Along with insights from Sensor Tower, report also shows average session lengths have steadily increased, approaching 11 minutes per session globally

Just ahead of what’s widely predicted to be the most mobile holiday shopping season on record, mobile marketing analytics platform Adjust today released E-commerce App Report 2021: Top Trends in Mobile Shopping With Insights From Sensor Tower. The global report finds that in-app revenue has increased significantly in 2021, with May being the biggest month so far. Based on Adjust’s e-commerce app revenue trends from 2020 — when October, November, and December outperformed the previous nine months — this year’s shopping season is likely to reach an all-time high.

Not only are shoppers spending more money in-app, they’re spending more of their time in-app overall per day. Globally, average session lengths are up from 10.07 minutes in 2019, to 10.42 minutes in 2020, to 10.56 minutes in 2021 so far.

“Mobile has emerged as the leader in e-commerce,” said Paul H. Müller, co-founder and CEO of Adjust. “What’s most impressive is that e-commerce apps have managed to retain the users they’ve acquired while continuing to grow and acquire even more new customers. It’s a testament to mobile’s ability to provide convenient and user-optimized experiences. Retaining loyal customers will set brands up for continued growth throughout the holiday season, into the new year.”

iOS 14.5+ and the opt-in

Adjust’s data shows the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) opt-in rate for e-commerce hovering at an average of 17% — far higher than initial industry projections. Adjust predicts that consent rates will continue to rise over time as users become more educated on the value of relevant advertising.

Additional key findings on global and regional growth and engagement in e-commerce apps in 2021 include:

●        Global Installs of e-commerce apps have increased 10% in 2021 compared to 2020. Installs also rose regionally in EMEA (15%), LATAM (11%) and APAC (9%). Sensor Tower data shows that Shopee is the world’s top e-commerce app in 2021 so far, with Brazil as its key market.

●        Sessions have seen the biggest uptick in LATAM in 2021 so far, jumping 27%, compared to 12% growth globally. Sessions rose 10% in APAC and 13% in EMEA.

●        After a slight drop in Q1 2021, compared to 2020, retention rates picked back up in Q2 2021: Day 1 came in at 26% in Q2 of 2021, up from 21% in Q1 and matching Q2 2020. Q2 2021 then maintained higher retention rates than any other quarter — holding at 17% for Day 7, 14% for Day 15, and 11% for Day 30.

"Mobile commerce has finally expanded beyond the core shopping markets to become a global phenomenon, with LATAM and APAC exploding in growth,” said Randy Nelson, Head of Mobile Insights at Sensor Tower. “Meanwhile, trailblazers in the e-commerce space continue to build their user bases in well-established markets like the U.S. and China. Expect retail giants and newcomers alike to thrive on digital channels during the upcoming shopping holidays.”

The full report, including methodology, is available for download here.

The Company ranked on the list of the fastest growing North American technology companies after recently being ranked #5 on the Deloitte New Zealand Fast 50 Master of Growth Index

Pushpay the leading payments and engagement solutions provider for the faith-based and non-profit sectors, today announces the Company was ranked 412 on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500™, which lists the fastest-growing companies in North America. Pushpay grew fiscal year revenue by 278% over the three-year time frame from 2017 - 2020.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be able to partner alongside churches of all sizes across the U.S. to help them reach, connect and engage with their communities in new ways through technology,” said Molly Matthews, CEO of Pushpay. “We’ve seen a societal shift these past two years that has forever changed the approach to engagement. In-person gatherings are no longer the only way to stay connected, and organizations have realized that having a digital strategy is an essential need to remain relevant.”

Celebrating its tenth year in business, Pushpay has been a pioneer in the development of best-in-class technology solutions for online giving and mobile applications. To date, the Company has more than 14,000 customers across the United States and has experienced steady growth year-over-year. Beyond new customer acquisition, recent milestones that have boosted company growth included the 2019 acquisition of Church Community Builder, and more recently the acquisition of Resi Media, an industry leading video streaming platform. Both acquisitions support the Company’s strategy to deliver an all-inclusive suite of end-to-end SaaS engagement solutions for churches that includes a comprehensive Church Management System (ChMS), mobile app, donor management, giving solution and more.

“Each year the Technology Fast 500 shines a light on leading innovators in technology and this year is no exception,” said Paul Silverglate, vice chair, Deloitte LLP and U.S. technology sector leader. “In the face of innumerable challenges resulting from the pandemic, the best and brightest were able to pivot, reinvent and transform and grow. We celebrate the winning organizations and especially the talented employees driving their success.”

This recognition adds to Pushpay’s growing list of accolades this year. The Company was recently ranked #5 on Deloitte’s 2021 Master of Growth Index, an annual ranking of New Zealand businesses with the highest level of sustained growth, due to its 450% growth in operating revenue over the last five years. Pushpay was also recently named a 2021 Best Place to Work by Built In Seattle and Built In Colorado, and newly appointed CEO Molly Matthews won the Gold Award for Business Role Model of the Year in the 2021 Globee CEO World Awards. Lastly, Pushpay was featured on the EY Ten Companies to Watch list by the Technology Investment Network.

Scality’s whole portfolio now ransomware-protection enabled

Scality announced today that its ARTESCA object storage solution is qualified as Veeam Ready Object with Immutability. With this certification, both the ARTESCA and RING products are now ransomware protection-enabled.

Ransomware volumes have hit record highs in 2021, with no sector left unscathed and no signs of slowing down. In fact, Gartner analysts predict that by 2025, at least 75% of IT organisations will face one or more attacks. Infrastructure and operations leaders responsible for data protection must evaluate new ransomware protection features as critical prerequisites when choosing backup platforms.

Scality now provides ransomware protection through ironclad data immutability across its ARTESCA and RING solutions, giving customers the support they need to safeguard their valuable data. Validated as Veeam Ready Object with Immutability, Scality RING and ARTESCA provide for air-gapped, tamper-proof backup data that stays immune to ransomware, offering a robust and swift recovery path in case of an attack. 

Scality’s highly durable storage is scalable and cost-effective, and pre-validated solutions with infinite flexibility mean customers can start as small as a single node and scale to exabytes. For channel partners, certification of ARTESCA brings even more opportunity to provide a proven, repeatable solution to a broader swath of end-users.

Wally MacDermid, vice president of strategic alliances, Scality, said: “With this latest Veeam certification, Scality now supports data immutability, a key to ransomware protection, with both our RING and ARTESCA solutions. Organisations of any size will feel confident in the ransomware protection features of our backup platforms as they seek to protect their data from ransomware.”

• A market-leading product for deposits from £1,000 to £20,000

• Unlike traditional banks, the customer’s savings are never loaned, leveraged, or invested, meaning no bank lending risk to customers

• Because deposits are not used to create more money through writing new loans, it’s also the first-ever bank account that doesn’t contribute to inflation

A new savings product, offering better returns and better protection for savers, is today launched by bank challenger Tally.

The first-of-its-kind savings account offers a GBP market-leading one-year 2% fixed-rate return. No UK bank or savings provider offers a superior one-year fixed rate. Savers can deposit anywhere from £1,000 to £20,000 once their account is open.

 The new account launches at a time when interest on savings is at a historic low and people are feeling financially squeezed by rising living costs.

The account also operates in a full reserve banking environment, meaning customer funds are never loaned, leveraged or invested. All competitor accounts leverage customer savings to make money for the bank, which means customer savings are at risk if loans are defaulted on.

Top One Year Fixed Rate Savings Accounts in the UK – Tally outperforms the market

Competitor product comparisons correct as of 16th November 2021.  

* Provided by Charter Savings Bank 

**Minimum deposit of £5,000

*** Products offered by HSBC and Lloyds Bank only have maximum deposit of £3,000 so no figures for balances over this amount

 Cameron Parry, CEO and Founder of Tally, says: “Our new one-year 2% fixed-rate savings account offers unrivalled returns, beating any other one-year fixed-term deposit currently on the market.

“Saving with traditional banks works to the detriment of the customer, who receives a minuscule amount of interest compared to the profit the bank makes from leveraging the customer's savings. Customers who also bear all the risk (often unbeknownst to them) if the bank's loans are defaulted on."

“With inflation badly outstripping the low rates being offered by high-street banks, people are desperately searching for solutions that offer value, security and an alternative to this fiat (government-issued) money trap.

“This product, and the Tally banking system in general, has been designed to give savers a fighting chance against rapidly rising inflation and financial volatility. And unlike traditional banks, our customer deposits are not leant out, leveraged up or invested, which makes saving with us more secure.

“The incumbent banking system undermines any benefit to saving whereas our new account provides security and transparency for savers whilst also introducing them to a better monetary system."  

HOW THE NEW SAVINGS ACCOUNT WORKS

The new savings product is available through the Tally App to Tally customers only. Non-customers will need to download the Tally app and complete the onboarding process to open an everyday account.  Once they pay their one-off Tally joining fee (£20), they can apply for a fixed-rate savings account when the waitlist opens.  Customers can fix anywhere from £1,000 to £20,000 and positions are allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

Cameron Parry added: “The Government is constantly talking about levelling up, but when it comes to savers, the incumbent banking system is designed to protect and benefit the bank, not the customer. People need an alternative, which is why we built Tally.  

“Saving money that holds its value over time, and keeps the customer’s asset secure at all times, is fundamental to an individual’s financial wellbeing. Our market-leading one-year fixed-rate product makes fixed-rate savings more rewarding and also introduces customers to the benefits of Tally’s non-fiat banking system. We are introducing this product to test the appetite of bank customers for greater returns and better protections when it comes to their money.”

NYMBUS®, a leading provider of banking technology solutions, today introduced its Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) offering designed to enable banks, fintechs, and brands to thrive with the complete capabilities and support needed to offer new, focused financial products.

Whether launching modern embedded banking solutions or leveraging an existing charter and infrastructure, Nymbus delivers scalable managed solutions, consulting services and the robust regulatory framework needed to bring modern functionality to the user experience.

Combined with its award-winning technology built to scale, embed and modernize, Nymbus makes BaaS uniquely easy and accessible by providing clients with flexible business models and access to experts in the space. Additionally, Nymbus delivers the people and processes required to innovate within the rapidly evolving BaaS market. Its managed service team is dedicated to handling Strategy, Program Management, Operations, Call Center, Accounting, and Compliance. Nymbus’ proven methodology further enables speed-to-market with a robust operational playbook and go-to-market strategy.

“Innovation doesn’t stop with technology. It’s about reimagining traditional boundaries and limits—of processes, business models, services, capabilities, and ideas,” said Sarah Howell, Chief Alliance Officer at Nymbus. “How banks, fintechs, and brands choose BaaS partners and approach integration will separate them from the pack over the next decade.”

Furthered Jeffery Kendall, Chairman and CEO of Nymbus: “BaaS demonstrates how financial institutions and fintechs need each other to provide the most secure, compliant, and successful customer experiences possible. Nymbus is proud to have revolutionized an approach that simplifies the opportunity, takes accountability, and gets down to the business of unlocking new growth opportunities now.”

To learn more about Nymbus BaaS, please visit: nymbus.com/products/baas/

Open data SaaS platform Okredo is ready to scale to new markets, offering credit risk, monitoring, and business development services 

• Okredo aims to provide organisations of any size with the means to effectively increase sales and evaluate risks, resulting in more informed business decisions 

• Funding round led by Lithuanian Business Angels Fund and Czech Presto Ventures

• Okredo seeks to expand into Latvia, Poland, and the United Kingdom

• Okredo currently has 12,000 users in total, with 2700 corporate clients on its books

• 2021 marks the date at which the EU’s Open Data Directive has taken effect, requiring that all member states make vast troves of data open and packaged for re-use

Open data startup Okredo has closed a €1 million seed funding round led by the Lithuanian Business Angels Fund and Presto Ventures, with support from Startup Wise Guys as well as several angel investors. Okredo’s SaaS platform helps SMEs assess the credibility, financial strength and sales potential of new and existing business partners and customers. This round of funding will be used to expand into new European markets, amidst a backdrop of growing regulatory support for open data.

SMEs that deal with delayed payments from their customers – usually other businesses – face economic risks that are often exacerbated by a lack of financial literacy combined with a lack of affordable tools for managing this risk. Studies indicate that in the UK alone, for example, late payments to SMEs currently total £61 billion. Smaller companies are particularly exposed to such risks as they do not have the budgets for expensive credit bureau reporting, human resources for in-house analysis, or financial training to sufficiently vet new and existing partners and customers. 

With the EU’s Open Data Directive going into effect this year, businesses and other enterprises in member states are now required to report on data points that range from debt loads to changes in the c-suite. While this data is technically now ‘open’ (a work that remains in slow progress), it is actually hosted in a myriad of different agencies, some of them private, and these agencies are under no requirements to package the datasets in any kind of SME-friendly way. 

With AI-driven analysis, Okredo enhances raw, open data and packages it in the form of modules and reports through a user-friendly and customizable web GUI. These modules and reports provide credit scores and insights which are dynamically updated during the entire lifecycle of a partnership, from identification of potential leads to monitoring of overall changes that can affect the business relationship – giving alerts, for example, when an account might be upsold. In the event of customer non-payment, Okredo can help businesses determine whether negotiating, going to court, or publishing the debt on the platform will be the best course of action. The platform also includes a unique eco score, which allows businesses to assess the environmental impact of a company’s vehicle fleet. 

Gerda Jurkoniene, co-founder of Okredo, said: “Open data provides an immense economic opportunity for organizations, and we want to give even the smallest of businesses the means to effectively evaluate risks and explore new sales opportunities in order to thrive and prosper. Our vision is bold: we want to become a leading open data platform in Europe within the next five years. We are confident in our abilities and the capabilities of our platform to be able to scale quickly to new markets while at the same time provide best-in-class service to our customers.” 

Arvydas Strumskis, managing partner at the Lithuanian Business Angels Fund said: “Okredo combines in-depth industry knowledge with exceptional technical expertise, which has resulted in an extremely robust and innovative open data platform that is able to drive services beyond current market needs and will be highly adaptable to future customer requirements. We are confident our investment will enable Okredo to successfully scale and succeed in its business goals.” 

Roman Nováček, Partner of Presto Ventures, said: “It’s unusual to come across startup founders that are not only very experienced in the field, but at the same time offer a very fresh perspective on a market problem. Okredo represents one of those rare breeds and we are very pleased we will accompany them on their journey to become a leading European open data platform. We estimate this to be, at minimum, a €175 million opportunity, although open data is only recently truly ‘open,’ so the real number is likely much higher.” 

Falling oil and copper prices have seen miners and energy giants slip in trading on the FTSE 100 pushing the index into the red but it’s a signal that some of the supply pressures and higher costs weighing on companies are set to ease. Oil prices have dipped to their lowest level in almost six weeks after US stockpiles increased, with forecasts that American producers are ramping up production. Higher inventories of copper in warehouses are also easing concerns about a tight supply of the metal, which was having big implications for the progress of green energy projects, not least the adoption of electric cars given how copper hungry EVs are.

Royal Mail topped the FTSE 100 leader board with a big bag of revenues, increasing by 7.1% year on year for the first half. Long term recovery for the company looks to be signed sealed and delivered but planned cost savings will still need to stamp out inflationary pressures going forward. House builders are building up to big gains again today, as exuberance around the hot property market continues. Barratt Developments, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley Group had increased by more than 3% by midday. They are cementing Wednesday’s rise following ONS data which showed another surge in house prices by 11.8% in the year to September. Investors are shrugging off warnings from the European Central Bank about how a bubble is being blown in the Eurozone property market particularly in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. Ultra-low rates have fuelled a surge in interest in new homes and a race for more space, so far traders don’t seem unnerved by concerns problems could also be piling up in the UK for the future.

Worries that high covid rates across the Eurozone could act as a drag on economic growth and dent consumer confidence do though seem to be playing on minds with the airline industry struggling to recover from recent falls. Warnings from Jet 2 today that a price war with rivals could dent profits into next year, even though bookings were stronger, also dragged down shares in Ryanair. A combination of cheap tickets and subdued demand is the last thing airlines need right now, as they count on a spring bounce.

Investors hoping that Carlyle might prove the knight in shining armour to scoop up Metro Bank at an attractive price have been left sorely disappointed after the private equity group walked away from a deal, sending the share price sliding 18%. The challenger was launched to take on the might of the big boys in banking retail, and despite a confident start it has been weighed down with problems, not least accounting issues. But it’s Metro’s real estate footprint which may have proved a cost which stuck in the craw of Carlyle. While other challenger banks have focused on apps and an online presence, Metro has also been locked into long leases in city centres, at a time when footfall in once busy streets has struggled to recover. With other banking upstarts gaining market share, Carlyle may be tempted to look elsewhere, particularly at a time when expected rising interest rates creates the opportunity for banks to increase their earnings substantially. Although there is an outside chance that fresh bidders could come through, for now Metro Bank says it’s still confident in its standalone strategy. But it’s going to be a challenging time ahead for the challenger bank, with the era of open banking spawning many more FinTech entrepreneurs to launch ventures which could steal market share.

Airwallex, one of the fastest-growing global fintech platforms, today announced it has raised an additional US$100 million in a Series E1 financing round. This new funding raises Airwallex’s valuation to US$5.5 billion and comes just a month after Airwallex announced an oversubscribed Series E round as the company looks to accelerate its global expansion plans. This latest round takes Airwallex’s total Series E fundraising to US$300 million, with US$802 million raised in total. 

Airwallex’s Series E1 funding round was again oversubscribed, on the back of strong underlying business performance and momentum in the third quarter. Lone Pine Capital remained the lead for this financing, alongside other existing investors including 1835i Ventures, the venture capital partner to ANZ, and Sequoia Capital China. 

This latest raise follows a strong third-quarter performance, where the company recorded a 165% YoY revenue increase, with annualised revenue exceeding US$100 million. The company also made more than 200 additional hires as Airwallex continues to strengthen its presence in its core markets globally. 

“Our record performance last quarter demonstrates the tremendous demand from customers who are seeking better solutions to operate their businesses,” said Jack Zhang, Co-founder and CEO of Airwallex. “As we approach our sixth anniversary, we want to continue to connect entrepreneurs, business builders, and makers with opportunities in every corner of the world. This new capital injection will allow us to do just that, fuelling M&A opportunities that will accelerate our global expansion plans, pursuing our mission to empower businesses to grow without borders.”

In the last quarter, Airwallex continued to scale its business across APAC and EMEA, while also achieving early momentum in the U.S. The company launched its virtual employee cards in Hong Kong and the UK, marked its entry into Southeast Asia with licences in Singapore and Malaysia, and continued to onboard new global customers. 

“Airwallex’s achievements in the last quarter alone showcases the strength of the company’s business model and its unique ability to meet customers’ evolving needs in a competitive digital payments market,” said David Craver, Co-Chief Investment Officer at Lone Pine Capital. “The future is bright for Airwallex, and we look forward to helping its team unlock greater growth opportunities as it continues to expand globally.” 

Mastercard today announced it has completed its acquisition of Aiia, a leading European open banking technology provider that offers single and secure API access to banks and fintech companies, and enables users to easily perform account-to-account payments. Aiia further advances Mastercard’s existing distribution channels, technology, data practices and global multi-rail and open banking strategy.

“As the shift to a digital economy continues to accelerate globally, Mastercard’s commitment to leading innovation in financial services remains strong,” commented Craig Vosburg, Chief Product Officer, Mastercard. “Open banking empowers consumers and small businesses to use their financial data to expand access to financial services, such as demonstrating their financial wellness to increase access to credit, aggregating financial data to improve personal financial management, and to more seamlessly set up and manage payments. Together, we’ll continue to build upon our API connectivity and our multi-rail strategy to enable greater consumer access, control and choice around the world.”

Open banking broadens access to financial services by putting users at the center of where and how their data is used to provide the services they want and need. Mastercard was an early advocate of open banking and continues to demonstrate its commitment to providing consumers choice, delivering programs at scale with localized customer service, and innovating with relentless focus on safety and security.

With the addition of Aiia, Mastercard further expands its existing open banking technology and proven data practices and reinforces the company’s progress in building a stronger global open data network. Aiia’s open banking platforms and infrastructure – including its strong API connectivity to over 2,700 banks across Europe – enables Mastercard to continue to build applications through a developer-first approach for a variety of financial institutions, merchants, peer-to-peer networks and fintechs globally.

At scale, Mastercard’s suite of end-to-end open banking capabilities will continue to enable multi-rail payment flows, enhanced consumer authentication and fraud management, and delivery of analytics and consulting services. The deal continues to enhance our position in offering seamless choice and activation across multiple payment types, including cards, account-to-account, push payments and blockchain, enabled in many cases through the power of open banking connectivity.