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Mastercard Taps 4thWave’s Supply Chain Finance Platform

Mastercard Taps 4thWave’s Supply Chain Finance Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MasterCard
  • Mastercard is partnering with 4thWave to leverage its supply chain financing and collections platform for its commercial clients based in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA).
  • Mastercard will integrate 4thWave’s technology into Mastercard’s InControl for Commercial Payments solution that uses virtual account numbers to make supplier payments more flexible and secure.
  • The payments technology aims to help the 72% of organizations that experience strained vendor relationships.

Payments technology giant Mastercard is partnering with BaaS digital platform provider 4thWave to leverage its supply chain financing and collections platform. Mastercard will use 4thWave’s technology for managing B2B payments to facilitate cashflow for corporate buyers and suppliers in the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) region.

More specifically, the technology will be integrated into Mastercard’s InControl for Commercial Payments (ICCP), a B2B payments solution that streamlines payments using virtual account numbers to make supplier payments more flexible and secure. Further increasing virtual card account acceptance, Mastercard’s straight through processing (STP) will help deliver funds for approved transactions to suppliers’ bank accounts.

“In line with our commitment to helping businesses worldwide transform the way they pay and get paid, we are investing in enhanced capabilities in the commercial B2B payments space,” said Mastercard Senior Vice President of Commercial Solutions, EEMEA Clyde Rosanowski. “Our partnership with 4thWave, a result of our continued focus on solving for B2B accounts payable and receivables, will allow us to jointly provide enhanced value to all participants in the supply chain.”

Mastercard is pouring its efforts into the supply chain finance sector because of the difficulties that often arise over vendor-supplier relationships. In fact, IBM found that around 72% of organizations experience strained vendor relationships due to inefficient invoice and payment processing, leading to sub-optimal supplier relationships. Offering a supply chain financing and collections tool to its commercial clients may smooth some of these issues and allow companies to focus on their core business.

“The B2B businesses, especially in the SME & MSME segment, have been severely impacted by the slowness in collections of receivables,” explained 4thWave Chairman Dan Mishra. “This has led to severe liquidity crunch that has negative consequences for the survival of these businesses. Our combined solution with Mastercard addresses this need by providing an easy and innovative financing platform that will rekindle and spur the much-needed growth in the economies.”

Photo by Pixabay

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Fintech Funding Surges This Week: 10 Deals in 3 Days

Fintech Funding Surges This Week: 10 Deals in 3 Days
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Allied Payment Network, Funding, List series, Thought Leadership

We are only three days into this week, and we’ve already seen a huge wave of fintech funding announcements come in. In fact, there have been not one, not three, not five, but 10 fintech companies that have secured substantial funding rounds this week.

This surge signals a promising comeback, hinting at a possible resurgence of venture funding in the fintech sector for 2024. Here’s a look at the funding announcements so far this week.

  • Financial software and technology provider Computer Services, Inc. (CSI) landed a strategic investment from private equity firm TA. The amount of this week’s round was undisclosed.
  • Asset and wealth management software specialist Zilo raised $31.8 million (£25 million) in Series A funding. The round was co-led by Fidelity International Strategic Ventures and Portage.
  • Unbox, a value exchange network, closed $13.2 million (€12 million) in a funding round led by HSBC. Unbox will use the majority of the funds to fuel talent recruitment.
  • Investment portfolio company Allied Payment Network received additional strategic investment from growth capital firm RF Investment Partners. The amount of this week’s round was undisclosed.
  • B2B subscription commerce platform AppDirect secured an additional $100 million investment from global investment group CDPQ. The funds will be used to support financing options for technology advisors through the company’s AppDirect Capital Invest program. 
  • Maalexi, a risk management platform assuring payment and performance for small agri-businesses in cross border trade, raised $3 million in a round led by Global Ventures.
  • Singapore-based BNPL firm Atome raised $31 million from parent company Advance Intelligence Group.
  • Digital asset custodian Finoa brought in a $15 million investment led by Maven 11 Capital and Balderton Capital. The company’s valuation remains flat at $100 million.
  • Brazil-based Conta Simples brought in $41.5 million (R$200,000,000) for its expense management technology. The company will use the funds to grow its team and expand its client base.
  • Africa-based fintech Cleva raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding for its technology that enables African users to receive USD payments.

Overall, the 10 rounds add up to more than $237 million. This might not seem like a lot when compared to 2021 funding levels. However, it is impressive when juxtaposed against last year’s first quarter funding numbers. When looking at the funding raised by Finovate alumni, we found that 13 companies raised a total of $453 million in the first quarter of 2023. Considering this benchmark, fintechs are off to a good start in 2024.

But don’t get too excited. This week’s brisk pace of fintech funding may not be completely indicative of a comeback. The ten rounds in three days can likely be attributed to the buildup of deals that were almost complete in the fourth quarter of last year, but were put off after the holidays.

Regardless of the reason, let’s hope that 2024 is a happy and healthy year for fintech funding.

Photo by César Couto on Unsplash

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Thought Machine Taps Debt Resolution Innovator Flexys

Thought Machine Taps Debt Resolution Innovator Flexys
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Thought Machine
  • Thought Machine and Flexys announced a new partnership this week.
  • The partnership wil integrate Flexys Control+ debt management platform with Thought Machine’s core banking solution, Vault Core.
  • UK-based Thought Machine made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in London in 2018.

Core banking platform Thought Machine and debt management and collections company Flexys announced a new partnership this week. The partnership will integrate Flexys Control+ debt management platform with Thought Machine’s Vault Core.

Rising consumer debt levels and legacy technology in debt management have created processes that are labor-intensive, expensive, and inefficient. To this end, the real-time integration between platforms will enable banks to enhance their debt management capabilities and modernize their banking operations with a new core. Thought Machine’s Vault Core is a cloud-native, cloud-agnostic, API-first core banking platform. It features a Universal Product Engine that gives users a great deal of flexibility in the design of new financial products created by smart contracts. This is in addition to a sizable number of pre-built financial solutions. These range from savings accounts and credit cards to Islamic banking solutions and buy now pay later (BNPL) products.

“Banks can now benefit from a seamless cloud-native ecosystem, leaving behind the constraints of legacy systems to improve efficiency, minimize friction, and vastly improve the experience for customers in arrears,” Flexys CEO James Hill said.

For its part, Control+ automates and digitizes customer engagement. This improves efficiency. But it also makes it possible for agents to offer personalized, positive experiences for customers. Emphasizing engagement over confrontation, Control+’s “intelligent debt resolution” approach empowers collections agents while protecting businesses from reputational and regulatory risk.

“Thought Machine and Flexys are removing unnecessary burden and human error,” Flexys Global Head of Partnerships Randolph McFarlane said. “In turn, this enables banks to better serve their customers, providing a superior experience in a time when customer expectations are higher than ever.”

Bristol-based Flexys was founded in 2016. In recent months, the company has forged partnerships with TSB Bank and Virgin Money. In both instances, Flexys helped the institutions manage Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) repayments and Pay As You Grow (PAYG) options.

Thought Machine finished 2023 with a partnership with Mexico-based fintech Trafalgar. The partnership marked Thought Machine’s first collaboration in Mexico, and is designed to help Trafalgar better serve its SME customers. Additionally, the company plans to launch its new Thought Machine-powered platform in Q2 of this year. Trafalgar will also leverage Thought Machine’s technology to develop and offer additional financial services ranging from virtual cards to point-of-sale (POS) systems.

Founded in 2014, Thought Machine made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in London in 2018. The company has raised more than $562 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. Thought Machine includes Temasek Holdings and Intesa Sanpaolo among its investors. Paul Taylor is CEO.

Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope in London next month? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.

Photo by Pixabay

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Alkami and Chimney Help Customers Manage the Asset Side of Homeownership

Alkami and Chimney Help Customers Manage the Asset Side of Homeownership
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alkami Technology, Alumni News, Chimney, Daily news
  • A pair of Finovate alums – Alkami and Chimney – announced a strategic partnership this week.
  • The partnership will help banks offer their customers actionable advice on their home’s value, equity, and their borrowing power.
  • Alkami is one of Finovate’s earliest alums, demoing as “iThryv” in 2009. Chimney has won Finovate Best of Show honors twice since 2021.

A newly announced strategic partnership between digital banking solutions provider Alkami and two-time Finovate Best of Show winner Chimney will help banks better serve their homeowner customers as they seek information about their home’s value, home equity, and their own borrowing power. The partnership will make it easier for financial institutions to leverage digital banking to give homeowners the financial tools, data, and insights they need to understand and manage their home as not just a home, but as a financial asset, as well.

Chimney’s tools and APIs enable users to track home value, borrowing power, and access home equity from within the bank’s app. The combination of Chimney’s property data and Alkali’s financial health data gives financial institutions the resources they need to boost user engagement, cross-sell, personalize offers, and better compete against third-party real estate websites and others.

“Alkami believes innovation unlocks new growth opportunities and enhances account holder experiences” Alkami co-founder and chief strategy and product officer Stephen Bohanon said. “Chimney’s platform exemplifies this and delivers a tool that supports homeowners’ financial journeys and deepens relationships.”

Founded in 2020, Chimney is headquartered in New York. The company won Best of Show last September at FinovateFall with a demo of its Chimney Home solution. Chimney Home gives homeowners actionable advice on their home value, equity, and buying power from within their banking app. The solution offers convenience for homeowners and helps FIs better engage them with relevant, personalized offers.

As Signal Intent, the company won its first Best of Show award in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2021. The firm rebranded as Chimney two years ago.

One of Finovate’s earliest alums, Alkami first demoed on the Finovate stage in 2009 as “iThryv.” Since then, the Plano, Texas-based fintech has become a major digital banking solutions provider for regional banks and credit unions. Last month alone, Alkami announced new partnerships with Credit Union of Texas and New York-based Quontic Bank. In November, Alkami teamed up with fellow Finovate alum Plaid.

Photo by Tierra Mallorca on Unsplash

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Trust & Will Closes Earned Equity Investment Deal with Comcast’s Forecast Labs

Trust & Will Closes Earned Equity Investment Deal with Comcast’s Forecast Labs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Trust & Will
  • Trust & Will has landed an earned equity investment with Comcast’s venture arm, Forecast Labs.
  • Under the agreement, Forecast Labs will promote Trust & Will nationally via TV advertisements to reach new audiences.
  • Trust & Will was founded in 2017 and has raised $48 million.

Digital estate planning and settlement platform Trust & Will is adding to its resources this week. The California-based company has inked an earned equity investment deal with Comcast’s venture arm Forecast Labs.

Unlike a traditional equity investment, the earned equity investment is not a cash investment. Instead, under today’s agreement, Trust & Will will benefit from non-monetary resources from Forecast Labs. For example, Forecast Labs may contribute expertise, services, or assets, in exchange for equity ownership in Trust & Will. In other words, instead of providing cash upfront, Forecast Labs will earn its equity stake by delivering a specified value to the business.

Specifically in this case, Forecast Labs will promote Trust & Will nationally via TV advertisements to gain brand awareness in fresh market segments of consumers who may be less likely to have a will. As Forecast Labs Managing Director Arjun Kapur explained, “With this investment, we will play a pivotal role in introducing Trust & Will to people who have otherwise been priced out of estate planning or have had to deal with outdated ways of managing their wills and trusts.”

Trust & Will, which won Best of Show accolades at FinvoateFall last year and has raised $48 million across eight rounds of funding, was founded in 2017 as a digital-first way for users to create wills and trusts inexpensively online. Since launch, the company has helped 700,000+ families plan their own future and settle the estates of loved ones. There is plenty of room for growth in the U.S. market, however. More than 60% of Americans do not have a will.

“As we look ahead at our goals for growth in 2024,” said Trust & Will CEO and Founder Cody Barbo, “I am excited to start working with Forecast Labs to put our business in front of more Americans who have otherwise been left out. Estate planning is too important of a topic for so many people to neglect until it’s arguably too late.”

Trust & Will’s marriage of fintech and legaltech isn’t unique to the fintech world, but it is not all that common. While the fintech sphere often focuses on financial transactions and management, the incorporation of legaltech solutions like those of Trust & Will is a promising convergence of sectors. This year, we will likely see growth of fintechs in the regtech and legaltech arenas, as startups seek green pastures for innovation.

Photo by Melinda Gimpel on Unsplash

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Best of Show Winner 10x Banking Teams Up with Mortgage Origination Platform Mast

Best of Show Winner 10x Banking Teams Up with Mortgage Origination Platform Mast
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: 10x Banking, Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news

The partnership between core banking platform, 10x Banking, and mortgage origination platform, Mast, will enable real-time connectivity between the two systems. This connectivity will be a boon for lenders, who will benefit from streamlined data exchange. It will also deliver the kind of real-time mortgage servicing that eliminates the need for – and potential complications of – manual data entry between multiple systems.

“This partnership represents a key milestone in how we support the transformation of the UK mortgage and building societies market,” 10x VP and Global Head of GTM and Partnerships Frederico Venturer said. “This integration will enable customer-facing innovation that rethinks the mortgage lifecycle using cloud-native tools, unlocking new growth opportunities for our clients.”

The collaboration comes with an API integration guide on 10x Docs. The guide gives mortgage lenders in the UK a fast and straightforward integration path. The guide includes a number of different integration scenarios that are particularly germane to UK’s mortgage market. These scenarios include product creation and account onboarding.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with 10x and provide seamless integration for UK mortgage institutions,” Mast CEO Joy Abisaab said. “Together, we empower UK lenders to unlock new levels of operational efficiency and enable the delivery of exceptional customer experiences.”

London-based Mast offers cloud-native mortgage technology infrastructure that enables lenders to boost capacity, lower costs, and enhance operational controls. The company has helped clients reach more than 20% increases in conversion from Decision in Principal (DIP) to completion. Mast’s technology has also facilitated a more than 70% increase in lending for its customers – without adding operational capacity.

Founded in 2016, 10x Banking won Best of Show in its Finovate debut last year at FinovateEurope. In its live demo, the company demonstrated its 10x SuperCore Cards solution. This innovation enables banks to leverage the 10x Bank Manager interface to build a card proposition in minutes.

10x Banking’s partnership news comes shortly after the company announced a collaboration with B2B lend tech company Trade Ledger. A real-time API connection between Trade Ledger’s data platform and 10x Banking’s SuperCore platform will allow banks and alternative lenders bring complex working capital solutions to market quickly. These solutions include invoice, receivables, and supply chain finance products.

10x Banking also teamed up with compliant open banking API technology provider Ozone API late last year. The integration will enable banks to combine real-time banking capabilities with a solution that helps them take advantage of open banking. Ozone API co-founder and CEO Huw Davies praised the way the partnership will “make it easier for banks to reduce complexity in their tech stack, allowing banks to comply with any global open banking standards, so they can focus on accelerating growth and value creation.”

10x Banking has raised more than $252 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. The company’s investors include BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase.

Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope in London next month? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.

Photo by Alexander Isreb

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TaskPay Offers Escrow-Like Contracts for Payouts

TaskPay Offers Escrow-Like Contracts for Payouts
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Startups

Every once in a while, I like to highlight a fintech I’ve never heard of. Today’s candidate is TaskPay.

Founded in May of last year, TaskPay is on a mission to build trust into contracts and talent payouts. What does that mean, exactly? TaskPay has built a platform to allow users to create instant, escrow-like milestone contracts for gig workers or to send peer-to-peer payments.

By serving as a middle-man, TaskPay secures funds from the party making the payment, while waiting to release the funds until the recipient has completed the contract requirements. This protects both parties by ensuring that the payer isn’t receiving work and refusing to pay, and also ensuring that the payee isn’t taking the funds without completing their end of the contract.

Taskpay facilitates payments made using cryptocurrency, debit or credit card, PayPal, ACH transfers, or wire transfers. It also helps users without a bank account to withdraw funds onto a prepaid Mastercard or Visa card.

What’s more, Taskpay members can use the platform to find talent. The company’s AI connects users with the right gig worker for the job by analyzing chat data, disputes, ratings, reviews, job timelines, and more.

TaskPay’s emergence aligns with today’s digital-first era, offering a fundamental solution to solve trust issues in contractual agreements and gig worker payments. In the growing gig economy, TaskPay safeguards both parties from potential exploitation or non-compliance. In a world where digital interactions are commonplace, TaskPay is well-positioned to succeed as a player in the evolving fintech arena.

Taskpay is headquartered in Wyoming and was founded by Aaron Andrew and Kerim Eravci.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

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Credit Reference Agency AperiData Teams Up with OneID

Credit Reference Agency AperiData Teams Up with OneID
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • U.K.-based digital identity provider OneID has forged a partnership with credit reference agency AperiData.
  • The collaboration combines OneID’s customer authentication capabilities with AperiData’s financial and risk insights to enhance decision-making for lenders.
  • Paula Sussex joined OneID as CEO in April of last year.

The new partnership between digital identity provider OneID and credit reference agency AperiData will empower lenders and other financial institutions to make instant credit decisions that are responsible and ethical.

“A partnership with AperiData is a natural fit for OneID,” company Chief Product Officer Stuart Kempster said. “Bringing the power of bank-verified digital identity together with AI-powered real time credit analysis gives our joint customers a better way to support their customers with their credit decision-making.”

Individuals use OneID by selecting the identity verification option during the online onboarding or signup process. With the individual’s consent, OneID contacts the individual’s bank and verifies their credentials. Upon successful verification, OneID securely confirms the individual’s identity to the online provider within seconds.

Both OneID and AperiData share the goal of blending identity verification with risk insights available via open banking in order to offer better and broader financial opportunities for customers. Notably, the combination of OneID’s customer authentication capabilities and AperiData’s financial and risk insights offers benefits beyond income verification. The partnership will also support use cases ranging from automated direct debit set-up and reinstatement to enhanced employee screening processes.

A U.K.-based FCA authorized credit agency and open banking provider, AperiData leverages insights from financial data and the power of open banking to enhance credit scoring and decision-making. Founded in 2020, the company has partnered with many of the largest banks in the U.K. AperiData most recently announced collaborations and partnerships with Salford Credit Union, financial inclusion software platform Inbest, and payment and retail services company PayPoint. Stephen Ashworth is CEO.

OneID covers 50 million adults in the U.K., is connected with 29 banks, and leverages 37 data sources to provide identity verification in less than 12 seconds. Founded in 2018, OneID raised $1.27 million (£1 million) in funding last fall in a round led by ACF Investors. Paula Sussex, who joined the company as CEO in April 2023, called the investment “a vote of confidence in (its) efforts to make digital identification accessible and available to more U.K. citizens.”

Photo by Porapak Apichodilok

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Arc Technologies’ Venture Debt Lending Platform Reaches $100 Billion in Committed Capital

Arc Technologies’ Venture Debt Lending Platform Reaches $100 Billion in Committed Capital
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Arc Technologies now counts more than $100 billion in committed capital on its venture lending platform.
  • Arc Technologies has closed more than 350 transactions since it was founded in 2021.
  • Last year’s Silicon Valley Bank crisis launched Arc Technologies into a period of growth, with more startups seeking alternative capital sources.

Arc Technologies revealed through an exclusive interview with TechCrunch today that it now has more than $100 billion in committed capital on its lending platform.

Founded in 2021, Arc has raised $181 in funding across three rounds of funding– including a $20 million Series A round the company landed in August of 2022. The California-based company’s venture debt marketplace offers startups a capital alternative to equity funds.

Arc’s capital markets debt marketplace enables startups to onboard in as little as 10 minutes and receive debt terms for up to $250 million from the network of participating lenders. After underwriting each borrower using historical financial data, the company pre-qualifies borrowers and matches them to a lender within five days.

Notably, Arc’s rise in committed capital comes after the fall of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last year, when many startups found themselves scrambling to find sources of alternative capital so that they could meet day-to-day business requirements and make payroll.

The SVB crisis served as a growth period for the company. “In 2023, Arc onboarded more than 4,000 new users, while the deposits managed through our platform grew by a factor of more than 12x,” said company CEO Don Muir. “Specific to capital, we have completed more than 350 transactions and have made available $100B+ in AUM to deploy through our lending partners.”

In the future, Arc plans to build out more banking products into its platform, the first of which can be expected later this year.

Photo by Mathias Reding

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Finovate Global Kazakhstan: Solva Secures Investment, Kaspi to List in the U.S.

Finovate Global Kazakhstan: Solva Secures Investment, Kaspi to List in the U.S.
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

An earlier version misidentified a funding source as Zhang Capital Partners.

Some of the more interesting stories in international fintech this week come from the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan. Solva, a Kazakhstani fintech that provides working capital solutions, has secured an investment of $20 million. The funds will help Solva grow from a microfinancier into a SME-based bank. The transition is expected to be completed this year. The investment came courtesy of the Sawiris family of the Egyptian Orascom Group and Zoser Capital Partners (ZCP).

Solva co-founder Boris Batine said that the capital will help drive the company’s “regional strategy and expansion plans.” Batine added that the transition from a nonbanking financial institution to a fully-licensed bank will be that much easier with “a well-known and respected international investor” such as Zoser Capital Partners (ZCP) at Solva’s side.

Founded in 2017, Solva is the first neobank for both MSMEs and consumers in Central Asia. The firm offers revolving credit lines up to $20,000; installment loans up to $30,000 with terms ranging from one to five years; and short-term working capital solutions up to $5,000 for as many as 120 days.

Solva has issued microloans worth 66 billion KZT ($145 million) to more than 50,000 small business owners throughout Kazakhstan. The company notes that 70% of the loans in its portfolio – more than $85 million – go to female-led businesses. Solva is also a supporter of the UN Global Compact corporate responsibility initiative. The initiative establishes principles involving human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption principles.

Financial literacy is also a priority for the company. Solva has endorsed the Kazakhstan government’s Program for Improving Financial Literacy for 2020-2024 initiative. Approximately 7,000 Kazakhstanis have participated in the Solva’s financial literacy programs over the past two years.

In other Kazazkstan-based fintech news, Kaspi.kz is on track to become the first company from the Republic of Kazakhstan to list in the U.S. A major Kazakhstani fintech, Kaspi.kz offers a payments platform that enables consumers to make payments to merchants and service providers, as well as P2P fund transfers.

The company also has a marketplace platform that connects on- and offline merchants with consumers, and a fintech platform that offers BNPL services. Kaspi.kz is the parent company of the Kasp.kz Super App, which has become among the most widely recognized financial services app in Kazakhstan. Kaspi.kz reports 13.5 million average monthly users on the app, with 65% of them using the app on a daily basis.

That said, Kaspi.kz has objectives beyond both its native Kazakhstan and Ukraine and Azerbaijan, where the company also does business. The firm’s prospectus mentions a goal of growing to 100 million users. And Kaspi.kz co-founder and CEO Mikheil Lomtadze underscored the ability of the listing to stimulate growth.

“Being in Kazakhstan, we do not have the luxury of being able to rely on private equity or venture capital money to fund our operations and growth,” Lomtadze said. “With a U.S. listing, we believe Kaspi.kz can reach a larger and more diverse investor base that will enjoy being with us for the next stage of our development.”

Kaspi.kz is already listed on the London Stock Exchange, where the company boasts a valuation of almost $19 billion.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • ADIB-Egypt launched its personalized, Sharia-compliant private banking services for high net worth clients.
  • The Jerusalem Post looked at how fintechs are partnering with Israel’s National Bureau for Counter-Terror Financing (NBCTF) to deal with terrorism financing.
  • Saudi Arabian fintech savings platform Hakbah teamed up with MENA-based open banking platform Tarabut.

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Photo by RDNE Stock project

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Talus Pay Makes Two Acquisitions to Boost Growth

Talus Pay Makes Two Acquisitions to Boost Growth
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Talus Pay has acquired home services fintech infrastructure company Jobox.ai and B2B payment solutions company Clarus Merchant Services.
  • Combined, the new entity will process more than $9 billion for 22,000+ merchant customers annually.
  • Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Texas-based Talus Pay announced two major purchases this week. The payments processing company has acquired home services fintech infrastructure company Jobox.ai and B2B payment solutions company Clarus Merchant Services. Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Combined with the two new companies, Talus Pay now processes more than $9 billion a year for its more than 22,000 merchant customers. The fintech expects the acquisitions will help it grow its client base within the home and facility services verticals.

“We are excited to welcome both Jobox and Clarus to the Talus Pay team,” said Talus Pay CEO Kim Fitzsimmons. “We have tremendous end-to-end technology infrastructure and sales and service platforms. Adding Jobox and Clarus gives us additional proprietary software and scale in complimentary business-to-business industry verticals.”

Jobox was founded in California in 2016 to offer job matching, scheduling, payments, customer communications, and inventory management technology to U.S. home services professionals. The company currently serves more than 5,000 home services professionals across 39 U.S. states. Talus Pay will leverage its direct and reseller channels to scale Jobox’s open-source architecture across more industries, including auto repair, beauty, hospitality, non-profit, and service retail, among others. 

“Jobox is a terrific tool for underserved home and facility services professionals to help them efficiently run their businesses and increase their bottom lines,” said Jobox Co-founder and CEO Shay Bloch. “By joining forces with Talus Pay, we can accelerate our market share in the home services end market while having the opportunity to accelerate entry into new market verticals.”

Maryland-based Clarus, which has been providing payment services since 1999, currently processes more than $2 billion in annual card volume each year for a wide range of businesses, credit unions, wholesale distribution groups, and building materials distribution companies. After the acquisition is finalized, Clarus will be able to offer its merchant clients new solutions from Talus Pay.

Logistically, Clarus President Eric Pottebaum will join Talus Pay’s leadership team, serving as general manager of its Clarus portfolio. Bloch has been named Talus Pay’s chief strategy officer and Jobox Kaushik Pendurthi, also from Jobox, has been named chief technology officer.

Talus Pay, which itself was acquired by private equity firm A&M Capital Partners in 2017, processes 67.8 million transactions on an annual basis via sales agents and its network of financial institutions, independent sales organizations, independent software vendors, and value-added resellers. 

Photo by Lech Naumovich on Unsplash

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Bumper Pulls in $48 Million to Drive Growth in BNPL for Car Repair

Bumper Pulls in $48 Million to Drive Growth in BNPL for Car Repair
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding
  • Bumper received $48 million in funding for its BNPL tool for vehicle repairs.
  • The funding round was led by Autotech Ventures and comprised of $18 million in equity and $30 million in debt.
  • Bumper’s partner dealers have facilitated BNPL payments for more than 250,000 repairs in the past 12 months. The company hopes to double that this year.

Bumper, a payment platform for car dealerships, landed $48 million (£40 million) in Series B funding today. The funds consist of $18 million (£15 million) in equity and $30 million (£25 million) in debt.

Autotech Ventures led the round, which saw contributions from Shell Ventures, JLR’s InMotion Ventures, Porsche Ventures, and Revo Capital. The investment, which boosts the U.K.-based company’s total funding to $64 million, will help Bumper expand the reach of its buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform for car repair bills.

Bumper plans to use today’s funds to expand across Europe, specifically in the U.K., Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Ireland.

Bumper was founded in 2013, well before the BNPL boom of 2020. The company is currently partnered with 5,000 car dealerships that offer car repair services. In the past 12 months, these dealerships have provided BNPL payments for more than 250,000 repairs for Volvo, Ford, Nissan, VW Group, JLR, Porsche, and more.

Customers begin engaging with Bumper before they ever enter the dealer. The car owner applies for a credit limit of up to $6,300 (£5,000) at home and receives an instant decision. If they are pre-approved, they receive a unique Bumper Code that they show to their service provider, who then sends the customer a link to set up their payment plan. The customer can select to spread their payment over the course of one month to six months, interest free.

Bumper offers a suite of payment options– both digital and physical. Customers can opt to pay using open banking payments, card payments, or at card terminals located in the dealership. All payment methods can be fully integrated into the dealer’s existing infrastructure.

Looking ahead, Bumper wants to double the number of BNPL transactions it has facilitated in the past year. “We want to be the dominant payment platform for car dealers across Europe,” explained company Co-founder and CEO James Jackson. “We’ll do it by providing a no-brainer solution, one that gives their customers the ultimate flexibility in making the necessary payments to keep their cars on the road.”

The timing for this growth objective is favorable. The cost of living crisis is driving up the use of BNPL across sectors. High-ticket auto repairs, which often catch consumers off-guard, are an ideal use case for BNPL. “There has never been a more important time for a business like Bumper, with consumers across Europe feeling the pinch amidst high inflation, rising bills and escalating rent or mortgage costs,” said Jackson. “The need for a flexible way to pay for car repairs is vitally important for drivers, and dealers want to ensure they can provide customers every reason to book them in there and then.”

While the number of merchants offering BNPL options for high-ticket goods has expanded around the globe, there are not many providing the new payment option for services, such as auto repair. That said there are a handful of BNPL companies that specialize in travel experiences and some, including Sunbit, that offer BNPL for medical services, vet bills, as well as auto repair bills.

Photo by DS stories

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