Britehorn Partners is pleased to announce that its client, Tryon Title Agency, has been acquired by a leading private equity platform with over $5bn of assets under management. The acquisition represents the first part of a proprietary strategy this platform intends to execute across the title industry.

Tryon Title Agency is a market-leading independent title insurance agency based in North Carolina with expertise in residential and commercial title services. The company was founded in 2007 by CEO Chris Corchiani, who will continue as CEO and remain a material owner of the business. Tryon is uniquely positioned with a strong industry reputation, an expanding market position, and a highly experienced in-house team to take advantage of expanding opportunities in the rapidly evolving title industry.

"We are absolutely delighted to partner with this buyer, believe in its plan for the title industry and are excited about this next phase of our company's growth," echoed Chris Corchiani. "We are also very grateful to our investment banking team, Britehorn Partners, led by Britehorn co-founding Partner Bobbi Babitz Armstrong. Bobbi and her team's unparalleled knowledge of the title industry and experience in getting deals across the finish line were essential to us throughout — making sure we found the right buyer, always advocating for us, and guiding us through every step of the transaction," said Corchiani. 

"The combination of Tryon Title Agency's world-class leadership with the private equity partner's deep strategic and financial support best positions the company, we believe, to continue its impressive trajectory," said Bobbi Babitz. "We are thrilled to have helped Chris and his team identify the best partner for the next chapter of Tryon's incredible story," added Britehorn co-founding Partner Brett Story.

 Net Savings Link, Inc. (OTC Pink: NSAV), a cryptocurrency, blockchain and digital asset technology company, today announced an update on its pending acquisition of a leading Cryptocurrency Exchange. On October 21, 2021, NSAV signed a Letter of Intent (“LOI”) to acquire a 51% stake in an unnamed, leading cryptocurrency exchange. Both sides are working to close the acquisition as quickly as possible. Management believes that this acquisition will be a game changer for the Company and a key component in the NSAV ECO-system.

Dato’ Sri Desmond Lim, Interim CEO and Senior Vice President of Cryptocurrency Operations for NSAV and Silverbear Capital partner stated, “We would like to thank the team at BW for their recent tweet, welcoming NSAV to the BW family. We would also like to thank the NSAV shareholders for their support, as this is a major transaction and may be taking a bit more time than we originally anticipated. The Company will provide updates as circumstances warrant.”

The FCA is today publishing a Discussion Paper inviting views on potential criteria to classify and label investment products. This is aimed at helping consumers navigate their sustainability characteristics. The Discussion Paper forms part of the FCA’s new wider ESG Strategy, also released today. The strategy sets out the FCA’s critical role in supporting the transition to a more sustainable economy, working with industry, listed companies and international partners.

The Strategy will be built around five key themes:

• Transparency – promoting transparency on climate change and wider sustainability along the value chain
• Trust – building trust and integrity in ESG-labelled instruments, products and the supporting ecosystem
• Tools – working with others to enhance industry capabilities and support firms’ management of climate-related and wider sustainability risks, opportunities and impacts
• Transition – supporting the role of finance in delivering a market-led transition to a more sustainable economy
• Team – developing strategies, organisational structures, resources and tools to support the integration of ESG into FCA activities

The FCA is also gathering feedback on supporting entity-level and product-level disclosures. The FCA will leverage existing initiatives in this area to ensure coherence with market practice and other regulation. The input received will then guide the FCA’s policy design in this area, ahead of consultations on new proposals in spring 2022.

Emma Wall, Head of Investment Analysis and Research at Hargreaves Lansdown:

“It is fantastic to see the regulator giving responsible investing the attention it deserves. We believe investing with environmental, social and governance issues in mind is simply good risk management – leaders who run businesses conduct aware, with the climate and society in mind, are likely to have sustainable revenues and profits. Investors have recognised this too – amongst our clients flows into responsible investment funds have gone up 6,000% in the last five years. We welcome the particular focus on transparency, which we know investors are calling for, as well as the wider commitment to supporting the transition to a greener, cleaner economy.”

The news follows Minterest’s recent $6.5m raise to create a new, fairer DeFi structure that puts users first

Minterest, a value-capturing lending and borrowing protocol designed to make DeFi fairer for users, has announced that it will be deployed on Moonbeam, an Ethereum-compatible smart contract parachain on Polkadot. 

Moonbeam will provide recognised world-class technical support to assist with the protocol’s migration, while, in turn, Minterest will act as a magnet for attracting  liquidity onto Moonbeam’s  parachain. In joining the Moonbeam ecosystem, Minterest is also committing to creating opportunities specific to the Moonbeam community, allowing them to engage with, and benefit from, the protocol.

Josh Rogers, CEO and Founder of Minterest said, “We have made a significant step forward in choosing to build on Moonbeam. After undertaking an extensive and  strategic assessment of Minterest’s options, it became clear that Moonbeam was the perfect deployment destination, and by far the best fit for the next phase of the protocol’s development. Moonbeam’s developer-friendly approach and ability to provide a gateway to Polkadot and all of its native assets are just some of the reasons we chose Moonbeam.”

Created by industry leaders to service billions in total value locked (TVL), Minterest is the world’s first lending protocol that captures 100% of value from interest, flash loan and liquidation fees which then get passed on to users. Unique features include an automated on-chain liquidation process and a buy-back mechanism which automatically passes on revenue to contributing platform users.

Moonbeam has made significant contributions towards the development of Polkadot’s EVM and boasts an impressive ecosystem, with over 70 projects committed to building on the platform.

Rogers said, “By launching on Moonbeam, we are able to offer our users a product that combines the best of both worlds. Since Moonbeam is built on Polkadot, we gain instant access to world class network security, low gas fees, and all the functionality that Polkadot brings. At the same time, Moonbeam’s compatibility also enables our users to seamlessly access the protocol via existing Web3.0 wallets.”

"As DeFi protocols mature, they are being measured with some of the same financial metrics used to measure traditional company performance," said Derek Yoo, Founder of Moonbeam.  "One of these metrics is protocol revenue.  Minterest's approach to distribute all protocol revenue back to token holders is both unique and in keeping with the spirit of Web3.  We are looking forward to supporting the Minterest team in growing their DeFi ecosystem on Moonbeam."

New integration allows businesses to create a single source for all their collection needs.

BlueSnap, a payment company helping businesses accept payments in over 200 geographies, today announced its partnership with Gaviti, a leader in automated A/R collections. 

BlueSnap and Gaviti have partnered together to help businesses create a seamless and efficient method for automated A/R collections.  Gaviti, a leader in automated A/R collections, offers customers the ability to create a more efficient collection procedure and increase their company cash flow. And through their partnership with global payment experts BlueSnap, Gaviti’s customers will now be able to effectively streamline and optimize global payment processing, simplify their business operations and, in turn, reduce overall costs.

“Relieving the burden from our customers to receive payments for their invoices is a tremendous benefit and increases efficiency in invoice collections,” says Yan Lazarev, Founder & CEO of Gaviti. “Our goal is to streamline the entire collections process so that our customers can increase cash flow, improve their DSO, and focus on building their company rather than waste unnecessary time collecting outstanding receivables”. 

“We are excited to partner with Gaviti to bring global payments options to businesses”, said Ralph Dangelmaier. “Our integration with Gaviti will help customers to achieve global expansion, increase revenue and reduce overall costs.”

With the new integration of BlueSnap’s All-in-One Payment Platform to Gaviti, businesses have access to a single powerful solution that allows them to sell in over 200 geographies with access to local acquiring in 47 countries, 110+ currencies and 100+ global payment types. Additional features include:

·  Global pre-built features

·  3DS

·  Chargeback management

·  Enhanced fraud protection

·  Unified global reporting

• Findings suggest an appetite for expansion among small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK
• Hidden fees when conducting cross-border payments continue to be a pain point for many businesses
• Accelerated digital adoption is expected to continue as many shift away from traditional banks to manage finances 

Global fintech platform Airwallex today announced findings from a survey conducted on UK-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), revealing that more than three-quarters of SMEs in the UK have plans for geographical expansion next year, with more than two-thirds believing that digital adoption will be important to enable accelerated growth opportunities. 

The poll of 500 business decision makers considered the reality facing UK SMEs as they look to invest in, and grow, their operations in 2022.

UK SMEs push ahead with international expansion

Widespread UK SME global expansion is planned for 2022, with 77% of those polled having said they plan to expand their presence in Europe and/or other international markets. 62% (six in ten) of UK SMEs plan to expand into Europe next year, and 38% have expansion plans beyond Europe.

Expansions plans are driven by the need to extend their business networks:

• More than half (54%) of UK SMEs’ expansion strategies for 2022 involve sourcing new customers

• Over two-fifths (45%) are aiming to source new suppliers abroad 
• To support their growth, nearly two-fifths (43%) also plan to expand marketing activities, with the same figure opting to establish new trade partnerships in international markets

Hidden fees a pain point for UK SMEs

Despite the focus on international expansion, the survey also suggested that business decision makers within UK SMEs are largely resigned to making extensive payment fees and foreign exchange. 

Cross-border payment challenges continue to have brought significant frustrations, particularly at a time when COVID has forced many to make and manage cross-border payments.

• More than half (53%) of UK SME business decision makers view international FX fees on cross-border payments as a pain point that takes too much effort to work around, while 26% think they are a pain point which cannot be avoided
• Over two-thirds (70%) agree the 'hidden fees' that come with dealing internationally with merchants are just a “necessary evil" of doing business across borders
• Managing payments in local currencies is also an issue: over half (58%) agree that paying international suppliers in their local currencies is a headache

UK SMEs keen to invest in business growth

In addition to expansion plans, the survey also gauged the impact payment fees might have on UK SME growth. Over two-thirds (69%) of respondents agree that businesses which don't take steps to cut down on unnecessary fees/charges around international trade are handicapping their growth.

Indeed, the survey revealed that losses from card fees specifically could otherwise be put to better use enabling business growth:

• Three-quarters (75%) of UK SMEs would invest that freed-up budget back into their business
• One fifth (21%) would invest savings back into staffing
• 17% would opt to invest in marketing, with the same figure opting to expand the product range 
• Around one in ten (12%) would invest in facilities, e.g., office expansion

UK SMEs show increased appetite for digital adoption

Two-thirds (66%) of UK SME business decision makers believe that organisations which don't adapt their banking strategy for the digital age will struggle against competitors. For many, the visibility and transparency that a digital platform offers is key: 64% of respondents think businesses without a real-time view of expenses, transfers, and all other transactions to track are not firmly in control of their finances.

While 7% of respondents have already moved all or the majority of their finances away from traditional banking to manage them on a digital fintech platform, a further 68% would consider doing this in future. In fact, more than two-fifths (44%) are considering doing this within the next 12 months.

Jed Rose, GM, EMEA at Airwallex comments, “As businesses throughout the world have been impacted by the pandemic, more innovative, tech-driven strategies are giving them the opportunity to enhance their globalisation efforts. Whether it is the ability to open accounts in new markets within seconds, or combining all international payments into one platform for greater control and flexibility, identifying tech platforms that can enable end-to-end solutions which support business expansion across borders can facilitate sustainable future growth for businesses of all sizes.” 

• Findings suggest an appetite for expansion among small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK
• Hidden fees when conducting cross-border payments continue to be a pain point for many businesses
• Accelerated digital adoption is expected to continue as many shift away from traditional banks to manage finances 

LONDON, UK – 3 November 2021 – Global fintech platform Airwallex today announced findings from a survey conducted on UK-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), revealing that more than three-quarters of SMEs in the UK have plans for geographical expansion next year, with more than two-thirds believing that digital adoption will be important to enable accelerated growth opportunities. 

The poll of 500 business decision makers considered the reality facing UK SMEs as they look to invest in, and grow, their operations in 2022.

UK SMEs push ahead with international expansion

Widespread UK SME global expansion is planned for 2022, with 77% of those polled having said they plan to expand their presence in Europe and/or other international markets. 62% (six in ten) of UK SMEs plan to expand into Europe next year, and 38% have expansion plans beyond Europe.

Expansions plans are driven by the need to extend their business networks:

• More than half (54%) of UK SMEs’ expansion strategies for 2022 involve sourcing new customers

• Over two-fifths (45%) are aiming to source new suppliers abroad 
• To support their growth, nearly two-fifths (43%) also plan to expand marketing activities, with the same figure opting to establish new trade partnerships in international markets

Hidden fees a pain point for UK SMEs

Despite the focus on international expansion, the survey also suggested that business decision makers within UK SMEs are largely resigned to making extensive payment fees and foreign exchange. 

Cross-border payment challenges continue to have brought significant frustrations, particularly at a time when COVID has forced many to make and manage cross-border payments.

• More than half (53%) of UK SME business decision makers view international FX fees on cross-border payments as a pain point that takes too much effort to work around, while 26% think they are a pain point which cannot be avoided
• Over two-thirds (70%) agree the 'hidden fees' that come with dealing internationally with merchants are just a “necessary evil" of doing business across borders
• Managing payments in local currencies is also an issue: over half (58%) agree that paying international suppliers in their local currencies is a headache

UK SMEs keen to invest in business growth

In addition to expansion plans, the survey also gauged the impact payment fees might have on UK SME growth. Over two-thirds (69%) of respondents agree that businesses which don't take steps to cut down on unnecessary fees/charges around international trade are handicapping their growth.

Indeed, the survey revealed that losses from card fees specifically could otherwise be put to better use enabling business growth:

• Three-quarters (75%) of UK SMEs would invest that freed-up budget back into their business
• One fifth (21%) would invest savings back into staffing
• 17% would opt to invest in marketing, with the same figure opting to expand the product range 
• Around one in ten (12%) would invest in facilities, e.g., office expansion

UK SMEs show increased appetite for digital adoption

Two-thirds (66%) of UK SME business decision makers believe that organisations which don't adapt their banking strategy for the digital age will struggle against competitors. For many, the visibility and transparency that a digital platform offers is key: 64% of respondents think businesses without a real-time view of expenses, transfers, and all other transactions to track are not firmly in control of their finances.

While 7% of respondents have already moved all or the majority of their finances away from traditional banking to manage them on a digital fintech platform, a further 68% would consider doing this in future. In fact, more than two-fifths (44%) are considering doing this within the next 12 months.

Jed Rose, GM, EMEA at Airwallex comments, “As businesses throughout the world have been impacted by the pandemic, more innovative, tech-driven strategies are giving them the opportunity to enhance their globalisation efforts. Whether it is the ability to open accounts in new markets within seconds, or combining all international payments into one platform for greater control and flexibility, identifying tech platforms that can enable end-to-end solutions which support business expansion across borders can facilitate sustainable future growth for businesses of all sizes.” 

·         100% AWS Lambda compatible

·         2,000 + organizations already using Scaleway’s Serverless solutions

·         The company brings choice to the Serverless ecosystem with the same Scaleway seamless experience, easy to understand pricing and reliability

·         After Kubernetes Kosmos and S3-based Object Storage, Scaleway continues to deliver on its Multi Cloud service approach, promoting product compatibility with the rest of the market

Scaleway, the multi-cloud service provider for developers and teams, today announces the release of Serverless Functions and Containers. Users can now easily run code and facilitate the execution of containers in Scaleway’s complete cloud ecosystem without the operational complexity of managing infrastructure. 

With over 2,000 organizations already using Scaleway’s Serverless solutions (Functions and Containers), the company embraces microservice architectures that are simpler to maintain, evolve and update, are less demanding in terms of resources, and are easily scalable. The company brings choice to the Serverless ecosystem with the same Scaleway seamless experience, easy to understand pricing and reliability. 

“With Serverless, we wanted to bring the best of both worlds: the simplicity of a serverless approach with the flexibility of containerization. As of today, Scaleway is the only European player to offer both a complete cloud ecosystem and a Serverless offering to manage it. Our clients can start to minimize their dependency on dominant non-EU cloud service providers starting today. In addition, Serverless is energy-efficient as it scales down to zero, effectively optimizing our aggregate utility as a public cloud provider.” - Yann Lechelle, CEO Scaleway. 

Scaleway’s Serverless: use the next generation of application architecture  

The next generation of builders are moving away from monolithic application design to developing applications via a series of microservices that complement one another. Due to microservices architectures being simpler to maintain, evolve and update, less demanding in terms of resources, and easily scalable, the Serverless approach to developing applications is becoming increasingly popular. By using technology like Serverless, technical teams no longer need to worry about scaling their infrastructure or the number of machines to allocate to their service - Serverless takes care of the heavy lifting for them.

The Scaleway Serverless range is fully integrated with Object Storage, Container Registry, Managed Database and the whole Scaleway ecosystem. Its users can now seamlessly deploy and rely on a fully managed integrated ecosystem, and as a consequence to concentrate on building their products. 

Scaleway’s Serverless solutions make managing resources easier, provisioning virtual machines only when they are needed and providing developers increased productivity in a cost-effective manner via a pay-as-you-go model. Users are billed based on the number of requests and consumed resources (memory) per millisecond.

Serverless - Functions

Serverless Functions is made for developers or organizations that are looking to easily deploy routines or simple services.

• 100% compatible with the Serverless.com & Terraform, as well as AWS Lambda
• Supports runtime on Node.js, Python, and Go 
• Supports HTTP & CRON Triggers

VERMEG, a leading provider of Banking, Insurance and Digital solutions, and LiquidShare, an innovative European provider of a blockchain settlement platform, today announced the connectivity of MEGARA© with LiquidShare to seamlessly settle crypto assets using blockchain technology.

The regulated securities custody industry has been receiving increased institutional and client demand to extend the traditional asset custody and servicing to the crypto investment class. As a leading provider of asset custody software to central banks and financial services firms VERMEG has established an A2A connection between VERMEG’s MEGARA© and LiquidShare Platform to allow custodians using MEGARA© to provide custody services of assets issued in LiquidShare. 

This also makes LiquidShare one of the first blockchain platforms offering connectivity to a leading custody platform. 

 “It is my pleasure to announce that MEGARA©, already connected to various blockchain platforms providing custody services for traditional and crypto assets, has added the connectivity and support of full cycle settlement on LiquidShare to its catalog. By connecting both solutions, we offer our clients faster time-to-market capability to extend their services and increase their business. LiquidShare is an important player in blockchain custody, and this partnership will accelerate the adoption by custodians of one single solution to support custody of all types of assets”, said Boujemaa KHALDI, Product Director in VERMEG. 

“The integration of MEGARA© with our platform is an important step in the adoption of LiquidShare as the main provider of blockchain solutions for issuing and settling crypto assets. MEGARA© is a leading solution for custodians and this connectivity will allow its clients immediate access to assets managed in LiquidShare”, said Jean-Marc EYSSAUTIER, LiquidShare’s CEO.

Itas Solutions aiming to revolutionise financial processes via Sage integration and business process automation

Codeless Platforms today revealed that Itas Solutions, a multi-award-winning Platinum Sage Partner, has selected BPA Platform to be the catalyst in its strategic finance transformation initiative which aims to revolutionise its customers’ financial functions. Itas will now be using BPA Platform to integrate Sage products with CRM and eCommerce systems (Magento, Shopify and WooCommerce) and automate numerous business processes to help businesses improve efficiencies, increase productivity and reduce costs.

“The really interesting aspect about finance at the moment is the rising need for automation. However, one of the challenges is that those automation requirements can sometimes be quite unique. Therefore, one of the things I really like about BPA Platform is the range of integration possibilities; it's not just eCommerce or CRM. It's the flexibility that the platform offers that is really exciting, as well as the fact that we're not reliant on heavy coding or development capabilities to be able to achieve that,” explained Hannah Munro, Managing Director, Itas Solutions.

Established in 1995, Itas Solutions is a Sage 200, Sage Intacct and Sage 50 specialist that offers services around these Sage solutions, such as the implementation of software, support, training and consultancy. As part of this process, the company is looking to further enhance its customer offering by providing integration and automation capabilities via BPA Platform.

“I’m quite excited about the fact that I’m not sure any one project is going to be the same. One of the really appealing characteristics of BPA Platform is how we can use it in so many different ways. I’m already talking to customers about Sage integration with CRM systems. We’ve got a number of Salesforce accredited people and we are a HubSpot partner, so we have a particular interest in that area. However, we have a lot of our customers who are in distribution and manufacturing so we’re also looking at eCommerce integration,” said Hannah Munro.

“The interesting thing about eCommerce is that even though everyone’s using the same platforms their integration requirements aren’t always the same. Therefore, the way that we see this product being used is having prebuilt connectors, with the additional ability to build bespoke integrations that are tailored to an individual customer.”

Addressing the ever-changing demands of its customers is paramount for Itas Solutions. With many looking to shift away from admin, improve productivity, acquire better, faster data, as well as enable employees to have a better work-life balance, itas Solutions understands that integration and automation is the solution.

“The problem that we we're looking to solve is how do we connect the dots? How do we feed information directly into a system to remove errors and to reduce the time spent on typing things in? How do we make those users that are already in a business much more valuable in terms of spending time on the elements that matter? It's all about building tailored integration automation solutions,” said Hannah Munro.

“I see a world in the future where finance teams will actually have the capabilities and the skill sets to build this themselves. However, we're starting that process by acting as the consultant to help people establish that scenario. I am really excited to see where this could go over the next few years.”

The political and social climate has changed irrevocably over the past few years, which has made organisations not only reassess how they conduct business, but how they also operate internally.

“A lot of distribution customers have been affected by the recent trade deals because of the increased need for paperwork. It's not just about the paper, it's about that paperwork being correct. They can't run the risk of things going wrong or not having the right information. Therefore, pulling information down automatically and getting that sync working well is really, really important from that perspective. Additionally, the recent pandemic has identified the fact that people want a work life balance. They want to have the flexibility to do other errands when necessary, which means focusing on getting rid of manual admin tasks and making them automated,” said Hannah Munro.

“Businesses are worried about having to increase staff numbers. However, if it's automated, they don't have to worry about that. The other element that they have to worry about is data security. Obviously, people working from home downloading spreadsheets of customer data and then uploading it into another system is not necessarily the best approach. If we can automate those processes, we can therefore reduce the risk of data security. Automation also means that important tasks can occur in the background, giving businesses a bit more flexibility about when and where employees work as well.”

This finance transformation philosophy is central to the ethos and approach that Itas Solutions has adopted, which it discusses and analyses in its CFO 4.0 Podcast: The Future of Finance. 

“In the podcast we talk about people and processes, and how do we get finance into a position where they can do the value-added piece, focusing on the strategy side of finance rather than data entry and administration. We talk with CFOs about everything from the state of the role of the CFO and the interesting technology trends available, such as integration and automation, through to surveys and research reports,” concluded Hannah Munro.