03/06 – Weekly Fintech Recap

  • Blockchain , Digital banking , Open Banking , Payments , Banking , M&A Deals , People Moves
  • 03.06.2022 02:21 pm

Partnerships 

Binance selects TripleA as Global Cryptocurrency Payment Gateway

Binance Pay is the bridge between Binance, the world’s leading cryptocurrency infrastructure provider, with the retail world. This partnership with TripleA gives merchants like Novelship access to the spending power of a 300+ million strong and growing crypto user base. Novelship is not the only retailer staying ahead of the crypto curve. Charles & Keith, a fashion house with worldwide presence, also launched cryptocurrency as a payment mode earlier this year.

Clix Group Enters into Strategic Partnership with MSME Lending Platform Tezzract

Clix Group (Clix Capital and Clix Finance), a leading non-banking financial services group with a strong pan-India presence, has entered into a strategic partnership with Tezzract Fintech Private Limited, to innovate and bring new-age solutions for lending to MSMEs in India. Under this partnership, Clix aims to lend an additional INR1000 crore to MSMEs by the end of this year. Through this partnership, both companies will build solutions to plug the significant challenges that MSMEs face in raising funding to grow and compete in an already difficult post-Covid environment. 

PayQuicker Partners with Mastercard to Expand Access to Digital Payments for Their Global Payouts Clients

PayQuicker, an innovative financial technology leader in the global payouts market, announced it is partnering with Mastercard to deliver client branded virtual and physical cards including secured bank accounts and mobile wallet functionality, all through a single point of integration. PayQuicker is on a mission to play an integral role in financial inclusivity and to ultimately bring compliant, speedy, and hassle-free banking to independent contractors, gig workers, and the employees of businesses ranging from startups to large enterprises on a global scale.

Nav Teams Up with Marcus by Goldman Sachs® to Offer Small Business Owners Lines of Credit

Nav Technologies, Inc. (“Nav”), a simple and intelligent financing platform for small businesses, announced a partnership with Marcus by Goldman Sachs to offer small business owners financially smart lines of credit with fixed rates, no origination or maintenance fees, and a fully digital experience. Through the launch, Nav, which leverages a machine learning platform to present business owners with curated financing options, is expanding its commitment to providing tools to make financing simple for entrepreneurs and business owners.

Unlimint Partners Up with Alipay+ to Accelerate the Connection of Thousands of Global Online Merchants to Over 1 Billion Consumers

Unlimint, the award-winning global fintech company, announced that it has partnered together with Alipay+ to further expand its global online payment portfolio. This partnership will further strengthen Unlimint's global offering and open up new opportunities for eCommerce and online businesses worldwide, enabling them better reach the over 1 billion users of digital payment tools brought by Alipay+.

Marqeta Powers New Klarna Card

Marqeta, the global modern card issuing platform, announced it is working with Klarna, a leading global retail bank, payments and shopping service, to power its new Klarna Card. The Klarna Card will bring the company's popular "Pay in 4" service to a physical Visa card, empowering consumers to pay over time in four equal, interest-free payments for any in-store or online purchase.

Yobota Announces Partnership with BNPL Startup Tranch, Following Funding Round

Yobota announced its partnership with Tranch, a buy now, pay later (BNPL) startup platform on a mission to deliver more flexible payments to fast-growing businesses. Founded in 2016, London-based core banking provider Yobota has built a fast, flexible, cloud-native core banking platform that allows clients to create and run cutting-edge financial products. With the help of Yobota’s flexible architecture and API-first capabilities, Tranch can meet the demands of even the most complex customer journeys in the UK.

Oghma Partners Advises KTC on Sale to Endless

Oghma Partners, the corporate finance advisors to the consumer industries, announced that it acted as exclusive financial advisor to the shareholders of UK-based K.T.C. Edibles Limited (“KTC”) on the sale of the business to Endless LLP, a UK-based transformational private equity investor (“Endless”). KTC is one of the UK’s largest suppliers of edible oils, supplying over 250 million litres a year of high-quality cooking oils to manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers in the UK and globally.

Stripe users can now embed BNPL options from Affirm

US merchants using Stripe can now offer customers buy now, pay later instalment plans thanks to an integration with Affirm's adaptive checkout product. Adaptive Checkout uses Affirm’s smart decision engine to make a real-time underwriting decision and offer consumers bi-weekly and monthly pay over time options side-by-side. Now, businesses using Stripe can add this technology to their checkout experience in minutes. Eligible customers will then have the option to use Affirm to split the cost of purchases ranging from $50 to $30,000, with a maximum credit limit of $17,500.

MoneyGram Announces New Partnership with Mobily Pay

MoneyGram International announced a partnership with Saudi Arabia-based mobile wallet Mobily Pay that will bring MoneyGram’s international money transfer capabilities to Mobily Pay, giving users the ability to send money around the world in near real-time. The latest launch adds to MoneyGram’s fleet of integrations for its white-label product that gives financial technology companies access its global money transfer network, according to a company press release.

Bexs Pay Enters into partnership with Nubank

Bexs Pay, a pioneer in cross-border transactions, has just sealed yet another partnership to provide Brazilians with easier access to international products and services. Bexs Pay will, from now on, be responsible for transactions using NuPay, Nubank’s online e-commerce payments solution. This means Bexs Pay will be intermediating payments for Nubank’s 54 million customers. Bexs Pay is a digital payment provider that employs a cross-border model that connects people and companies in Brazil and around the world.

TrueLayer and Thunes Announce Partnership to Offer Open Banking Payments Across the UK and Europe

TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking platform, and Thunes, a Singapore-based fintech company and a leader in global cross-border payments, announced their partnership to streamline and improve the payment experience of consumers in the UK and Europe. Thunes is building a borderless B2B payment infrastructure that addresses the payment needs of online retailers, marketplaces, gig and shared economy platforms, as well as Fintechs. Recognizing the rapid growth of account-to-account payments, the partnership sees Thunes integrating TrueLayer’s open banking payments into its platform as one of the easy-to-use payment methods available to Thunes’ 100,000 merchants globally.

 

Launches 

XLD Launches xSpend in Malaysia, Allows Users to Spend Crypto Assets for Utilities

XLD Finance, a stablecoin-based ecosystem that drives financial inclusion through real-world financial services, has announced the launch of its xSpend platform in Malaysia today. With xSpend finally available to the Malaysian market after making its debut in countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, the Company also announces its newest offering, the Solana feature which allows users to connect their Phantom wallet with saved biller details for easier and faster transactions through the Solana network.

Kiya.ai Launches India’s First-ever Banking Metaverse – Kiyaverse

Kiya.ai - one of the most innovative digital solutions providers serving financial institutions and governments globally, announced the launch of India’s first-ever Banking Metaverse – Kiyaverse. Kiyaverse pioneers use cases of merging real-world banking with Metaverse banking through an avatar (virtual humanoid) based interactions. In the first phase, Kiyaverse will allow banks to extend their own Metaverse for clients, partners, and employees, through services that will include Relationship Manager & Peer Avatars and Robo-advisors.

Mercari Derivatives Exchange Selects METACO to Launch Institutional Digital Asset Custody Offering on IBM Cloud

Mercari, which operates a licensed Australian Tier 1 wholesale financial derivatives exchange, has selected METACO, the market-leading provider of digital asset custody orchestration technology to complex, global financial institutions, to launch its institutional digital asset custody operations. Mercari is deploying its technology on IBM Cloud in order to leverage the confidential computing capabilities of IBM’s digital asset infrastructure.

iBG Finance Announces Forthcoming Investment Portal Launch

Premier diversified wealth management platform iBG Finance has announced the impending launch of its iBG Investment Portal. A subsidiary of publicly traded Nevada blockchain, decentralized finance (DeFi), and cryptocurrency-focused investment company ICOA Inc. (OTC: ICOA), iBG Finance is on a mission to simplify blockchain investment for both crypto novices and seasoned traders new to the DeFi space. Its upcoming aggregator promises to do just that.

Strata Launches First Ever Commercial Real Estate investment App

In its bid to further democratize commercial real estate as an asset class for Indians, Strata the country’s leading tech-enabled commercial real estate (CRE) investment platform, announced the launch of its mobile app. The platform will empower investors to seamlessly access and invest in any grade-A CRE asset listed on Strata’s platform and avail end-to-end asset management services instantly through an easy to use mobile app.

Getsafe Launches in Austria

Digital insurer Getsafe is launching three new products in Austria. As of today, customers can take out liability, household, and dog owner liability insurance. Getsafe used its insurance license for the expansion for the first time. Customers in Austria benefit from an end-to-end digital insurance experience, allowing them to change their coverage in real-time with just a few clicks. They can even file claims and track the status of their claims via a smartphone app.

NatWest Launches Confirmation of Payee (COP) API for Commercial Customers

NatWest has today announced the launch of a new direct access Confirmation of Payee (CoP) Application Programming Interface (API) for its commercial customers. Confirmation of Payee was introduced across the UK banking industry in June 2020 to combat scammers and guard against customer errors. The technology allows banking customers to carry out a check on individual payments through their online banking, by ensuring the account details entered by the sender accurately match those of the payee.

 

Merger & Acquisition

Unit4 Announces Acquisition of Scanmarket

Unit4, a leader in enterprise cloud applications for mid-market people-centric organizations, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Scanmarket, a global vendor of cloud Source-to-Contract software. With Scanmarket, a privately-held company founded in 1999 and headquartered in Denmark, Unit4 will now be able to provide organizations with a unified Source-to-Pay journey, building on its existing ERP and Procure-to-Pay (P2P) offerings.

Causeway Acquires Leading Provider of Connected Asset Management Software and Services

Construction technology provider Causeway Technologies has acquired Yotta, a global provider of connected asset management software and services, from AIM-listed Oxford Metrics. Yotta serves over 200 customers worldwide, providing software to assist in the management of more than 35 million physical assets and related services – including highways, street lighting, and waste management. The acquisition of Yotta marks another vital step on Causeway’s journey to digitise the processes that underpin the construction and maintenance of infrastructure assets.

 

Job Moves

LXME Names Digital Banking Expert Dr. Jasmin B Gupta as Co-founder and CEO

India’s first women-focused financial platform LXME, announces the appointment of Dr. Jasmin B Gupta as co-founder and CEO. A seasoned banker and an astute business leader Ms. Gupta will spearhead the team toward creating India’s first neo-bank for women. With a career spanning over two decades, Jasmin holds strong expertise in consumer banking, digital banking and strategic fintech alliances. Prior to joining LXME, she was associated with Equitas Small Finance Bank as their National Head - Neobank, Fintech Accelerator and Alliances & Digital Business.

CLS Appoints New Board Chair and Five New Board

CLS, a financial market infrastructure delivering settlement, processing and data solutions across the global FX ecosystem, announced that a new chair and five new members have been appointed to its Board of Directors (Board) at the CLS Annual General Meeting on 17 May 2022. Gottfried Leibbrandt has been appointed as CLS’s chair, effective 17 May 2022, and succeeds Ken Harvey, who retired after ten years as a member of the Board, eight of which as chair.

Industry Leader Caroline O'Connell Joins Motive Partners

Motive Partners ("Motive"), a specialist private equity firm focused on financial technology, announced the appointment of Caroline O’Connell as an Industry Partner. Motive Partners believes the adoption of new digital channels, innovative processes, and technologies will yield value-creating opportunities for forward thinking investment firms that attract and develop world-class talent. As an Industry Partner, Caroline will advise the Motive Funds' portfolio companies, bringing her unique expertise across the financial technology space as a seasoned operator.

SOLARR Announces New Advisors

Asia's first decentralized NFT-Fi platform, SOLARR, announced that prominent Hong Kong socialite, Yvette Yung, acclaimed philanthropist, Rowena Wan, and leading regulatory and compliance lawyer, Sherman Yan, have been appointed as advisors for the project. Ms. Yvette Yung is a prominent Hong Kong socialite and luxury and fashion entrepreneur. As the Non-Executive Director of APAX Group, a leading experiential marketing group in Asia, and Founder of PLS Consultancy, a luxury and lifestyle consultancy, Ms. Yung is famed for devising exclusive services and accessing the most sought-after events for the ultra-rich.

Nebulon Appoints OEM Sales Leader Paul Brodie and Technical Go-to-Market Veteran Martin Cooper to Key Growth Roles

Nebulon, Inc., the pioneer of smartInfrastructureTM, an infrastructure operations SaaS that transforms an on-premises server estate into a cloud operating platform, announced that it has appointed Paul Brodie as its new vice president of global channel sales and promoted Martin Cooper to vice president of customer experience. The partner- and customer-facing appointments come in response to growing OEM-partner engagements and customer installations due, in part, to interest in the company’s recently announced 4-minute ransomware recovery solution, Nebulon TimeJump.

Mollie Appoints Koen Köppen as New CTO to Accelerate Technological Innovation for Next Stage of Growth

Mollie, one of the fastest-growing payment service providers in Europe, has appointed Koen Köppen as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to support its mission to build a range of world-class financial services that helps SMEs grow. Prior to Mollie, Koen spent more than a decade at Klarna, holding several leadership positions and finally becoming its CTO almost five years ago. He turned Klarna into a product delivery machine, helping the company to become the most valuable fintech company in Europe.

Global Processing Services Names Jill Docherty as Director, Global Partnerships

Global Processing Services (GPS), a leading global payment technology platform, announced the appointment of Jill Docherty as Director, Global Partnerships. Based in London, Jill sits on GPS’ global executive committee and is responsible for identifying, leading and managing all GPS ecosystem partners, facilitating collaboration to drive innovation and growth for GPS and its customers.

Computop Appoints Philip Plambeck as Senior VP UK Sales

Global payment service provider, Computop, announced the appointment of Philip Plambeck as Senior VP of Sales in the UK. Plambeck brings considerable cross-industry sales expertise to Computop, where he will be responsible for leading the company’s UK-based commercial team. He joins the company from Elavon Europe, the credit card acquirer where he worked through direct and indirect channels to secure and manage mid to large size corporate customers, primarily in the retail, hospitality, transport and smart-city sectors.

LIKEZERO Appoints New COO

LIKEZERO, the next generation contract risk analysis and data capture company, announced the appointment of Joli Riley as COO. Joli will report to Mike Lines, LIKEZERO’s CEO and will work across the business ensuring all operations meet the needs of a growing and demanding client base. LIKEZERO provides a fully searchable golden source of legal agreement data.  The software manages complex hierarchies of entities and documents and uses advanced mining and matching techniques to capture data from the most complex legal agreements.  

BUX appoints Álvaro Vidal as Country Manager

BUX, one of Europe’s fastest-growing neobrokers, welcomes Álvaro Vidal, who will assume the role of Country Manager for Spain. Vidal will lead the Spanish market and accelerate BUX’s efforts to grow its customer base in Spain, making investing more accessible and affordable for Spaniards. Vidal brings over 10 years of experience in fintech companies and has extensive knowledge of markets and retail brokerage. 

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