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Nutmeg Acquired, OCR Labs Raises Capital, and Mortgagetech on the Rise in Mexico

Nutmeg Acquired, OCR Labs Raises Capital, and Mortgagetech on the Rise in Mexico
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Compass Plus, Finovate Global, VISA, Wise

The fact that venture capital has been pouring into Latin America of late has been hard to ignore. This week’s news that Kredi, a Mexican company that hopes to become the “Rocket Mortgage” of Latin America, had raised $3.1 million in funding was a reminder that fintech funding in the region is as diverse as is it abundant.

With many investment dollars in Latin America flowing toward everything from digital banking to cryptocurrencies, the fundraising success of a company like Kredi, which seeks to make it easier for the average, middle-class Mexican family to own a home, suggests a healthy fintech market is continuing to develop in the country. Mortgage-related fintechs are not as common in Mexico as fintechs involved in SME financing, digital banking, cross-border fund transfer, and even financial inclusion. Adding a mortgagetech like Kredi to the country’s ranks of funded fintechs could open the door for other entrepreneurs to innovate in the space.

Founded by Javier Aldape, Fernando Nader, Hernán Belden, and Juan Carlos Mercado, Kredi provides Mexican homebuyers with a marketplace where they can find the financing product that suits their needs best. The company sees itself as part of the trend toward greater digitization in financial services in general, as well as a way to help overcome the inefficiencies and expense of mortgage financing in Mexico in specific.

Finovate alums in a number of countries made the news this week. In the U.K., digital wealth management company Nutmeg agreed to be acquired by JPMorgan. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but a “source close to the transaction” said that Nutmeg was valued at more than $972 million. On the other side of the world, OCR Labs, an identity verification specialist based in Australia, announced that it has secured an investment of $15 million in a round led by Turkish firm Oyak Group. OCR Labs is an alum of both our developers conference, FinDEVr, and our fintech conference FinovateAsia, where it took home a Best of Show award for a demonstration of its technology.

Another Finovate Best of Show winner from outside of the United States made fintech headlines this week. Conversational AI specialist Finn AI, headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, announced a set of new additions to its platform to give banks and credit unions greater flexibility in their embrace of chatbot technology. Salt Edge, a Finovate alum that specializes in open banking APIs that also hails from Canada, announced this week that it would help Cyprus based electronic money institution (EMI) OROPAY become PSD2 compliant.

Also too: Be sure to check out our latest guest post from Adam Goulston of Scize Group. Goulston looks at recent fintech trends in Asia and projects what those trends mean for fintech in the region going forward.

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 Los Muertos Crew from Pexels

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Look to Asia for Fintech Trends in 2021-2022

Look to Asia for Fintech Trends in 2021-2022
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Guest Post

This is a guest post from Adam Goulston, copywriter, editor, marketer, and researcher with Scize Group.

Asia is the global leader in fintech, according to a survey of 27,000+ digitally active consumers in 27 markets. And in Asia, China and India are big leaders – over half their active adult consumers use fintech services regularly. Asia sets the pace and it’s not slowing down.

In 2019, digital financial services earned $11 billion in Southeast Asia. That’s expected to grow to over $38 billion, or 11% of all financial services revenue, by 2025. Demand for fintech solutions is stronger than ever, so 2021 and 2022 are key years for retaining relevance and for new innovation.

Major trending areas include automated finance, mobile payment and, of course, blockchain. And not everything’s about machines – Asia’s huge workforce will play a major role.

Digital payment solutions

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed companies to improve automated services. In China, Alipay rolled out digital tools to support local businesses in Wuhan. This helped revive the city after the strict lockdown.

Malaysia offered WeChat Pay in 2020. It’s the first country outside China to use WeChat in the local currency. Local banks like Hong Leong Bank and Maybank were quick to link up. WeChat could expand this model elsewhere.

In Hong Kong, ZA Bank Ltd was the first virtual bank to launch a digital-only banking service. It offered a 6% opening rate on all deposits.

Meanwhil Japan, slower in shifting to cashless transactions, saw app-based payments finally go mainstream in 2020. Options include Rakuten Pay, LINE Pay, and PayPay backed by the SoftBank Group. The country was overwhelmingly cash-based just 2 years ago.

Vietnam has seen the most growth with mobile payment users increasing by 24% in the past year. The adoption rate in Thailand was 67%. China still leads, with 86% using smartphones for payments.

There are at least 150 e-wallet providers in Southeast Asia alone. Most of these apps are run by tech giants like Grab, Tencent Holdings, Singapore Telecom, and AirAsia.

More open banking solutions

The pandemic also sped up adoption of fintech banking apps and solutions, as in-person banking was often limited or unavailable. Online banking advanced. The trend has spread to investment, as seen with the Singapore Exchange (SGX).

Singapore Financial Data Exchange answered by launching the world’s first public–private open banking solution. Singaporeans could now keep track of their finances in one simple platform.

Other Asian countries are also working to build open banking structures. DBS Hong Kong introduced digital banking to provide easy access and less paperwork for SMEs.

Better financial literacy and inclusion

The World Bank notes financial inclusion is a good way to reduce poverty and improve economies. Industry’s role as a financial leader is important in poorly developed and emerging markets.

South Asia has some of the world’s lowest levels of financial literacy, but Asian fintech startups are seeking to change this and increase financial inclusion. They include Julo (Indonesia), ZigWay (Myanmar), and Wing (Cambodia). They’ve designed easy-to-understand games and products to help consumers learn how to spend, save, and invest better.

Regarding financial inclusion, Jeff is an app providing loan services in Vietnam. The app aims to open lending services to people likely to be rejected by traditional banks.

Growth of blockchain and cryptocurrency

Look to Asia for the future of blockchain and cryptocurrency. NASDAQ reports more than 31% of all cryptocurrency transactions from mid-2019 to mid-2020 were in East Asia.

Asia is a crypto mining hub, with 65% of the global Bitcoin hashrate centered in China. The South Korean market has high use of altcoin, with over 30% of convenience stores already accepting digital money. There are also large crypto exchanges in Asia trading at nearly four times higher volume than North American exchanges.

In the Philippines, the mobile game Axie Infinity is creating a way out of poverty. Created by a Vietnamese startup, it features a farming simulation. It uses Ethereum Blockchain as its currency, which helps players learn about the currency, and how to manage their finances.

Shifting employment trends

COVID-19 spurred many businesses to digitize, which shifted employment trends. In Singapore, software engineers are in high demand and experiencing net job growth. There’s higher demand for skilled fintech talent in Hong Kong as well.

Other countries are also in search of tech talent. According to CXC Global, businesses in Thailand, Japan, and Hong Kong are searching for staff in data sciences and online communications.  

Companies, however, aren’t rushing to replace employees – 37% of companies in Asia Pacific are making sure staff are onboard with changes, and RPA responsibilities are defined.

Asia fintech isn’t slowing down

Fintech adoption continues to expand in Asia as it becomes part of everyday life, irrespective of economic status. The fintech market in APAC is expected to grow at 72.5% annually through 2025, continually showing dynamic growth and adaptation, moving at speeds Western countries may not match.

Adam Goulston, MS, MBA, is a U.S.-born, Asia-based content marketer and copywriter. His Japan-registered company Scize helps globally sighted business and organizations communicate their value in universally clear language.

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Nutmeg Acquired by JPMorgan Chase

Nutmeg Acquired by JPMorgan Chase
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Nutmeg

Just when you thought the big banks might be getting a little too complacent about the challenge from fintech, JPMorgan announced today that it will acquire U.K.-based digital wealth management platform Nutmeg. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but Reuters cited a source who gave Nutmeg a valuation of more than $972 million (£700 million).

JPMorgan Chase CEO of International Consumer Sanoke Viswanathan said that the acquisition would give the bank the opportunity to “build Chase in the U.K. from scratch using the very latest technology.” The Nutmeg acquisition also will complement JPMorgan Chase’s U.K. digital bank launch scheduled for later this year.

A Finovate alum since 2012, Nutmeg was a pioneer in offering affordable, automated financial planning and investment services. Now the largest digital wealth manager in the U.K., Nutmeg has grown into a platform with more than 140,000 clients and $4.9 billion (£3.5 billion) in assets under management. Investors can open an account with as little as £100 or £500, depending on the product, and configure their investment goals and risk level, as well as investment style in a minutes. With a product suite that includes a variety of ISAs (Lifetime, Junior, Stocks and shares) as well as pension and general investment accounts, Nutmeg leverages exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to keep costs low and diversification options broad for investors.

Nutmeg and JPMorgan are far from strangers. The two companies announced a partnership back in November of last year to launch a “bespoke new investment offering” called Smart Alpha for Nutmeg customers. The new Smart Alpha portfolios blend Nutmeg’s core investment principles and expertise in exchange-traded funds and fractional investing with JPMorgan Chase’s in-house multi-asset knowledge and experience. Smart Alpha portfolios are designed for investors of all risk levels who want a globally diversified, dynamic portfolio derives additional returns via smart and transparent security selection.

Photo by Eva Elijas from Pexels

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Digital ID Verification Specialist OCR Labs Secures $15 Million to Power Expansion

Digital ID Verification Specialist OCR Labs Secures $15 Million to Power Expansion
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, OCR Labs

From the rise of digital commerce to the growth of the gig economy to the challenge of a global pandemic, digital identity technology has been one of the bigger beneficiaries of a number of trends sweeping societies around the world. Add to this a new emphasis on financial inclusion and social equity, and you have a recipe for opportunity for many innovators in the digital identity space.

The latest company to take advantage of the current moment is OCR Labs, which made its Finovate debut at our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley, in 2016. The company, headquartered in Sydney, Australia and founded by Matthew Adams and Daniel Aiello, returned to the Finovate stage the following summer, earning a Best of Show award for a demo of its ID verification solution.

OCR Labs combines five different technologies – ID document OCR, document fraud assessment, liveness detection, video fraud assessment, and face matching – in a single, end-to-end digital identity experience. The company’s technology has been deployed in a wide range of verticals – from financial services and e-commerce to telecommunications and real estate – to provide AML and KYC-compliant digital ID verification and customer onboarding.

This week OCR Labs announced that it had raised $15 million (EUR 12.5 million) in Series A funding. The round was led Oyak Group of Turkey and will enable the company to expand into markets into Turkey, the U.K., and throughout Europe. OCR Lab currently maintains an international headquarters in London.

“No one wants to spend hours trying to prove who they are, whether it’s for a job or for a bank account, and we also want to know we’re protected against identity theft and fraud,” OCR Labs co-founder Daniel Aiello said. “Digital ID verification has a key role to play, but this year we’ve also seen the limitations if hybrid models are used. People are a barrier and a risk, but fully automated technology can have a huge impact on many industries and privacy. OCR Labs is built to be secure, frictionless and fast, and capable of recognizing ID documents the world over.”

Enjoying triple-digit growth since its launch, OCR Labs has partnered with Reed Screening to help businesses verifying candidate identities during the COVID crisis ahead of a potential in-person COVID check mandate later this month. There is some pressure to allow businesses to continue remote COVID checking, an idea with which OCR Labs understandably sympathizes.

“The need for digital verification is growing exponentially,” Aiello said. “This past year we’ve seen more demand from new sectors as they try to navigate the pandemic and an inability to operate in-person. We believe it has accelerated what needed to happen.”

Photo by Burak Kebapci from Pexels

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Open Banking, Customer Experience, and Crypto: Meet the Innovators of FinovateAsia

Open Banking, Customer Experience, and Crypto: Meet the Innovators of FinovateAsia
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Amber Labs, Crayon Data, FinBit.io, FinovateAsia 2021, QuickFi, Strands

With companies hailing from Singapore, Australia, and India, as well as Europe and the U.S., FinovateAsia Digital is a great opportunity to find out more about fintech innovation in the APAC region. Our all-digital fintech conference – June 22 and June 23 – is also a good way to learn how companies outside of Asia have successfully built relationships and gained market share within the area.

Here’s a look at the current roster of companies that will demonstrate their latest solutions at FinovateAsia next week. There’s still plenty of time to get your ticket; register today and join us next week for our two-day, deep dive into fintech in Asia.

Australia-based Amber offers a Bitcoin accumulation app that allows users to dollar cost average, and offers auto-buy-the-dip, auto-withdraw, and self-custody features.

Crayon Data, headquartered in Singapore, offers the world’s first AI-led platform that enables businesses to create highly personalized experiences for their customers.

Bangalore, India-based FinBit.io offers open banking technology that enables financial institutions to transition from outdated financial APIs to smart and compliant APIs based on open banking specifications.

Headquartered in Fairport, New York, QuickFi offers the world’s first, 100% digital equipment financing platform that enables business equipment financing in three minutes.

Strands offers white label, AI-driven fintech solutions for banks and financial institutions around the world.

Photo by Simon Stolzenbach from Pexels

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Papa’s Brand New Bag: GoDaddy Unveils Small Business Payments Solution

Papa’s Brand New Bag: GoDaddy Unveils Small Business Payments Solution
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news

Domain registrar and web hosting giant GoDaddy is the latest technology company to unveil its own payment processing solution. Launched this week, GoDaddy Payments enables GoDaddy Websites + Marketing and Managed WordPress WooCommerce customers to conduct their commerce transactions directly via GoDaddy. The firm’s new payments capability comes courtesy of technology and talent gained from its acquisition of Poynt last December.

“GoDaddy is hyper focused on empowering our customers to sell everywhere with a single solution in a seamlessly intuitive experience,” GoDaddy President of Commerce Osama Bedier said. “GoDaddy Payments represents a major step towards centralizing every tool and service a business needs to successfully sell online. Customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and we look forward to accelerating our efforts.”

Bedier founded Poynt in 2013 to reimagine payment terminals into smart, connected devices that power third-party apps and solutions. The company offered a range of point-of-sale hardware and software solutions to facilitate payments, including the its Android-based smart POS terminals and its PoyntOS-powered, third party-terminals. Before being acquired, Poynt handled more than $16 billion in gross merchandise volume a year for its 100,000+ merchant clients.

With more than 20 million customers on its platform, GoDaddy enables individuals and organizations to build professional websites that help them attract customers, and sell their products and services. The company’s new payments offering will give GoDaddy’s ecommerce customers a fast and secure way to manage orders, payments, and refunds. The solution also leverages a single intuitive dashboard that enables customers to manage their payments operations alongside the rest of their other business operations. GoDaddy Payments accepts all major credit and debit cards including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover, and the company added that GoDaddy Payments would be available for use for in-person, offline shopping later this year, as well.

Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, GoDaddy is a public company with a market capitalization of $14 billion. It trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker GDDY.

Photo by Johan Pérez from Pexels

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FinovateAsia: Digital Disruption, Embedded Finance, and the Customer Experience

FinovateAsia: Digital Disruption, Embedded Finance, and the Customer Experience
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2021, Speaker series

If you are looking to get up to speed on the innovations in fintech taking place in the Asia-Pacific region, then our all-digital fintech conference, FinovateAsia, is your ticket. For two days next week, June 22 and June 23, our guest speakers and distinguished panelists will share their insights and experiences as innovators, entrepreneurs, and analysts in one of the fastest-growing, technologically-creative areas of the world.

We’ve already introduced you to our keynote speakers. Here’s a look at the roundtables and panel discussions that will be available to attendees over the course of the conference. Learn more about FinovateAsia Digital at our FinovateAsia hub and pick up your ticket today!

Digital disruption and customer experience

Examine how customer demands have changed in the current environment. Discover how to build successful partnerships and distribution channels with customers in mind. Read more.

  • Sheila Paul, Chief Marketing Officer, Home Credit Philippines
  • Mikko Hietanen, COO, CreamQuark
  • Shawn Lau, VP, Partnerships Solutions, SwissRe
  • Justin Yiu, Head of Innovation, Solaria Labs East (Asia), Liberty Mutual Insurance
  • Gerald Marion, Chief Customer & Strategy Officer, BUPA ANZ
  • Moderated by Marc-Antoine Hager, Sales Director, APAC, CleverTap

Embedded finance and the future of finance

Learn how to harness the power of data and digitization to build new models of finance across verticals. See how to empower customers through better offerings, and how to integrate services into customers’ every day lives. Read more.

  • Victor Alexiev, Director, APAC Head for Citi Ventures, Programs & Strategic Partnerships, ICG, Citi
  • Sonal Kapoor, Director, Flipkart
  • Moderated by Yannick Even, Head of Digital & Smart Analytics APAC, SwissRe

The evolving payment landscape in Asia: Blurring of lines between payment systems

Examine the emerging challenges and opportunities in the payments space. Discuss how the payments industry can foster collaboration to serve consumers and businesses better. Read more.

  • Daniel Webber, Founder / CEO, FXC Intelligence
  • Laetitia Moncarz, Head of Corporates & FI and Business Innovation, SWIFT Asia Pacific
  • Kevin Popermhem, Cross Border Product Manager, ITMX
  • Moderated by Nicholas Soo, Regional Head of Payments, Global Liquidity & Cash Management, HSBC

Change management: Bringing your people on your digitization journey

Learn how implementing cultural change can future-proof your business and attract and retain the right, forward-looking, tech-talented people. Read more.

  • Faraaz Ali, Group Head, Digital Ecosystems, API and Open Banking, DBS
  • Susan Ong, Chief Information Officer, Home Credit Philippines
  • Oscar Ramos, Partner & Managing Director, Chinaccelerator
  • Deepak Oram, Head of Marketing Technology & Automation, HDFC Bank
  • Moderated by John Gist, Head of Fidelity Labs, Fidelity

Overcoming challenges and fostering successful partnerships across new ecosystems

Explore the convergence between financial services, insurance, wealth, and health, and the disruptors working across ecosystems. Learn how you can fit into this emerging ecosystem model and expand into new markets. Read more.

  • Deepak Sharma, Chief Digital Officer, Kotah Mahindra Bank
  • Manish Gurbuxani, Regional Head of Business Development and New Markets, Prudential
  • Alpesh Doshi, Managing Partner, Redcliffe Capital
  • Moderated by Yi Mien Koh, Chief Partnership Officer, Asian Markets, AXA Asia

SME lending in a post-COVID-19 world

Learn how credit and financing options favored by consumers have changed in response to the pandemic. Examine ways to determine the unique credit needs of different customer types and how to build new products to accommodate them. Read more.

  • Nikhilesh Goel, Co-founder and COO, Validus Capital
  • Brian Yeoh, Head of Data Governance and Strategy, Financial Services Regulatory Authority
  • Moderated by Zhi-Ying Barry, Senior Analyst, Forrester

Acceleration of digital banking: Innovating in response to COVID-19

Investigate how banks and other financial institutions embraced digital transformation trends that preceded the pandemic. Discuss what challenges and opportunities are likely to arise in a post-COVID environment. Read more.

  • Sam Tanskul, Managing Director Krungsri Finnovate & Head of Innovation, Krungsri Bank
  • Xue Kai Pang, CEO, Tokocrypto
  • Medhy Soudhi, Head of FinTech & StartupXcharge, DBS
  • Moderated by Lapman Lee, Professor of Practice (FinTech & Innovation), HK Polytechnic University

Leveraging emerging technologies and digitization to reimagine a hybrid customer experience

Discover how to identify customer pain points more efficiently and find the right balance between digital self-service and the human touch. Learn how to harness AI and machine learning to exceed customer expectations. Read more.

  • Andy Chun, Regional Director, Technology Innovation, Prudential
  • Shawn Low, Co-founder and Head of Operations, Better.com
  • Tomasz Kurczyk, Chief Digital and Transformation Officer, AXA
  • Moderated by Frank Yazdi, Head of Priority Client Services, Asia Pacific, HSBC

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B9 Raises Pre-Seed Funding to Help New American Workers Get Paid

B9 Raises Pre-Seed Funding to Help New American Workers Get Paid
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding

A pre-seed funding round of $1.7 million will help U.S. fintech startup B9 build its financial app that helps immigrant workers secure interest-free payroll advances.

“Immigrant communities and other marginalized groups are invisible to traditional banks,” B9 CEO Sergei Terentyev said. “They are hardworking people who deserve a full service banking option that fits the way they earn and spend.” Terentyev called the response to B9 “overwhelming” and said that “hundreds of thousands” of interested users have joined the company’s waiting list.

“In our view, access to banking services that allow families to share resources, build credit and plan for the future is an equality issue, and the early response we’ve seen demonstrates the magnitude of the demand,” Terentyev added.

B9 offers 0% APR pay advances of up to 15 days, as well as a free virtual Visa debit card, and access to both U.S. and international money transfers. The San Francisco, California-based company charges a monthly subscription fee of $4.99.

B9 will use the funding to add to its team, as well as make technology investments. The company hopes to have 100,000 customers by the end of the year with its focus on consumers who are not only underserved by traditional banks, but are also often preyed upon by predatory lenders. In addition to its early wage access feature, B9 expects to offer additional services such as merchant discounts and access to insurance.

In their funding announcement, the company underscored the size of the non-U.S. born population – more than 40 million – as well as the fact that the lion’s share of U.S. population growth – up to 80% – will come from the growth of the first- and second-generation immigrant population.

B9’s services are set up with this in mind. In addition to offering a low, monthly subscription rate, applicants only require a U.S. mailing address, social security number, or ITIN, as well as a government-issued ID from either a U.S. source or from the applicant’s country of origin. Multiple language customer service is available.

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Best of Show Winner Finn AI Adds to its Chatbot Offerings for Banks

Best of Show Winner Finn AI Adds to its Chatbot Offerings for Banks
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Finn.ai

Finn AI, the two-time Best of Show winner whose conversational AI technology has helped banks and credit unions add to their digital engagement solutions, announced a set of new additions of its own today. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based fintech unveiled three new chatbot service levels to give banks and credit unions greater options in tailoring the online banking experience for their customers and members.

“We’re giving financial institutions flexibility in how they embrace chatbots,” Finn AI co-founder and CEO Jake Tyler said. “They can either adopt fully-integrated bank chat now or they can build their digital experience over time.”

Finn AI’s Virtual Banking Assistant, powered by AI, enables banking customers to use their preferred communication channel – including Facebook Messenger, Amazon Alexa, SMS, iOS, web chat and more – to conduct their banking activities. The AI also helps banks and credit unions gain deeper insights into customer behavior and preferences in order to make increasingly accurate and relevant responses and recommendations. With more than 800 pre-built workflows, the technology is able to answer queries out-of-the-box without human intervention, as well as know when to route more complex queries to human agents.

“By introducing an AI chatbot, banks can deliver better service, achieve higher loyalty, and build broader product relationships,” Tyler said.

The new levels are being introduced today are:

  • Level 1: Quick and easy responses to the most common queries to the institution’s public website.
  • Level 2: Concierge-based navigation to help customers and members using plain language on authenticated mobile and online banking sites
  • Level 3: Virtual assistant-based chatbot that enables end-users to bank via chat in plain language over the customer’s or member’s channel of choice

Founded in 2014, Finn AI has partnered with financial institutions such as ATB Financial, United Federal Credit Union, and TymeBank, as well as one of the largest U.S. card networks and a top ten U.S. retail bank. This spring, the company joined the National Association of Credit Union Services Organizations (NACUSO), and unveiled a handful of new platform features and partner integrations including interest rate tracking and enhancing the bot’s ability to respond to queries involving issues of financial literacy.

Photo by Kaboompics .com from Pexels

 

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Building Better Banking Websites and Stronger Fintech Teams

Building Better Banking Websites and Stronger Fintech Teams
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: PayNearMe, Podcasting, Signal Intent

Time to catch up on the latest from the Finovate Podcast featuring Finovate VP Greg Palmer!

Last week, the podcast hosted Matthew Covi, co-founder and CEO of Signal Intent. A Best of Show winner in its Finovate debut this spring, Signal Intent builds financial calculators for banks, credit unions, and other financial services companies.

These solutions, designed for the digital age, help companies enhance the customer experience they offer with what Covi called “modern, digital tools that will help them compete in today’s landscape.”

“Calculators are a tool that exist on nine out of ten banking websites,” he explained. “But the options that exist really haven’t kept up with the times.”

In this conversation, Covi explains how financial services companies can leverage Signal Intent’s next generation calculators to gain valuable insights into customer preferences, and to use those insights to further enhance the customer experience.

Building a fintech company that lasts was the theme of Danny Shader’s conversation on the Finovate Podcast earlier this month. Shader is the founder and CEO of PayNearMe, a payments experience management firm that enables businesses to boost customer engagement, improve efficiency and drive payment costs lower.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, PayNearMe made its Finovate debut more than a decade ago at FinovateFall in New York.

In the years since, PayNearMe has grown into a leading payments innovator, processing billons of dollars a year in all payment types ranging from ACH, cards, and cash, to mobile-first options like Google Pay and Apple Pay.

In this podcast, Shader talked about what he’s learned as a successful fintech CEO and why every startup needs to be prepared to re-envision, if not re-invent, itself in order to succeed in the long-term.

“I know of almost no hugely successful startup – with the possible exception of maybe Facebook – that ended up doing what it set out to do,” he said. “Your first business ideaI think of as a prop and its the excuse that lets you interact with customers.”

For more from the Finovate podcast, check out last month’s May lineup featuring:

Jeff Horvath of DigiPli on regulatory risk and the changing compliance landscape. Is showing you’re trying good enough?

Jonathan Bell of Red Compass Labs on the fight against human trafficking and slavery in fintech, and the role banks and innovators have to play.

Peter Hazlehurst of Synctera on building a true partnership model for fintech and creating a community banking experience.

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Europe’s Most Valuable Fintech; El Salvador Embraces Bitcoin

Europe’s Most Valuable Fintech; El Salvador Embraces Bitcoin
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

Two of the biggest news items in international fintech this week also reflect two of the biggest trends in the industry in recent years: interest-free retail financing and the rise of digital assets.

With regard to the first, Stockholm, Sweden-based Klarna announced this week that it hauled in a whopping $639 million in new funding in a round led by SoftBank. The investment gives the company a valuation of $46 billion and makes it the most highly-valued fintech company in Europe.

“Consumers continue to reject interest- and fee-laden revolving credit and are moving toward debit while simultaneously seeking retail experiences that better meet their needs,” Klarna founder and CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said. “More transparent and convenient alternatives align with evolving global consumer preferences and drive worldwide growth.”

Read our coverage of Klarna’s big fundraising news.

The other major trend in fintech relates to the boom in cryptocurrencies. El Salvador, a small nation in the middle of Central America, announced earlier this week that it will recognize bitcoin as legal tender – the first country in the world to do so.

The move came as the result of a 62-22 vote in the Salvadoran Congress, which overwhelmingly backed the initiative proposed by President Nayib Bukele – whose party controls the legislature. After the vote, Bukele tweeted that the move would be a boon for the country “bring(ing) financial inclusion, investment, tourism, innovation, and economic development.” The law would require companies to accept bitcoin as payment for goods and services, as well as enable citizens to pay their taxes using bitcoin. Bukele further directed the country’s state-owned geothermal power company LaGeo to develop a strategy to leverage the power of El Salvador’s volcanoes to power bitcoin mining.

Skeptics of the move range from those who point to the country’s economic assistance program with the International Money Fund as a potential complication, to others who simply have no idea what bitcoin is and can’t imagine using it. “How am I going to agree with this? I haven’t seen it even in photos.” Reuters quoted one El Salvadoran shopper speaking in response to the news. “I know nothing about it. You need to understand your currency.”

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 Olya Kobruseva from Pexels

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Stripe Launches Tax Tool for Businesses

Stripe Launches Tax Tool for Businesses
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news

Stripe is building out its tools for small businesses this week. The ecommerce technology company launched Stripe Tax, after completing a six month long pilot.

The new tool helps businesses automatically calculate and collect sales tax, VAT, and GST on the merchant’s behalf. Not only this, the new offering also generates reports and helps businesses navigate complicated regional requirements. The capabilities will lift a burden off small businesses, especially in the U.S., where there are over 11,000 different tax jurisdictions.

“No one leaps out of bed in the morning excited to deal with taxes,” said Stripe Co-founder and President John Collison. “For most businesses, managing tax compliance is a painful distraction. We simplify everything about calculating and collecting sales taxes, VAT, and GST, so our users can focus on building their businesses.”

Stripe Tax features include:

  • Real time tax calculation, which leverages the customer’s location to calculate and collect the right amount of tax and keeps up-to-date with rate and rule changes
  • Frictionless checkout, which reduces checkout friction by using location information to calculate and show taxes to customers.
  • Tax ID management, which helps B2B businesses collect the tax ID number from customers and validate VAT IDs for European customers
  • Reconciliation, which creates comprehensive reports for each market in which a business is registered to collect tax

The tax calculation and collection capabilities will be available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.S., and the U.K.

The launch follows Stripe’s acquisition of tax tool startup TaxJar in May. “With TaxJar, we will help millions of internet businesses running on Stripe with their sales tax and make it easier for them to sell internationally,” commented Stripe CFO Dhivya Suryadevara. “And as a CFO, I’m delighted to welcome so many new colleagues who care deeply about taxes!”

It also comes after a rather sizable funding round the company announced in March, when Stripe raised $600 million in funding. The Series H round brought the company’s total funding to $2.2 billion and boosted its valuation to $95 billion.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

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