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ACI Worldwide Unveils Mobile Engagement Platform to Empower Shopping-on-the-Go

ACI Worldwide Unveils Mobile Engagement Platform to Empower Shopping-on-the-Go
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news
  • ACI Worldwide unveiled its mobile engagement platform ACI Smart Engage this week.
  • The new solution relies on location, voice, and image recognition to enable consumers to purchase goods and services remotely with a single click.
  • The launch of ACI Smart Engage comes at the same time that ACI Worldwide announced a divestment of its business banking unit, ACI Digital Business Banking.

Real-time payments software company ACI Worldwide launched its mobile engagement platform ACI Smart Engage today. The solution leverages location, voice, and image recognition technology to enable merchants to offer their entire inventory of products and services directly to consumers’ smartphones. ACI Smart Engage combines geolocation with scannable media and audio tags inside a range of media types – including TV, print and radio advertisements, posters, magazines, catalogs, window displays, and more. Consumers can use the solution to instantly purchase products and services on-the-go with a single click.

“With ACI Smart Engage, merchants can reach consumers through their smartphones no matter where they are and turn every interaction into an opportunity to sell,” ACI Worldwide head of merchant Debbie Guerra said. “ACI Smart Engage combines the in-store and online experience for consumers by reaching them on their smartphones through various media, including supermarket labels, restaurant menus, or window displays, and driving true mCommerce sales through embedded one-click payments. With ACI Smart Engage, merchants can make ‘window shopping’ a reality.”

Merchants can integrate ACI Smart Engage into their existing mobile apps using Smart Engage SDK APIs. The technology is a part of ACI Omni-Commerce, a secure omni-channel payment processing platform that supports the in-store, online, and mobile needs of modern merchants. ACI Omni-Commerce also offers consumers more of the kind of purchasing experiences they are looking for.

“Consumers are reaching for their smartphones to make informed buying decisions more than ever before,” Guerra added. “With Smart Engage, we enable merchants to reach those consumers at the right time, when they are most likely to make a purchase and then help them complete the purchase with a single click. It fosters direct engagement between merchants and their customers.”

ACI Worldwide’s launch of ACI Smart Engage comes as the company announced a decision to divest its corporate online banking solutions to middle market private equity firm, One Equity Partners. The move is part of ACI Worldwide’s “three-pillar strategy” which is designed to support value creation for shareholders via a focus on growth.

“Our efforts to accelerate organic growth are firmly on track, and we are now making progress on the third pillar, step-change value creation through M&A,” ACI Worldwide president and CEO Odilon Almeida said. “The divestment is in line with our commitment to continually review the company’s portfolio to maximize shareholder value.”

The transaction for ACI Digital Business Banking, as the technology is called, has been valued at $100 million. The deal is expected to close in Q3 of 2022.

A veteran of both Finovate and our developers conference FinDEVr, ACI Worldwide offers real-time payment solutions to help corporations process digital payments, enable omni-commerce, and manage fraud and risk. Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Miami, Florida, ACI Worldwide is partnered with 19 of the top 20 banks around the world, and works with 80,000 merchants directly and through PSPs. The company’s technology facilitates more than 225 billion consumer transactions a year.

With 2021 revenues of $1.4 billion, ACI Worldwide is a publicly-traded company (NASDAQ: ACIW) with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

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A New Wave of Insurtech

A New Wave of Insurtech
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Julie's Column, Thought Leadership

Often ignored as a boring fintech subsector, insurtech is in the midst of reinventing itself to fit into today’s digital-first era. Straits Research expects the global insurtech market to reach a valuation of more than $114 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 46.10% from now until that time.

We’ve rounded up a handful of insurtechs whose new innovations in the space are contributing to this growth.

InShare

InShare was founded in 2019 by a group of Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb alums to deliver insurance solutions to meet the unique needs of sharing economy platforms such as rideshare, delivery, homeshare, and eMobility markets.

“We have an expert team of gig insiders across all facets of insurance that are working closely with brokers who specialize in the on-demand economy,” said InShare VP Gary Lovelace. “We’re making the buying experience straightforward, flexible and frictionless for brokers and customers. More fundamentally, we’re bringing occupational accident insurance into the digital age.”

GetSafe

Germany-based GetSafe aims to make insurance simple, fair, and accessible by leveraging smart bots and automation. The company recently launched liability, household, and dog owner liability insurance in Austria. GetSafe plans to launch in France and Italy in the coming months.

Federato

Federato provides an underwriting platform for insurance companies that unlocks existing data sources to intelligently determine risk across a range of insurance types. The company has spent more than 1,250 hours of research to redesign the underwriting workflow to be fast, efficient, and painless. Federato was founded in 2020 and is headquartered in California.

Hourly

Hourly offers a platform to help small business owners pay, manage, and protect their hourly workers. The company leverages real-time data to help business owners see their exact premiums and labor costs in real-time and to help insurers better predict premiums and risk. The company’s services are currently only available in California. However, Hourly received a $27 million Series A investment today that it will use to expand into more regions.

Photo by George Becker

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Aiia Launches New Payment Feature, Pay By Link

Aiia Launches New Payment Feature, Pay By Link
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Aiia, Alumni News, Daily news
  • Finovate newcomer Aiia launched its new payment technology, Pay by Link.
  • The new offering empowers businesses to make payments using a wide variety of common communication channels including email, PDF, SMS, and chat.
  • Aiia was acquired by Mastercard in the fall of 2021.

Leading Northern European open banking platform Aiia unveiled its new payment feature, Pay by Link. The new offering enables seamless payments for both businesses and consumers, using whatever channel they choose. These options include email, PDF, SMS, social media chat, and more.

“We’re in the process of transforming the entire way of paying bills,” Aiia CEO and co-founder Rune Mai said. “With a simple link, we make it effortlessly easy and secure to pay a bill on the go with a bank account without having to enter or remember payment details.”

Using the solution is straightforward: businesses provide Aiia with the necessary invoice information for a given payment and Aiia ensures that all vital information is visible on both the sender and receiver accounts. This lets businesses automate the payment reconciliation process, if they need to. Any company can issue a payment link for an invoice using customer-facing channels such as email, SMS, or even a physical letter.

“With Pay by Link, we give businesses the opportunity to accept and receive payments anywhere and reduce friction in the entire payment flow,” Mai added. “The new feature is bridging the opportunity gap between open banking and a wide range of businesses.”

Aiia’s open banking platform enables businesses to connect their applications to more than 3,000 banks in Europe to access financial data and offer seamless payments. The company made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateEurope 2021, demoing its technology that allows any company to make easy and cost-effective account-to-account payments with just a few lines of code. Since then, Aiia has forged partnerships with Swiss PFM startup keycount, Denmark-based IT services firm Netcompany, and Danske Bank U.K. Last fall, Mastercard announced that it had completed its acquisition of Aiia, a deal that was first reported in September.

Photo by Giallo

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Ant Group Unveils ANEXT Bank, a Digital Bank for SMEs

Ant Group Unveils ANEXT Bank, a Digital Bank for SMEs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Ant Group unveiled a digital bank called ANEXT Bank focused on serving SMEs.
  • ANEXT Bank is soft launching today and will be widely available in the third quarter of this year.
  • ANEXT Bank is collaborating with Proxtera, a Singapore company that broadens access to global trade.

China tech giant Ant Group announced the launch of its own digital bank, ANEXT Bank, in Singapore.

ANEXT Bank is a digital wholesale bank focused on serving micro businesses and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Specifically, ANEXT will focus on facilitating cross-border operations for growth and global expansion.

The ANEXT business account, which will be available to SMEs in the third quarter of this year, will offer a dual-currency deposit account with remote onboarding, daily interest, and other features. The bank is soliciting ideas for other features from the public. “We believe in building solutions around your needs,” the company said on its website. “So tell us what you want from financial services. Because it’s time to bring about what’s next.”

ANEXT Bank CEO Toh Su Mei described that SMEs are doing business via digital channels and financial services organizations must meet them where they are. She added that ANEXT’s “open and collaborative” approach is key to providing SMEs with financial services that are simpler, safer, and more rewarding.

“Continuous innovation and new capabilities that digital banks are slated to bring will no doubt add more engines of growth to Singapore’s financial sector,” said Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Chief Fintech Officer Sopnendu Mohanty. “MAS expects the digital banks to thrive and synergize with our dynamic financial institutions and raise the bar in delivering quality financial services, and to uplift Singapore’s financial sector to better support the growth of SMEs in Singapore, the region and in emerging markets.”

Along with its collaboration with MAS, ANEXT also signed a two-year collaboration agreement with Proxtera, a Singapore company that broadens access to global trade. The two plan to facilitate cross-border trade among SMEs by leveraging embedded financing and fulfillment services to make marketplaces efficient and more discoverable globally.

“Seamless access and availability of trade financing solutions will help amplify business growth and accelerate expansion for SMEs,” said Proxtera CEO Saurav Bhattacharyya. “This mission is closely aligned with ANEXT Bank’s focus to serve SMEs engaging in cross-border operations. Together with ANEXT Bank’s digital-born identity and digital-first capabilities and services, I’m confident that we can make trade easier, more seamless, and efficient for SMEs.”

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German Neobroker Trade Republic Earns $5 Billion Valuation; Binance Labs Secures $500 Million to Fund Web3

German Neobroker Trade Republic Earns $5 Billion Valuation; Binance Labs Secures $500 Million to Fund Web3
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Buckzy Payments, Efigence, Finovate Global, Nubank, Temenos

European investment and savings platform Trade Republic has topped up its 2021 Series C round with an investment of €250 million led by the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan. The funding gives Trade Republic a valuation of more than $5 billion (€5 billion), and will enable the company to “double down” on its product.

“We are amid a transformation of pension systems in Europe,” Trade Republic co-founder Christian Hecker said. “The financing will help us to invest strongly into product innovation to empower millions of Europeans to put their money to work. Improving our valuation in the light of the current market environment is the true testament to our progress in the last twelve months and the large potential ahead.”

Trade Republic enables its more than one million European customers to invest in equities, cryptocurrencies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as well as fractional savings plans. With more than six billion euros in assets under management, Trade Republic offers investors the ability to invest in 9,000 stocks and ETFs; take advantage of 4,000 stock and ETF savings plans; and participate in more than 50 cryptocurrency-based savings plans. Trade Republic also provides access to 300,000 derivatives including warrant bonds, “knock-out products”, and factor certificates.

Trade Republic was founded in 2015 by Christian Hecker, Thomas Pischke, and Marco Cancellieri. The company is headquartered in Berlin, Germany.

Binance Labs, the venture capital arm of international cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has raised $500 million to invest in companies that are “building Web3”. The capital comes from VC firms DST Global and Breyer Capital, and featured participation from a variety of family offices and corporations which remained unnamed.

The new fund arrives at a time when cryptocurrrency prices are in a significant retreat. Binance Labs has suggested that the current weakness in digital asset prices might provide an opportunity for investment in companies involved in everything from NFTs to blockchain infrastructure. “The goal of the newly closed investment fund is to discover and support projects and founders with the potential to build and to lead Web3 across DeFi, NFTs, gaming, Metaverse, social, and more,” Binance Labs Executive Director of Investments and M&A Ken Li said.

The new fund will invest in projects in a wide range of development stages including incubation, early-stage venture, and late-stage growth. Binance Labs has invested in and incubated more than 100 projects from more than 25 countries. The firm’s portfolio includes companies such as blockchain research firm Dune Analytics, as well as blockchain networks such as Elrond, The Sandbox, and Polygon.

In other international fintech news, Canadian Finovate alum Buckzy Payments announced an expansion to the Netherlands and its plan to pursue an EMI (Electronic Money Institution) license. The company, which demoed its real-time cross border P2P payments solution at FinovateFall 2019, opened a new office in Amsterdam this summer. The firm also noted that an EMI license will enable members of the Buckzy Payment Network to leverage virtual account services and real-time payments across the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) of 36 European countries and territories.

“Europe is a mature, technologically advanced market that is also a hotbed of fintech innovation thanks to its adoption of open API technology,” Buckzy President and CEO Abdul Naushad said. “(This) has opened up the financial sector and created opportunities for innovative new companies to provide new products and services. More and more of our customers around the world want to send and receive real-time payments to and from Europe, and we are enabling them to do so.”

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Photo by energepic.com

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Sila Founder and CEO Shamir Karkal on DeFi, TradFi, and Everything in Between 

Sila Founder and CEO Shamir Karkal on DeFi, TradFi, and Everything in Between 
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Interview, Speaker series

The fintech industry talks a lot about bank-fintech and fintech-bank relationships. Everyone in this industry will proudly declare how essential these partnerships are for everyone in the value chain. However, the recent introduction of crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi) is complicating things. How can a traditional financial (TradFi*) institution like a bank align itself with a DeFi startup or get involved in crypto?

For insight, we spoke with Sila CEO and Founder Shamir Karkal. Karkal co-founded Simple, one of the first digital banks, in 2009 and sold the company to BBVA in 2017. The following year, Karkal founded Sila, a company that offers banking, digital wallet, and ACH payments APIs to help companies integrate with the U.S. banking system and blockchain quickly, securely, and in compliance.

In our conversation, Karkal highlights the intersection between TradFi and DeFi and examines ways the two can work together while still regarding necessary compliance measures.

What are some ways you are currently seeing crypto businesses and TradFi organizations interacting?

Shamir Karkal: Unquestionably, crypto is becoming part of life. It is becoming part of everyday finance. We had a massive crypto boom in 2021 and now we are experiencing a crypto bust. But public markets and fintechs have performed equally as bad – or worse – than crypto. Over the last few years, traditional finance has been waking up to the crypto space. They take it seriously now.

During mid-to-late 2020, most TradFi organizations thought of crypto as a passing fad, a new dotcom boom. Today, there is no more dismissal of it. The top levels of large banks understand that crypto is here to stay – that it is an important part of the future of finance. Clearly, how this future will look in detail is still to be seen. Some TradFi organizations have embraced crypto whole-heartedly, such as Cross River bank and Silvergate bank, but there are also others still on the fence.

Crypto has scaled dramatically in 2021, which – ironically, some might say – has made crypto businesses appreciate traditional finance a lot more. They are not fans, not by a long shot. But, for example, they understand that compliance is not optional, and that one needs to comply with the law in one’s jurisdiction. As crypto businesses matured, reality has set in partially because when you‘re big, ignoring the law is not an option. In fact, crypto businesses often have a better understanding of regulations than fintechs. Because most answers are subject to change in the world of crypto, participants need to understand and follow very closely how things evolve. 

Some of the largest TradFi organizations such as JPMorgan went as far as launching their own stablecoin (JPMcoin). All are going to have similar projects. In my view, big banks have no ability to compete head-to-head with anybody in the crypto space. However, they are perfectly positioned to provide services to the winners in the crypto space– to the big exchanges, the big processors. All of those firms need all the services that traditional finance provides. Providing financial services to crypto winners is where the money is to be made. The foundation of the future of finance is still the financial services that today are supporting any other businesses. 

What types of partnerships do you expect to see in the future?

Karkal: To partner is in the interest of both crypto and traditional financial institutions. Crypto businesses are using traditional finance to broaden and speed up adoption of crypto services. True, a lot of people want to get into crypto. Still, everyone who does today has money in a bank account or a debit card. Even if your business is all about crypto, you need to create the bridge to allow people to move money from here to there. 

When it comes to regulation, what do banks need to look for when partnering with crypto startups?

Karkal: In technology or crypto, it is often said that you need to look for teams who move fast and break things. That is not true in banking. Banks need to look for projects that have good teams, are well funded, and where teams have an understanding of the compliance issues they will face. Because you can only develop a plan to deal with problems after they are recognized. One key question to ask is, “Do you have an opinion from an experienced lawyer?”

My advice is to look for real teams with real people that are serious about a long-term relationship. Beware! There are plenty of scams out there. Don’t support people who are only interested in making a quick buck, or the next ponzi coin (a real thing).

Crypto is also fraught with fraud. There are many, many different types of fraud: fraudulent businesses, payments fraud, ACH fraud, etc. Banks have been combatting these issues longer than crypto businesses. They stand to know more about them and can help. The key is to identify crypto businesses that built out the necessary capabilities, and that get advice from the good lawyers in the space. That’s a good litmus test. 

How can banks position themselves as good partners for crypto companies?

Karkal: The key is to figure out which products and services the bank is willing to offer. That sounds basic, but a bank has to ask itself if it is willing to service a crypto company. Is it ready to be their corporate bank? To do payment processing? To be a custodian for their funds, or their customers’ funds? After figuring out what a bank is willing to do, the second step is to go do it with some startups. Some banks act as if they want to partner with crypto businesses, but then their compliance processes are so onerous, it just won’t work. They end up standing in their own way. My advice is: if you’re serious, go do it with a couple of crypto companies first before making a big marketing push. If you’re successful, word will spread through Discord or Telegram channels. And, suddenly, you’ll find other projects and companies that will be coming to you. 

Here is the rap. The question is really, “Can you get to the point of opening an account?” Remember: crypto businesses do not have the profile of traditional customers. It might come as a Delaware subsidiary of a company registered in the Cayman Islands with senior people sitting all over the world. As a highly regulated bank, what is your process for this setup? You need to figure out your compliance piece to make such a setup work.  

I know of crypto businesses that are public companies abroad, are serious players, and yet have trouble opening corporate bank accounts in the U.S. As a bank, you need to understand that there is one thing crypto businesses don’t have: patience. They won’t wait 12 months while a bank’s internal committee rejects their application for the 13th time because they have a subsidiary in the British Virgin Islands that’s on a black list somewhere. You as a bank need to figure out this and related processes first, before your sales people are soliciting crypto businesses. 

*TradFi refers to traditional financial institutions as well as fintechs.

Photo by Shubham Dhage on Unsplash

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Klarna Partners with Marqeta to Launch its New Card

Klarna Partners with Marqeta to Launch its New Card
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Klarna, Marqeta
  • Marqeta announced a collaboration with fellow Finovate alum Klarna to power the company’s new payment card.
  • The new card will enable Klarna customers to use the company’s Pay in 4 payment option in physical stores.
  • This week’s partnership builds upon a relationship the two companies have enjoyed since 2018.

A pair of Finovate alums have teamed up to offer a new transparent alternative to traditional credit cards.

Modern card issuing platform Marqeta reported this week that it is working with banking, payments, and ecommerce platform Klarna to power Klarna’s new payment card. The card will bring Klarna’s Pay in 4 service to a physical Visa card, and builds on a payment card partnership between the two companies that extends back to 2018. Marqeta currently enables the creation of one-time cards on Klarna’s app. The new Klarna Card will give customers the same control, convenience, and flexibility when shopping in physical stores that they currently enjoy when using Klarna’s Pay in 4 at the point of sale or via the Klarna app.

“Our U.S. customer base is growing rapidly and we’ve seen tremendous demand for our new Klarna Card offering,” Klarna Chief Commercial Officer David Sykes said. “By expanding our partnership with Marqeta, we’re leveraging their payments expertise to provide our customers with an unmatched user experience that will ultimately help our business grow.”

This latest collaboration comes just months after the two companies expanded their partnership into 13 new European markets. Klarna will leverage Marqeta’s Just-in-Time Funding functionality to gain control over the full transaction flow, and use Marqeta’s technology and 300+ open APIs to deliver customizable experiences and support Klarna’s international expansion.

“Marqeta’s continued partnership with Klarna is a testament to all the payment experiences that our modern card issuing platform can enable,” said Marqeta CEO and founder Jason Gardner. “We’re proud to offer a flexible, scalable card platform that can meet the demands of such a rapidly-growing and innovative company like Klarna.

A Finovate alum since 2012, Klarna now has more than 147 total active customers – 25 million in the U.S. – is active in 45 countries and facilitates two million transactions a day. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, the company began the year with the launch of a physical payment card in the U.K. and, in March, announced the completion of its acquisition of comparison shopping service company PriceRunner. Sebastian Siemiatkowski is CEO.

Based in Oakland, California, Marqeta made its Finovate debut at our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley, in 2016. In the years since, Marqeta has issued more than 500 million cards via its platform and processed more than $110 billion in volume in 2021. In addition to its partnership with Klarna, Marqeta also announced this week that it was joining Mastercard’s Network Enablement Partners Program in the Asia Pacific. The move will enhance Marqeta’s ability to offer its APAC customers a faster path to live issuance.

“As one of Mastercard’s first Network Enablement Partners to be onboarded in the Asia Pacific region, Marqeta is well-equipped to deliver card issuances in record time, and to help their fintech customers scale at speed across multiple geographies,” Mastercard SVP of Digital Customer Solutions APAC Ben Gilbey said.

Photo by Olya Kobruseva

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Sowing the Seeds: Tales from Crypto’s Course Correction

Sowing the Seeds: Tales from Crypto’s Course Correction
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news

Bruised but not broken, the cryptocurrency market has taken more than a few blows as the prices of leading digital assets – from Bitcoin to Ethereum – have declined significantly in recent months. This may have taken some of the steam out of many cryptocurrency ventures. But there is no sign that interest in cryptocurrencies has been lost in any critical way. Here are three headlines from this week’s news that remind us that, despite its recent fortunes, crypto remains a key part of innovation in fintech.

Leading digital asset exchange Binance announced the closure of a $500 million venture fund for investing in Web3 and blockchain-based technologies this week. The fund will be led by the company’s venture capital arm Binance and features the support of a number of global investors including DST Global Partners and Breyer Capital.

“In a Web3 environment, the connection between values, people, and economies, is essential, and if these three elements come together to build an ecosystem, that will accelerate the mass adoption of blockchain technology and crypto,” Binance CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao said.

Binance Labs has supported and incubated more than 100 firms from more than 25 countries since its inception in 2018. With an openness to projects ranging from incubation to early stage venture to late-stage growth, the fund anticipates supporting initiatives “with the potential to build and to lead Web3 across DeFi, NFTs, gaming, Metaverse, social, and more,” Zhao said.

Liminal, a digital asset wallet infrastructure company, announced receiving $4.7 million in seed funding this week. The round was led by Elevation Capital, and featured participation from a sizable number of investors. Among the company’s backers in this round were traditional investors like LD Capital and Nexux Ventures, crypto-based investors like CoinDCX and Hashed, and individual investors including Andreas Antonopoulos and Balaji Srinivasan. Liminal plans to use the capital to support both hiring and product development.

Founded in 2021 by serial entrepreneur Mahin Gupta, Liminal is the first digital wallet architecture to provide the multi-party computation (MPC) and multisignature (MultiSig) that help secure digital assets across different blockchains. A plug-and-play platform, Liminal has processed transactions over $2.5 billion and automated transactions valued at $400 million. The company currently secures approximately $50 million in assets.

“With Liminal, we solve the very real problem of securing and scaling digital assets where users have to use different wallets and infrastructure for different protocols,” Gupta said. “Our three layers provide key management, operational automation, and compliance for enterprises.”

Speaking of seed funding, digital asset startup Cloudwall Capital secured $6.3 million in seed funding this week. The company specializes in risk management in the cryptocurrency space.

The round was led by LocalGlobe and Illuminate Financial. Cloudwall will use the funding to increase the size of its team to 15 members by year’s end. The company will also leverage the new capital to support further development of its digital asset portfolio management platform, Serenity. Cloudwall anticipates being able to launch an early access program by this summer.

“Digital assets underwent explosive growth between 2020 and 2021, with almost five years of growth taking place overnight,” Cloudwall Capital co-founder and CEO Kyle Downey said. “Recent market gyrations have only increased the case for a digital asset platform to manage risk so that institutional investors have the tools and platforms to help manage their portfolios and risks.”

Serenity will combine risk management with research to provide investors with an overview of their assets and potential for volatility. A cloud-based platform, Serenity will enable them to review their portfolio holdings and examine historical data – including blockchain data and data from centralized exchanges. Investors will be able to use Serenity’s statistical and machine learning algorithms to run simulations and stress tests on their portfolios to see how they will react to different market conditions.

“It’s becoming clearer to institutional investors that they should invest in digital assets if they aren’t already, but they don’t have the tools to help them embrace this new market in a way they are used to,” Cloudwall Capital co-founder and COO Jia Yng Wee said. “We’re building Serenity to provide this solution and (to support) the careful growth of this industry.”

Cloudwall Capital was founded in 2021. The company is headquartered in New York City.

Photo by Binyamin Mellish

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Fintech and the LGBTQ Community: 3 Resources for Banking and Financial Wellness

Fintech and the LGBTQ Community: 3 Resources for Banking and Financial Wellness
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: List series

June is National Pride Month, a time to honor and celebrate the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) community. Many of the contributions to fintech and financial services from members of the LGBTQ community go unnoticed. But what can no longer be overlooked is the growing number of resources in the financial services industry that are designed to serve the unique needs of LGBTQ financial services consumers. To this end, we’re taking a look at three companies that are dedicated to making banking and financial wellness easier for those in the LGBTQ community.

Daylight

Calling itself “banking for you and your chosen familly,” Daylight may be the pre-eminent, dedicated banking solution provider for the LGBTQ community. Founded in 2020, by “queer millennials” Rob Curtis (CEO), Billie Simmons (COO), and Paul Barnes-Hoggett (CTO), Daylight enables individuals and families to access a range of key banking services without worrying about supporting companies or initiatives that are detrimental to the LGBTQ community.

What services does Daylight provide? Like other banking solutions providers, Daylight offers a deposit account – backed by MetaBank – an Apple and Google Pay-compatible debit card, and financial wellness solutions via mobile app. The app has a round-up feature to help incentivize and ease savings, as well as goal-setting tools to help users plan for both expected and unexpected financial commitments. Daylight can be used by any U.S. citizen, 18 years or older.

“Our community has $1 trillion (in) spending power in the U.S. and yet 53% of LGBT+ people struggle to maintain regular savings,” Daylight Operations Associate Peyton Swift wrote recently on the Daylight blog. “That’s high-key unacceptable. We’re done letting the system ignore us. We’re building Daylight around our unique needs: different timelines, different kinds of families, different goals, and different futures.”

Superbia

New York-based Superbia Services was founded in 2017 as a “profit for purpose” entity focused on developing community-based financial products. In 2020, the organization launched the Superbia Credit Union, the first LGBTQ-focused profit-for-purpose financial institution with a nationally-oriented membership. Located in Michigan, Superbia CU is the first new credit union to receive a state charter in more than 33 years.

“When operational, Superbia Credit Union will benefit members through tailored products and services, more favorable rates, and grants made regularly to organizations that help support and advance causes of the LGBTQ community,” a statement credited to Superbia CU read. Myles Meyers, founder and CEO of Superbia Services noted that, for all the gains made by the LGBTQ community in recent decades, there are still major issues of discrimination.

“In the same way a bakery can refuse a cake, one bank’s discrimination could lead to higher interest rates on homes, rejection of student loans, judgement on credit for health needs, outdated products and services for LGBTQ individuals and families, and lack of acceptance and understanding among traditional institutions,” Meyers said.

In addition to serving the national LGBTQ community with banking services – including credit cards – Superbia will offer its members both life and healthcare insurance that takes into account the unique needs of LGBTQ Americans. This includes providing coverage regardless of relationship status, gender identity, or preventative medications. Superbia has pledged to donate 10% of all revenue earned each year from its financial products and services to the Superbia Foundation.

Pandemic-related complications have slowed the regulatory approval process for many nascent financial institutions – including Superbia. According to Investopedia, the credit union had hoped to open its doors in the summer of 2021. The company hopes to begin operations soon.

Queer Money

Queer Money is not a fintech. But when it comes to financial wellness resources for the LGBTQ community, the Queer Money podcast is an option that deserves more attention. Created by David Auten and John Schneider, who launched their website, The Debt Free Guys, in 2013, Queer Money bills itself as the #1 gay podcast focused on the financial needs of the LGBTQ community.

Recent episodes of Queer Money have looked into the challenges of being an angel investor, answers to questions about “lesbian money,” savings strategies for low-wage workers, and social security issues for same-sex couples.

Sharing their story on their webpage, Auten and Schneider note that at one point the married couple found themselves embodying “the gay cliché of living fabulous but being fabulously broke.” From this point, the two financial professionals decided to “walk the talk”, overhauling their finances and using their personal and professional experiences to help “queer people (and allies) live fabulously not fabulously broke” via a combination of credit card debt reduction, entrepreneurship, and better savings and investing.

Auten’s background includes years as a Business Systems Analyst as well as an institutional broker/project manager. A graduate of the University of Colorado, Denver, Auten is also the co-author (with John Schneider) of 4: The Four Principles of a Debt-Free Life and is a nationally recognized expert on queer and straight personal finance. Schneider has experience as a financial services compliance analyst, and spent more than a decade with Charles Schwab in a variety of capacities including Senior Manager for Advisor Services Strategic Integration.

Photo by Markus Spiske

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TrueLayer and Thunes Team Up for Open Banking

TrueLayer and Thunes Team Up for Open Banking
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Thunes, TransferTo
  • Open banking platform TrueLayer is partnering with cross-border payments company Thunes.
  • Thunes will integrate TrueLayer’s open banking technology into its platform, making open banking available as a payment method.
  • TrueLayer helps 100,000 merchants across the U.K., Europe, and Australia power open banking payments experiences that connect payments, data, and identity.

In the U.K., open banking is the rule, rather than the exception. So today’s partnership between open banking platform TrueLayer and cross-border payments company Thunes is targeting the right geography. Through today’s partnership, the two firms aim to streamline and improve the payment experience of consumers in the U.K. and Europe.

“Open banking payments are gaining momentum not only in the U.K. but also in the rest of Europe, and we really believe that this strong partnership with TrueLayer, a leader in the field, will help to move forward and make this new definition of smart payment a reality for all,” said Thunes Managing Director Christophe Bourbier.

Thunes will integrate TrueLayer’s open banking technology into its platform, making open banking available as a payment method for its 100,000 merchants. TrueLayer’s open banking payment technology bypasses traditional card networks and their associated fees, which helps merchants offer a faster and more cost-effective payments experience that reduces both fraud and chargebacks.

“Open banking is rapidly moving to the mainstream, as more merchants adopt account-to-account payments thanks to their ability to deliver significant cost savings, enhanced security, and speed of settlement when compared to other payment methods,” said TrueLayer Head of Payment Partnerships Mariko Beising. “Thunes has a track record of adopting and optimizing the latest payments options for its customers, so they can focus on running their business. Implementing open banking is the next logical step and we believe that together we can deliver significant value to merchants across Europe through a trusted partner.”

Thunes was founded in 2016 as TransferTo and rebranded to Thunes in 2019. The company offers a cross-border payments and collection network that supports 79 currencies, enables payments to 130 countries, and offers 300 payment acceptance methods. Among the company’s use cases are cross-border payments, business payments, virtual payments, and virtual account issuance. Headquartered in Singapore, Thunes also has offices in London, Paris, Shanghai, New York, Dubai, Nairobi, Arizona, and Barcelona.

TrueLayer helps businesses across the U.K., Europe, and Australia power open banking payments experiences that connect payments, data, and identity to help people spend, save, and transact online. The company was founded in 2016 and is connected to thousands of financial institutions across the U.K. and Europe. Last September, TrueLayer landed a $130 million investment that boosted the company’s total funding to $272 million.

Photo by Alex Andrews

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PwC and Microsoft Tap FintechOS for Digital Banking

PwC and Microsoft Tap FintechOS for Digital Banking
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, FintechOS, Microsoft, PwC
  • Financial services firm PwC and tech giant Microsoft are leveraging digital banking solutions provider FintechOS to create a digital banking solution.
  • The group aims to help banks adapt and modernize their operations to fit into the digital-first era.
  • “This will drive a massive improvement in time-to-value, and the extensibility of digital banking growth and expansion,” said PwC Partner Akhilesh Khera.

In the fintech industry, third party partnerships are king. So it’s not surprising to see the news that financial services firm PwC and tech giant Microsoft are tapping into the expertise of digital banking solutions provider FintechOS.

The trio announced their partnership, which will leverage FintechOS’ expertise, PwC’s digital banking prowess, and Microsoft’s Cloud for Financial Services technology to create a digital banking solution aimed at helping financial institutions adapt and modernize their operations to fit into the digital-first era.

For its part, FintechOS will be crucial in providing banking and investment, customer management, and integration and orchestration services. “We are delighted to be playing a key role in this ground-breaking initiative, as it demonstrates both the market-leading capability of our high-productivity fintech infrastructure and the strength of our relationship with PwC,” said FintechOS VP of Ecosystem Sales at EMEA Todi Pruteanu. “We are excited about the opportunity to work closely with and actively support PwC as this proposition revolutionizes banking across the globe.”

PwC Partner Akhilesh Khera said that the firm selected FintechOS for the company’s high-productivity infrastructure. “This will drive a massive improvement in time-to-value, and the extensibility of digital banking growth and expansion,” explained Khera.

U.K.-based FintechOS was founded in 2017 to help companies quickly launch and manage products and services across lending, savings, insurance, investment, and embedded finance. By helping financial services companies replace their core banking infrastructure operations, FintechOS also helps companies reduce costs, modernize operations, and deploy modern customer journeys that meet today’s standard expectations of great customer experience.

In March of this year, FintechOS launched a pair of accelerators to help financial institutions support their small business clients. Earlier this month, the company unveiled its spring release, which contained a digital retail mortgage and BNPL features. FintechOS demoed Sunglow, a banking super app at FinovateFall 2021. Teo Blidarus is co-founder and CEO.

Photo by Miriam Espacio

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Trustly to Acquire Ecospend

Trustly to Acquire Ecospend
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Trustly
  • Sweden-based account-to-account payments specialist Trustly will acquire U.K.-based open banking payments platform Ecospend.
  • Trustly anticipates the deal will help accelerate its move into the U.K. market.
  • Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Global payments fintech Trustly announced plans to acquire U.K.-based open banking payments platform Ecospend this week. Trustly anticipates that the deal, which will close for an undisclosed amount, will complement the company’s account-to-account (A2A) payments platform and accelerate its rollout in the U.K.

The U.K. is a key geographical market for Sweden-based Trustly. The company set a goal to be the market leader in the U.K., and today’s acquisition accelerates Trustly’s journey towards that target. “I am delighted to welcome Ecospend to Trustly,” said Trustly CEO Johan Tjärnberg. “This is a perfect strategic fit and I am convinced that it will enable us to deliver a market-leading product in the U.K., allowing us to capture opportunities and accelerate our current U.K. expansion.”

Ecospend was founded in 2017 and is now a regulated A2A payments provider for the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Leveraging this certification, the company seeks to power open banking payments and financial data services. In the past year, Ecospend has processed over $6.3 billion (£5 billion) in A2A payments to over two million consumers. The company connects with 80+ U.K. banks, making it a valuable asset to Trustly’s A2A payments service.

“We will continue to leverage our market-leading technology and bank connectivity in the U.K. and, together with Trustly, broaden our capabilities to stretch across Europe and further markets,” said Ecospend Founder Metin Erkman. “We are really excited to join the Trustly family.”

Trustly was founded in 2008 and offers a simple A2A payments platform that doesn’t require the user to sign up, enter their card or bank numbers, or provide any billing information. From a merchant perspective, Trustly offers a card-not-present payments experience that provides a secure way for consumers to transact using their online banking credentials. The A2A nature of the payments experience is superior to traditional card payments because it offers stronger user authentication, higher approval rates, and guarantees payments with no risk of chargebacks.

A FinovateEurope 2017 alum, Trustly works with more than 8,100 merchants, helping them connect with 525 million consumers and 6,300 banks across 30 countries.

Photo by Christina Morillo

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