consumer Clarity solution connects issuers to merchant order and account history details in real time. This gives issuer call center agents with the data they need to manage real-time conversations with cardholders when disputes arise. Ethoca also offers its Ethoca Alerts technology, which provides issuers and card-not-present merchants with access to a global collaboration network that enables them to share fraud and customer dispute data in real time, rather than in weeks as is normally the case with chargebacks.
Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Ethoca made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in 2015. In the years since then, the company has inked partnerships with fellow Finovate alum TSYS, as well as Pegasystems, BlueSnap, and Cartes Bancaires. Ethoca agreed to be acquired by Mastercard in the spring of 2019 for an undisclosed sum. Calling Mastercard “a natural home,” Ethoca CEO Andre Edelbrock said the acquisition would “bring our services to more places and more people, ultimately contributing to the beset possible online payment experience.”
Ethoca serves more than 5,400 merchants in 40+ countries and more than 4,000 card issuers in more than 20+ countries. Eight of the top ten North American ecommerce brands, 14 of the top 20 North American card issuers, and six of the top ten U.K. card issuers use Ethoca’s technology to eliminate chargebacks, prevent fraud, and recover lost revenue.
60+ innovative demos. 100+ expert speakers. 1700+ influential attendees. The connections and ideas you need were at FinovateFall this year. Were you there?
Get a taste of the action below, and catch up on some of the unique insights from the experts who took to the stage!
Bill Harris, CEO at Nirvana Money, joins David Penn, Finovate Research Analyst, to discuss the vision and ambition behind starting Nirvana Money, what advice he’d give to new fintech founders, and why he predicts the demise of crypto.
Gregory Wright, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at Experian, talked with Julie Muhn, Finovate Senior Research Analyst, to discuss the three principles for amplifying your innovation success: innovation with purpose, which helps drive impact for your consumers and their communities; innovation through scale, to get to “yes” faster and more often; and innovation with analytics, bringing together datasets in real time that we’ve never had before.
Julie Muhn, Finovate Senior Research Analyst, sat down with Ann Kuelzow, Global Head of Financial Services at InterSystems, to explore how businesses can get an accurate and (importantly) a real-time view of their data to guide their decisions, and why data fabrics are the future of data management.
David Penn, Finovate Research Analyst, was joined by Bernadette Ksepka, Assistant Vice President & Deputy Head of Product Development, FedNowSM Service at Federal Reserve System, to discuss the U.S. payments landscape, and how the upcoming FedNow service will modernize current payments infrastructure and pave the way for big changes and innovations.
This week, Finovate Global takes a look at fintech developments in Egypt, specifically the story of Cartona.
The company, just over two years old, is a B2B e-commerce marketplace that helps connect retailers with a curated network of suppliers and wholesalers. Cartona secured $12 million in Series A funding this summer, taking its total capital raised to $16.5 million according to Crunchbase.
Our conversation with co-founder and CEO Mahmoud Talaat includes discussion of the company’s role in the Egyptian financial services landscape, the current state of fintech in the country, and his plans for Cartona in the months to come.
Tell us about the founding of Cartona.
Mahmoud Talaat: Founded in August 2020 by Mahmoud Abdel-Fattah, Rafik Zaher and myself, Cartona is a B2B e-commerce marketplace. Cartona offers an asset-light marketplace that enables retailers to order their store needs digitally from a curated network of sellers.
Cartona began with a focus on solving the supply-chain and operational challenges for the fast-moving consumer goods industry (FMCG) by digitizing the traditional, predominantly offline, trade market.
Prior to Cartona, I was a former top executive at leading dairy company Lamar and experienced first-hand the need to make Egypt’s largely offline trade market more efficient. Cartona can greatly improve productivity and reduce waste in time and resources through the impact of its wide-ranging simplified processes.
What in your background gave you the confidence to launch Cartona?
Talaat: Cartona is my third entrepreneurial endeavor. My first job was at Lamar in 2012, back when it was still a startup and the products had not yet been launched. As CCO, I ensured that the new products were fully distributed in the market; handled the operations for many warehouses and created an indirect distribution network.
What role does the company play in Egypt’s financial services industry?
Talaat: Cartona embraces the vision of a cashless society, investing in embedded finance and payments. We offer pay after four days or pay in four equal installments every 7-10 days. We have made sure our product is easy to use and seamlessly integrated into the ‘check-out’ section for ordering, with collection being all digital or through our supplier network. Providing retailers with this technology-integrated financial solution not only boosts financial inclusion but also enables them to grow their business and provide customers with essential products at affordable prices. To supplement our core ordering business, embedded finance is what we believe is a key challenge and we see a clear need for it by retailers in the industry.
Your mission is to digitize Egypt’s traditional trade market. What does this market consist of? How does it operate now? Cash? Cards?
Talaat: Egypt’s trade market is mostly offline, regardless of whether retailers pay distributors through cash or cards. Our aim is to change this by propelling the largely offline trade market into the mainstream digital sphere, thereby streamlining operations for thousands of retailers.
What are the biggest challenges when it comes to digitizing Egypt’s traditional trade market?
Talaat: The execution of any business strategy – especially when it involves modernizing a traditional structure – inevitably comes with day-to-day hurdles as new infrastructure is put in place. But these hurdles are very surmountable and are as much an opportunity as a challenge.
One of the biggest challenges is our own impatience! But we are reassured to see the culture changing and recognizing how digitalization and supply chain innovation can have a tremendous impact in increasing efficiency. This is proven by our rapid scaling in a short period of time. We now work with 200 FMCG companies and have 60,000 users.
Your company recently secured $12 million in Series A funding. What does this accomplishment mean and what will the investment empower?
Talaat: The $12 million we recently raised in Series A funding will enable us to continue to build a strong, digitally connected network of retailers which is currently in the tens of thousands. The proceeds will further aid our nationwide expansion beyond the nine governorates in Egypt where we currently operate and help us grow our team and explore new verticals – expanding beyond our current FMCG-heavy product base.
Cartona prides itself in being “asset-light” and “capital-efficient.” What does this mean and why is it important?
Talaat: As an asset-light business built on enhancing agility, we do not own a single asset or vehicle we distribute. We are also capital efficient in the sense we balance spending on growth with having a clear path to profitability. We optimize capital to achieve this, and the consequent demonstrable, solid unit economics sets us apart. We are thus focusing on the basics – cost price + profit margin = selling point.
What is something about fintech in Egypt that outsiders may be surprised to learn?
Talaat: The fintech sector in Egypt specifically, is highly promising and has witnessed unprecedented growth in the last few years, being one of the MENA’s fastest growing sectors. The exciting aspect is that we’re still scratching the surface with fintech in the region. It still has great potential and can revolutionize some well-established industries that are still untouched.
What can we expect from Cartona in the months to come?
Talaat: The coming period will be a time to focus on internal and external growth. As already mentioned, we are focused on bringing our revolutionary role of digitizing the trade market to millions more people.
To date, we have grown our team to over 500 people, we are also prioritizing hiring more talent to help us reach our ultimate vision – empowering all stakeholders of Egypt’s traditional trade market.
At FinovateFall earlier this month, I sat down with author Vivek Bedi who delivered a keynote presentation later that week, to gain some insights on the customer experience. Specifically, Bedi discussed how organizations can shift from a product focus to a customer focus.
See his answer below and watch the video in its entirety for more on how business leaders can make smart decisions and how the financial services industry can keep up with a continuously changing world.
We always talk about it, right? How do we actually do it? Being in product for 20 years, I’ve realized, “geez, the customer is so important.” And there are a few things I’m going to talk about tomorrow.
The first is how do we become customer obsessed? I know we say that term a lot, but how do we actually make that happen in practicality…. Nine out of ten times, we’re not even using our own product day in and day out. Somebody else is. So how do we become in their shoes? So it’s really important– when I say customer obsession– is how do we really become the customer; feel their challenges, feel their pains, and feel their struggle.
The second area [I’m going to focus on] is that all customers’ feedback matters. It is so easy for us to gravitate towards “the good.” The customers that are our cheerleaders saying that we’re doing a great job. What about the naysayers? I actually found myself obsessing over time on folks that don’t like my product. Why don’t they like it? Are they just grumpy, or is there something there that I’m missing? The point is really obsessing about all different parts of the product lifecycle.
To watch more video interviews from FinovateFall, check out FinovateTV on YouTube. And whether you were at the event in person or not, check out the highlights below:
Taulia and Standard Chartered signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on working capital finance solutions.
The partnership will initially focus on supply chain finance and dynamic discounting.
The agreement will offer Taulia access to Standard Chartered’s global client base.
Supply chain finance company Taulia has inked an agreement with Standard Chartered this week. The agreement comes in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate across a range of working capital finance solutions.
The two will begin by focusing on supply chain finance and dynamic discounting, two solutions that Taulia offers to buyers. Taulia will use its expertise in this area, combined with Standard Chartered’s global client base, to help clients build a more resilient and sustainable supply chain.
Ultimately, the partnership aims to enable suppliers to access working capital in a more efficient and cost effective manner.
“We are excited to work with Taulia to explore new and innovative ways to support our clients’ working capital needs, as well as extending the Bank’s leading sustainable trade expertise into their business network,” said Standard Chartered Global Head of Trade & Working Capital Kai Fehr. “Taulia’s footprint also complements that of the Bank, offering greater opportunities for us to support companies in the West with their supply chain flows into Asia, Africa and the Middle East.”
Taulia was founded in 2009 to help businesses improve their supply chains by providing financing options with flexible payment terms. Used by a network of two million organizations, the company’s tools help businesses accelerate payments and free up working capital. Taulia processes over $500 billion every year. Among Taulia’s clients are Airbus, AstraZeneca, Nissan and Vodafone.
Taulia was acquired by SAP earlier this year and today’s agreement marks the first MoU that Taulia has signed with a banking institution post-acquisition. Taulia anticipates that having the backing of SAP will help it access further opportunities across SAP’s ecosystem and deliver a differentiated experience for both buyers and suppliers.
“We believe that all CFOs should focus on their cash strategy to ensure growth during these turbulent times and our partnership with Standard Chartered will deliver cash when and where it is needed, especially in emerging markets,” said SAP Head of Working Capital Management CoE and member of the Taulia Leadership Team Thomas Mehlkopf.
Investing and banking services fintech Stash unveiled its new infrastructure platform, Stash Core, this week.
Stash’s new banking account experience is the first new solution built on Stash Core. Credit, savings, and lending solutions are expected to be launched in the future.
Stash Core features integrations from a wide number of partners including fellow Finovate alums Mastercard, Marqeta, Mambu, and Alloy.
With its latest innovation, investing and banking company Stash is bringing to market a new proprietary infrastructure platform, Stash Core. The offering supports Stash’s new banking account experience now, and will enable new capabilities in credit, savings, and lending in the future.
“Stash Core gives us flexibility and ownership of every customer touchpoint,” Stash co-founder and CEO Brandon Krieg said. “It’s the future of inclusive finance and transformative to our business.”
Stash’s new banking account experience is built on the Stash Core and provides access to an upgraded Stock-Back Debit Mastercard, enhanced customer support, and benefits such as increased rewards. Stash’s Stock-Back Debit Mastercard gives cardholders the ability to invest in stocks every time they spend on gas, groceries, travel, dining, and more. The company notes that it has provided more than 59 million stock rewards to date and, going forward, will allow cardholders to earn up to 4x more with their new upgraded cards.
“With Stash Core and the Stock-Back Debit Mastercard, we are able to deliver the very best in financial tooling, customer service, and AI-powered, personalized wealth-building for those who want to earn stock and invest as they spend,” Krieg said.
Teased at FinovateFall in New York earlier this month, Stash’s new solution benefits from integrations with Mastercard, Stride Bank, Marqeta, Mambu, Alloy, and others. In an extended blog post, the Stash team described the decision-making that went into the development of Stash Core. The discussion highlighted the importance of building an infrastructure that would enable Stash to “more quickly innovate and introduce new products and services faster” to provide the best possible customer experience.
With more than two million customers and nearly $3 billion in assets under management, Stash helps individuals embark upon their investing journey with as little as $3 per month. Offering a suite of financial products ranging from investing and banking to education and advice, Stash reports that its members are 18% more financially literate than the average American. The company experienced $125 million in annualized revenue in the past year, and announced that weekly contributions have climbed by 30% over the past two years.
Founded in 2015, Stash made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2017. In the years since then, the company has secured more than $347 million in funding, forged partnerships with companies from Apex Clearingto the San Francisco 49ers National Football League team, and acquired financial literacy app, PayGrade.
Data firm Cinchy unveiled the Credit Union Edition of its Cinchy Dataware Platform today.
The solution is made specifically to help credit unions easily access and leverage their data without having to replace their core banking system.
Cinchy won Best of Show for its demo at FinovateFall 2019.
Data access and control firm Cinchy unveiled a credit union-specific solution today. The company is launching The Credit Union Edition of its Cinchy Dataware Platform to help credit unions extend the life of their core systems, avoiding the need to replace their existing core with a new one.
The new solution enables credit unions that are currently constrained by their core banking systems. Many of the outdated systems result in siloed data, which makes it difficult for the credit union to leverage their data to create better systems, an improved user experience, and cost savings.
Cinchy’s calls the capability “liberating data.” Today’s new launch enables credit unions to access their data in three ways. First, with real-time data from core banking system and applications without the need for copy-based integration. Second, with tools including auto-versioning, auto-backup, auto-protection, auto-correction, and auto-tracking. And third, with user accessibility that allows for instant collaboration.
“At Cinchy our goal is to enable organizations to save money by liberating and controlling their data in ways that were not previously possible,” said Cinchy CEO Dan DeMers. “Today we’re making this a reality for credit unions with the introduction of the Cinchy Dataware Platform Credit Union Edition.”
Founded in 2017, Cinchy leverages data fabric to help banks access data from apps and other silos and assemble it within an easy-to-access data network. Among the company’s clients are TD bank, Colliers International, AIS, and Natixis. Cinchy 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.
Nordigen has been selected by Teenit, an Amsterdam-based PFM tool, to provide open banking services.
Nordigen will enable Teenit to securely connect to customers’ bank accounts to source transaction and account balance information.
“Open banking goes hand-in-hand with personal financial management tools as access to customer information enables PFMs to stay up-to-date with their suggestions and analytics,” said Nordigen CEO and Co-Founder Rolands Mesters.
Personal financial management (PFM) tool Teenit has selectedNordigen for open banking. The Amsterdam-based PFM company will offer its users an aggregate view of their finances, complete with insights and analysis on their spending and saving habits.
By integrating with Nordigen’s freemium offering, Teenit can securely connect to customers’ bank accounts to source real-time data on their transactions and savings account balances. With open connectivity to its users’ financial data, Teenit can better fulfill its mission of educating teenagers on money management.
“We wanted to serve education to young customers, no matter what bank they choose,” said Teenit CEO Tatiana Pastukhova. “The integration with Nordigen enables us to fulfill our purpose easily. With parents’ authorization, we are able to connect directly to young customer bank accounts anywhere in Europe, visualize for them their money flows in a teenager-friendly manner and analyze them to further personalize the offered educational content.”
Latvia-based Nordigen was founded in 2016. The company’s freemium model offers access to account information, such as the account holder’s name, bank account numbers, transactions, and account balances for free via bank APIs. Nordigen’s paid products include enriched, transaction-level information that helps make sense of raw transaction and account data.
“Financial literacy and education is incredibly important for all demographics, and starting to build a foundation of knowledge from a young age will be very beneficial for Teenit’s user base,” said Nordigen CEO and Co-Founder Rolands Mesters. “Open banking goes hand-in-hand with personal financial management tools as access to customer information enables PFMs to stay up-to-date with their suggestions and analytics.”
Nordigen was acquired by GoCardless earlier this year to deepen the bank payment company’s expertise in the open banking arena and enable it to become a banking-as-a-service provider.
Provenir announced a new partnership with Inovatec Systems.
The partnership will enable auto lenders on Inovatec’s LOS platform to access Provenir’s risk decisioning solutions
Headquartered in New Jersey, Provenir has forged partnerships with TransUnion, Kueski, and Provu in recent months.
Real-time risk decisioning software company Provenirannounced a new partner today. The Parsippany, New Jersey-based technology company has inked a deal with Canadian lending software firm Inovatec Systems that will give Inovatec’s roster of automobile lenders new tools to improve the financing process.
“Inovatec’s configurable loan origination and loan management solutions efficiently support third party solutions that improve the speed, reliability, and efficiency of the entire lending process,” Inovatec Head of Business Development Bob Metodiev said. Courtesy of the new relationship, auto financing companies working with Inovatec will be able to leverage open APIs to access Provenir’s AI-powered decisioning solutions – which are embedded into Inovatec’s LOS platform. Combined with Provenir’s technology, the enhanced solution will help lenders make smarter automated decisions while providing an optimal experience for the customer.
“Through the unique combination of universal access to data, simplified AI and world-class decisioning technology, Provenir provides a cohesive risk ecosystem that enables organizations to make smarter decisions instantly across the entire customer lifecycle,” Provenir EVP for North America Kathy Stares said.
Provenir offers a data, AI, and decisioning platform that leverages the cloud and no-code technology to enable businesses to build advanced decisioning workflows, integrate any data source, and deploy AI and machine learning models. The technology is applicable to a wide variety of contexts – from BNPL, SME lending, and auto financing, to retail POS lending, digital merchant onboarding, and bank loan origination.
Founded in 2004, Provenir was a Gold sponsor of FinovateEurope earlier this year, where the company’s Carol Hamilton, SVP of Global Solutions, spoke as part of a panel on “Achieving Digital Acceleration – What Do Incumbents Need to Do?” In the months since then, the company has announced partnerships with TransUnion, Mexico-based lender Kueski, and its first Brazilian customer, payments and personal credit fintech Provu. Provenir also announced today that it is expanding its presence in Spain. Join Provenir’s Corinne Llelti next week for a special digital presentation exclusive to Finovate – “Driving World Class SME Lending Experiences.”
The round was led by American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact.
The investment brings CNote’s total funding to almost $15.5 million.
Investment platform CNoteraised $7.25 million today in a round that boosted the company’s total funds to almost $15.5 million.
The Series A round was led by American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact. Astia Fund, BankTech Ventures, Commerce Ventures, CityRock Venture Partners, and other investors also contributed.
The company plans to use the funds to advance its technology, expand its sales team, and deepen its network of community financial institutions.
CNote was founded in 2016 to close the wealth gap by enabling investors to invest in an economy that works for all populations, especially those in underserved communities. Using the CNote platform, corporations, institutions, and individuals can invest in fixed-income and time deposit products that are vetted to help advance economic equality, racial justice, gender equity, and climate change adaptation. When an investor places funds into CNote, the company directs the money into deposit and loan products through its network of over 2,000 ESG-focused community financial institutions.
“We’re addressing a massive systemic problem with a market-friendly platform that has already been adopted by forward-thinking corporations and other institutions,” said CNote CEO and Founder Catherine Berman. “By pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into undercapitalized communities, CNote is activating corporate dollars for systemic change while minimizing risk.”
Seeing an investment in an ESG-focused company is not surprising, despite the current funding dry spell taking place across the fintech industry. End consumers are more hungry for ESG-related products than ever, and the industry has been struggling to keep up with demand in this arena. We can expect to see more funding go toward companies touting ESG missions in the latter half of this year.
