Digital Employee Experience management company mentioned as a Sample Vendor for DEX solutions and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure monitoring.

ControlUp, the industry leader in digital employee experience management, announced today that it has been recognized as a Sample Vendor for Digital Employee Experience management (DEX) category in three separate Gartner Hype Cycle reports, including Hype Cycle for the Digital Workplace, 2021[1], Hype Cycle for Digital Workplace Infrastructure and Operations, 2021[2], Hype Cycle for ITSM, 2021 [3], In another  Gartner report, titled “Hype Cycle for Monitoring, Observability and Cloud Operations, 2021” [4], ControlUp was recognized in both Digital Employee Experience management (DEX) category and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDIM) category.

ControlUp had record-breaking performance in H1 2021, expanding its market base with 400,000+ new licenses for remote working solutions that are essential to the hybrid workforce.  The ControlUp Digital Employee Experience management platform enables IT administrators to see their remote work landscape, end to end, from a single console, ensuring that employees have a superior digital experience, no matter where they work.

According to Gartner, “Despite significant digital workplace investments, most IT leaders are unable to measure digital employee experience. While digital experience monitoring (DEM) is important, most DEM tools lack organizational context and sentiment data, as well as automation capabilities. These additional features enable DEX tools to become a strategic differentiator that can reduce overhead and improve experience, which is paramount given the increased pressure organizations are under as the result of the pandemic.”[4]

“The new online economy has created a huge demand for solutions that optimize the employee digital experience”, said Alexander Rublowsky, Executive Vice President of Marketing at ControlUp.  “We believe that this recognition in the 2021 Gartner Hype Cycle reports have affirmed our solutions’ ability to improve employee productivity and satisfaction by ensuring seamless access, high availability, and quick response times for applications used remotely.”

_{[1]Gartner “Hype Cycle for the Digital Workplace, 2021,” Matt Cain, Michael Woodbridge, July 12, 2021. (Gartner subscription required)}

_{[2]Gartner “Hype Cycle for Digital Workplace Infrastructure and Operations, 2021,” Autumn Stanish, Stuart Downes, July 22, 2021. (Gartner subscription required)}

_{[3]Gartner “Hype Cycle for ITSM, 2021,” Siddharth Shetty, Keith Andes, July 21, 2021. (Gartner subscription required)}

_{[4] Gartner “Hype Cycle for Monitoring, Observability and Cloud Operations, 2021,” Padraig Byrne, Pankaj Prasad, July 16, 2021. (Gartner subscription required)}

Žltý melón, a Slovak P2P lending platform, joined forces with Salt Edge, leader in developing open banking solutions, to implement PSD2-integrated access to clients’ bank data and streamline the loan application journey.

Current uncertain market conditions created an urgency for instant and simplified alternatives to bank loans. P2P lending, also called crowdlending, became a real lifeline, offering borrowings directly from individuals who are ready to lend. Žltý melón works as the connecting link between people who need to borrow money with those who want to invest. Žltý melón offers people lower loan interest rates and higher returns on their investments, making consumer and mortgage loans more accessible and investing more profitable than with traditional banks.

Joining forces with Salt Edge, Žltý melón gets instant access to more than 2,500 banks across Europe, including major Slovak and Czech banks, thus making the loan application flow for their clients more streamlined and frictionless. Open banking adds a digital boost to the risk verification process, which was previously burdened by the need to download the PDF file from internet banking and then upload those files to the Žltý melón system. Now, clients need simply to provide their consent and bank data will be transferred instantly in the automatic mode.

Driven by Salt Edge’s data aggregation and data enrichment solutions, Žltý melón will be able to run enhanced data analytics and automate additional parts of the verification and risk analytics process. By getting a 360-degree view of a borrowers’ financial situation and behaviour, Žltý melón can offer to the clients additional discounts on interest rates for their loan.

Žltý melón as a leading fintech lending platform in Slovakia has won the trust of thousands of satisfied investors over the time of almost ten years of our operations and for us, it was very important to collaborate with trusted partners. Salt Edge’s readiness and quality of product solutions, experience, and market coverage became decisive in our choice. Collaborating with Salt Edge, we can streamline the loan request process for our clients and enhance our credit scoring algorithm, thus providing the possibility to more people to get additional funding for even better conditions.

Roman Feranec, CEO of Žltý melón

Open banking brings to light countless opportunities for the lending industry. And we are very excited to see the fruits and benefits of lenders incorporating Instant access to bank data to their products, being able to offer services to more customers. We are excited to team up with Žltý melón, a project supported by strong investment groups and portfolios in its background with intuitive and clear services without hidden fees. We are proud to contribute to the ever-increasing number of satisfied Žltý melón customers and businesses discovering more and more open banking-enabled benefits.

Lisa Gutu, Head of Business Development at Salt Edge

The digital bank which recently raised £17.7M, will focus on delivering an exceptional and secure banking experience, built on its innovative social current account and competitive lending products.

Digital bank Kroo has received its banking licence and is now authorised with restrictions by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), marking the company’s entrance into the final stage of the UK financial regulators’ rigorous licensing application process.

The bar to obtaining a UK banking licence is high, with a massive gap between the number of firms interested in becoming a bank and those that subsequently gain authorisation. Kroo is one of only two new banks to be authorised in 2021 so far. The regulators’ demanding application process involves submitting a regulatory business plan alongside a number of policies and key documents, capital and liquidity assessments approval, and attending in-depth feedback “challenge sessions”.

The authorisation with restriction means that Kroo can accept deposits up to £50,000 in total. This ‘mobilisation’ phase allows new banks a time to finalise their systems, infrastructure and controls ahead of public launch, which for Kroo is expected in early 2022, once the full banking licence is granted.

Kroo aims to remove the friction from financial interactions with family and friends, by reducing the social anxiety and stigma surrounding money management. The digital bank’s current product range - a prepaid debit card and its innovative app - enable customers to easily create groups with friends, track spending, and split and pay bills quickly and securely. The Kroo prepaid card is an e-money product, with funds protected by safeguarding rules, but not by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Once the restrictions are lifted in early 2022, Kroo will gradually close down the prepaid card scheme and offer its customers the ability to transition their existing accounts over to the new Kroo current account, free of charge.

As part of its product expansion, the bank will offer loans later in 2022 to provide access to fair and competitively priced credit. The digital bank will also grow its workforce significantly, across technology, marketing, risk, compliance and customer support.

To support the delivery of this phase, Kroo has assembled a new board of directors, including financial services veteran Cameron Marr as chair, corporate governance and financial control specialist Penelope Kenny as senior independent director, the seasoned tech entrepreneur Rudy Karsan as representative of the shareholders and risk and compliance expert Serena Joseph to lead its risk committee.

The newly formed board will join Kroo’s experienced leadership team, who have held senior roles in Santander, RBS, KPMG, Bank of Cyprus and Ratesetter.

Andrea De Gottardo, CEO of Kroo, says “It is incredibly exciting to finally be a bank that is authorised with restrictions. Very few firms in the UK get to this point and this represents a huge milestone for the entire team. We’ve worked hard over the years to build a bank our customers will not only love but can rely on and trust. Entering mobilisation brings us one giant step closer to becoming the greatest social bank on the planet.”

To date, Kroo has grown organically to 5,000 prepaid cardholders, with over 20,000 monthly transactions on the platform. The firm also launched a customer tree-planting referral scheme in June 2021, has a board-level social conscience committee and has pledged to donate a percentage of its profits to social causes. Kroo has now raised over £30m in venture capital funding since launch, having recently secured a £17.7m Series A investment.

Latin American grocery delivery platform Cornershop will issue recycled plastic cards through Marqeta’s modern card issuing platform, with Marqeta also partnering with rePurpose Global on plastic neutrality initiatives.

Marqeta, the global modern card issuing platform, announced a new initiative today to offer customers the choice to issue physical cards made from recycled plastic through its platform, alongside a partnership with rePurpose Global to offset its plastic footprint.

Marqeta will let its customers order physical cards made from 43 percent recycled material, offered in partnership with its card fulfillment partner Perfect Plastic Printing. Latin American grocery delivery platform Cornershop, recently acquired by Uber, will be the first customer to issue recycled cards through Marqeta to new Cornershop delivery shoppers globally. 

“We applaud Marqeta for taking the initiative with this new recycled card product, and for reducing the environmental impact of plastic cards,” said Oskar Hjertonsson, Founder and CEO of Cornershop by Uber. “It offered us an opportunity to be environmentally conscious, without sacrificing the quality and durability of the cards used by Cornershop delivery shoppers, which is a true win-win.” 

This new product is part of a continued focus on plastic neutrality for Marqeta, with the company also entering into a partnership with rePurpose Global to reduce its plastic footprint. Marqeta has committed to work with rePurpose Global to remove 380,000 pounds of nature-bound plastic from the environment in 2021 and channel it towards sustainable reuse. rePurpose Global’s efforts on Marqeta’s behalf will offset the creation of roughly 34 million cards. It is estimated that 37 metric tons of plastic enters our oceans each year, with 74 percent of plastic never recycled. Even if the world’s governments meet the ambitious commitments they have set for themselves, annual plastic emissions could reach 58 million tons by 2030.

“Marqeta is excited to be able to offer recycled cards to our customers like Cornershop, and to partner with a social enterprise like rePurpose to reduce the environmental impact of the plastic cards we issue,” said Jason Gardner, Founder and CEO of Marqeta. “This is a key step for Marqeta toward our eventual goal of plastic neutrality. It’s crucial that as a company we take it upon ourselves to be positive stewards of the environment, and by helping our customers reduce their plastic footprint, we also reduce our own.” 

Inc. Magazine has ranked Federos® number 3327 on its 2021 Inc. 5000 list—the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. Federos, a leading provider of cloud-enabled, AI-optimized assurance, analytics, and automation software, has achieved a rapid three-year revenue growth of 107%. The company’s success has been driven by its flagship solution, Assure1®, that monitors and manages the performance of critical networks and services for many of the world’s largest 5G service providers and enterprises.

The Inc. 5000 list provides a unique perspective on the most successful companies within the American economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent small and midsized businesses. Companies such as Microsoft, Dell, Intuit, LinkedIn, Yelp, Zillow, Under Armour, Patagonia, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees of the Inc. 5000.

Not only have the companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 been very competitive within their markets, but this year’s list also proved especially resilient and flexible given 2020’s unprecedented challenges. Among the 5,000, the average median three-year growth rate soared to 543 percent. Together, those companies added more than 610,000 jobs over the past three years.

“We’re honored to be acknowledged by Inc. Magazine for what the Federos team has accomplished, particularly considering the challenges that our employees and customers around the world have faced with the pandemic,” said Keith Buckley, CEO of Federos. “We continue to define the next generation of service assurance software to ensure the reliability and performance of critical networks and services shown to be so critical over the past 18 months. We’re extremely proud of our employees for making us one of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.”

“The 2021 Inc. 5000 list feels like one of the most important rosters of companies ever compiled,” says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. “Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement. Building one in the crisis we’ve lived through is just plain amazing. This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people.”

 Biz2X today announced the introduction of a new rapid launch version of its Accelerate SBA platform for banks, at the America East Lending Conference in Philadelphia.

The digital lending platform is designed to give SBA lenders a powerful solution that can be launched in as little as 30 days. It comes as an increasing number of banks are adopting Biz2X to expand their SBA lending programs in an all-digital manner.

“We know that speed is important for banks and that’s why we have worked hard to make it faster to launch on this platform than any previous SBA lending tool on the market,” said Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2X’s parent company Biz2Credit and one of the nation’s pioneers in FinTech.

“This new version of our Accelerate SBA platform can be deployed in just 30 days to meet the growing needs of community banks to digitize the SBA process,” Arora added. “We know this is critical for lenders, especially now that customers demand a smoother, simpler online application process.”

This rapid launch program from Biz2X is a new offering that leverages the Biz2X Accelerate SBA platform announced last summer. It provides a feature set that makes the transition from paper-based to all-digital SBA lending easy for banks and SBA-approved lenders. Available starting today, this platform version is purpose-built for banks who want to enter SBA lending or grow their SBA programs.

Features include:

• Omni-channel bank branded SBA Loan application to handle multiple loan types
• Built-in 3rd party data integrations including SBA E-Tran, credit bureau, and e-sign);
• SBA rules-driven logic checks eligibility and queues up relevant forms
• Banker Dashboard to manage, and track applications efficiently

Biz2X announced the new rapid launch platform version at the America East Small Business Lending Conference, where the company is a lead sponsor this year. Bankers who are interested in the new platform offering should contact Darren Hecht, SVP of Business Development for Biz2X, who is leading the company's delegation at the show.

Spice Money covers 95% of Indian rural pincodes, ensuring the reach of micro-ATMs to the unbanked and underbanked

Spice Money with its 7 lakh Adhikari network to address the digital and financial services needs of marginalised population in rural India to bring greater inclusivity and financial freedom

Spice Money, India’s leading rural fintech, has been promoting financial freedom among the rural population through its mission of bringing financial and digital inclusion to Bharat. In the journey of furthering this mission, Spice Money today announced that it has established a mammoth ATM network with 1 lakh Spice Money Micro-ATMs operating across rural India.  Strengthening the ATM infrastructure is a crucial leg in this journey, making the 1 lakh mark a significant milestone. The highest number of traditional ATMs installed by any bank in the country currently stands at approximately 60,000, making Spice Money the fastest growing mATM network in the country. Spice Money witnesses over Rs 1000 crores worth of transaction month on month basis on its mATM network.

India has come a long way since 1921, when traditional banking was closed and the Imperial Bank of India was the only bank offering services to Indians, to opening up to private players in the 1950s and to today becoming one of the leaders in the global banking and fintech revolution. While the access to banking in rural areas has been improving over the years, only 5% of the 6,00,000 villages had a commercial bank branch in 2019. When compared to global counterparts, India is among the countries to have the lowest ATM penetration in the world. While the country has nearly 650,000 villages, only one ATM is available for 10 villages. Over 65% of the Indian population resides in rural India, however, rural areas account for only 20 percent of all ATMs in the country. Infrastructural costs, low usage due to lack of awareness, inconsistent availability of electricity, theft, vandalism are some of the major deterrents for ATM operators in rural areas. Such challenges continue to slow down the provision of basic banking amenities to this segment of population.

Rural incomes are rising, pushing up the demand for banking services in rural India. India’s digital footprint is expanding, enabling digital banking solutions that bring the underbanked and unbanked rural areas on the map of the banking system. Spice Money, as a company integrating technology into the rural financial network, is enabling its Adhikaris (banking correspondents), next-door Kirana stores/ stationery shops or any individual with access to internet, to equip themselves with the Spice Money micro-ATMs and turn their businesses into a Spice Money ‘Digital Dukaan’, offering essential banking services of cash withdrawal and deposit to their local communities. Especially during the pandemic induced lockdown, micro ATMs emerged as the key driver to assist people with cash withdrawal and other essential services. Spice Money’s mATM network grew multifold from just over 18,000 in Feb 2020 to over 1,00,000 as on today. The Company covers 95% of the rural pincodes in India with more than 7 lakh Adhikaris on its network, maximising the reach of the micro-ATMs to the financially underserved and cash-driven parts of the nation.

Sanjeev Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, Spice Money, said, “Spice Money’s mission since its establishment has been financial inclusion of the rural population of Bharat, thereby, bringing in greater financial freedom to end users as well as our rural entrepreneurs, Adhikaris. As we step into the 75^th year of Indian Independence, we are privileged to be celebrating this landmark year by delivering on this promise.”

Sanjeev further added, “As of March-end 2021, India had just 2.39 lakh ATMs for a population of over 1.3 billion. This number establishes the inadequacy of the ATM infrastructure in our country to address the needs of the semi-urban and rural economy that is growing on the back of direct benefit transfers through Jan Dhan accounts. The ATM network in these parts has, in many cases, witnessed a de-growth, causing the cash-heavy economy to struggle with low access to digital financial services. This is a huge deterrent for financial inclusion in the country. Spice Money has persistently been working towards expanding the micro-ATM network to all corners of India bringing financial and digital empowerment so that rural consumers can access their own money and attain financial freedom. While establishing a lakh-strong ATM network is a milestone for us, we will continue growing our reach and supporting more rural customers in their financial needs.”

Sonu Sood, Brand Ambassador and Advisory Board Member, Spice Money, said, “I have been supporting small businesses with more growth opportunities so that they can prosper and also benefit the local community that they operate in. Spice Money micro ATM is a perfect fit for such small business owners who can now convert their businesses to Spice Money Digital Dukaan, in zero cost, and provide an additional service of essential banking products to their customers. Micro-ATMs can play the increasingly crucial role of bridging the gap in financial services by bringing the convenience of banking transactions right to the next door kirana stores in rural India.” 

Earlier this year, Spice Money introduced an initiative offering the company’s micro-ATM devices at effective zero cost to further accelerate its vision of financial inclusion and encourage Adhikaris to become a part of building an extensive ATM network. In May 2021, Spice Money became the first company to introduce an ATM in India’s last village, Chitkul, Himachal Pradesh, where one of the only two kirana stores was converted into a Spice Money Digital Dukaan after being equipped with a micro-ATM. Before this, the closest ATM for the residents of Chitkul had been 25 kilometres away in Sangla. Spice Money plans to cover more such far flung remote areas with its micro ATM network.

RegTech company and provider of advanced anti-financial crime compliance solutions, Napier, has announced that its sophisticated AI-enhanced technology has been chosen by BCB Group, a crypto-dedicated provider of payments, business accounts and trading services for the digital asset economy.

BCB Group will use Napier’s Transaction Screening and Transaction Monitoring tools to flag any suspicious activity as it happens, and to support its ongoing commitment to leading the way with anti-money laundering compliance in the UK crypto market.

BCB Group became the first crypto-focused company to be regulated as an Authorised Payments Institution by the UK Financial Conduct Authority and provides an end-to-end suite of payment processing, cryptocurrency trading, foreign exchange and custody services. The Group works with some of the leading blockchain companies, including cryptocurrency exchanges, market makers, brokers, investment managers, hedge funds and digital asset investment funds.

Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie, Founder and CEO at BCB Group, said: “Since establishing BCB Group four years ago, we have always prided ourselves on our commitment to best practice and having the highest regulatory standards in the UK crypto market. Because of this, it was essential for us to adopt the very best anti-financial crime technology, and that’s where Napier comes in.

“An integral part of our onward anti-money laundering compliance strategy, Napier’s AI-enhanced solutions will allow us to focus on the fast evolution of digital asset innovation while remaining in full compliance with some of the most stringent regulations in force globally.”

BCB Group joins a growing list of companies around the world that have partnered with Napier in their anti-financial crime compliance, including tier one banks, payment services, FX, crypto and other financial services. With a presence in the UK, North America, Australia, Singapore and the Middle East, Napier’s global footprint is also growing, recently establishing its UAE-base in Dubai.

Julian Dixon, CEO of Napier, said: “Our technology reduces the growing compliance burden on firms such as BCB Group. It can spot unusual transactions, reduce false positives and identify risk easily and quickly, relieving the pressure on internal teams. This is increasingly as important for operators in emerging financial services markets, such as crypto, as it is for traditional institutions. Our solution is agile and robust enough to provide advanced compliance support across the board, even as financial crime continues to evolve in its complexity.”

Partnership increases speed of logistics and ease of conducting trade globally

Digital trade finance network Contour has partnered with the Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN) to offer an end-to-end digital solution for all participants involved in trading, financing and shipping goods around the world.

Pandemic-induced lockdowns and the subsequent explosive growth in e-commerce, have pushed the logistics industry to its limits, but inefficient manual processes are still commonplace and are creating bottlenecks. GSBN’s blockchain-enabled operating system and its product Cargo Release enables highly efficient and transparent digital sharing of verified logistics and cargo data. This streamlines business operations across the whole supply chain, cutting the time for cargo to be document ready for release from days to a matter of hours.

The partnership with Contour’s network, which digitises paper-based trade finance processes such as Letters of Credit (LCs), will drive interoperability for users of both solutions. By harnessing both solutions, corporates can experience a seamless connection between the physical supply chain and the financial system.

The partnership will support the entire workflow involved in trading goods around the world – from accessing trade finance and managing the documents underpinning the shipping process, to having goods released from a port. Participants including importers, exporters, logistics service providers, and financial institutions will all benefit from improved efficiency and reduced cost.

GSBN’s large and growing footprint complements Contour’s established presence as a leading digital trade network across Asia and beyond. Contour continues to expand its network of partners across the region, and recently launched its first domestic offering in Bangladesh.

Based in Hong Kong, GSBN is the world’s first independent, not-for-profit technology consortium to build a blockchain-enabled operating system to redefine global trade. Its founding members include major global shipping lines and terminal operators accounting for one in every three containers handled in the world. These include COSCO SHIPPING LINES, COSCO SHIPPING Ports, Hapag-Lloyd, Hutchison Ports, OOCL, SPG Qingdao Port, PSA International and Shanghai International Port Group.

Carl Wegner, CEO at Contour, said: “The global logistics and shipping industry – like trade finance – is in critical need of digitization. Counterparties need to be able to interact with trust, certainty and security – both in the way they finance trades and in the processes that support the physical shipment of goods. The problems that have beleaguered global trade for years are slowly becoming a thing of the past as adoption of innovative digital technologies picks up pace. We look forward to working with GSBN to further accelerate this industry-wide shift”.

Bertrand Chen, CEO at GSBN, said:  “Today’s global shipping industry is struggling to keep up with the rising complexities of supply chains, markets and economies. Digital transformation is key to addressing these challenges, but this can only be achieved by breaking down the different silos in the supply chain. This partnership with Contour breaks down another silo by connecting the physical supply chain to the underlying financial system. This will pave way for more trusted collaboration between market particpants, as well as a more efficient and resilient global supply chain.”

A wide and growing range of industries, such as metals, energy, petrochemicals, textiles, soft commodities and retail have conducted successful LC transactions on the Contour network, and Contour has recently announced that it will soon expand beyond letters of credit following its successful funding round.