Airwallex, a leading global payments and financial platform for modern businesses, today announced a multi-year partnership with the McLaren Formula 1 team, one of the sport’s most iconic brands. As an Official Partner, Airwallex will support McLaren’s global financial operations through its treasury management and cross-border pay-outs and settlement product suite. This partnership between Airwallex and McLaren will help ignite the fintech giant’s growth trajectory as it continues to scale globally.

Specifically, McLaren will use Airwallex to optimise its supply chain payments for all Grands Prix. McLaren’s existing payments infrastructure limits payment to suppliers, such as hotel and event space providers, to a singular currency account based in the UK, resulting in high foreign exchange (FX) charges, slow transfer time and additional SWIFT fees. 

Airwallex’s financial technology will unlock multi-currency payment options for McLaren, providing the company the ability to hold core currencies and exchange them with speed and ease at any point while reducing the amount of SWIFT fees that may be payable by leveraging Airwallex's extensive global proprietary payment rail network.

As part of this partnership, Airwallex will also provide technology to support the launch and ongoing operation of McLaren’s digital partner merchandise platform - further enhancing their multi-currency collection capabilities and allowing them to offer a broad range of global and local payment options.

Zak Brown, CEO, McLaren Racing, said “In the competitive world of Formula 1, efficiency and performance are crucial both on and off the track. We are delighted to have Airwallex on board and use their innovative and trusted payment solutions to support our team’s financial operations.”

Jack Zhang, CEO and Co-Founder of Airwallex, said “There are very few brands that match McLaren’s heritage and global appeal. Like McLaren, Airwallex is constantly innovating to move faster and with greater precision – with a product that unites people around the world. Our partnership will play a key role in supporting our global expansion, and we look forward to working with the McLaren team in 2024 and beyond to support our mutual growth.”

Alongside the product integration, Airwallex will become a partner of the McLaren Formula 1 team, with the Airwallex logo prominently displayed on the halo of the McLaren MCL38, on driver Lando Norris’ and Oscar Piastri’s overalls including the pit crew, as well as across other McLaren official branded material. 

A truly global sporting event with races held in 24 cities, Formula 1’s multi-market reach and impact are unrivalled. It has a global viewership of 1.5 billion annually1. Airwallex’s partnership with the McLaren Formula 1 team, a prominent and much-loved brand, aligns with its global ambitions to be the financial platform of choice for innovative businesses across the world. 

Today, Mastercard and Last Mile Solutions announced a new partnership to establish new payment standards for the Electric Vehicle (EV) charging industry, that will enhance the user payment experience at charging stations.

The new solution will enable CPOs to integrate their (existing) charging stations with a variety of payment terminal brands seamlessly, without the need for extensive integration efforts. The new payment gateway solution will unify the user experience and simplify payment terminal integration, onboarding and transaction processing.  

Through this collaboration, Mastercard and Last Mile Solutions are committed to fostering the uptake of electric vehicles throughout Europe by eliminating existing barriers and simplifying the charging process for drivers with interoperable and universal payment solutions.

The solution will be rolled out across Europe starting in early 2024 to enable CPOs to comply with the EU AFIR regulation that will come into force in April 2024.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Last Mile Solutions. The transition to the mass adoption of electric mobility is key to building a more sustainable world. Achieving this requires partnerships like these to make the transition as seamless as possible, not only for consumers but also for infrastructure operators.” says George Simon, Executive Vice President, Market Development Europe, Mastercard.

“In the dynamic world of payment systems and EV charging, this strategic partnership between Mastercard and Last Mile Solutions will accelerate a seamless EV adoption. Our leadership in the market is anchored by providing an effortless payment terminal solution for charging stations for retrofit and newly built charging stations. This collaboration is designed to support Charge Point Operators to seamlessly facilitate integration and comply with AFIR. Our solution will allow operators to focus on their core business.” says Eric van Voorden, Chief Executive Officer, Last Mile Solutions.

Lendbuzz Inc, the AI-based fintech company that is disrupting the automotive lending industry, announced today that it has closed a $219 million securitization collateralized by a pool of auto loans made to obligors and secured by new and used automobiles, light duty trucks, and vans. This transaction is Lendbuzz’s first securitization of 2024, and the sixth since launching the program.

Lendbuzz Securitization Trust 2024-1 (“LBZZ 2024-1”) issued four classes of notes: Class A-1, Class A-2, Class B, and Class C. The LBZZ 2024-1 notes have been rated by S&P Global Ratings (S&P) and Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) as NR/K1+, AA-/AAA, A-/AA+ and NR/A-, respectively.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC acted as lead book-runner and structuring agent, with J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and RBC Capital Markets, LLC as joint book-runners; Regions Securities LLC acted as co-manager.

“This was an incredibly successful transaction for Lendbuzz with a first-time AAA rating, which is a testament to the Company’s focus on strong credit performance,” said George Sclavos, Chief Financial Officer at Lendbuzz. “We look forward to continuing to expand our asset-backed lender investor base, having added 12 first-time investors to the platform on this deal.”

Lendbuzz remains committed to growing its asset-backed securitization program and expanding its asset-backed lender investor base, helping to provide additional liquidity for asset-backed lender investors and maintaining a diverse financing strategy for Lendbuzz. The additional capacity will allow Lendbuzz to continue on its mission to offer fair access to credit for underserved populations.

Benepass, a flexible benefits platform for people-first companies, announced today that the company has raised $20 million in additional funding led by Portage and Clocktower Technology Ventures. Stephanie Choo, Partner at Portage has joined the Benepass Board of Directors. Workday Ventures and existing investors Threshold Ventures and Gradient Ventures also participated in the funding round.

The fundraise comes at a time when many large companies are looking to consolidate their benefits to control costs. Companies have accumulated diverse and costly point solution benefit vendors over the years, often underutilized by employees. This is no longer tenable in today's macroeconomic climate, so companies are analyzing and streamlining these offerings, aiming to cut down on vendors while maintaining employee satisfaction and engagement. This has fueled interest and excitement about flexible benefits platforms like Benepass.

"Portage invests in entrepreneurs who are reshaping financial services. We expect to see more consolidation of point solutions in the benefits space and believe that Benepass is at the forefront of this growing trend," said Stephanie Choo, Partner at Portage. "Our investment into Benepass will help to scale their mission to help companies distribute meaningful benefits that support the personal and professional well-being of their team."

The additional capital will be used to fuel growth by expanding distribution and technical partnerships with brokers, payroll, and HRIS providers. It will also fuel the building of new features for administrators and employees, including cash back on benefits and enhancing the user experience of the platform to help employees better understand and use their benefits. Benepass will also use the funds to leverage generative AI to produce insights into employee benefits behavior that will help enterprise customers better support their employees, understand benefits usage, and optimize benefit costs.

"Benepass is helping shift the approach around how companies take care of their employees, and we're excited to partner with them on their next stage of growth," said Barbry McGann, SVP and Managing Director, Workday Ventures. "We invest in companies that are shaping the next generation of enterprise technology and believe that is reflected in Benepass's mission to unlock personalization and global equity in benefits through its proprietary fintech stack and commitment to the user experience."

Tokenbridge, a token aggregator and distribution platform streamlining the wealth and fund management ecosystem, today announces the introduction of new features to support the construction, distribution, and evaluation of tokenized model portfolios.

The new functionality is designed to modernize and simplify the model portfolio ecosystem by improving connectivity between tokenized and un-tokenized funds and securities, enabling greater automation. For institutions and distributors, Tokenbridge’s model portfolio token design significantly reduces the volume, complexity, and cost of processes through several key features:

• Greater connectivity with model portfolio providers: providers of model portfolios can issue smart contracts via the blockchain that dynamically manage the rules and characteristics of their models enabling wealth managers and advisers to far better match suitable model portfolios to their clients’ desired investment outcomes.
• Greater connectivity between distributors and clients: distributors can execute their chosen model portfolio smart contract, creating a ‘personalized’ token on behalf of clients.
• Constant portfolio evaluation: Tokenbridge’s infrastructure allows for the evaluation of the client’s portfolio against the selected model by comparing the issuer’s smart contract with the fund tokens (and untokenized units) in the consumer’s portfolio so that rebalancing of the underlying (for example, for drift) is instantly reflected in the client’s portfolio.

For investors, tokenized model portfolio functionality offers greater flexibility to choose or switch model portfolios and paves the way for ‘hyper-personalization’, ensuring that their portfolios accurately reflect their investment preferences in both the tokenized and TradFi (untokenized underlying funds and securities) ecosystems. This is achieved by automating the acquisition of fund tokens (and untokenized units) to match the composition of their desired, customized model portfolio.

Stephen Ashurst, CEO of Tokenbridge, said: “The fund ecosystem is ripe for modernization. Model portfolios are hugely popular and growing fast globally and for good reason as they provide investors with access to sophisticated diversified portfolios underlying constructed by experts. The historic complexity and expense of connecting such a broad ecosystem – from fund managers to model providers to distributors and investors – is vastly simplified with the intelligent use of fund tokens and smart contracts.

“Tokenbridge’s model portfolio infrastructure is designed to facilitate this change – giving broader access and a simpler, more effective and more personalized experience to the next generation of investors. As tokenization gathers pace, for wealth managers and advisors, our technology means that client portfolios can be easily linked to popular retail models and any changes to those models will be instantly reflected in the client’s portfolios. A tokenized funds ecosystem represents a natural next step for the industry, vastly improving current processes, benefiting participants across the ecosystem, and aligning with regulators concerned about access to advice and investor outcomes. Our model portfolio token design ensures that TradFi assets are also connected to the distributed ledger world, offering advisers and their clients the best cost advantages of today with their brand-name favourites”.

This announcement follows Tokenbridge's full platform launch in late 2023, as well as the addition of several senior advisors to its advisory board.

WiseAlpha, the first company to invent fractional bonds, has announced a new wealth management portal and white-label solution, making it easier than ever for wealth managers to give clients access to fractional bonds. 

Corporate Bonds can give predictable income and equity-like returns without the same level of volatility. Before WiseAlpha, it was almost impossible for individual investors to access the bond market in any meaningful way despite the government and corporate debt securities market being valued at nearly €128 trn by the ICMA. Every investment required a  huge amount of complex paperwork and a minimum investment of £100,000 turning into a  predominantly institutional market.  

WiseAlpha’s proprietary tech platform made the whole process easy, and its Fractional  Bond product reduces the minimum investment to just £100 so that individual investors can easily buy the bonds of FTSE companies such as Ocado, Marks & Spencer or foreign corporations like Apple. 

The new B2B2C Solutions service for institutional clients takes the Fractional Bond product to the next level. It is now easy for Wealth Managers, banks, or brokers, to partner with  WiseAlpha and make Fractional Bonds available to their clients. This can be done using the  WiseAlpha interface, or they can provide a white-label solution so that partners can present the portal with their branding.

WiseAlpha has already partnered with a leading wealth management company and a bank,  details of which will be announced soon.  

WiseAlpha believes there will be huge growth in this area over the coming years. Over £100  million of volume has already been traded by individual investors on the WiseAlpha platform which will rise exponentially as it expands through institutional partnerships. 

WiseAlpha’s latest fundraising round was oversubscribed shortly after launch. It represents the next step for a company dedicated to the democratic revolution in the corporate bond arena by giving those same private investors exposure to its growth. 

Rezaah Ahmad, Founder & Executive Director, said today, “Our purpose is the democratization of the corporate bond market. The FCA recently expressed a desire to widen its participation in this market. At WiseAlpha, we were ahead of the curve, making it easy and affordable for individual investors. Our new partnerships with wealth  managers and banks will broaden access further, and we will be there for investors every  step of the way.” 

Sunbit, the company building financial technology for everyday expenses, announced today that it closed a $310 million debt warehouse facility led by Citi and Ares Management Credit funds. Established in 2016 to transform how consumers access, use, and benefit from credit, Sunbit will leverage the funds to meet ever-increasing consumer demand for the company’s market-dominant Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solution and the next-gen, no-fee Sunbit Card.

Arad Levertov, CEO of Sunbit, said, “Today, millions of people choose Sunbit to manage their everyday needs and so much more. By offering virtually everyone a more transparent and fair alternative to what is currently in their wallet, we attract customers for life. We take this trust seriously. Regardless of what markets we enter or what products we offer, every major decision will be tested against what matters most: how many customers we’re reaching, whether they come back to Sunbit, and how their experiences were. We thank Citi and Ares for their support in arranging this facility.”

Jeffrey Kramer, Partner in the Ares Credit Group, commented, “We are excited to be partnering with the Sunbit management team as they continue to grow their technology-driven consumer finance platform. This transaction is another example of Ares’ ability to provide a scaled and flexible financing solution to help a company such as Sunbit achieve its strategic objectives.”

Repeatedly recognized for sustained and rapid business growth, Sunbit’s commitment to offering consumers access to best-in-class inclusive and personalized financing choices remains steady with an average 90% approval rate, without charging fees of any kind. As of the end of 2023, Sunbit supported over 2.6 million loan customers with over $1 billion per year in merchant transaction volume.

Sunbit is the leader in BNPL financing in the automotive services sector, serving customers of approximately 40% of the franchise dealerships in the U.S. 1, and is one of the fastest-growing companies serving the dental market2. In addition, Sunbit’s BNPL financing technology has been directly integrated into more than 15 SaaS vertical platforms, extending adoption and accessibility.

Consumers consistently select Sunbit BNPL technology when given the choice, and more than 1 in 3 become repeat customers.

By late 2023, the invite-only, next-gen, no-fee Sunbit Card was used for nearly $340 million in purchases by more than 110,000 consumers in 12 months and experienced high customer engagement.

James Paris, Chief Capital Officer of Sunbit, said, “This facility from Citi and Ares is a testament to our strong underwriting and financial performance, especially over the past several years, as well as our outstanding and unwavering focus. Even with ongoing macro headwinds and caution prevalent in the capital markets, it is exciting to see the consistent execution and strong momentum here at Sunbit, today and beyond.”

Kriya, the B2B payments fintech, today announces that it has secured a new £50 million debt facility from a long-standing debt partner, Viola Credit. This will allow the fintech to power over £1 billion of B2B Payments over the next 24 months.

With this facility, Kriya intends to double down on its PayNow and PayLater embedded credit and payment offerings for B2B retailers and marketplaces. The new funding allows Kriya to power online checkouts and offline orders, offering features like Pay in 30 or 60 days, or split payments over several months. By smoothening the check-out process Kriya can help large merchants attract and retain business customers, powering larger sales baskets and helping end buyers (including sole traders) with their cash flow.

Beyond the ability to scale payment volumes and support more merchants in the UK, the facility will allow Kriya to support exporters who do business in 45 supported markets in multiple different currencies, including GBP, USD, and EUR.

Anil Stocker, CEO at Kriya, commented:

‍“We’re seeing big changes in how forward-looking merchants think about their B2B sales journeys from marketing to and onboarding new types of buyers through new channels, to smoothing the checkout process by offering different payment options and PayLater features that help their buyer’s cashflow.  
‍
Kriya has delivered in the business payment and credit market for over 12 years, processing billions of payment volumes and striking partnerships with institutions such as Barclays UK and the British Business Bank. Kriya has the technology, product and operational expertise to take advantage of the digitisation of business transactions, while being a stable and scalable partner to mid-market and enterprise merchants.  

This new facility is an exciting validation of how we are now integrating and embedding financial tooling into larger merchants, making financial operations smooth so they can focus on their core business and drive sales growth.”

Ido Vigdor, General Partner at Viola Credit, commented:

“Over the last 12 years Kriya has successfully supported businesses by delivering products like B2B invoice finance, business loans and credit lines. This new evolution of offering embedded B2B Payments to merchants allows them to reach even more small businesses by removing fiction in the purchasing process. We’re happy to continue and deepen our relationship with Kriya with this additional financing capacity as they scale their B2B embedded financing product.”

Incognia, the innovator in location identity solutions, is announcing it has closed $31MM in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from FJ Labs and existing investors, including Point72 Ventures, Prosus, and Valor Capital. The financing will support Incognia’s continued development of cutting-edge digital identity signals, along with the company’s presence in North America, Europe, and EMEA, as well as its expansion into new verticals, including consumer internet, financial services, and eCommerce.

“This funding from Bessemer is further recognition of our innovative approach, and their support of Incognia is particularly significant given Bessemer's expertise in the fraud prevention industry", said André Ferraz, co-founder and CEO of Incognia. “Bessemer has a strong track record of supporting game-changing SaaS solutions from companies like Twilio, Shopify, Toast, and Auth0, and we’re thrilled to be listed among these trailblazers in tech. This financing will allow us to deepen our product capabilities to stay at the forefront of fraud prevention and meet the growing market demand for a transparent solution capable of solving complex identity challenges.”

Incognia’s cutting-edge technology combines device fingerprinting and exact location intelligence data into one flexible risk signal that can be customized for every stage of the user journey. Since Incognia's last funding in June 2022, the company has achieved remarkable success, including tripling revenue, realizing 200% net revenue retention, and converting 100% of trials. Incognia has delivered six times the return on investment to its clients while saving them millions of dollars per contract on average.

"Incognia is quickly emerging as a market leader addressing fraud across a variety of customer segments, which is critical in today’s environment as fraudsters become increasingly sophisticated thanks to recent GenAI breakthroughs and the global proliferation of real-time payments," said Charles Birnbaum, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “After years of development, André and the Incognia team have unlocked the power of highly precise location awareness coupled with best-in-class device fingerprinting to generate fraud prevention signals, unlike any other vendor in the market. We've been following the company for some time and are truly impressed by the team’s progress and customer impact, and we look forward to seeing them roll out their fraud prevention solutions globally.”

Incognia’s technology includes device tamper detection with advanced location spoofing prevention, tamper-proof location verification for user identification, and phishing-resistant and frictionless account security. Used individually or in combination, these features drive results, including an 80% reduction in account takeovers, a 51% reduction in fake account creation, and an 84% reduction in new user abandonment.

“While distinguishing between good and bad actors online will always be a challenge, we are focused on helping companies better address it with an identity signal that accurately recognizes users across devices with zero friction,” added Ferraz.

Incognia has a dedicated team across four offices worldwide, including San Jose, CA; New York, NY; São Paulo, Brazil; and Recife, Brazil. The company empowers safe digital experiences for global consumer internet companies in the gig economy, marketplace, and financial services industries by combining unparalleled security, privacy, and convenience.