Handepay, the leading card payments solutions provider and part of the PayPoint Group, is supporting the launch of a brand new one-month rolling contract – this unique product is designed to offer customers around the UK a simpler, more flexible service.

The contract is immediately available to all customers switching their card machine from another provider and will initially run from October for a trial period. Whether a business takes card payments face to face, online or over the phone, Handepay’s safe, simple and hassle-free switching service offers:

• Cover of any switching fees from an existing provider in almost all cases
• Contactless payments including Apple Pay, Google Pay & Samsung Pay
• Improved cash flow and getting your money the next banking day through the Accelerated Settlement Service
• No minimum monthly service charge
• No fees for PCI DSS compliance or non-compliance
• Access to a Free Business Resource Centre

In parallel to the one-month rolling contract launch, Handepay is also supporting the offer of a 12-month contract to any customers new to card payments that sign up to the service. Previously only available on a 48-month contract, this new contract will provide budding businesses looking to expand their revenue streams all the benefits of Handepay without the long-term commitment.

Mark Latham, Card Services Director at PayPoint commented: “Handepay have long been a champion of small businesses across the UK, and this has become even more important as they continue to recover from the pandemic. The new one-month rolling contract is designed to give more flexibility, control and value to customers to help them continue to grow as the economy bounces back.

“Similarly, the 12-month flexible contract, for businesses signing up to card payments for the first time, signifies our commitment to continually evolve Handepay to meet the most urgent needs of its customers, offering the best service and support they require to drive efficiencies in their cashflow and revenue capture.”

The UK-founded shared experiences platform takes home gold, ahead of finalists from 20 countries across Europe

Hopin, the UK-founded shared experiences platform that enables immersive and interactive connection from anywhere, has been crowned Europe’s top scale-up at The Tech5 Awards, hosted by TNW and Adyen at the TNW conference in Amsterdam.

Now in its eighth year, Tech5 showcases the hottest young scale-ups in Europe based on their performance, growth, and potential. It has been a launchpad for companies such as Wise, Delivery Hero, Cabify, Foodpanda, Emma Mattress and iZettle. Tech5 finalist alumni have raised over $10 billion in funding altogether over the last eight years.

The Tech5 judging panel consists of investors, influencers, and technology experts. Each year, they identify the hottest 100 companies across Europe by examining growth rate, significant company milestones, fundraising, and disruptive potential.

Hopin’s unprecedented growth in the past year was a major factor in it taking home first prize.

Founded in 2019 and launched in 2020, Hopin is a shared experiences platform redefining how people connect around the globe. Since February 2020, it has raised over $1 billion to become one of Europe’s most coveted tech unicorns. It’s now a global operation, growing from 8 to over 800 employees across 47 countries in just over a year; and is used by more than 100,000 organisations, including WeTransfer, Poshmark, and YMCA.

This year, judges were also looking for businesses that pursued a wider social impact. During lockdown, Hopin helped keep businesses running and people connected. In March 2020, it accelerated its launch for the thousands of organizations on the waitlist that needed Hopin more than ever. It further demonstrated its commitment to keep people connected with the later launch of its free subscription plan, so that anyone can create meaningful events anywhere, for free. In addition, Hopin recently announced a partnership with fundraising platform, GoFundMe, which will make it easier for companies, conference organizers, and individuals to incorporate social impact into their events and engage audiences with an in-event donation experience.

Hopin’s win is testament to the strong tech community in the UK. Other scale-up finalists in the UK included Oddbox Delivery Ltd, HungryPanda, Farewill, and Feast It.

“It’s really exciting to bring Europe’s most successful new businesses together and celebrate innovation,” Colin Neil, Managing Director Adyen UK said. “While the last two years have brought challenges, these businesses have shown true entrepreneurial spirit by reacting to a new environment and thriving. Hopin, for example, went from initial idea to globally-renowned business in just two years. It’s an impressive story of determination and focus.”

Patrick de Laive, Co-founder, The Next Web comments; “This year’s Tech5 class shows what is great about business. Despite the challenges of the past few years, European innovators can’t be slowed. There have been some truly inspiring organisations emerge and do great things and not just in a business sense – which is what Tech5 is all about. We’re here to celebrate growth, innovation and new ideas, to show the world that Europe is fertile ground for start-ups and scale-ups. Hopin is a worthy winner in an exceptionally strong year, not only demonstrating massive growth, but an ability to keep people and businesses moving during the pandemic.

• New staking innovation makes earning crypto easy

• DIVI holders can stake their coins and earn rewards at the press of a button

• Divi 1-click mobile technologies now include masternodes and staking vaults

Decentralized payments ecosystem, Divi Project, has taken another major step towards its goal to create an easy to use, private payment solution, with the launch of its proprietary, 1-click mobile staking vaults. Engineered for the mainstream user, the technology enables DIVI coin owners to stake and earn at the press of a button, while maintaining sovereignty, autonomy, and security over their coins. 

Developed by Divi Labs, Divi’s decentralized fintech innovation centre, the staking vaults deliver ground-breaking advancements in cryptocurrency earnings technology. Unlike other forms of staking, Divi’s vaults do not require an always-on internet connection to run after set-up, no technical expertise is needed to install them, and by removing the need for a third-party custodian or pool manager, they put the user in full control of how their coins are staked.

DIVI holders can stake any amount of their coins, withdrawals are allowed at any time and there’s no lockout period. The coins never leave the wallet and all processing is done in the cloud, ensuring the highest levels of security and control. Returns are estimated at 20.7% APY. Currently there is 1.3bn DIVI across its mobile and desktop masternodes and an estimated 873m DIVI across its desktop staking nodes.

Nick Saponaro, co-founder and CEO, Divi said: “By pushing complexity to the background we’ve ensured that anyone can put their coins to work and be rewarded for securing our network. Divi’s Staking Vaults ensure anyone who owns DIVI can earn no matter how much they hold or the technology/bandwidth at their disposal.”

“The beauty of this technology is multi-faceted. There’s no counterparty or middle-man risk as the user retains the coins and keys. In addition, it allows decentralized node deployment from a mobile device, where currently, all implementations require some level of custody.”

Divi’s ‘Smart Wallet’, which launched in the US earlier this year, already comes loaded with innovative features and proprietary technologies that solve the issues of usability and accessibility that have frustrated mainstream crypto use. They include: 

• The company’s patent pending 1-click masternode (mMOCCI) technology

• Readable addresses that take the risk out of sending/receiving cryptocurrency 

• A familiar and intuitive onboarding process and user experience not found in many decentralized wallets

Launched with four cryptocurrencies - Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and DIVI, Divi intends to quickly expand the digital and local currencies available as well as adding on-ramps, to enable users to easily convert their crypto into fiat currency and vice-versa. Available in the US only at present, the wallet is scheduled to launch in the UK and EU by the end of October.

The Divi Project was established in 2017 to accelerate crypto’s mainstream adoption. Through Divi Labs, the company is developing world-class decentralized solutions that make cryptocurrency faster, more secure, and accessible to people at all levels of technical expertise.

Divi’s wallet is available today in the App Store and Google Play.

GKG’s KIG BV, the Netherlands-based global financial services group, has acquired a South Africa-based financial service provider Maru Asset Managers with the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). 

Maru is an asset management company with a dedicated focus on combining disciplined methodologies with insightful qualitative investment processes. It offers equity investment solutions to the institutional investment market.

The acquisition, part of KIG BV’s strategy to expand its global reach, gives the Group the right to provide intermediary services for shares, money market instruments, debentures and securitized debt, warrants, certificates, and other instruments. In terms of discretionary services, the acquisition provides KIG BV with a licence for bonds, derivative instruments, collective investment schemes, along with long- and short-term deposits in South Africa. 

The acquisition will give KIG BV access to Africa’s second biggest economy which is continuing to grow and is seen as the engine for growth for the continent. Furthermore, it will add to KIG BV’s presence in the Africa region, as earlier in the year it acquired a licence in Mauritius. 

Gökhan Erkıralp, KIG BV CEO, says: 'We are very excited about expanding our global presence to South Africa. The country’s fast-growing population and local market presence represent an important opportunity for us. South Africa is also the major financial centre for the African continent, which will provide potential access to an increased customer base.’

'KIG BV aims to build a stronger, more innovative, and inclusive approach to international financial markets. We have already stepped into Africa with the GK Trade International in Mauritius and today’s acquisition builds on that. Our group will continue its expansion to increase its global reach and products.'

In this year alone, KIG BV has made four significant acquisitions to increase its global reach and products. The Group entered the US with GK Trade New York by acquiring a FINRA licenced broker-dealer, the Australian market with ASIC licenced FairMarkets, the Mauritian market with FSC licenced GK Trade International, and the Turkish market by the takeover of Işık Menkul, a CMB regulated multi-asset broker. 

AppTech Corp. a fintech company, announced today that the Company converted or cured the default on vast majority of its previously defaulted debt. To aid in its endeavor of listing on a national exchange to further enhance its financial stability, AppTech negotiated with debt holders to restructure their debt. The negotiations were well received by the debt holders permitting the Company to significantly improve its financial position.

The debt holders were given the opportunity to either convert AppTech’s outstanding debt into shares of common stock at a slight discount from fair market value or forbear all payments and interest for a period of one year in exchange for a one-time equity bonus. To date, through these actions, AppTech removed the default on over $3M in debt. This includes more than $1M being converted. AppTech will continue seeking to improve its financial condition as it progresses towards its goals of an effective public offering, listing to a national exchange and launching its comprehensive financial services platform.

After government announced a £500m grant to help vulnerable households in the UK, PayPoint is lauding the decision and now calling on local authorities to provide convenient and immediate access to much needed cash to the financially vulnerable.

Throughout the pandemic, more than 100 local authorities benefitted from PayPoint’s Cash Out service to help deliver emergency funds to those in need, with over 2 million vouchers issued with a total value of over £100 million.  Cash Out works in real-time to seamlessly enable eligible households to receive vouchers via email, letter or SMS to then be presented to obtain cash or energy credit payments at one of PayPoint’s 28,000 retailers. These include Sainsburys, Asda, The Co-op, Spar, and One-Stop, as well as more conveniently placed local shops.

Over 99% of urban households are within one mile of a PayPoint location, and 98.3% of rural households within five miles. 

Demonstrating the speed at which people can benefit from the service, a PayPoint Cash Out voucher was recorded as having been presented to obtain cash just over a minute from receipt.

PayPoint has also recently joined forces with the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) to deliver payments to those without access to a standard bank account. Previously, many UK benefits recipients, who choose to receive their benefits in cash, collected their payments using a paper-based voucher system or a Post Office Card Account, which is coming to an end.

Danny Vant, Client Services Director at PayPoint said: “Since March 2020, we have seen various government support mechanisms created, and while there has been success, local authorities faced challenges in providing straightforward access to funds. To help with this issue, we made use of our Cash Out solution and network of retailers.”

For local authorities, access to the Cash Out facility is via an online portal which removes the need for any development. Not only does this ease the burden on local authorities already facing significant challenges but enables them to utilise Cash Out as a solution immediately.

In South Lanarkshire, the solution was successfully used with the distribution and redemption of school meal vouchers.  Stephen Pendrich, Benefits and Revenue Advisor for South Lanarkshire Council explains: “We knew we needed to find a fast and efficient solution to deliver school meal payments to all of our eligible residents in need of financial support. eGift vouchers for large supermarkets were not inclusive enough, particularly considering the geographical challenges in South Lanarkshire.

“To this day, PayPoint’s Cash Out remains a vital service for our residents, alongside bank transfer which we later introduced to offer as an alternative way of providing financial support.”

Family Fund Business Services used CashOut to meet its ambition of delivering £7.5m to local authority beneficiaries. The organisation was also able to provide access to emergency cash 24/7, 365 days a year. 

Jill Wheeler, Managing Director of FFBS, commented: “Our clients and their beneficiaries are at the heart of everything we do, so any solutions we utilise must ultimately best serve them, not just improve our own practices. Importantly, this ethos is mirrored by PayPoint so when lockdown came into force, we were united in stepping up plans to fully digitise our offering and deliver flexible, friction-free payment options.”

Danny Vant concludes: “We adapted quickly to the challenges of the last 18-months and stand in a strong position to continue our support to local authorities across the country without them having to make heavy investment in new systems. The pairing of our Cash Out technology and network of retailers allows us, and the local authorities we work with, to create a framework that suits individual and national needs.”

To promote the European Cybersecurity Month, Nixu is offering a wide range of cybersecurity tips and learning solutions, including webinars, whitepapers and interactive resources that organizations and individuals can utilize for free.

Cybersecurity belongs to everyone!

"Most organizations that end up as victims of cybercrime are united by inadequate cybersecurity. However, it should not be forgotten that cybersecurity is much more than just technology. An organization’s cyber resilience can be significantly improved by raising the cybersecurity awareness of management and personnel, identifying the risks in the digital operating environment, and – with the support of a holistic cybersecurity partner – focusing especially on issues that have the greatest impact on the continuity of organization’s operations,” says Petri Kairinen, Nixu CEO.

Keeping the digital society running

Tax efficient investment manager Deepbridge Capital has today (4^th October 2021) announced that it has exceeded £200m of funds deployed across its EIS and Estate Planning Service funds, with a current NAV in excess of £250m.

Founded in 2010, Chester-based Deepbridge launched its first EIS fund in the 2013/14 tax year and specialises in providing venture capital to early-stage technology, life sciences, and renewable energy companies.

Deepbridge has, to date, invested in 71 companies across the UK with Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) funding, a further 63 companies at Seed EIS stage, with three profitable exits.

Earlier this year, Deepbridge reported a record year of EIS fund raising, with almost £30m of funds deployed during the 2020/21 tax year across the Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS and Deepbridge Life Sciences EIS.

In addition to its EIS funds, Deepbridge also manages the Deepbridge Estate Planning Service, which utilises business relief qualifying renewable energy assets to provide inheritance tax mitigation.

Ian Warwick, Managing Partner at Deepbridge Capital, commented: “When we launched our first fund eight years ago, our goal was to support early-stage companies on their growth journey and provide the best possible products for investors, with fundraising milestones not on our mind. However, reaching such a milestone represents an opportunity to reflect on our achievements, which are solely down to having a great team, great investee companies and fantastic support from investors and financial advisers. Our approach of providing hands-on proactive support to investees is proving the right approach; with three profitable exits to date, a portfolio of companies which is maturing well, and significant co-funding being attracted – our investors and financial adviser community can look forward to further good news stories ahead.

“When the Government’s Patient Capital Review redefined the EIS sector and focused investments on growth-focused innovators, this supported our proposition perfectly as we have long spoken about investing in the spirit of EIS; namely seeking to scale great companies that contribute to the UK economy.  As we undergo a period of economic recovery in the UK, the Enterprise Investment Scheme has never been more important and will be critical to creating the great companies of tomorrow.  We look forward to providing even further support to great growth companies over the coming years.”

Mark Brownridge, Director General at the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association (EISA), added: “The Enterprise and Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes continue to deliver money where its needed most in the UK economy and nowhere is this better demonstrated than by long-term EISA members, like Deepbridge, raising such significant sums for early-stage companies in the UK. As we sit here in 2021 and with the UK desperately seeking economic growth, there is no doubt EIS and SEIS continues to provide embryonic companies with equity funding at a point in their lifecycle where other forms of funding do not dare to tread. 

“EIS and SEIS have a long and proud track record in supporting innovative, scalable companies and announcements such as Deepbridge’s go to prove the significant level of optimism in the industry currently; entrepreneurs are turning their bright ideas into productive companies, investors are waking up to the investment opportunities these companies present and I’m absolutely convinced the next wave of unicorns and blue chip companies to come out of the UK will be SEIS and/or EIS funded.”

Deepbridge currently consists of 53 team members across offices in Chester, London, Edinburgh, Bristol and Queensland, Australia.

Global technology provider Arrow Electronics today announced it has signed an agreement with Druva, a leader in cloud data protection and management. This strategic collaboration will provide pan-European channel partners access to Druva’s comprehensive portfolio of industry-leading solutions designed to help organizations strengthen data resilience, security and accessibility.

The agreement encompasses the support and channel go-to-market strategies for Druva Cloud Platform, which offers unified and simplified data protection across cloud and hybrid environments, leading SaaS applications such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Salesforce, as well as edge devices. 

Alexis Brabant, vice president sales of Arrow’s enterprise computing solutions business said, “The importance of data resilience has elevated over the last year and risen up the board agenda as businesses strive to ensure business continuity and disaster recovery. Druva’s portfolio adds huge value to our cloud offering, and working together we will be able to enhance support for our channel partners across the EMEA region.”

Dennis Sherwood, senior director of global distribution, Druva said: “Our new collaboration with Arrow is an important route to market as we continue our commitment to support organizations successfully navigating their cloud journeys. Our portfolio addresses the data resilience challenges that organisations face today, bringing simplicity, scale and security to the cloud and all aspects of enterprise data protection. With Druva’s scalability, security and proven cost savings, combined with Arrow’s extensive channel partner ecosystem, we will be able to help even more businesses strengthen their data resilience, reduce operational complexity, and thrive in the cloud era.”

The agreement initially focuses on markets across the United Kingdom, Benelux, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, France and Germany, with a roadmap to add Druva’s entire portfolio to ArrowSphere, Arrow‘s award-winning cloud management platform.