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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.

Photo by fauxels

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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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My Test Drive of the Curve Card in the U.S.

My Test Drive of the Curve Card in the U.S.
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Julie's Column

I’ve had my eye on Curve since it launched in the U.K. in 2015. Curve consolidates users’ payment cards into a single physical card and digital wallet, meaning that users only need to carry one card.

After Curve announced its U.S. launch earlier this year, I signed up for the waitlist and onboarded last week. I’ve only had the card for about a week so far, but overall I’m fairly impressed.

Better than predecessors

The company’s card consolidation technology seems to be winning where other players have failed. Remember COIN, the digital smart card that promised to replace all of the cards in your wallet? The company had a slow and rocky start after its 2013 launch– it didn’t even begin shipping cards until 2015– and then shut its doors in 2017 after being acquired by FitBit in 2016. At that point, some of the company’s backers had not even received their card in the mail even though they fronted $50 for the opportunity to get on COIN’s wait list.

Curve has obviously learned from COIN’s mistakes. To start, the company has a lower customer acquisition cost (CAC) compared to COIN. While COIN shipped a digital, battery-powered card along with a magstripe-reading dongle that customers would use to load all of their payment cards, Curve issues a standard plastic payment card with an EMV chip and NFC-powered contactless payment technology.

The plus side

Curve also comes with a handful of additional benefits including rewards, no foreign exchange fees, an Anti-Embarrassment mode that will allow the payment to go through even if the card is declined (with restrictions), and a Go Back in Time feature that enables users to change which card is used for a transaction up to 30 days after the fact. Unique benefits such as these are typically only found with digital banks. But I like that Curve offers me access to these unique features while I get to keep my primary banking relationship.

The downside

Of course, there are a handful of drawbacks I’ve noticed so far, as well. The biggest downside for me is that Curve is working with Mastercard for its credit card network. This means two things– I can’t use it at Costco and I can currently add only my debit card to the app. That’s because at the moment, Curve users can only add credit cards from Mastercard, Discover, and Diners Club. This limitation negates the main benefit of the Curve card, which shouts the motto, “one card to rule them all.” Curve plans to support Visa credit cards in the future, however, so perhaps this is only an issue for beta testers.

The other drawbacks are fairly minor. The PFM capabilities are lacking, perhaps because they expect users to turn to their bank for money management tools. Additionally, call me shallow, but I wish the card itself wasn’t so ugly. With black, white, and red lines, the card has a masculine, retro vibe.

Curve’s potential trajectory

If the progress Curve has made in the U.K. is any signal of its trajectory in the U.S., there is hope that the company will not go the way of COIN. The biggest indication of this is its business plan. Unlike other consolidated payment cards and even some digital banks, Curve operates on a freemium model with the three paid tiers ranging from just under $6 to just under $18 per month. Benefits offered to users in higher tiers include using the Go Back in Time feature more than three times per month, adding more than two cards, and receiving 1% cashback at a limited number of retailers. And for users worried about the color of their Curve card, Curve also offers U.K. users other card design options and even a metal card for those willing to pay for the top tier.

Photo by Tim Foster on Unsplash

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Kids Finance App GoHenry Acquires Pixpay

Kids Finance App GoHenry Acquires Pixpay
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • U.K.-based GoHenry has acquired France-based Pixpay for an undisclosed sum.
  • The deal will help GoHenry expand further into Europe.
  • GoHenry and Pixpay will operate under their own brands with no change in staffing or headquarters.

Kids money management app GoHenry has acquired France-based Pixpay for an undisclosed amount.

The move will help U.K.-based GoHenry expand further into Europe, taking advantage of Pixpay’s teen mobile banking operations in France, Spain, and eventually Germany and Italy.

“Pixpay is the most developed player in Europe,” said GoHenry CEO Alex Zivoder, “and we’re excited to combine our expertise in financial education to accelerate not only GoHenry’s growth but to accelerate the financial fitness of even more kids and teens globally.”

Founded in 2019, Pixpay’s mobile banking app targets a slightly older user base then GoHenry. Pixpay is aimed at pre-teens and teenagers, while GoHenry caters to kids as young as six years old. Both seek to not only help kids spend and save money, but also to teach them responsible money habits at an early age. With almost 200,000 users, Pixpay has raised €11.1 million. Benoit Grassin is co-founder and CEO.

“We are delighted to be joining the GoHenry Group as we prepare to accelerate Pixpay’s expansion across Europe,” said Grassin. “GoHenry’s experience and heritage will only serve to strengthen the already strong proposition offered by Pixpay.”

The acquisition will not impact current operations at either company. Both GoHenry and Pixpay will function under their own brands with no change in staffing or headquarters. The two plan to work together to improve their products and “further transform financial education across the globe.”

GoHenry launched in 2012 and has since raised $66.2 million. The company expanded into the U.S. in 2019 and now counts more than two million members across the U.S. and the U.K.

“So as we expand into Europe, we’re excited to empower even more young people with the money management skills they need to thrive in today’s digital economy,” the company said in its announcement.

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Arcadia Acquires Data Aggregator Urjanet to Help Promote a “Zero-Carbon” Future

Arcadia Acquires Data Aggregator Urjanet to Help Promote a “Zero-Carbon” Future
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Urjanet
  • Utility data aggregator Urjanet has been acquired by energy technology company Arcadia.
  • Urjanet made its Finovate debut last fall at FinovateSpring 2021.
  • Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Atlanta, Georgia-based Urjanet facilitates access to data from more than 6,500 utility, telecom, and cable providers around the world.

Here’s some big news from a Finovate newcomer that slipped beneath our radar in the wake of FinovateSpring this year. Urjanet, a leading utility data aggregator that made its Finovate debut last May, has been acquired by energy technology company Arcadia.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal will integrate Urjanet’s global data access with Arcadia’s data and API platform, Arc. This will enable Arc to serve as a universal software layer for the “zero-carbon economy.”

“Without data access, it will be impossible to meet the urgency and size of the climate crisis,” Arcadia CEO Kiran Bhatraju said. “Through our combined capabilities, Arc will help companies in every industry plan for and act on their climate responsibilities, pulling forward a zero-carbon future.”

Urjanet, founded in 2010 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is the world’s leading utility data aggregator. The company enables businesses to securely access consumer-permissioned data from more than 6,500 utility, telecom, and cable providers in 47 countries. Urjanet accesses more than one million utility bills a month and flows $150 billion in utility spend through its platform. With 50,000 connected utility accounts around the world, nearly a third (30%) of the Fortune 500 utility bills are captured with Urjanet’s technology. Bhatraju said that the integration with Arc will enable Arcadia’s platform to include more than 95% of all residential and commercial accounts in the U.S., as well as data from 9,500 electric, water, gas, and waste utilities globally. More than 1.35 million utility accounts around the world will be connected courtesy of the acquisition.

“Urjanet and Arcadia have long known the same secret: that on-demand, high-fidelity energy data is key to rapid decarbonization,” Arcadia’s Bhatraju wrote when the acquisition was announced earlier this year. “By integrating Urjanet’s global data access, Arc, Arcadia’s industry-leading data and API platform, becomes a universal software layer for the zero-carbon economy with the ability to serve all customers – residential and commercial – across the globe.”

At its Finovate appearance last May, Urjanet showed how its technology could be used to boost financial inclusion and expand credit access. The company partnered with Equifax to launch a new Payment Insights solution that enables banks and lenders to use utility payment history to help establish worthiness for loans.

More recently, Urjanet launched its new flagship platform, Utility Cloud, which provides easy and automated access to credentialed utility account information. Unveiled in April, Utility Cloud provides universal access to utility data, delivering sustainability reporting, energy consumption, utility bill data, and bill images on-demand. This allows businesses to become more energy-efficient, reduce energy spending, and produce quality, aggregated data for ESG reporting.

“Going forward, our customers’ data will be available on-demand in one central location, simplifying their utility data access even more. “Urjanet CEO Sanjoy Malik said. “This one-of-a-kind platform will help organizations streamline very manual and expensive business processes associated with organizing bills from all over the world.”

Photo by Alena Koval

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India Cracks Down on Consumer Lending; Razorpay and Pine Labs Score Payment Licenses

India Cracks Down on Consumer Lending; Razorpay and Pine Labs Score Payment Licenses
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

This week’s edition of Finovate Global takes a look at recent developments in the fintech industry in India.

Has a “fintech reckoning” come to India? That’s the take shared by the Wall Street Journal recently, which suggested that many of the country’s fintech startups are facing new regulatory scrutiny. TechCrunch joined the alarm, looking specifically at the decision by the Reserve Bank of India to ban the practice of using credit cards to load and top up non-bank prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) such as prepaid cards.

The potential impact of the ruling is broad, with companies that specifically leverage PPI licenses to issue cards and then offer cardholders lines of credit, as well as Buy Now, Pay Later firms, that also use a similar approach to offer loans to consumers, being affected. The former group includes major Indian fintechs such as Slice, OneCard, Jupiter, Uni, and KreditBee.

The decision has drawn criticism from individuals in those businesses, some of whom have spoken to the press only on condition of anonymity to “avoid upsetting RBI officials” as TechCrunch described it. Some of those speaking against the policy have accused the RBI of issuing a ruling that is “very confusing and strange.” Others have hinted that lobbying from banks has played a role and reflects a common practice of incumbents using the system to stymie new entrants and slow innovation.

In fact, one option some of the potentially impacted companies may pursue – moving to PPIs through banks and offering their services inline with RBI guidelines –could actually bolster the position of the banks relative to fintechs.

“Not allowing loading of prepaid instruments through credit is aimed at protecting bank’s lazy credit card business from fintech’s potent BNPL business,” BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover tweeted after RBI’s decision was announced. “It’s a flex move by banks – rent seeking.”

In other fintech news from India, we learned this week that Razorpay and Pine Labs both secured approval from the RBI for payment aggregator licenses. The firms are among the first to receive the approvals, which come as the central bank prepares a list of fintechs that will be allowed to operate as payment aggregators in the country. Reportedly more than 185 fintechs have applied for the authorization, which requires companies to have a net worth of $1.9 million as of FY 2021 and a net worth of $3.1 million by the end of FY 2023.

Established in 2020, India’s payment aggregator framework enables only RBI-approved firms to offer payment services to merchants. Among the companies to have applied are major fintechs such as PayU, BharatPe, and FSS, as well as technology companies Google and Amazon.

Founded in 2013, Razorpay is a payment gateway that seeks to improve money management for online businesses by offering clean, developer-friendly APIs and easy integration. With more than 300 million end customers, Razorpay has raised more than $816 million in funding. Harshil Mathur is co-founder and CEO.

Pine Labs is an omnichannel merchant commerce platform that serves businesses in India and Southeast Asia. The company’s solutions offer frictionless online payments for businesses, provide closed-loop gift cards for businesses to boost customer acquisition, and a smart payment app. Founded in 1998, Pine Labs has raised $1.2 billion in funding. Amrish Rau is CEO.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Photo by ritesh arya

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