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Worldpay Taps Trulioo to Safeguard Agentic Commerce

Worldpay Taps Trulioo to Safeguard Agentic Commerce
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Trulioo, WorldPay
  • Worldpay is partnering with Trulioo to bring trust, consent, and accountability to agentic AI commerce, where AI agents shop on behalf of consumers.
  • The collaboration uses the Know Your Agent (KYA) framework, which is powered by the Digital Agent Passport, to verify agent identities, ensure code integrity, confirm user consent, and monitor agent behavior.
  • The goal of the partnership is to enable secure, transparent AI-powered transactions with smarter controls for verified agents, real-time fraud detection, and enhanced consumer and merchant confidence.

Payment technology company Worldpay announced this week that it is preparing for a future of agentic AI commerce by partnering with digital identity platform Trulioo. Worldpay selected Trulioo to bring trust, consent, and accountability to AI-powered digital payments.

Because agentic AI commerce involves AI agents that shop on behalf of consumers, it is important to verify agent identities and obtain consent from the human on the other side of the agent. Knowing exactly who is in charge of each aspect of the transaction is key to not only maintaining trust and preventing fraud, but also in staying compliant with regulatory requirements.

“Innovation in payments must always be grounded in integrity and trust,” said Worldpay Chief Product Officer Cindy Turner. “By partnering with Trulioo, we’re delivering the trust infrastructure our ecosystem needs and empowering businesses and consumers to embrace AI-powered commerce with confidence, knowing that safety and transparency are at the heart of every transaction.”

Under today’s partnership, Worldpay and Trulioo will deliver tools that follow the Know Your Agent (KYA) framework to ensure that merchants, payment providers, and consumers can trust agent-based transactions. KYA is powered by Digital Agent Passport, a secure digital ID and trust certificate for AI agents. The certificate confirms who made the agent, ensures their code hasn’t been tampered with, checks that they have user consent, and monitors their behavior continually so merchants can process agent-initiated transactions confidently.

“Agentic commerce has significant potential, but it can only scale with trust built in from the start,” said Trulioo CEO Vicky Bindra. “With Worldpay, we’re laying the foundation for a more secure and accountable digital ecosystem – one where AI agents can operate transparently, and consumers stay in control.”

Adding the new KYA framework will help merchants and platforms create new experiences at the point of sale, including smoother checkout flows and real-time fraud detection, while maintaining security. Additionally, instead of blocking AI agents by default, the partnership offers smart controls that allow verified agents to gain access, while inserting friction for unknown agents, and blocking malicious bots.

As both consumers and merchants face uncertainty in navigating the new world of agentic AI commerce, Trulioo and Worldpay aim to provide a roadmap for inserting trust into the process. By embedding identity verification, consent management, and ongoing monitoring directly into the payment process, the partnership seeks to ensure that AI agents can participate in commerce without sacrificing safety or transparency. The hope is that with a solid trust infrastructure in place, agentic AI can move from experimental novelty to a mainstream, reliable part of the digital economy.



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Jack Henry Teams with Moov to Launch Tap2Local to Facilitate Merchant Acquiring

Jack Henry Teams with Moov to Launch Tap2Local to Facilitate Merchant Acquiring
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Banno, Daily news, Jack Henry
  • Jack Henry is launching Tap2Local in partnership with Moov to enable banks and credit unions to offer small business clients tap-to-pay card acceptance.
  • Tap2Local is exclusive to financial institutions, offers automated account reconciliation, and doesn’t require any extra hardware.
  • Tap2Local integrates into the Banno Digital Platform and will roll out to over 1,000 banks and credit unions after closed beta testing.

Small banks are under increasing pressure to match the tech-forward tools offered by larger competitors. Financial services platform Jack Henry is aiming to help them rise to the challenge with its latest solution, which is designed to enable banks and credit unions to provide merchant acquiring services to their small business clients.

The Missouri-based company developed the new tool, Tap2Local, in partnership with payment infrastructure company Moov. With Tap2Local, businesses will be able to accept debit and credit card payments using tap-to-pay, which eliminates the need for hardware. The tap-to-pay functionality is available on both Android and iOS through all major card networks. Tap2Local also offers continuous, automated account reconciliation to the business’ accounting platform of choice.

“Tap2Local is the first new key component of our overall SMB strategy to help banks and credit unions win with small businesses and capture significant new market opportunities,” said Jack Henry President
 and CEO Greg Adelson. “This innovative solution integrates with banking services, enabling financial institutions to simplify the payments experience for small businesses, capture more deposits, and win back business from payments-only fintechs.”

Moov’s Tap2Local is offered exclusively through banks and credit unions. The technology, which is in closed beta testing with several financial institutions, will be rolled out to more than 1,000 banks and credit unions using Jack Henry’s Banno Digital Platform over the next several months.

For many small banks, competing with tech capabilities that legacy players offer is more than just a challenge; it has increasingly become a survival issue. Merchant acquiring, in particular, has become a lucrative area dominated by fintechs and large institutions. Tap2Local will help level the playing field.

“Tap2Local helps all small businesses and the millions of people who participate in the gig economy accept card payments face-to-face and on-the-go,” Jack Henry Chief Technology Officer Ben Metz said. “We’ve made it easy for them to enroll through their bank or credit union and start accepting payments in their banking app within minutes. Additionally, our automated accounting feature can save them time, giving them back valuable hours to focus on their passion.”

Moov was founded in 2017 by Wade Arnold, who originally launched Banno in 2008 before selling it to Jack Henry in 2014 for an undisclosed amount. Moov’s cloud-based payment processing technology helps businesses accept, store, send, and spend money through a single integration. The company has built its platform with developers in mind, offering open-source libraries and a growing community.

Photo by Afta Putta Gunawan

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FinovateFall 2025 Sneak Peek Series: Part 4

By Madeline Clines Posted on
Categories: BankingON, Boucoup, Clarista, FinovateFall 2025, FinovateFall 2025 Sneak Peek, R34DY, Veep Software

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 8 – 10. Register today using this link and save 20%.

Boucoup

Boucoup supercharges youth accounts to drive revenue, increase deposits, and fuel long-term growth—all while keeping the financial institution in full control.

Features

  • Delivers a seamless core integration that keeps the financial institution’s brand front and center
  • Offers secure, controlled deposits with full data ownership
  • Boosts engagement and card usage to drive lasting revenue growth

Who’s it for?

Credit unions and community banks.

Clarista

Clarista transforms fragmented data into real-time AI-powered insights, empowering financial institutions to accelerate decisions, improve compliance, and unlock growth opportunities with built-in trust.

Features

  • Provides real-time AI insights from all data sources
  • Includes built-in governance and compliance alignment
  • Delivers faster, smarter lending and investment decisions

Who’s it for?

Banks, credit unions, asset managers, private equity firms, insurance providers, and other financial institutions.

R34DY

R34DY’s ABLEMENTS integration-as-a-service platform addresses integration problems that financial institutions encounter.

Features

  • AI-driven system discovery
  • Unified data without migration
  • Process automation
  • Architecture insights
  • Production flow control

Who’s it for?

Banks, insurance companies, solutions providers, system integrators, neobanks, credit unions, fintechs, payment/EMI providers, embedded finance entities, government entities, and energy companies.

Veep Software

Veep Software’s AI platform for banks and credit unions uses patent-pending risk & wellness scores to deliver real-time funds access and promote financial wellness.

Features

  • Attracts and retains younger, digitally savvy account holders
  • Builds trust with AI insights that protect the institution and those they serve
  • Makes lasting financial wellness simple and achievable

Who’s it for?

Community banks and credit unions.

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5 Things to Know About Stripe’s Move to Build Its Own Blockchain

5 Things to Know About Stripe’s Move to Build Its Own Blockchain
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: List series, Thought Leadership

Payments infrastructure company Stripe is moving into the blockchain, according to Forbes, which uncovered a job posting regarding the move. According to the posting, Stripe is planning to launch a payments blockchain called Tempo.

“Tempo is a high-performance, payments-focused blockchain,” the advertisement on the Blockchain Association’s website said. Here’s a look at five things that matter about Stripe’s move, including details about the new blockchain, why it’s launching it now, how it fits into the company’s strategy, what it means for the wider industry, and what’s still unknown.

What is Tempo?

Tempo is a Layer 1 blockchain built from the ground up (as opposed to a fork). A Layer 1 blockchain is the base network in a blockchain ecosystem. It serves as the foundational layer where transactions are processed, validated, and recorded. With Tempo, Stripe is optimizing the network for payments and making it compatible with Ethereum Solidity toolchains, meaning that developers can use the same set of familiar tools they use for Ethereum.

Tempo was built stealthily by a small team of around five people in partnership with crypto VC firm Paradigm. Until the job posting, which was dated August 3, the new project operated under the radar.

Why now? Stripe’s crypto build-out strategy

Launching its own blockchain is Stripe’s latest move into the crypto industry. Stripe has been steadily entering the crypto world, from its acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion, to buying wallet developer Privy in June. Since then, Stripe has also made a non-crypto acquisition, acquiring payment orchestration company Orum in June. Launching Tempo will add the final piece of this equation. Owning its own blockchain rails will give Stripe full control of the payment flow, from the wallet to the payment settlement.

The benefits of building its own blockchain

As with all of its acquisitions, Stripe’s move to create a blockchain from scratch is strategic. Launching Tempo will offer it full-stack control, which will allow Stripe to optimize network speed, lower fees, and integrate with other stablecoins and wallets. Additionally, the custom payments blockchain could displace legacy systems like SWIFT or even FedNow, with faster, cheaper rails. And since Tempo will be compatible with Ethereum it is developer friendly, which means that it will not require new tools or talent to align with its infrastructure.

Bigger implications for payments & crypto

Stripe has been operating in the fintech arena since 2010. With its own blockchain, the company could accelerate mainstream adoption of stablecoins and blockchain payments via a merchant network. The move showcases how traditional fintechs are taking steps to operate in the crypto space. Not only this, but it is also indicative of a new competitive landscape in which fintechs control their own payments rails, disrupting traditional ecommerce and cross-border transactions.

What We Still Don’t Know

Even though it is interesting to speculate on the impacts Tempo will have across the industry, there is still a lot we do not know. Much of this is because the news originated from a job posting, not an official company announcement. Details such as whether Tempo will come with its own native token, how it will be governed, and a clear timeline for the launch are still unknown.

What is clear, however, is that it is worth keeping an eye on Stripe not just as a payments innovator, but also as a player in the crypto arena going forward.

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Mesa Brings Home $24 Million in Funding

Mesa Brings Home $24 Million in Funding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Mesa has secured $24 million in strategic funding from Lowe’s, Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, Trinity Capital, and other mortgage industry partners, bringing its total funding to over $33 million since its 2023 launch.
  • The Texas-based platform rewards homeowners through its fee-free Mesa Homeowners Credit Card and Mesa Mortgage, allowing members to earn points on mortgage payments, home-related spending, and everyday purchases.
  • Today’s funding will help Mesa accelerate growth by expanding product development, adding industry partners, and growing its team.

Mortgagetech company Mesa announced a $24 million funding round today. The investment comes from Lowe’s and Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, with Trinity Capital and other strategic mortgage lenders and servicers also participating.

Mesa is a homeowner membership platform launched in 2023 with a mission to make homeownership both more affordable and more rewarding. The Texas-based company has spent the past two years building a loyalty ecosystem centered on homeowners. At its core, Mesa offers two standout products:

  • The Mesa Homeowners Visa Credit Card
    The fee-free card allows homeowners to earn 1× Mesa Point for every $1 spent on their monthly mortgage (up to 100,000 points annually), as long as they spend a minimum of $1,000 per month. The card also offers 3× points on home‑related categories (such as home improvement, utilities, and even daycare); 2× points on groceries, gas, and EV charging; and 1× point on other purchases.
  • Mesa Mortgage
    The mortgage product helps users secure a new home loan or refinance their current loan to earn Mesa Points on the principal amount of their mortgage.

CEO and Founder Kelley Halpin said the funding comes at a time when homeowners face mounting financial pressures. “In today’s economy, homeowners are being hit from every angle—high interest rates, insurance premiums, and aging homes in need of repair. We must work across every part of the homeownership ecosystem to drive positive change,” said Mesa CEO and Founder Kelley Halpin. “Together, we’re building a platform that makes it easier for brands to reach this key consumer and puts a lot of value back in the homeowner’s pocket.”

The round boosts Mesa’s total funding to over $33 million since it was founded in 2023. The company will use the investment to fuel its growth by accelerating product development, signing on new partners across industries adjacent to homeownership, and hiring new employees.

“We are proud to partner with the team at Mesa as they work to redefine the homeownership experience,” said Trinity Managing Director of Asset Based Lending Steven Lambe. “Their innovative model not only rewards homeowners but also promotes long-term financial well-being for today’s homebuyers.”

Lowe’s and Paramount Residential Mortgage Group are joining the funding round as strategic investors. The addition of these strategic backers illustrates how Mesa operates at the intersection of financial services, retail, and the home improvement sector. Aligning with partners like these that are key to the homeowner journey will help Mesa expand its reach, enrich its rewards ecosystem, and deepen customer engagement.

Photo by Kelly

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Minerva Brings More Control, Visibility to Sanctions Screening

Minerva Brings More Control, Visibility to Sanctions Screening
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, MinervaAI
  • Financial crime solutions provider Minerva announced two platform updates to give compliance teams more control and greater visibility when it comes to sanctions and watchlist screening.
  • The two new features are a screening analytics dashboard and a sanctions list source selection tenant configuration page.
  • Minerva made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Financial crime solutions provider Minerva recently unveiled a pair of platform updates designed to give compliance teams more control over and greater visibility into sanctions and watchlist screening operations. The company introduced a new screening analytics dashboard that gives users a view into the performance of their screening program. Additionally, Minerva launched a sanctions list source selection tenant configuration page for administrators that allows customers to customize their sanctions list coverage.

“I’m excited to share our latest product update,” Minerva Head of Product Jordan Bibla wrote on the company blog. “We released a new screening analytics dashboard to provide visibility into your screening program’s performance over time. We also rolled out sanctions list source selection to provide control over which underlying sanctions sources you screen against.”

Minerva’s new screening analytics dashboard now features a Current Snapshot view that provides point-in-time profile metrics including total profile count, monitored count, and escalation, acceptance, and rejection rates. This information will help compliance teams see exactly how well their screening program is performing. The dashboard also provides charts that show historical trends to let users see how profile statuses are changing over time. This feature enables compliance teams to more readily identify patterns and track performance.

The platform also now has a tenant configuration page to enable users with administrative access to empower customers to customize their sanctions list coverage based on their individual compliance requirements. The new page features Source Management, which enables administrative users to deselect sanctions lists that are not relevant for their screening program; Regional Filtering, which displays both active and inactive sources and can be filtered by geographic region; and Tenant-Wide Application, which enables selections to apply to the entire tenant for ongoing monitoring and risk assessment searches to provide consistency across the entire screening program.

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Minerva made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York. At the conference, the company demonstrated how its AI-powered AML platform provides accurate sanctions and watchlist screening, KYC, KYB, enhanced due diligence, and ongoing monitoring insights in seconds. Use cases for Minerva’s technology include not just AML compliance in banking, but also in industries such as real estate, law enforcement, cryptocurrency exchanges, payments facilitators, and more.

Minerva began the year with the news that it had partnered with financial crime and compliance automation platform Hummingbird to integrate Minerva’s screening data directly into the Hummingbird platform. This will enable Hummingbird users to access comprehensive global screening for sanctions, politically exposed persons (PEPs), open source intelligence (OSINT), and adverse media. This spring, Minerva introduced its Automated Screening Workflow solution that automates as much as 97% of screening activity.

Photo by Arturo Castaneyra on Unsplash

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1Kosmos Raises $57 Million in Series B Funding for Identity-First Security

1Kosmos Raises $57 Million in Series B Funding for Identity-First Security
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: 1Kosmos, Alumni News, Daily news, Funding
  • 1Kosmos has secured $57 million in Series B funding for its passwordless identity verification technology.
  • The company will use the investment, which includes a $10 million line of credit from Bridge Bank, to fuel product innovation, expand integrations with IAM, CIAM, PAM, and zero trust platforms, and accelerate global growth.
  • Today’s momentum comes amid recent achievements for the company, including FedRAMP High and Kantara certification, a $194.5 million Login.gov contract, and a Microsoft Entra ID integration.

Passwordless identity verification company 1Kosmos raised $57 million this week in a Series B round. The investment, which boosts the company’s total funding to $72 million, consists of a $10 million line of credit from Bridge Bank, as well as contributions from Forgepoint Capital and Origami’s Oquirrh Ventures, which led the round, and Craig Abod, NextEra Energy Ventures, Gula Tech Adventures, and the 1Kosmos management team.

“Identity has become the first step in the kill chain. This investment allows us to strengthen the proactive controls organizations need to prevent impersonation-based attacks—whether it’s a sophisticated hacking group or a state-sponsored developer hiding in plain sight,” said 1Kosmos CEO Hemen Vimadalal, noting the rise in impersonation-based attacks from sophisticated hacking groups and state-sponsored actors. “1Kosmos identity verification is the only practical solution that can be quickly deployed in a matter of hours to effectively combat this threat.”

1Kosmos will use the funds to advance product innovation; deepen technology integrations with identity and access management (IAM), customer identity and access management (CIAM), privileged access management (PAM), and zero trust platforms; and accelerate global expansion across North America, EMEA, and APAC.

Founded in 2018, 1Kosmos uses live biometrics to facilitate passwordless access for workers, customers, and citizens to digital services. The company’s BlockID platform creates a distributed digital identity that prevents identity impersonation, account takeover, and fraud while reducing friction. 1Kosmos’ technology performs millions of authentications each day for some of the largest banks, telecommunications, and healthcare organizations across the globe.

“The mission at 1Kosmos since its inception has stayed remarkably focused on providing individuals with a secure digital identity, one they control and use to prevent identity fraud when accessing digital services,” said Forgepoint Capital Managing Director Ernie Bio. “As the largest investor in the company, we are proud of their track record of innovation and delighted to see their accelerating growth.”

1Kosmos’ announcement comes amid a string of successes. Recent wins for the New Jersey-based company include:

  • Integrating its BlockID platform with Microsoft Entra ID for streamlined identity and access management.
  • Becoming the only full-service Kantara-certified credential service provider with FedRAMP High authorization, making it eligible for the US government’s most security-sensitive workloads.
  • Winning a 10-year, $194.5 million blanket purchase agreement, in partnership with Carahsoft, to supply identity proofing for Login.gov.

As organizations seek to eliminate passwords and reduce identity fraud, while improving the customer experience, 1Kosmos’ biometrics-driven approach positions it to capture the identity verification market. With fresh funding and new federal certifications, the Best of Show-winning company is aiming to scale quickly across North America, EMEA, and APAC.

Photo by George Becker

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Hoosier Hills Credit Union Teams Up with Teslar Software

Hoosier Hills Credit Union Teams Up with Teslar Software
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Teslar
  • Teslar Software announced a new partnership with Indiana-based Hoosier Hills Credit Union this week.
  • The partnership will enable Hoosier Hills CU to “refine its lending operations from the ground up,” the community financial institution said in a statement.
  • Headquartered in Arkansas, Teslar Software made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York.

Indiana-based Hoosier Hills Credit Union has teamed up with Teslar Software in an effort to “refine their lending operations from the ground up.” In a statement, the financial institution, which serves 40 counties in southern Indiana and northern Kentucky, identified both streamlining internal processes and enhancing data visibility as key priorities.

“We recognized that many of our back-office processes involve too many touchpoints and too much manual effort,” Hoosier Hills CU SVP of Lending Operations Ashley Wilkerson said. “Right now, many of these functions are decentralized and rely heavily on email. One of our goals with Teslar is to automate and centralize these functions to improve efficiency and enhance the experience for both our members and our team.”

Teslar offers a Lending Process Automation Platform that automates labor-intensive tasks and builds efficient workflows that are configured specifically for the individual institution. These include workflows for processes such as loan origination, deposit operations, advanced portfolio and credit risk management, as well as operational workflows, including exceptions and tickler tracking. The platform aggregates and unifies data in a single system and provides tools and visibility that ensure consistent, rapid processing, and foster collaboration.

“I was initially expecting Teslar’s main benefit to be data and reporting, but once I saw the workflow capabilities, it was eye-opening. Teslar is really an efficiency tool more than anything,” Hoosier Hills CU Chief Operations Officer Charlie King said. “We do so many things well as a credit union—by leveraging Teslar’s innovative tools we can complement our strengths, increase our efficiency, and deliver even more value to our members.”

Founded in 1969 as the Bedford Independent Federal Credit Union, the institution was launched by workers at the GM Foundry in Bedford, Indiana. Today, as Hoosier Hills Credit Union, the credit union has more than $895 million in assets, and nearly 40,000 members.

Springdale, Arkansas-based Teslar Software made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022 in New York. At the conference, the company demonstrated how its technology enables community banks and credit unions to offer indirect lending via simplification, digitization, and automation. Indirect lending enables community financial institutions to grow their customer and member base by teaming up with local businesses to offer financing to consumers for purchases such as outdoor equipment, furniture, and more.

Teslar Software was founded in 2008. The fintech’s partnership news with Hoosier Hills CU comes less than a month after the company reported that Altamaha Bank and Trust had selected it to help streamline lending operations, enhance exception tracking, and provide both employees and customers with a more unified experience. Altamaha Bank and Trust serves communities in Southeast Georgia and was founded in 1946.

“For us, Teslar checked all the right boxes,” Altamaha Bank and Trust Chief Technology Officer Shan Venable said. “We looked at a lot of fintechs, but the features Teslar offers and their long-term experience integrating with both our core and imaging systems fit exactly what we needed. We didn’t want a platform that requires large resource commitments or dedicated staff to manage. We wanted something intuitive and easy for our employees to use.”

Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash

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AI Squared Unveils Sparx, Unifying Sales, Finance and Operations Data

AI Squared Unveils Sparx, Unifying Sales, Finance and Operations Data
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AI Squared, Alumni profile

The rapid adoption of AI in financial services has its challenges. Among them is the lack of AI-ready data, which can be a major problem when it comes to effectively deploying AI. Running AI-powered systems on flawed data can have consequences ranging from mere missed opportunities to operational failures that lead to both reduced customer trust and reputational damage for the company. According to a survey by research firm Gartner, 60% of AI projects through 2026 are expected to fail due to a lack of AI-ready data.

To this end, AI integration solutions provider AI Squared has launched Sparx, a Data-Science-In-a-Box offering that enables small businesses, mid-market companies, and non-profits to access production-ready AI. Sparx integrates AI into existing business workflows, yet requires no coding, infrastructure changes, or participation by data scientists. Sparx unifies sales, finance, and operations data into a real-time, AI-powered view, and deploys in less than an hour.

“Until now, building AI-powered insights meant investing in complex systems and tools, and hiring specialists,” AI Squared CEO and President Darren Kimura said. “With Sparx, we have removed that complexity. Businesses can start seeing value in hours, not months. Sparx empowers customers to integrate AI quickly and affordably, accelerating decision-making and enhancing operational efficiency so they can move faster and uncover new opportunities.”

Sparx connects to existing systems and automatically syncs and cleans the data. The solution has an intuitive interface that enables users to communicate with their data in conversational English and to receive actionable insights instantly—without requiring the involvement of IT experts or data scientists. Sparx offers real-time visibility into operations and provides contextual data to help teams identify trends and boost efficiency.

Having established itself as a solution provider for large institutions in financial services, insurance, and SaaS—to say nothing of the company’s founding contracts with the US Department of Defense—AI Squared’s decision to develop and launch Sparx is an effort to bring AI to smaller businesses and non-profits. Where typical AI platforms—including AI Squared’s own Unified Platform—are often much more than these firms need, Sparx is tailor-made for smaller organizations. The solution is easy to set up and customize while still providing robust data integration and real-time AI insights.

“Like most small and medium-sized enterprises, we faced high costs, complexity, and a long development cycle to address our needs to deploy production-ready AI for our mountain of data,” said Steve Braaten, Chief Architect at Khasm Labs, a partner of AI Squared. “Sparx is solving this for us, giving our team fast and actionable insights without the heavy lift.”

Founded in 2019 by Dr. Benjamin Harvey, AI Squared made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2023 and returned later that year for FinovateFall 2023. Darren Kimura succeeded Harvey as CEO earlier this year, having joined the company in 2024 as President and Chief Operating Officer. He has been credited with helping shape the company’s operational growth and strategic direction. With more than 25 years of experience in scaling technology companies, Kimura praised Harvey, who will transition to a new role focused on positioning AI Squared as a thought leader, and bolstering customer engagement.

“Ben’s vision and leadership have positioned AI Squared as a market leader, and I am honored to build upon that strong foundation,” Kimura said. “We have an exceptional team, and I look forward to driving forward our mission of making AI more accessible and impactful for organizations worldwide.”

Photo by Magda Ehlers

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FinovateFall 2025 Sneak Peek Series: Part 3

By Madeline Clines Posted on
Categories: ebankIT, FinovateFall 2025, FinovateFall 2025 Sneak Peek, Jump, OPL, Zeplyn

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 8 – 10. Register today using this link and save 20%.

ebankIT

ebankIT’s Agentic AI empowers FIs to boost engagement, streamline operations, and deliver hyper-personalized banking across every digital channel.

Features

  • Agentic AI: Powers smarter decisions and automation
  • Personalized journeys: Engages users across channels
  • Efficiency and scale: Unlocks agility and fuels growth

Who’s it for?

Community banks and credit unions.

Jump

Jump’s AI meeting assistant streamlines client meetings, automates administrative tasks, reduces workloads, and strengthens relationships—positioning Jump as a leading AI solution for financial advisors.

Features

  • Offers a live notetaking widget
  • Connects to Zoom as an in-client app
  • Provides a PDF export of notes and pre-meeting prep

Who’s it for?

RIAs, broker-dealers, independent advisors, and wealth management firms.

OPL

OPL, India’s AI-driven credit infra company, offers cashflow-based credit and transaction financing through its integrated framework, analyzing sales, purchases, and bank data via an AI-powered BRE.

Features

  • Administers robust credit evaluation through AI-powered BRE
  • Includes open banking integration via OPL’s APIs
  • Provides auto-decisioning through OPL’s STP process
  • Delivers pre-approved working capital offers
  • Offers instant funding through digital line of credit

Who’s it for?

Tailored for BFSI and financial institutions to accelerate SME lending and cashflow-based financing.

Zeplyn

Zeplyn streamlines advisor workflows, cutting down tasks from hours to minutes with unmatched accuracy, while surfacing trends and insights that empower firms to optimize practice management.

Features

  • Automates workflows with unmatched accuracy (ex. meeting notes, tasks, and CRM updates)
  • Surfaces client trends and actionable insights
  • Saves advisors 10+ hours weekly for enhanced client focus

Who’s it for?

Financial advisory firms and wealth teams, from solo shops to enterprises with more than $25B AUM.

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Stripe Taps EBANX to Facilitate Pix Payments in Brazil

Stripe Taps EBANX to Facilitate Pix Payments in Brazil
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Stripe is expanding in Brazil with Pix integration via EBANX.
  • The move will enable Stripe’s business customers, as well as merchants using ecommerce platforms tied to Stripe, to accept the central bank’s instant payment system at checkout.
  • The partnership targets financial inclusion and growth, giving global merchants access to 60 million Brazilians without credit cards while allowing settlements in domestic currency.

Stripe is continuing its busy season this week. The California-based fintech has deepened its partnership with payment gateway company EBANX to expand the coverage of Brazilian payment methods.

The two unveiled this week that Stripe’s business customers can now offer Pix as a payment method. Pix is Brazil’s central bank–operated instant payment system that the country launched in November 2020 to modernize its retail payments. It enables real-time money transfers in Brazilian reais. The transactions are settled in seconds, available 24/7 (including weekends and holidays), and are designed for person-to-person, person-to-business, and even government transactions. Users send funds using simple Pix keys, such as a phone number, email address, or a QR code.

Brazil-based EBANX was founded in 2012 to help expand international ecommerce. The company combines its technology with market expertise and infrastructure to enable companies across the globe to offer hundreds of local payment methods and streamline cross-border payments.

Today’s collaboration will enable businesses that are directly integrated with Stripe and those with ecommerce management platforms that use Stripe to offer Pix at checkout. Adding the new payment method will expand merchants’ prospective clients in Brazil while making settlements available in their domestic currency.

“Our partnership with EBANX is important for increasing Stripe users’ reach in Brazil, Latin America’s largest market,” said Stripe global head for Expansion, Strategics, and Incubation Partnerships Krishnan Rajagopalan. “For global commerce today, enabling how customers pay is often just as important as what’s being sold. Customers prefer payment methods they know and trust, which directly impacts the bottom line. Our research found businesses on Stripe that offered at least one additional relevant payment method beyond cards grew revenue by 12% and improved conversion by 7% on average.”

EBANX estimates—based on data from the Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence (PCMI), the World Bank, and the Central Bank of Brazil—that offering a local payment option in cross-border transactions will enable global ecommerce companies to reach twice as many consumers in Brazil compared to relying solely on international acquirers. Over a six-month period, the data showed that merchants offering Pix experienced a 16% increase in revenue and a 25% growth in consumers.

“Working with Stripe to offer Pix is a no-brainer,” said EBANX CEO and Co-Founder JoĂŁo Del Valle. “There are 60 million people in Brazil who lack a credit card. Meanwhile, 93% of Brazilian adults use Pix and, by the end of this year, its usage is projected to surpass credit cards in online purchases, according to PCMI in EBANX’s study Beyond Borders 2025. Working together with Stripe ultimately empowers Brazilian consumers and businesses to participate more fully in the global economy.”

Stripe, which processed more than $1.4 trillion in total payment volume in 2024, has made two notable acquisitions recently, scooping up real-time payments platform Orum last month, user data API company Privy in June, and stablecoin platform Bridge in February.

Photo by Caio

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Telesign Teams Up with PCI Pal to Help Contact Centers Fight Fraud

Telesign Teams Up with PCI Pal to Help Contact Centers Fight Fraud
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Telesign
  • Identity verification provider Telesign, a Proximus Global company, has teamed up with SaaS-based secure payments provider PCI Pal.
  • The two companies will offer a Fraud Management Suite that uses Telesign Intelligence to provide fraud teams and AI bots with real-time risk intelligence before potentially fraudulent transactions occur.
  • Headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, Telesign made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023.

A new partnership between identity verification innovator Telesign, a Proximus Global company, and SaaS-based secure payments provider PCI Pal will create a Fraud Management Suite to help international businesses leverage AI to identify fraudulent payments before they occur.

The new solution is designed to be especially effective against Card-Not-Present (CNP) attacks that are easy for fraudsters to use and difficult for fraud prevention teams to stop before they make their impact. Because fraudsters only need the expiration date and three-digit CVV number in order to assume another person’s identity over the phone and make fraudulent transactions, this type of fraud can be especially difficult for contact center workers to detect.

The new offering from Telesign and PCI Pal provides agents and AI bots with real-time risk insights before the transaction begins. This reduces chargebacks and revenue loss, but does not add friction to the customer experience. The solution leverages Telesign Intelligence, an AI-powered tool that identifies fraudulent activity by scoring the level of transaction risk associated with the phone number being used for the transaction. This score can be used to determine whether or not the transaction should be allowed to go through, blocked, or flagged for further review and additional verification.

“AI is transforming how we approach security—not just in detecting fraud, but in anticipating it,” PCI Pal CTO Mufti Monim said. “This launch lays the groundwork for a more intelligent and adaptive platform, that secures payments across all channels while enhancing both customer and agent experiences. It’s the first step in a broader roadmap to unify fraud prevention, compliance, and customer experience into one seamless, scalable platform.”

The partnership comes as Juniper Research reports that the cost of payment fraud to consumers and businesses is expected to grow from $44 billion in 2024 to $109 billion in 2029. Further, Juniper Research notes that 79% of companies reported being victims of payment fraud attacks in 2024.

“Payment card fraud is a significant challenge for contact centers, and this partnership addresses that issue by making voice-based interactions with enterprise more trusted, seamless and secure,” Proximus Global Business Lead Rajdip Gupta said. “Our work with PCI Pal aligns with our ongoing commitment to protect enterprises from evolving threats, without disrupting the customer experience.”

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, Telesign made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023. At the conference, the company introduced a new tool that depicts risks inherent in the onboarding process and showed how firms can mitigate the risk via intelligent phone number analysis and insight.

Photo by Jed Azzam

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