• Fundraise: £280 million debt and equity raise at MarketFinance signals positive endorsement by investors for businesses as UK growth forecasts are revised up
• COVID support:  MarketFinance accredited by British Business Bank as a lender under Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS)
• New product: MarketFinance launches Flex Loans, an unsecured flexible facility to help SMEs solve their day to day cash flow problems
• Profitability: MarketFinance records profitability for H1 2021 as the business scales to deliver multi-product finance services to SMEs

Fintech business lender MarketFinance has today announced a £280m debt and equity fundraise and its accreditation under the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS). This comes after MarketFinance became one of the first fintechs to be accredited under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), having lent £250m to companies across the UK.

Launched by the British Business Bank in April 2021, the Recovery Loan Scheme supports access to finance for UK businesses as they recover and grow following the pandemic. Funding from the Scheme can be used for any legitimate business purpose including managing cashflow, investment in new equipment and preparing for future growth. It is designed to appeal to businesses that can afford to take out additional finance for these purposes.

MarketFinance is ready to lend immediately with its debt and equity funding. The debt financing has been provided from a large global investment firm alongside Italy’s largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. The equity investment was led by Black River Ventures (previous investments include Marqeta, Upgrade, Coursera and Digital Ocean) with participation from existing investor, Barclays Bank PLC.

Alongside this, the launch of MarketFinance Flex Loans today will aim to help nearly one million SMEs in the UK solve their short-term funding gaps up to £100,000. Viola Credit has provided MarketFinance with £20m to launch the Flex Loans product. Similar to a credit card or overdraft, businesses will have a pre-agreed limit of up to £100,000 which they can withdraw at once or in smaller amounts. Flexible repayment options enable the businesses to spread their repayments over 3 - 12 months based on their working capital needs. It is a solution to support a variety of one-off and ongoing funding requirements such as purchasing inventory, clearing outstanding invoices, upfront supplier payments, investment into sales and marketing, or expanding the team.

Anil Stocker, CEO at MarketFinance, commented: “This funding and our accreditation as a Recovery Loan Scheme lender is testament to the brilliant work everyone at MarketFinance has done to serve UK businesses during a difficult period. Adapting to the increased demand from businesses looking for finance online instead of through traditional avenues also drove our profitability this year, which has continued into H2 2021”.

From today, businesses can immediately apply* for an RLS loan from MarketFinance between £50k and £250k repayable over 4, 5 or 6 years.  Repayments in the first six months of the term will only consist of interest charges, an additional support measure as businesses gear themselves for a full reopening of the economy.

Anil Stocker added: “Businesses have been resilient and managed to hold their nerve during one of the most difficult periods in recent history. We were there to help with the CBILS and will do the same with the RLS by offering a simple application process, quick decisions and sending funds to businesses immediately. Our fundraise puts us in pole position to do this. We played a key role during CBILS, as one of the first fintech lenders, to help get funds to businesses quickly when they found their applications were delayed and or denied by others. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with businesses and help navigate them through to the full reopening of the economy and beyond”.

As a native fintech, the MarketFinance platform is designed to receive, process and manage large volumes of businesses applying for finance using the platform. From simple online application forms, enhanced credit risk models to exceptional one-to-one customer support, MarketFinance will get RLS funds to businesses in need, quickly.

“We aim to quickly lend to businesses around the UK. We anticipate demand for RLS to come from companies that will need capital to scale operations ahead of the full reopening of the economy. Manufacturers, wholesalers, public services businesses and a range of others will need the funds to ramp up supplies and build pipelines as business returns to normal” added Anil Stocker.

• Winners are Hastee - financial health platform offering earnings on demand, financial wellbeing & education tools – and Udrafter - online marketplace for on-demand student and graduate talent offering paid micro-internships

• Nesta’s Rapid Recovery Challenge, launched in response to the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, is designed to support and scale new tools and solutions that aim to provide rapid and personalised support with finances and jobs to people across the UK

• Announcement accompanied with new Social Market Foundation (SMF) report, commissioned by Nesta Challenges, including recommendations for government to support COVID-19 recovery

The winners of Nesta’s Rapid Recovery Challenge have today been announced as the £3m prize closes. Since its launch, the Challenge innovators have provided support to 63,000 people during the pandemic. The two winners will receive an additional £200,000 each - bringing their total challenge funding to £475,000 each - and go on to collectively support a further 100,000 people by the end of 2023. 

The winners of the Rapid Recovery Challenge are:

• Hastee - a financial health platform that offers earnings on demand, financial education, and other financial well-being tools 

• Udrafter - an online marketplace where businesses can access student and graduate talent on-demand and students are paid to complete degree relevant micro-internships which provide them with crucial work experience

As part of the Challenge, Hastee enhanced its financial education offer to provide a bespoke tool for users allowing them to take better control of their finances. Giving people access to their pay as and when it is earned helps workers manage their incomings and outgoings, and reducing the need to revert to high-cost credit. This, in turn, reduces financial stress and improves financial health.

Meanwhile, Udrafter has improved its automated online technology, targeted at young people studying or recently graduated from higher education at college or university in the UK - with a particular focus on those whose employment status has been badly impacted by Covid-19. It has improved the onboarding experience and usability of the platform, while also being more targeted in reaching new users.

Nesta’s £3m Rapid Recovery Challenge was launched in response to the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenge is designed to support and scale new tools and solutions which offer rapid and personalised support to improve the job prospects and financial situation of people impacted by COVID-19 across the UK. 

Funded by Nesta in partnership with JPMorgan Chase and the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), fourteen innovative solutions were provided with funding and support to further develop and then rapidly scale their ideas. 

The two winners have collectively scaled to over 30,000 consumers in just 4 months, demonstrating that through innovative practice and smart use of technology, problems can be solved efficiently and effectively. The winners of the Rapid Recovery Challenge are announced as the latest ONS data shows the unemployment rate - while decreasing - stands at 4.6%, up from 3.8% during the same period in 2019 demonstrating the ongoing strain on people’s career prospects and household finances. 

Alongside the Challenge programme, Nesta Challenges commissioned a report from the Social Market Foundation (SMF) - Guaranteeing a Rapid Recovery. The report sets a series of recommendations for government and innovators to support consumers as the recovery from COVID-19 continues including:

• The government could take a leading role in developing and supporting innovation on jobs and financial resilience to support people to recover post-pandemic - including allowing GPs to ‘prescribe’ services to support people’s career and financial wellbeing

• Improved official data, particularly on household finances, to help identify where additional support is needed for individuals

It also calls on the UK government to take a more proactive role in coordinating innovation on jobs and financial resilience support. For example through curating a network of organisations with direct links to vulnerable users, enabling primary care professionals to refer people to a range of services to support their health and wellbeing, or allow innovators to co-locate within government-owned sites such as Job Centres.

Tris Dyson, managing director at Nesta Challenges, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the financial resilience and job prospects of many people across the UK, particularly young people and those in already precarious positions. 

“Innovative tools and solutions that help people who have borne the brunt of the economic shock of the pandemic are vital - tools like those offered by our challenge prize winners Hastee and Udrafter.

“Through the Rapid Recovery Challenge, 14 innovators have received funding and support to help more than 63,000 people across the UK and the winners will reach a further 100,000 by the end of 2023. Throughout the challenge, these tools and platforms were carefully cultivated to evolve into the effective and scalable solutions we see today. The tools developed by the two winners will significantly boost access to employment opportunities and money for thousands of individuals who would otherwise face a struggle to survive financially as the UK emerges from the pandemic.

Alongside the Challenge prize, the SMF report also underlines the importance of the role played by government, regulators, policymakers and stakeholders in ensuring support reaches the people who need it most, and innovations like these can continue to succeed.” 

Scott Corfe, research director at the SMF, said: “As the furlough scheme closes and the dust settles on the biggest economic crisis since the Second World War, the state now must turn its attention to supporting a recovery which prioritises employment and financial support for those hardest hit by the pandemic.

“The evidence is clear: rapid and personalised support is the best way to help people back into work and bolster financial resilience. The Government can lead the charge by coordinating innovation to ensure enterprising firms can scale solutions that provide tailored support at speed."

The Guaranteeing a Rapid Recovery report can be accessed here: www.smf.co.uk/publications/rapid-recovery

Nexi Group has been chosen as the future provider of payment solutions by international home retailer, JYSK, in five additional countries (Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy). This is the first European-wide collaborative agreement across the Nexi and Nets footprint, extending the partnership with JYSK to cover 14 European countries in total. Together, Nexi Group will provide a streamlined and scalable terminal and acquiring solution covering both online and in-store payments. 

The payments industry is becoming increasingly globalised, but payment preferences and behaviours still differ from country to country. For a retailer like JYSK, that is consistently expanding its business – adding more than 150 new stores a year just in Europe – it is important that its customers can pay with their preferred payment method, including domestic schemes. 

“We wanted a payments provider which enables us to accept payments from both the major international payment schemes like Visa and Mastercard, as well as domestic payment card schemes in the countries we operate, making payment as easy as possible for our customers. The Nexi Group can support our needs across different markets, and we look forward to benefiting from the synergies of having one common partner to serve us across 14 countries,” says Preben Bonde Larsen, Payment Solutions Manager at JYSK. 

In addition to a unified payment solution set-up, JYSK will benefit from joint reconciliation and the broad array of payment schemes that Nexi Group supports. Attaining this first combined international customer win for Nets and Nexi since merging in July 2021 reflects the group’s ability to offer European-wide payment acceptance.  

“With this agreement, we leverage our local presence and extended European reach, building on the combined and strengthened value proposition we can now offer. Together with our colleagues at Nexi, we look forward to supporting the further expansion of JYSK and its customers,” says Robert Hoffmann, CEO of Merchant Services at Nets.  

Brian Guckian, ex-SEB, and Andrew Taylor, ex-RBS, have joined ALT/AVE, the London-based RegTech startup that is using distributed ledger technology to securely communicate with customers. ALT/AVE previously won an Innovate UK Smart Grant, as their product, docStribute, was classified as being within “the best game-changing and commercially viable innovative or disruptive ideas. 

Brian Guckian is a veteran investment banker and brings over 25 years’ experience to the table as he joins ALT/AVE’s board - which is chaired by Phil Shelley, formerly of Goldman Sachs and Barclays. In a career dating back to the 90s, Brian worked at SEB, rising to head of equities. Currently, Guckian is involved with numerous startups through his work at Appital and advisory positions, as well as being an investor in a range of startups. His specialisms include business development and fundraising, both of which he looks forward to bringing to ALT/AVE. 

On joining the board, Guckian commented: “How information is shared, in a secure and regulatory compliant way, is a recurring and ever present issue in modern business. For too long, large organisations such as banks have been overly reliant on paper because the cost of non-compliance is so high. That is where docStribute fits into the equation: distributed ledger technology, and the use of the Hedera Hashgraph network, means that emissions per document are minimal, and the user is protected from a cybersecurity perspective. The ALT/AVE team have built an outstanding product, and one which I am only all too keen to help elevate further, and I am so very pleased to join the team.”

New head of sales Andrew Taylor has worked at RBS and MarketFinance, in a number of sales leadership roles. Andrew started at RBS, where he spent 10 years in a range of positions, before taking the decision to take the leap into the startup world, joining MarketFinance in 2016, a FinTech that specialises in funding solutions for businesses. The past five years have been as Head of Portfolio Management. Having seen the issues with document management first hand in financial services, and adjacent sectors, Andrew is now joining ALT/AVE enthusiastic to apply his experience.

“ALT/AVE is an exciting company with a revolutionary product, which made the decision to join that much easier,” says Andrew Taylor. “I got a real taste for working in the startup environment, having left RBS, and am looking forward to working with the financial services, and adjacent sectors, about the capabilities and uses of docStribute. The product is one which is relied upon already to carry tightly regulated information, and docStribute does this in a way that does not just protect the user, but does so in a way that reduces carbon emissions.”

Through docStribute, users from across sectors can trust they are taking positive action in response to climate change (reducing emissions by using less paper and energy). In addition, docStribute will protect users from a cybersecurity perspective and regulatory compliance is assured by the product’s core features.

ALT/AVE uses distributed ledger technology to provide financial institutions with a durable medium to send regulated documents to their customers. ALT/AVE enables banks and other financial institutions to meet the strict regulatory requirements set out by the Financial Conduct Authority (www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/BCOBS/4.pdf) on how these documents must be distributed without relying on paper. The financial services sector is currently estimated to distribute 5.2bn pieces of paper at a cost of £1.7bn a year, equivalent to 2.4 million trees. The technology is now being used in adjacent sectors and internally, within businesses, in addition to confidential customer communications.

“We are delighted to welcome Brian and Andrew to ALT/AVE,” says Chris Ansara, founder and CEO of ALT/AVE. “Brian’s experience is invaluable and his time spent in finance, and latterly technology, will help us reach the next level. Andrew’s track record in high stakes sales environments makes him an invaluable addition to the team as we look to build on a number of wins this year. Brian and Andrew will be central to our continued growth and success into 2022 and we are delighted to have them both aboard.”

Earlier this year, ALT/AVE announced a pre-seed funding round (www.uktech.news/news/london-based-regtech-startup-secures-535k-to-reduce-paper-waste-20210427), and the success of the Innovate UK Smart Grant, as well as launching docStribute (www.enterprisetimes.co.uk/2021/05/12/alt-ave-launches-docstribute-built-on-hedera), which is built on the Hedera Hashgraph network (www.hedera.com/users/docstribute). 

More information on ALT/AVE is contained within the attached case study, which illustrates how the technology works, its applications, and benefits to users. A demonstrative video can be viewed on the ALT/AVE website: www.altave.co.uk/docstribute. 

    Appoints Telecom Industry Expert Eunice R. Gatama as Director for Africa Business

-          Aims for continued growth as digital lending services are projected to grow rapidly in Africa

Yabx, a fintech venture offering credit products across 12 countries in Africa, today announced the appointment of Eunice R. Gatama as Director for Africa Business. This comes as a strategic decision by the company which is aggressively expanding its market share in the digital lending space in Africa. Delivering some of the best performing portfolio returns for its partner banks, Yabx has witnessed significant momentum in its existing lending portfolios. With partnership agreements signed with leading Banks and Wallet Operators in several East, West and Central African countries, Yabx is poised for market expansion and launching new service offerings to cater to customer needs.

Incubated by Comviva Technologies, a global leader in digital financial services, Yabx aims at simplifying financial access to new-to-credit customers and MSMEs in Africa by providing financial access to the underserved. It leverages technology and analytics to reduce the cost of delivering financial services, thereby bringing banking services to the underserved. The company has established strategic partnerships with leading banks, microfinance institutions, e-Commerce players, payment gateways, credit bureaus, mobile financial services providers, mobile network operators and handset manufacturers in the region. With a greater focus in Africa, Yabx plans to capitalize on the booming digital payments and e-commerce market.

Moreover, the newly appointed Director for Africa Business at Yabx, Eunice brings with her over 15 years of relevant experience in Banking. Eunice has worked with NCBA Bank Kenya and a leading mobile network operator, Safaricom PLC with core focus on Digital Financial Services. Over the years, Eunice has played an instrumental role in various projects to deliver strategic products. Recently, she led the delivery and scaling of FULIZA M-PESA, which has outdone its projected performance and bagged many local and global awards. She was also incharge of loans and savings products as well as data monetization at Safaricom Financial Services (M-PESA) team.

Eunice is passionate about Digital Financial Inclusion. She was part of the team driving the agenda for Connected Women, aimed at reducing the gender gap in mobile internet and mobile money services, similar to Vodafone’s M-Woman program and GSMA’s Connected Woman initiative.

A graduate from the United States International University–Africa in Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and Networking, Eunice also holds a Micro Masters in Digital Product Management from Boston University.

Speaking on the expansion plans, Rajat Dayal, Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Yabx said, “Africa continues to be the mainstay of our business as we have a comprehensive understanding of the land in terms of the credit ecosystem. I am extremely happy to have Eunice onboard with us to fuel the next level of growth for Yabx in Africa. She has hands-on experience of launching and scaling up the largest digital credit product in Africa. Her extensive knowledge and experience in the mobile financial services domain will further boost our growth in Africa region.”

“I am excited to join Yabx, one of the leading Fintech in digital lending space. It’s a moment of pride to be associated with a company which promises to simplify financial access to unbanked customers through digital lending offerings. With its strategic focus in the Africa region, we shall continue to seek strategic partnerships aimed at disrupting the market with innovative digitally led financial products,” added Eunice R. Gatama on her appointment.

For the fifth year, CISI, the not-for-profit, global professional body for those working in financial planning, wealth management and capital markets, is supporting World Financial Planning Day (WFPD) 6 October 2021. Organised by the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB) the event takes place during the International Organization of Securities Commissions’ (IOSCO) World Investor Week (#IOSCOWIW2021) 4 -10 October.

Consumers around the world can benefit from the life-changing guidance offered by the financial planning profession. The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) is promoting how the right guidance can help people feel financially confident and combat anxiety or stress related to money worries by championing the FPSB’s World Financial Planning Day Wednesday 6 October.

The FPSB began World Financial Planning Day as part of an ongoing global initiative to promote financial wellbeing for all, to increase awareness of the value of financial planning to consumers and share the benefits of having a financial plan. The theme remains Live your today. Plan your tomorrow. as consumers are encouraged to better understand their financial situation and the available options, with CFP™ professionals on hand to support along the way.

On the day this year, FPSB will host a worldwide live virtual panel event exploring what client needs will look like in the future, as well as the delivery of advice. The event also uses the latest FPSB research to advise CFP™ professionals on the skills and abilities required to sustain a thriving practice.

World Investor Week is organised by IOSCO to raise awareness about the importance of investor education and protection. During the week of 4 – 10 October securities regulators on six continents will provide a variety of activities, including investor-focused communications and services, increasing awareness of investor
education initiatives, workshops and conferences, and conducting campaigns in their own jurisdictions.

Sally Plant, CISI Head of Financial Planning said: “We are proud to join the global financial planning community supporting World Financial Planning Day and World Investor Week. It is increasingly important to celebrate with and promote to consumers the lifechanging benefits a full financial plan has to both health, wealth and achieving life goals. We join the global FPSB network of organisations in 27 countries and territories, representing over 192,000 CFP^TM professionals, to promote these initiatives encouraging consumers to better understand how financial planning can add value to their lives.”

World Financial Planning Day will run just before the UK Financial Planning Week which takes place between 11 – 17 October 2021. During this week, the CISI aims to empower consumers nationwide to feel more financially confident, connecting them with financial planners and Certified Financial Planner^TM  professionals for an hour long, free session, and to learn more about how true financial planning can be a life changing experience financialplanningweek.co.uk. 

The CISI will be encouraging its financial planning members to support World Financial Planning Day 6 October and World Investor Week by:

• Showing their support for the campaign by sharing financial planning tips and best practice on social media using #WFPD2021 and #IOSCOWIW2021
• Following the aims of #WFPD for #FPWUK, commencing this year 11 – 17 October 2021.

Any CISI members wanting to get involved can sign up on cisi.org/registerfpweek.

The CISI is the mark’s licensing authority for the CFP ^TM Professional marks in the United Kingdom, through agreement with FPSB.

The Department for Education (DfE) overhauled its security investment in the most recent financial year (FY 20-21), by increasing security courses on offer to staff from four to 44. Additionally, course participants surged from just under 7,000 in FY 19-20, to over 30,000 this year, a 329 per cent increase.

These figures were obtained under the Freedom of Information act and analysed by a Parliament Street think tank. The data also revealed that total cyber training spend increased from £1,996 in FY 19-20, to £31,960 in FY 20-21, which is an increase of over 1,400 per cent.

A majority of the course attendees completed a series of basic cyber security e-learning sessions, including a simulated cyber attack course with remedial phishing training. These courses were attended by 23,419 total participants, however this figure does not reflect the total number of individual staff members, as it’s possible that multiple staff members participated in multiple sessions.

Many of the e-learning courses were free-of-charge to the Department for Education, as they were part of the Department’s overall arrangement with Civil Service Learning or was carried out using internal DfE tools and resources. The second most popular e-learning training course was ‘Reporting Phishing’, which educated staffers on how and when to report suspicious emails.

The Department for Education also spent over £30,000 on 17 specialised training courses and exams for some of its staffers – these included courses on Information Systems, Security Risk Management and Microsoft 365 Fundamentals. Many of these paid for training sessions led to official qualifications for staffers, such as the SABSA Chartered Security Architect Foundation Certificate, PRINCE 2 Agile Foundation & Practitioner Certificates in Agile Project Management, and Cisco Certified Network Associate.

For comparison, just two specialised training courses were undertaken by staffers in FY 19-20 including Certified Information Security Manager training course, and the CompTIA Security+ exam qualification.

Edward Blake, Area Vice President EMEA, for Absolute Software comments:

“The Department for Education’s boosted investiture into staff training likely reflects a positive attempt to combat surging cyber threat levels targeting the education sector in the wake of the pandemic and remote learning.

“Many public sector organisations are afflicted with a widening digital skills gap, and it’s encouraging to see significant investment into security training to try and turn a major weakness into a strength. This investment is particularly important as services become increasingly digitalised and thus cyber threat levels targeting staffers, students and alumni is likely to continue its skyward trajectory, even as the pandemic subsides.”

Latest insight, Helping the Financially Overlooked, reflects on a transformational global pivot from ease of access to embrace, complement and promote customers’ identities

 A report released by the Emerging Payments Association (EPA) on Lifestyle and Values Banking, in partnership with Algbra and Mastercard, shows that minority communities around the world are still the most financially underserved, including the LGBTQ+ community, faith-based communities, the elderly and others. The report also maps the landscape of lifestyle and values banking propositions that are making the retail banking industry more inclusive and equitable for all.

The term “financial exclusion” is often associated with a lack of access to finance, poor creditworthiness, or simply poor financial education. In reality, even people with excellent credit and access may still not have access to financial services that meet their lifestyle and values-based needs. The EPA’s report finds that the UK, for example, may provide access to financial services but by not accounting for the unique needs of specific communities, it is not as financially inclusive as it should be if we are to have a truly financially inclusive society. This has resulted in a significant segment of the population with needs that are financially overlooked in favour of a lowest-common denominator approach to finance.

The paper also finds that there has been a surge in innovative new B2C players focused on serving the financially overlooked communities in accordance with their specific needs, with the operational agility and a personalised product-offering.

It is for this reason that the digital banking landscape has evolved from one of a few large players serving the masses to multiple players serving specific communities. As this evolution continues, we are seeing the emergence of lifestyle and values banking solutions, with new players catering to the needs of key customer demographics, including sustainability, faith, gender, sexuality, race, and age.

This is thanks to consumer trends dictating the change in direction as they demand more holistic solutions that cater to all aspects of their life and are personalised to their specific needs.  Two thirds of banking customers say they would share more data if it led to new benefits, and 86% of people expect lifestyle portals enabling people to manage every aspect of their lives to become mainstream within the next five years.

The report maps the landscape of lifestyle and values banking propositions that are available today. It demonstrates the existence of large underserved communities across demographics seeking a more nuanced understanding of their financial needs. It also explores how further advancements in technology and data analytics is enabling the development of this new segment and increasing customer demand for bespoke solutions is demonstrating the increasingly important role this segment in the market will play in the coming years.

The EPA, Mastercard, and Algbra make seven key recommendations on the core components that are driving an evolution towards lifestyle and values banking solutions:

1. Consumers are demanding more from their financial institutions and are willing to share more data to get the products and services that cater to their needs.
2. Advances in technology and data analytics are enabling organisations to execute on what customers are demanding through personalised financial products and services.
3. There are significant segments of the global population who have been underserved by financial institutions leading to industrial scale inefficiencies and billions of pounds yet to be captured, making this a financially rewarding endeavour for real innovators that are still emerging.
4. Education is a core pillar of all of these platforms.
5. As new solutions emerge a partnership driven approach must be adopted, working with existing players to enable the delivery of the best products and services
6. Inclusive design must be at the heart of product development and product thinking
7. Supply chains must be aligned with the increasingly demanding clients who are entering the market. Key suppliers like Marqeta and Mastercard are adapting to the changing needs of customers and are enabling the development of these more personalised solutions.

Tony Craddock, Director General at the EPA, commented: “The UK is at the forefront of financial services globally, but there is an undercurrent of the financially overlooked. There are too many communities that may have access to financial services, but they are not having their needs met. As such, we’re about to see a significant shift in the landscape of banking solutions and how customers engage with their banks. Failure for companies to adapt will absolutely mean they are left behind.”

Josh Berle, Business Development Director at Mastercard, said: “Mastercard is motivated to do well by doing good. It is hugely exciting and gratifying for us to help mobilise the many innovative ideas that fintech is generating to widen availability of financial products and services.”

Nizam Uddin OBE, Chief Strategy Officer at Algbra, said: “To begin the process of serving the financial needs of underserved and overlooked communities, we need to be able to understand them. Only then can we start the journey to a more systemic approach to inclusion. This is what we hope this report begins to do and shows an exciting new development within the digital banking space. But it’s only the beginning and we have a lot more work to do. That’s why we at Algbra are committed to enabling the financial growth of communities and we have been thrilled to see this vision shared across the world, across communities and across the value chain.”

Account-to-account payment specialist secures largest seed round investment in UK open banking market to date from leading fintech investors 

Vyne, the specialist account-to-account payments platform, today announces it has secured $15.5 million in seed funding from leading fintech investors including Hearst Ventures, Entrée Capital, Triplepoint, Seedcamp, Venrex, Founder Collective and Partech alongside angel investment from Alex Chesterman, founder of Zoopla and CEO of Cazoo, Charlie Dellingpole, CEO and founder of ComplyAdvantage and Will Neale founder of Grabyo. This investment marks the largest seed funding round in the UK open banking market to date, cementing Vyne and account-to-account payments at the centre of the future of payments. 

Founded in 2019 by true payment experts, Vyne’s innovative full-stack solution brings together decades of combined industry experience to enable direct, secure, and faster payments for merchants and consumers alike - challenging the status-quo of today’s traditional card and alternative payment methods. By transforming the checkout experience payments can be completed by consumers in three-clicks and merchants can engage customers through more digital channels such as QR codes and pay-by-link, which can be sent by email, SMS or in person. Coupling user experience with improved operational merchant services, Vyne empowers business growth by increasing conversion, reducing cost per transaction, streamlining business operations with quick, easy invoicing, and by providing a real-time view of cash-flow, which cannot be offered today. 

As merchant and consumer demands evolve, a global movement towards real time, seamless payments is driving the adoption of open banking and fuelling challengers like Vyne. The $15.5 million investment will elevate Vyne’s ambitious growth trajectory by enabling them to attack the global opportunity, increase international coverage and bring new use cases to market, forging the path to a future of account-to-account payments. 

Megumi Ikeda, Managing Director at Hearst Ventures, comments: “The global financial ecosystem is moving rapidly away from traditional payments systems and towards open banking and real-time payments. Vyne sits at the bleeding edge of this revolution, by improving the payment experience for all stakeholders. The team’s commercial success is testament to their expertise and commitment to innovation, and we’re delighted to be supporting their continued growth.”

Reshma Sohoni, Partner and co-founder at Seedcamp, adds: "As leading payments experts, Vyne are the perfect team to capitalise on the new opportunities for innovation brought about by open banking. Upon first meeting the team we really bought into their vision of delivering a frictionless, more secure end-to-end payments experience for consumers – all while saving merchants money. We’ve been enormously excited by their commercial progress to date and believe Vyne has the opportunity to become a global payments giant.”

Avi Eyal, co-founder and Managing Partner, Entrée Capital, adds: “Entrée Capital has a track record investing in high-growth fintechs such as Rapyd, Stripe, Riskified, Kuda, and Fundbox. Vyne fills a complementary and unmet need in the market for seamless, fast, and direct payment solutions. Their payments expertise is unmatched and their vision of disruption is so significantly large that we believe they will become a leader in the payments market over the next few years.”

Karl MacGregor, CEO at Vyne, comments: “At its heart, Vyne was founded with the simple vision of  perfecting payments for businesses and consumers alike. This seed round will further propel Vyne on its mission to make account-to-account payments the best way to pay and get paid around the world. The calibre of investment we have received is testament to not only the team's hard work to date but also the opportunity open banking presents to overhaul the traditional banking and payment infrastructure that merchants and consumers have been beholden to for decades.”

Vyne processes millions of pounds worth of transactions each month at a growth rate of 95% month on month. In the last quarter Vyne made a number of strategic hires including ex-Klarna and Laybuy heavyweight Luke Flomo as Chief Revenue Officer and Ors Kardos, previously of booking.com, as Director of Engineering. The business has also recently opened headquarters in Holborn, London.