Finovate Global

Finovate Global Denmark: Financing Spend Management Solutions and Small Business Tools

Finovate Global Denmark: Financing Spend Management Solutions and Small Business Tools
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Nubank, Signicat, Temenos

A few days ago, we highlighted the $25.7 million (€24.1 million) investment secured by Danish challenger bank Lunar. Also this week, we noted partnership news from Denmark-based real estate tokenization platform – and FinovateSpring alum – DigiShares.

With all this Danish fintech news, we are devoting this week’s edition of Finovate Global to the fintech scene in Denmark: a Nordic country with a population of nearly six million and a per capita GDP that’s among the top ten in the world. We’ll also highlight some of the Danish fintechs that have demonstrated their innovations on the Finovate stage.

Danish fintech unicorn Pleo raises €40m in debt financing

Pleo, a Danish B2B spend management platform founded in Copenhagen in 2015, secured a $43 million (€40 million) debt financing facility this week. The financing came courtesy of HSBC Innovation Banking UK, a subsidiary of HSBC Group.

Pleo enables companies to centralize their business spending – expenses, reimbursements, invoices, and more. Pleo also offers physical, temporary, virtual, and vendor company cards to help businesses better track and manage spending. Pleo integrates readily with common business tools such as NetSuite, Xero, and Quickbooks, making its solution a viable option for companies ranging from start-ups to enterprises. With more than 30,000 customers using its spend management platform, Pleo notes that its technology saves administrative teams 138 hours every year and has a satisfaction rate of 90%.

“We are delighted to announce our partnership with HSBC Innovation Banking. Starting at €40 million, the debt financing available to us can extend based on future requirements – which will expand our existing reach even further into more countries, enable us to increase limits and offer more currencies,” Pleo VP of Credit and Treasury Amit Kahana said. “Beyond this milestone partnership and imminent launch in the Netherlands, Pleo is expecting to see exciting developments over the coming 12 months as Pleo prepare(s) to launch in even more markets.”

Pleo initially earned its unicorn status in the summer of 2021, courtesy of a $150 million investment that drove the company’s valuation to $1.7 billion. Pleo secured an additional $200 million in funding in an extension of its Series C round in December of that year, giving the company a valuation of $4.7 billion.

Pleo announced last summer that it had nearly doubled its revenue and transaction volumes in 2022. The company began this year with a new chief financial officer, Søren Westh Lonning who had been working with the company in an advisory capacity.

Ageras raises €82m in oversubscribed private placement round

From its origins in 2012 as an online marketplace to help small businesses connect with financial professionals like accountants and bookkeepers, Denmark-based fintech Ageras has grown into a more comprehensive financial services provider, offering cloud-based accounting services to more than 300,000 small businesses in Europe.

This week, the company announced that it has raised $88 million (€82 million) in an oversubscribed private placement round led by Investcorp. The round, which also featured participation from Norwegian state pension fund Folketrygdfondet and American fund manager Lazard, was successful enough that Ageras CEO Rico Anderson said that it “reinforced the company’s desire to ‘become a market leader and then go public’.“

“We want to make it easier to be a small business in an increasingly difficult administrative and regulatory landscape by offering a fully integrated platform where companies can manage their banking, accounting, and tax in one financial cockpit,” Anderson said.

The investment takes Ageras’ total equity capital to more than $231 million, according to Crunchbase. The funds will also support Ageras’ plans for new acquisitions, with Anderson admitting that there are a number of potential targets already under consideration.

Ageras operates in more than 100 countries and boasts more than a million users of its technology. Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, Ageras was acquired by Investcorp, which took a minority stake in the company in 2017.

Here come Finovate’s Danish alums

Over the years, Finovate has been proud to showcase a large number of innovative fintechs from Northern Europe, including a handful from Denmark. Here are some of the Danish fintechs that have demoed their innovations on the Finovate stage.

Cardlay Payment Systems – FS24 – Cardlay Payment Systems will make its Finovate debut later this month at FinovateSpring in San Francisco. The company offers a white-label card and expense management solution, Cardlay Expense, that delivers an exceptional, real-time experience for cardholders.

Subaio – FEU22 – Subaio made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin, Germany, and returned to the Finovate stage two years later for FinovateEurope 2022 in London. The company helps financial companies generate new revenue streams by identifying recurring payments and insights, and delivering different use cases based on this data.

Aiia – FEU21 – Aiia demoed its technology at FinovateEurope 2021 in London. The leading open banking platform in Northern Europe, the company provides open banking services to a sizable number of financial instituitons including Lunar, Pleo, DNB, and Santander Consumer Bank. Aiia was acquired by Mastercard in 2021.

DigiShares – FS21 – DigiShares introduced itself to Finovate audiences at FinovateSpring 2021 in San Francisco. The company offers a white-label tokenization platform for real estate, bringing both automation and liquidity to the property market.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Asia-Pacific

  • Vietnamese fintech startup M_Service, operator of mobile e-wallet Momo, secured $28 million (£ 19.7 million) in funding.
  • A new inclusive instant payment system (IIPS), Higala, launched in the Philippines.
  • Fintech Australia and the Thai Fintech Association signed a Memorandum of Understanding to foster fintech capabilities between the two countries.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • The Central Bank of Nigeria paused account opening for new customers at four fintechs: Kuda Bank, Moniepoint, OPay, and Palmpay.
  • Digital financial solutions provider Payless Africa launched in Kenya.
  • FX and cross-border payments provider Crown Agents Bank teamed up with business platform Invest Africa.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Norway-based digital identity solution provider Signicat became the first international aggregator to integrate mojeID Poland into its digital identity portfolio.
  • Romanian fintech Finqware teamed up with FwF to help European companies automate financial operations.
  • Lithuanian fintech Softloans raised $1 million (€1 million) in pre-seed funding.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • National Bank of Iraq (NBI) went live with core banking and payments technology from Temenos.
  • Israel-based fintech Nayax acquired Brazilian payment technology provider VMtecnologia.
  • Egypt’s Bokra raised $4.6 million in pre-seed funding for its platform that offers investment products via asset backed securities.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Bangladesh-based Eastern Bank (EBL) teamed up with Mastercard to launch a dual currency prepaid card for medical tourists in India.
  • Indian cross-border payments platform BriskPE secured $5 million in seed funding.
  • Bank of Thailand launched QR code cross-border payments to India.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazil-based banking-as-a-service company QI Tech became the country’s latest unicorn after securing an extension of its $200 million Series B round from last October.
  • Uruguyan cross-border payment platform dLocal partnered with online English-learning platform Open English.
  • Brazilian fintech Nubank launched its new banking experience Nubank+, offering cashback, streaming video courtesy of a partnership with Max, and more.

Photo by Sushil Ghimire

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Finovate Global: Digital Banking in Romania, Alternative Lending in Latvia, ESG in the CEE

Finovate Global: Digital Banking in Romania, Alternative Lending in Latvia, ESG in the CEE
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Finovate Global

This week’s edition of Finovate Global reviews the latest fintech developments in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

This region features a diverse range of countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia. More than 250 million people live in the CEE, which has a combined GDP of $2.6 trillion.

Romania’s Salt goes live with Starling’s SaaS platform

Romania’s Salt Bank launched this month, giving the country its first 100% digital bank. Salt Bank reported that more than 80,000 people signed up in less than three weeks to be a part of the new financial institution.

“By launching Salt, we are not only bringing the first 100% Romanian neobank to the Romanian market, but we are also offering a unique perspective that combines technology and finance,” Salt Bank CEO Gabriela Nistor said.

Salt Bank currently offers 3% yearly interest on current accounts as well as on Spaces, Salt Bank’s savings account offering, as long as customers make payments of 1,000 lei/month or more (equivalent to $215). Customers also get a multi-currency card that enables transactions in 17 currencies around the world. Users of the Salt banking app can take advantage of money management tools, in-app card controls, as well as Apple and Google Pay in-app provisioning.

Headquartered in Bucharest, Salt Bank is owned by the Banca Transilvania Financial Group. The institution also offers its customers the opportunity to become founders of Salt Bank and, ultimately, shareholders in the event that the institution goes public. Salt Bank notes that its Salt Founders Community currently has 2,200 members.

Powering the launch is Starling’s SaaS platform Engine, which helped the digital bank onboard 100,000 customers in the first two weeks of operation. And although AMP Bank in Australia has also announced that it will deploy Engine, the institution is not scheduled to do so until 2025, making Salt Bank the first bank to go live with the technology.

“Our work with Salt Bank shows just what our platform is capable of,” Engine by Starling CEO Sam Everington said, “Starling’s feature rich and highly personalizable banking products can be deployed around the world to attract impressive customer volumes, while our operational experience and cloud-expertise can help build, launch, and run a bank in less than 12 months.”

Latvian fintech inGain raises EUR 650,000

inGain, a no-code SaaS loan management system based in Latvia, has raised $692,000 (EUR 650,000) in funding. Participating in the investment were VC funds Trind VC and Fiedler Capital. The Latvian Business Angels network and other business angels were also involved in the round.

The funding announcement marked the first publicly announced investment in a Latvian startup in 2024. The company will use the capital to complete work on its SaaS-based loan management system that helps facilitate lending for products that banks traditionally have been reluctant to finance. inGain Co-founder and CEO Armands Liseks explained how inGain works, using the example of a family trying to decide whether or not to commit to their child’s efforts to become the next Mozart.

“Some parents are ready to buy a piano, but what happens if they spend several months trying to persuade their kids to play the piano, but their kids still refuse to play it?” Liseks asked. “It is with this kind of situation in mind that the seller would like to offer piano leasing. For parents, this means that the payment for the musical instrument will be higher. However, this also gives them two options: either the piano is eventually purchased in full or can be returned to the seller at any time.”

Liseks added that inGain’s solution even benefits those who know they are ready to buy. “How can the bank offer leasing for the piano?” he said. “Most likely it will advise the customer to use a credit card or take out a consumer loan with 20% interest, which makes no sense whatsoever.”

inGain is headquartered in Riga. The company was founded in 2011.

Bulgaria’s Paynetics acquires UK neobank Novus

Here is some CEE-based acquisition news in the payments space that slipped beneath our radar this spring. Bulgaria’s Paynetics has acquired Novus, a neobank based in the U.K., for an undisclosed sum.

A B-corp certified digital bank – and self-described “impact neobank” – Novus enables customers to monitor their carbon footprint and get cashback when they make sustainable purchases via the app. Additionally, Novus automatically directs a portion of revenue from every transaction to an NGO of the customer’s choice.

For Paynetics, the acquisition will enable the company to offer carbon- and climate-conscious solutions to customers as well as expand “the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ecosystem across Europe.” Paynetics will also leverage the acquisition to help its clients achieve their social and environmental goals via its own embedded finance solution.

“This deal not only reinforces our dedication to ESG but also marks a significant leap forward in revolutionizing the financial sector with our cutting-edge embedded finance suite,” Paynetics noted in a post on LinkedIn.

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria, Paynetics acquisition news comes a year after the firm was granted an electronic money institution (EMI) license from the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Last month, the company announced that it had promoted Hana Rolles from Chief Revenue Officer to U.K. Chief Executive Officer.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

  • U.S.-based payments provider Nium officially registered as a Financial Services Provider in New Zealand.
  • South Korea joined seven-nation, cross-border payments tokenization initiative.
  • Ant International announced plans to set up a new digital business center in Malaysia.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Pan-African payments provider Onafriq partnered with Mastercard to bring payment options to consumers and SMEs in Africa.
  • TechCrunch profiled Nigerian fintech LemFi, which provides money transfer services to African migrants.
  • South African fintech Float secured a $11 million funding facility from Standard Bank.

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Core banking software provider Tuum announced its expansion to the Middle East and the establishment of a regional headquarters at ADGM.
  • Israel’s central bank reported that it will launch a sandbox to enable private sector entities to experiment with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
  • UAE-based digital fintech infrastructure firm Fils teamed up with digital banking solutions company Aion to advanced ESG in the MENA region.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Amazon Pay introduced credit services to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India.
  • Separate from Google Pay, Google Wallet readied to go live in India.
  • Indian home financing company Altum Credo raised $40 million in Series C funding.

Photo by Eduard Balan

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Finovate Global Nigeria: Payments, Supply Chain Financing, and a Look at our African Alums

Finovate Global Nigeria: Payments, Supply Chain Financing, and a Look at our African Alums
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

This week Finovate Global looks at recent fintech news from Africa’s most populous nation: Nigeria.

Nigerian blockchain network Zone secures investment

Last week in Finovate Global we noted the news that Nigerian blockchain network Zone had raised $8.5 million in seed funding. This week we’re filling in some of the details of the investment – and of the company.

Flourish Ventures and TLcom Capital led the oversubscribed seed funding round for Zone. Also participating in the funding were VC firms Digital Currency Group, Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, and Alter Global.

Zone split from its parent firm Appzone to become a standalone business – as well as the first regulated blockchain network for payments on the continent – in 2022. Zone’s network facilitates direct transactions between financial service providers without the participation of an intermediary, and automates settlement, reconciliation, and dispute management. Zone’s technology digitizes fiat payments and enables the transition to digital currencies.

Zone co-founder and CEO Obi Emetarom highlighted the fact the Zone was able to secure funding during the current investment drought, calling it a “sign of trust in the Zone brand and investor excitement about the opportunity to redefine payment infrastructure in Africa.”

The company will leverage the new capital to expand its network’s coverage. Zone currently has more than 15 of Africa’s largest banks and fintechs using its network to process payments.

Afreximbank and Sterling Bank Promote Innovation in Supply Chain Financing

A newly announced partnership between African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and Sterling Bank will enable the African financial institution to offer an increasingly popular supply chain financing solution, Payables Finance, in Nigeria. The solution will be branded, Afreximbank Tradelink, and will be made available as part of the Africa Trade Gateway (ATG). ATG provides digital solutions to help businesses access market data, network with buyers and sellers, promote trade payments between African markets in local currencies, and more.

One of the fastest growing trade finance solutions worldwide, Payables Finance helps suppliers access funding by securing early payment on those invoices that have already been approved for payment by corporate buyers. Buyers receive trade credit from suppliers. Suppliers finance their working capital via the early payment they received. The cost of financing is based on the credit rating of the buyers, which can be a significant benefit for smaller suppliers that struggle to secure financing at affordable prices.

“Afreximbank identified supply chain finance as a solution for improving access to trade finance in Africa and embarked on a journey to increase penetration through financial intervention and capacity building,” Afreximbank Global Trade Bank EVP Haytham ElMaayergi said.

Nigeria-based Payments Solution Thepeer Closes Down

Some unfortunate news in the world of Nigerian fintech: Nigeria-based startup Theeper has shut down and is returning all remaining capital to investors. Theeper leverages APIs to give fintechs and other businesses an alternative network where they can promote easy money movement for customers via different solutions they can embed into their apps and websites. The company had hoped to connect digital wallets across 400 fintechs across Africa to facilitate payments.

Thepeeer had secured $2.1 million in seed funding in June 2022. But as the company’s founders acknowledged in a statement earlier this week, Thepeer was struggling to scale and, despite its “unique service” and technology, “the overall acceptance of wallets as a viable payment option didn’t grow as rapidly as we had hoped.”

“A big thank you to our customers, employees past and present, our investors, the tech community and everyone who believed in us and contributed to our journey,” Thepeer co-founders Michael “Trojan” Okoh and Chike Ononye wrote on the company blog. “In our bid to chase the stars, we must realign and focus on what matters.”

Finovate’s African alums: From innovations in lending to authentication

Most of our alums based in Africa made their Finovate debuts at our conference in Capetown, South Africa in 2018. Here’s a look at some of the companies headquartered or founded in Africa that have demoed their technologies on the Finovate stage.

Craft Silicon – Founded in 2010. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Provides fintech services and consulting to facilitate digital transformation, mobile application development, software engineering, and more.

Drive Revenue – Founded in 2013. Headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa. Provides an enterprise grade cloud accounting solution for the legal profession.

Entersekt – Founded in 2008 in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Provides transaction authentication services to help financial institutions defend themselves against fraudsters.

Lidya – Founded in 2016 in Lagos, Nigeria. Offers digital banking services including a receivables-based loan product.

OUTvest – Founded in 2017. Headquartered in Centurion, South Africa. Offers an evidence-based, hybrid robo advisor that helps individuals build and manage their own investment strategy. Won Best of Show.

truID – Founded in 2017. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. Offers a data sharing ecosystem to securely share personal financial data between consumers and credit providers.

Yoco Technologies – Founded in 2014. Headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa. Builds tools and offers services to help small businesses get paid, operate more efficiently, and grow.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Central Bank of India (CBI) partnered with Veefin Solutions to support its supply chain finance operations.
  • Saudi Arabian fintech EdfaPay teammed up with Pakistan-based bookkeeping and accounting app Digikhata.
  • Sachin Bansal, who co-founded Flipkart, is reportedly looking to raise between $200 million and $400 million for his new startup Navi.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • FinTech Magazine looked at the rise of Brazil’s Pix payments system and the challenge it brings to the credit card industry.
  • Colombian fintech Addi raised $86 million in a round led by Goldman Sachs and Singapore’s GIC.
  • Fintech Nexus featured Brazilian fintech Nubank and its quest for partners in Mexico.

Asia-Pacific

  • In-app and in-store financial solutions provider UnaFinancial unveiled a new lending app for customers in the Philippines.
  • Industry advocacy group Fintech Australian introduced its new CEO Rehan D’Almeida.
  • The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) launched a new digital platform, Cosmic, to enable FIs to share customer data to help combat money laundering.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Ghanaian fintech Zeepay completed an equity investment round featuring pan-African investors Africa50, Oikocredit, Injaro, Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund, and I&P.
  • South Africa’s Absa Group encouraged African fintechs to list IPOs on local exchanges.
  • SC Ventures forged a strategic partnership with NEXT176, the investment arm of Pan-African financial services group, Old Mutual.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Digital banking platform N26 launched its Stocks and ETFs trading product in Germany.
  • New licensing rules in Lithuania will likely reduce the number of cryptocurrency firms operating in the country.
  • Commerzbank announced updates to its payment platform in Germany to enhance its cross-border payments operations.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Network International and Souhoola teamed up to provide Buy Now Pay Later capability to Networkpay point of sale terminals in Egypt.
  • UAE-based digital bank Zand Bank partnered with Infosys Finacle Solutions to power its corporate banking operations.
  • Oman Housing Bank selected Temenos to modernize its core banking platform.

Photo by Shelagh Murphy

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Finovate Global Israel: Identity Verification, Data Privacy, and an Introduction to New Alums

Finovate Global Israel: Identity Verification, Data Privacy, and an Introduction to New Alums
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

This week’s edition of Finovate Global reviews the latest fintech headlines from Israel. We also introduce you to a quartet of new Finovate alums – all making their Finovate debuts at FinovateEurope last month – all headquartered in Israel.

AU10TIX expands its Digital ID identity verification solution

Israel-based identity verification and management specialist AU10TIX announced the expansion of its Digital ID solution this week. AU10TIX’s technology enables businesses to quickly, accurately, and securely verify a wide variety of types of identification, including physical, digital, eID, verifiable credentials, and more.

Serving as a verification hub for businesses, AU10TIX’s Digital ID solution enables faster and more accurate identity verification. The solution also boosts completion rates, enhances the customer experience, and promotes revenue growth. The company’s technology validates cryptographic signatures to verify digital IDs and cross-checks personal identifiable information (PII) as displayed on the applicant’s ID versus information in government databases. Additional services such as facial and data comparison help reduce the risk of false positives.

Altogether, AU10TIX’s solution provides:

  • Global coverage to validate digital signatures worldwide
  • Digital ID Verification Hub that enables management of all verification processes on one platform, creation of customizable workflows, and rules for streamlined operations
  • Automated verification processes to streamline onboarding by reducing manual processes and enhancing efficiency
  • Data discrepancy analysis to identify potentially fraudulent activities and enhance security measures
  • Continuous regulatory compliance assurance to help businesses stay ahead of emerging and evolving regulations
  • Scalable infrastructure to accommodate businesses from startups to enterprises

“Our Digital ID solution empowers businesses to embrace the global shift to digital identity with confidence,” AU10TIX CEO Dan Yerushalmi said,. “It combines unparalleled accuracy and global reach with robust security measures to streamline onboarding and minimize fraud risk, all while addressing the diverse array of global ID formats.”

Founded in 2005, AU10TIX is headquartered in Hod Hasharon, Israel. Earlier this month, the company released its Q4 Global Identity Fraud Report. The report revealed an “eight-month-long coordinated identity fraud ‘mega attack’ consisting of organized criminals executing more than 22,000 separate fraudulent onboarding efforts using AI-generated variations on a single passport. In February, the AU10TIX announced a series of major, C-suite appointments including Hanna Schindler as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), Erez Herschkovitz as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Amazia Keidar as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).

Data privacy company Mine launches governance solution

Israel-based data privacy innovator Mine unveiled its new AI governance solution this week. The new offering, MineOS AI Asset Discovery, gives firms full visibility and control over enterprise AI systems and data. At a time when more institutions are leveraging AI to incorporate data from a widening variety of sources, solutions like MineOS give teams 360-degree visibility into how AI is retaining and sharing that data. This helps institutions build data policies that are effective as well as compliant with regulations governing AI usage.

“We’ve seen a rapid proliferation of AI technologies and corresponding AI regulations, but a precise and actionable blueprint for how companies can effectively govern AI and comply with regulations has yet to hit the market,” Mine CEO and co-founder Gal Ringel said. “MineOS AI Asset Discovery and Risk Assessment will bridge the gap between the practical and theoretical sides of AI and data governance as companies navigate the complex new business landscape.”

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, and founded in 2019, Mine powers the privacy programs of more than 2,000+ companies worldwide. More than 500 SaaS platforms have integrated to MineOS’ no-code API. Late last year, Mine announced completion of a $30 million Series B funding round led by Battery Ventures and PayPal Ventures. The investment takes the company’s total capital raised to $42.5 million.

Israeli alums represent at FinovateEurope

FinovateEurope 2024 may have featured more demoing companies from the nation of Israel than any other previous Finovate conference. This is an impressive showing, given the challenges of Israel fintech in 2023 and the toll of the country’s current war against Hamas. Here’s a look at our new alums:

CitrusX – Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, CitrusX offers an end-to-end platform for AI transparency and explainability that is trusted by publicly listed companies in regulated industries. Founded in 2021, Noa Srebrnik is co-founder and CEO. Video.

FRNZX – Tel Aviv, Israel-based FRNZX was founded by experts in cryptocurrencies, AML, and intelligence to empower AML compliance in the cryptocurrency sector. At its Finovate debut in February, the company demoed its holistic crypto AML navigator which simplifies the integration of crypto transactions into the AML frameworks of banks. FRNZX was founded in January 2022. Co-founder Nevo Lapidot is CEO. Video.

Corsound AI – Founded in 2022, Corsound AI has earned more than 200 patents for its voice intelligence solutions. The startup has innovated in voice deepfake detection and considers itself the only company that successfully correlates face and voice. In fact, at its Best of Show winning debut at FinovateEurope this year, Corsound AI demonstrated the ability to reconstruct a face image from a short audio sample without relying on a database. Gal Haselkorn is CEO of the Tel Aviv-based company. Video.

Intrepid Fox – Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, Intrepid Fox is on a mission to enhance KYC for businesses. The company leverages customized Generative AI technology to help bank KYC processes work 10x more effectively. Intrepid Fox’s technology reads and understands documents, recognizes and extracts key data points for analysis, clarifies missing or incomplete information, and consults with the customer on any document requirements. The company’s solution can reduce onboarding costs by 50% and save a week of onboarding time per customer. Roman Zilber founded Intrepid Fox in 2023. Video.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

  • The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) approved Advans Pakistan Microfinance Bank’s acquisition by Egyptian fintech MNT-Halan.
  • The Nepal Clearing House (NCHL) partnered with ACI Worldwide to power its National Payment Switch (NPS) system.
  • The State Bank of India (SBI) inked a six-year agreement with Aurionpro for its iCashpro+ transaction banking platform.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Contxto looked at the way fintechs in Mexico are navigating the volatility of the country’s monetary policy.
  • Brazilian fintech Delend, which offers open finance solutions from SMEs, raised $20 million (100 million reais).
  • Kuadra, a Colombian fintech that leverages AI to help small businesses access microcredits and growth solutions, expanded into Ecuador.

Asia-Pacific

  • Australian digital wallet provider and payments company Stables introduced international remittances, initially focusing on its customers in the Australia-Philippines corridor.
  • The Philippines Central Bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), issued new payment system regulations.
  • Australia-based spend management platform Weel forged a strategic partnership with real-time, cross-border payments company Nium.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian blockchain network Zone secured $8.5 million in seed funding.
  • Tech in Africa looked at the role of South Africa’s fintech industry in driving growth in the sector continent-wide.
  • Global cross-border payments and remittances company PayAngel selected Kenya for expansion, calling the country “the gateway to East Africa.”

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Bulgarian embedded finance company Paynetics has acquired U.K.-based neobank Novus.
  • A partnership between Riverty and Adyen will give Adyen customers in the DACH region a new, 14-day invoice payment solution.
  • Germany fintech NX Technologies raised $24 million in Series B funding in a round led by PayPal Ventures.

Photo by Haley Black

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Finovate Global Germany: Investing in Embedded Finance, Open Banking in Payments, N26 in France

Finovate Global Germany: Investing in Embedded Finance, Open Banking in Payments, N26 in France
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, BioCatch, Daily news, Envestnet, Finovate Global, Temenos, Yodlee

This week’s edition of Finovate Global features the latest fintech news from Germany, where investors are backing innovations in embedded finance, payments companies are taking advantage of open banking, and the green shoots of crypto spring are growing ever more apparent.

Solaris secures funding

Germany’s embedded finance platform Solaris secured $103 million (€96 million) in a Series F round this week. The investment was led by SBI, one of Solaris’ earliest investors, with other existing investors also participating. Solaris will use the additional capital, which takes the firm’s total funding to more than $486 million (€450 million), to onboard its ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club) credit card program, strengthen its core capital, and invest further in its platform.

“This is a significant milestone for Solaris on our path to sustainable, profitable growth,” Solaris CEO Carsten Höltkemeyer said. “The funding underlines the high level of confidence our investors have in the transformation of our company.”

In addition to the investment, the Series F also included a financial guarantee of up to $108 million (€100 million) capital equivalent.

A pioneer in the banking-as-a-service business for nearly a decade, Solaris has grown into a major banking and technology provider with more than 750 employees at ten locations in both Europe and India. The company’s BaaS solution enables businesses to embed digital banking services – including payments, lending, and identity verification – directly into their platform. In addition to making it easier for companies to launch customized financial products and services, Solaris has secured the requisite licensing – including an e-money license for both the UK and EEA – to help companies navigate the regulatory complexities of doing business across the region.

Headquartered in Berlin, Solaris realized net revenues of $140 million (€130 million) in 2022. Last fall, the company issued a study – Disrupting the value chain for financial services – How to drive revenue growth with embedded finance – that highlighted “easier access to services” as a major driver of demand for embedded financial solutions.

Micropayment partners with Tink for Pay by Bank

Berlin-based payment processor Micropayment has turned to open banking platform Tink to add Pay by Bank to its payments offering. Live in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, Micropayment’s Pay by Bank enables consumers to initiate payments directly from their bank account to the seller’s account when purchasing goods and services. A growing preference for both merchants and consumers, account-to-account (A2A) payments provide a secure and streamlined experience for customers and lower costs for merchants.

“The DACH region is a key market for us, and Tink’s dedication to serving merchants across various industries has been invaluable,” Micropayment CSO Thomas Knoth said. “Their payment method offers consumers the speed, reliability, and security they expect, making it a seamless experience for both merchants and consumers.” In a statement, Micropayment noted that it plans to take further advantage of Tink’s pan-Europe connectivity in the future.

Founded in 2005, Micropayment is a full-service payment provider that provides its customers with software implementation, payment processing, detailed analysis, and more. The company offers nine different payment options designed specifically for e-commerce and paid content services. Micropayment customers can integrate the technology via ready-made payment windows and preconfigured shop logins, as well as white-label APIs and interfaces.

“Collaboration with Micropayment has got off to an excellent start and we are gaining traction in a highly competitive landscape, by offering merchants a payment method that offers everything a consumer has come to expect – familiarity, speed, reliability, and convenience,” Tink DACH Payments Director Thomas Gmelch said.

A Finovate alum since its Best of Show winning debut in 2014 at FinovateEurope, Tink returned to the Finovate stage three years later to earn its second Best of Show award. Most recently, the Sweden-based company announced a partnership with German modern mobility sharing services provider Deutsche Bahn. The company will deploy Tink’s Account Check solution to enable instant, secure account onboarding.

Berlin’s N26 launches cryptocurrency product N26 Crypto

Crypto spring is alive and well in Europe as the region’s most prominent digital bank, N26, announced that its first cryptocurrency product, N26 Crypto, will be available to its customers in France. N26 began the year with the unveiling of its new Stock and ETF trading product – and the bank’s crypto solution already has been available in seven of N26’s 24 European markets. This week’s announcement adds French traders and investors to the ranks of those N26 customers who will be able to transact in nearly 200 cryptocurrencies on the N26 app.

N26 Crypto will be available to all eligible customers in France, or at least with a French or a German IBAN. All membership tiers will be able to access the technology, including customers using free accounts. There will be no additional charge for using N26 Crypto, which the bank says will offer the broadest range of cryptocurrencies for trading and investing compared to all other European banking apps.

“Last summer, we installed our local French Iban to be able to accelerate the deployment of the global banking offer that we want to provide to our approximately 3 million customers in France,” N26 General Manager France & Benelux, Jérémie Rosselli explained. “With this, customers can go beyond managing their money simply and intuitively on their smartphone to also invest within the N26 ecosystem,” Rosselli said.

The new offering is made possible via a partnership with Bitpanda GmbH, which manages the execution of trades as well as the custody of coins. With only €1 to get started, N26 Crypto users pay 1.5% in fees on Bitcoin and 2.5% on other cryptocurrencies. Users can upgrade to N26 Metal to take advantage of reduced transaction fees, as well as other perks.

Founded in 2013 by Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal, N26 has eight million customers and operates in 24 different markets. The bank’s crypto product announcement follows a slew of recent headlines from the German bank. These include the launch of its Instant Savings solution in 13 new markets, and the appointment of Mayur Kamat as new Chief Product Officer.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • German challenger bank N26 launched new cryptocurrency trading product N26 Crypto.
  • Flowpay, a Czech-based fintech that provides financing for small businesses, raised $2.3 million (€2.1 million) in seed funding.
  • German embedded finance platform Solaris raised $103 million (€96 million) in a Series F round led by SBI Group.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Israel-based BioCatch and Google Cloud partner to bring fraud prevention solutions to expanding markets.
  • UAE-based Tungsten secured a license from the FSRA to operate at the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).
  • Bahrain’s Eazy Financial Services joined forces with Tabby to provide BNPL services via its EazyPay POS terminals network.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Business Recorder’s Syed Yousuf Raza looked at how Pakistan’s banking and fintech industry is dealing with evolving fraud threats.
  • The Indian government signed a $23 million loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to enhance access to fintech education, research, and innovation at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City.
  • FinTech Alliance Nepal joined the Asia FinTech Alliance.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Colombian fintech Addi secured $86 million in a combination of equity and debt financing.
  • Uruguayan digital payments firm dLocal anticipates record total payment volumes in 2024.
  • Nubank Brazil CEO Livia Chanes talked with Bloomberg News about the state of fintech in Latin America.

Asia-Pacific

  • Singapore-based cross-border payments company Thunes expanded its strategic partnership with Visa.
  • Australia’s HeirWealth integrated with Envestnet | Yodlee to bring open banking data sharing to its wealth register for high net-worth families.
  • HSBC and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks startup hub announced the first “public-private cooperation between the city’s largest innovation and technology ecosystem and leading global bank.”

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Ethiopia’s Cooperative Bank of Oromia partnered with Temenos to launch its CoopApp and CoopApp Aluhuda for both conventional and Islamic digital banking experiences.
  • dLocal teamed up with Ebury to bring African customers optimized payment solutions.
  • Safaricom, a telecom based in Kenya, partnered with Onafriq to offer remittance services to Ethiopia.

Photo by Kai Pilger

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Finovate Global Sweden: Open Banking, New Leadership, and A Defense of Cash

Finovate Global Sweden: Open Banking, New Leadership, and A Defense of Cash
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Finovate Global, Temenos

This week’s edition of Finovate Global takes a look at recent fintech developments and news from Sweden. Over the years, Finovate has been proud to showcase a number of fintechs from Sweden, a country with a population of more than 10.5 million and the twelfth largest economy as measured by GDP.

Last month at FinovateEurope, we introduced Swedish embedded banking and payments company Visualizy to our audiences. Founded in 2022, the company offers a multi-bank platform that helps businesses lower costs, reduce errors, and boost security in their financial and payment operations.

Other recent Finovate alums headquartered in Sweden include StockRepublic (FinovateEurope 2023), Econans (FinovateEurope 2021), Minna Technologies (FinovateEurope 2019), and Trustly (FinovateEurope 2013. This week’s Finovate Global will include news from two older Finovate alums hailing from Sweden: Tink – which won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2014 – and Klarna, a Finovate alum since 2012.

Klarna rolls out open banking-powered settlements in the U.K.

Swedish payments network and shopping assistant Klarna has begun to introduce open banking-powered settlements in the U.K. This means that consumers in the U.K will be able to pay Klarna directly from their bank account rather than a debit card. It also means that the company is making good on its objective of building a payments network outside the traditional card networks.

“Open banking offers a huge opportunity for Klarna to reduce the cost of payments to society by cutting out the established card payment networks, and using up-to-date bank account data to make ever better lending decisions,” Klarna VP, Open Banking, Wilko Klaassen said. “This new launch builds on the success we have seen in 10 countries across Europe and will give U.K. open banking a major boost.”

Ease of use is one major advantage open banking settlements provide consumers. For example, there is no need to enter personal payment details into the website of retailer that the consumer might not know very well. Instead, all a consumer needs to do is click on the “Pay by bank” option. This delivers the consumer to their mobile banking app where they can complete their transaction quickly and securely.

Launching the service in the U.K. is expected to be a major boon for Klarna; approximately five million U.K. consumers currently use open banking payment each month. Outside of the U.K., Klarna’s “Pay by bank” solution is currently live in 10 countries. More than 20 million consumers each month are taking advantage of the technology.

Tink adds to U.K. leadership team

Speaking of open banking, Swedish open banking platform Tink announced this week that it is bolstering its leadership ranks. The company – which won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2014 – has appointed Ian Morrin as Head of Payments & Platforms, Andrew Boyajian as Head of Products for Payments & CX, and Jack Spiers as Banking and Lending Director.

Of the three new hires, Jack Spiers may ring a bell with Finovate audiences. Spiers was a recent speaker at FinovateEurope, where he provided a Special Address on “Transforming Lending in the Cost of Living Crisis.” In his presentation, Spiers – whose ten years of fintech experience include tenures at both Klarna and Clearpay – discussed how traditional methods are falling short in their ability to accurately assess creditworthiness. Instead, he pointed to new research from Tink that showed how data-enriched affordability checks can do better.

The new hires come just days after Tink announced a partnership with German railway company Deutsche Bahn. Via the new agreement, Tink will offer Deutsche Bahn customers optimized direct debit setups. This will enable customers to use Deutsche Bahn’s modern mobility-sharing systems, which are run by Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Connect. The railway company will also leverage Tink’s Account Check technology for its car-sharing and bike-sharing networks, Flinkster and Call a Bike.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Tink most recently demoed its technology at FinovateEurope 2019. A two-time Finovate Best of Show winner, Tink was acquired by Visa in 2022 for $2 billion.

Swedish Central Bank looks to defend cash

If the Swedish Central Bank is for cash, then who can be against it?

That’s one of the questions the nation’s central bank is asking in the wake of 2023 survey that indicated that half of the survey’s respondents had run into circumstances in which they wanted to pay with cash, but merchant would not accept it. According to a report issued by Sweden’s Riksbank that is based on those results, this number was only 37% a year ago.

The report indicates that the supply of cash services in Sweden is decreasing and has been since at least 2016. Cash services refer to those locations for cash withdrawals, deposits of daily takings, as well as over-the-counter payments. This decline has slowed somewhat in the past five years, as new regulations have insisted that banks share the responsibility of providing cash services with other non-bank institutions. But the downward trend is clear.

“Payments must work for everyone, Riksbank governor and chairman of the executive board Erik Thedéen said in a press release. “In the longer term, all payments may be digital – but until then, cash plays an important role. We need legislation to ensure that cash can be used to pay. Banks must also ensure that more customers have access to payment accounts.”

To this end, in addition to calling for further research and study, the Swedish central bank proposed, for example, that banks should ensure that cash can be transferred to and from retail outlets at reasonable prices. At present, only one private company does this. Another proposal suggests that banks be obligated to accept banknote and coin deposits from private individuals. As noted above, there is not a current requirement for banks to do so.

These changes, along with others to help more individuals secure payment accounts, are likely to help Sweden increase financial inclusion as the country continues the rapid digitalization of its payment market. There will be no retreat from this drive for “faster, smoother, and more efficient payments.” But ensuring the availability and utility of cash, at least in the meantime, will both support that transition as well as ensure fewer Swedes are left behind on the way.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • U.K.-based fintech Unlimit secured a license from the Bank of Tanzania to do operate as a payments service provider (PSP) in the country.
  • African fintech PalmPay launched a pair of new products in Nigeria: Unlimited Free Transfer and Target Savings.
  • Mastercard and South African fintech SAVA teamed up to bring innovative payment options – including digital bank accounts and accounting integration tools – to small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs).

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Berlin, Germany-based brokerage-as-a-service platform lemon.markets launched this week in partnership with Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, and Tradegate.
  • The Hungarian Ministry of the Economy has suggested new rules to codify the use of digital assets in the country.
  • German fintech Naro emerged from stealth this week with $3 million in pre-seed funding.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Israel-based fintech Nayaz shared its plans for expansion in Latin America following its acquisition of Brazil’s VMtecnologia.
  • Dunes Financial, headquartered in the UAE, agreed to acquire the technology assets of Be Mobile Africa.
  • The Financial Brand profiled former Bank Leumi CEO Rakefet Russak-Aminoach.

Central and Southern Asia

  • India’s UPI linked with Nepal’s largest payment network, Fonepay.
  • Writing in IBA.org, Sahar Iqbal assessed the current fintech landscape of Pakistan.
  • Courtesy of a partnership with Mastercard, India’s IndusInd Bank will launch an tokenizable wearable solution called Indus PayWear.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Aquis Technologies secured a contract to support the operation of the Central Bank of Colombia, Banco de la República.
  • Mexican challenger bank Fondeadora turned to MeaWallet for tokenization services.
  • Banco do Brasil teamed up with Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) to test offline payments for its CBDC project.

Asia-Pacific

  • Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad (Bank Muamalat) forged a multi-year collaboration with Google Cloud en route to its transformation into a digital Islamic bank.
  • Philippines-based Metropolitan Bank & Trust (Metrobank) partnered with Temenos to enhance its wealth management offerings.
  • Australian regulators are looking to regulate Buy Now Pay Later products under the nation’s Credit Act.

Photo by Shvets Anna

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Finovate Global Latin America: Investment and M&A Drive Innovation in Payments and Lending

Finovate Global Latin America: Investment and M&A Drive Innovation in Payments and Lending
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Finovate Global

This week’s edition of Finovate Global takes a look at recent fintech developments in Latin America. The region was one of the few places in the world to see significant fintech funding in Q2 of 2023. Further, fintech in Latin America will be the focus of a special panel at FinovateSpring in May.

Here are a handful of headlines to help you get up to speed on the variety of fintech innovation happening in countries like Mexico and Colombia.

Colombian payments orchestration platform Yuno raises $25 million

Payments, as we say in the fintech business, is the gift that keeps giving. And this week, Colombian payments orchestration platform Yuno is on the receiving end. The company announced this week that it has raised $25 million in funding from a consortium of investors including DST Global Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global, Kaszek Ventures, and Monashees.

With customers ranging from McDonald’s to Avianca, Yuno offers fast and reliable payments orchestration for businesses in industries like e-commerce, retail, and mobility. The company’s platform offers features such as one-click checkout modifications and smart routing. Yuno also integrates data from all payment processors and anti-fraud tools into a single, unified interface. The company will use this week’s investment to support its operations in both North and South America. The investment also will help fuel Yuno’s expansion to new markets in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

“This financial backing validates our vision and our ability to take the global payments industry into the future, helping fuel positive change across many different sectors of the economy. We are thrilled to bring our cutting-edge solutions to new markets,” Yuno CEO and co-founder Juan Pablo Ortega said.

Mexico’s Ziff acquires digital lender Arrenda

Meanwhile, a few miles north, Mexican revenue-based financing company Ziff has acquired Arrenda, a Mexico-based digital lending startup. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Arrenda founder and CEO Joe Merullo will take the position of Chief Technology Officer in Ziff’s C-suite.

Ziff founder and CEO Gerardo Name said the acquisition will boost the company’s product offering and “enable us to rapidly penetrate new market sectors.” Currently, Ziff’s revenue-based financing solution provides liquidity to Mexican SMEs – which often have little to no credit histories – by funding up to 36 months of receivables. The acquisition will enable Ziff to leverage Arrenda’s Adelanta digital lending platform, which enables Mexican property owners convert future rental payments into cash within 24 hours. Name added that he hopes to see Ziff distribute more than $1 billion pesos to Mexican SMEs by the end of 2027.

BBVA Technology expands to Latin America

Created in 2023, BBVA Technology announced its expansion to Latin America this week. To be headquartered in Mexico, the new entity – officially titled “BBVA Technology en América” – represents the merger of a number of technology companies that previously operated under the name BBVA Axial Tech. The goal of the nearly 600-strong body is to help advance BBVA Group’s digital transformation objectives. The company noted that in addition to a regional expansion, the creation of BBVA will help boost career opportunities for BBVA’s tech talent.

From Mexico City, Mexico, BBVA Technology will provide technology services to BBVA firms operating in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Former BBVA Axial Tech CEO Robert Altes will serve as CEO of the new company.

Note that BBVA has also set up a companion entity in Europe – “BBVA Technology in Europe” – led by CEO Ricardo Jurado and headquartered in Spain.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Asia-Pacific

  • Savis and Open Banking advisory firm Konsentus announced the creation of an operational structure for open banking in Vietnam.
  • New Zealand-based Kiwibank went live with ACI Worldwide’s Enterprise Payments Platform.
  • Hong Kong’s Mox partnered with Wise to enable low-cost, international payments directly from the Mox app.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • South African payroll and HR software company PaySpace agreed to be acquired by HR startup Deel for $100 million.
  • Kenya’s Equity Bank launched instant withdrawals courtesy of a partnership with PayPal.
  • A partnership between Mastercard and Ethiopian commercial bank Awash Bank will bring new payment solutions to consumers in the country.

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Tarabut teamed up with Bahrainian fintech BENEFIT to launch a new consent authentication method.
  • Is there a “silver lining” in Israel’s fintech funding slowdown?
  • Mastercard forged a long-term global partnership with First Abu Dhabi Bank.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Pakistan’s Raqami Islamic Digital Bank partnered with banking solutions provider Codebase Technologies.
  • India’s central bank introduced a new self-regulatory framework for the nation’s fintechs.
  • Turkish challenger bank Papara announced plans to acquire Pakistan-based digital wallet provider SadaPay.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Mexican revenue-based financing fintech Ziff acquired digital lending company Arrenda.
  • Chilean fintech Levannta raised $2.5 million in funding in a round led by Manutara Ventures.
  • Mexico-based microlender Baubap secured $120 million in debt financing.

Photo by Enrique Hoyos

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Finovate Global: Fintechs Representing More than 15 Countries to Demo at FinovateEurope 2024

Finovate Global: Fintechs Representing More than 15 Countries to Demo at FinovateEurope 2024
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: 10x Banking, ACI Worldwide, Finovate Global, FinovateEurope 2024, Temenos, Thought Machine

FinovateEurope 2024 will have its fair share of local talent demoing live on the Finovate stage on 27 February in London. And while we’re looking forward to the return of FinovateEurope 2023 Best of Show winner NayaOne, we’re also excited to meet a whole bunch of U.K.-based fintechs that are making their Finovate debuts:

FinovateEurope 2024 will also feature one of our most geographically diverse lineups to date. Companies from 15 different countries plus the U.K. will be on hand in just a few weeks to demo their latest fintech innovations at our annual European fintech conference.

See for yourself! Here’s a look at the range of countries our demoing companies are coming from:

Visit our FinovateEurope hub today and save your seat. Register by 16 February and take advantage of big, early-bird savings!

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Segura Bank International (SBI), a financial institution based in Puerto Rico, tapped Temenos to power its new digital bank.
  • Contxto showcased the Chilean Fintech Law, Ley Fintec, that went into effect last weekend.
  • TechRound profiled 10 Bolivian startups including POS management software provider Vendis, paytech Pagame, and inclusive finance platform Koban,

Asia-Pacific

  • Singapore-based cryptocurrency payments app Oobit secured $25 million in Series A funding.
  • Salmon, a consumer credit and debit product provider, has become a licenced bank in the Philippines.
  • Doxa Holdings, a Singaporean digital procurement platform for the supply chain industry, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Cento Ventures.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • 10x Banking announced plans to extend its expansion into Africa.
  • Semafor looked at the challenges Nigerian fintechs will face as the country’s central bank tightens regulations to fight fraud.
  • The Kenyan High Court enabled Nigerian fintech Flutterwave to access $3 million in funds frozen since July 2022.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Hungarian fraud prevention platform SEON joined the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Accelerate Programme.
  • Germany’s Commerzbank partnered with trade finance solutions provider Surecomp.
  • Estonia-based checkout solutions provider Montonio to offer BNPL services courtesy of a partnership with Inbank.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Commercial Bank of Kuwait teamed up with Network International to upgrade its payment systems.
  • U.S. and Israeli-based fintech Pagaya locked in a five-year, $280 million credit facility with BlackRock, JP Morgan Chase, and other lenders.
  • Emirates NBD turned to anti-crime platform Silent Eight to enhance its compliance operations.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Indian payment services firm PayU teamed up with Thought Machine to power its LazyPay credit service.
  • Nepal Clearing House partnered with ACI Worldwide to support its National Payment Switch (NPS) initiative.
  • India-based fintech CRED agreed to acquire mutual fund and stock investment platform Kuvera.

Photo by Pixabay

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Finovate Global Mexico: Banorte’s Digital Bank, Amazon’s BNPL Partnership with Kueski Pay

Finovate Global Mexico: Banorte’s Digital Bank, Amazon’s BNPL Partnership with Kueski Pay
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Kuspit, MasterCard, Nufi, Prestadero, Sr. Pago, Temenos

This week in Finovate Global we take a look at some recent fintech developments in Mexico.

First up is news that Grupo Financiero Banorte has launched Mexico’s first fully digital bank, bineo. The company noted that it hopes to add 2.8 million new customers in the next five years.

“The launch of bineo is a great milestone in the history of Grupo Financiero Banorte that will allow us to meet all needs: those who prefer a human-digital combination and those who seek 100% digital banking, with the financial security that has always characterized the institution,” Grupo Financiero Banorte chairman Carlos Hank Gonzalez said.

Bimeo offers a pair of accounts for customers. The bimeo Total Account allows for unlimited deposits. The Light Account has a monthly cap of 3,000 UDIS (investment units), which equals approximately 24,000 Mexican pesos.

Account holders will have access to both a digital and a physical debit card that includes a feature that enables them to allocate their savings toward specific goals. Card holders can use their physical card at more than 10,000 Banorte ATMs. Additionally, in a nod to sustainability, the physical card consists of biodegradable materials.

The new digital bank also offers financing products for bineo account holders. Customers will be able to apply for digital loans in amounts ranging from 5,000 to 200,000 MXN. Repayment terms range from six to 24 months. The bank also pledges competitive rates and instant access to funds once loans are approved.

“We imagine a bank that puts people at the centre, and we created it!” bineo CEO Victor Moya said. “We think in a different way of managing finances, where personalization is the heart of what we do. Bineo will offer new products and services based on customer needs so as not to confine them to a product designed by us.”

A partnership between Amazon Mexico and Kueski Pay will bring a new, installment payment option to Mexican consumers. Currently available only to select Amazon customers, the payment option will be available to all eligible Amazon customers “soon.”

Pago en Quincenas with Kueski Pay is the name of the new payment option. It enables payment for purchases in biweekly installments, helping make shopping on Amazon more affordable to many Mexican consumers. The option also helps deal with the fact that less than a third of the adult population in Mexico has a credit card. By leveraging Kueski Pay, one of Mexico’s most popular buy now, pay later platforms, Amazon Mexico helps expand purchase financing beyond both credit as well as debit cards.

“Our agreement with Amazon demonstrates the need Mexicans have for more flexible , secure, and inclusive payment alternatives,” Kueski Pay SVP of Sales Lisset May said. “Kueski Pay enables merchants to deliver more innovative shopping experiences and help Mexican consumers live their personal finances with more excitement.”

Kueski Pay has provided nearly 15 million loans to date. The company notes that 1 in 4 of Mexico’s most relevant merchants offer the payment option. Customers who opt for Pago en Quincenas with Kueski Pay can choose from plans of up to four interest-free biweekly payments as part of an introductory offer, or as many as 12 biweekly payments. Payments can be made by linked bank account, debit card, or cash at participating networks. A one-time application must be completed during the Amazon checkout process the first time a customer chooses the Kueski Pay option.

Finovate has been happy to host a handful of fintechs from Mexico over the years. Some of our Mexico-based alums include:

Nufi

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, Nufi made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2021 in New York. The company demoed its Fintech Legos offering, a set of modular building blocks that enable firms to build their own financial solutions. At the conference, Nufi showed how its Fintech Legos could be used to build a modular, adaptable KYC process that could be deployed by any company.

Sr. Pago

Mexico City-based fintech Sr. Pago was founded in 2010 and made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014. At the conference, the company’s CEO and co-founder Pablo Gonzalez Vargas demoed the Sr. Pago Card + Reader, which help small businesses and individuals accept card payments for services and have those payments loaded onto the recipient’s Mastercard. The company was acquired by Mexico-based online lending platform Konfío in 2021.

Prestadero

Also headquartered in Mexico City, Prestadero made its Finovate debut in 2013 at FinovateSpring. Founded in 2011, Prestadero was the first fully legally compliant and operational P2P lending platform in Mexico. At FinovateSpring, the company demonstrated how its proprietary management software enabled Prestadero to parse out declined loans in seconds and offer rates for approved loans in less than a minute.

Kuspit

Founded in 2010 and based in Mexico City, Kuspit is a regulated broker/dealer in Mexico. The company targets retail investors with little investing experience and offers an investing community in which learning, sharing, and investing “dynamically integrate with one another.” Making its Finovate debut in 2012 at FinovateSpring, the company showed how it uses visualization to help investors understand the relationship between risk and return.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Regulators in India ordered digital payments provider Paytm to cease much of its business operations due to non-compliance issues.
  • Mastercard and SadaPay extended their partnership to support the financial needs of SMEs and freelancers in Pakistan.
  • Indian private sector bank Karnataka Bank teamed up with financial services platform Northern Arc Capital.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Paytech Paysecure announced its intention to expand into Latin America, with an initial focus on Brazil.
  • Mexican financial group Grupo Financiero Banorte launched its new digital bank, Bineo.
  • Mexico-based Kueski Pay teamed up with Amazon to launch a new deferred payment offering, Pago en Quincenas.

Asia-Pacific

  • China announced plans to revise its AML rules to accommodate cryptocurrency transactions.
  • Philippine-based Asia United Bank (AUB) announced that its HelloMoney e-wallet solution is now accepted in South Korea, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.
  • KrAsia offered “seven key takeaways” about the fintech industry in Thailand.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian fintech Miden to join Y Combinator’s Winter 2024 cohort.
  • IT Web profiled South African fintech SOLmate amid growing demand for its digital wallet.
  • Fintech Futures interviewed Principal and Head of Africa at CommerzVentures Hangwi Muambadzi on the growth of fintech in Africa.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Digital engineering company Nagarro teamed up with Temenos to help build banks in Romania and Poland.
  • German payment processing provider Unzer launched its mobile POS solutions in Austria and Luxembourg this week.
  • Garanti BBVA, a financial services provider based in Turkey, introduced a new Request Payment feature via its mobile and online banking services.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán

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FinovateEurope Best of Show Winner Finshape Partners with Arab National Bank

FinovateEurope Best of Show Winner Finshape Partners with Arab National Bank
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Compass Plus, Finovate Global, Finshape, PayPal

Digital banking solutions provider Finshape announced a strategic collaboration with Arab National Bank (anb). The partnership will enable anb to leverage Finshape’s personalization and data analytics platform to enhance its digital banking services. The bank will also be able to take advantage of Finshape’s latest offering, Money Stories. This new solution categorizes spending and provides forecasts to help individuals better track their finances. At the same time, Money Stories empowers banks to make personalized, relevant offers to their customers.

“This collaboration reflects our commitment to speed up innovation and customer-centricity in the Middle Eastern banking scene,” Finshape Chief Growth Officer József Nyíri said. “Together with anb, we aim to transform how customers manage their finances, providing them with tailored solutions that empower them to reach their financial aspirations.”

Finshape demoed Money Stories in its Best of Show-winning debut at FinovateEurope 2022. Inspired by Instagram Stories, Finshape’s Money Stories helps banks boost engagement and enhance the customer experience. The solution highlights key financial events in the user’s life via short, seven to ten second snapshots. The shots are swipeable and easy to view and digest, providing a unique and memorable way for users to track their finances.

“(The) integration of a social media story-like format within our banking app, mark(s) a significant milestone in Saudi Arabia’s financial landscape, setting a precedent for engaging and educational digital interactions,” Arab National Bank COO Aiedh Al-Zahrani said

After winning Best of Show in 2022, Finshape returned to the Finovate stage the following year for FinovateEurope 2023. With 100+ clients in 25 countries, and more than 20 million users, Finshape ended last year with collaborating with Banca Transilvania, helping the bank launch its BT Go app. Designed to support corporate banking, BT Go offers an intuitive overview of business finances, unified card management, and automated invoicing. Within a month after launch, the solution has garnered 1,400 active users.

Finshape was founded in 2021 via the combination of Czech Banking Software Company (BSC) and Hungarian fintech W.UP.

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.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Pontera, an Israel-based software platform for financial advisors, raised $60 million in new funding.
  • Egyptian fintech and customer loyalty app Zeal secured $4 million in funding.
  • The Central Bank of Oman granted Paymob a Payment Service Provider (PSP) license.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Kumari Bank, a commercial bank based in Nepal, partnered with Compass Plus Technologies to enhance its payments processing.
  • India’s Hitachi Payment Services launched its financial inclusion initiative Money Spot Plus.
  • Raqami Islamic Digital Bank (RIDB) forged a partnership with Euronet Pakistan to boost digital payments in the region.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Latin American embedded banking company Prometeo secured $13 million in new funding courtesy of investments from PayPal and Samsung.
  • Argentina-based payments infrastructure company Pomelo raised $40 million in Series B funding.
  • Contxto looked at the challenges Mexican fintechs are facing in meeting the standards of the country’s new fintech law, enacted in 2018.

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Romanian fintech Finqware introduced its FinqPayments solution to enhance financial services for medium-to-large businesses in Europe.
  • German challenger bank N26 launched stock and ETF trading, starting first in Austria.
  • iDenfy, an identity verification company headquartered in Lithuania, announced a partnership with Latvian online gaming company SPINS.

Photo by Alamin Prodhania

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Finovate Global Switzerland: Temenos Unveils Enterprise Services, Rivero Raises $7 Million

Finovate Global Switzerland: Temenos Unveils Enterprise Services, Rivero Raises $7 Million
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finastra, Finovate Global, MasterCard, nanoPay, Nubank

Swiss fintech Temenos launched its end-to-end Temenos Enterprise Services on the Temenos Banking Cloud this week. The new offering will enable banks to lower the cost, complexity, and risk of modernization, and deploy new software solutions in 24 hours.

Temenos President Product and Chief Operating Officer Prima Varadhan called the offering “a game-changing approach.” Varadhan added, “the ability to deploy fast, take advantage of a functionally-rich system from day 1, and benefit from continuous updates, help banks to attack the largest cost elements of running core banking software.”

Temenos Enterprise Services features 120+ pre-packaged banking products, predefined customer journeys, and more than 700 pre-configured APIs. The offering enables banks, regardless of size, to launch a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and have a build and test environment within 24 hours. Whether the goal is the launch new business lines or to modernize legacy systems, Temenos Enterprise Services enables banks to benefit from continuous updates, optimal security controls, resilience, and high-performance Service Level Agreements. Banks and FI will also get immediate access to the Temenos Exchange ecosystem with another 115+ complementary solutions.

“Speed, security, and business agility are key for banks to compete and thrive in the digital world,” Varadhan said. “With our end-to-end Temenos Enterprise Services on Temenos Banking Cloud, banks of all sizes can have a ready-to-go system in 24 hours with pre-configured banking products, turn on new features, and benefit from faster time to value.”

A Finovate alum since 2013, Temenos counts more than 700 banks and 3,000+ FIs across 150 countries as users of its technology. The Swiss fintech’s offerings support retail, business, and corporate banking, as well as wealth management and services for fund administrators. Temenos ended 2023 with a new partnership with Lesha Bank, a Qatar-based investment bank that migrated to Temenos’ core banking platform in December.

Swiss payments technology company Rivero raised $7 million in Series A funding this week. Inference Partners and 6 Degrees Capital led the round. Kraken Ventures, Seed X Liechtenstein, the venture arm of PostFinance and angel investor and former Adyen COO, Robert Kraal, also participated in the funding. The company will use the capital to fuel expansion into new markets, enhance product development, and add to its workforce.

“We’re thrilled to share the news of our Series A round,” Rivero CEO and co-founder Thomas Müller said, “especially given the current challenging market conditions. We take this as confirmation of our strong business model and clear market demand for our products.”

A specialist in payment digitization and automation, Rivero makes payments easier for financial institutions, especially issuing banks. The company has two primary SaaS offerings: Kajo, a payment scheme compliance solution, and Amiko, which provides tools for fraud recovery and dispute management. Rivero has forged partnerships with more than 20+ financial institutions including Swiss bank Cembra, which deployed Amiko, and payment card issuer Cornercard, which deployed Kajo.

“Globally, banks spend billions of dollars on scheme compliance and payment dispute management,” 6 Degrees Capital partner Thibault D’hondt noted. “Rivero is the first of its kind to offer a suite of SaaS solutions to help banks and processors address the challenge.”

Founded in 2019, Rivero is based in Zurich, Switzerland.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • German crypto custodian Fiona raised $15 million in strategic funding at a valuation of $100 million.
  • Estonian fintech Money Industries secured a $1.5 million investment led by Caucasus Ventures.
  • Omnicredit, Romania’s first micro financing, scoring and factoring company, won the “Best Digital Lending in CEE Among Fintechs” award from the SME Banking Club Association.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • MENA-based Paymob teamed up with GCC-based shopping and payments platform Tamara.
  • Ooredoo, a Qatar-based fintech, forged a partnership with Commercial Bank to launch its direct debit solution.
  • MENA-based payments solutions provider Magnati collaborated with Oxinus Holdings to enhance payments in the food and beverage business.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Indian pay tech Mylapay raised $550,000 in seed funding.
  • nanopay brought its remittance solution, Foree Remittance, to Pakistan courtesy of a partnership with the National Bank of Pakistan.
  • India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) integrated with Singapore-based PayNow to support remittance flows from Indian’s in Singapore back home.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Conta Simples, an expense management and corporate card services platform based in Brazil, secured $41.5 million in new funding.
  • Argentina-based fintech Ualá launched the country’s first no-fee credit card.
  • Brazilian fintech Nubank to expand into Colombia.

Asia-Pacific

  • Lien Viet Post Joint Stock Commercial Bank (LPBank) partnered with Finastra.
  • BitGo secured in principle approval to launch operations in Singapore.
  • Funding for fintech startups in Indonesia fell by more than 50% last year, according to a report from Tracxn Technologies.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Mastercard partnered with illicocash to launch virtual card program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
  • IT Web Africa looked at the potential for fintech development in Ethiopia.
  • Vienna Payment Solutions teamed up with Interswitch East Africa (Kenya).

Photo by H. Emre

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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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