DoraHacks and Binance Labs co-organizing Season 3 of Binance Labs Incubation Program

● Paysend joins elite list as a winner of Deloitte’s UK Technology Fast 50 ● Paysend also ranks as third fastest growing FinTech in the UK 

Paysend, the card-to-card pioneer and international payments platform, has been announced a winner of Deloitte’s UK Technology Fast 50, placing  third in the ranking thanks to 14,498 per cent growth. Paysend is also the third fastest growing  FinTech company in the UK by revenue.  

Now in its twenty-fourth year, Deloitte’s UK Technology Fast 50 is one of the UK’s foremost technology award programmes. Celebrating innovation and entrepreneurship, the ranking  recognises the country’s fastest growing companies based on revenue growth over the past four  years. Previous winners include Revolut, Transferwise and GoCardless. 

Ronnie Millar, CEO at Paysend, said: “FinTech companies again dominated Deloitte’s UK  Technology Fast 50, highlighting the accelerated rate of digital change that is happening in the  payments space. We’re extremely proud to be a significant part of that story as we connect  millions of ordinary people and businesses to increase financial inclusion worldwide. 

“This is a proud moment for Paysend, coming so soon off the back of reaching the major milestone  of five million customers in under five years, making us one of the world’s fastest growing  FinTechs by customer base. I’d like to thank Duncan and the team at Deloitte for their recognition  of the hard work and determination of the Paysend team, who put customers at the centre of  everything they do.”  

Duncan Down, lead partner for the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 programme, said: “The  extraordinary growth of this year’s Fast 50 represents the remarkable tenacity of the UK’s  technology industry. Deloitte’s 2021 Fast 50 awards are a clear demonstration of the wealth of  talent, creativity, and entrepreneurship in the UK’s technology industry today.

“The 50 fastest growing UK technology companies, as ranked by Deloitte, generated around  £2.92bn in total annual revenues in the year 2020/21 and employed more than 19,320 people.  The Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 recorded an average three-year growth rate of 3,337 per  cent.” 

Commenting on UK inflation rising to 4.2% and the Bank of England needing to be patient, Dan Boardman-Weston, CIO at BRI Wealth Management, said: “Inflation came in at 4.2% in October up from a reading of 3.1% in September and the highest level in nearly a decade. The rise was a little ahead of forecasts of 3.9% and was predominantly driven by household energy bills, the price of fuel at the pumps and the cost of restaurants and hotels. The level of inflation is going to keep getting worse over the coming months as supply stays stretched, demand stays robust and base effects technically push the rate of inflation higher. This is undoubtedly going to put pressure on the Bank of England to raise rates, which we suspect they will have to do in the next few months given the high levels of inflation and robust labour market. Nothing we see leads us to believe that this inflation is permanent and as we start heading into Spring next year the figures will start falling rapidly. The Bank of England needs to be careful that they’re not too hasty in tightening monetary policy as a policy misstep could do more harm to the economy than this transitory inflation we are witnessing.”

News follows an unprecedented year of success for the leading lendtech, having recently announced an impressive £300m in investment

Leading UK LendTech, DivideBuy, today announced it has ranked on Deloitte’s UK Technology Fast 50 2021 list for a third consecutive year.

The news follows an unprecedented year of success for the Newcastle-under-Lyme business, having recently announced a milestone £300m funding agreement with global investment management firm, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP – an instrumental move in driving DivideBuy’s charge as a leading player in the point-of-sale market.

Growth has further been bolstered by the acquisition of several major retail partners, a broadening of its consumer base, and a major shift in consumer attitudes towards credit.

Robert Flowers, CEO of DivideBuy, commented, “Having previously ranked first and fourth, making it onto Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 list for the third consecutive year is a major achievement for DivideBuy, and testament to both the hard work of the team, the continued innovation of our technology, and the ever-increasing popularity of interest free lending.

“DivideBuy’s growth has been driven by strategic investment, a passion for making alternate payments simple, and a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities that businesses face. To be recognised once more is a clear indicator that our solution is exactly what the market needs at this time, as the retail world slowly begins to open up following the devastating effects of the pandemic. Seeing more and more retailers onboard with us each month demonstrates how truly important IFC facilities are to the market right now.”

“We pride ourselves on working closely with our retail partners, delivering tailored solutions to service their customer base, which is down to our blend of technology and personal touch – a combination that has been acknowledged by the Deloitte panel for a third year.”

DivideBuy’s technology platform is built on retail understanding and consumer insight, solving many common pain points for its merchants. This distinctive approach enables retailers to provide a credit option with no hidden charges and capabilities such as an online checkout that provides real-time credit decisions, thereby leading to increased retail sales.

Looking forward, DivideBuy will continue to explore offering new finance products in new markets that will continue the growth momentum.

To find out more, visit: dividebuy.co.uk

Stripe, a global technology company building economic infrastructure for the internet, today announced that Matt Huang has joined its board of directors.

Matt Huang is co-founder and Managing Partner at Paradigm. Matt was previously a partner at Sequoia Capital, where he focused on early-stage venture investments, and was the founder and CEO of Hotspots, a company acquired by Twitter in 2012. As an angel investor, Matt has invested in companies such as ByteDance and Instacart.

As a long-time investor and leading expert in crypto, Matt’s perspective will be especially helpful as Stripe’s recently-formed crypto team explores potential avenues for product development work. Crypto protocols and currencies hold the potential for faster and less expensive payments for businesses and entrepreneurs around the world, particularly in underserved markets.

“Very few people know more about crypto—and, specifically, its potential to help internet businesses around the world—than Matt,” said Patrick Collison, co-founder and CEO of Stripe. “We’re delighted he’s joining our board of directors.”

This appointment comes as Stripe continues to expand beyond core payments acceptance, with recent announcements including the acquisitions of Recko and TaxJar, partnerships with Klarna and UnionPay International, and the launches of Stripe Revenue Recognition, Stripe Identity and Stripe Tax. 

A visitor management solution was developed and put on stream for CBRE in Russia, the global consulting company in commercial real estate services and investments. The system of contactless ID badges without the Security Identification Office participation was implemented by LETA.

A visitor should place a passport on the scanner built into the terminal, and the Smart Engines ID scanning software automatically scans the visitor's name and requests the application for the visitor. After a positive response, the terminal issues a pass card to enter the building. Now visitors can get a pass themselves in less than three minutes.

"For CBRE's clients, the execution speed of any request is important, so we are focused on improving the service quality. Cooperation with LETA allowed us to implement a new convenient service. The speed of obtaining a security pass in the terminal creates comfortable and secure (which is extremely important today) conditions for visitors of business centers, and the front desk staff pays more attention to visitors instead of searching for paper applications and issuing passes," comments Natalia Afanasova, Director of CBRE's Real Estate Management Department.

"We are glad that our solution helped CBRE to implement its intended plans. The passport scanner was upgraded to adapt our hardware and software complex to the task, integration with the visitor application registration system was carried out. It is certainly an interesting and useful experience for us, and it allows us to take a wider view of the implementation of our products in new areas. In the future, we plan to develop and improve self-registration terminal solutions for office centers, residential complexes, public and health-care institutions,” says Alexey Bugrov, CEO of LETA.

Gemini, a cryptocurrency platform, announced today a $400 million growth equity round, its first-ever outside financing, led by Morgan Creek Digital with participation from 10T, ParaFi, Newflow Partners, Marcy Venture Partners, and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, among others. This round values the company at $7.1 billion. Launched in 2015 by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini has grown to become one of the leading crypto platforms in the world. In addition to buying, selling, and storing crypto, Gemini helps investors earn, spend, and learn about crypto, as well as create and collect non-fungible tokens (or NFTs) on Nifty Gateway, a wholly owned NFT platform.

Gemini's security-first, regulated platform has made it the trusted platform for both individuals and institutions. Investors seeking to diversify their portfolios have turned to Gemini as their preferred platform to navigate the frontier of crypto. With this round of financing, Gemini will continue to bring simple, innovative, and secure products to market, and advance its geographic expansion.

"We are leading the first outside investment in Gemini because of our shared conviction in crypto and belief in the company that Cameron and Tyler are building," said Sachin Jaitly, General Partner of Morgan Creek Digital. "Their vision for the role of crypto in redesigning money, the financial system, art, and the Internet, and their track record of incubating and scaling innovative technologies, gives us confidence in Gemini's ability to continue to be an industry leader."

"Gemini is the portal into crypto for new and seasoned investors alike," said Tyler Winklevoss, Co-Founder and CEO of Gemini. "The investors that we have brought on in this round share our ambitious vision for the future."

This raise follows a year of significant growth and product innovation for Gemini. In 2021 Gemini:

• Acquired Blockrize to help launch the Gemini Credit Card, which offers real-time crypto rewards and has a waitlist of more than 360,000 people
• Acquired ShardX, a developer of secure multi-party computation (MPC) technology, to enhance its crypto listing and custodial services
• Launched Gemini Earn that allows users to lend their crypto and earn up to 8.05% APY. To date, Gemini Earn has originated $4 billion in crypto loans.
• Supports more than 60 cryptos for trading and custody
• Custodies more than $30B in crypto assets
• Launched Gemini Fund Solutions to provide fund managers with custody, clearing, and trading support for crypto ETFs, closed-end funds, and other fund vehicles
• Launched Cryptopedia, an open access educational resource for all things crypto

Additionally, Gemini continues to be a pioneer on the frontier of nifties with its NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway, which also experienced record growth this year. Since launch, Nifty Gateway has achieved more than $420 million in sales through 375 unique artist collaborations, cementing its position as a standout leader in the NFT digital art and collectibles space.

Gemini also increased its geographic footprint in 2021, entering the UK as one of the few registered crypto asset firms as well as obtaining its EMI license from the Financial Conduct Authority. It also filed its license with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to expand further into the Asia Pacific region. Looking ahead, Gemini will continue to expand into new markets around the world.

"In 2021 we diversified our revenue stream, expanded to new territories, acquired pioneering companies, and invested in industry-redefining innovations through the Gemini Frontier Fund. We also supported Bitcoin core development through the Gemini Opportunity Fund," said Cameron Winklevoss, Co-Founder and President of Gemini. "We are incredibly excited to continue to build on the frontier of crypto and give individuals around the world greater choice, independence, and opportunity through crypto."

Underlining the importance of technology and telecommunications on the African continent, the world’s largest Africa-focused tech and telecoms event sees exponential growth 

Africa Tech Festival 2021 (including anchor events AfricaCom and AfricaTech), welcomed more than 20,000 registered delegates to its virtual platform last week. This record number of delegates for an online event of this nature, represent a cross-section of more than 8 000 companies. This year the festival had a core focus on sustainability and green ICT, with these underlying themes speaking to the global need to secure the planet’s future, and not just the future of its inhabitants.  

The festival’s virtual platform also hosted an incredible uptake of engagement among delegates to this premier, Africa-focused Tech event, with more than 14 000 messages being exchanged on the platform between its global participants.  Networking is a key component of both the live event, which usually takes place in Cape Town, as well as the virtual version. Networking is key to finding sustainable business solutions for the developing continent.  

More than 153 countries were represented at this year’s event, which sees 98% of countries on the African continent also in attendance.  

Day One’s agenda was centred around Green ICT and creating sustainability across the continent, with hot topics including leveraging sustainability as a profitability driver (Tracy Bolton, SAP Africa) and building a sustainably powered continent (Dr Liangzhou Fang, Huawei Digital Power Technologies). 

Solar energy, the pursuit of zero carbon and exploring green investment models were also in focus.  An engaging panel discussion titled ‘The Gigawatt Gap’, unpacked the importance of creating African data centre ecosystems that are 4IR-ready – and green.

Day two was filled with an exciting mix of content, ranging from the growth of women in ICT, the importance of sustainable partnerships and the future of IoT, including technology’s growing importance to bridge every aspect of every industry.  A presentation by Microsoft SA’s CTO, Ravi Bhat, titled Towards 2030: Transformative technologies shaping Africa’s next decade, also spoke to this theme. 

Tuesday also tackled the cost of bringing the African continent up to scratch in terms of its green credentials, and the requirement for the continent to invest in renewable energy sources.  Several key presentations and panel discussions are on the Africa Tech Festival platform for review.  The platform will be accessible for registered delegates for 90 days after the event – end of February 2022.

Headliners who have addressed the congress this year include the likes of:

• Todd Ashton (Ericsson)
• Razvan Ungureanu (Airtel Africa)
• Mark Victor (Deloitte)
• Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr (Republic of Sierra Leone)
• Douglas Baguma (Innovex)
• Ahmed Badr (International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA)
• Fadi Pharaon (Ericsson)
• Paul Michael Scanlan (Huawei)
• Alioune Ndiaye (Orange)
• Cathy Smith (SAP)
• Roy Henderson (Green Cell Technologies)
• Mahlatse Mashua (Kolisi Foundation)
• Victoria Nxumalo (Girls In STEM Trust)
• Temwani Simwaka (Standard Bank Limited) 
• Nozipho T Duma (FNB South Africa)

Another key focus were discussions that looked to define the telco of tomorrow – their evolution and their continued relevance in the ever-connected world.  GSMA's latest statistics on 5G coverage show that Only 0.4% of sub-Saharan Africa is covered by 5G network, compared to 17% globally. Africa is especially far behind North America, with 76% coverage. This lag presents both challenge and opportunity for the continent’s communication providers.

However, perhaps one of the most important topics to capture the attention of all delegates, is the rapidly expanding influence, development, and deployment of Blockchain and crypto-currencies, and how this technology innovation is motivating the evolution of the finance space.

Also, on the line-up was a look at Africa’s role as an experimental fintech project, and education 4.0, education that is vital to grow the workforce of the future. "If the school connectivity gap is not addressed, the digital gap will continue to widen - between the advantaged & connected, and the disadvantaged & disconnected.  And more broadly, research by Ericsson & The Economist Intelligence Unit (The EIU) has found that a 10% increase in school connectivity = 1.1% increase in GDP per capita," commented Fadi Pharaon, President, Middle East & Africa – Ericsson.

Further, affordable broadband and digital access across Africa, the growth of Agritech and, of course, the development of cyber security systems to counteract current and future online and network threats.

The festival continued its support in promoting the growth of women in technology, with the accelerateHER Africa platform once again hosting a series of thought-provoking discussions on the digital divide between the genders, what needs to happen to bridge the gap, as well as how women’s contributions can benefit the entire continent. 

The importance of empowering women in the Tech industry stretches far beyond pure morality, as it is an industry fact that, if women could achieve parity with their male counterparts, then Africa’s eCommerce space could grow to around $14.5 billion. The question that will feature in many of the fireside chats and panel discussions is how to incentivise both the private and public sectors to invest in the growth of women in tech?

Thursday and Friday presented delegates with a broad cross section of panel discussions and fireside chats, in addition to presentations by a diverse range of speakers representing African and multinational corporations and organisations. 

Some of those on the line-up included:

• H.E Huria Ali Mahdi (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ministry of Innovation and Technology)
• Miriam Altman (University of Johannesburg)
• Bill Wang (Huawei)
• Tim Andrews (Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator
• Jacqueline Shi (Huawei Cloud)
• Dorsaf Bejaoui (Tunisie Telecom)
• Devorah West (Tony Blair Institute for Global Change)
• Ahmer Arsalan (STL)
• Jan Pilbauer (BankservAfrica)
• Mukelani Kheswa (Africa Teen Geeks)
• Dr Bello Moussa (Huawei Southern Africa)
• Tide Xu (Huawei)
• Catherine Holloway (Global Disability Innovation Hub)
•  Lee Maina (Huawei)
• Alexandra Fraser (Viridian)
• Jisas Lemasagarai (GSMA)
• Alastair Long (Department for International Trade).

Whilst Friday, 12 November, included:

• Ibrahim Eldeftar (Ericsson Middle East & Africa)
• Eva Andrén (Ericsson Middle East & Africa)
• Nitesh Singh (Accenture South Africa)
• Harrison Byrnes (AgUnity).

As always, underpinning tomorrow’s growth and economy, are the string of entrepreneurs and start-ups who are part of the future tech generation and opportunity providers.  Sage words of advice from Onajite Emerhor, Head of Google Start-ups Africa reminded delegates of the golden rule around starting a new business, by saying: “You should fail. If you aren’t failing it means you haven’t tried. The best advice I can give you is fail as quickly as you can, quite early in your career so you can have time to pivot and to grow”

Summing up the mood of the event, and a reminder as to why the world’s largest and most influential Africa-focused technology and Telecoms event was once again virtual, Emmanuel Lubanzadio, Head of Public Policy for Sub-Saharan Africa, Twitter said: “If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is that nothing can be achieved in isolation but rather in collaboration.”

Connectivity, community, and consensus are all key elements of a collaborative world.  These premises will be unpacked at the 2022 Africa Tech Festival, which celebrating its 25^th anniversary and this brave new world we now find ourselves navigating, will be held live and in person in Cape Town, South Africa 07 – 11 November.

Until then, all the content at this year’s exceptional conference, will still be available for review on the 2021 event platform to registered delegates and media.

For a complete line-up see the website here:

MEDIA – for media accreditation, please use this link to register.

Uplinq Financial Technologies, the transformational data analytics company serving the global small business lending community, is pleased to announce its intellectual property (IP) acquisition of Verde International’s advanced behavioural, econometric and financial models, and state of the art optimization methods. As part of the deal structure, Pat Reilly, CEO of Verde International will join Uplinq as a co-founder.

Uplinq has completed its IP acquisition of Verde International’s small business regulatory compliant decisioning engine, powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The move forms part of the company’s plans to transform how small business lenders globally evaluate credit decisions and risk profiles of their new and existing clients. To this end, the IP acquisition will now allow the company to deliver scientifically validated financial results to its customers, which no other service provider can offer.

Through this IP acquisition, Uplinq will now benefit from an exciting technology, which has served as a foundational component for the underwriting of over $1.4 trillion worth of loans over the past 15 years.

Alongside the IP acquisition, Pat Reilly, CEO of Verde International will join Uplinq as a co-founder. With over 30 years of experience in financial services, Pat is ideally placed to help the company as it drives forward to full launch in Q1 2022.

Over his career, Pat has held several senior positions within a number of legacy financial institutions and has advised the United States Government and World Bank on matters relating to credit lending, as well as being an on-going thought leader speaker at the G20. Pat will bring this wealth of experience to Uplinq, enabling the company to establish true credibility within its sector from its first day of launch.

Speaking on the IP acquisition, Pat Reilly, CEO of Verde International and co-founder of Uplinq commented: “Verde International’s systems will enable Uplinq’s solutions to be highly scalable, across a wide-range of financial institutions and small business lenders globally. Moving forward, Uplinq will benefit from a true AI brain within its array of solutions, enabling the company to be more versatile in who it can provide its systems to.

Alongside Ron and the rest of the Uplinq team, I’m now fully focused on launching the business in early 2022 and transforming the world of small and medium-sized business (SMB) lending.”

Ron Benegbi, Founder and CEO of Uplinq commented: “We’re delighted to have completed this IP acquisition and welcome Pat Reilly into our business as a new co-founder. The technologies offered by Verde greatly simplify the credit decisioning process for lenders, which, once integrated into our platform, will enable SMBs to get easier access to capital at this important time. As access to capital has never been more difficult for small business owners to attain, our services are needed more than ever, especially as lenders try to better support unbanked, minority and immigrant SMBs.”

For more information about Uplinq and its transformation recommendation and data analytics platform, please visit: https://www.uplinq.co/