Cube19, a data analytics specialist that works with businesses in the recruitment sector, has secured a £1.75m loan from the alternative lender BOOST&Co to support its international expansion following a strong period of growth.  

The London-based SaaS company provides recruitment firms with dedicated data analytics software that can power their growth. Clients use dashboards that deliver critical insights into how their business is performing and how they can ensure maximum productivity, and the software is also able to identify further opportunities across the sector.

Cube 19 has a partner-led approach: by working alongside the customer relationship management provider Bullhorn, the firm has enabled clients to embed its recruitment-specific dashboards into their existing systems.

Although many businesses suspended recruitment at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Cube 19, which has a track record of rapid growth, strong cash generation and good profitability, now has more than 400 customers and has already made six new appointments to its 42-strong team this year.

BOOST&Co has provided the business with a £1.75m term loan under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). With recruitment now gathering pace, the loan will enable Cube 19 to capitalise on this surge in demand by developing its platform and accelerating its growth internationally, particularly in the US.

BOOST&Co is a leading provider of growth capital for innovative, fast-growing UK SMEs. The independent asset manager offers loans from £2m to £10m, covering a wide range of sectors, with a strong track record in technology, media and telecommunications (TMT).

It has funded more than £500m across more than 130 deals to date and provided close to £200m under the government’s CBILS initiative in 2020 and 2021 to support UK SMEs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dan McGuire, the founder and chief executive of Cube 19, says: “When Covid-19 struck last year, every business had to put its growth plans on hold, but we were determined to keep our team together so that we would be ready to hit the ground running and capitalise on the rebound."

“We believe that a data culture is the foundation for elite performance, but recruitment is only just beginning to get to grips with what data can help it to achieve. This loan will help us to accelerate our growth plans and hire more talent for our teams in the UK and the US.”

Ryan Sorby, the head of the north and Scotland at BOOST&Co, says: “Before the pandemic, Cube 19 had scaled very quickly. Now, as the recovery begins, the company is going through one of its strongest periods of winning new business."

“The funding from BOOST&Co will help the company to develop its platform further and to continue to expand overseas, particularly in the US. With such a strong product, Cube 19 is an excellent example of a UK business developing innovative services that are being embraced in large markets around the world.”

For more information about BOOST&Co, visit boostandco.com

For more information about Cube 19, visit cube19.com

Global FinTech Paysend today announced a new global plan for the launch of their People & Culture function, with the aim to support the massive growth of the UK based Fintech which grew its customer base over 1 million in the last 6 months.

The People & Culture function recently created under the leadership of Alex Nicolaus (Chief People Officer) is looking at a way to redefine the future of work in the digital space, through a reshape of the Paysend HR organization.

The Paysend People & Culture vision is to build the future of work by enabling a remote, high-performance culture that helps everyone at Paysend to excel, develop and love what they do, everywhere they are. It is based on 6 deliverables (Talent Acquisition & Employer Branding, New Experiences & Engagement, Lead innovation in Fintech, Diversity, Inclusion & Well-Being, Development in People & Performance, HR Data & Analytics) designed not only to support Paysend’s aggressive growth, but to do it with a model able to build a truly transformational work culture. Each of these Objectives has a set of Key Results underneath, based on the building of new systems and technologies designed to support the business as well as people development and delivery.

Specifically in the learning area, Paysend has signed a collaboration with Udemy, a global provider of online learning and training to develop a tailored plan where all Paysend employees can create their personal learning journey, choosing from the largest on-line database of training in the world, and designing their training plan for their highest personal and professional development.

Alex Nicolaus, new Chief People Officer at Paysend, comes with a strong experience in designing start-ups sees this as a pivotal moment to launch Paysend in the top league of Global Fintechs, where people are a central part of the value creation model. “In the digital world, people are the most important asset that can help you to grow. And having a great culture enables you to create an unassailable competitive advantage. It helps you attract the best people, create a happy workplace and increase engagement in your team as well in your external partners, customers or investors.

That is why at Paysend we are investing not simply in having an efficient organization, but in creating the future of work” Alex said. “The partnership with Udemy is key in this sense, as it brings training to a different level, empowering each employee to take out the best for their development”.

Paysend has been growing its employee base from 75 to 400 in the last year and the plan is to multiply that number in the coming months as they open new businesses and corridors and create more products to save time, save money and serve millions around the world. With over 3.5 Million customers worldwide, Paysend is one of the fastest growing Fintechs globally and is aiming to reach over 7 million customers by year end.

Federos®, a leading provider of cloud-enabled, AI-optimized assurance, analytics, and automation software that monitors and manages the performance of critical networks and services, announced today a partnership with Neo4j®, the leader in graph technology, to bring innovative IT and network operations solutions to global service providers and enterprises.

Federos now integrates Neo4j’s graph database technology with Assure1®, the company’s flagship product that provides real-time operational intelligence for operators of critical networks and services. These enhanced graph database capabilities further enrich Assure1 Universal Topology™, adding even stronger end-to-end views of the network and service topology within Assure1 and enabling network operations teams to quickly and effectively act on incidents. This additional capability aids in the avoidance of outages and improved resolution speed to improve QoS, allow for stronger SLAs, and reduce customer churn.

“We are delighted to be working with Neo4j as we continue to enhance the Assure1 platform capabilities. Together, we will deliver innovative and high-value solutions that enhance the customer experience, increase operational efficiency, and reduce costs to our customers,” said Keith Buckley, CEO of Federos.

“By integrating Neo4j, Federos extends the functionality of its network assurance solution, Assure1, to provide its customers with important ways to reveal hidden network issues, eliminate false positives, analyze impact, and take action,” said Matt Connon, VP of global indirect sales at Neo4j. “We’re happy to welcome Federos to the global graph ecosystem. This is a big step forward for AI assurance, analytics, and automation.”

Assure1’s ability to display fault, performance, and service management status allows operators to understand network activities and status in real-time (and historically) with an end-to-end, cross-domain view of the entire network on a single pane of glass. By combining Assure1’s AIOps and machine learning analytical capabilities with Neo4j’s graph database technologies, network operations teams can be automatically alerted to actionable insights that enable them to resolve service-impacting issues rapidly.

To learn more about the integration visit: https://neo4j.com/users/federos/

LiquidityBook, a leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based provider of buy- and sell-side trading solutions, today announced the hire of Frank Kost as Head of Sell-Side Business Development, North America. He will be based in the firm’s New York office.

Mr. Kost will oversee business development efforts for LBX Sell-Side, LiquidityBook’s industry-leading POEMS (portfolio, order and execution management system) purpose-built for the modern agency trading desk. He will play an instrumental role in bringing in new business and identifying long-term growth opportunities in North America, which continues to have the highest concentration of LiquidityBook clients of any region.

Mr. Kost most recently served as Director of Business Development at Axos Clearing. Before that, he was a Senior Sales Executive at SS&C, where he honed a keen understanding of the sell-side OMS space and the shortcomings of legacy systems. His previous roles include senior sales roles at Sungard, Aegis Capital, Bloomberg, NYFIX and Reuters, successfully carrying out ambitious business development plans at every stop. He holds a B.S. from SUNY Oneonta.

Commenting on Mr. Kost’s hire, LiquidityBook Chief Revenue Officer Sean Sullivan said: “As much as we have focused on global expansion in recent years, we still see untapped potential in North American markets. Adding Frank to the team will help us expand our sell-side client base and identify new ways to cater to both clients and prospects. The pandemic has accelerated demand for multitenant, SaaS-based products like ours, while continued cost pressures mean that a transparent, broker-friendly business model for FIX connectivity is crucial. Frank will be a huge part of LiquidityBook’s efforts to deliver these efficiencies to the industry at large.”

Mr. Kost added: “So far, all the positive feedback I’ve been hearing from clients points directly to the flexibility and performance of LiquidityBook’s technology and design. There is a genuine need for the robust functionality and overall value it provides. Furthermore, LiquidityBook’s client service team is highly reputable, with an established track record of working with clients to build features to their specifications. It’s the kind of product that makes a sales role fun, so I couldn’t be more excited to join the team.”

SWIFT and Accenture today published a paper on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in cross-border payments as part of broader digital asset innovation to help the financial community prepare for the possibility of moving payments in new forms of currency internationally.

More than half the world’s central banks are actively exploring the use of CBDCs, a development that could lead to profound change in the global payments ecosystem. This paper explores the practicalities of such a shift – from the ways in which CBDCs would move across jurisdictions to the integration of CBDCs into the mix of currencies that already exist — and details what is required for CBDCs to be a viable solution in international payments.

Interoperability will be key to their success, and while CBDCs present new challenges and opportunities, the paper concludes that continued exploration of CBDCs are likely to leverage existing payments rails where possible, new solutions will become an extension of current infrastructure, and that SWIFT has a unique role to play in a payments ecosystem that includes CBDCs.

To that end, SWIFT is undertaking a deeper dive into CBDCs through thought leadership and experimentation over the coming months. This includes trials to see how SWIFT’s evolving platform and renewed focus on transaction management services under its new strategy to enable instant, frictionless payments across 4 billion accounts globally – agnostic of standards, technologies and currencies – could interact with the cross-border use of CBDCs. In collaboration with the community, SWIFT intends to explore its role further - both as a carrier of authenticated information about CBDC transactions, as it does today for fiat currencies, and as a carrier of actual CBDC value in whatever form it is issued. 

Thomas Zschach, Chief Innovation Officer, SWIFT said: “Making payments infrastructure based on CBDCs efficient and interoperable with the broader economy presents some new challenges, but the majority are the same as those faced by existing payment solutions. As a co-operative that is neutral and currency agnostic, with reach across 11,000 institutions in more than 200 countries, and oversight by central banks globally, SWIFT is well placed to engage closely in the debate and any future evolution of money. We look forward to actively supporting our community on issues related to CBDCs and driving responsible innovation aligned with our strategic vision for instant end-to-end transactions.”

David Treat, a senior managing director at Accenture, who leads its Blockchain and Multi-Party Systems practice globally said: “Central Bank Digital Currency has emerged as an important new tool in the global push to modernize financial infrastructure to meet the needs of our increasingly digital and connected world. As an integral part of the financial services infrastructure, SWIFT plays a critical role in illustrating the possible strategic moves its members may undertake as CBDC begins to transform the financial services landscape. We welcome this partnership and are eager to continue to drive responsible and valuable innovation together."

To read the report, visit:https://www.swift.com/resource/exploring-cbdc

The London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF), in partnership with Fintech Diversity Radar, is offering five scholarships to promote gender diversity in fintech and digital banking.

Scholarships to study on LIBF’s next Certified Fintech Practitioner (CFP) course will be offered to five women already working in fintech, digital banking or the wider financial services sector. Available as a fee waiver for the course, each scholarship is worth £800.

The next CFP course will start on 7 June and the deadline for applications is 21 May.

Helene Panzarino, Fintech Programme Director at the Centre for Digital Banking and Finance at LIBF, says:

“We’re delighted to support Fintech Diversity Radar with these scholarships. We want to see more women not just in fintech but advancing in their fintech careers so that they can achieve their career goals and support others along the way."

“These scholarships aim to help mid-career professional women get to the next step and move into management. CFP is an intense course, delivered in just six weeks, and enables participants to expand their knowledge of the global fintech ecosystem, widen their professional network, and get a recognised and well respected credential.”

How to Apply 

To apply please email your CV and a short statement (max 1,000 words) to digitalcentre@libf.ac.uk. 

Your statement should describe how the programme would support your career and/or personal goals. We will also be keen to hear about what you do, or plan to do, personally to encourage and support other women in accessing and progressing careers in the fintech sector or wider financial services industry.   

Lightspeed (NYSE: LSPD) (TSX: LSPD), a leading provider of cloud-based, omnichannel commerce platforms, announced today it will integrate Google tools directly into its platform, to help independent businesses globally as they safely re-open and expand their in-store capacity. As consumer preference towards shopping locally increases, the direct integration between Lightspeed and Google will allow independent retailers to manage a number of Google tools directly in their Lightspeed commerce platform at no additional cost.  

This announcement comes as new data from Google suggests consumers are interested in shopping local, but many are starting their journey online. Searches for “local” + “business(es)” have grown by more than 80% year over year, including searches like “local businesses near me” and “support local businesses.” Searches for “who has” + “in stock” have grown by more than 8,000% year over year, including searches like “who has gym equipment in stock.” 

The global collaboration between Lightspeed and Google integrates three crucial tools directly into the Lightspeed platform: Google Local Inventory Ads, Google Smart Shopping Campaigns, and Google My Business. This complete integration is vital for omnichannel retailers, who use a multichannel approach to provide a seamless customer experience online or in a physical store. The new Google integration includes: 

• Google Local Inventory Ads: Retailers can reach local customers with local inventory ads, from directly within the Lightspeed platform. These ads help nearby shoppers know what they have in stock, driving more visits to their physical shop.  
• Google Smart Shopping Campaigns: Today's consumers are shopping across platforms and devices, online and offline, seamlessly. With Smart Shopping campaigns, products are eligible to show up across all of Google's properties and reach users wherever, and whenever, they're searching or consuming content. 
• Google My Business: Lightspeed customers can get and manage a professional Google My Business listing straight from Lightspeed’s commerce platform. Retailers can keep customers up to date with their latest information, whether it’s store hours or COVID-19 safety protocols in place.    

Enabling access to these digital tools directly within the Lightspeed platform is strategically aligned with Lightspeed’s mission to simplify entrepreneurship and level the playing field for independent merchants. The integration, when combined with the Lightspeed Supplier Network, creates a seamless path for local retailers to scale their omnichannel businesses.  

“We know that so much of business today starts with a Google search,” said Lightspeed CEO Dax Dasilva, “By combining forces, Lightspeed and Google are eliminating the pain points that prevent SMBs from effectively promoting their products online to the communities who prefer to shop local, providing them a springboard to simplify and scale their businesses as they prepare for the welcomed return of in-store shopping.”    

“Small and medium sized businesses have been hit the hardest during the pandemic, but globally we’ve seen a rallying cry to support them," says Sabrina Geremia, VP & Country Director, Google Canada. "Customers are shopping both online and in-store and expect a seamless shopping experience between both. As we look towards recovery, this integration with Lightspeed will provide a scalable solution for Lightspeed merchants of all sizes looking to reach customers in this new omnichannel reality" 

  This new offering from Lightspeed and Google will give retailers increased opportunity to meet consumer needs in 2021, which have fundamentally pivoted to prioritizing shopping local. Google My Business and Local Inventory Ad integrations are currently available to all Lightspeed retail customers. Lightspeed’s Smart Shopping Campaign capability will become available in the coming months. 

Maviance PLC (www.smobilpay.cm), a Cameroon-based fintech, announced today that it has closed its Seed investment round of USD 3 million from the pan-African digital payments hub MFS Africa, which comes on board as a strategic investor. Maviance will use the new funding to increase its footprint in its Cameroon and to expand into other countries in the central African economic region (CEMAC).   

Maviance chose MFS Africa as an investor to leverage on its pan-African infrastructure and its vast product offering and partnerships to deliver new digital financial products in the CEMAC region. 

In Cameroon, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) employ over 90% of the workforce and contribute around 36% of GDP. However, many MSMEs lack access to digital financial services to grow their businesses. Maviance, which serves over 500,000 unique customers a month, has connected key service providers, payment providers, financial institutions and mobile money operators to its Smobilpay digital financial services platform. Smobilpay’s digital financial services help businesses improve their sales by encouraging their customers to move away from cash-based transactions to digital.  

Smobilpay empowers underserved MSMEs, agents, banks and financial institutions’ customers within the CEMAC region with more accessible digital financial services solutions. Maviance’s growing network of agents and MSME partners offer their customers a wide array of digital financial services.  

Jerry Cheambe, the founder of Maviance, who led the negotiations for Maviance, said: “We are very excited about Maviance’s product pipeline and expansion. The opportunities within central Africa are huge, and the demand has been massively accelerated in the last 12 months with the advent of Covid-19 as businesses of all sizes adopt digital financial services. Moreover, the shift in the mindset of regulators towards progressive regulations as well as regulatory alignment, enable us to deliver seamless services across multiple geographies and customer segments.” 

MFS Africa’s founder and CEO, Dare Okoudjou, who led the deal said: 

“The rapid development of digital financial services that we have seen in Cameroon over the past few years is poised to spread across the CEMAC region. This will further accelerate the demand for domestic and cross-border payment from MSMEs, social enterprises and corporates in the region. Maviance, as a key infrastructure provider with its set of highly relevant products, is well-positioned to benefit from this growing demand. That is why we are thrilled to be partnering with the company, as we continue to broaden and deepen the reach of the MFS Africa Hub across Africa.” 

Nkwenti Azong-Wara, CEO of Maviance, adds: “With MFS Africa, Maviance has gained not just a funding partner, but more importantly a strategic investor who will provide valuable impetus to enable us to extend our service portfolio and network as well as to expand into the other five countries within the CEMAC region, via the GIMACPAY switch.” 

Following the outbreak of COVID-19, Maviance has experienced increasing demand from businesses to digitise their payment processes and transition away from cash. The joint forces of Maviance and MFS Africa will open up opportunities for MSMEs to easily digitise their processes, enabling them to benefit from the ecosystem of mobile money providers and other financial institutions providing seamless payment for services irrespective of channel.  

We’ve heard many stories about companies that went broke in times of crisis, but also many examples of how businesses flourished in bad times, doing better on vital financial parameters and outperforming their competitors.

The same can be said of individuals. Extraordinary leaders know that how they fight a war often determines whether they will emerge triumphant.

In this post, I’d like to share a success story of one outstanding woman and her principles that helped her become successful.

Layal Haykal is a financier who has put a lot of effort and energy into the growth of The EuroMena Funds, an investing company from Lebanon. Thanks to her perseverance, carefulness, and continuing education, she has built a brilliant career.

“Life uncovers at its own rhythm, not by the terms and timelines we have dreamt and set in our minds. Success isn’t defined by age, but by devotion, heavy work, determination, and strength,” says Layal.

During her work at The EuroMena Funds, Layal collaborated with domestic Development Finance Institutions, or DFIs (organizations that introduce new standards for the development of private businesses as the main instrument for economic recovery), as well as Lebanese and foreign LPs (Limited Liability Companies or Limited Partnerships) that worked with The Euromena Funds.

At The EuroMena Funds, Layal specialized in emerging markets, transforming companies she worked with using the proper investing strategy. She occupied essential positions in the company with significant responsibility and financial flows. Layal was responsible for regulating procedures and policies inside the enterprise, and Using her excellent managerial, communicational, and professional skills, she organized and implemented a new workflow. In addition, she found many business solutions in the company's tax efficiency policy. As a result of her hard work, she earned well-deserved praise from Lebanese and international colleagues.

Finding herself as a role model for the women in the financial industry, she shared her thoughts: “One of the best things you can do for your career is to take control and ownership of your professional path. I mean to protect and express yourself clearly, be an advocate for your interests. Whether you’re discussing a salary increase or trying to get a promotion, being timid or unconfident is unlikely to get you what you want and deserve. The more you can present your confidence and proficiency, the more you’ll be able to inspire confidence in your skills.”

During the crisis in Lebanon, Layal managed the financial flow of all companies of The EuroMena Group. It was a stressful period in her career. Banks and financial institutions, which were central to the service-oriented economy, were frozen. The currency crashed, leading the population into poverty. It’s easy to understand what level of responsibility and stress this woman underwent. But she kept doing her job at the highest level despite the incredible difficulties.

Combining her hard work and a tremendous level of responsibility, she didn’t stop improving and developing. Conferences, Certifications, and meetings are her lifestyle and weekday routine.

Finally, all her skills, character traits, and experience led to her current position as a confident and powerful woman, wife, and mother, who benefits companies both in Lebanon and worldwide.

Conclusion

The corporate world is a highly challenging place that is often ruthless. Achieving success in this area is never easy; it requires many hours of hard work, effort, and dedication. Successful women face unique challenges on their way to success and often find themselves under incredible pressure to change themselves to fit into the dynamically developing business world. At times, they feel pressured to downplay female traits of leadership such as kindness and empathy, which may be seen as signs of weakness in a corporate environment. However, the most successful women stay true to themselves, revealing the unique leadership qualities that they can bring to an organization.

Curve, the fast-growing financial super app, today announces it’s launching a new crowdfunding round to enable its growing customer base to invest, as it fuels its expansion into the US and further into Europe. The campaign is set to go live later in May.

Having secured £72.5 million from a leading group of international investors as part of its successful Series C round, Curve is now extending the opportunity to its customers and wider community to take part in the next stage of its ambitious growth strategy.

Since its record-breaking crowdfund in 2019, which raised £4 million within 42 minutes, Curve’s valuation has tripled. In the last year alone, Curve hired over 100 new staff, doubled its customer base to over two million, and saw the volume of transactions it processes increase by over £1 billion to £2.6 billion, despite the backdrop of a global pandemic. 

The proceeds of the crowdfunding and Series C round will be used to turbocharge growth by investing in product innovation and international expansion. Curve’s 2021 roadmap includes the rollout of its new Curve Credit offering, the launch of its award-winning platform to customers in the US, and broadening its reach across Europe. To deliver this, Curve plans to grow its workforce by around 60%, adding at least 200 employees over the course of 2021. 

The crowdfund will be conducted via Crowdcube. The campaign will enable those that missed out on the opportunity to invest in Curve in 2019 to follow in the footsteps of some of the most respected global institutional investors in tech, including IDC Ventures, Fuel Venture Capital and Vulcan Capital (the investment arm of the estate of Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen).

For further information on how to invest, and to pre-register interest and to receive updates on when the crowdfund will be live, visit https://www.curve.com/crowdfunding2021. 

Shachar Bialick, Founder and CEO of Curve, said: “2020 was a transformational year for Curve, and I believe 2021 will be bigger yet, as we fulfil our mission to build a financial super app. With increasing fragmentation in financial services, and growing demand from consumers for a simpler way to control and manage their finances, the scene is set for Curve to seize a global opportunity. We are investing in our people and the business to make that happen. 

Since we place our customers at the heart of everything we do, we wanted to offer another chance for them to be involved in our success, enabling them to be part of our journey. We know many new customers missed out on our 2019 crowdfunding, and we’ve fielded constant requests to open a new round. So I am ecstatic to announce the launch of this crowdfunding campaign, and look forward to redefining the future of personal finance together with our customers and shareholders.”