Leading crypto payments company Wirex, announced the addition of the Polygon blockchain to their recently launched non-custodial wallet, as well as the industry leading Wirex app. Users will have access to the benefits of the Polygon blockchain, which joins the Wallet alongside the Ethereum, Avalanche, Binance Smart Chain and Fantom blockchains, and the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains on the app.

Available worldwide, Wirex launched their mass-market non-custodial wallet at the end of 2021, complementing the Wirex app and crypto-enabled card with over 4.5 million customers. Expanding the Wirex Wallet and app’s network to include the Polygon blockchain is the next step in achieving the company’s goal to increase accessibility to the benefits of crypto and DeFi.

Polygon combines the best of Ethereum and sovereign blockchains to address issues with other blockchains hindered by network congestion, high gas fees and slow transaction speeds, without forfeiting security. Giving mainstream users easier than ever access to DeFi, the Wirex Wallet boasts a unique set of features including biometric security and complex seed phrases in place of a private key. Combined with the innovation and reliability of the Wirex Wallet, the addition of Polygon’s multi-chain system will give Wirex Wallet users access to one of the most versatile blockchains on the market.

This week, the Polygon blockchain will also join the Wirex app, a digital payments platform linked up to a crypto-enabled debit card, heralded the first of its kind. The stablecoin BRZ (Brazilian Digital Token) will be the first token to launch in-app on the Polygon blockchain, with plans to migrate Polygon’s native token, MATIC, to that blockchain within Wirex after. Diversifying the blockchains available on the app will allow hundreds more assets to be supported with the ability to receive, send, store and exchange them on their mobile device, securely and efficiently, and be spent at over 61 million locations around the globe.

Co-Founder and CEO of Wirex, Pavel Matveev stated: “At Wirex we want to give crypto users access to the best innovations within the sector, and implementing the Polygon blockchain gives customers more flexibility to choose lower cost options within DeFi and crypto. Wirexers will now be able to fully benefit from Ethereum’s network effects, whilst taking advantage of the next-generation security, user interface and features within the Wirex ecosystem.”

Arjun Kalsy, VP of Growth at Polygon, said, “By adding Polygon, Wirex has ensured that users can enjoy ultra-low gas fees and swift transaction speeds, while still leveraging Ethereum’s robust security model.”

Later this year, Wirex has plans to integrate further blockchains into the award-winning Wirex app, giving people globally increased choice on how they want to utilise decentralised finance and the digital economy.

Circle Internet Financial, LLC, a global internet finance firm that provides internet-based payments and financial infrastructure to businesses of all sizes, and the sole issuer of USD Coin (USDC), today announced the launch of the new Circle Account. Through the comprehensive portal, Circle Account allows business customers to deposit, withdraw, send, receive, store and allocate funds to invest in digital currency to implement their operations in the digital economy. 

The new Circle Account comes amid booming interest in digital assets. According to recent research from Gartner in December 2021, 20% of businesses will use “digital currencies for payments, stored value or collateral by 2024.” This increased interest is happening alongside rapid innovation in blockchain technology that promotes faster and cheaper transactions, and as high inflation is prompting some companies to turn to digital assets as a hedge. 

As a one-stop-shop to help businesses accelerate their growth and quickly integrate with the digital economy, Circle Account makes it easy to begin transacting with USDC and settle in and out of digital currencies. From 2020 to the end of 2021, the demand for Circle Accounts boomed with active accounts growing 213%. Through Circle Account, institutional accredited investors can allocate funds into Circle Yield* to generate enhanced yield on their USDC by investing it into crypto-capital markets. Circle Yield is a fixed-term investment that is fully-secured and overcollateralized with bitcoin.

"The new, revamped Circle Account is laser focused on delivering an upgraded, dynamic experience to our business customers, making it the go-to destination for payments and treasury activity," said Rachel Mayer, VP of Product at Circle.  

The new Circle Account offers an upgraded user experience that allows customers to send and receive USDC on eight different blockchains, realize near-instant transfers via Signet and the Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN), download transaction history and view balance summaries and earn returns via Circle Yield – all with increased security and flexibility through new features such as multi-factor authentication and multi-user support. Users can transact with USDC on Ethereum, Algorand, Solana, Stellar, TRON, Hedera, Avalanche and Flow.

Learn more about the new Circle Account here: https://www.circle.com/en/circle-account 

*For more information about Circle Yield, including its terms and conditions, please visit: https://www.circle.com/en/products/yield 

Tipalti, the leading global payables solution, today announced it has raised $270 million in series F funding at a valuation of $8.3 billion, bringing total funding raised to date to just over $550 million and placing Tipalti among the most valuable private fintech companies in the world. Tipalti will use the funding to accelerate its product roadmap and customer operations, as well as expand globally to transform global financial operations for high-velocity customers.

Led by G Squared, the Series F round also includes significant investments from new investors Marshall Wace and funds and accounts managed by Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley), in addition to current investors Zeev Ventures, Durable Capital Partners, 01 Advisors and others.

Scalapay, a Milan, Italy-based payment solution that enables customers to buy now and pay later (BNPL) without interest, raised $497M in Series B funding.

The round, which brought total funding raised to date to over $700M, was led by Tencent and Willoughby Capital, with participation from Tiger Global, Gangwal, Moore Capital, Deimos, and Fasanara Capital.

Founded by Simone Mancini and Johnny Mitrevski in 2019, Scalapay is an innovative payment solution for e-commerce merchants across the globe that allows customers to buy now and pay later, without interest. Their BNPL offerings include three options for customers (Pay in 3, Pay in 4, and Pay Later) in which customers are not required to make any payments upfront, and can instead opt to pay in 3 installments, 4 installments, or entirely after 14 days.

The company, which has also launched a platform, called Magic, which is designed to improve the checkout experience for customers, currently works with major international merchants and retailers, including Shein, Decathlon, Calzedonia, Morgandetoi (Beaumanoir Group), Swappie, Moschino, Don’t Call Me Jennifer, Samsonite, Nike, and Pandora, among others. They are also the official sponsor for Milan Fashion Week.

The founding team also comprises Raffaele Terrone, Daniele Tessari and Mirco Mattevi.

Services agreement with CarVal Investors to develop and launch a new line of ESG scoring tools

Insig AI plc, the data science, and machine learning solutions company, is delighted to announce that CarVal Investors (“CarVal”), a global alternative investment manager, and Insig Partners Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, have formally entered into a long-term services agreement to develop and launch a new line of high yield (“HY”) and investment grade (“IG”) ESG scoring tools (the “Agreement”). These new ESG scoring tools will be used by CarVal to optimise HY and/or IG portfolios based on ESG considerations. The Agreement follows the successful launch of the CarVal Clean product line and CarVal’s first ESG Collateralised Loan Obligation in 2021, which was supported by Insig AI per the RNS announcement released on 17 August 2021.

The Agreement entitles Insig AI to fees based on CarVal’s assets under management raised in connection with the HY and/or IG focused investment pools, which are anticipated to commence within six to twelve months of the completion of the scoring tools and accrue over the life of such investment pools. These fees are anticipated to provide Insig AI with a substantial, long term and growing revenue stream.

CarVal’s proprietary ESG risk scores, combined with Insig AI’s Natural Language Processing disclosure scores which use the Company’s machine learning techniques, enable rapid analysis of more data, scenarios and outputs. These capabilities are expected to enable CarVal to make more detailed ESG-influenced investment decisions.

Steve Cracknell, Chief Executive of Insig AI, said:

"This agreement marks a major milestone for our Company, after months of close collaboration with CarVal on the development of this ground-breaking HY and IG ESG platform. By combining smart investment strategy with machine learning capabilities, this joint development will create a major differentiation in the evaluation and optimisation of ESG HY and IG funds and investment products. We are proud to be working with CarVal and look forward to supporting CarVal with further ESG-focused products they launch.”

Two major buy now, pay later (BNPL) providers signed healthcare-related deals.

• Block-owned Afterpay partnered with online eyewear retailer EyeBuyDirect to let customers purchase prescription eyewear in four biweekly, interest-free installments, per a press release.
• Sezzle is letting WellNow Urgent Care customers pay their medical bills in four interest-free installments, per a press release. Customers can pay with Sezzle at more than 100 WellNow locations across five states, including New York. They can also use Sezzle to pay for services through WellNow’s virtual care platform.

Trendspotting: Healthcare could become a hot area for BNPL providers as consumers seek out flexible payments for high-value expenses.

As consumers become increasingly concerned about health-related costs, Afterpay and Sezzle could provide a viable solution for certain expenses. Both providers already work with medical supply retailers and some cosmetic dentist offices, but they aren’t the only ones that recognize the opportunity: Healthcare fintech PayZen offers “Care Now, Pay Later,” which lets healthcare providers offer patients more affordable payment options.

The opportunity: Afterpay and Sezzle can use their latest tie-ups to diversify and reach a wider customer base before the BNPL space becomes overcrowded.

• A flood of startups, banks, and major payments providers are trying to stake out their claim to the BNPL market—making it harder for players like Afterpay and Stezzle to stand out in mainstay retail categories like clothing, beauty, and electronics. That’s pushed providers to branch out into segments like travel to attract a broader array of consumers.
• The number of US BNPL users is expected to hit 59.3 million this year, per Insider Intelligence forecasts. Healthcare could offer a large potential consumer base to fuel that growth. Afterpay and Sezzle might also see higher revenue potential since healthcare-related costs tend to be more expensive than general retail.

Related content: Check out the BNPL section of our “Payment Methods and Funding Mechanisms” report to learn more about why BNPL incumbents are moving into niche sectors.

Sweater, a fintech company building the first fully-managed venture capital fund that is open to everyday investors, closed a monumental $12 million series seed round of funding. The round was co-led by Motivate VC and Akuna Capital, with participation from Jeffrey Cruttenden (Co-founder of Acorns), Eli Broverman (Co-founder of Betterment), Litquidity, MRTNZ Ventures, Bison Venture Partners, Spacestation, First Chair Ventures, Zilliqa Capital, Monsen Ventures, Nick Perez, Jeb Bush Jr., Ryan Holtzman, Aaron Wolko, as well as YouTube creators Peter Hollens (2.6M subscribers), Andrei Jikh (1.9 M subscribers), Nate O'Brien (1.2M subscribers), and Jake Tran (924K subscribers), among other super angels.

Sweater's mission is to accelerate generational wealth creation through venture investing. It aims to level the playing field and give everyday investors a seat at the VC table. By democratizing VC, Sweater's vision is to sew a "tight-knit" community that brings investors, founders, and the companies they're building closer together.

According to David Weiland, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Motivate Ventures, "Motivate believes that democratizing access to venture capital is inevitable. We were extremely impressed with Sweater's thoughtful approach and grand vision to that end and are excited for the journey ahead." 

Sweater is targeting a $10 trillion industry of retail investors that is already starting to take advantage of alternative investing opportunities in real estate, art, collectibles, and hedge funds. They believe venture investing is next, and so do the 50,000+ people on their waitlist.

"The retail investor revolution is unfolding before our eyes, as investors continue to take further control over their investing futures, and fintech companies like Sweater are opening access to previously exclusive asset classes,'' said Sweater's CEO Jesse Randall.

As a professionally managed fund, Sweater's team conducts due diligence and invests on behalf of retail investors, who Sweater will refer to as "Members." They then share investment breakdowns and company stories through the app (launching soon), so Members can easily see how their money is being put to work in the next generation of world-changing startups.

"Our goal is to give our members courtside seats to the world of venture. That is why we will offer a fully-managed fund that allows any investor—accredited or not—to invest in the venture capital asset class," said Randall. 

Globally, venture capital has dominated the private market for the last three years, with over $620 billion poured into startups in 2021 alone, according to Pitchbook's analysis. Retail investors demand access to once-coveted asset classes, and venture investing is next to be disrupted. 

"We're building for the future and the next 20 years of venture capital," said Randall. "Our mission is to foster the next generation of venture-backed startups by providing everyday investors ample access and opportunity to invest in companies changing the world."

As Sweater quickly approaches its public launch, the company plans to use the new capital to scale across the entire organization. Sweater is focused on building out a world-class investment team, along with expanding its growth marketing, Member experience, and product and engineering efforts.

Fong Wa Chung, Head of Venture at Akuna Capital expressed, "Akuna is proud to support the Sweater team as they lead the way in unlocking doors for everyday investors through its world-class venture investing platform, designed from the ground up to meet people's desire for access, opportunity, and collective impact."

To learn more and to be among the first to know when the app is available, feel free to join their tight-knit community at Sweaterventures.com.

IPC, a leading provider of secure, compliant communications and multi-cloud connectivity solutions for the global financial markets and trading community, today announced its decision to onboard Amsterdam, Brussels and Frankfurt based Drebbel s.r.o. as the sales channel for IPC’s Connexus® suite of products in several important continental European markets.

"Drebbel has an impressive track record of selling financial cloud, hosting and compute-on-demand solutions across continental Europe, and is recognised by its clients as a reliable and trustworthy gateway to global technology firms like IPC," commented Alex Walker, Director of Sales Network Services EMEA, IPC. "Their local presence in different European financial centers, their personal contacts with decision makers and the professional network of each of their regional representatives are a huge asset for IPC. This will allow us to efficiently focus our sales and marketing efforts and accelerate the growth of our footprint in Europe."

Drebbel is an end-to-end fintech sales company that provides clients with prospection, sales and long-term account management. IPC has identified a unique window of opportunity to aggressively expand its presence in Europe with products that address the rapidly evolving financial marketplace, such as digital asset exchanges, surveillance platforms, and more, while continuing to support established participants in the trading community.

"We welcome the addition of IPC’s industry-leading trading technology and cloud services to our portfolio,” stated Willem Lambrechts, Founder of Drebbel. “The Connexus suite of products addresses all different aspects of mission-critical, secure hosting and connectivity, regardless of the size of the enterprise being served. IPC provides the market-leading infrastructure for FinTech start-ups, as well as for Tier 1 banks, institutional investors and trading firms. Their approach is genuinely customer-centric, and uniquely and exclusively focused on the financial services sector."

IPC’s award-winning Connexus® Cloud platform is an unparalleled multi-cloud platform for the global financial markets, an ecosystem that interconnects more than 7,000 diverse capital market participants across 750 cities in over 60 countries. The world’s top financial institutions rely on Connexus Cloud for trade execution, order routing, market data delivery, clearing, settlement and accessing trade lifecycle services.

The integration of AllianceBlock’s DeFi product suite will bring enhanced scalability, interoperability and asset transferability to peaq’s Web3 network 

peaq, the decentralized Web3 network powering the Economy of Things (EoT), and AllianceBlock, an end-to-end decentralized finance solutions provider, have announced a partnership centering on their acceleration into Web3. The partnership will see peaq utilize AllianceBlock’s end-to-end decentralized infrastructure in order to enhance the capabilities of the network's economic mechanisms, accelerating the creation of the Web3 machine economy.

peaq is a purpose-built blockchain network for the EoT, enabling the secure, fast and frictionless transfer of value and data between machines and their users. peaq empowers individuals, enterprises and governments to build, earn and govern on the network via EoT dApps. Leveraging AllianceBlock's end-to-end DeFi infrastructure will support the growth of these dApps and projects, unlocking liquidity, scalability, and interoperability on a new scale. The partnership will include: 

• Liquidity and interoperability: The integration of AllianceBlock’s Liquidity-Mining-as-a-Service (LMaaS) product into the peaq network, providing peaq with easy access to generate liquidity for the decentralized applications operating on its network. This will further be accelerated by the AllianceBlock Bridge and the Cross-Messaging Protocol, which will improve peaq’s interoperability and asset transferability with other Polkadot parachains and other major networks. 

• Funding and exchange: The launch of AllianceBlock Fundrs, a peer-to-peer funding platform based on reputation and merit, and AllianceBlock DEX, its decentralized exchange, on the peaq network. AllianceBlock DEX is a brand new automated market maker which minimizes impermanent loss in both uptrend and downtrend markets creating a safer, lower risk environment. dApps on the peaq network will be in a position to leverage these cutting edge DeFi products for new financing opportunities, helping them secure the capital they need to develop their technology and business.

• Community development: The collaborative development of AllianceBlock’s products and services, allowing both communities to participate in each other's offerings. This will be achieved through combined research and development initiatives. In particular, the two will coordinate to enhance the capabilities of peaq's tokenomics. 

• Identity: Both parties will also commit to collaborative development of decentralized identity solutions to explore what integrations could occur between peaq's self-sovereign machine ID, peaq ID, and AllianceBlock’s Trustless Identity Verification (TIDV).

Till Wendler, CEO of peaq, said: “Together, we are working with AllianceBlock to solve some of the biggest societal and economic challenges the world faces, enabling communities to benefit from advancements in technology and automation. The integration of AllianceBlock’s DeFi product suite to the peaq network will allow us to leverage their advanced technology, continue to build the machine economy, and revolutionize how machines are owned and used.”

Rachid Ajaja, CEO and Founder of AllianceBlock, said: “DeFi will play a key role in helping the EoT realize its vision. AllianceBlock’s integration with peaq provides a plethora of opportunities. It showcases how security, compliance, and UX can be enhanced through DeFi-enabled financial products on real, future-focused platforms. peaq’s tangible use of tokenized financial assets and NFTs illustrates the true potential that the expansion of the EoT into Web3 presents. We’re really excited to help the peaq network and community benefit accelerate innovation and unlock new opportunities through our unique product suite.”

For more information on peaq, visit www.peaq.network 

For more information on AllianceBlock, visit: www.allianceblock.io 

Survey of 3,000 office workers also highlights difference in US / UK age-group training focus

Almost two thirds of US office workers and almost half of UK office workers would be tempted to work for another employer if they offer better apps to make their working lives easier, according to a new transatlantic survey commissioned by enterprise productivity operating system provider OpenFin. 

The fully-weighted survey of 3,000 office workers (1,500 in the US and 1,500 in the UK), conducted by OnePoll, found that 61% of US respondents and 46% of British respondents would consider making the leap to a new job if employers provided better apps or software systems for employees.

The research also reveals that more than one in ten (13% in the US and 12% in the UK) were not happy with the apps provided by employers to do their jobs and collaborate with colleagues during the pandemic lockdowns.

The survey highlights a lack of training from employers during lockdown in both the US and UK. A fifth (21%) of US respondents said that their employer had not provided them with more training since working from home during the pandemic and 5% said they had received less training since working from home.

The situation is even more dire in the UK, with almost half (48%) of respondents stating that their employer had not provided them with more training since working from home during the pandemic and 11% said they had received less training since working from home.

There is also a major difference between the US and UK in the age groups upon which they focus training efforts. In the US, employers are prioritizing training millennials (aged 25-40) over any other age group, the survey reveals. 75% of millennials received more training during lockdown, compared with 58% of Gen Z office workers (aged 18-24), and 56% of baby boomers (aged 57-75). The youngest office workers, Gen-x respondents aged 41-56, got the least training (55%).

Whereas in the UK, employers are prioritizing training the youngest members of staff rather than experienced team members, with 83% of Gen Z office workers (aged 18-24) saying their employers had given them more training during lockdown compared with far fewer millennials (25-40) at 45%, baby boomers (57-75) at 35% and the lowest figure for Gen-x respondents (41-56) at 33%.

The research adds weight to concerns about a “Great Resignation”. The number of American workers quitting their jobs hit record highs in November, with 4.5 million people leaving their position, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report released last month (January). In Britain almost a quarter of workers are actively planning to change employers in the coming months, according to a separate survey of 6,000 workers by recruitment firm Randstad UK.

Adam Toms, CEO-Europe at OpenFin, said: “The great resignation is a wake-up call for employers in both the US and UK, and this research indicates that the software and tech tools provided to employees are at the heart of both staff retention and productivity.

“Now that there is potential light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, and with many employees likely to work on a hybrid basis going forward, it is an important moment to invest in our people. This means considering the application, software and training needs of staff, supercharging employees with the right data in their workflows and decision making to make them more efficient, more effective and much happier.”

The vast majority of those surveyed (86% in both the US and UK) said that the apps, tools and tech provided by employers to do their jobs are important, while one third of US (31%) and one in five UK (18%) respondents chose "being provided the right apps and tech tools to succeed in my job" in the top three most important factors impacting job satisfaction.

Despite the major concerns expressed by some about the quality of apps, many are happy with the software support provided by their employers during lockdown.

Of the 59% of US office workers who said their employer invested in new apps, tools or technology during the pandemic, 81% of them agreed that the apps helped improve their productivity and 79% said that they made the job easier. Results were similar in the UK, where of the 50% of UK office workers who said their employer invested in new apps, tools or technology during the pandemic, 87% agreed that the apps helped improve their productivity and 80% said this made their jobs easier.

The research also reveals that working from home during the pandemic lockdown had a positive effect on working relationships, with 69% of US and 48% of UK respondents stating their working relationships improved while working from home during the pandemic, 14% of US and 12% UK respondents saying they got worse, and 16% of US and 37% of UK saying they remained the same.

Toms added: “These statistics clearly demonstrate the resilience and positive spirit of both American and British office workers through adversity, however it is also clear that many are resigning because they increasingly value flexible working and employers who are willing to invest in them.”