UK fintech start-up ZIPZERO has successfully raised over £1 million in seed funding.

ZIPZERO is a consumer app that allows users to receive cash rewards by sharing receipts from their everyday purchases, which are then used to pay household utility bills. Its mission is to improve the financial well-being of everyday consumers by enabling the transparent exchange and monetisation of individual shopping data.

It raised more than £1 million from a diverse pool of angel investors, one of which includes serial fintech investor and founder of ‘Global Processing Services’ Craig Dewar.  

ZIPZERO, which already has more than 100,000 users in the UK, will use the funding to grow its platform further, secure new partnerships with retailers and brands, and give consumers even greater value and autonomy over their personal shopping data.

More than 30,000 new users signed up to use the app in January 2023 alone, with consumers searching for ways to combat record-high energy bills and double-digit inflation. Many large retailers, including Asda, Boots, Ebay and Sainsbury’s, have partnered with ZIPZERO to support their customers, allowing them to earn cash towards the payment of their household bills each time they shop.

Mohsin Rashid, CEO of ZIPZERO, said: “Our funding success and recent growth underline how critical ZIPZERO’s proposition is as consumers struggle through the cost-of-living crisis. With £1 million and counting secured, investors have recognised the value ZIPZERO brings to consumers and retailers alike: our app offers a truly mass-market solution to rising costs and skyrocketing energy bills.

“Ultimately, our mission is to empower consumers. By delivering cash rewards every time they make a purchase with their favourite brands and retailers, we are allowing them to monetise their own shopping data, creating a fairer retail ecosystem.

“As a team, we recognise that our users rely on ZIPZERO to improve their financial well-being at this difficult time. With funding secured, 2023 will undoubtedly be an important and exciting year for us. We’re looking forward to accelerating our growth; entering new partnerships with retailers and brands; delivering a fairer, transparent exchange of consumer data; and helping more consumers gain cash rewards from their every shopping.”

Varo Bank, N.A., the first all-digital, nationally chartered consumer techbank in the U.S., announced the appointment of Wook Chung as Chief Product Officer.

Global Processing Services (“GPS”), a fast-growing next-gen global payments technology platform, today announced the appointment of Paulette Rowe, Shane Happach, and Lynn McCreary as independent Non-Executive Directors.

Paulette Rowe is one of the most influential women in payments, recognised by American Banker in its annual honours list for three consecutive years, and was formerly CEO of Paysafe’s Integrated and Ecommerce Solutions (IES) division. Paulette brings a wealth of experience across card-based and virtual wallet payment solutions. Prior to Paysafe, Paulette was Head of Payments and Financial Services Partnerships for Facebook and held senior roles in a variety of financial organisations over a 20-year period, including Barclaycard, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Tesco Bank, and GE Capital.

Shane Happach is an experienced global payments executive with strengths in enterprise sales and fintech-led disruption. Shane was recently named as CEO of Singapore-based fintech, Coda Payments. Prior to Coda, Shane was CEO of payments fintech Mollie for two years, and spent more than a decade at Worldpay, where he held a number of senior positions, including EVP, Head of Global Ecommerce and Chief Commercial Officer. Before Worldpay, he worked with GlobalCollect – acquired by Ingenico in 2014 – in business development roles across the Americas and EMEA.

Lynn McCreary brings over three decades of experience in legal, business and executive leadership roles to GPS, having worked at financial services and payments firm Fiserv for 11 years, serving as Chief Legal Officer since 2013. Her responsibilities at Fiserv included directing the firm’s global legal, ethical and compliance activities, as well as taking an active role in coordinating its M&A strategy. Prior to joining Fiserv, Lynn was an equity partner at Bryan Cave LLP, now Bryan Cave Lighton Paisner, where she represented the interests of financial services companies, insurance companies, retailers and others in a broad range of commercial disputes. Lynn is currently Chief Legal Officer of Sportradar.

Gene Lockhart, Chair of GPS:

“Paulette, Shane and Lynn bring a wealth of experience to our Board and will support our team to capitalise on the enormous potential for disruption in the issuer processing space. GPS is committed to investing for the long-term to support our clients in accelerating innovation, diversifying product capabilities and facilitating new payments programmes worldwide.” 

A new study from Juniper Research has found that the number of digital identity apps in use will exceed 4.1 billion globally by 2027; rising from 2.3 billion in 2023.

This represents a growth of 82% over the next four years. This increase will be driven by the use of government-backed digital identities to replace physical identity documents as a source of verification for third-party apps, such as banking and financial services. This will be critical, as businesses aim to reduce identity theft and meet increasingly stringent KYC (Know Your Customer) regulations.

Find out more about the new research: Digital Identity: Solutions Assessment, Regional Analysis & Market Forecasts 2023-2027

Verification Moves to Zero Trust

The research also identified a move away from reliance on passwords for identity verification, with these replaced by biometric verification and MFA (Multi-factor Authentication) under a zero-trust model, where identities are authenticated continuously. This approach is more resistant to traditional hacking methods, such as phishing; reducing the risk of data breaches.

Zero trust will be delivered via SSO (Single Sign On), which allows the user to access multiple accounts via a central, secured system. Critical to SSO is the use of mobile subscriber identity, with the number of mobile devices using their mobile number for SSO predicted to reach 2 billion in 2027; up from 922 million in 2023.

Research author Michael Greenwood explained: “Consumers are highly motivated by convenience; making a streamlining of user experience significant for attracting and retaining them. SSO can achieve this, whilst also appealing to security-conscious users.”

Identity Apps vs Digital Wallets

The primary competition for dedicated digital identity apps will come from digital wallets, which offer payment functionality alongside a digital identity capability. For instance, in some US states, digital driver’s licences held within Apple Wallets are fully recognised. However, these digital wallets will struggle to monetise identity in the same way as they have payments, due to competition from government-run schemes limiting adoption.

Digital Identity market research: https://www.juniperresearch.com/researchstore/fintech-payments/digital-identity-research-report

Western Union and Beforepay today announced a first-of-its-kind collaboration, allowing consumers to boost their cross-border money transfers by accessing reliable, ethical and affordable short-term lending.

Consumers can ‘Send Now, Pay Later’ by borrowing up to AUD 2000 through Beforepay’s wage-advance product on Western Union’s digital channels.

Exclusive insights from Western Union research show that as many as 44% of Australia’s consumers would like to have the choice to ‘Send Now, Pay Later’ when transferring money around the world. Today’s announcement means that consumers will be able to do just that. By accessing Beforepay’s wage-advance product through Western Union’s mobile app and website, customers will be able to increase how much they transfer. Registration to access the additional funds can be completed within minutes and once issued, can be repaid in multiple installments. International money transfers through Western Union can be sent to over 200 countries and territories.

“We are committed to supporting our customers and their communities by offering financial services that are accessible, ethical, and reliable,” said Gregory Laurent, Regional Vice President of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands at Western Union. “Western Union’s mission is to make financial services accessible to people everywhere. Our collaboration with Beforepay is another step towards achieving this mission - giving customers the opportunity to access additional funds as they send money to families and communities. We are excited about the positive impact it can have for consumers, as they proactively look for convenient options to meet their financial needs.”

Accessible financial services for all

Today’s announcement reinforces Western Union’s ‘Evolve 2025’ strategy to combine high-value, accessible retail and digital financial services. Beforepay’s wage-advance product is designed to give customers the opportunity to meet temporary cash-flow challenges. The average advance Beforepay offers to customers is approximately AUD$400. The full amount is repaid within an average of three to four weeks.

“We’re excited to collaborate with Western Union to support their customers with access to safe, affordable short-term lending,” said Beforepay CEO Jamie Twiss. “Beforepay and Western Union share a vision of providing inclusive financial services to aspiring consumers around the world.” 

Cybersecurity platform for SMEs CyberSmart has reportedly collected $15m for its Series B funding round.

The investment was led by European venture capital firm Oxx, according to a report from TechCrunch. Commitments also came from British Patient Capital, Legal & General Capital and Solano Partners.

Existing CyberSmart backers IQ Capital, Eos Venture Partners, Winton Ventures and Seedcamp also joined Series B.

With the capital, CyberSmart plans to develop its product and explore potential acquisitions. Additionally, the CyberTech company plans to expand its channel partners and customers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

UK-based CyberSmart is a cybersecurity platform aimed at SMEs. Users can instantly check their organisation’s security status and see where there is room for improvement. Its platform also boasts 24/7 cyber risk management, with the solution identifying risks and offering simple instructions to avoid them.

The solution also provides visibility into every device used by the company and offers training to educate staff on online safety.  

According to its website, the company is used by over 4,000 small businesses.

Oxx partner Phil Edmondson-Jones said, “SME’s are notoriously under-protected from the rising cyber threat, and existing cybersecurity and insurance propositions are neither fit for purpose nor affordable.

“We have spent a long time searching for the right business model that can enact a step-change in this important & enormous market. CyberSmart’s category leading SME security product; combined with its unique ability to collect ‘inside-out’ data on real-time risk indicators, will propel the business to become a core part of the infrastructure for cyber protection and insurance.”

As part of the deal, Edmondson-Jones will join the board of CyberSmart.

The company previously raised $10m in an oversubscribed Series A round in 2021. The capital, which was raised to foster its international expansion, was supplied by IQ Capital, Eos Venture Partners and Winton Ventures.

Noventiq, the global digital transformation and cybersecurity solutions and services provider, announces today that the acquisition of the majority stake of Saga Group has been closed.

In September 2022, Noventiq signed an agreement to acquire Saga Group. The transaction strengthens Noventiq's presence in Eastern Europe as well as opening other markets such as Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia.

With this acquisition, Noventiq customers now have access to Saga Group's own digital products, including its own IP for digital banking, Fintense created by Saga's subsidiary NF Innova, which is an omnichannel digital banking platform offering process automation, data management and personal advisory. Saga's other sophisticated IP platform, Weaver which is a mature AI-developed chatbot, and Selecta, which is a next-generation AI-empowered CRM platform are owned and created by Intellya, another subsidiary of Saga Group.

Saga Group, and all its subsidiaries, will continue to operate under its existing brand while incorporating the 'a Noventiq company' into its logo. The group, which will maintain its headquarters in Belgrade, will continue to be led by its current management team, and the President of Saga Supervisory Board, Dejan Popovic.

Now that the deal has been closed, the scope of support that Saga, and its subsidiaries, offers to its customers will expand thanks to Noventiq's global position. The company will gain more international exposure as well as access to Noventiq's expanded portfolio thanks to its global partner relationships which include vendors like Adobe, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Citrix, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft, among multiple others.

Herve Tessler, President and COO at Noventiq, says:

"The closing of this deal will strengthen Noventiq's footprint in the Eastern European region, which is a key strategic approach for our company in 2023. Saga's solutions offerings and sophisticated own IP will help Noventiq to grow our portfolio capabilities in the region and beyond."

Dejan Popovic, President of Saga Supervisory Board, said:

"I am very excited with the announcement of the closing of this deal because it implies that now Saga Group and its customers will benefit from Noventiq's strong connections and relationships at a global scale with top IT leaders such as AWS, Google, Microsoft, VMWare and many others. We are also very keen to work alongside their workforce of almost 5,900 employees all with extraordinary skills."

Revolut, the global financial super app with over 20 million retail customers, today launched Revolut Pay - a new secure online checkout feature which allows UK and EEA merchants to present ‘Revolut Pay’ as a payment method across product, cart, and checkout pages.

Revolut Pay aims to disrupt the payments ecosystem by making shopping online even easier as it facilitates direct payments, while providing best-in-class security for Revolut users: payments will be validated via secure features such as Face ID, or fingerprint unlock, and no account number will be shared. This in turn will help to prevent fraud and keep users’ funds safe while shopping.

Revolut Pay is a fast, frictionless and secure method to checkout online or on mobile. Consumers can pay with just one click and earn cashback on purchases as they spend. Existing Revolut users can use Revolut Pay and pay via saved cards or directly via their Revolut account balance. Non-Revolut users can pay just as easily by using saved Mastercard or Visa cards issued by any other providers.

Revolut Pay will solve problems for vendors as well as shoppers: online merchants lose up to 80% of their sales due to customers abandoning their shopping carts. Shoppers often cite long and confusing online checkout processes and limited choice of payment methods as reasons for leaving a website before they purchase. Revolut Pay will reduce cart abandonment with its fast and frictionless checkout.

Revolut Pay merchants can accept payments with low fees in more than 20 currencies. Revolut Pay follows the launch in July of Revolut Reader, a card reader payment terminal, as well as the launch of Revolut’s payment acceptance platform in 2020 for businesses to accept payments easily.

Since launching Revolut Business in 2017, Revolut has developed 20 products designed to empower businesses looking to increase conversions and more effectively manage finances. Revolut Pay is already being used by merchants including Shopify, Prestashop, WH Smith and Funky Pigeon, and will become available on more vendors in coming months, including Club L London and the flight booking company FlyGo.

Revolut Pay is powered entirely by Revolut’s payment technology and is a move towards building Revolut’s payments ecosystem, whereby Revolut enables transactions between retail and business customers. Revolut’s new direct payments solution will also deliver lower fees for its business customers.

Nikolay Storonsky, Founder & CEO of Revolut said: “With its speed, convenience, security and low pricing, Revolut Pay gives merchants a competitive advantage in a rapidly growing e-commerce market. At Revolut, we constantly strive to make it faster, easier and cheaper for merchants of all sizes to accept payments, wherever they are, and to make it more convenient and secure for customers to pay. That’s why we’re launching Revolut Pay.”

Revolut Pay features include:

• A new way to pay that’s fast and frictionless
• Best-in-class security, leveraging two-factor authentication when needed
• Low transaction fees with no hidden or monthly charges
• With Revolut Pay, funds will be settled directly into a merchant’s Revolut Business account within 24 hours at no extra cost (compared to businesses typically receiving funds settled to their account in up to seven days and having to pay for quicker funds arriving)
• SMEs can can add Revolut Pay to web and mobile checkout pages and be up-and-running in minutes via our easy-to-install plug-ins
• For larger businesses and start-ups, Revolut Pay has a set of easy-to-integrate plug-in API and SDKs (Software Development Kits) that allows enterprises to go live in a matter of days
• Option to incentivise customers with cashback on their purchases

Revolut Business is a borderless financial superapp for businesses - rapidly improving how start-ups, scale-ups, and large-scale businesses accept and make payments, control spending and empower their teams. Our mission is to help companies do business globally, from day one, from anywhere. Launched in 2017, today hundreds of thousands of businesses rely on Revolut Business as their platform for growth.