Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc., a digital fintech group powered by blockchain technology, today announced that Chaince Securities, Inc., the financial services subsidiary of MFH entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement for the acquisition of all assets and liabilities of  J.V. Delaney & Associates (“JVDA”), an investment advisory firm and fully licensed broker-dealer established in 1982.  The addition of JVDA will serve as the cornerstone of Mercurity Fintech’s plans to incorporate a diverse range of digital and traditional business offerings through its new financial services entity, Chaince Securities, including underwriting, private placements, mergers & acquisitions, best efforts IPOs, selling of corporate equity and debt securities and investment advisory services, among others.

Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, Chaince Securities will make a cash down payment to the seller following the signing the Purchase Agreement, with the remaining balance of the total purchase price held in escrow by Portfolio Escrow, Inc. until closing. The deal is subject to FINRA approval in accordance with Rule 1017 and is contingent on obtaining regulatory and customary approvals. The transaction will close upon obtaining of FINRA approval and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, with the outstanding cash balance released from escrow to the seller. The deal is expected to close in Q4 of 2023.

The acquisition marks the first significant investment by Chaince Securities since its integration into MFH earlier this year. J.V. Delaney & Associates will enhance Chaince Securities' digital and traditional financial brokerage services and bolster its plans for sustained growth through expansion.

Mr. Shi Qiu, Chief Executive Officer of MFH, commented, "The acquisition of J.V. Delaney & Associates aligns with our objective to expand MFH's broker-dealer presence and augment our capabilities and product offerings over the next several years. This strategic move is a testament to our commitment to capitalize on the synergies between traditional financial services and innovative blockchain-powered solutions. We anticipate the resulting broker-dealer entity to be fully equipped and seamlessly aligned with our strategy of developing differentiated digital platforms to service our ever-expanding global clientele and puts us ever closer to the point of convergence between the old and the new, where we believe the true fortunes will be made."

Kingsway Finance, part of Praetura Group’s lending division, has announced a new £10m block discounting funding facility from British Business Investments.

According to the British Business Bank’s Small Business Finance Markets Report, access to finance is one of the most significant challenges smaller businesses face in developing and expanding their business. This new £10m facility from British Business Investments will enable Kingsway Finance to increase its funding capacity to small and medium-sized businesses across the UK.

This news follows record figures across the whole of the Praetura Lending Division in 2022, for the second consecutive year. The division’s combined loan book has grown to more than £330m, with ambitions to increase that significantly in 2023. Kingsway Finance also announced their formal accreditation as a lender for the new iteration of the government-backed Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) by the British Business Bank in February this year.

Based in the North-West, Praetura Group’s lending division, which includes Praetura Asset Finance, Kingsway Finance, Praetura Commercial Finance, Praetura Invoice Finance and Zodeq, supports clients across a wide array of industry sectors with a range of SME funding solutions ranging from £5,000 to £25m.

British Business Investments, a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, aims to increase the supply and diversity of finance for smaller businesses across the UK by boosting the lending capacity of a range of finance providers. Since it was established in 2014, British Business Investments has committed more than £3.3 billion to providers of finance to UK smaller businesses.

Paul Bradbury, commercial director of Kingsway Finance, said: “Over recent years at Kingsway Finance we have seen the range of businesses our funding has been able to assist significantly increase. This new funding facility from British Business Investments will enable that trajectory to continue, so that more brokers and their SME clients can benefit not only from the funding we offer, but the exemplary service levels that we pride ourselves on providing.”

Peadar O’Reilly, CEO of Praetura Group’s lending division, said: “SMEs need funding on the right terms and at the right time, delivered by lenders who will ensure the needs of each individual business are prioritised. This new facility with British Business Investments will help more brokers, advisers and their SME client fulfil their potential.

Judith Hartley, CEO, British Business Investments, said: “This £10m block discounting agreement with Kingsway Finance supports British Business Investments’ mission to increase the diversity and supply of finance for smaller businesses in the UK. Independent operators like Kingsway Finance help diversify the UK’s smaller business finance markets and provide more choice for businesses. We look forward to continuing to work with Kingsway to help smaller businesses across the UK get funding for the assets they need to grow.”

L7 Platform, a leading global Cloud Computing Service Provider, has announced its partnership with Triple-A, a licensed cryptocurrency payment gateway by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

As one of the largest cloud service providers in APAC, L7 Platform has collaborated closely with Alibaba Cloud and Amazon Web Services to drive the growth of the cloud market in the region. The company's core focus is on providing comprehensive cloud services, including migration, training, and consultation on information data compliance and security.

Clients of L7 Platform can now pay for the company's services using Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), and USD Coin (USDC). The move is in response to its customers' demand for cryptocurrency payment options and reflects the company's commitment to improving customer convenience.

With Triple-A’s white-label crypto payments solutions, L7 Platform can accept cryptocurrency payments without incurring any price volatility risk. Triple-A instantly converts the crypto payments to fiat for L7 Platform, L7 Platform enjoys the benefits of next-day fiat settlement, further improving the payment experience.

Commenting on the partnership, Jeff Tiung, CIO of L7 Platform said, “We are excited to join forces with Triple-A and broaden the range of payment options available to our clients. As cryptocurrency continues to gain traction in the business world, we're pleased to be at the forefront of this trend and offer our clients a fast and secure way to transact.”

Triple-A's CEO, Eric Barbier, added, "It is our pleasure to collaborate with L7 Platform, a company that values innovation and customer-centricity as much as we do. We believe that by accepting cryptocurrency payments, L7 Platform can further expand its global footprint and better serve its customers."

nCino, Inc., a pioneer in cloud banking for the global financial services industry, today announces its partnership with Grasshopper, the client-first digital bank built for the business and innovation economy. Grasshopper will leverage multiple nCino solutions, including Portfolio Analytics, Commercial Banking and Customer Engagement, to enhance portfolio management and reporting, speed to market for loan closing, and line of sight into the loan process across its lending divisions - which support venture and private equity funds, commercial real estate and SBA borrowers.

“Grasshopper has placed a significant focus on partnering with industry-leading fintech companies to improve our banking experience, and we are very pleased with our decision to partner with nCino,” said Stephanie Dunn, Head of SBA Lending at Grasshopper. “nCino’s solutions have helped us improve internal efficiencies, save time and continue to deliver a superior client experience. Grasshopper carefully selects like-minded partners who prioritize the needs of the client, and we look forward to working with nCino to serve small businesses with best-in-class digital banking products.”

Grasshopper’s partnership with nCino reinforces its commitment to fostering strong bank-fintech relationships to enhance the client experience across all lines of business. nCino serves as a valuable partner in ensuring the bank’s lending clients can benefit from innovative digital solutions tailored to meet their individual needs.

“We’re proud to partner with Grasshopper as it expands its technology offering to help its clients reach their goals,” said Will Cameron, SVP of U.S. Financial Institutions at nCino. “Like nCino, Grasshopper carries an innovation mindset and aims to deliver high-quality digital banking tools and resources to create a superior experience. We look forward to this partnership driving more efficiency at Grasshopper through automation and process improvements for maximum time savings.”

Grasshopper will be a featured financial institution on stage at nSight 2023, nCino’s annual user conference. To register for a live stream of the panel titled ‘A Modern Mindset: Industry Leaders Share Their Stories and Strategies for Success’, and other general sessions, please register here.

Velotix, the data security platform that governs and controls compliant access to data throughout the data access lifecycle, announced today that Liquid Group has selected Velotix as its data security platform to make data a valuable asset with quicker access while minimizing security risks.  Liquid Group, a leading fintech company headquartered in Singapore, provides smart and secure digital payment solutions that enable businesses and individuals to transact domestically and across borders with speed and ease. It operates XNAP, Asia's fastest-growing digital cross-border QR payment network, spanning multiple markets throughout the Asia Pacific region. 

“To effectively manage our expanding range of products and data volumes, we need to continuously assess the most secure and compliant approach to handling that data. Velotix's AI-based deep learning supports us in processing, categorizing, and qualifying data faster and more efficiently, thus ensuring smarter and more effective governance and compliance," said Jeremy Tan, CEO and Founder at Liquid Group. 

“We are proud to partner with Liquid Group, a leader in the fintech industry, to enable them to safely and efficiently access their data, said Dr. Adi Hod, CEO and Co-Founder at Velotix.  “Our data security platform speeds up and secures data access while keeping up with the dynamic regulatory environment, so that even with the increasing number of users and policies enterprises can  generate fast and meaningful insights.”

The Velotix digital security platform enables companies to be both privacy-driven and data-driven by streamlining secure access to data by intelligently and automatically managing their policies. Velotix's dynamic workflow builder and AI-driven policy engine aggregates data catalogs and re-adjusts policies using its machine learning to create the right data policy, maintain it, and improve the speed of request handling, recommendations, and approvals.  

This installation at Liquid Group was orchestrated by InovGate, Velotix’s APAC value-added reseller.  Liquid Group is one of several customers secured since the initial seed round of $10 million. 

“We are excited to offer Vizient members our technology through this agreement. We support health systems who are under tremendous cost pressure by removing complex barriers to gaining insights from their spend data," said hunterAI CEO, Jeffrey Heenan-Jalil. “Executives and employees of healthcare organizations should not be the casualty of cost cutting measures whilst alternative solutions remain”.

GoldenSource, the leading independent provider of Enterprise Data Management (EDM) and Master Data Management (MDM) solutions, announces the appointment of Derek Apfel to Chief Financial Officer.  

Based in New York, Apfel will lead finance, operations, HR and corporate development as the company seeks to accelerate global growth following its 2022 acquisition by private equity firm Gemspring Capital.

Apfel brings a wealth of strategic finance, operations, investment and M&A leadership experience from a range of prior roles including at Citi, Bank of America, and most recently as CFO of Tilting Point where he oversaw rapid organic growth and several acquisitions.  Apfel will head GoldenSource’s worldwide financial team and will report directly to John Eley, Chief Executive Officer.

This hire represents the second appointment to the Management Board this year, following the hire of Swati Tyagi to Chief Product Officer in February of this year, overseeing product strategy and development to serve the needs of the firms’ global client base.

Commenting on his new role, Apfel said: “GoldenSource is at an inflection point – investing in our core EDM product offerings, re-shaping our go-to-market strategy and pursuing M&A to enhance the value proposition for our customers. I’m thrilled to be joining the market leader at such an exciting time and partnering with the team to drive the next phase of growth.”

John Eley, CEO at GoldenSource added: “We’re building a leadership team to drive our next stage of growth and capitalize on momentum.  Derek’s hire represents a significant step in elevating our financial and operational leadership as well as M&A which is a key pillar of our strategy.

EedenBull, a leading payment fintech company, specialising in B2B and commercial payment technology, has announced the appointment of Eilin Schjetne as the new CEO to scale the company into a new global growth phase.

Norwegian headquartered EedenBull’s innovative spend management platform helps banks be more relevant in today’s competitive banking environment and enables the banks to support their SMB customers become more efficient. EedenBull has its technology development centre based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Schjetne has over 20 years of experience in the banking and payments industry, both with established players and challengers. Most recently, she was the General Manager for digital bank, Lunar, in Norway, building the bank for consumers and small businesses. Previously, she was Product Director at Visa for the Nordic and Baltic region and had a role in Visa´s global team for Real-Time Payments and Open Banking as Partnership lead for Europe. Schjetne has also held leadership positions at DNB ASA, the largest bank in Norway, in product and business development in the corporate payment and cash management solutions division.

Founder and former CEO EedenBull Nicki Bisgaard will return to the PayTech Group, the payments advisory company he founded more than 20 years ago and act as a special advisor to the EedenBull team particularly focusing on business development globally.

 Eilin Schjetne, CEO, EedenBull said; "I am humbled in the face of this challenge and grateful for the board's decision to invest in an ambitious leader to take EedenBull to the next level. I believe my broad experience from banking and fintech, along with our fantastic team, our highly competent board and our large global partners will enable us to collectively execute our strategic growth plans."

With several Nordic banks as investors, EedenBull provides a spend management platform for SMBs through more than 60 banks in the Nordics and Australia. With additional partnerships in the pipeline, EedenBull is expected to grow its global footprint. EedenBull’s spend management platform offers businesses and employees a comprehensive and controlled approach to managing company expenses.

Jeremy Nicholds, Non-Executive Chair at EedenBull said; "These are exciting times for EedenBull, with the company now gaining significant traction in its home markets as well as globally. We are delighted to bring in someone of Eilin’s experience in banking and corporate payments and the capabilities as our new CEO to take the company through its next phase of growth and development. We are indebted to EedenBull’s founder and former CEO, Nicki Bisgaard, for his visionary leadership that has brought us to where we are today.”

Creating a fintech unicorn

The company is now focused on scaling up, which means further commercialisation to roll out services at a faster pace, both in new and existing markets.

Schjetne continued; “From experience, I know that scaling costs. Therefore, one of the first things I will focus on is ensuring sufficient capital for our growth ambitions. We invite both financial and industrial investors to join us on the journey towards creating Norway's first fintech unicorn. Despite a volatile investment climate, we are confident that there is capital for innovative products from ambitious companies in a growing market that generates healthy revenues, which is EedenBull.”

Schjetne has also been Product Director in Nets with responsibility for Norwegian payment solutions for consumers and businesses. Eilin holds an MSc from the London School of Economics.

PayPoint, working in partnership with OVO, launched its new OpenPay service in March 2023 to make the Governments £200 Domestic Alternative Fuel Payments (AFP) to OVO customers that use alternative fuels for heating instead of mains gas. 

OpenPay delivers a unique, cost-effective alternative to cheques and bank transfers, giving energy suppliers the means to offer customers the choice of depositing the payment into their bank account using a QR code or collecting payments in cash at one of PayPoint’s 28,000 retailers. OVO commissioned the use of PayPoint’s Confirmation of Payee name and bank account checking service, part of its extensive Open Banking solutions, to protect their customers against fraud. 

PayPoint accelerated development of the solution to be ready in time to deploy for the AFP scheme. OpenPay is being used by three energy suppliers to compliantly deliver AFP payments straight to customers’ bank accounts, with over 30% of customers opting for this method from day one despite this being a new payment solution. 

Mark Robson, VP Commercial Development of OVO Energy said, “OVO wanted to give our customers the option to securely receive their AFP payment directly into their bank account. Over 30% of customers redeemed payments straight into their bank account, and their feedback confirmed the ease and convenience of the OpenPay service.” 

Danny Vant, Managing Director of PayPoint concluded, “Our own research has shown that although many consumers have a bank account, they want to choose how they get paid on a case-by-case basis, opting for payment in cash or by direct to their bank, depending on the status of their account at that moment in time. OpenPay is a powerful tool in the box for any organization that understands customers need this choice. Empowering people to receive payments they are entitled to in the method that is most convenient for them, boosts customer confidence, loyalty, and retention.”  

OpenPay is based on the UK’s world-leading Open Banking Standards and industry guidelines to drive competition, innovation, and transparency in UK retail banking. The benefit to clients making payments with OpenPay is that a single-payment method can now be used to pay all customers, irrespective of their changing preferences. In doing so, it removes the need for clients to collect and confirm bank details from customers and reduces the GDPR risk in storing and handling such sensitive data. As a viable alternative to cheques, it is faster and more convenient for customers while removing the considerable costs involved with this method of payment. Crucially, it protects customers against the ever-increasing risk of fraud by ensuring payments can only be made to verified accounts.