Mars Growth Capital, a fund division of the Fintech company Liquidity Capital and MUFG Fund, has announced the closing of a $5.5M financing agreement with the Australian-based sports performance tech company Fusion Sport to drive their international expansion.

Mars Growth deployed Liquidity Capital’s DYNAMiCS omni corporate credit machine learning platform to perform a comprehensive due diligence process in 24 hours. Mars Growth leverages the platform to analyze high potential companies, and quickly and flexibly provide access to capital. This is the 12th transaction completed by the fund this year alone, with an average turnaround time of 14 days.

Launched in 2003, Fusion Sport is a globally recognized technology company that builds human performance and health analytics platforms that are used by over 1,500 organizations, including USA Basketball, British Gymnastics and the United States Air Force. Their Smartabase platform centralizes performance information securely in the cloud and analyses this data to provide training, nutrition and treatment recommendations. Their suite of products support more than 250,000 competitive athletes and soldiers, including delegations in the recent 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Fusion Sport will use the growth financing from Mars Growth to further fuel its international expansion, capitalizing on the growing demand for data analytics and technology to optimize human performance.

“Data analytics technologies such as Fusion Sport’s Smartabase platform has been quietly transforming the world of sports, and enabled professional sports clubs to improve their performance by making data-driven decisions. Through meeting with the Fusion Sport team, coupled with the analysis using our DYNANiCS platform, we quickly recognized that Fusion Sport is a leading human performance innovator, with tremendous growth potential. We are excited to play a role in supporting international expansion plans as they work towards transforming the future of sport,” said Yaron Primovich, Managing Director of Mars Growth Capital.

“Liquidity Capital was founded by a team that understands technology and are entrepreneurs themselves,” said Markus Deutsch, CEO and CO-Founder of Fusion Sport. “This means they can offer capital that fits our growth trajectory as we enter this next phase of expansion. We’re excited to bring tech-augmented human performance to more markets and organizations globally.”

“Our business is focused on helping high potential companies with proven products and track records to realize their ambitions,” said Ron Daniel, CEO and Founder of Liquidity Capital. “Our investment process is what sets us apart and helps us to easily and quickly identify companies that fit with our criteria.  We are committed to making smart investment decisions, deploying capital quickly, and helping the companies we work with benefit from the flexibility to move forward with their strategies.”

With ICE integration complete by Baton, clearing firms will be able to automate collateral management across 5 Major CCPs, together comprising more than 73% of margin, placed by U.S. registered FCMs. 

Citi became first FCM to connect to ICE Clear Europe

Baton Systems (“Baton”), the market solution transforming asset movements and settlements, today announced that it has completed connecting to Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology, and market infrastructure, making ICE Clear Europe the 5th major global CCP available on the Baton network. All FCMs using Baton will now be able to automate and optimise collateral holdings and expedite the movement of cash and securities with the CCPs of greatest strategic importance to their business. These firms include the world’s largest financial institutions, responsible for managing 43% of the funds held by global CCPs.

Citi recently became the first FCM to connect to ICE Clear Europe and benefit from the extended CCP network. 

The Baton network is trusted to facilitate the movement of billions of dollars every day, connecting the world’s largest exchange operators, FCMs, custodians and banks. Using Baton for automated collateral management allows market participants to access CCP account balances and acceptable collateral lists on-demand and view all assets deposited at external custody banks and CCPs. FCMs can also be automatically alerted to changes and introduce zero-friction workflows to optimise allocation and accelerate productivity by instructing multiple cash and securities movements via the Baton interface. 

Mariam Rafi, Managing Director, Americas head of Clearing and FXPB and Global head of Financial Resource Management, Futures, Clearing and FXPB, Citi said “With Baton we have been able to accelerate our innovation agenda and drive efficiencies throughout our entire clearing process. Our Collateral Management team can now access information in real-time and dynamically manage our inventory of eligible collateral across the network of CCPs we interact with the most, which enables us to better serve our clients.”  

J. Christopher Giancarlo, Senior Advisor to Baton and former Chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commented, “What we are now seeing is a real shift in the collateral management landscape. The world’s largest FCMs are connecting directly with the world’s largest CCPs - this means that for the first time in history it will be possible for a significant proportion of the total collateral held with CCPs globally to be automatically optimised.” adding “As the network expands the benefits derived by all participants are only likely to increase. This presents huge potential for the industry as a whole to eliminate unnecessary risks.”

“We are always focused on how we can help our customers bring efficiencies to their processes,” said Chris Edmonds, Global Head of Clearing and Risk at ICE. “With Baton completing a connection to the ICE Collateral API, our clearing members can further optimize their collateral and margin management processes. We are now facilitating additional ICE CCPs with Baton, so we can assist more of our clearing members globally across the numerous asset classes we clear.”

ICE Clear Europe is the first member of the ICE Group to go-live on the Baton platform. Baton is now working on a structured roll-out plan that should see ICE Clear U.S. and ICE Clear Credit connected in coming months.

Tucker Dona, Head of Business Development and Client Success at Baton Systems added “The market coverage that’s now possible via the Baton network is remarkable - as is the speed that we can bring new participants on-board. We can now get new clearing firms live on the platform, with full access to our extended CCP network, in a matter of weeks.” 

Katz Brings 20 Years of POS, Fintech, Technology, Investment and Leadership Expertise to the Regulatory and Operational Compliance Software Company as It Prepares to Launch the Cannabis Industry’s Most Compliant, Cyber-Secure B2B and Retail Consumer Payment Solution

Simplifya, the leading regulatory and operational compliance software platform serving the cannabis industry, announced the appointment of Jeffrey (“Jeff”) B. Katz to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. The two-decade point-of-sales (“POS”), fintech and technology pioneer is the Cofounder of Mercury Payment Systems Inc. (“MPS”), which was sold for $1.6 billion to Vantiv, Inc., and then, acquired by Worldpay Inc., a subsidiary of Fidelity National Information Services, and MassPay Incorporated, a fintech company that provides the largest number of payout options.

Katz, who is an investor in Simplifya, will advise the Company on the expansion of its operational footprint, as well as the launch of its newest product offering, TENDR™, a payment processing solution that utilizes the Automated Clearing House in collaboration with an Originating Depository Financial Institution (“ODFI”) in order to ensure a compliant, lasting, payment solution for participating cannabis-related businesses (“CRBs”).

“As a fintech industry pioneer, Katz fundamentally changed the way the POS sector generated revenue by aligning with POS developers and resellers to deliver payment processing to restaurateurs and retailers,” said Simplifya CEO and Co-Founder Marion Mariathasan. “As we expand into new cannabis markets and prepare to launch our latest product offering, TENDR™, Jeff’s decades of expertise in compliant cyber-safe POS and fintech will be an invaluable asset to our Company. We’re thrilled to welcome him to Simplifya’s Board of Directors, and look forward to working closely with him as we continue to deliver a comprehensive suite of regulatory and operational compliance solutions to cannabis businesses, regulatory bodies and the banking, financial and payment-related services sectors.”

“As an investor in Simplifya, I have seen the Company help countless cannabis and related businesses seamlessly remain compliant in this incredibly complex regulatory environment,” said Simplifya Board Member Jeff Katz. “Under Marion’s leadership, Simplifya continues to execute on its vision to bring cost-effective solutions to help financial institutions and CRBs build and maintain compliant, profitable cannabis banking programs. I believe TENDR™ is not only well positioned to be one of the industry’s most cyber-secure B2B and retail consumer payment solutions, but that it also has the potential to solve many of the burdensome challenges, which are currently facing cannabis’ payment services ecosystem. In my role as a Board Member, I look forward to bringing my decades of fintech, POS tech expertise to the Company, and working closely with Simplifya’s leadership team to make a powerful, game-changing impact on how business is done in the emerging cannabis sector.”

In 2001, Jeff Katz co-founded MPS and aligned with POS developers and resellers to deliver payment processing to restaurateurs and retailers. In doing so, he forever changed the way the POS industry generated revenue. Silver Lake Partners, the leading private investor in technology and technology-enabled industries, recognized the continued growth potential of these innovations and made a strategic investment, acquiring a 61% interest in 2010. In 2013, because of MPS’s impact on the POS industry, Jeff, along with his brother, Marc Katz, were inducted into the Hall of Fame of RSPA, North America's largest community of VARs, software developers, vendors and distributors in the retail, restaurant, grocery, and cannabis verticals.

Katz also serves as: the CEO of MassPay Incorporated; the chairman of REACH.ai and CardFree; and is a growth investor in companies including Simplifya, CODE Technology, Bluedot Innovation and CardFree.

Three year deal will make supporting Real Betis a simpler and more rewarding experience

MuchBetter, the award-winning e-wallet has entered a three-year sponsorship agreement with Spanish La Liga team Real Betis Balompié. 

MuchBetter is the Green and White club’s Official Digital Wallet Provider across five leagues in total: the men and women’s football teams, the Cream Real Betis esports team as well as the Real Betis basketball and Futsal teams. 

“MuchBetter is the smart digital wallet that makes life simple,” says MuchBetter Co-Founder and CEO Israel Rosenthal.  “We’re excited to work with Real Betis to bring a secure, easy and simple payment solution to their fans. As the official digital wallet provider, we look forward to finding creative ways to improve the fan experience whether they are at Estadio Benito Villamarin, their favourite retailer or online.”

As La Liga returns, Real Betis supporters and MuchBetter customers will see the MuchBetter logo on the shorts of the men's football kit. Followers of Real Betis’ esports team, Cream Real Betis, will see the MuchBetter logo prominently on the team’s jersey. 

And throughout the season the agreement will bring to life a progression of exciting developments, activities and opportunities which will make following Real Betis a more rewarding experience.

Both Real Betis and MuchBetter are passionate about putting their fans and customers first, be that through innovative technology that makes everyday life simpler or delivering the unforgettable events that make for long lasting memories. Through this partnership, both brands are committed to driving extraordinary experiences for their communities and beyond.

MuchBetter makes managing your payments easier and more secure by giving its users greater control, flexibility, security and rewards. Customers in the EEA can also request contactless payments fob and a range of payment-enabled wearables for a quick and secure way to pay for things on the go that fits with their lifestyle.

Enforce helps WestStar implement nCino platform to increase speed and simplify loan origination process

nCino, Inc. , a pioneer in cloud banking and digital transformation solutions for the global financial services industry, today announced that $2.5 billion-asset WestStar Bank is now live on the nCino Bank Operating System®. WestStar is utilizing nCino’s Commercial Banking Solution, which provides the bank with a robust, flexible, and highly configurable solution for its employees and commercial clients. WestStar worked with Enforce Consulting to implement nCino’s cloud-based digital platform in a matter of months.

“As a leader in our region for commercial banking, we needed a top of the line, best in class solution that we knew could grow with us and keep up with the pace of change in the industry,” said Raymond Baer, Chief Commercial Banking Officer at WestStar. “nCino has supplied us with efficient, relevant business processes that have supported growth and adaptability to enhance our employee and client experience, and better serve our communities. We’re thrilled to have partnered with nCino and look forward to future integrations across the platform.”

For more than two decades, WestStar Bank has relied on paper intensive, disparate systems to complete work for their commercial clients. Through its unique nCino Delivery Center, Enforce Consulting offered an industry-leading implementation to the community financial institution to support its efforts to transform and digitize its banking practices.

The nCino Bank Operating System is now empowering more than 330 WestStar employees with true insights into the bank through an end-to-end platform that spans business teams and combines customer relationship management, onboarding, loan origination, and instant workflow reporting capabilities to provide WestStar’s clients with a premier experience. Upon realizing nCino’s impact on connecting disjointed systems, creating efficiencies, and supporting the customer journey through any channel, WestStar will be implementing nCino’s Retail Banking Solution with Enforce later this year.

“When we embarked on this implementation process, we wanted to ensure WestStar fully adopted nCino’s best-practice solution. To accomplish this, we needed top-level support to ensure the change was well received by the entire bank,” said Danielle Guille, Executive Vice President at Enforce Consulting. “We were able to leverage our nCino delivery expertise, which enabled us to quickly bring a highly effective, customer-centric solution to deliver an elite user experience for the people and communities WestStar serves.”

“It's important to us to offer the right combination of high-touch personalized banking expertise and high-tech capabilities,” said Will Cameron, SVP of Community and Regional Banking at nCino. “Clients continue to demand their financial institutions become more innovative and digital-savvy to meet their ever-changing needs. We look forward to our continued work with WestStar to help them achieve the scale and agility they need to stay ahead of the competition in the region.”

Cuckoo, the UK’s most loved national broadband provider, has announced a string of senior hires joining from some of the UK’s leading tech companies including Just Eat, Monzo and Bulb. Following growth of over 250% so far this year, the broadband challenger has doubled its headcount in just 12 months. 

Sarah Ahern has joined as Head of Strategy and Operations from Just Eat, where she led on strategy and projects. A member of Founders of the Future, an invite-only community launched by Founders Forum at 10 Downing Street, Sarah will lead on Cuckoo’s strategic relationships, including wholesale agreements and industry partnerships, as well as Cuckoo’s wider business and commercial strategy

Other senior-level appointments include Daniel Malik, who will be heading the service team as Cuckoo’s Operations Lead following three years as a Quality Assurance Analyst at Monzo. Ben Bentley, Cuckoo’s Finance Lead, also joins from Schroders Personal Wealth. 

Cuckoo are shaking up the broadband sector as the market's only challenger and have their sights set on the 23.4 million UK households currently signed up to one of the big four incumbents. Building the team required to meet these ambitious growth targets will be new Talent Manager, Rosie McInerney, who joins from smart insurance startup Hiro.

As the business continues to scale to demand and launch new product offerings, including the upcoming launch of Cuckoo’s own full-fibre broadband tariff, Cuckoo are onboarding two former Bulb employees with Matthew Garner joining as Product Manager and Mike Francis as Senior Frontend Developer, bringing their experience of growing and scaling a challenger brand to Cuckoo. 

These recent developments are a direct result of April’s successful $6 million investment round, led by RTP Global with JamJar Investments. RTP were early backers of Yandex, Delivery Hero and Datadog while JamJar backed Bulb, Deliveroo, Tails and Oatly. Other individual investors in the round include marketing veterans from Monzo, an early Stripe employee and Verizon’s former EMEA director.

Alex Fitzgerald, Founder and CEO at Cuckoo, said:

“Our mission from the very beginning has been to disrupt the broken broadband market, dominated by a large few who rip off their customers. At Cuckoo we will always put our customers first. I’m thrilled to welcome our new team members from some of the UK’s best tech businesses. Their experience will help supercharge our mission as we help households up and down the country delivering fast, flexible and reliable broadband.”

• Specialist insurance firm Inigo Ltd is the best funded start-up of 2020-21, with $800,000,000 raised since launching in 2020
• Also within the top 10 is Genesis Digital Assets, a bitcoin mining operator
• Seven London-based businesses dominate the top 10

Specialist insurance firm Inigo Limited is the best-funded start-up of 2020-21, a new study reveals.

Conducted by cloud accounting company Ember, the research analysed Crunchbase data to discover companies founded on and after 1^st January 2020 and identify those with the highest total funding since their inception.

Topping the list with funding of £800m raised since their founding in 2020, Inigo Limited offers specialist insurances in several regions including property, energy and terrorism and political violence.

In second and labelled as “the first fully digital and algorithmically-driven Lloyd’s syndicate” is London-based insurance firm Ki Insurance. Originally announced in March 2020, the organisation offers subscription-based, algorithmic underwriting for a variety of risks. Since its inception, the company has gained $500m in total funding.

The third highest-funded start-up of 2020-21 is the industrial-scale bitcoin mining operator Genesis Digital Assets – also based in London. Launched in May of this year and with funding of $125,000,000 since inception, the firm recently released its Q2 reports, highlighting what it referred to as the “emerging role” of Ethereum and Decentralized finance (DeFi) in the industry.

London-based companies dominate the top 10 list of the best funded start-ups – seven of the ten firms included are registered to operate within the country’s capital.

The list also reveals considerable variety in the types of businesses that are generating high levels funding. There are five companies focusing on finance and insurance, alongside those operating in industries as diverse as food delivery and nanotechnology.

Commenting on the findings, a spokesperson of Ember stated: “It is thrilling to see that, even in spite of the recent pandemic, start-ups within various sectors are receiving substantial funding in order to conduct their business. The top ten businesses have generated more than $1.8 billion in funding, so it’s clear that the British start-up scene is in rude health.”

The news follows research by Ember which revealed that retail is the UK’s best industry in which to start a business. It came out on top of the overall industry rankings thanks to one of the highest survival rates, and a healthy ratio of companies being started compared to businesses failing

The study was conducted by Ember, the cloud accounting company which automates accounting and tax to help make business admin simpler and more cost effective for freelancers, contractors, start-ups and small businesses.

- Open Banking Initiative Canada (OBIC), which is a not-for-profit advocacy organization gathering great minds in finance, technology, and regulation, to advance Open Banking as an innovative and inclusive force for good, has partnered with Open Banking Expo, a global community of Open Banking and Open Finance executives responsible for digital transformation across the financial services sector, to boost the growth of Open Banking and Open Finance across Canada.   

Though efforts have already been made to adopt Open Banking in Canada, which will allow consumers to consent to the secured sharing of data with all service providers including banks, credit unions, wealth management firms, and Fintechs, the Open Banking initiative is still in its nascence in the country.  

Commenting on the partnership, OBIC Board Member Michelle Beyo said: “We are pleased to partner with Open Banking Expo to help leverage our expertise, relations and experience in the sector to continue to advance Open Banking in Canada and around the world.

“At OBIC, our mission is to be a single voice for the financial services industry that represents the viewpoints of its key participants: consumers, Fintechs, payment services, banks, and industry experts.” 

Over the past two years, OBIC has been working with industry participants and players to establish and assess technologies and standards best suited for Canada’s financial system and economy, and to establish a framework of trust between Fintechs, banks and other financial institutions, technology providers, and regulatory bodies to ultimately benefit Canadian consumers. 

Just recently, the Canadian Advisory Committee on Open Banking published its Final Report with recommendations on establishing the path forward for Open Banking in Canada, enthusing the ecosystem and its participants.  

Adam Cox, Co-Founder and CEO of Open Banking Expo, said: “It’s hugely important to have a strong community in Canada to bring the industry together to finally see Open Banking take root in the country, and we look forward to playing our part in this. 

“Our Advisory Board includes industry innovators, disruptors and visionaries who help us ensure what we bring to market is relevant, incisive and drives the adoption of Open Banking and Open Finance across the globe.” 

GBT Technologies Inc. (OTC PINK: GTCH) ("GBT” or the “Company”), is now testing - Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS) Antenna Technology for its Infinia long range communication. The NVIS technology is targeted to assist with dead zone coverage. Typical HF radio waves reach very long distances but there is the challenge of covering the skip zones. NVIS (Vertical Incidence Skywave propagation) is a type of ionospheric radio transmission that can be used to fill the gaps between line of sight and longer distance skip zones that are used at HF bands; especially, with rough terrain and geographical obstacles.

The use of NVIS propagation requires efficient antenna and frequency selection. Particular antenna styles are necessary in order to ensure efficient coverage at all terrain types. This type of antenna and transmission technology is an effective solution in topographical areas where the radio signal is masked or shadowed (for example mountainous or hill areas). NVIS enables having a radio signal with a high angle of elevation that is not shielded by the terrain and therefore can cover HF dead zones as a compliment to the long-range HF communication. This type of antenna and transmission technology can potentially fit to a long-range HF radio communications application; especially, for remote rough geographical regions where essential communication may be needed. GBT will be using advanced antennas to radiate most of the power at a high angle, near to the vertical.

“Using NVIS propagation may enable the transmission of most power at a high angle, near to the vertical, which can provide efficient coverage for the dead zones of a long-range HF communication system. This type of technology requires the use of unique antennas that are designed specifically for this type of communication. Typical HF radio antennas provide a much lower angle of radiation and therefore a specifically designed antenna will be used. These antennas provide a high angle of transmission that is necessary for NVIS propagation. We will use horizontally polarized, horizontal dipoles and loop antennas for the system’s testing. The main challenge of an HF communication system is to provide coverage for the dead zones. NVIS utilizes the difference in elevation pattern responses approaching or reaching 90 degrees. Using this type of antenna technology with an appropriate frequency selection will potentially establish reliable communication to cover HF dead zones. Utilizing AI algorithms, we aim to implement smart, self-tuning antenna along with frequency selection to achieve automatic, optimal performance and complete coverage. In areas where no modern communication infrastructure exists, NVIS radio wave propagation may provide a contact to the outside world enabling remote location emergency response, telemedicine and modern world communication, including the internet,” said Danny Rittman, GBT’s CTO.

There is no guarantee that the Company will be successful in researching, developing or implementing this test system. In order to successfully implement this concept, the Company will need to raise adequate capital to support its research and, if successfully researched, developed and granted regulatory approval (as needed), the Company would need to enter into a strategic relationship with a third party that has experience in manufacturing, selling and distributing this product. There is no guarantee that the Company will be successful in any or all of these critical steps.

Seaglass Cloud Technology, , an end-to-end, software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider to the energy sector, has developed a scalable and future-proof, full-service customer management system for Omni Energy, helping it to provide a responsive and highly-efficient service to domestic pay-as-you-go (PAYG) energy customers.

Omni Energy specialises in the PAYG market, where consumers top up energy via Omni’s app, online portal or physical card or key – a market it believes is under-served within the energy supply industry.

“These customers are perceived as too complex, and do not get offered forward-thinking products or account management,” says Gary Bartlett, CEO at Omni Energy. “Our sole purpose is to make pre-payment better.” 

Seaglass’ end-to-end, cloud-based solution includes automated SaaS systems that streamline customer risk calculations, data migration, onboarding, supplier switching, customer communications and billing.

As a cloud-native business, the Seaglass system is innately configurable and includes system updates resulting from regulatory changes as part of its standard offering. It is helping Omni Energy, for example, in offering its customers faster and more reliable switching in line with Ofgem’s Switching Programme.

Charlie Hewson, Omni’s Operations Director,  says the Seaglass system allows them to more efficiently serve customers: “When a customer calls us, all of their details are at our fingertips – their meter readings, when they last topped up, how much energy they used, etc. That enables us to deliver the correct action for our customers – at the right time.

“For all honest consumers it provides the ‘wow’ factor in customer service, and for anyone trying to game the system – our access to live data makes it much more difficult.”

Omni Energy opted for the Seaglass system following a demonstration of its capabilities: “It was clear that it was in a league of its own,” adds Gary. “Because it is scalable and future-proof in its nature, it will grow as we grow – enabling us to easily add new services for more customers. Whereas other systems have just a three-year lifecycle before the need to upgrade to accommodate industry changes such as the coming mandatory half hourly settlement, with Seaglass the functionality is already built in.”

Gary concludes that the system ticks the required boxes: “Its forecasting and risk management capabilities also set it apart, enabling us to intelligently predict energy usage and interact with the market.

Alex Troth, Commercial Director at Seaglass Cloud Technology, says the business builds systems in partnership with its customers: “Ultimately it has been built to help Omni Energy deliver the same or better service to PAYG customers that other energy consumers enjoy. At the same time being easy to implement, reducing the cost to serve and enabling Omni to take on more customers while managing the risk of doing so.”