Mastercard, a leading technology company in the global payments industry, has collaborated with Google to launch Google Pay in Kuwait, strengthening digital payment capabilities in the country.

Cardholders can tap to pay with their Android phones or supported Wear OS devices in stores where contactless is in operation. They can also use Google Pay to make payments online and through apps.

NEAR announced today that it is becoming the Blockchain Operating System (BOS). The Blockchain Operating System introduces an industry-first category: a common layer for browsing and discovering open web experiences, compatible with all blockchains – making NEAR the entry point to the open web for users and developers alike. 

2023 has already seen the FinTech sector leading the charge in the adoption of the latest technologies, making waves in banking, lending, and payments. Throughout the year, we can expect to see FinTech’s digital acceleration have a greater dependence on SMEs, with newer enterprises rapidly gaining a bigger slice of the pie compared to their mainstream counterparts. 

The growing dominance of best-in-class SMEs

Over recent years, FinTech has truly demonstrated its potential in high-growth markets. As a result of the poor penetration of traditional banking and payments infrastructure, coupled with rapid growth of mobile-first services, consumers have – in many cases - leapfrogged traditional financial service offerings in favour of FinTech solutions.

Ramp – the forecasting analytics startup transforming how global finance teams plan for the future  – is today announcing it has closed a $5 million seed round led by AlbionVC and Eurazeo. Triple Point Ventures participated in the round, alongside high-profile angel investors including Barnaby Hussey-Yeo CEO at Cleo, and Stephane Kurgan, Ex COO at King.com, among others.

Today, Brightwell, a payments technology company building financial products to send money securely anywhere in the world, announced its partnership with fintech solution and payments program manager Dash Solutions, formerly known as Prepaid Technologies.

Unzer, a company providing payment and commerce solutions, has appointed Katrin Stark as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). As of March 1, 2023, Stark has been leading Unzer’s Finance department – including the teams responsible for Financial Planning and Analytics, Treasury, and Accounting. Her appointment strengthens Unzer’s management team as the company continues to support businesses across Europe to better serve their customers through unified commerce solutions.

The fintech sector remains buoyant in Lithuania, defying a global investment downturn, according to a new review of performance in 2022. The Fintech Landscape in Lithuania 2022-23 Report from Invest Lithuania notes an 80% increase in the income generated from all licensed Lithuanian fintechs’ banking activities in H1 2022 over the same period in 2021, reaching €375 million.

Xapo Bank, a leading Bitcoin custodian and licensed private bank, has partnered with Lightspark and integrated with the Lightning Network to enable lightning-fast Bitcoin payments for its customers.

Sumsub, a global tech company that provides customizable KYC, KYB, AML and transaction monitoring solutions, has launched a Travel Rule solution for the crypto industry, offering a full compliance toolkit across the whole customer lifecycle.