J.P. Morgan Payments Taps Trulioo for Identity Verification

J.P. Morgan Payments Taps Trulioo for Identity Verification
  • J.P. Morgan Payments has selected Trulioo for identity verification tools.
  • Trulioo’s Person Match and Identity Document Verification will offer verification of consumers and businesses.
  • J.P. Morgan Payments processes more than $9 trillion in payments each day in over 160 countries and 120 currencies.

Trulioo announced today that J.P. Morgan Payments has tapped it for fraud prevention. JPM Payments will leverage Trulioo’s consumer and business verification tools.

“We chose [Trulioo] because of its breadth of personally identifiable data sources, impressive match rates, and global footprint,” said J.P. Morgan Payments Managing Director- Global Head of Trust & Safety Ryan Schmiedl. “Trulioo has the trusted authentication and verification experience we want to offer clients and additional layers of protection from fraud during the onboarding experience and beyond.”

JPM, which processes more than $9 trillion in payments each day in over 160 countries and 120 currencies, will leverage Trulioo’s global payments and trust and safety models. Specifically, JPM will use Trulioo’s Person Match and Identity Document Verification to offer verification of both consumers and businesses.

“With real-time access to hundreds of government registries, public records, data sources and document types, we can verify people and businesses globally, leaving no space for bad actors and, ultimately, help J.P. Morgan clients adhere to the highest of standards, no matter where their clients operate,” said Trulioo CEO Steve Munford.

Canada-based Trulioo, which was founded in 2011, helps organization navigate compliance by offering real-time verification of more than five billion people and 700 million business entities worldwide. Last month, Trulioo added intelligent transaction routing to its identity verification orchestration platform. The company has raised $475 million.


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Statement Raises $12 Million for AI-Powered Treasury Tools

Statement Raises $12 Million for AI-Powered Treasury Tools
  • Statement has raised $12 million in Seed funding.
  • The funds come from Glilot Capital Partners, Citi, Mensch Capital Partners, Titan Capital, and Operator Partners.
  • The company will use the funds to bolster its market launch strategies, speed up product development, and hire additional employees.

Cash flow intelligence company Statement has raised $12 million in Seed funding this week for its cash flow management platform. Today’s funds come from Glilot Capital Partners, Citi, Mensch Capital Partners, Titan Capital, and Operator Partners.

According to TechCrunch, which broke the news, Statement will use the $12 million to bolster its market launch strategies and speed up product development. To fuel this growth, the New York-based company said it plans to expand its team to 35 employees by the end of 2024.

Launched last year by co-founders Idan Vlodinger and Shahar Lahav, Statement offers what it calls a “Cash Intelligence Platform” that provides enterprises a single, cohesive overview of their financial data in real time. The platform, which automatically categorizes transactions, connects with multiple banks and ERP systems to reflect real-time cash positions, show working capital analytics, automate accounts receivable reconciliation, and forecast cashflow using AI.

“Statement saves the office of the CFO hundreds of hours per month on manual data collection and enrichment, and hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars by being able to manage their money faster and better,” Vlodinger told TechCrunch. “CFOs deserve to work with great software, with a fantastic user interface, that has real-time data, and have the systems ‘speak’ to each other with true data reconciliation, so they can focus on growing their businesses.”

Armed with increasingly powerful AI-tools, more companies have been operating in this treasury management space, which used to be thought of as simply business financial management (BFM). Other companies offering financial management tools include Kyriba, international cash management provider Neo and HighRadius, which reached unicorn status in 2020.


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3 Reasons Youth Banking Tools are Having a Moment

3 Reasons Youth Banking Tools are Having a Moment

Banks have discussed ways to target the youth market for years. Capturing a customer under the age of 18 builds brand loyalty at a young age, increases a customer’s potential lifetime value, leads to cross-selling opportunities as they age, and increases the parent users’ engagement.

While these benefits are well-known across the fintech space, the youth market can be difficult to tap into; banking tools for minors are not yet widespread. Things may be changing, however. Developments in the youth banking market have been peppering the news this year, starting with Acorns’ acquisition of GoHenry in April. Things have really started to pick up this fall, however. Here’s a timeline:

  • August 10: Greenlight launched a new solution to help teens begin building credit.
  • September 22: Invstr launched Invstr Jr., a digital bank and investing account for users under the age of 18.
  • September 25: The Reseda Group partnered with financial literacy platform Goalsetter to offer a white-labeled version of the app for its members.
  • October 3: Acorns announced the launch of a new premium tier that integrates access to GoHenry.
  • October 3: Youth investing platform Stockpile teamed up with Green Dot to offer debit cards to its users under the age of 18.

It appears that youth banking tools may be having a moment. But why now? Below are a few reasons behind the recent flurry of activity in the space.

Transfer of wealth

It’s been well-publicized that the largest transfer of wealth in history is currently taking place. In fact, Cerulli Associates estimates that in the next 25 years, older generations will transfer a total of $84 trillion to younger generations. As a result, these young recipients– many under the age of 18– will need a safe account to hold and grow their newfound wealth. Youth savings accounts and investing tools are a good starting place.

Millennials maturing as parents

A decade ago, much of the discussions in the fintech industry centered around how to serve new millennial clients. Millennials are a digital-savvy generation and now range between 27 and 42 years of age. This mobile-first generation is more likely to seek out banking tools for their kids online rather than take them into a branch to open their first savings account. The recent spate of banking and investing tools all suit the need for digital-first accounts for minors.

Competition

Success invites competition. As more companies succeed in gaining users in the youth banking space, more will join in. That’s why we’ve seen not only new players enter into the space, but also established institutions create new tools to serve the market. As these tools continue to generate attention by launching new features, entering new partnerships, and adding new clients, other fintechs will begin to enter the market.


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Fraud Prevention Platform Darwinium Secures $18 Million in Series A Funding

Fraud Prevention Platform Darwinium Secures $18 Million in Series A Funding
  • Fraud prevention platform Darwinium raised $18 million in Series A funding this week.
  • The company positions its fraud detection processes on the network perimeter to provide better visibility, coverage, and agility.
  • Recently relocated to San Francisco, California, Darwinium made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope earlier this year.

Digital security and fraud prevention platform Darwinium raised $18 million in Series A funding this week. The investment was led by U.S. Venture Partners, and featured participation from seed investors Blackbird, Airtree Ventures, and Accomplice. The Series A takes the San Francisco-based company’s total funding to $26 million. Darwinium will use the additional capital to scale its solution globally.

“AI capabilities have given fraudsters the upper hand of speed, scale, and greater efficiency,” Darwinium CEO and co-founder Alisdair Faulkner explained. “This is why we designed Darwinium to deliver the visibility and coverage of a security tool, the context and insight of fraud solutions, with the agility of AI. It’s the platform that will future-proof organizations against the most complex attacks.”

Darwinium offers two innovations to help companies fight fraud. First, Darwinium moves fraud detection processes to the network perimeter, to “the edge,” as the company refers to the strategy. This gives businesses a comprehensive view of the customer journey at every digital touchpoint, making it easier to distinguish trusted from risky behavior. This approach also gives the technology an advantage over API-based fraud protection solutions. These solutions, according to Darwinium, are not sufficiently agile and lack the context to adequately respond to evolving fraud threats.

Second, Darwinium leverages a SaaS approach to data protection, encrypting and anonymizing data on “the edge.” Any customer data that is subjected to analysis is stored within the business’ own infrastructure with their own digital keys. Darwinium’s technology then uses the anonymized version of this customer data. This enables the information to be processed without being exposed to fraudsters. Darwinium’s approach to securing customer data makes it easy for businesses to comply with consumer privacy regulations such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Founded in 2021, Darwinium made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope earlier this year. At the conference, the company previewed its fraud prevention platform that leverages individual digital signatures to make sure that website visitors and customers are who they say they are. The company introduced its Continuous Customer Protection platform this spring, simultaneously announcing the firm’s expansion to the U.S. and relocation of its corporate headquarters to San Francisco.


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Mahalo Banking Launches Credential Assurance Technology to Combat Credential Stuffing

Mahalo Banking Launches Credential Assurance Technology to Combat Credential Stuffing
  • Mahalo Banking launched a new solution to combat credential stuffing.
  • The new offering, Credential Assurance Technology (CAT), augments the sign-in process to make credential stuffing impossible.
  • Mahalo Banking won Best of Show in its Finovate debut last month at FinovateFall.

Mahalo Banking, a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) that took home Best of Show honors in its Finovate debut last month, has launched a new tool to fight credential stuffing. Mahalo’s Credential Assurance Technology (CAT) augments the traditional account sign-in process, disrupting bot functioning and rendering credential stuffing impossible. Importantly, the technology does not require the use of friction-creating methods such as CAPTCHAs.

“With CAT, credit unions can confidently safeguard member accounts and help prevent the attacks that come at a high cost,” Mahalo COO Denny Howell said. He referred to CAT as a result of Mahalo’s “unwavering commitment to producing innovations that address the all-too-common obstacles faced by credit unions to redefine the digital banking experience.”

In a study by the Identity Defined Security Alliance, 84% of respondents said their organizations had experienced a data breach, which often leads to compromised credentials. Cybercriminals can direct automated bots to use this data to hack login credentials  – such as those of credit union members.

“If your credit union has not been targeted yet, it’s just a matter of time,” Mahalo President and CEO Jim Stickley said. He noted that it was important that new security measures be as inobtrusive as they are effective. “It was important to use to create a solution that would resolve this issue without adding new barriers or disruption for credit union members,” Stickley said. “What we have created has simply changed the game. When our CAT solution is enabled, credential stuffing simply does not work.”

Founded in 2018, Mahalo made its Finovate debut last month at FinovateFall, earning Best of Show honors from our attendees. At the conference, Mahalo’s Howell and Chief Technology Officer Dan Domek demonstrated how the CUSO had integrated comprehensive neurodiverse functionality directly into its platform. This enables the platform to better serve members that may have unique needs due to autism, dyslexia, epilepsy, color-blindness, or other conditions.

In August, the Troy, Michigan-based fintech announced an expansion of its partnership with fellow Finovate alum Larky. That same month, Mahalo partnered with Providence Federal Credit Union to enhance both online and mobile banking experiences for the credit union’s 16,000+ members.


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Nova Credit Lands $45 Million in Funding for Alternative Credit Scoring

Nova Credit Lands $45 Million in Funding for Alternative Credit Scoring
  • Nova Credit has received $45 million in Series C funding in a round led by Canapi Ventures.
  • The investment boosts Nova Credit’s total funding to $79 million.
  • Today’s funds will be used to broaden its product offering and scale its cash flow underwriting and income verification tool Cash Atlas.

Borderless credit data company Nova Credit has brought in $45 million in Series C funding this week. The investment– which was led by Canapi Ventures with participation from Kleiner Perkins, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Y Combinator, Avid Ventures, Geodesic Capital, Harmonic Capital, Radiate Capital, and Socium Ventures– boosts the company’s total raised to $79 million.

The company will use the funds to broaden its product offering beyond cross-border credit reporting and scale its cash flow underwriting and income verification tool Cash Atlas. Along with Cash Atlas, Nova Credit also offers Credit Passport, an API that translates an international credit report into a local-equivalent credit score to allow newcomers to the U.S. to use the credit score of their home country.

To power these two products, Nova Credit leverages open finance to analyze consumer-permissioned transaction data for underwriting purposes. With insight from a prospective borrower’s cash flow, the company can underwrite the more than 60 million new-to-credit, new-to-country, and other thin-file consumers.

“Open finance data has been available for decades, but the industry has failed to assemble it into a suite of products that lenders can easily use to improve their customer onboarding and credit workflows,” said Nova Credit Co-founder and CEO Misha Esipov. “For years, Nova Credit has pioneered the use of consumer-permissioned data to enable the world’s most reputable businesses to approve more customers without compromising their risk and compliance standards.”

Nova Credit has seen growth in terms of revenues, partners, and geography since closing its $50 million Series B round in 2020. In the past three years, the California-based company has grown its revenue 10x and has added HSBC, Verizon, Scotiabank, Earnest, and Yardi to its partner roster, and has expanded its product reach to 20 countries outside the U.S., including Canada, the U.K., the UAE, and Singapore. 

In the future, Nova Credit plans to introduce new solutions ranging from new-to-credit and thin-file underwriting to customized KYC and verification solutions. “While cross-border credit remains critical to our strategy, we’re excited to broaden our offering and tackle a new set of industry challenges long unsolved,” explained Esipov. “This new capital fortifies our position to continue being a dependable partner to the many banks and lenders we serve and accelerates the pace of innovation in an industry very much in need of change.”


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AI and Generating Alpha in Real Time with aisot

AI and Generating Alpha in Real Time with aisot

Is there a subsector of fintech that is more eager to adopt AI than the world of investing and asset management? From the burden of ever-growing amounts of potentially valuable data to the demands of managing risk to the challenge of generating alpha and producing above market returns, there are many ways that wealth management will benefit from innovations in AI – and the people involved in wealth management know it.

Founded by a team of former ETH Zurich researchers, aisot is one of the companies that is dedicated to helping asset and wealth managers make the most of the AI opportunity. The Swiss startup, launched in 2019 and headquartered in Zurich, leverages generative AI and access to market and alternative data sources, to deliver analytics, forecasts, and actionable insights to traders, business analysts, data scientists, and other financial services professionals.

“Information moves markets,” aisot co-founder and CEO Stefan Klauser said at the beginning of his Finovate demo in 2021. “At aisot we give you specialized market insights and full costs. (Our technology) reduces forecasting errors by up to 50%, and can enhance your returns. Whether you are a machine learning expert, a quant, or someone that has not had a systematic approach to data before, aisot’s services are always easy to use.”

aisot co-founder and CEO Stefan Klauser demoing his company’s technology at FinovateSpring 2021.

aisot launched its AI Insights Platform earlier this month. The cloud-based solution enables asset managers and wealth managers to offer their clients personalized investment portfolios at scale. The platform consists of three components: the AI Insights Dashboard, the Custom Feature Suite, and the Product Launch Pad. Via the Dashboard, users can investigate multiple market scenarios and fine-tune investment strategies. Dashboard features include an integrated portfolio builder, an optimizer to analyze historical data and market trends, and a statistical toolkit to enable users to review and evaluate portfolio performance. The platform’s Custom Features Suite allows users to vote on future platform enhancements and additions. The Product Launch Pad gives users the ability to launch structured notes, transforming investment strategies into tradable and liquid securities.

Klauser put the new offering in the context of the company’s overall philosophy as a “digital-first company.” He explained, “We conscientiously push technological boundaries while upholding core principles and stringent controls. Our relentless focus remains on our customer, shaping the platform based on their evolving needs in terms of performance, personalization, and scalability.”

The new product launch comes in the wake of aisot’s rebrand in July. In addition to a preview of the company’s AI Insights Platform and a new website, aisot also shared information about aisot Labs, the firm’s AI engine, as well as the company’s new investment products. These include aisot’s AI Balanced Digital Assets. An Actively Managed Certificate that enables investors to participate in the performance of an underlying investment strategy, AI Balanced Digital Assets is a long only, AI-driven, crypto portfolio built to match the volatility of a Bitcoin or Ethereum tracker while at the same time maximizing performance.

aisot has raised a total of $2.5 million (CHF 2.3 million) in funding, most recently securing $2 million (CHF 1.8 million) in seed capital this spring. The round was led by Haute Capital Partners, with angel investors, including members of the Swiss ICT Investor Club (SICTIC), also participating. The investment will enable aisot to add to its team, drive continued product development, and support the company’s growth projects.

Haute CEO and Chairman Thibault Leroy Bürki praised aisot as “a leading provider of AI solutions for asset and wealth management.” He added, “We chose aisot for their innovative approach to wealth management, advanced AI engine, and ability to generate alpha in real-time … aisot’s AI engine provides clients with the amazing ability to adjust customized portfolios to market trends in real-time while generating alpha.”


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When the CFPB States Banks Cannot Charge for “Basic” Customer Service

When the CFPB States Banks Cannot Charge for “Basic” Customer Service

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its first advisory opinion offering guidance on section 1034(c) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), which originally became effective in 2011. Section 1034(c) requires banks to reply for consumer requests for information and not charge them for customer service responses regarding their bank account. The CFPB calls charges such as these “junk fees.”

The issue stems from instances when the consumer needs to gather basic account information required for them to fix problems with their account or manage their finances. With today’s advisory opinion, the CFPB is seeking to stop large banks for charging their customers for requesting essential information they are entitled to under federal law. These “reasonable requests” include asking for original account agreements or information about recurring withdrawals from an account.

“While small relationship banks pride themselves on customer service, many large banks erect obstacle courses and impose junk fees to answer basic questions,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “While the biggest banks have abandoned the relationship banking model, federal law still requires them to answer certain customer inquiries completely, accurately, and in a timely manner.”

Who is impacted

The opinion applies to insured depository institutions and credit unions that offer or provide consumer financial products or services and that have total assets of more than $10 billion, as well as their affiliates.

What does it require

Banks and credit unions must comply with consumers’ requests for information regarding a financial product or service that they obtained from the institution. This includes supporting written documentation regarding customer accounts.

Why now

Because many households do not have a single, personal banker they can turn to for answers, they are often subject to phone trees and AI-powered chatbots to find information. As more banks attempt to save costs by swapping human agents for generative-AI-powered bots, some consumers may have to spend extra time sorting through irrelevant material and waiting on hold to get the answer they need.

“Large banks and credit unions possess information that is vital to meet these customer needs,” the advisory opinion states. “Too often, however, it can be difficult and time consuming for individual consumers to obtain a clear answer to questions or resolve an account issue.”

What is not included

While consumers have a right to receive information about their account, there are some expections. Banks and credit unions do not need to offer:

  • Confidential information such as an algorithm used to derive credit or risk scores
  • Information collected for the purpose of preventing fraud or money laundering
  • Information required to be kept confidential by law
  • Any nonpublic information, including confidential supervisory information

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Anodot Unveils CostGPT to Help Businesses Better Manage Cloud Costs

Anodot Unveils CostGPT to Help Businesses Better Manage Cloud Costs
  • Analytics and monitoring solutions company Anodot has launched CostGPT to help businesses monitor cloud costs.
  • Anodot’s CostGPT leverages AI to enable business managers to learn about and manage their cloud costs data conversationally via chat.
  • Headquartered in Virginia, Anodot made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateEurope in London.

Advanced analytics and monitoring solutions provider Anodot has unveiled its latest solution, CostGPT. The new AI-powered offering enables cloud users to access accurate and personalized analysis of their cloud costs. With CostGPT, users will be able to better address everything from complex pricing models to cloud resource allocation with a simple query.

In addition to being able to ask the platform questions about cloud costs via chat, CostGPT provides optimization recommendations to help users better understand their cloud spending. The technology helps businesses avoid unnecessary costs, optimize resource utilization, and leverages real-time, intuitive data visualizations to make analysis, planning, and decision-making easier.

“This feature enables users to interact with their cloud cost data conversationally, making it more accessible and effortless than ever before,” Anodot Head of Product Limor Tepper said. “It’s all about ensuring that our users have the answers they need at their fingertips. And it doesn’t stop at text responses; it supplies the answers with graphical results that are easy to understand at a glance.”

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia, Anodot made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022. At the event, the company demoed its Payments Monitoring Tool. The technology leverages AI to monitor and correlate payments activity and business performance. This enables Anodot to spot potential issues and provide users with actionable alerts and forecasts in real-time. Businesses use Anodot to monitor a wide range of operations from front end applications to APIs to payments. Anodot says it has helped companies cut the time-to-detection of revenue-critical issues by up to 80%.

Anodot has raised $64.5 million in funding from investors including Alicorn Venture Capital and Redline Capital. Also last month, Anodot announced a “long-term strategic partnership” with DevOps and FinOps services Automat-IT. The partnership is designed to help consumers maximize their deployments on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Over the summer, Anodot released its annual State of Cloud Cost survey. The report highlighted trends such as the rise of third-party solutions and the challenge of cloud cost transparency.


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Intuit QuickBooks Launches QuickBooks Bill Pay

Intuit QuickBooks Launches QuickBooks Bill Pay
  • QuickBooks launched QuickBooks Bill Pay to bring accounts payable automation and processes to small business clients.
  • The new product is integrated into the QuickBooks platform and aims to help users manage bill payments to vendors and contractors.
  • The announcement comes after the company ended a long-standing relationship with Bill.com.

Intuit’s QuickBooks unveiled QuickBooks Bill Pay today to bring accounts payable (AP) automation to its business users.

Aimed at small-to-mid-sized businesses, the new bill pay tool will help Quickbooks’ clients track and automate their bill payments within its platform. The new tool also includes a suite of financial and accounting tools such as digitized record-keeping, vendor management, and advanced controls with customizable permissions for teams.

By integrating a bill payment tool into its existing platform, the company makes it easier for business users to manage bill payments to vendors and contractors. Additionally, by bringing AP processes into a single solution, businesses will have better cash flow and money movement visibility and may mitigate missed and late payments.

“Across the QuickBooks platform, we’re revolutionizing money movement to improve the number-one problem small businesses face – cash flow – which impacts their success rates,” said Intuit Senior Vice President of the QuickBooks Money Platform David Talach.

With Bill Pay, businesses can:

  • Set permissions and rules to customize the bill approval process for different team members
  • Import vendor invoices and to automatically create a bill
  • Keep digital records of bills and payments in one place
  • Send electronic payments or paper checks without issuing and mailing them
  • View and file 1099s for vendors

“QuickBooks Bill Pay is a key addition to our ecosystem as we aim to deliver a singular, end-to-end financial solution for small businesses to manage their money. Integrating Bill Pay with our other money offerings enables our customers to leverage game-changing automation capabilities and have the visibility and clarity they need when it comes to their finances,” added Talach.

QuickBooks has a three-tiered pricing plan for the Bill Pay tool, ranging from free to $45 per month. The base level includes five free ACH payments per month while the upper tiers include more ACH payments per month, custom bill approval workflows, unlimited 1099s for vendors, and predefined team permissions.

Founded in 1983, QuickBooks is one of the oldest fintech solutions for small businesses. The company has undergone recent friction when it comes to integrated bill pay, having leveraged a partnership with Bill.com for several years, and later ending that relationship in favor of a partnership with Melio.

QuickBooks is owned by Intuit, a public company that trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker INTU and has a current market capitalization of $151 billion.


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Stash Secures $40 Million in New Funding, Introduces First Independent Audit Chair

Stash Secures $40 Million in New Funding, Introduces First Independent Audit Chair
  • Investment app Stash announced a $40 million investment on Friday. The investment was led by T. Rowe Price Investment Management.
  • The New York-based company also announced that former New York Stock Exchange CFO Amy Butte was joining the company as its first-ever independent audit chair.
  • Stash made its Finovate debut in 2017 at FinovateFall.

Finishing the week with a bang is investment app Stash, which announced a new $40 million investment and first-ever independent audit chair on Friday.

The investment comes courtesy of T. Rowe Rice Investment Management, as well as a combination of strategic and existing investors including Goodwater Capital and Union Square Ventures. The first-ever independent audit chair comes courtesy of former NYSE Chief Financial Officer Amy Butte.

“The addition of Amy, who is amongst the most accomplished leaders in the financial services space, plus a new round of financing from marquee investors, are clear indicators of the strength of Stash’s business,” Stash CEO Liza Landsman said. “It also signals our widely ambitious future.”

A recognized leader in financial services, Butte has taken companies public as a director, advisor, and CFO, including the IPO of the New York Stock Exchange. Butte currently sits on the boards of Bain Capital Specialty Finance and DigitalOcean, and served on the boards of BNP Paribas and Fidelity Strategic Advisers Funds for seven and six years, respectively. In a statement, Butte underscored Stash’s unique approach to helping individuals get started on the road to investing.

“(Stash) is not a tool – it is a business,” Butte said. “It is not simply replicating a traditional workflow online. Rather, it is encouraging and teaching an underrepresented (traditionally ignored) customer segment about the value of investing through a subscription model. It is leveraging technology to make finance both accessible and also understandable.”

A Finovate alum since 2017, Stash offers an investing app that helps users build long-term wealth. With automated investment plans starting as low as $3 a month, Stash helps users build diversified investment Smart Portfolios – that offer exposure to stocks, ETFs, and even cryptocurrencies. Stash also offers personalized investment advice, automated recurring investing, and dividend reinvestments. Stash’s “Stock-Back” debit card solution enables users to earn up to 3% back in stock from regular purchases like gas and groceries.

In the past year alone, Stash has topped $100 million in annual revenue and now includes two million active subscribers on its platform. These subscribers have set aside nearly $3 billion due to regular, automated deposits averaging just $33.

Stash’s fundraising news comes just a few months after the company introduced new Chief Technology Officer Chien-Liang Chou, as well as launched its Internal Developer Portal (IDP), Elevate. Headquartered in New York, Stash was founded in 2015.


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Till Financial Taps Astra to Bring Faster Money Transfers to Families

Till Financial Taps Astra to Bring Faster Money Transfers to Families
  • Till Financial has selected Astra to bring instant money transfers to its users.
  • Till Financial offers a fee-free debit card and savings platform for kids.
  • The two will roll out more features “in the coming months.”

Family-focused financial platform Till Financial is keeping up with the times when it comes to faster payments. The Massachusetts-based company has tapped money movement platform Astra for instant money movement.

The partnership will offer Till users secure and instant fund transfers, meaning they won’t need to wait the traditional three-days for funds to clear. Astra will also remove much of the friction involved in funding the youth accounts.

“We are thrilled to join forces with Astra to bring Till to the next level,” said Till Co-founder Taylor Burton. “This partnership will enable us to deliver on our promise of serving the unique needs of our families through financial literacy and empowering kids to be smarter spenders by offering them the tools they need for instant, secure, and user-friendly fund transfers.”

Till was founded in 2018 to promote financial literacy among kids. The company offers kids a bank account, a debit card, and a goal-based savings account. The parent can set the kid’s allowance, control the card, and receive insight into kids’ spending and savings habits. Unlike other youth-based digital banking tools which generally charge around $5 per month, Till does not charge any fees.

“Our technology complements Till’s vision for free family banking perfectly, and we are empowering families to have greater control and flexibility over their financial activities,” said Astra CEO Gil Akos. “This partnership underscores Astra’s commitment to driving fintech innovation that directly benefits consumers.”

Till and Astra plan to roll out more features “in the coming months.”


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