British business is bracing itself for a difficult year ahead, new research from Europe’s leading open banking platform, Tink, has revealed. In a recent survey of UK online retailers, half (50%) said they are worried about how their business will survive the next 12 months, with four in ten (41%) afraid of going bankrupt.

As consumers rein in spending, two-thirds (66%) of retailers are expecting to see, or are already seeing, more abandoned baskets – particularly at the point of payment (64%). Lower average order values (75%) and fewer repeat customers (67%) are also either expected or already being observed.

To adapt and survive, four in ten (40%) retailers have already or are considering cutting costs across the board – from reducing staff (49%) and training (55%) to advertising (52%), technology and online/website investments (48%). Services that customers have come to expect for free are also under threat – with over half of merchants having already stopped or are considering stopping free delivery (53%) and free returns (54%).

Top priorities for merchants looking to reduce payments related costs include reducing payment acceptance fees (44%), lowering costs associated with fraud (35%) and cutting refund costs (40%).

The payments paradox

Despite pressures to reduce overheads in the current economic environment, one in three (32%) retailers are actually investing more in upgrading their payment stack to reduce burdensome costs associated with their current payment methods.

This suggests that even during a recession, online retailers recognise that investment in innovative payment solutions will not only help them reduce costs, but also remove unnecessary friction for consumers at the point of payment.

This is particularly important as consumer spending power is squeezed ever tighter. A new consumer survey conducted by Tink shows that already, one in three (34%) consumers say they abandon their online purchases if they have to manually enter payment details or personal information at check-out – with third-party authentication websites a major point of frustration (46%).

Consumers are also actively looking for secure instant payment options, with 43% worrying about online payment fraud, and 47% reluctant to use buy now, pay later, as they are concerned about falling into debt.

Pay by Bank is a new technology that benefits merchants and consumers

The pressure is on to find payment solutions that are fast, frictionless and affordable – while also protecting from fraud. Pay by Bank, a payment alternative powered by open banking, offers a clear solution for both merchants and consumers.

For merchants, this instant payments method holds the key to lowering costs, reducing fraud and speeding up settlement times. For consumers, it provides a secure and frictionless payment experience.

Tom Pope, Head of Payments and Platforms at Tink, commented: “As the economic situation becomes increasingly challenging, it's important that retailers can not only manage and reduce their costs, but retain customers with services that better meet consumer needs.

“Against this backdrop of cutting costs across the board, it’s encouraging to see that retailers are investing in digital payment methods that help solve these issues. Low-cost, low-fraud and zero-friction payments improve the user experience and lead to fewer abandoned baskets, while the ability to settle payments instantly will be essential for businesses who find themselves struggling with cash flow as the recession bites.”

Moove, the world’s first mobility fintech and Uber’s largest vehicle supply partner in EMEA, is raising $30 million from a debut sukuk issuance arranged by Franklin Templeton Investments (ME) Ltd. in its mission to build the largest EV ride-hailing fleet in the MENA region.

The successful completion of this debut sukuk will allow Moove to tap into the wealth of Islamic investors who are particularly interested in environmentally and socially responsible investments and will undoubtedly open-up further avenues for the financing of Moove's ambitious expansion plans.

The issuance of the Shari'ah compliant notes or "sukuk" has been privately placed and structured as a sukuk al- istisna, a Shari'ah compliant contract for the order to manufacture EVs. Building on its successes, this financing is a milestone for Moove and testament to the strength of its business model and growth potential.

Ladi Delano, co-founder and co-CEO of Moove, said: “This financing is a milestone for Moove - our first sukuk issuance which showcases our growth and sustainability as a global company. Equally important is that this furthers our mission to build the biggest EV ride-hailing fleet in the region, to drive forward mobility electrification and enable cities to reach their net-zero targets.”

Moove will use the funds to scale to 2,000 EVs in the UAE over the coming year, creating sustainable economic opportunities, whilst accelerating the electrification of mobility and enhancing the ride-hailing passenger experience in the region. Moove estimates that this fleet of EVs will contribute to a reduction of over 5,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year to help cities like Dubai meet their ambitious Net Zero targets.

Mohieddine Kronfol, CIO, Global Sukuk and MENA Fixed Income, Franklin Templeton, said: "Franklin Templeton is pleased to lead this innovative Sukuk transaction that simultaneously complements our global sukuk and Sharia compliant private market strategies, while supporting the development of mobility and fintech ecosystems in the UAE initially, followed by more markets in the future. The transaction also further validates the opportunity we have been arguing exists in private credit across the region, combining attractive yields with security and credit control.

“We wish Moove's management team much success and look forward to seeing their cars on the road, as well as the social and environmental impact their business can have on our region."

Investing in EV infrastructure to drive sustainability

As part of its launch in the UAE, Moove will be rolling out its EV charging app, Moove Charge™. Having initially launched in London in August, Moove Charge is the first end-to-end charge experience and complete EV charging network app specifically for ride-hailing drivers.

It allows users to locate charge points, display charge points compatible with their vehicle, show charge point availability in real-time, filter by charge speed, start and stop charging and wallet functionality. With a commitment to ensuring that at least 60% of the vehicles Moove finances globally are EVs, the company is working with partners within the value chain across the MENA region to facilitate this transition in locations where charging infrastructure remains limited.

A year of significant growth in driving forward mobility electrification

Moove’s entry into UAE follows a year of significant growth and expansion for the firm. Moove launched in Europe for the first time in August when it launched a 100% EV rent-to-buy model in London. The company also launched in India and will launch 5,000 CNG and EVs across Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore in its first year to help create sustainable work opportunities in the developing economy.

Over the past two years, Moove has enabled sustainable job creation and a path to asset ownership with its customers having completed over 11 million trips in Moove-financed vehicles. This is down to Moove’s alternative credit scoring technology which unlocks access to vehicle financing for gig worker customers who may have previously been excluded from financial services.

The majority (56%) of UK investors who invest in venture capital plan to increase their VC allocation in 2023, one-in-five (20%) ‘significantly’ so, new research from Digital Horizon has found. Despite the current state of the market, against the background of plummeting valuations and ongoing political and economic uncertainty, the research suggests that optimism in the future of the start-up scene, and appetite for venture capital investing, both remain strong.

Digital Horizon, one of the fastest-growing European VC funds and venture builders, commissioned a survey of 250 UK-based investment decision-makers who invest in venture capital, to get an insight into the key issues, challenges and opportunities impacting them today. Three-in-five (62%) said they are going to increase their average VC investment cheque size next year, providing another positive growth signal. When describing how their portfolio is going to be structured, over half (54%) of respondents said it would be mostly early-stage. A further 18% said it would be multi-stage.

Top regions

Over a third (35%) of respondents plan to invest in the UK next year – second only to North America (44%) – a vote of confidence for the UK, despite the economic and political volatility it has endured in 2022. 30% are eyeing 2023 investment opportunities in the MENA region. Over a quarter chose Latin America (28%) and Europe (27%). 23% said they will invest in Asia, and 14% plan to invest in Israel.

Barriers and challenges

After a year marked by economic and political uncertainty, the survey also uncovered the relative impact of macro events on respondents’ investment strategies, ranked as follows:

1. Rising interest rates and inflation (61%)
2. Changes in tech companies’ valuations (58%)
3. The Government’s economic and political approach (56%)
4. Weak growth forecasts (45%)
5. Geopolitical turmoil (47%)

When asked about the factors that have the greatest impact on the attractiveness of the venture industry, a lack of transparency in valuations came out on top, chosen by 46% of respondents. Low asset liquidity ranked second, at 45%, and fees and commissions ranked third, at 44%. Performance closely followed, at 43%.

Portfolio strategy changes in 2023

Two-thirds (68%) of investors say that they are considering adding new investment managers/funds into their portfolio next year. Of those that said yes, 66% said that they would consider investing in emerging fund managers, increasing to 84% for brokers and 76% for institutional investors.

Looking at investors’ decision-making process when assessing new potential VC funds, investment stage emerged as the most influential factor, chosen by half (50%) of respondents, reflecting further signs of growth in early-stage investing. This was followed by the involvement of the fund team with the development of portfolio companies, at 45%. Two-in-five respondents consider geographical focus, brand recognition, and financial background of the General Partner or team, at 42% each. A third (32%) said that they are planning more co-investments with VC funds and the same proportion is looking at investments into fund of funds (32%).

Alan Vaskman, Founder and Managing Partner at Digital Horizon commented: “Against the backdrop of tumbling tech valuations, political upheaval, and an impending recession, it’s incredibly encouraging to see that institutional investors retain a strong appetite for venture capital.

“As we enter 2023, there is a clear desire among LPs to increase VC allocations and a demonstrated preference for early-stage investments, with the majority stating they envisage their portfolio being mostly early-stage next year.  Whilst the UK has faced an exceptionally challenging year, economically and politically, there’s a strong sense that optimism in the region remains.

“What’s clear is that LPs are adjusting their approach – eyeing new and emerging investment funds and managers, and considering more investments through SVPs, direct investments and secondaries. And it’s important that GPs adapt to these shifting preferences to stay ahead of the curve.”

Setpoint, the company building infrastructure for modern real estate transactions, today announced that it has closed a $43 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Henry Kravis (KKR), Spencer Rascoff (co-founder Zillow & 75andSunny), Fifth Wall, 645 Ventures, NextView Ventures, LiveOak Venture Partners, Vesta Ventures, ATX Venture Partners and Capital Factory. The company also announced that it is on track to power 25,000 home transactions this year and expects to power more than 100,000 in 2023 via SFR, iBuying, Power Buying, Fractional Ownership, Rent-to-Own, and other transactions that make buying, selling, and renting a home easier, faster, and more accessible.

Setpoint is building the next-gen infrastructure for real estate and asset-backed lending. The company's software makes warehouse transactions instant and error-free. Setpoint is the funding operating system for originators: it verifies and stores documents, automates interest rate calculations, and digitizes assets like homes or autos. The company aspires to make credit more widely available and the underlying assets and loans more liquid. 

"Behind many of life's most important transactions — buying or renting a home or starting a business — is a complex system of trust and credit. Each day, billions move between warehouse lenders like Goldman Sachs and companies like Flyhomes that originate loans. These warehouse transactions are powered by email, Excel, paper documents and software developed in the 1980s. In less than a year, Setpoint has made significant headway solving this problem within proptech, leading to tens of thousands of home sales, which we expect to more than quadruple in 2023," said Stuart Wall, CEO at Setpoint.

This new funding will allow Setpoint to invest in software engineering and develop critical tools for its customers on both sides of asset-backed transactions. Setpoint will continue to focus on relationships with borrowers and lenders to make transactions instant, automated, and error-free. The company also expects to expand outside of real estate by powering all asset-backed lending.

"We're thrilled to be partnering with the experienced team at Setpoint as they build critical software to power a more efficient asset-backed lending market," said David Haber, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. "While there's been much innovation and investment made upon improving the front-end of fintech transactions, behind-the-scenes capital market workflows are often a product of email, Excel, and FTP folders. I believe that Setpoint's Funding OS has the potential to significantly improve the efficiency of these transactions, resulting in lower cost for both borrowers and lenders."

"2023 is the perfect time to overhaul America's credit infrastructure. Near-zero interest rates during COVID helped consumers and businesses overcome high transaction costs but as rates rise, infrastructure and technology will be critical to ensuring trust and making credit available to PropTech companies and the people and businesses who need them," Wall added.

Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global provider of high-performance professional trading software, infrastructure and data solutions, last night captured the award for Derivatives Trading System of the Year at the FOW International Awards 2022. The honours, recognizing the “best and brightest innovations in the derivatives industry,” were bestowed last night in a ceremony at Global Investor Group’s Trading London event.

Trading Technologies CEO Keith Todd said: “We are thrilled to earn this prestigious recognition in a year of tremendous momentum for our company. This is a great tribute to our hard-working team that is laser-focused on delivering outstanding service and a broad range of fully integrated offerings within the TT platform to empower our clients with streamlined solutions throughout the trade execution cycle.”

Last December, TT was acquired by 7RIDGE, a specialized growth equity firm invested in transformative technologies, affirming its long-term independence and financial strength to significantly build on the TT platform through new strategic partnerships and acquisitions. Todd, who has more than 20 years of industry leadership in financial markets technology, was appointed CEO upon the closing of the transaction.

The judges for the awards said it has been “a very active and positive year for TT, with Keith Todd's leadership adding significant energy and progress. Used by the majority of professional traders globally, TT has been the market-leading derivatives trading system for several years. Combining execution with features like market surveillance makes it a premier tool to be used by the professional trading community.”

Key achievements this year have included:

• enhancing TT’s advanced execution algorithms with the March acquisition of RCM-X and the introduction of TT Premium Order Types;
• making a strategic investment in KRM22 and integrating the KRM22 Limits Manager and KRM22 Risk Manager pre-trade and post-trade risk tools into the TT platform;
• establishing a partnership with Talos, substantially broadening TT’s global cryptocurrency offering with expanded market access;
• and forging a new strategic partnership with ATEO Finance to deliver a fully integrated, comprehensive post-trade allocation service for sell-side banks, brokers and futures commission merchants (FCMs).

The TT platform was the first to leverage Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and a hybrid-cloud infrastructure to provide a streamlined, go-anywhere, high-performance experience for professional derivatives traders.

VizyPay, an industry-disrupting payment processing fintech company, today announces is was named a bronze winner in the Most Innovative Product of the Year for Small or Medium Business category in the 2022 Best in Biz Awards, the only independent business awards program judged each year by prominent editors and reporters from top-tier publications in North America. VizyPay earned this honour for its Cash Discount Program (CDP).

Focused on bringing robust yet simple payments processing technology to small businesses in rural areas traditionally underserved by industry giants, VizyPay’s CDP provides unlimited monthly credit card processing for a low month-to-month subscription. Additionally, CDP helps businesses build the cost of processing into their pricing, allowing them to offset up to 100% of processing fees and maintain the same profit margin on every sale regardless of payment type. To expand access to CDP, VizyPay launched its VizyPOS for PAX Smart Terminals and True Cash Discount App for Clover POS systems, allowing merchants to seamlessly incorporate CDP with just a tap of a button. To date, VizyPay’s CDP has saved small merchants more than $27 million total in fees, empowering entrepreneurs to invest more money back into their businesses.

“Our flagship Cash Discount Program continues to be on the cutting edge of innovation for small businesses even years after its debut. As VizyPay grows, expanding our reach across the Midwest and beyond, we are giving more entrepreneurs access to proprietary payments technology that simplifies their day-to-day life without costing an arm and a leg,” VizyPay CEO Austin Mac Nab said.

The 12th annual program saw fierce competition among more than 700 entries from public and private companies of all sizes and representing all industries and regions in the U.S. and Canada, ranging from some of the most iconic global brands to the most innovative start-ups and resilient local companies. This year’s judges highlighted the winning companies’ visionary leadership, innovative strides in the use of new technologies, laudable employee diversity and inclusion programs and workplace best practices, and many winners’ continued community involvement and monetary and time investments in their environment and corporate social responsibility programs.

Since the program’s inception in 2011, winners in Best in Biz Awards have been determined based on scoring from independent judging panels assembled each year from some of the most respected national and local newspapers, TV and radio outlets, business, consumer, technology and trade publications in North America. Thanks to the impressive diversity of represented outlets and the unparalleled experience and expertise of the editors and reporters serving as judges, Best in Biz Awards judging panels are uniquely suited to objectively determine the best of the best from among the hundreds of competitive entries. The 2022 judging panel included, among others, writers from AdWeek, Computerworld, Forbes, The Globe & Mail, Inc., The Oregonian and Portland Tribune.

“Best in Biz Awards showcase the best of the best in products and services for companies desperately needing solutions in our rapidly changing world, particularly with the substantial staffing shortages companies are experiencing globally,” said Rob Enderle, Unfiltered Opinion, having judged his first Best in Biz Awards. “The awards showcase an unbiased view of tools that could impact many struggling companies, particularly SMBs, which often lack the resources and dedicated IT personnel to flesh out critical options adequately.”

Best in Biz Awards 2022 honours were conferred in 100 different categories, including Company of the Year, Fastest-Growing Company, Most Innovative Company, Best Place to Work, Customer Service Department, Executive of the Year, Marketing Executive, Most Innovative Service, Enterprise Product, Best New Product, App, CSR Program, Environmental Program, Website and Film/Video of the Year. For a full list of gold, silver and bronze winners in Best in Biz Awards 2022, visit: http://www.bestinbizawards.com/2022-winners.

VizyPay’s proprietary payments technology is available for Clover POS systems and PAX SmartTerminals.

In an exclusive interview with Finbold, Justas Paulius, the CEO of crypto payment processor firm CoinGate, stated that despite the prevailing market downturn, the rate of leveraging digital assets for payments remains unmoved.

According to the executive, the crypto winter has impacted shopping behaviour as the sector continues to be influenced by factors like regulations.

In this case, Paulius welcomed the tightening of regulations noting that it builds trust between clients and the cryptocurrency industry.

Managing the prevailing crypto winter

However, he pointed out that with most cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin (BTC), significantly correcting, holders of digital assets have been shifting to stablecoins as part of dealing with market volatility. According to Paulius:

"That being said, there were a few different insights during this year - despite the crypto market shrinking by more than half, people didn't really reduce the frequency of their purchases. However, they have shifted a bit from free-float coins to stablecoins."

Furthermore, Paulius highlighted some of the drivers that can foster mass adoption of cryptocurrencies noting that there is progress in using digital assets on a large scale. The executive noted that:

"The growing interest in crypto from businesses is only one of the indicators that the industry is maturing. The formation of supporting industries, increased public awareness and understanding of how crypto is utilized, and other factors also show that the industry is maturing. Step-by-step, but we are getting there."

With the cryptocurrency market losing a significant share of its valuation in 2022, the CoinGate CEO warned against focusing on the price of specific digital assets. He noted that there is a need for leveraging the underlying cryptocurrency technology to offer solutions and improve client experiences.

Read the full interview here: https://finbold.com/exclusive-coingate-ceo-interview/

Dreamdata has successfully secured €6M in a Series A round led by signals Venture Capital with participation from existing investors InReach Ventures, Crowberry Capital, Seedcamp, Futuristic.vc, and Preseed Ventures. 

The funding will allow Dreamdata to continue to accelerate its product offerings giving B2B companies state-of-the-art insights on how they produce their revenue. In addition, Dreamdata launched a B2B alternative to Google Analytics called Digital Analytics. 

This new product release is very timely as EU regulators draw increasing focus on data privacy compliance. Recent examples of this development have seen EU-based companies having to consider alternative EU-centric web-tracking vendors in order to stay compliant. 

“This rise of privacy concerns amongst institutions like the EU and businesses, in general, represent a massive business potential for new vendors. With this new product, we want to be the B2B alternative to Google Analytics” Says Lars Grønnegaard , CEO at Dreamdata. 

B2B companies with their long and complex buyer journeys notoriously struggle to allocate resources effectively and do predictable growth. 

“A main reason for B2B’s struggle is because core contextual elements of doing B2B have been ignored by existing software vendors. A tool like the widely adopted Google Analytics is just not capable of describing B2B Customer Journeys.” comments CEO of Dreamdata, Lars Grønnegaard.

And he continues: “We’ve helped our customers improve anywhere from 28% to 69% of their B2B ad spend. This improvement stems from them having a radical new transparency into their customer journeys allowing them to shift their marketing investments away from campaigns that never impact revenue. The potential for improvements and growth is staggering.” 

Since raising their Seed round in the summer of 2020, Dreamdata has gone on to build a best-in-class B2B revenue attribution platform and are now adding a B2B alternative to Google Analytics to their offering. 

“B2B companies have a multitude of departments, teams, and data silos, each representing different parts of the truth,” CEO Lars Grønnegaard continues. “Dreamdata is here to help unify, clean, and sort all this data and help our customers grow.” 

Marcus Polke, Partner at signals Venture Capital: “Investing in Dreamdata was an easy choice to make. The B2B Revenue Attribution Platform category is in its infancy, and we believe that Dreamdata has the potential to be the global category leader.”