NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701) announced today an initiative to create healthcare and life science business that utilizes AI and other digital technologies as part of the "creation of future growth businesses" set forth in the 2025 Mid-term Management Plan. NEC will focus on the three areas of Medical Care, Lifestyle Support, and Life Science, aiming for a business value of 500 billion yen (approximately 4.5 billion USD) in 2030.

Currently, in the field of healthcare, in addition to the spread of new types of coronavirus, the growing number of people with lifestyle-related illnesses, such as certain forms of cancer, is now a common challenge worldwide. NEC has contributed to the efficiency and sophistication of medical services through the provision of reception systems(1) and electronic medical record systems for more than 50 years. Furthermore, NEC began full-scale entry into the drug discovery business in 2019 (2), with the aim of promoting innovative next-generation medical care based on the results of research activities to date. This new initiative aims to accelerate and expand the healthcare-related business more than ever before and to grow the business toward the creation of social value.

Specifically, NEC will expand business in the following three areas by taking advantage of its leading-edge biometrics technologies, "Bio-Idiom"(3), featuring the world's No. 1 face recognition accuracy(4), as well as its portfolio of leading artificial intelligence technologies, "NEC the WISE"(5), including video analytics and graph-based relationship learning developed by NEC laboratories.

The first area is the "Medical Care" business, featuring digital support for medical care; the second is "Lifestyle Support" business, which helps individuals in their daily lives; and the third is "Life Science" business, which supports personalized medical care with technology. Through these three areas of business, NEC aims to create a world in which individuals may live more freely and comfortably.

In addition, NEC will promote R&D with an eye toward 2030 and the needs of hospitals, nursing care, rehabilitation, and other situations. NEC will also launch the Healthcare and Life Sciences Project Management Office (PMO) to support the acceleration of business development across the NEC Group.

Furthermore, NEC will create new value in the healthcare and life sciences fields through co-creation with a wide range of external partners. In November, for example, NEC will launch NEC Expert Committee on Healthcare and Life Sciences, aiming to implement a future image of society with experts from a variety of positions and perspectives.

NEC aims to support society and the healthcare sciences field through the provision of services and products tailored to individuals, including both consumers and healthcare professionals.

Oversubscribed Fund VII will Invest in Early and Growth-Stage Fintech Businesses

QED Investors, a leading global fintech venture capital firm, announced that it closed a significantly oversubscribed seventh fund (“Fund VII”), with capital commitments of $1.05 billion. 

Fund VII is comprised of a $550 million early stage fund and a $500 million growth-stage fund. These funds will allow QED Investors to continue to invest in fintech companies primarily in the U.S., the U.K., EU, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Founded in 2007 by Nigel Morris and Frank Rotman, QED has invested in more than 150 companies – including 20 unicorns – and has more than $3 billion under management. It is known for its singular focus on fintech and its more than 250 combined years of operator experience. QED works side-by-side with CEOs and founders, applying a rigorous, hypothesis-driven approach that identifies investment opportunities that are well-positioned in the marketplace.

“Fund VII is the largest proof point we have that proves that our model is working” said QED Investors Managing Partner and Co-Founder Nigel Morris. “Over the past 14 years, our team has utilized its extensive experience as operators-turned-investors to help companies achieve breakthrough growth. We are certainly proud of our portfolio of companies and look forward to leaning into the significant opportunity the market has to offer. We have been doubling down on fintech since 2007 and are thrilled to continue play a key role in fintech’s future growth.”
 

“Throughout the past year and a half, we have seen a significant step function to digital financial services as consumers, SMBs and institutions recognize that fintech is not just a fad. We’re seeing positively selected inbound deal flow on a massive scale now from pre-seed to growth-stage companies. With our growing brand backed by an ever-expanding team that’s willing to play the full 90 minutes, we’re perfectly positioned to seize this momentum and add incredible value.”

QED has exclusively invested in fintech since its inception in 2007 and has played a crucial part in the growth of some of today’s fintech behemoths including Credit Karma (QED led its Series A round in 2009), Remitly (QED led its Series A in 2014), Nubank (QED participated in its Series A in 2014) and AvidXchange (QED participated in its Series B in 2014). QED has been a leader in the fintech investing community throughout fintech’s evolution, having guided and grown these companies and others through the ecosystem’s boom ­– globally, fintech investment was $928 million in 2008 and $105 billion in 2020.

“As we searched for an investor to lead Bitso's Series B, we looked for someone with operational expertise that could help us navigate the complexity of building a business at scale,” said Bitso CEO and Co-Founder Daniel Vogel. “The QED team has been the perfect partner for us: long-term strategic thinking combined with preciseness to accelerate execution. QED not only excels in understanding the landscape of our industry, but they're able to help us navigate the most complex challenge: building high-functioning and performing teams. QED's incredible team, unparalleled fintech expertise and deep operational competence makes them one-of-a-kind investor for anyone looking to change the future of money or finance.”

Added Nubank CEO and Co-Founder David Velez: "Nigel, Bill and the entire QED team have been true partners to Nubank since the very early days. We have benefitted immensely from their previous experience across multiple areas of our organization, and have been able to rely on them for sound strategic and tactical advice at every step of our growth stage."

Said AvidXchange CEO and Co-Founder Michael Praeger: “QED has been a true partner for me and taken a ‘roll-up-your-sleeves’ approach to help me develop strategies and execution plans to grow our business.  Their entrepreneurial DNA and deep fintech domain knowledge related to B2B payments and the development of our AvidPay Network along with our Invoice Accelerator offering for supplier financing has be game-changing for us in accelerating our revenue growth and becoming the middle market leader for accounts payable automation.    

“One of the refreshing focus areas that Nigel has instilled at our board of directors level is a focus and lens on human capital and developing the talent of our team which is very different focus compared to many venture investors who are solely focused on the financial operating metrics of the business.” 

Darrell Peppers Named COO at Finical

Finical Holdings, LLC, a leading provider of electronic payments in North America, today announced it has appointed Darrell Peppers as its Chief Operating Officer. 

Finical provides credit card processing services to thousands of businesses in North America. Finical markets its services through its relationships with independent sales partners, as well as strategic relationships with various vendors and banks. Finical has over 2,200 sales agents throughout North America. 

Peppers brings more than two decades of operations experience to Finical. His well-rounded experience started with Direct Merchants Bank on the card-issuing side and, in 1998, entered the acquiring side with Card Payment Systems. Peppers has held senior management and executive positions with Federated Payments for over a decade and, most recently, as Director of Operations with Easy Pay Direct.

Aaron Nasseh, Finical's CEO, commented, "Darrell's intimate knowledge of our industry, and absolute dedication to customer service, makes him uniquely qualified to oversee and lead the expansion of our rapidly growing operations."

Darrell Peppers commented, "I am thrilled to be aboard, and excited to work with Aaron and the best-in-class management staff, to help make the overall customer experience even better and continue to expand Finical's reputation as a highly respected payments technology provider."

Passport Technology Inc. ("Passport"), a global leader of payment technology for the gaming industry, announced today the signing of a multi-year agreement with Angel Of The Winds Casino Resort, delivering advanced casino payments, dynamic marketing, and cage automation solutions. This relationship marks Passport's entry into Washington State and a steadfast commitment to customer collaboration, innovation, and support.

"We are delighted to bring our expansive suite of casino payments and related solutions to Angel Of The Winds Casino Resort," said Scott Dowty, CEO of Passport Technology. "Passport is a different kind of provider as we are absolutely committed to exceeding the expectations of our customers and developing innovative solutions based on anticipated needs and trends. This commitment has fueled Passport's growth across the globe over the past few years, and now casino operators in the Evergreen state have a much-deserved alternative in Passport."

Washington casino operators now have access to Passport's suite of industry-leading payment, compliance, and automation solutions purposefully built to streamline casino operations, maximize employee efficiency, reduce variances, and enhance guest experiences. Delivering transaction processing, digital payments, loyalty and rewards, cashier automation, regulatory and compliance software, real-time analytic promotions, merchant services, and bank-sponsored ATM processing, Passport is the fastest-growing company in the casino payments industry.

"We are dedicated to delivering exceptional services to our guests and Passport's suite of dynamic solutions are no exception," said Tyrone Huff, CFO of Angel Of The Winds Casino Resort. "With Passport's technologically advanced payment and cage automation solutions, our guests will experience modern, streamlined cash access services throughout the property."

For more information, please visit passporttechnology.com.

ThycoticCentrify, a leading provider of cloud identity security solutions formed by the merger of privileged access management (PAM) leaders Thycotic and Centrify, today announced that Keith Green has joined the company as Chief Human Resources (HR) Officer. Green joins ThycoticCentrify with more than 25 years of experience leading major corporate transformations, and will oversee the newly-combined company’s HR strategies and several business operations. 

A proven leader in finance and HR, Green previously served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) where he led financial management, operations, and business strategy. Under Green’s stewardship, SHRM successfully navigated the Covid-19 crisis and achieved its strongest financial position in its 70-year history. 

“Keith possesses strategically diverse and extensive leadership experience which will accelerate our success,” said Art Gilliland, CEO at ThycoticCentrify. “Building great companies requires innovation across every function, and in today’s complicated employee market aligning culture and rewards to business strategy is key. We’re thrilled to partner with Keith as we invest in our teams and grow the company.” 

Prior to SHRM, Green held executive positions at major corporate organizations, including Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, Allstate, and Freddie Mac. At Deutsche Bank/Bankers Trust, Green served as chief of staff to the CEO and subsequently as director of European M&A. 

“I’m excited to join ThycoticCentrify during this transformative phase in the company’s journey, and to bring my leadership experience to the company’s strategic HR and operational initiatives,” said Green. 

Green holds an MBA in finance from Harvard Business School, an M.A. from Middlebury College, and a B.A. from Tulane University. He was also a Rhodes Scholar, studying philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University. 

For more information about ThycoticCentrify, visit www.thycotic.com or www.centrify.com.  

In the year of Science and Technology in Russia Sber has established the Sber Science Award, an annual science award to support the R’n’D efforts that have a considerable potential to impact the progress of science and technology. Three winners will receive RUB 20 mn in prizes. The prize pool of the science award reaches RUB 60 mn. Co chairing the Award Committee are Sberbank CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board Herman Gref and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Konstantin Novoselov, a Professor at the National University of Singapore and the University of Manchester. 

The award will be earned in three categories: 

Life Sciences – encompasses biology, medicine, and agricultural sciences 

Digital Universe – encompasses mathematics (including mathematical methods in economics) and computer sciences (including artificial intelligence and machine learning) 

Physical sciences – encompasses physics, chemistry, astronomy, geoscience, and technical sciences. 

Russian and foreign researchers who have made a significant contribution to the advancement of science and technology and actively engaged in research related to Russian scientific, educational institutions or technology companies are nominated for the award. 

Scientists will be nominated by the Russian organizations engaged in scientific, research or educational activities that Sber officially invites and personally by Russian and international researchers, business people and tech investors. 

After nomination, the applications undergo an independent review. Laureates are determined by a committee of eminent academics and experts from diverse fields of science and technology and representatives of high-tech companies. 

Herman Gref, CEO, Chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank: 

“Who keeps the world moving forward? People – scientists, researchers, teachers. People without whom evolutionary or revolutionary development would not be possible for humankind. Scientific breakthroughs mean that people are now living longer, moving around the planet at a greater speed, and transmitting information in a moment. Scientists require resources, funding, open perspectives. Our award will become a source of support for science and the scientific community. We will strive to help academics and researchers carry on with their work, through which they are making our lives better.”

Konstantin Novoselov, Nobel Prize in Physics, Professor at the National University of Singapore and the University of Manchester: 

“The key objective of the awards is to support scientists in Russia who are pursuing science and are at the peak of their research. There is complex work ahead of us – we will be undertaking the evaluation and selection of the winners. Nonetheless, I believe that this initiative by Sber is both timely and appropriate.” 

The awards ceremony for the first laureates will be held in March 2022. Further information is available on the official awards website 

Listing enables MYHSM to support Financial Institutions to accelerate cloud-based payment strategies and keep pace with surge in public cloud adoption

MYHSM is the first multi-vendor Payment HSM Service provider offering a globally accessible, fully managed, Payment Card Industry (PCI) PIN and PCI DSS certified service using HSM manufactures such as Utimaco Atalla AT1000 and Thales payShield 10K.

Accenture notes the significant growth in cloud investment is predicted to continue and expand at a rate of around 15% through 2022. And the surge in public cloud adoption fuelled by Covid-19 to drive digital transformation and online transaction processing has seen many financial services accelerating their own cloud strategy.

The announcement marks a significant development for the industry, since until now, users of Payment HSMs have had no alterative option but to operate and manage the hardware on-premises or co-located with a data centre provider - both restrict a full cloud adoption strategy. According to 451 Research data, 69% of financial companies utilise AWS, and these can now integrate their payment applications with MYHSM’s fully managed Payment HSMs Service providing a fast, compliant, and cost-effective solution to test their applications.

MYHSM provides the same level of elasticity and flexibility as cloud service providers enabling customers to effortlessly scale their payment HSMs usage in line with business volumes for a dynamic subscription fee. A group of HSMs are deployed in geographically separate data centres providing 99.999% availability and can be accessed via a dedicated customer portal.

Available as a Test, Shared, and Dedicated fully managed service, MYHSM connects customers seamlessly to a group of cloud-based Payment HSMs to secure tasks such as PIN protection and validation, transaction processing, mobile and payment card issuance, and key management.

Eyal Worthalter, VP Platform Solution and Growth at MYHSM, said: “With our dedication to provide Financial Institutions and FinTechs with a cost-effective, efficient and flexible means of using Payment HSMs, this is a natural and logical development in our mission to drive Payment HSMs as a Service.

“MYHSM’s listing in AWS Marketplace will make it possible for Financial Institutions and FinTechs to operate independent of legacy infrastructure and reduce the complexity and cost of managing and operating Payment HSMs. With a fully managed service customers can be set up in days and can focus on their core business with SME’s responsible for the service, security, and system maintenance.” he added.

To see the MYHSM listing on the AWS marketplace visit: https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-t5jwyju2ei66i

Paysend, the next-generation payment platform enabling customers and businesses all around the world to pay, hold and send money online anywhere, anyhow and in any currency, is now available to all Canadians.

After completing a successful beta phase, Canadians can now use Paysend to send money internationally to over 120 countries. Featuring a quick and efficient on-boarding process, Paysend offers fast transfers, competitive exchange rates, and low and transparent fixed fees (only $3), making it a great solution for Canadian immigrants, students, temporary workers and expats. Canadians can also now receive more funds in their bank accounts, working with over 250 participating financial institutions with the ability to receive up to $10,000 CAD to a bank account in Canada.

“Canada is among the most immigrant-reliant advanced economies in the world,” said Ronald Millar, CEO, Paysend. “Currently, net migration accounts for more than 80% of Canada’s population growth, with many of these individuals regularly sending money to their families back home.”

Mr. Millar added, “Launching Paysend in Canada marks a major milestone in our global expansion initiatives. We are proud to provide Canadians with tools that make taking care of their families, even when they are apart, seamless and simple.”

Earlier this year, Paysend secured $125 million in a Series B funding round to accelerate the company’s global expansion. The company is changing the way people manage their money on a global scale. Paysend does this through the power of its technology and the passion of its team. The company offers solutions that are safe, fast, convenient and smart, and simplify the complexities of money so customers can focus on the things that really matter.

“At Paysend, we believe that money matters,” said Timur Shomansurov, Country Manager of Paysend in Canada. “Our customers work hard to earn money for themselves, their friends and families, but earning money is hard and saving it is even harder. Helping people is at the heart of what we do. Together, our team is committed to a shared mission – saving our customers time and money, and creating money for the future. We look forward to making these options available to all Canadians and providing a cost-effective money transfer service that is both convenient and accessible.”

●       Proven as only choice for high-volume institutional client flow

●       Unique infrastructure gives first mover advantage for institutional business

●       Adds another significant high volume business to its pipeline

Nukkleus Inc has partnered with Monogram Network, a leading public ledger blockchain, supporting the issuance of their MG Token. This exclusive partnership via crypto firm Digital RFQ Limited is another step forward in providing institutional investors with the security they need to enter the crypto market and benefit from the performance of digital assets and crypto payments.

The MG Token represents an interest in appreciating global assets with plans to expand into renewable energy and real estate. Investors will be able to leverage the Monogram Network with immutable logging, tracking, and tracing of maturing real world assets. The token will be facilitated through Digital RFQ, ensuring all payouts are made to MG Token holders in a highly secure and efficient manner.

Whilst crypto has gained momentum in unregulated retail markets over the past decade, institutional investors have faced numerous risk, technology and banking infrastructure barriers. Digital RFQ’s services overcome these hurdles, representing the only UK institutional focused crypto firm that is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for the handling of client money.

“From the outset, Digital RFQ's strategy has been to service institutional clients only. For that reason we spent years establishing the appropriate infrastructure and regulated fiat capabilities to support institutional size volume for cross border payments, all the time, addressing the risks associated with cryptocurrencies. Today that hard work is paying off with corporate client contracts being signed with prestigious firms like Monogram. With our client volumes increasing through partnerships like Monogram, we will naturally start considering our options to uplist and entertain acquisition opportunities that strengthen and extend our crypto footprint globally" commented Jamie Khurshid, COO, Nukkleus.

Monogram CEO Debra Domeyer said: “We are delighted to be working with the team at Digital RFQ to facilitate our Monogram Token payments. Unlike other crypto platforms focused on small retail flow, the team at Digital RFQ, with their backgrounds in tier one investment banks and brokers, clearly understand what it takes to securely move and settle the sort of volumes we need for our investments. This is an unmatched service in institutional crypto.”

Match Financial, recently acquired by Nukkleus, operates six crypto product lines through Digital RFQ. The Monogram partnership benefits from the second and third product outlined below:

1.     NFT: Partnering with leading UK auction houses for 24-hour auction price-fixing to safely sell high end digital art with the real world physical assets of our tier one customers.

2.     Fiat to Crypto: Acquiring cryptocurrencies, DeFi and securities token investments with deep liquidity through partnerships with global exchanges and brokers.

3.     Crypto to fiat: Offering UK FCA regulated fiat gateways and a full suite of global institutional crypto banking services with capacity that exceeds $50m daily.

4.     Card Payments: Providing multi-currency and multi-token wallet management for a convertible crypto debit card at any point of sale using MasterCard and Visa.

5.     Remittance: Facilitating cross-border fiat-to-fiat payments, completed within 30-60 minutes using our unique crypto rails that deliver an incredibly efficient, superior and cost-effective alternative.

6.     NGO Services: Fulfilling social responsibility by providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

For further information: https://digitalrfq.com/