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The Conversation Continues: Greg Palmer and the Finovate Podcast Featuring Upstart, Alliant CU, and More!

The Conversation Continues: Greg Palmer and the Finovate Podcast Featuring Upstart, Alliant CU, and More!
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Podcasting

Greg Palmer and the Finovate Podcast have spent much of the first half of 2022 featuring Best of Show winners from FinovateEurope and FinovateSpring. Be sure to check out our podcast columns from the spring and summer for any Best of Show interviews you haven’t seen yet.

You also may not have caught some of the Finovate Podcast’s non-Best of Show coverage. Whether it’s talking with venture capitalists on the next big thing in fintech or checking in on credit unions that are partnering with innovative fintech startups, the Finovate Podcast remains one of the best ways to keep current with what counts in the ever-changing world of fintech innovation.

To this end, here’s a look at some of the recent Finovate podcasts you might have missed.

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

Jeff Keltner, SVP of Business Development, Upstart

Host Greg Palmer talks with Upstart Senior Vice President of Business Development Jeff Keltner on why the universe of creditworthy customers is about to grow dramatically thanks to the combination of AI and lending. Episode 123.

I was trained as an engineer and spent my career at the intersection of business and the application of technologies – first at Google where we launched what is now Google Cloud and Workspace. Coming here to Upstart, we really felt like the application of modern technology, and particularly AI, to help lenders produce a better experience for borrowers and better credit decisioning outcomes that help both the institutions and the borrowers was something that really was “of the moment” to happen. That’s what we came here to do.

Rob Perrelli, Vice President of Partnership Development, Alliant Credit Union

Host Greg Palmer and Rob Perrelli, VP of Partnership Development at Alliant CU, discuss how to build successful partnerships and create advocates. Episode 122.

Prior to joining Alliant, I worked with fintechs mainly from a private label perspective to support our direct-to-consumer offering. So it was really interesting. At the time we developed that strategy, where we’d made the choice to go digital-first – even though we had a super-large net of branch representation in our geographies – we were pretty clear that partnerships with fintechs was the way to go forward as we offered new solutions to our customers. With Alliant, we are working with a number of different fintechs in the unsecured, solar, and home equity and improvement spaces to grow our reach nationally and introduce borrowers to Alliant membership and its many benefits.

William Crowder, Managing Partner, Aperture Venture Capital

Host Greg Palmer checks in with Aperture Venture Capital Managing Partner William Crowder for a VC perspective on security, ransomware attacks, and what we can do to be less vulnerable to cybercrime. Episode 121.

I am one of the founding partners of Aperture Venture Capital. We are a relatively-speaking new fund, with a focus on investing at the intersection of financial innovation and culture. If you think about where financial innovation and fintech meet diversity and the opportunities to build a more inclusive economy, then that’s where you’ll find us. We’re backed by some major corporations because we have a fairly unique model in terms of how we approach working with companies. We have folks who’ve invested in us, including FIS, Truist, PayPal, Bank of America, and a few others we have not yet announced publicly.

Amir Kabir, Partner, AV8 Ventures

Host Greg Palmer chats with Amir Kabir, Partner, AV8 Ventures, on what we need to know about embedded insurance and how insurtech will shape fintech in the coming years. Episode 120.

I am currently a partner at AV8 Ventures, which is an early stage fund in the Bay Area (that) started around three years ago. We are in our second fund with around $180 million – with a similarly sized first fund. We have four areas or sectors that we focus on – which, in part, have some overlap. One is enterprise, which incorporates SaaS and infrastructure software. The other one is a healthcare practice. The third one is kind of frontier tech. And the fourth one, which I’m leading, is the fintech and insurtech practice. We typically invest in seed to Series A, $1 million to $5 million – though we are flexible in that regard.

Alison Harwood, Vice Head of Marketplace Banking, Varengold

Host Greg Palmer catches up with Alison Harwood, Vice Head of Marketplace Banking at Varengold Bank, on the emergence of VC funding-as-a-service, Varengold’s new VC offering, and fintech trends for 2022. Episode 119.

In “marketplace banking,” we are working with fintech lenders across Europe to support their business through wholesale debt financing and through banking-as-a-service regulatory fronting business where we are supporting their launch into new markets under our banking license. One of the milestones for our business last year was putting together some retained profits (and) setting them aside to help service our clients more holistically, enabling us to subscribe for equity when they are coming up to a Series A (or) Series B funding.

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Fundrise Launches $1 Billion Growth Equity Fund

Fundrise Launches $1 Billion Growth Equity Fund
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Fundrise is launching a $1 billion growth equity fund called the Fundrise Innovation Fund.
  • The new VC-like fund will facilitate crowdsourced investments in private technology companies.
  • The move is Fundrise’s first significant expansion outside of private real estate.

Alternative investment firm Fundrise was originally founded to give retail investors access to invest in private real estate. Today, the Washington, D.C.-based company is expanding its horizons, adding access to another area of investing with limited access for everyday investors– venture capital (VC).

The company is launching the Fundrise Innovation Fund, a $1 billion growth equity fund aimed to democratize access to investments in top private technology companies. The move is Fundrise’s first significant expansion outside of private real estate.

“The proprietary systems and technology infrastructure we created to tap into private real estate are now capable of disrupting ownership of other asset classes previously inaccessible to individuals,” Fundrise said in a blog post announcement. “…in short, Fundrise has the potential to not only open up but completely transform the entire $10 trillion private market.”

Fundrise was founded in 2010 to offer investors an alternative to stocks and bonds. In 2012, the company launched its real estate investment platform that allows users to invest as little as $10 in private real estate. Today, Fundrise has 300,000 users and has acquired more than 200 assets, collectively worth more than $5.1 billion, on behalf of its investors. The company takes a low-fee approach, charging a 0.15% annual investment advisory fee along with a 0.85% annual asset management fee for each fund.

Fundrise said it selected to expand into VC investing because it has proven to be one of the best-performing investments as well as one of the most exclusive investments, since the general public is excluded from investing in a company until after it goes public.

With the VC fund, Fundrise will enable users to invest in a diversified portfolio of high-growth private tech companies ranging from mid-to-late stage, as well as some public equities. The company’s fee model for the fund will not come with a “carried interest” profit sharing component.

Fundrise will open VC investing to current users of its real estate offerings first, though “on a limited basis.”

Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash

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Wealthtech Orion Advisor Solutions Acquires TownSquare Capital, Redtail Technology

Wealthtech Orion Advisor Solutions Acquires TownSquare Capital, Redtail Technology
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Orion
  • Wealth management solutions provider Orion Advisor Solutions has closed two acquisitions in recent weeks.
  • The Omaha, Nebraska-based fintech closed its acquisition of CRM company Redtail Technology in June, and finished its acquisition of investment and trading platform TownSquare Capital in July. Terms were not disclosed about either transaction.
  • Orion Advisor Solutions made its Finovate debut in 2019 at FinovateFall, demonstrating its trading and rebalancing platform, Eclipse.

Wealthtech innovator Orion Advisor Solutions has recently closed a pair of acquisitions. Both deals are designed to help Orion expand its wealth management business and give financial advisors a “single-source solution to prospect, plan, invest, and achieve,” said Orion founder and CEO Eric Clarke.

At the beginning of the month, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company announced that it has completed its acquisition of investment and trading platform TownSquare Capital (TownSquare). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but the acquisition will add $6 billion in turnkey asset management program (TAMP) assets to Orion’s wealth management platform.

Post-acquisition, TownSquare will continue to operate as a standalone entity, serving as an indirect subsidiary of Orion Advisor Solutions. Headquartered in Provo, Utah, and founded in 2016, TownSquare offers custom investment solutions for institutions, wealth advisors, accounting firms, high net worth individuals, and banks.

“Combining TownSquare with Orion’s wealth management and advisor technology capabilities brings tremendous value to financial advisors and their clients,” Orion Chief of OCIO Services Kurt Brown said. “With the full weight of Orion’s resources and relationships behind us, we can continue providing best-in-class investment strategies to the advisors and clients we serve.”

Orion’s TownSquare announcement comes just one month after the wealth management firm reported that it has completed the acquisition of web-based client relationship management (CRM) software company Redtail Technology. Announced this spring, the combination of the two firms will provide financial advisors with a range of technology and outsourced solutions to help them serve their clients better. Specifically, the integration of Redtail’s CRM technology into Orion’s open architecture will give advisors a foundational tech stack courtesy of an integrated “most-in-one” platform that is built around a CRM hub.

“Redtail joining Orion will greatly benefit financial advisors who seek an integrated suite of technology to grow their businesses,” Orion’s President of CRM Brian McLaughlin said. “We aim to solve some of advisors’ tech integration challenges by bringing together the technology pieces they need to be successful and freeing advisors up to spend more time engaging with their clients and prospects in meaningful ways.”

With Redtail on board, Orion gained insights into more than $3 trillion in assets under management. Before closing its deal with Redtail, the company had been serving 4.7 million technology accounts and supported more than 2,300 independent advisory firms representing $1.9 trillion in assets under administration and $60 billion of wealth management assets.

Founded in 1999, Orion Advisor Solutions made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2019. At the event, the company demoed its fully-integrated trading and rebalancing platform, Eclipse. The technology leverages ASTRO’s institutional-grade portfolio optimization engine to create custom Direct Indexing products, as well as provide advisors with client-specific overlays to strategies that feature custom ESG solutions.

Photo by Leonardo Rossatti

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Singapore’s TurnKey Lender Raises $10 Million in New Equity and Debt Funding

Singapore’s TurnKey Lender Raises $10 Million in New Equity and Debt Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Funding, Turnkey Lender

Lending automation platform and decision management solution and services provider TurnKey Lender has secured $10 million in new funding. The amount raised represents a blend of both equity financing and debt. Led by OTB Ventures, the round featured participation from German development finance institution DEG and Vertex Ventures.

TurnKey Lender will use the additional capital to help expand its operations across North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. This will help the company take advantage of the growing embrace of embedded finance, especially embedded lending.

“We are pleased to have raised our latest level of funding and to continue partnering with great investors,” TurnKey Lender CEO and co-founder Dmitry Voronenko said. “This will turbocharge the next stage of growth. We believe that embedded lending will soon be part of any customer relationship globally.”

In addition to its fundraising news, TurnKey Lender announced that it had appointed a new chair for its board of directors, Christian Morales. Morales, who participated in this week’s funding round, brings 40 years of senior experience in leading technology companies. As chair, he will be involved in supporting a wide range of the company’s initiatives in terms of revenue growth, hiring, as well as both strategic and client relationships.

TurnKey Lender offers credit scoring, decision automation, and loan management for non-bank lenders. The company’s cloud-based technology is geared specifically toward small and medium-sized lending operations, enabling them to “compete with big banks without the big investment.” TurnKey Lender’s platform supports all stages of the loan lifecycle – from application processing and automated decision-making to collection and reporting. The solution also can be readily integrated into both internal and external data sources to provide automated data retrieval and processing. TurnKey Lender’s platform is compatible with a wide variety of lending products, including consumer, microfinance, payday, auto, mortgage, SME, and P2P loans.

Making its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia 2016, TurnKey Lender returned to the Finovate stage a year later for FinovateSpring in San Jose, California. In the years since, the company has grown into a leading fintech provider with 180 clients and 50 million end users in more than 50 countries. TurnKey Lender’s customers have enjoyed profitable revenue growth of as much as 50% and net retention rates of 126%. The company was founded in 2014.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

Photo by Elle Hughes

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Digital Banking Solutions Provider Apiture Secures $29 Million Investment

Digital Banking Solutions Provider Apiture Secures $29 Million Investment
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Apiture announced an investment of $29 million to help the company meet demand for its digital banking platform. The round was led by Live Oak Bank.
  • The platform, unveiled earlier this year, combined Apiture’s Xpress and Open products into a single, API-based solution.
  • Apiture’s total funding now stands at $69 million.

Digital banking solutions provider Apiture has raised $29 million in new funding in a round led by Live Oak Bank. The company will use the capital to boost sales and marketing, accelerate product development plans, and help meet demand for its flagship solution, the Apiture Digital Banking Platform.

“Our platform is built by bankers, for bankers, which uniquely positions Apiture to deliver best-in-class solutions that help financial institutions of all sizes level the playing field with national brands,” Apiture CEO Chris Babcock said. He added that much of the capital raised in this latest round has “come from investors that are also Apiture clients” and highlighted Live Oak Bank, which led the round, as well as Pinnacle Bank and BHF Financial.

The investment brings Apiture’s total capital raised to $69 million.

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, Apiture offers a digital banking platform that is secure, reliable, and core agnostic with more than 40 core integrations. Launched in February of this year, the platform consolidates Apiture’s existing products – Apiture Xpress and Apiture Open – into a singular solution. The platform leverages partnerships with more than 200 fintechs to help banks and credit unions access the technology they need in order to create the kind of digital experiences that are most appropriate for their customers and members. More than 300 banks and credit unions in the U.S. use Apiture’s digital banking platform.

“Financial institutions are keenly aware of the importance of digital channels and the need to elevate the onilne and mobile banking experience for their consumer and business customers,” Live Oak Bank Chief Strategy Officer Stephanie Mann said. “We are thrilled to support Apiture as it accelerates enrichments to its cloud-based, API-first technology platform while scaling to serve a growing number of banks and credit unions.”

This year, Apiture has forged partnerships with Ephrata National Bank and Martha’s Vineyard Bank, both of which will deploy Apiture’s Digital Banking Platform to power both their online and mobile banking solutions. With assets of $1.6 billion, Ephrata National Bank is headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and has served communities in the area since 1881. Martha’s Vineyard Bank, based in Edgartown, Massachusetts, has assets of more than $1.9 billion and operates 10 locations on Martha’s Vineyard and in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

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NCR’s Evolution and What’s Next

NCR’s Evolution and What’s Next
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Interview, NCR Corporation, Speaker series

The world of banking is ever-evolving, and NCR has been part of this evolution since it was founded in 1881.

To get some insight from a firm that has had a front-row seat to industry changes– and to get a glimpse of what’s next– we spoke with NCR Chief Product Officer Erica Pilon. She has spent more than 20 years in the fintech industry, having also spent time at FIS managing three unique digital banking platforms.

What products and technology are resonating with NCR’s 600+ institution clients?

Erica Pilon: Our clients are really responding to data enhancements, crypto, and self-service support. Consumers today expect all interactions to be hyper-personalized, which is impossible without real-time, reliable data. At NCR we are helping financial institutions personalize banking experiences for customers at scale through enriched data and analytics. For example, we recently announced that Allegacy Federal Credit Union has partnered with us and Google Cloud for our data warehousing and analytics solution to make data actionable, unlock predictive insights, and drive innovation and financial health.

Another service resonating with our clients is the ability to offer buy/sell/hold of bitcoin within digital banking as it drives opportunities to build relationships, increase data insights, and generate revenue. Our clients have also shown increased interest in and excitement around enhanced self-service offerings, such as the Kasisto intelligent digital assistant, which provides human-like digital customer support.

What trends are making the largest impact in fintech in the coming year?

Pilon: Community financial institutions no longer only compete with the institution down the block but also with nontraditional threats like neobanks, big techs, and fintech providers. There is a new sense of urgency for financial institutions to provide modern, convenient experiences with robust, innovative products and services to retain customer loyalty, trust, and market share.

Open banking is a massive trend that is transforming the fintech space; it’s creating an opportunity for banking as a service and giving smaller fintech players the ability to try and steal market share from traditional institutions. To compete, banks and credit unions must work with partners that will help them stay open while continuing to leverage the significant trust advantage they have with customers and members. This is another reason why personalizing the experience within digital channels is so important; it helps community financial institutions retain their differentiator and compete with emerging threats.

How is NCR preparing itself for web3?

Pilon: We recently acquired LibertyX, a leading cryptocurrency software provider, which lays the groundwork for us to deliver a complete digital currency solution to our customers. This includes the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrency, conduct cross-border remittance, and accept digital currency payments across digital and physical channels.

NCR remains committed to delivering the agile software platform and services necessary for institutions to power flexible, efficient, and modern banking experiences across all customer touchpoints. Our platform is designed to help our clients quickly innovate and deliver new offerings to keep pace with emerging preferences and trends.

How has the recent consumer-first narrative changed how NCR develops its banking products?

Pilon: NCR continues to prioritize consumer-first, mobile-first experiences in our technology solutions. Now, in a world with so much optionality, banks and credit unions must be able to offer a wide range of choices for how consumers can conduct their banking. This means robust self-service capabilities with strong support options like video chat, as well as sophisticated physical footprints.

The consumer-first narrative is another reason NCR is so focused on data; banking interactions today must be personalized, or customers will quickly go elsewhere. This doesn’t just mean knowing basic details like names and birthdays, it also means being able to provide meaningful advice and guidance related to things like financial health and wellness.

How has NCR evolved to serve bank clients in today’s digital-first era?

Pilon: We firmly believe that digital-first doesn’t mean digital-only, but rather digital everywhere. This is where NCR is uniquely differentiated in the market; we have the ability to offer sophisticated digital solutions for both physical and digital touchpoints, enhancing the customer experience and increasing efficiencies. For example, we can facilitate the ordering ahead of cash or coin for small businesses or starting an account opening process online and then finishing it in the branch. NCR bridges the gap between physical and digital touchpoints.

The pandemic only emphasized what NCR and our clients have known all along: the future is digital, and it’s time to adapt. NCR remains dedicated to providing the flexible, innovative, and efficient technology needed to power excellent banking experiences and strengthen credit unions and community banks’ competitive positions.

Photo by Supratik Deshmukh on Unsplash

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Klarna Integrates with Blackhawk Network Bringing Buy Now, Pay Later to Grocery Stores and Beauty Salons

Klarna Integrates with Blackhawk Network Bringing Buy Now, Pay Later to Grocery Stores and Beauty Salons
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Blackhawk Network, Daily news, Klarna
  • Blackhawk Network and Klarna have teamed up to bring Klarna’s alternative payment solutions to customers shopping with physical merchants.
  • The partnership comes as consumers show greater interest in using Buy Now, Pay Later payment options at retailers such as grocery stores, as well as for services.
  • Among Finovate’s earliest alums, both companies made their Finovate debuts in 2012: Klarna at FinovateSpring, Blackhawk Network at FinovateFall.

Branded payments provider Blackhawk Network and ecommerce innovator Klarna have forged a new partnership that will make it easier for consumers to use Klarna’s interest-free alternative payment offerings with brick-and-mortar merchants. Specifically, consumers will be able to use payment alternatives including Buy Now, Pay Later at physical retailers in Blackhawk’s U.S. network ranging from grocery stores to electronics shops to beauty salons.

“During a time of strained budgets and increasing costs, our partnership with Klarna is a significant development for retailers and grocers who are focused on meeting the needs of consumers and enabling them to shop how they want, where they want,” Blackhawk Network Head of Global Commerce Brett Narlinger said. “With Buy Now, Pay Later on a major growth trajectory, the collaboration between Blackhawk and Klarna will provide innovative purchasing options for consumers and retailers.”

The partnership demonstrates the growth in use cases for Buy Now, Pay Later by including both consumer staples like groceries as well as services such as beauty salon visits. In its 2021 Shopping Pulse Report, Klarna noted that not only are grocery stores among the most frequently shopped categories in physical stores, but also that 64% of the report’s respondents would use Buy Now, Pay Later to purchase groceries if the service were available.

“While online retail is on the rise, consumers today still value the in-store experience and expect the same level of service and convenience everywhere they shop,” Klarna Head of North America Kristina Elkhazin said. “We are proud to partner with Blackhawk, an industry leader and pioneer, to integrate its in-store capabilities with Klarna’s in-store payment solutions to make this new commerce and shopping opportunity for retailers across all categories a reality.”

The partnership follows news of Klarna’s launch of a new Loyalty Card feature in its app. The additional functionality, which comes courtesy of Klarna’s acquisition of mobile wallet provider Stocard last year, enables users of the app to store and access their physical loyalty cards as digital cards. The feature supports more than 8,000 loyalty reward programs around the world.

Blackhawk Network most recently made fintech headlines with its partnership with LibertyX. The collaboration, announced in June, will enable consumers to use their LibertyX accounts to purchase bitcoin at participating U.S. retailers such as Fresco y Más, Tops, and Winn-Dixie. A part of the NCR Corporation, LibertyX operates one of the oldest and largest retail networks of bitcoin ATMs, cashiers, and kiosks in the U.S.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

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3 Things You Need to Know About Highnote’s New Partnership with Plaid

3 Things You Need to Know About Highnote’s New Partnership with Plaid
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Highnote, List series

All-in-one card issuer and program management platform Highnote has teamed up with fellow Finovate alum Plaid. The new partnership will enable frictionless money transfers for card solutions powered by Highnote. The company will leverage Plaid’s account auth and balance solution to enable its customers to seamlessly make their transactions without needing to worry about account or routing numbers. Highnote customers will also be able to use Plaid Link to instantly authenticate cardholder accounts and then automatically create a Highnote Processor Token to enable fund transfers between card accounts and external bank accounts.

Here are three things you need to know about Highnote and its partnership with Plaid.

Highnote helps open finance work for embedded finance

Companies have pursued embedded finance as a way to expand or re-envision their business models. Those businesses that seek to make card issuance a part of their business face challenges in terms of providing a secure, frictionless user experience. Courtesy of Highnote’s partnership with Plaid, businesses will be able to instantly authenticate cardholder accounts, and end users will be able to easily authenticate with their financial institutions and choose which accounts to use for payments.

Removing friction is key to enhancing the customer experience

Helping customers – individuals or businesses – get from point A to point B quickly is the most immediate way for businesses to show they have their customers’ interests – and their time – top of mind. Highnote’s partnership with Plaid is all about removing friction and creating seamless experiences for customers of all kinds. By automating and making instantaneous operations such as account authentication and bank verification, the partnership between Highnote and Plaid is one small step for money movement, and a large leap in the direction of making financial services more accessible and convenient.

The collaboration with Plaid is Highnote’s newest strategic partnership

Highnote – in collaboration with Mastercard – began the year helping business credit platform Tillful launch its Tillful Card. This spring, Highnote announced a collaboration with GoDo as the company introduced its GoDo Card designed to bring earned wage access to underbanked workers.

“We built Highnote to enable companies like GoDo to create truly unique and game-changing payment solutions for their customers,” Highnote co-founder and CEO John MacIlwaine said. “The earned-wage-access market needs modernized payment solutions that can power innovative digital experiences and we’re here to deliver that.”

Highnote made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateSpring in San Francisco. At the event, Highnote demonstrated the developer experience on its cloud-native, GraphQL API-based issuer-process platform. The company also showed how the platform’s interface gives customer management teams control over the payment transaction lifecycle, as well as provide access to transaction processing data.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Highnote has raised $54 million in funding. This include a $42.5 million Series A round closed in September of last year.

Photo by César Vonc

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Zeta Appoints FIS Veteran Karla Booe as Chief Compliance Officer

Zeta Appoints FIS Veteran Karla Booe as Chief Compliance Officer
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Zeta
  • Modern core processing provider Zeta appointed FIS Veteran Karla Booe as Chief Compliance Officer.
  • Booe has spent more than 27 years working at FIS, where she served as Deputy Chief Compliance Officer.
  • Zeta was voted Best of Show at FinovateWest Digital 2020.

Modern core processing provider Zeta is introducing a fresh face this week. The California-based company recently brought on FIS Veteran Karla Booe as Chief Compliance Officer.

Booe will drive regulatory compliance programs for Zeta’s U.S. based clients from her office in Little Rock, Arkansas. She has spent the past 27+ years working at FIS, where she most recently served as the company’s Deputy Chief Compliance Officer. 

Commenting on Booe’s appointment, Zeta CEO and Cofounder Bhavin Turakhia said, “She will further our already strong commitment to regulatory risk and compliance.”

“There has been little-to-no tech innovation with regard to the management of regulatory risk compliance for credit cards in the last decade,” said Booe. “I am excited to help drive that change for Zeta’s clients. Zeta’s mission to provide next-gen capabilities to banks so they can launch products, programs, and innovations faster are underscored by a technology framework and by design principles that will completely change the processing landscape.”

Zeta, which was voted Best of Show at FinovateWest Digital 2020, offers modern core and processing for banks and embeddable banking for fintechs. Earlier this year, Zeta received $30 million in new funding, bringing its valuation to $1.5 million.

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

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Berlin Insurtech Wefox Closes $400 Million Funding Round

Berlin Insurtech Wefox Closes $400 Million Funding Round
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Digital insurance agency Wefox raised $400 million in a combined debt and equity round.
  • The funds boost Wefox’s valuation from $3 billion to $4.5 billion.
  • Wefox relies on technology to take a “prediction and prevention” approach, rather than relying on a “repair and replace” mindset.

Digital insurance agency Wefox just raised $400 million in a combined debt and equity round led by Mubadala Investment Company. EDBI, Eurazeo, LGT, Horizons Ventures, OMERS Ventures, and Target Global also participated. The investment brings Wefox’s total funding to $1.3 billion.

The round boosted Wefox’s valuation from $3 billion to $4.5 billion in 12 months. This increase comes at a time when other fintechs are closing funding in down-rounds, meaning their valuation has decreased.

“This new valuation of $4.5 billion is a clear validation of our business model, which focuses on indirect distribution via agents rather than direct,” said Wefox CEO and Founder Julian Teicke. “This makes our business one of the most credible insurtechs in the market right now.”

According to Teicke, Wefox doubled its revenue, which stood at $320 million last year. Within the first four months of this year, Wefox saw $200+ million in revenues, which positions the company to generate $600 million by the end of this year.

Founded in 2015 and with more than two million customers, Wefox is a licensed digital insurance company that sells insurance through intermediaries, not directly to customers. The company relies on technology to take a “prediction and prevention” approach, rather than relying on a “repair and replace” mindset, which many insurance companies take.

Wefox will use today’s funds for product development and to expand across Europe, Asia, the U.S. The company aims to reach three million customers by year-end.

“Wefox is in the strongest position ever,” said the company’s CFO and Founder Fabian Wesemann.  “In successfully closing this funding round we reinforce our strategy and enable faster acceleration on our path to greater revenues and profit.”

Photo by Erik Mclean

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Black-Owned Fintech Kinly Partners with Data Aggregation and Enhancement Platform MX

Black-Owned Fintech Kinly Partners with Data Aggregation and Enhancement Platform MX
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Diversity in Fintech, Funding
  • Black-founded and run fintech Kinly announced a partnership with open finance company MX.
  • The partnership will bring MX’s financial data aggregation and enhancement solutions to Kinly via the Lehi, Utah-based company’s open finance APIs.
  • MX is a multiple-time, Finovate Best of Show winner. Founded in 2020, Atlanta, Georgia-based Kinly has raised $20 million in funding.

Kinly, a digitally-oriented financial services company dedicated to helping African Americans build generational wealth, has teamed up with financial data aggregation and enhancement solutions platform MX to power its custom-built financial tools.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and founded in 2020 by CEO Donald Hawkins, Kinly leverages financial education, savings and wealth building, and other strategies to help improve financial outcomes. The company offers a deposit account, a Visa debit card, early wage access, overdraft protection up to $100, and cash back rewards for purchases made at participating Black-owned businesses as well as thousands of popular retailers. There are no hidden fees, no minimum balance required, and Kinly customers can also take advantage of fee-free ATM withdrawals nationwide. Deposits are FDIC-insured, and Kinly’s banking services are provided by The Bancorp Bank.

Hawkins praised MX for both its mission and its “passion for diversity.” He added, “I’ve been impressed with MX’s world-class financial data platform for years and look forward to partnering with them. MX’s open finance APIs will help fuel our mission to help serve and improve the financial livelihood of our broad community.”

The partnership with Lehi, Utah-based MX – a multiple-time Finovate Best of Show winner – will bring valuable data aggregation and enrichment to Kinly courtesy of MX’s open finance APIs. This connectivity will enable Kinly to quickly and securely link to and verify data for a wide variety of financial use cases ranging from account opening and money movement to underwriting.

“Working closely with Kinly to help provide data enhancement and personalized financial advice for the Black community aligns perfectly with our mission to empower the world to be financially strong,” MX Chief Product Officer Brett Allred said. “We’re big fans of Kinly and the underrepresented community it serves and look forward to its continued growth and ongoing partnership into the future.”

Kinly joins a growing ecosystem of Black and African American-based financial institutions, including Greenwood, CapWay, and Guava. The company has raised a total of $20 million in funding courtesy of a $5 million seed round in November of 2020 and a $15 million Series A round in August of 2021. Forerunner Ventures led Kinly’s Series A, which featured participation from Kapor Capital, Anthemis Group, and Point72 Ventures, as well as from individual investors from the world of professional sports such as Marshawn Lynch and Kevin Durant.

Photo by Elijah O’Donnell

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First Demo Wave for FinovateFall 2022 Announced!

First Demo Wave for FinovateFall 2022 Announced!
By Heather Stowell Posted on
Categories: Finovate Marketing, FinovateFall 2022

Every summer there’s that one song playing across radio stations, at the beach, from your kids’ earphones, and in the club. This year, it’s likely “Jiggle Jiggle” by Duke & Jones and Louis Theroux.

As we announce the first wave of demoers at FinovateFall, the chorus comes to mind: “My money don’t jiggle jiggle, it folds.” This September, see 60+ innovative solutions that will make sure your money continues to fold.

Curated to reflect fintech’s state of play, this year’s demo lineup hits all the high notes:

  • Embedded finance and payments
  • Expanded AI and machine learning
  • Financial inclusion and literacy
  • Employee benefits
  • ESG-focused initiatives
  • Consumer debt and financial literacy
  • Fintechs as data organizations
  • Blockchain, crypto, and Web3
All of these serve to improve bottom lines, bring in new customers, help retain existing customers, lower operating costs, and make sure your money doesn’t jiggle jiggle.

Here’s a first look at who’s demoing so far:

Interested in demoing? Reach out to the Demo Director at heather@finovate.com or apply online. Interested in attending? Book your place.

Photo by Jess Loiterton

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