Mumbai-based fintech startup IndiaP2P announced that it has won the Grand Prize at Women World Banking’s Fintech Innovation Challenge. 

Women World Banking (WWB) is a global organization that provides support to financial institutions and banks that offer credit and other financial services to women consumers, with a particular focus on low-income women. The Fintech Innovation Challenge is a competition designed for Fintechs serving the women's market, a market that will unlock $700Bn in additional revenues for financial institutions, according to WWB. IndiaP2P was chosen as a winner along with Paycode, UK out of 98 applicants from across the world, all developing innovative products for the low-income women’s market.

IndiaP2P is founded by serial entrepreneurs and fintech specialists Neha Juneja, Ravinder Voomidisingh and Mohit Gupta. IndiaP2P’s technology stack enables capital to move towards serving the credit needs of women entrepreneurs, resulting in high-yield assets for investors. Through its proprietary technology platform, IndiaP2P enables private investors to invest directly in this segment and unlocks yield lost to intermediaries, such as banks or financial institutions that restrict the capital flow into the segment. In the twelve months since its launch, IndiaP2P has delivered the highest returns for a peer-to-peer lending platform in India at 16% p.a. to its retail investors. 

Neha Juneja, Co-founder IndiaP2P added - “The 80 million women borrowers in India cover about 25% of the households. This segment is characterized by low defaults, high yields and very consistent performance, making it India’s best asset class. IndiaP2P’s technology platform unlocks new capital supply for this asset class i.e. rural women borrowers by enabling investors (retail + institutional) to invest directly in this segment. We are building India’s largest tech-enabled financial institution for women and strongly believe that digitizing financial flows of rural women has a positive, multiplier effect on the economy and society.”  

IndiaP2P has previously raised pre-seed funding from Antler and other prominent angels. 

Worldline, a global leader in payment services, has announced its partnership with BigCommerce, a leading Open SaaS ecommerce platform for fast-growing and established B2C and B2B brands, to further improve seamless payment processing for online merchants, whilst minimising cart abandonment rates and increasing conversion rates.

Research shows that 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned which means that a significant proportion of online shoppers are placing items into their baskets without completing their purchases. However, the potential for a 35% increase in conversion rate translates to $260 billion worth of orders which are recoverable through a better checkout flow & design.

One of the primary reasons for customers not following through on purchases is the lack of variety presented to them in terms of payment options. Worldline already offers an extensive list of both traditional and new, local and global payment methods, designed to allow shoppers to pay with their preferred payment methods and boost merchants’ conversion rates. Through this new integration BigCommerce can offer this array of payment solutions whilst enabling merchants to retain full control of their orders, refunds and cancellations directly from the BigCommerce back office.

In addition, merchants benefit from a speedy set-up and go-live process and a simple all-in-one interface, that incorporates a customisable payment page to match their own brand’s unique aesthetic, automatic cloud-based updates and complete autonomy over the design of their checkout flow.  End-customers can reap the rewards of this new partnership as they are presented with an easy-to-use, secure checkout page when making purchases thus ensuring a seamless shopping experience.

For both companies, the collaboration provides an opportunity to help grow and scale their joint merchant base worldwide.

Björn Hoffmeyer, Head of Regional Business at Worldline said: “Every online shopper has a favourite way to pay, whether that's using a local bank transfer method, a credit card, or a buy now, pay later option. So, when they aren't offered a method that suits them, it’s no surprise that they often drop out of purchase. Worldline’s integration into BigCommerce addresses this important challenge for merchants and consumers alike. The end user gets the frictionless shopping experience they demand, inclusive of their preferred ways to pay for items, while BigCommerce customers can reduce bounce rates and cart abandonment and drive top-line growth.”

Russell Klein, Chief Commercial Officer at BigCommerce added: “Our partnership with Worldline illustrates our commitment to providing merchants access to the highest-caliber technologies and service providers available. Worldline shares our desire to help merchants sell more and grow faster to maximise success. We are proud to partner with them to help merchants offer a wide range of payment options to drive conversion rates and minimise cart abandonment.”

Universal Partners, a leading FCA-regulated, cross-border payment and foreign exchange specialist for businesses, today announced a strategic partnership with embedded finance fintech Muse Finance to offer clients digital invoice and trade finance. This further elevates Universal Partners’ financial product suite and empowers their customers with top-tier financial tools to promote global scalability. 

Universal Partners has entered into a strategic collaboration with Muse Finance to elevate its financial product suite and empower their clientele with top-tier financial tools, promoting global scalability. Muse Finance brings to the table a dynamic range of digital factoring and trade finance services, such as invoice financing and supply financing. These services are designed to provide UK-based SMEs with an improved command over their cash flow and a clearer view of their financial standing. By harnessing Muse Finance's capabilities, Universal Partners is breaking barriers and ushering in a new era of enhanced financial management for SMEs.

SMEs are the lifeblood of the UK economy, constituting approximately 99 per cent of all businesses. Over recent years, they have endured an extraordinarily challenging period, initially due to the pandemic and, subsequently, the Ukraine conflict and global commodity shocks. Compounded by Brexit ambiguity and a volatile governmental fiscal policy, 43% of SMEs have been forced to close. Those that have survived have sought additional funding, primarily to manage cash flow – with seven in 10 UK businesses (69%) seeking credit for this reason.

In 2023, as more SMEs seek to expand internationally, they face hurdles such as exchange rate instability, uncertainty in cross-border payments, and extended waiting periods for payment or goods receipt. Universal Partners specialises in helping UK companies mitigate these risks, providing tailored foreign exchange strategies and same-day cross-border payments. 

The partnership with Muse Finance will now enable Universal Partners to also mitigate liquidity concerns, with its innovative digital factoring and trade financing solutions providing businesses with a suite of tools to improve their cash flow. Muse Finance’s innovative invoice-based financing solutions will enable Universal Partner’s customers to receive payment before the invoice’s settlement date or make payments to suppliers whilst keeping the funds for up to 120 days. 

Oliver Carson, CEO of Universal Partners, said: “We are on a mission to become the go-to partner for businesses wishing to expand internationally. Our partnership with Muse is a step in the right direction, giving us proven, best-in-class solutions for digital factoring and trade finance. These two core services will give our customers the cash flow management tools they need to scale anywhere in the world without the liquidity concerns  that can slow down growth.” 

Ann Juliano, CEO of Muse Finance, added: “This partnership is a testament to the demand for financial products driven by consumer needs. At Muse Finance, we have built solutions that address key challenges faced by consumers, leveraging the power of embedded finance to provide fast, reliable and low-cost digital invoice and trade finance products.”

Universal Partners is one of the UK’s fastest-growing fintechs, utilising an analytic approach to provide customers with tailored cross-border payments and bespoke risk management strategies. Based in London, Universal Partners is a natural partner for UK SMEs dealing with customers and suppliers in the EU, USA and beyond.

Launched in 2020 by ex-Fortress Investment Group Managing Director Ann Juliano, Muse provides non-dilutive working capital solutions for business owners in the UK through buy now, pay later (BNPL) for businesses and digital factoring.  

Bling, Europe's first Family-FinTech, is opening up the capital market to families. With Bling's new SavingsTrees, German families can now invest sustainably starting from just 1€ per month. Until now, Bling has provided families with the means to manage their finances and teach their children responsible money management through an educational app and prepaid card. Now, investing becomes simple and family-friendly.

More than 80% of parents in Germany are not invested in the capital market due to the high costs, complexity, and lack of understanding associated with traditional investment products. That's why Bling designed SavingsTrees specifically for families who have not yet engaged with the capital markets. The Berlin-based FinTech employs playful visualizations and expert explanations to simplify the investment experience. The sustainable WealthTech, Evergreen, is responsible for fund management, with costs significantly lower than the industry average.

Nils Feigenwinter, Co-Founder & CEO of Bling, stated: "Simplicity and sustainability were paramount in the development of our investment offering. We prioritize families in our product development to offer a tailored solution that meets their needs." Feigenwinter added, regarding the market: "Everyone underestimates the market potential of families, which is why banks have neglected this area for decades. With Bling, we are addressing this."

The funds invested in SavingsTrees are globally diversified and allocated to sustainable investments with a minimum Article 8-Fund SFDR classification. Impact investments, focusing on their positive effects on the environment and society, are a particular focal point. This can be achieved through direct investments in sustainable projects and companies, as well as the selection of funds that have a positive influence on specific sustainability objectives. 

Since the launch of the pocket money app in June 2022, Bling has experienced rapid viral growth, with tens of thousands of families using Bling on a daily basis. With the introduction of SavingsTrees, Bling is unveiling its second family financial product. "Every day, we witness the challenges faced by families in our app, inspiring us to develop new product ideas tailored to their needs. We plan to launch at least one more product in 2023," commented Feigenwinter.

AMLYZE, a leading RegTech company specializing in anti-financial crime solutions for FinTechs, neo-banks and crypto businesses, is excited to announce its strategic collaboration with Salt Edge, a leading open banking platform.

This commercial partnership aims to enhance AMLYZE and Salt Edge’s client offering by leveraging both companies’ expertise in anti-money laundering (AML), open banking and PSD2 solutions.

The collaboration is the first of its kind for the companies and it will provide clients with a combined approach to PSD2 compliance and AML/CFT services.

As the financial sector continues to evolve, regulatory compliance remains a top priority for businesses worldwide. With a team of regulatory insiders, AMLYZE has been at the forefront of developing innovative and empowering AML/CFT solutions to help organizations effectively combat financial crime. Through this partnership, both companies can leverage each other’s established market presence and strengthen their position in this industry.

Open banking transforms the financial sector by enabling secure and controlled access to bank data and empowers businesses and individuals to make informed decisions. Salt Edge has established itself as a trusted provider of both open banking and PSD2 compliance solutions, and secure and seamless connectivity to 5,000+ financial institutions across the globe. 

The partnership between AMLYZE and Salt Edge brings significant benefits to their respective clients. Financial institutions, including banks, fintechs, crypto companies and payment service providers, will benefit from AMLYZE's cutting-edge AML software solutions, combined with the extensive reach and expertise of Salt Edge in the open banking and PSD2 space.

This collaboration enables AMLYZE to offer even more comprehensive and innovative AML/CFT solutions to its clients, helping them strengthen their compliance frameworks and effectively mitigate financial risks while also empowering Salt Edge to extend its reach in the market and provide added value to its customers in the open banking ecosystem.

"We are excited about our collaboration with Salt Edge, which brings immense value to our clients," said Jekaterina Govina, Head of Partnerships & Regulatory Affairs, at AMLYZE. "Through this partnership, we can leverage Salt Edge's deep knowledge of open banking solutions and their extensive network to further strengthen our market presence. This collaboration also allows us to enhance our AML/CFT software solutions and continue delivering exceptional value to our clients."

"We are thrilled to partner with AMLYZE to deliver combined comprehensive, open banking and anti-financial crime solutions to the fintech, neo-banks, and crypto communities," said Maria Rusu, Business Development Manager of Salt Edge. "Through this collaboration, more financial institutions can confidently prioritize their business goals while being secure in their regulatory compliance with the latest AML and open banking regulations.”

B2B payment solutions provider Hokodo has today announced the acquisition of a Lithuanian payments business, making it the first and, currently, only B2B Buy Now, Pay Later provider with a payments licence.

This acquisition is part of Hokodo’s journey to make better payment options available to  B2B merchants across Europe. Since inception, the business has expanded rapidly into 6 of Europe’s largest markets, allowing ever-greater numbers of business buyers to access the payment terms they need to grow.

This also means that Hokodo is able to offer a broader suite of payment solutions. Significantly, merchants, marketplaces and other suppliers can now partner with Hokodo to offer their customers a complete payment solution that includes pay now and pay later options.

This eliminates the need for suppliers to integrate with several solution providers and empowers them to compete on an even playing field with more established players. Meanwhile, buyers benefit from a consistent user experience that enables them to pay how they want to. Ultimately, this acquisition further enables Hokodo to reach its goal of helping 1 million businesses access a better way to pay in the next two years.

As part of the acquisition, Hokodo is opening a third office in Lithuania to complement its existing locations in Paris and London. The company plans to grow the team in Lithuania substantially over the coming months.

“We have been pleased to find that the Lithuanian candidate market is rich with talented individuals with the skills to operate a payment institution,” commented Chris Yea, Head of Talent at Hokodo. “We’ve already made our first hires in Lithuania, with more roles to go live imminently. Our plans are to hire around 30 individuals for the Lithuanian team over the next 3 years.”

“This is a landmark moment, not just for Hokodo, but for B2B merchants and their customers across Europe,” explains Richard Thornton, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Hokodo. “As a regulated EMI, our merchant and marketplace partners can have even greater confidence in our ability to manage and protect their funds prudently.”

“Since launching our business in France and the UK back in 2018, we’ve always had the largest European footprint among B2B BNPL providers,” adds Louis Carbonnier, Richard’s fellow Co-Founder and Co-CEO. “It’s compelling that we’re now able to help B2B suppliers across the whole of Europe provide their customers with the credit and payment options they deserve.”

Teya, the customer-centric operating system and financial service provider for merchants in Europe, has today announced its partnership with Liberis, the UK’s leading embedded finance platform. 

Aiming to help business owners to manage their cash flow better and grow their operations, the partnership will allow Teya to further support their customers by offering pre-approved revenue-based finance through a simple application journey. It also means that merchants will be able to have funds in their account in as little as 48 hours.  

Together, Teya and Liberis will make access to finance simpler and fairer for people running small and medium businesses, whilst also ensuring a positive user experience through embedded technology. Teya’s Cash Advance solution will soon mean that merchants can quickly access flexible and reliable financing, improving their cash flow. Compared to a lengthy application process, such as at a traditional bank, the partnership will also ensure a seamless onboarding and renewal journey as well as in-life experience and dedicated customer support.   

Teya Cash Advance is currently operating a closed beta with wider roll out expected later in 2023. 

Pranay Ahluwalia, CEO of Credit at Teya, commented:  

“Teya’s partnership with Liberis is an exciting step in our journey to support people running small and growing businesses in Europe. Like us, the team at Liberis understand the complexities around funding and payments, and believe in making the process simple and efficient. They share our dedication to SMEs and entrepreneurs for the long haul - particularly as they scale and grow – and together our technology means we can offer the fair, flexible, and trustworthy solutions that merchants deserve.” 

Rob Straathof, CEO and Founder of Liberis, said: 

“We’re delighted to be working with Teya, who share our ethos of helping to support small businesses. SMEs play a vital role in our communities and our economy, and our embedded finance technology will level the playing field for these integral players and help promote the UK’s economic recovery.” 

The Encore Stage kicked off with Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO of GoCardless, and Mark Brant, Chief Payments Officer at NatWest, talking about the evolution of their industry-first partnership. GoCardless and NatWest collaborated to revolutionise the open banking journey for both businesses and consumers to make Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) available. 

“In the world of payments, someone told me that there’s no such thing as competition, just cooperation. That’s definitely been the case for us and the banks,” said Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO of GoCardless.

“It’s about always pushing the boundaries to create a better customer experience, which has been a big part of our journey.”

“There’s no secret sauce to a partnership. Over the years, banks have become a lot more open to partnering with fintechs.”

On the Money-Bot Stage, Google Maps, Visa Europe, and Snowdrop Solutions discussed transaction enrichment and their recent collaboration that enables Visa clients, such as banks and credit card issuers, to quickly and easily access enriched banking transaction data, as well as add geospatial information to their experiences for the benefit of their customers and internal teams.

Nicola Dalmazzo, Head of Southern Europe and EMEA Financial Sector at Google Maps: “We are trying to organise the world into a digital experience and with our Google Map platform we try to also bring all this data to companies to enrich customer experience.” 

Mandy Lamb, Managing Director: UK & Ireland at Visa, noted that “Consumers not only want data enrichment but a better user experience.” while Kenneth Hart, CEO & Founder of Snowdrop Solutions, pointed out that “the intuitive experience consumers are witnessing in the UK, where it started, has now become the norm. What a few years ago was a cool way for banks to differentiate, has now become the norm.”

Over at the Fusion Stage, Money20/20 celebrated five years of RiseUp, Money20/20’s programme dedicated to the acceleration of women’s careers in financial services. We heard about the decision points and learning curves from the female-focused programme, which was created in 2018 by Money20/20's President, Tracey Davies. 

“More than 70% of participants in our programme have moved into a more senior role. 85% feel more prepared for their careers, and 95% have expanded their network,” said Tracey Davies, President of Money20/20.

Addressing the funding problem, Annie Guo, Founder of Silkpay, said: “In general in the industry, people are aware that it is a problem, but we do not see the results. When I talk to VCs, they will send a female to talk to me, but that doesn’t mean they will give money to a female founder. A mix of female and men founders will do better than just a female founder. But we have to keep going until it gets better. The funding problem is real, and we feel it every day.” 

Sharon Chen, Emerging Tech Ecosystem Lead at EY, also shared her top tip for women who want to make it: “Don’t be afraid to stand out!” 

Later on the Elements Stage, Binance’s Director, MENA & Europe, Vishal Sacheendran, delved into the EU’s new crypto regulation, MiCA, and how this constitutes the first major step towards international legal clarity in cryptoasset regulation.

“MiCA is a regulation to rule them all. This is now a legislation in place, where you have little room for national divergence, you have more clarity on how you should be going down the road, we have more collaboration from the regulator and we have a sense of how they're going to regulate going forward.”

“There is clarity on what the current state of the crypto market is, the kind of trading that happens, the custody that happens, financial derivatives that are going on - there’s clarity to an extent but it will have to be more pronounced as we move along until MiCA comes out in January 2025.”

“Whatever activity you do in the crypto asset space, you’re going to be regulated to that extent.” 

“It enables innovation, it forsters innovation - people are having conversations now, regulators are happy to come on board and have a talk. We see regulators in the EU now opening the doors and having a  conversation.” 

During lunch, Money20/20 hosted a Startups Lunch Session where it unveiled six of the most promising companies at the show this year. Attending media got the chance to meet: 

• KYP CEO, Alan Nagle https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-nagle-9524941/?originalSubdomain=uk 

KYP looks at holistic business risk, smart data regression models and unique visuals to ensure investigator reviews are simplified. 

• Zing Cover CEO, Matt Nunney https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattnunney/?originalSubdomain=uk 

Zing is a fast-scaling, advanced insurtech backed by leading global insurers. Zing

• Truvity Founder, Denis Nagy https://www.linkedin.com/in/denis-nagy-85a97711/?originalSubdomain=uk 

Truvity offers simple APIs that simplify the complexity of digital wallets, enabling seamless document exchange and fact verification.

• Zumo’s Marketing Director, Amelie Arras https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameliearras/?originalSubdomain=uk 

Zumo, a crypto as a service offering embedded Crypto Solutions.  

• Conduit’s VP Global Partnerships https://www.linkedin.com/in/adavaughan/ 

Conduit helps financial platforms connect their customers with crypto products using One API for DeFi

• Klearly Co-Founder and CCO Geus Walder https://www.linkedin.com/in/geuswalder/ 

Klearly application that allows users to receive payments directly on their phones

The afternoon started with a session on carbon removal on the Ecore stage. Nan Ransohoff, Head of Climate at Stripe, leads Frontier, a $925M advanced market commitment to accelerate carbon removal, founded by Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta and McKinsey. During the session, Nan and Mayowa Kuyoro, Leader of Africa Fintech at McKinsey, discussed the challenges of carbon removal and opportunities for fintech startups to get involved. 

Nan Ransohoff, Head of Climate at Stripe: “There’s a 7x increase in carbon removal among companies who are clients in three years. You can think about what your business is uniquely equipped with to facilitate decarbonisation.”

On the Summits stage, Chalapathy Neti, Head AI CoE at Swift, Mariana Gomez de la Villa, Innovation Lead at ING, Jon Ander Beracoechea Alava, Advanced Analytics Discipline Head at BBVA, joined Malcolm DeMayo, Global VP Financial Services at NVIDIA, to discuss how banks and fintechs evaluate generative AI, which applications they embed with AI first and why waiting to invest is not an option.

Chalapathy Neti, Head AI CoE at Swift: “Key point is - people forget these models are made with massive amounts of data. Without data you cannot build the model.”

Last year, Money20/20 Europe brought together an emotive panel of speakers who were able to speak about the very real and dangerous situation that was unfolding in Ukraine. Twelves months on, Don Ginsel, CEO of Holland Fintech, Jess Turner, EVP, Global Open Banking & API at Mastercard, Misha Rogalskiy, Co-founder at monobank and CEO and Co-Founder at Neofin, came together to share their experience of working amidst the unprecedented challenges and entering new markets.

We also had the opportunity to hear from the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine in a virtual video, where he shared the progress Ukraine has made in terms of technological advancement in light of unprecedented challenges. 

“No matter what, we stay resilient and keep going. Being a tech-advanced country gave us a unique opportunity to operate under conditions of a full-scale invasion,” said the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.  

“We already have well-developed digital infrastructure, especially in terms of fintech. Mobile banking, virtual credit cards, and online payments, Ukrainians have mastered using them on a daily basis. And we as the government pushed this process even further. After the introduction of digital signatures, there was a boom in opening bank accounts online. For Ukrainian citizens, it takes only a few clicks to do so.”

“For Ukraine, innovation and technology must become the foundation of our recovery. We have a big vision for it, but we need support already. Invest in Ukraine now, try Ukraine now, we are the best ground for all kinds of products and solutions. Let’s build the future together.”

Announcements 

See below a few announcements that grabbed everyone’s attention today: 

• Rabobank: Instalment payment solution of Rabobank and in3 recognised as a finalist
• Zilch: Zilch opens its revolutionary ASPN to third parties across the globe – advancing a multi-trillion-dollar payments and advertising marketplace
• Fiat Republic: Bitstamp partners with Fiat Republic’s to offer clients access to instant fiat and crypto liquidity
• FIS: Jifiti and FIS Work Together to Deliver Comprehensive End-to-End Embedded Lending Services to Banks, Financial Institutions and Merchants
• LoopingOne: LoopingOne has raised €2M Seed Round Funding to Revolutionise Marketplaces with Onboarding and Payment Solutions
• Billie: Mollie and Billie Launch Pan-European Partnership

Don’t forget to check out the announcements on the Horizon Stage tomorrow to hear their news before anyone else does!