Acorns, the savings and investing app, has raised $300 million from private investors at a $1.9 billion valuation, after abandoning plans to go public via a Spac. According to CNBC, TPG led the Series F round, which included participation from BlackRock, Bain Capital Ventures, Galaxy Digital, and basketball star Kevin Durant's venture capital firm. 

Acorns, which launched in 2014, now claims over four million users in the United States for its app, which automatically rounds up PayPal and debit and credit card purchases and invests the difference in stocks and bonds. It decided to join the Spac train last year, outlining a $2.2 billion deal with Nasdaq-listed Spac Pioneer Merger Corp. 

However, the deal was abandoned in January due to "extreme volatility" in the markets, CEO Noah Kerner tells CNBC. "Our concern about the [Spac] market was that we would be lumped in with a group of companies that were possibly overvaluing themselves," he continues. 

While the $1.9 billion valuation falls short of Spac's target of $2.2 billion, Kerner tells CNBC he is "proud" because private markets are currently "choppy," with investors "taking a long, hard look at valuations." Regarding the future, Acorns intends to go public again when markets improve but will do so via the traditional IPO route.

Lloyds Bank has invested £5 million for a 20% stake in invoice financing startup Satago and will roll out the platform for its Single Invoice Finance and whole of book Invoice Factoring customers.The deal with Satago follows a competitive tender process and a six month trial of the technology. Once deployed it will introduce a new digitised proposition for lending to the bank's SME customers. 

Satago expects to be paid a recurring fee for each customer of the bank which utilises the platform, as well as one-off implementation fees, with the final terms of the agreement subject to commercial negotiation. As part of the arrangement, Ben Stephenson, MD and head of specialist client solutions at Lloyds Bank will join Satago's board.

"Extending our partnership with a leading Fintech like Satago represents a truly exciting opportunity for LBG and our clients," he says. "Combining Satago's technology with LBG's reach has created a market leading proposition that provides clients with much needed working capital management and cash flow optimisation tools."

The £5 million equity investment values Satago at £20 million. Gwynne Master, managing director, Working Capital, Lloyds Bank, comments: "Our partnership with Satago goes beyond that of a supplier and buyer relationship. The equity stake we have taken in the business underscores our commitment to deliver best-in-class, future-focused solutions for our UK clients by partnering with a market leading provider with proven capability."

Role to provide continued support for information security as Hyland accelerates its cloud-first vision

Hyland, recognised as a leading content services provider by Gartner for 12 consecutive years, has hired Dan Dennis as its senior vice president and chief information security officer (CISO). In his role, Dan is responsible for leading Hyland’s security vision, evolving the information security programmes and practices and protecting all customer, partner and employee assets and data. Building on almost 25 years dedicated to security, developing programmes from the ground up and providing oversight of enterprise SaaS solutions for organisations of all sizes, Dennis’ focus at Hyland will be the centralisation and evolution of its security programmes into a unified strategy.

Throughout its 30-year history, Hyland has prioritised information governance and platform security. As the company continues along its trajectory to become the leading global provider of cloud-native content services solutions, security remains at the heart of every step in the software development, deployment and maintenance strategy. Dennis’ expertise and new perspective will help ensure Hyland’s security strategy and teams are aligned and equipped to handle and respond to the organisation’s ambitious growth plans.

“I’ve been fortunate in my career to lead the strategic development and adoption of security programs for start-ups to large global enterprises,” Dennis said. “I’ve gained deep experience in defining the right strategies to protect information, mitigate risk and ensure compliance, while managing costs and maintaining highly engaged teams. I’m excited for the new unique challenge at Hyland, to evolve a successful, established security program that sets the foundation to best support Hyland’s next-generation, cloud-native offerings.”

“Security is a critical component of every organisation’s strategy, especially in the evolving world we live in where digital-first interactions are preferred,” said John Phelan, EVP and chief product officer at Hyland. “Dan’s history, expertise and leadership within the security space will greatly benefit Hyland across the breadth of the company. Dan’s expertise spans corporate, product, cloud security and most importantly, how to deploy them in usable ways. He’s a great asset to our team and I’m looking forward to collaborating with him to support our customers and partners.”

Before joining Hyland, Dennis was the vice president and chief information security officer at Benefitfocus and prior to that, chief information security officer of the Talent Management Solutions portfolio at IBM, where he managed successful large-scale technical projects within high-growth and rapidly changing environments. Dennis received his Bachelor of Science in Finance and Marketing from Boston College and sits on multiple boards, including the South Carolina Tech Executive Forum and Carolina CISO Leadership Board.

To learn more about Hyland’s cloud-first vision and strategic roadmap to deliver next-generation content services solutions, visit Hyland.com. 

AstroPay, the online payment solution of choice of over five million users in the world, today announced the expansion of Payment Links across Latin America, now launching in Peru, Chile, Mexico and Colombia. This is part of the company’s plans to introduce it worldwide following the first launch in Brazil in December 2021.

Payment Links is AstroPay’s newest capability, designed for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to enable business owners to collect online and remote payments by simply sharing the link with their customer, and get paid instantly in an easy and secure way.

The small and medium sized enterprises in Latin America is a priority market for AstroPay. In Colombia, the creation of SMEs in 2021 has grown by 10.6% compared to 2020, from 276,891 to 306,140. SMEs in Chile account for 65.3% (4,857,949) of the total number of formal jobs (7,432,926). SMEs also represent 99% of businesses in Mexico and 99.5% of the total number of formal enterprises in the Peruvian economy.

Mikael Lijtenstein, CEO of AstroPay, said: “Many micro and small businesses could not reach the volume threshold required to make accepting credit card payments a financial feasibility, so they need online payment options that not only open up a world of new revenue streams and opportunities, but make it possible to compete with the big companies. Payment Links are cost-effective and offer flexibility and ease of operations for these businesses.

“With AstroPay’s Payment Links capability, micro and small business owners are able to offer their customers a quick, easy, and convenient way to pay, and it’s affordable to accept payments.”

Payment Links enable business owners to make payments using just their mobile number, paying directly with the link they receive. Business owners can also create a link by registering and able to share it with their customers via email or any other electronic means of communication, and customers can pay with an array of local payment methods in their local currency or American dollars.

Surecomp® today announced that it is partnering with the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) - the Swiss-based organization which supports the implementation of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) and the availability of the Global LEI Index - to facilitate Know your Customer (KYC) compliance and provide customers with immediate certainty and authentication that the credentials of their trade counterparts are verified and trustworthy.

The Global LEI Index - the only online source of open, standardized and high-quality legal entity reference data - will be embedded into all of Surecomp’s cloud-based solutions to provide customers with real-time access to the unique identification data of legal entities participating in their trade finance transactions. The readily available and verified information covering detail such as ownership structure and subsidiary addresses will reduce the time currently spent by financiers and corporates on KYC checks as part of the transaction lifecycle, further improving operational efficiencies and driving trade growth.

“We are delighted that Surecomp is leveraging the Global LEI index to bring significant efficiencies and greater trust to its trade finance customers,” states Stephan Wolf, Chief Executive Officer at GLEIF. “Research undertaken by GLEIF shows that broader adoption of legal entity identifiers could save the banking sector up to $4bn in client onboarding costs annually. Even if only a small proportion of this is within the trade finance arena, the potential gain in terms of both cost and time savings are significant enough to promote further global trade growth.”

“The LEI is incredibly important for all trade participants, particularly since the pandemic which has seen fraudulent transactions become ever more prevalent,” says Enno-Burghard Weitzel, Surecomp’s SVP of strategy and business development. “Offering our customers easier access to LEI data is increasing transparency, trust and efficiency in the entire trade finance process. Ultimately, it can also help to close the trade finance gap by making it easier for banks to verify SME customers.”   

Environmentalist behind the E-Alliance at COP26 turns his focus to insurance

EIS, a core and digital platform provider for insurers, today announced digital pioneer Rory Yates as Head of Strategy for EMEA. The region is fast becoming a thriving market for EIS as it makes its second key senior hire in six months. Yates is set to help the company grow operations and go-to-market working in close collaboration with partners and clients. 

Yates has a diverse background, with 24 years of experience across sectors such as technology and banking at industry heavyweights WPP, Cognizant and Santander. He joins EIS from DXC where he transformed client businesses with in-depth analytics & AI, consulting, UX & UI and digital engineering. 

He has long been an industry trailblazer, leading the delivery of Cahoot, the UK’s second digital bank, into the UK at 22 years old. His interest in the insurance sector was solidified at Monitor Media, a pioneer in experience design within insurance, and then at Ninety, which helped the global insurance sector innovate to keep up with  the constantly evolving digital ecosystem. 

Alongside his role helping insurers thrive in new regulatory landscapes and succeed in a digital world, Rory will also focus on ESG. Yates has two decades of experience in ESG, most recently founding digitalpoverty.co.uk and leading the formation of the E-Alliance at COP26, as well as the development of PAS440 with the British Standards Institute.

Commenting on his appointment, the new Head of Strategy said: “As EIS continues to expand across Europe, I’m excited to help the company transform insurance companies and create modern, customer-first offerings, and build the true ecosystem insurer with our strategic partners.” 

The new appointment marks another milestone in EIS’ EMEA mission to enable insurers to innovate like a tech company. The company entered the UK market in 2020, opened its London headquarters, and quickly established well-known customers such as esure and Ageas UK. EIS will help transform operations at these key players, replacing their core systems with platforms that serve today’s increasingly demanding customers and government legislation. With the appropriate technology in place, insurers can fulfil their digital ambitions and move from out-dated legacy tech. 

Yates will speak on his vision of how platform partnerships can redefine the insurance customer journey on a roundtable at the Insurtech Insights’ London conference on March 16. He recently released a white paper on how cloud-native insurance platforms will power the industry’s true transformation. 

Wecan Group SA, the Swiss leader in Blockchain software used by the largest Swiss private banks, is favoring an expansion in France for its internationalization. Behind this choice: an investment from Michel Reybier, owner of La Réserve hotels, and a selection in the Swave program, an initiative of the French government to attract the most promising fintechs in France.

100 billion is the amount of assets under management of independent asset managers using the Wecan Comply platform. The Swiss software, Wecan Group's flagship product, enables the exchange of compliance information with the country's largest private banks, such as Lombard Odier, Pictet Group, Edmond de Rothschild and Julius Bär. Spotted by Swave, the solution was selected from among several hundred other applications.

“ We are proud to be among the 5 companies selected by the Swave to join their fintech incubator program in 2022. We intend to replicate our banking compliance solution with their institutional players such as the Banque de France or Société Générale. ” says Vincent Pignon, founder and CEO of Wecan Group SA.

This collaboration is accompanied by the opening of new offices in the Grande Arche de la Défense, with the aim of attracting French financial players with its solution that simplifies and secures the exchange of compliance data.

“ France has become a leader in innovation in recent years. The French Startup Nation is a reality and attracts more and more companies like ours looking to establish themselves in a robust and disruptive ecosystem.” continues Vincent Pignon.

In parallel with this move into France, the group has finalized a CHF 3.5 million (EUR 3.4 million) fundraising round to expand its solution to new industries and markets. Among the investors is Michel Reybier, founder of the Aoste Group and owner, among others, of La Réserve Hotels.

“ The arrival of new shareholders, including Michel Reybier, a seasoned and visionary investor, will allow us to benefit from new expertise in order to diversify our products towards the hotel, medical, wine and real estate industries in France. ” adds Vincent Pignon.

Customers will benefit from centralized offering and new customer portal

IDnow, a European provider for identity proofing, will consolidate the comprehensive set of identification verification methods and document signing services into a single platform, to offer customers and their end users a secure, frictionless digital onboarding experience with even more transparency and greater flexibility.

Customers will benefit from the one-stop solution: companies can now seamlessly adapt, orchestrate, and scale all the identity proofing needs that enterprises and SMBs have through a single provider. This results in optimized conversion rates and faster, more intuitive onboarding for end users.

An essential part of the IDnow Platform for Identity Proofing is the new customer portal, My IDnow.

“IDnow understands the appetites of end users and the range of services that business customers need to satisfy them. Customers will benefit from our customer portal My IDnow, which is the information interface for the IDnow Platform for Identity Proofing, says Vikas Seth, CPO at IDnow. “Customers can actively manage and shape their end users’ identification experiences and diligently monitor verification outcomes using My IDnow. Leveraging the power of IDnow’s identity orchestration, customers can select and combine the identity verification products their end users prefer, offering multiple choices for identity verification,” he adds.

With the IDnow Platform for Identity Proofing and My IDnow, the company offers deep identity verification insights and analytics, which add even more transparency for companies. Fast integration of the latest security and regulatory standards ensures that identity proofing processes create trust and confidence between all parties.

“Our aim at IDnow is to enable digital identity business models to create high assurance, with maximum trust and security for businesses and their end users. We provide businesses with a unified set of methods to meet every identity verification and document signing need a company has - along with identity management services to effectively orchestrate, customize, and configure the proofing process,” says Vikas Seth CPO of IDnow. “We believe in a strategy that moves far beyond offering a single identity verification method. With our platform, we offer a future-proof solution that complies with different regulatory environments, covers a variety of use cases and anticipates customer needs - it’s as flexible and fast as our digital business environment has become,” he adds.

FinGo and VMC team up for new unattended vending prototype

FinGo, a UK fintech behind the world’s first biometric identity authentication and payments platform, has struck a partnership with cashless solution experts VMC. It will see the companies create a world first retail vending technology, where users can pay and prove their age through a simple scan of their finger.

FinGo’s vein mapping technology works by taking a simple scan of a person’s unique vein pattern through an infrared device. This scan is connected to a person’s registered FinGo account, which can be linked to their verified ID or a digital wallet to enable payments. Registered users can then scan their vein to prove identity, age or make payments in any venue offering the FinGo system.

The partnership will explore the use of FinGo’s vein mapping technology to lead the way in ‘unattended retail’ for age-restricted products such as alcoholic drinks, e-cigarettes and vapes. Customers will simply scan their finger, linked to their identity and digital wallet, before collecting the product.

In 2020, Manchester City Council was the first in the world to approve FinGo to verify age in licensed premises – so customers could pay and prove their age for a pint, with their finger.

The partnership will also explore sustainability projects through reverse vending schemes, allowing users to collect and recycle empty containers, collecting points or rewards along the way.

As well as developing the biometric vending machine interface, FinGo will offer a combined ePOS ordering, payment and Identity solution alongside VMC’s ‘Flex’ cashless loyalty solution.

VMC provides cashless solutions for organisations including Aldi, ASDA, University of Brighton and City of Bristol College.

Simon Binns, Chief Commercial Officer of FinGo, celebrated the partnership: “FinGo and VMC have the potential to transform retail and hospitality. This new approach to vending will make purchases easier for customers, be more cost-effective for vendors, and it demonstrates the importance of an entirely secure identity system that can integrate with other aspects of our daily lives. VMC mirror FinGo’s approach to innovation, and our combined solutions will push the boundaries in the unattended retail space.”

Nick Bate, Managing Director of VMC, commented: “As a business we’ve always focused on innovating and ways to add value to our systems, and our collaboration with FinGo continues this tradition. Integrating FinGo’s pioneering technology with our own, to enable age and identity restricted sales in both vending and unattended retail, will help us to explore new markets and deliver the very best integrated payment solutions to our customers.”