TD, America’s Most Convenient Bank®, today announced the launch of Tap to Pay on iPhone, enabling small and micro business owners across the U.S. to use their mobile phones for a seamless and secure point-of-sale (POS) experience.

With Tap to Pay and the TD Bank Mobile App, business owners can accept all types of in-person, contactless payments using only their iPhone – from contactless credit and debit cards to digital wallets or wearables, Tap to Pay eliminates the need for additional POS hardware.

Business owners can also use Tap to Pay on iPhone as a complementary solution to their storefront POS systems, allowing them to accept payments on the move. Whether setting up as a vendor at a local market, running a food truck or landscaping business, or operating a pop-up shop, Tap to Pay on TD Bank Mobile App allows businesses of all sizes to transact and accept payments on the go directly from their mobile phone.

"To support local economies, we often encourage consumers to 'shop small' – but we know there can be friction in the small and micro-business POS experience," said Chris Giamo, Head of Commercial Banking at TD Bank. "By equipping small businesses with modern conveniences and more technology through solutions like Tap to Pay on TD Bank Mobile App, we're helping small businesses have a seamless payment experience that's better aligned to customer expectations."

Customers Want: Easier, Better, Faster, Cheaper

TD recently conducted a survey on micro businesses – defined as having 25 or fewer employees with an annual revenue of less than $100,000 – to understand how today's smallest businesses are transacting and processing payments.

The survey revealed more than one-third (33%) of micro business owners (MBOs) are currently facing challenges in their day-to-day operations due to not having the necessary payment device or hardware to accept customers’ preferred payment method.

"We saw a massive consumer shift towards contactless payment adoption that started during the pandemic and continues through today," said Jo Jagadish, Head of Corporate Products & Services at TD Bank. "Tap to Pay on TD Bank Mobile App offers even the smallest businesses a flexible and convenient payment solution that also delivers on customer preferences, like convenience and ease. For today's small and micro businesses, every sale – at any dollar amount – matters. By leveraging a mobile app to increase payment options, MBOs can be sure they'll never miss a cashless sale."

With the majority (81%) of MBOs relying on their business as their primary source of income, TD's Tap to Pay on iPhone will meet a critical and direct need of business owners that will help improve the overall customer experience, while eliminating MBOs' need for costlier POS devices and software.

"TD is on the front lines of our Main Street economies," said Amy Dinkar-Patel, Head of Small Business & Commercial Distribution at TD Bank. "We hear small business customers' feedback and understand their pain points – which allows us to offer solutions that truly make their business stronger, more profitable and easier to run. With an offering like Tap to Pay on iPhone, we're improving the experience for our customer, and our customer's customer – it's a win all around."

Tap to Pay on iPhone, powered by Autobooks, is the latest addition to TD's growing fleet of payment solutions. TD Merchant Solutions offers a variety of in-person, mobile, eCommerce and POS solutions so business owners can get paid by accepting customer payments in ways that work best for their business.

The integration of Tap to Pay on iPhone into the TD Bank Mobile App expands TD’s partnership with Autobooks, Inc., the technology provider of TD Online Accounting. With TD Online Accounting, TD customers can send digital invoices, accept debit and credit card payments, and streamline the cash flow and accounting of their TD Small Business Checking account.

Repay Holdings Corporation, a leading provider of vertically integrated payment solutions, today announced a new partnership and technology integration with Maxyfi, a provider of collections and accounts receivables management software for lenders, collection agencies, and law firms. The collaboration enables Maxyfi clients to offer flexible payment methods that accommodate consumer preferences and improve the overall collection process.

REPAY’s integration enables businesses to utilize the Maxyfi software to streamline payment collections while optimizing internal workflows and reconciliation through real-time data exchange. The integration with REPAY also provides easily accessible and secure omnichannel payment methods, including online, text, mobile, and IVR, enhancing collection efforts by empowering consumers to pay through the method that is most convenient for them.

“When consumers can make payments through their preferred payment channel and method, the collections process improves significantly,” said Jake Moore, EVP, Consumer Payments, REPAY. “Our partnership with Maxyfi enhances operations for collectors and modernizes accounts receivable management for consumers by empowering both parties to manage transactions without the hassle of outdated processes.”

“Enhancing our clients' experiences with our platform is at the forefront of our priorities,” said Ashraf Ali, Co-Founder & CSO of Maxyfi. “By leveraging REPAY's payment expertise and our seamless integration with their platform, we look forward to further supporting our clients’ collections processes by simplifying payments.”

Saldo Bank, which is starting its operations in Sweden, offers an interest rate of as much as 5% for a year's deposit. "We want to increase fairness in fixed-term deposits," says Jarkko Mäensivu, the CEO of Saldo Bank.

The digital neobank with a Finnish background, Saldo Bank, will lift the interest rate competition of the fixed-term deposits to a new level in Sweden.

The bank will start operating in Sweden in February and offers interest rates of up to 5% on one year's fixed-term accounts. According to the comparison website Compricer, the next highest offer is 4.4 percent.

"We increase fairness in borrowing"

Saldo Bank is a modern digital bank operating in Sweden, Finland, and Lithuania. It aims to always provide one of the best borrowing rates in the country. When the bank started in Finland in October 2023, several banks had to raise their interest rates.

Jarkko Mäensivu, the CEO of Saldo Bank, believes that the same will also happen in Sweden. Other banks follow suit.

"In our opinion, the interest paid on the fixed-term accounts has been very low for a long time. Interest rates paid to customers should reflect at least market interest rates. We want to increase fairness in borrowing," he says.

The maximum amount of a fixed-term deposit is SEK 900,000 and the funds deposited in the fixed-term accounts are subject to deposit protection.

The funds will be used for growth in Sweden

Saldo Bank pays higher interest rates than others because it collects funds for its growth. Established in Lithuania in 2021, the bank opened its operations in Finland last year.

Mäensivu says that Sweden plays a key role in the company's plans. The deposits in Sweden will continue to benefit the Swedish business scaling.

"We want to grow in Sweden. We use local funds to grow our loan portfolio in Sweden," he says.

Saldo Bank is developing into a digital international bank that aims to provide digital banking services to consumers and, in the future, businesses.

Saldo Bank has a Finnish background. However, the core of the company's banking operations is in Lithuania and the operations are supervised by the Bank of Lithuania. In addition, Saldo Bank's technology development center is located in Vilnius.

Saldo Bank only operates online in Sweden. The bank has no intention of establishing a branch network in the country.

iDenfy, a globally renowned RegTech company offering ID verification and fraud prevention tools, announced collaborating with Rawcaster, a social media platform designed for influencers and their fans. This partnership will help automatically assess risks related to fraudulent accounts, ensuring that all Rawcaster’s influencers and other social media users are protected against fraudulent attacks. 

Social media platforms not only offer a good experience for the users but also can provide a huge risk due to the popularity of scammers who can easily manufacture a fake persona, for example, by checking into people’s profiles and pretending to be them replicating the age, interests, past purchases costing financial frauds and giving unreliable media experience to its users. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found that one in four people who reported losing money to fraud claimed it started on social media. Reported losses to scams on social media during the same period hit $2.7 billion last year.

iDenfy claims that there’s still a high level of anonymity on social platforms, and it fosters criminal behavior when individuals can operate without providing their government-issued identity documents. According to the KYC company’s research throughout the years, users online tend to operate differently when they remain anonymous than when they have to undergo a proper identity verification process. 

Certain industries, such as cryptocurrency or social media, have a stigma regarding KYC. iDenfy further explains that many people online want to remain anonymous because they do not have complete trust in the platform’s security standards or want to remain anonymous due to the platform’s nature, for example, when building a social media profile on a dating site. Rawcaster agrees that encouraging people to share personal information online can be challenging. As a result, the social media company understood that the only way to overcome this challenge was to find a reliable KYC partner with a proven track record. 

To protect social media platforms against internet scammers, Rawcaster decided to partner with the identity solution provider iDenfy. When selecting a partner for identity verification, Rawcaster recognized iDenfy as a credible and secure platform capable of verifying influencers and media users globally. Currently, Rawcaster is best known for its social media platform that provides a comprehensive social media experience, serving as the ultimate hub for influencers and their followers. The platform offers features such as chat, virtual meetings, talk shows, and content posting across video, audio, and text formats. The platform aims to stand out as a unique place catering to diverse social media needs. 

Right now, Rawcaster uses iDenfy's identity verification service as the main solution, ensuring a robust and secure process for verifying the identities of influencers on its platform. This partnership allows Rawcaster to reserve profile information for the correct influencers accurately, thereby enhancing the overall security and reliability of the media platform. iDenfy is committed to actively checking social media registration and including any new system to fight against the global scam snares. As influencers play an increasingly vital role in shaping online conversations, this collaboration aims to create a safer and more positive digital space for users globally.

"Our partnership with iDenfy is rooted in our commitment to providing a secure and trustworthy environment for influencers and their fans. iDenfy's global coverage and robust identity verification solution align perfectly with our vision for Rawcaster," said Edith Viviana Gad, the Co-Founder and President of Rawcaster.

"This partnership shows our commitment to elevating security standards in the social media landscape. At the same time, with our streamlined approach to identity verification, we can help Rawcaster build the simplest onboarding flow for its fast-growing customer base,” added Domantas Ciulde, the CEO of iDenfy.

It’s worth noting that Rawcaster’s future plans consist of creating an even more secure environment for its growing user base, which consists of different types of influencers, including religious leaders, athletes, politicians, actors, activists, and more, helping them connect more closely with their followers. iDenfy’s role in this goal will help the company scale faster in a secure, compliant manner. 

Duetti, a music financing platform democratizing the music business by enabling catalog monetization for independent artists, today announced $90M in new funding. This includes $15M of new equity, alongside a new $75M credit facility. The equity financing is led by Nyca Partners, alongside Viola Ventures, Duetti's lead seed equity investor, and Cohen Circle. The $75M credit facility is provided by Northleaf Capital Partners. The latest funding underscores Duetti's ability to acquire catalog tracks at scale and highlights the increasingly positive long-term financial outlook of the independent music market.

"The music industry has evolved and independent artists are bucking tradition and approaching their careers in new, savvy ways," says Duetti CEO and Co-Founder Lior Tibon. "At Duetti, we are dedicated to making the industry more transparent and unlocking new opportunities for independent artists who are normally overlooked by the investment community and the more traditional label system."

Duetti's model unlocks immediate cash flow for a wide range of artists, allowing them to sell master catalogs, individual tracks, or parts thereof, an opportunity previously only accessible to a small group of A-list artists. The new funding will support accelerated growth of Duetti's catalog acquisitions, development of proprietary advanced prediction and analytics technology, and expansion of unique catalog marketing capabilities. Duetti recently opened offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami to support the growing team.

"We are excited to partner with the Duetti team on their creative efforts to provide liquidity to independent artists", says Jeremy Solomon, Partner at Nyca. "The company's data-forward approach combined with its partner-centric model puts Duetti in a position to become a critical and scaled player in the music investment space."

"Northleaf is delighted to partner with Duetti to support the company's continued growth, leveraging our combined expertise to drive industry-transforming opportunities for artists and investors alike," added CJ Wei, Director at Northleaf. "Their innovative systems and operational processes are impressive and we believe they are well-positioned for ongoing success."

Duetti has quickly emerged as an essential business partner and trusted ally for over 250 artists across all genres and career stages - including Olivia O'Brien, Sevyn Streeter, and Łaszewo. Offering a wide range of financial options, Duetti's deals typically start at $10,000, reaching up to $2M per transaction. The independent artist segment has grown exponentially in recent years. According to Luminate, 436,000 total tracks were streamed 1M times or more globally in 2023, a 17% increase versus the prior year.

"I could not ask for much more from Duetti - they bought a number of my tracks and will increase my streaming performance while providing me with upfront cash to help me focus on my next projects," said Brent Morgan, Singer, Songwriter, and Duetti Artist Partner. "Working with Duetti was transparent, fair, and a much needed breath of fresh air in this industry."

Berlin-based Embea has successfully concluded its seed funding round, securing a remarkable €4m.

Embea is among the first companies to extend the emerging trend of Embedded Insurance from covering gadgets to offering life insurance protection. Instead of buying via brokers or from a dedicated website, individuals and families get covered through just a few additional clicks during non-insurance activities, like booking travel or taking out a loan.

With limited access to new venture capital funds, digital platforms, notably digital banks and other fintechs, aim to increase earnings from existing users. Embea enables these players to enhance their platforms by offering life insurance and creating an additional revenue stream. Integration is effortless and completed within days, thanks to Embea’s highly customizable, no-code embedded checkout technology.

This investment comes at a time when the overall InsurTech market is not having the easiest time. A report by FinTech Global revealed a 84% decrease in total investment in European InsurTech companies for 2023.

Co-founder and CEO of Embea, Dr Johannes Becher, stated: “We are delighted to have secured this funding showing that the future of InsurTech is far from dead. By taking life insurance embedded, we enable underserved groups to access existential coverage while helping our partners to generate additional income.”

Embea will use the proceeds to expand its pan-European Embedded Life Insurance platform and add new insurance products to its portfolio. The company seeks to become the go-to B2B platform for digital businesses active in multiple European markets, allowing them to add life insurance without requiring a different insurance partner for each.

Simetrik, a B2B financial solutions platform founded in 2019 in Colombia, announces a $55-million Series B funding round led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs). Other investors joining this round include FinTech Collective, which led the Series A, and Cometa, who led the seed round, Falabella Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Actyus, Moore Strategic Ventures, Mercado Libre Fund, and the co-founders of Vtex.

“This funding marks a pivotal step for Simetrik in reinforcing its role in the rapidly transforming financial sector and expanding its global reach,” says Alejandro Casas, Co-founder and CEO of Simetrik.

Simetrik has developed intuitive solutions to simplify and automate key financial tasks like record centralization, reconciliations, controls, reporting, and accounting. Its products are based on Simetrik Building Blocks (SBBs), a scalable, adaptable, and intuitive concept based on no-code development and generative AI technologies. Tailored to the dynamic needs of CFOs and their teams, these SBBs are set to further evolve with the Series B funding, enhancing their AI capabilities and reinforcing Simetrik’s dedication to advancing these solutions.

“This funding enables us to elevate our SBBs, integrating more advanced and secure AI to deliver unparalleled financial automation solutions,” Santiago Gómez, Co-founder and COO of Simetrik, said.

Simetrik clients base includes large companies such as PayU, Mercado Libre, Rappi, PagSeguro, Falabella, Oxxo, Itaú, and Nubank, and partnerships with leading firms like Deloitte. 
 

The company’s global footprint spans over 35 countries, monitoring over 200 million records daily, including in key Asian markets such as India and Singapore.  Simetrik intends to use funds from this Series B to help expand its international reach, targeting major payment companies and consumer marketplaces worldwide.

“Financial automation is a thriving industry worldwide, and we were impressed by Simetrik’s solutions. We believe this investment will allow it to expand even further through the Latin American market and beyond. We are thrilled to lead this Series B round,” said Natan Reinig, Vice President in Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Asset Management .

Current investors have also expressed their confidence in Simetrik’s growth over the recent years and are optimistic about the prospective advancements this new infusion of capital will facilitate.

Carlos Torras, a partner at FinTech Collective, said: “Over the last two years, Simetrik has undergone a remarkable transformation, substantially growing its product offer, sales efficiency, geographic coverage, and strategic sophistication. Armed with a loyal and highly motivated team, it is uniquely positioned to revolutionize enterprise financial operations, arguably at a global level. The plan is both ambitious and complex, but we believe in the company’s ability to continue redefining expectations”.

Additionally, Pepe Bolaños, Managing Partner at Cometa added:

‍“Simetrik's exceptional team is at the forefront of a thrilling trend in Latin American tech, creating top-notch software solutions that streamline global enterprise operations. The support of Goldman Sachs not only validates but also enhances the company's bright future”.

Orion Innovation, a leading digital transformation and product development services firm, is excited to announce it has signed a deal with Africa and Gulf Bank (“AGB”) to modernize the bank’s banking products and services. As part of the agreement, Orion will implement Temenos' cloud-based core banking platform into AGB’s operations, modernizing its product portfolio to bring personalized, digital-first banking solutions to customers.  

AGB is a banking and financial services corporation that prides itself on providing customers with tailored and innovative financial solutions backed by cutting-edge technology. Orion’s suite of digital services and technology solutions empowers banks to modernize legacy systems, design innovative products, and tap into new business opportunities. This deal is significant as Orion expands its global footprint into the Middle East and Africa regions (MEA) and follows its recent deal with Philippines-based Cebuana Lhuillier Bank. 

“We are thrilled to embark on AGB’s core modernization program. Our comprehensive offerings around Temenos, coupled with our regional presence in the MEA, position us well to ensure a successful core banking transformation. This deal strengthens and builds on our core offering along with Temenos and aligns with our strategy to accelerate digital transformation initiatives for our clients,” said Anoop Gala, Orion’s Global Head of Financial Services.

“Africa and Gulf Bank has developed an ambitious roadmap based on innovative retail, digital and wholesale banking products and services which include critical capability enhancements like instant onboarding, automated AI-based approvals, straight-through-processing and digitized workflows. He stated that building up on its ‘Digital and Agency First’ strategy, the introduction of Temenos Transact and Infinity will allow AGB to develop robust banking services for Sudanese people both at home and in the diaspora,” said Nadeem Lodhi, CEO for Africa and Gulf bank.

Silent Eight, a leading Regtech firm specializing in partnering with major financial institutions to drive efficiency, increased accuracy, and adaptability within their financial crime programs, today announced the expansion of its relationship with HSBC to implement Automated Alert Closure for Transactions automated investigation, and resolution of alerts in real-time.

To date, Silent Eight supplied HSBC with name screening and adverse media automation solutions that supported the bank in detecting more financial crime, with less friction.

This expansion will further improve the bank's compliance operations. Silent Eight's solutions underpin HSBC's dedication to advancing automation and digital enablement.

Ben Rayner, Regional Head for UKI & EMEA at Silent Eight said "HSBC has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to operational excellence and innovation within financial crime. We are exceptionally proud of our long-standing relationship with the company and their desire to adopt cutting-edge technology to reach their goals''.

Chris Pratt, Group Head of Transaction Screening, HSBC said "In the realm of financial transactions, precision is paramount. Working with Silent Eight is not only about driving efficiency in screening but ensuring accuracy. Our further investment in Silent Eight technology underscores our strategy to deliver safe automation and improved outcomes for our customers".

Guidewire announced that Guidewire PartnerConnect Consulting and Global Premier partner, Deloitte, have achieved the Migration Acceleration Specialization. Partners who have earned this global specialization have demonstrated the ability to lower customers’ cost of transitioning to Guidewire Cloud, accelerate implementation timeframes, and improve delivery quality and predictability.

Deloitte has worked on Guidewire projects with more than 40 clients globally. The company emphasizes that it can help clients work through high-cost, first-mover risks and business disruption risks via co-investments to help clients reduce their costs for cloud migration, among other advantages.

“Guidewire is deeply committed to working with our customers to get them to our market-leading SaaS platform and application suite,” said Lisa Walsh, global vice president, Consulting Alliances, Guidewire. “Our goal is to offer our customers a choice of excellent partners to enable them to migrate to Guidewire Cloud. We’re very pleased that Deloitte has achieved this new specialization and applaud the investments they have made in helping insurers move to GWCP (Guidewire Cloud Platform) and drive better insurance outcomes.”

“We are proud to be recognized as a leader in Guidewire Cloud migrations," said Missy Goldberg, managing director, Guidewire Global Alliance Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP. “As a Global Premier partner for Guidewire, and through our 100% referenceable cloud migration experiences, Deloitte has developed a migration factory that combines industrialized processes, proven tools, and specialized practitioners to help our clients achieve business value, speed-to-market, and high-quality, cost-effective delivery with minimal business disruption.”

Specializations are both regionally and globally based and require partners to demonstrate skills, knowledge, and competency in a specific Guidewire product or solution, as validated by Guidewire certification achievements and references. This Migration Acceleration Specialization also extends to services and sales alignment through multiple workshops and documentation. Partners with specializations can better promote their capabilities across Guidewire products and solutions. Guidewire PartnerConnect Consulting partners have now achieved a total of 181 specializations.

Guidewire Education offers multiple certification options for business analysts, quality analysts, and developers including Certified Associate and Certified Ace designations for cloud projects. These cloud certifications, which are required for partners to achieve Guidewire Cloud specializations, help customers identify cloud-ready talent.