Ledgible, the leading digital asset tax, accounting, and data platform for Enterprises & Institutions, today announced the company launched its new NFT Suite, a professional offering for NFT portfolio management, tax & accounting tracking, reporting, and year-round planning. This new offering seeks to bolster the growing and thriving NFT space, providing industry-leading tax and accounting software for NFTs and a full-service portfolio and tracking tool for active investors, traders, funds, and more.

"Our NFT Suite catapults Ledgible into the forefront of the NFT tax and accounting space, providing tools spanning the entire digital asset trading vertical, from the largest global funds and institutions to smaller investors," said CEO Kell Canty.

The NFT Suite is positioned as its own module to Ledgible's industry-leading tax and accounting suite, allowing funds, firms, investors, institutions, and professionals easy and native access to their Ethereum-based NFT portfolios. The platform tracks and automatically presents realized and unrealized gain/loss data for NFTs, alongside floor price and cost, allowing investors to make informed buying and selling decisions.

Since Ledgible also offers a best-in-class tax and accounting platform, the launch of the NFT Suite means that businesses and individuals now have a frictionless path between NFT management and end-of-month accounting and tax season reporting. Ledgible also works with Tax Information Reporting professionals to provide 1099s for exchanges, protocols, and businesses in the digital asset space.

• 30.06.2023 -- 04:59 am

Nokod Security, a company developing security for low-code / no-code custom applications and Robotic Process Automation (RPA), announced its $8 million seed round, which will be used to establish a presence in the United States market, as well as to expand the R&D teams and support novel research of security vulnerabilities in the low-code/no-code domain. Funds were raised from Acrew Capital, Meron Capital and Flint Capital, firms with a successful track record of investing in top companies in the data protection, software verification and cybersecurity sectors like Exabeam, Mitiga, Laminar, Socure, and others.

Adoption of low-code / no-code and RPA platforms like Microsoft PowerApps, ServiceNow or UiPath is predicted to reach 65% of the IT market by 2024. More so, Generative AI and ChatGPT-like tools, introduced just this past year, are set to hyper-accelerate low-code / no-code development. Although these platforms provide businesses fast application development with minimal complex coding using third-party toolkits, they are not covered by the application security stack. As a result, the applications and automations create a new attack surface as well as introduce the risk of compliance violations. 

Yair Finzi, a former Head of Department in an elite cyber security unit of the Israeli Army and a cybersecurity entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience, and Amichai Shulman, a cybersecurity researcher, advisor, entrepreneur and investor with multiple successful exits, recognized this gap early on. They have a proven track record of running successful companies: Yair co-founded and led SecuredTouch (acquired by Ping Identity), while Amichai co-founded and served as CTO of application and data security giant, Imperva.

With Nokod, Yair and Amichai empower businesses with a platform to manage cybersecurity and compliance risks stemming from their low-code / no-code custom applications and RPAs by streamlining security into the application’s lifecycle. The platform provides the security team with a comprehensive view of the application inventory, identifies security issues and vulnerabilities and offers the organization customized auto-remediation, effectively accelerating their digital transformation. The company is in discussions with Fortune 500 companies in several verticals. 

In today's world, application development is both time-consuming and costly, exacerbated by the anticipated threefold increase in the shortage of full-time software developers by 2025. As companies increasingly turn to low-code/no-code and RPA platforms, coupled with the rise of Generative AI tools, the adoption of low-code/no-code tools is set to skyrocket. This trend can take us back to the days when everyone coded without proper security measures, leaving sensitive business and personal data vulnerable to unauthorized access. Our product ensures 100% secure citizen development within enterprises.— notes Yair Finzi, co-founder and СЕО of Nokod Security.

"Low-code / no-code apps are being widely deployed, but the shared security model, as in other domains, only helps customers up to a certain point, and then they are on their own. This is a huge looming security problem, and Acrew is excited to back a founding team at Nokod that can solve it," - says Mark Kraynak, founding partner at Acrew Capital. 

“Meron invests in leading early-stage companies with deep technologies. We are proud to invest in a pioneering company in the world of low-code / no-code security. The growth of Generative AI tools and their expected adoption in the business environment will further accelerate the adoption of low-code / no-code development. However, there is currently no real solution to this new attack surface. Nokod has the right team to solve it at the right time,” - adds Liron Azrielant, managing partner at Meron Capital.

"We invest in cybersecurity startups and place our bets on their teams. With Nokod, we are confident in their founders' extensive experience in web application security, which is a critical factor for both small and medium-sized businesses as well as for large enterprises," — notes Sergey Gribov, partner at Flint Capital.

The global cybersecurity market was valued at $163.53 billion in 2019 and by 2030, the market is forecast to have a value of $430.46 billion. The low-code development platform market size is projected to reach $148.5 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 27.8%.

AlloyX, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that aggregates tokenized credit, announced today the launch of a liquid real-world asset (RWA) vault product after closing a $2 million pre-seed funding round1 led by Hack VC, with investments from Circle Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Stratos, Lecca Ventures, MH Ventures, very early Ventures, Archblock, dao5, and Credix Finance. With this funding, AlloyX has integrated with nine credit protocols to date and is building the industry’s first blended investment vault with its partners Credix Finance and a tokenized U.S. Treasury Bills protocol.

This investment vault taps into the more than $530 million2 active loans onchain in the private credit market by combining Credix’s high-yield, overcollateralized tokenized private credit investment with highly liquid tokenized U.S. T-bills. As a result, investors such as decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) can gain access to liquidity, yield and diversification in tokenized credit. Tokenized credit refers to digital tokens backed by real-world assets, such as loans or debt instruments. Compared to crypto loans or liquidity pools, tokenized credit investments typically carry an initial lockup period and lower liquidity. Using AlloyX, investors and DeFi protocols can create strategies blending tokenized U.S. T-bills with the highest volume and deepest liquidity of RWA available to achieve attractive yields.

“As we saw during the crypto market crash in 2022, investors wanted to exit positions from RWA lending pools. But it was hard to get out of these real-world loans with years left before maturity,” said Alexandre Liege, CEO at AlloyX. “The composability and flexibility that make DeFi valuable need to be available for RWA as well. To achieve this, we are building products to enable our community to invest and create RWA diversified baskets with automatic reinvestment, similar to what Yearn Finance created for digital assets.” 

AlloyX allows protocols, DAOs and institutional investors to build diversified investment strategies in real-world assets. Investors easily access attractive yields from tokenized credit pools and provide liquidity to loans on chain. By integrating and aggregating investments from major credit protocols such as Credix Finance, Goldfinch, and Centrifuge, AlloyX provides crypto lenders with a flexible and efficient platform to manage RWA investments tailored to their yield, risk and liquidity preferences.

“We’ve seen demand from DAOs eager to allocate capital in the RWA space but are looking for flexible and liquid options that would work for them. Hence we’re excited to see the AlloyX team launch the first of its kind blended vault to give investors exposure to private credit while benefiting from the liquidity of U.S. T-Bills,” said Chaim Finizola, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer at Credix Finance. 

AlloyX has reached $5 million in total value locked (TVL) and generated yields above 18% on average since inception in 2021. This blended vault will be live in early Q3 2023. The team plans to integrate with additional DeFi protocols and launch more investment vaults later this year. 

Confluence Technologies, Inc. (“Confluence”), a global technology solutions provider to the investment management industry, today announced the first development out of its innovation lab that leverages AI technology to solve complex industry problems.

As the first application, the Confluence innovation lab applies Large Language Models (LLM) to solve reconciliation challenges from the SEC’s Tailored Shareholder Reports (TSR). The new tool, Confluence Unity Rex, mines and pinpoints discrepancies in language and numeric information between financial reports and the TSR, delivering significant efficiency and cost savings in the reconciliation process.

Chris Evans, Chief Technology Officer at Confluence, commented: “Confluence has a long history of solving complex challenges for the investment management industry. Our innovation lab was established to explore use cases for AI and other innovative technologies that deliver real value for our clients. We have several applications in development, including natural language query access to complex datasets, automated data quality assurance and intelligent task automation, and we’ll introduce them to the market in the near future.”

About Confluence Unity Rex

Available for production use in early Fall, Rex automatically parses data from third-party financial reports, interrogates it, and reconciles it against the Tailored Shareholder Reports produced by Confluence.

Todd Moyer, President and Chief Operating Officer at Confluence, commented: “This is a breakthrough for fund admins and asset managers who need an answer to increasing compliance complexity and the data reconciliation challenges posed by the TSR. With Rex, we give our clients the ability to use innovative AI technology to lower costs, reduce complexity, and rapidly speed up shareholder report reconciliation. We’ve already shown Rex to many Unity clients and received highly positive feedback.”

With the TSR rule, manual reconciliation is nearly impossible, as firms must do this within a 60-day window. Confluence estimates a typical manager with thousands of share classes and hundreds of data points per class would take a person hundreds of business days to reconcile the reports each time. With Rex, the LLM-enabled reconciliation only takes minutes or even seconds. Confluence Unity Rex also has an interrogatable model which enables clients to ask questions about it to validate and source information.

As the product soon becomes available, clients and prospects can simulate their report reconciliations in a live sandbox environment.

TransUnion and NatWest Group have expanded their existing partnership to introduce Know Your Credit Score – the first credit information service from a retail bank available to all eligible consumers in the UK.

This new service builds on the success of the bank’s existing tool, powered by TransUnion’s CreditView solution, which has already seen more than five million customers of NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland access their TransUnion credit score for free via an interactive dashboard on the mobile banking app.

Now, TransUnion and NatWest Group are taking a significant step forward by expanding the availability of this service to all eligible UK consumers, regardless of where they bank.

James Robinson, managing director of consumer interactive at TransUnion in the UK, said: “Understanding credit information is essential nowadays, given the important role credit plays in our lives — from enabling everyday purchases to helping people achieve life goals, such as buying a car or home. With the introduction of NatWest’s groundbreaking new service, we’re helping to make credit information even more accessible, empowering consumers to take control of their financial wellbeing and supporting access to credit.”

Know Your Credit Score provides unlimited free access to TransUnion credit score information, enabling individuals to gain insights into their credit health and make informed financial decisions. TransUnion’s research shows 53% of those using this tool to monitor their credit profile improved their credit score over six months.

Phil Sheehy, customer goal lead, short-term borrowing at NatWest, added: "We want to empower our customers and help them reach their financial goals. Through our partnership with TransUnion, we are helping our customers better understand their credit information and how it’s used. We are building on this by offering the benefits of this service to everyone, no matter where they bank, so they can enjoy the positive impact it brings."

Everyone, including non-NatWest customers, can access Know Your Credit Score here: https://www.natwest.com/banking-with-natwest/know-your-credit-score.html

FinTech Wales will be joining Wales Tech Week as its official fintech zone partner, summit creator Technology Connected has announced. The collaboration aims to showcase the remarkable Welsh innovation and technological capability within the fintech sector.

A key driver for the Wales Tech Week summit, a physical and online event that takes place in Newport in October, is to platform the breadth and depth of Welsh expertise, which includes highlighting the impressive innovation and growth of the fintech sector in Wales.

As a key partner of Wales Tech Week, FinTech Wales recognises the summit's potential to promote Welsh companies globally, highlight the strength of the fintech ecosystem in Wales, create opportunities for entrepreneurs, and attract and cultivate new talent.

Speaking about the strength of the fintech sector in Wales, Sarah Williams-Gardener emphasised, “Wales’ fintech ecosystem boasts an unbeatable combination of the most innovative and collaborative organisations and professionals. The fintech services and solutions being created and delivered from Wales are making a difference to companies and individuals all over the world, every single day, and it’s our role to be louder and prouder of such achievements. 

“We’re proud to partner with Wales Tech Week to demonstrate what Wales’ Tech ecosystem can offer to startups, scaling businesses, investors and individuals looking for some of the most rewarding careers.  Wales is known for offering the most collaborative ecosystems, and what better way to demonstrate this than to collaborate with other leading tech clusters to showcase how amazing Wales is.”

Wales has firmly established itself as a strong player in the UK fintech scene, with a diverse range of businesses and a supportive ecosystem.

FinTech Wales is an independent members’ association and the champion of the fintech and financial services industry in Wales. Led by CEO Sarah Williams-Gardener, the organisation brings together entrepreneurs, businesses of all sizes, technology suppliers, innovators, universities, and public sector bodies. Their goal is to foster an ecosystem that attracts and nurtures fintech companies, ultimately positioning Wales as a leading pillar in the global fintech community.

Thanks to programmes like the FinTech Wales Foundry and the collaborative ecosystem in Wales, the country is witnessing growth in exciting fintech homegrown and incoming startups.

Technology Connected managing director Avril Lewis said: “We created and designed Wales Tech Week in recognition of the impact of technology on society, the environment and the country’s economy.

“It has the potential to disrupt sectors, opening up dynamic new opportunities.  Adopting new and enabling technologies is pivotal to transforming the performance of many businesses and organisations.  A strong, expanding tech sector and the widespread adoption of innovative technologies combine to fuel greater economic growth.

“There are many great examples of Welsh innovation, and as a country we have particular strengths in certain technology sectors. That includes fintech, so I’m delighted that FinTech Wales are joining us as a partner. Wales Tech Week is ‘where tech meets opportunity’, and what the fintech ecosystem in Wales is achieving is a fantastic illustration of this.”

Wales Tech Week is set to champion Welsh technologies on a global stage and facilitate organisations and professionals in keeping up to speed with technological advances and preparing for the future.

The summit's agenda in October will feature exhibitors, demonstration zones, a dedicated “Startup Alley”, a Pitch Platform, expert panels and speakers, international link-ups, and a dedicated “Talent4tech” event catering to tech-curious students and workers.

Wales Tech Week takes place in person at the International Convention Centre in Newport from 16-18 October 2023. There are still some opportunities available for exhibitors or visitors can register for free tickets at walestechweek.com.

Allied Payment Network, Inc. (Allied), the industry leader in real-time, open-network payments solutions to banks and credit unions, today announced its new relationship with Indiana-based First Farmers Bank & Trust as the bank’s payments partner. Allied’s solutions will integrate with the bank’s Q2 Digital Banking Platform.

With a history dating back to the 1880’s, First Farmers Bank & Trust is committed to delivering personalized financial services that foster growth for its communities. The bank has continued to grow throughout the decades. Today, it serves over 60,000 customers, employs more than 400 individuals and has $2.8 billion in assets.

To meet its customers’ ever-changing needs while staying true to its mission – providing state-of-the-art banking with old-fashioned service – the bank partnered with Allied to provide real-time payment solutions to its customers. Rooted in user-centric design, Allied’s best-of-breed solutions provide everything customers need, all within their bank’s trusted digital environment. They’re designed to provide the ease of use and intuitive functionality that make competing platforms unnecessary.

“By partnering with Allied, we’re able to meet our customers where they are and compete in a mobile-first environment with superior technology,” said Tade J. Powell, Senior Vice President. “Allied shares our mission to support local economic growth and prosperity by fostering relationships with customers to help them build long-term financial success. We look forward to this partnership and the value it will bring to our customers.”

Allied’s turnkey money movement solutions put financial institutions of all sizes at the center of a real-time, open payment network, allowing for extended connections and deepened engagement for both consumers and businesses within the communities they serve. Since its founding in 2010, Allied has seen significant growth, and in the last year has added over 50 new financial institution clients. Allied currently supports nearly 500 financial institution clients across 49 states, representing over $310 billion in assets.

“We don’t just build technology — we’re an ally that our clients can trust. Our priority is to make life easier for our clients and help them achieve their most important business goals,” said Geoff Knapp, CEO of Allied. “We’re excited about our partnership with First Farmers and look forward to supporting their customers’ money-movement needs.”

InvestGlass, a leading provider of digital investment management solutions, is proud to announce a strategic partnership with Sumsub, a global identity verification platform.

This partnership promises a robust, integrated solution to expedite and enhance the Know Your Customer (KYC) process for banks, brokers, and crypto platforms globally. Leveraging both firm’s expertise, the partnership aims to fortify compliance procedures in a fast-paced financial environment.

KYC, a critical risk management procedure for identifying and verifying the identities of clients, has traditionally been a time-consuming and complex task. This partnership seeks to reshape this process by making KYC faster, more compliant, and ultimately more efficient for all stakeholders.

"We are excited about our partnership with Sumsub. Together, we can optimize the KYC procedure, making it easier and faster for our clients," says Alexandre Gaillard, CEO at InvestGlass. "This partnership reflects our commitment to integrating cutting-edge technology into our platform to improve user experience and operational efficiency."

Sumsub, known for its advanced identity verification and anti-fraud technologies, offers solutions that help businesses comply with global regulations. In alliance with InvestGlass, the company's intelligent KYC tools can now be seamlessly integrated into a comprehensive investment management platform.

"Our aim is to make regulatory compliance fast and hassle-free," comments Andrew Sever, co-founder and CEO of Sumsub. "This partnership with InvestGlass enables us to offer our efficient, user-friendly KYC solutions to a wider audience. We look forward to supporting brokers, banks, and crypto providers in navigating their compliance journey."

This collaboration is an essential step for both InvestGlass and Sumsub, resulting in a holistic and integrated solution that will undoubtedly be beneficial to the financial sector. It’s a testament to both firms' commitment to continuously innovate and adapt to the evolving needs of their clients and the fintech industry.