PaySprint Private Limited is proud to unveil SprintNXT, an innovative leap in business banking solutions designed to propel SME / MSME businesses into the future of finance. SprintNXT is not just another banking platform; it's a strategic partner for modern enterprises, paving the way for uncomplicated financial management, enhanced security, and optimal resource allocation.

Developed through extensive collaboration with diverse banking institutions, SprintNXT emerges as a trailblazing platform that consolidates multiple current accounts from various banks into a single, intuitive interface. The result? A streamlined experience that offers unparalleled convenience and control. With its built-in UPI Collection capabilities, SprintNXT brings the next wave of business banking right to your fingertips.

The Power of SprintNXT:

1. Unified Business Banking Hub: Seamlessly merge current accounts from different banks, redefining convenience in financial management.

2. Effortless Transactions: Collect payments with ease using UPI-based payment collection, ensuring swift processing and optimized cash flow.

3. Simplified Payments: Wave goodbye to complexity with the ability to pay multiple vendors, merchants, or retailers simultaneously & instantly, saving precious time and resources.

4. Data-Driven Insights: Unleash the potential of AI-driven real-time analytics to guide your financial decisions and turbocharge your growth strategies.

"We're not just redefining business banking; we're shaping the future of financial management," states S Anand, the visionary Founder & CEO at PaySprint Private Limited. "SprintNXT makes effective management of funds across all their current accounts across various banks & thereby liberating valuable time and resources that businesses can redirect towards scaling their operations and achieving exponential growth."

Seamless Integration, Endless Possibilities:

SprintNXT seamlessly integrates SME businesses, amplifying their existing operations with futuristic financial prowess. Its scalability and adaptability make it a tailor-made solution, capable of moulding to the unique needs of every enterprise.

Unveiling a New Era in Business Finance:

Features & benefits that set SprintNXT apart:

- Bank-Agnostic Brilliance: Manage multiple accounts effortlessly while enjoying the freedom to choose.

- Painless Payouts: Effortlessly execute payouts through various modes, with swift beneficiary addition.

- Nex-Gen Fund Collection: Embrace the future with real-time UPI-based fund collection through Static QR Codes & Dynamic QR Codes.

- Smart Insights, Swift Action: Real-time AI-powered insights that translate into informed decisions and empowered resource mobilization.

The global Islamic microfinance industry has reached a significant milestone, surpassing $60 billion in value within the $3.8 trillion Islamic finance landscape. This achievement highlights the growing recognition of Islamic microfinance as a potent tool for poverty alleviation. The industry's potential to bridge financial gaps while adhering to Shariah principles positions it as a viable alternative for fostering financial inclusion and tackling global poverty challenges.

Despite ongoing efforts and UN Millennium Goals, global poverty eradication remains unachieved. This challenge is particular in Muslim majority countries, where conventional financial structures often hinder progress due to their reliance on prohibited elements like Riba (interest). Financial exclusion due to these factors underscores the necessity for alternative financial solutions that are Shariah-compliant.

Addressing this need head-on, AlHuda CIBE, a renowned Islamic finance consultancy and advisory firm since 2005, has established the Center of Excellence for Islamic Microfinance. This initiative aims to introduce Islamic microfinance as a powerful poverty alleviation tool in diverse countries around the world. AlHuda CIBE's impactful projects have earned them a reputation for collaborating with esteemed international organizations, including the United Nations (UN), World Bank (WB), IFC, Asian Development Bank (ADB), USAID, GIZ, and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). The firm has also extended its services to various central banks, rural development initiatives in different countries, agricultural development projects, and numerous other developmental ministries at the micro-level. Over its operational history, the consultancy firm has successfully executed more than 45 diverse projects through its Center of Excellence, which is composed of dynamic and dedicated team members operating under the guidance of vigilant management.

Mr. Muhammad Zubair, CEO of AlHuda CIBE, emphasized the crucial role Islamic microfinance plays in tackling global poverty. Despite its promising growth, the industry represents just 2% of the total Islamic finance landscape. To truly uplift populations living under the poverty line, he emphasized the need for exponential contributions.

Mr. Zubair called for the rapid introduction of Shariah (Islamic) FinTech services, a revolutionary concept combining Islamic finance, microfinance, and cutting-edge technology. This three-fold approach, he believes, holds the key to achieving the UN's top priority goal of poverty alleviation.

He further added, In the context of Muslim-majority countries, there exists a unique challenge where the poor population is proportionally twice as large. This demographic reality underscores the pressing need for inclusive financial solutions tailored to these nations. Remarkably, a staggering 72% of the unbanked population hails from these Muslim-majority countries, indicating a substantial gap in financial inclusion. The financial exclusion experienced by a significant portion of these inhabitants underscores the critical importance of addressing this issue with innovative and relevant approaches. This disparity not only represents an economic hurdle but also a social and developmental imperative that necessitates immediate attention. Islamic microfinance serves as a compatible and highly viable solution, seamlessly integrating with various micro-credit lending approaches such as Grameen lending, village banking, co-operative societies, credit unions, self-help groups, and commercial microfinance models. This synergy enhances its efficacy in addressing the pressing issue of financial inclusion within these communities.

Shariah FinTech's cross-border accessibility and less regulated nature make it a game-changer in the financial world. As technology, including blockchain, cryptocurrencies, DiFi, and the Metaverse, merges with microfinance, accessing Islamic microfinance services becomes more convenient. This integration empowers impoverished populations, fosters financial inclusion, nurtures new startups, and drives expansions in existing small businesses. 

To expedite progress, Mr. Zubair urged experts, governments, and central banks to collaborate on introducing FinTech regulations, creating an enabling environment for innovation. By embracing Islamic Microfinance and Shariah FinTech services, the world can become closer to achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, making steps towards a more inclusive and poverty-free world.

About AlHuda CIBE: AlHuda Center of Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE) is a well-recognized name in Islamic banking and finance industry for research and provide state-of-the-art Advisory Consultancy and Education through various well-recognized modes viz. Islamic Financial Product Development, Shariah Advisory, Trainings Workshops, and Islamic Microfinance and Takaful Consultancies etc. side by side through our distinguished, generally acceptable and known Publications in Islamic Banking and Finance.

We are dedicated to serving the community as a unique institution, advisory and capacity building for the last twelve years. The prime goal has always been to remain stick to the commitments providing Services not only in UAE/Pakistan but all over the world. We have so far served in more than 35 Countries for the development of Islamic Banking and Finance industry.

Four in ten (38%) UK small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are now taking over 90 days to pay their contract staff, according to new research from Sonovate*, the leading provider of embedded finance and payment solutions for the contingent workforce.

More than two in five (43%) of UK SMEs now struggle to pay their contract workers on time as a result of cash flow problems within their businesses. In contrast, identical Sonovate research conducted in summer 2022 found that at that time just a quarter (28%) of SMEs failed to pay their contractors on time and the same proportion (27%) took longer than 90 days to process the payments.

Two-thirds (63%) of the SMEs surveyed say that late payments from clients or customers have a negative knock-on impact on their ability to pay contract workers on time. Again, this is a concerning comparison to last year, when just half (50%) expressed that late payments dictate their ability to pay contractors on time.

Statutory payment obligations state that, unless an alternative payment arrangement is agreed by both parties, any UK business must pay a supplier within 30 days of receipt of an invoice for any goods or services provided.** These rules are as applicable to clients paying SMEs as they are to SMEs paying their own suppliers, including contract workers.

Richard Prime, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Sonovate comments: “Whether it is the intensification of the ‘cost of doing business’ crisis we’ve seen in the past year, or incumbent lenders’ persistently inadequate service to the SME sector, we are still experiencing chaotic cash flow ripples across the economy. It is the UK’s growing army of contractors that is increasingly facing the brunt of this, having to wait over three times as long as they should have to to get paid for the services they provide. This must change, and quickly.”

The consequence of persistent late payments of earned wages to contractors has a universally detrimental impact on the UK’s SME community. Half (51%) of respondents to Sonovate’s SME study say payroll issues can cause them to miss out on quality contract talent, and over a third (37%) say they have even lost contract workers as a result of not being able to pay them promptly enough.

Sonovate’s research goes on to explore the funding and fintech options available to and work best for SMEs to meet their payroll requirements. Over four in five (81%) SMEs say multi-currency invoice financing tools allow them to operate more efficiently in multiple markets, and over half (51%) say adopting fintech tools such as payroll or accounting tools would help them to become more efficient. In contrast with high-street banks 40% of SMEs agree it is easier to access finance from a fintech lender where embedded finance is more widely available and payments can be made more smoothly. 70% go on to say they believe their business wouldn’t have survived the current crisis if it weren’t for alternative finance options.

Prime continues: “Sonovate has emerged as a leading challenger to traditional funders on the strengths of our ability to anticipate SME and enterprise-level recruiters’ changing needs, particularly when it comes to paying contractors and flexible workers - and provide the sort of on-demand, embedded finance that flexes to match. Whether it’s focusing on quick decisions, same-day finance or timesheet and workflow automation, we’re able to empower companies to concentrate on securing the best talent to build their businesses, confident that the funds are in place when they need them.”

This research comes at a time when contract working has never been more popular. Recent data published by IPSE shows that today there are 150,000 more self-employed people working in the UK than there were 12 months ago.***

Prime continues: “It is not acceptable to suppose that, as the population of contract workers continues to expand, businesses will be able to get away with slow payroll. This simply is not born out in the evidence we are seeing. As the contract worker market expands, it is maturing rapidly and contractors are not afraid to speak up for the terms and conditions they expect. Talented contract workers are hard sought, hard to retain, and will vote with their feet more quickly than any other generation of workers that came before them. SMEs need greater control of their payroll capability to ensure the best people that work for them stay close and continue to add value.”

P2P platforms used to take about 5 years to reach key metrics, whereas in current conditions, new companies need just 3 years to do so.

Robocash platform analysts studied three parameters as the main market indicators: the amount of reinvested funds, the size of the investor base and the interest paid to investors. "These parameters, in a sense, indicate the surging popularity of the platform, as well as growing investor loyalty to it." The key values for each indicator were chosen based on market averages.

The amount of reinvested funds is generally characterized by an upward trend. On average, there is a monthly increase of 2.6% from 2017 to 2023. Larger P2P market players that were established before 2018 reached the key point of €7 M on average in five years, while "new generation" platforms take an average of 2 years and 8 months to do so.

A similar situation with the accelerated development of the P2P lending sector can be seen in such an indicator as interest paid to investors. Platforms that were launched in the early days of the P2P market reached 500 thousand euros of interest paid in an average of 2 years and 8 months. New platforms attain the same value in one year.

Despite the growing opportunities for P2P lending, the average time to achieve the key milestone of 10k customers on the platform has not changed over time. It has been around 3 years for both "young" platforms and those that have already gained market share. “This is probably because not that long ago, the P2P lending market was not as competitive as it is today. Therefore, the attracted customers were distributed among the platforms that already existed at that time.  - the specialists add. “Now market concentration is high, so newly attracted investors prefer proven and reliable players, which slows down the rate of customer onboarding by "new" platforms".

Overall, the P2P market is positively influenced by the digitalisation of the European economy and the continued development of alternative lending. "Thanks to these factors, the time for companies to reach a key transition point has decreased. However, given all the peculiarities of the industry, P2P platforms need to continue to gain investor confidence and keep the bar high." - the Robo. cash analysts summarize.

Tezos India, a pioneer in blockchain adoption, announced today that it has partnered with P2P (peer-to-peer) video calling and messaging platform, Huddle. The collaboration combines the innovative capabilities of both entities to create a seamless and decentralised communication experience. The partnership represents a huge advancement in redefining how individuals and companies engage in a digital environment.

Through the Tezos-Huddle integration, users can access Huddle01 using any Tezos wallet, enabling real-time, decentralised communication infrastructure. The platform's integration with Web3 technology is a key feature that sets Huddle apart. Users can take advantage of token-gating, NFTs as profile pictures, and decentralised storage for meeting recordings on platforms like IPFS and Filecoin. Additionally, Huddle leverages decentralisation for live streaming through Livepeer, enhancing the overall user experience.

Huddle, a cutting-edge peer-to-peer video calling and messaging technology, has transformed how people communicate by removing the need for centralised servers. With a focus on low latency and exceptional performance, Huddle provides users with a unique platform that champions privacy and security. Notably, Huddle does not require registration and refrains from tracking user data, ensuring a confidential environment for all interactions.

Commenting on the development, Amanjot Malhotra, Head of Growth Tezos India, said: "The partnership between Tezos India and Huddle opens the door to a new era of communication that prioritises privacy, security, and accessibility. We are excited to collaborate with Huddle and leverage Tezos' capabilities to drive innovation in the communication landscape."

Commenting on the development, Ayush Ranjan, co-founder and CEO at Huddle expressed similar enthusiasm, stating, "At Huddle, we believe in redefining how people connect. The integration with Tezos aligns perfectly with our mission, and we're eager to see the transformative impact this partnership will have on digital communication."

In 2023, Huddle01 raised a $2.8M seed round. The funding cycle saw involvement from various funds such as Protocol Labs, East Ventures, Longhash Ventures,  as well as distinguished angel investors including Balaji Srinivasan, Juan Benet, and numerous others. Together, Tezos India and Huddle are set to revolutionise communication technology, offering a glimpse into a future where privacy, decentralisation, and user empowerment take centre stage.

Cisco, the leader in enterprise networking and security, and Nutanix, Inc., a leader in hybrid multicloud computing, today announced a global strategic partnership to accelerate hybrid multicloud deployments by offering the industry’s most complete hyperconverged solution for IT modernization and business transformation.

 IT organizations continue to face significant operational hurdles and urgent sustainability and security concerns as a result of increasing multicloud complexity. This new partnership answers these challenges by simplifying and accelerating the delivery of infrastructure and applications, at a global scale, through best-in-class cloud operating models, unparalleled flexibility, and automated resiliency with industry-leading customer support.

“Customers are asking for solutions that are simple, sustainable, and future-ready,” said Jeremy Foster, senior vice president and general manager, Cisco Compute. “This partnership answers with a complete solution spanning virtual compute, networking and storage across customer data centers and public clouds. By combining Cisco’s award-winning SaaS-managed compute portfolio with Nutanix’s market-proven cloud platform software, we can help customers develop a balanced approach to power modern workloads on-prem and in the cloud."

 “As organizations look to keep up with the pace of innovation, they need an integrated  hardware and software platform to support application deployment anywhere,” said Tarkan Maner, chief commercial officer at Nutanix. “This partnership will deliver an expanded market opportunity for both organizations as they tackle the challenges of standardizing, simplifying, and securing environments across the data center, in public cloud and the edge.”

 The new offering integrates Cisco’s SaaS-managed compute and networking infrastructure (Cisco Unified Computing System with Cisco Intersight) with the Nutanix Cloud Platform (Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, Nutanix Cloud Manager, Nutanix Unified Storage, and Nutanix Desktop Services) and will be sold by Cisco using its extensive go-to-market reach. Customers will benefit from a fully integrated and validated solution that is sold, built, managed and supported holistically for a seamless end-to-end experience. The solution will offer flexible deployment options with support for Cisco UCS rack and blade servers, including initial support for C-Series Servers and planned, future support for UCS X-Series, winner of the 2023 SEAL Sustainable Product of the Year Award and CRN’s 2023 Tech Innovator Award.  The new offering will integrate advanced Cisco servers (UCS), networking and security (ACI), and management (UCS Manager, Intersight) with the Nutanix Cloud Platform software.

 The Nutanix Cloud Platform provides a consistent cloud operating model with a single platform for running applications and data across data centres, edges and public clouds. To best support application deployments, from mission-critical workloads to AI-driven innovation, performance and capacity scale linearly, resilience is delivered from the ground up with self-healing nodes, and persistent storage is natively integrated.

Following today’s announcement, Cisco and Nutanix will enable their global sales teams and partners worldwide to offer an exciting new solution combining best-in-class technologies and collaborative go-to-market support, driven by the Cisco team. Solution availability is expected in the next 90 days.

Dima Kats, CEO of Clear Junction, comments: “Adherence to the industry best practices is the cornerstone that Clear Junction was built on. There is a clear understanding at all levels of our organisation that sticking to the strictest standards is the most efficient way to protect our client data and ensure high levels of service. This is especially important for the regulated institutions that we serve, including banks, payment service providers, and digital assets traders. All of them value service stability and resilience and we are determined to deliver on that.

“At this stage of our growth, the trust we have built with our clients comes from ensuring the very fundamentals of the business are reliable and scalable. The ISO 27001 certification is an important step in our expansion.”

The B2B FinTech company, WALBING, has obtained a Payment Service License from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority. This license, only the second of its kind issued in 2023, enables companies based in Germany to provide payment services in accordance with the German Payment Services Supervision Act (ZAG).

The BaFin license marks a significant milestone for WALBING, which facilitates streamlined access to trade finance tools for B2B businesses through its innovative platform and Embedded Finance solutions.

Jörg Hörster, Co-founder and CEO of WALBING, comments: "BaFin rightfully sets high standards for its licensees, and we are pleased to have met them. Obtaining the license solidifies our independent position in the market and reinforces our commitment to helping our customers optimize and automate their payment processes."

WALBING offers straightforward access to trade finance for the global B2B trade, with a particular focus on small and medium-sized enterprises. Established in Hamburg in 2019, WALBING provides FinTech solutions to B2B companies, including B2B marketplaces and platforms that manage capital for trade credit financing as well as risk capacity for Trade Credit Insurance.

Distinguishing itself from other FinTechs that provide Buy Now, Pay Later solutions in the B2B sector using their own capital resources, WALBING directly connects numerous capital providers, including Private Debt and Trade Receivables Funds, with receivables sellers through an AI-supported marketplace and standardized contracts. This approach enables potentially infinite scalability in marketplace orchestration and real-time matching for immediate trade credit financing and insurance decisions at the point of sale or checkout.

Regarding its unique digital Trade Credit Insurance solution, WALBING has secured esteemed partners such as Aon One Underwriting as a Managing General Agent and Great Lakes Insurance of Munich Re as the first participating trade credit insurer. As a pioneer in trade payments, WALBING will also soon introduce its Track & Pay solution. This innovative product replaces the Letter of Credit and, utilizing Internet-of-Things technology trackers, allows trading partners to automate payments based on location and transport conditions. The implementation of Track & Pay is a collaboration with Lufthansa Industry Solutions.

Commenting on the new partnership, Matthias Letzelter, Head of Partnerships at Mondu, said, “We see our partnership with Spryker as an ideal fit for us at Mondu, due to our shared mission to help other businesses focus on growth. We both support B2B companies in scaling their online sales through the best online experience for their customers. Spryker has built a great platform to create a wonderful ecommerce journey, and with Mondu that journey continues with the best payment experience. Combined, we can help businesses super charge their sales, increase revenue, improve cash flow and operational efficiency.” 

Manishi Singh, SVP App Composition Platform at Spryker,  added, "We are thrilled to welcome Mondu to the Spryker partner ecosystem. Our shared vision of efficient innovation will enable businesses to improve their customer experience while maintaining the flexibility needed to adapt to changing customer needs. By joining together Mondu’s seamless payment solutions and Spryker’s best-of-breed composable commerce approach, enterprise customers can anticipate an unparalleled purchasing experience. This partnership highlights our commitment to creating an expansive community of partners to provide enterprises with the tools and support they need to accomplish their current and future business goals.”