Fintech Surge 2022, the MENA region’s leading finance and innovation conference, is set to return to the Dubai World Trade Centre from 10^th- 13^th October 2022.

An integral part of GITEX Global 2022, the world’s biggest tech and startup event of the year featuring over 4,500 tech and digital companies from 170 countries, the four-day event is poised to be the premier hub for Fintech entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, regulators, and will accelerate the growth of PayTech, WealthTech, InsurTech, and RegTech in the MENA region.

Fintech Surge 2022 comes at an opportune time for the MENA region’s Fintech development; the UAE is currently home to 24% of all Fintechs in the region, with Fintechs accounting for 41% of the MENA region’s $864 million startup funding in the first quarter of 2021. The platform will see some of the world’s most innovative companies and industry players including Fintech innovators, thought leaders and VCs gather at Dubai’s flagship industry event.

The Summit is set to provide a major international meeting point for the Fintech investor community, welcoming more than 600 investors, and offering finance innovators an unrivalled opportunity to accelerate their growth. Day four of the Summit will play host to the North Star Dubai Supernova Challenge, the biggest pitch competition in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, offering startups the opportunity to pitch to an audience of global investors and earn potentially transformative capital.

Leading Fintech innovators including Mastercard, Mashreq, TAP, Geidea, Telr, Refinitiv and RASAN are all set to exhibit at the Summit.

As part of its industry-leading conference programme, Fintech Surge will host the Digital Finance Summit, the CX Forum, which will explore the future of customer experience, as well as expert-led workshops on opportunities in Web3, the metaverse and ESG initiatives.

Fintech Surge 2022 has enlisted over 100 distinguished speakers from global regulators, financial institutions and unicorns who will give path-breaking talks on redefining Fintech strategy in the region. Top speakers include Renier Lemmens, Group CEO, Geidea; Amnah Ajmal, Executive Vice President, Market Development, EEMEA, Mastercard; Arik Shtilman, CEO & Co-Founder, Rapyd and Rushikant Shastri, VP Technology, State Bank of India.

To get the full agenda of Fintech Surge as well as registration details, please visit the Fintech Surge 2022 website.

Consumer data provider Equifax Canada has been confirmed as the headline partner of Open Banking Expo Canada for a fourth consecutive year.

Open Banking Expo Canada is the annual flagship event hosted by Open Banking Expo, the leading global community of Open Banking and Open Finance executives responsible for digital transformation across financial services and beyond.

With Finance Canada’s Open Banking lead Abraham Tachjian giving a special keynote, this year’s face-to-face event will provide an opportunity for more than 300 delegates to discuss how a “made-in-Canada” Open Banking roadmap and the approach to its implementation have been shaped.

More than 50 industry-leading experts and pioneers from across the breadth of the ecosystem will help dig deep into some of the most pertinent questions for Canada. Speakers include:

Banks

• Gillian Riley, President and CEO, Tangerine Bank
• Stephane Bousquet, Open Banking Leader, National Bank of Canada
• Cathy Ly, Chief Innovation Officer, EQ Bank
• Chris Sweetland, SVP, Payments Strategy and Transformation, CIBC
• Shekher Puri, VP, Digital Components and Platforms, RBC
• Franklin Garrigues, AVP Open Banking, TD Bank

Financial services providers and fintechs

• Dianne Cupples, CEO, Portfolio+
• Frederick Lavoie, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Flinks
• Eytan Bensoussan, CEO, NorthOne
• Eyal Sivan, Head of Open Banking, Axway
• Roy Kao, Practice Lead, Financial Services Innovation, CGI
• Saba Shariff, Head of New Product Development & Corporate Strategy, Symcor

Policymakers and industry bodies

• Colin Deacon, Senator, Senate of Canada
• Keith Jansa, CIO Strategy Council
• Patrick Barr, Programme Director, Large Credit Union Coalition

The delegates will also hear the latest success stories from international trailblazers, including from the UK’s Open Banking Implementation Entity’s Ecosystem Development Director David Beardmore, who will be sharing about the UK Open Banking journey to date.

View the full list of speakers.

As part of this year’s rich agenda, delegates will also explore:

• Whether Open Banking is Canada’s lifetime opportunity or not
• What key pillars of Open Banking look like
• How to build a strategy that delivers for both your customers and bottom line
• Data security and safeguarding
• Why hyper-personalization is key for small and medium-sized businesses.

And much more. View all conference themes.

Sue Hutchison, president of Equifax Canada, said, “We are proud to partner with Open Banking Expo for the fourth year in a row. The Expo has proved to be a powerful platform for industry engagement, insight exchange and proactive input into the future of Open Banking in Canada. We look forward to being a leader in the shift to Open Banking, leveraging our global experience in this environment, and helping give Canadian consumers and businesses greater control to gain improved access to financial services.”

Adam Cox, co-founder of Open Banking Expo, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have Equifax Canada as our headline partner for the fourth consecutive year.

“With a new Open Banking lead in place, the time is now for Canada’s Open Banking and Open Finance ecosystem to deliver change, choice and value for Canadian consumers and businesses. The team and I are hugely proud and excited to be working with Equifax Canada and playing a part in building Canada’s financial ecosystem of tomorrow, today.”

This year’s Open Banking Expo Canada will take place on November 17 in Toronto. It comes almost a year since the release of the final report by the Canadian Government’s Advisory Committee on Open Banking and will bring together C-level and senior-level delegates from across Canada’s financial services sector.

The Open Banking Expo Canada will take place in Toronto on Thursday, November 17.

OKX, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, today announced the launch of OKX Lite, a simplified version of its trading app that makes it easy for users to buy, sell, swap and put their crypto to work.

With a more streamlined look and feel than the version aimed at experienced traders, OKX Lite aims to meet the expectations of HODLers and those new to trading by offering streamlined access to the features that matter most. These include:

• Buying, selling and swapping with just a few taps
• Making on and off-chain transfers (sending and receiving)
• Staking crypto to earn on assets
• The ability to monitor market movements while on the go
• Access to the $10,000 Mystery Box referral program

The launch of OKX Lite comes in the immediate wake of the company launching its first global brand campaign, entitled “What is OKX?”. The launch of the campaign signalled the exchange announcing itself to the world, while OKX’s partnerships with prominent sports and entertainment institutions like Manchester City FC, McLaren Formula 1 and the Tribeca Festival have introduced both OKX and the world of crypto trading to a whole new audience. OKX Lite affords these users a safer and simpler entry into the world of crypto trading, helping them avoid getting out of their depth as they enter the space.

With its launch of OKX Lite, OKX is also furthering its commitment to promoting responsible trading, broadening access to crypto and removing barriers to financial freedom. As users of OKX Lite gradually develop their crypto trading expertise, the OKX app will allow them to grow in the way they interact with it, eventually allowing them to utilize it like an experienced crypto trader.

Haider Rafique, Global Chief Marketing Officer, OKX, said: “OKX Lite is our way to give traders and investors the easiest and most enjoyable way to plan, build and manage a crypto portfolio. When you look at our new UI, it may remind you of your traditional brokerage app, with upgrades that really enhance the day-to-day crypto experience. The ability to transition smoothly between Lite, Pro, and Wallet mode is designed very intentionally. We hope our customers not only enjoy the sleek new UI, but that this upgrade helps them smoothly transition between these three modes, which have been introduced very deliberately."

Those who join OKX now can also invite their friends to win Mystery Boxes worth up to $10,000.

Minima, the first cooperative, ultra-lean, blockchain network that enables anyone to run a complete node on a mobile or IoT device, in conjunction with EdenBase, a hub and ecosystem offering a framework for growth for disruptors, has announced the 2022 winners of its inaugural Minima Innovation Challenge (MIC) to encourage developers to build applications on Minima over its core offering.

The Minima Innovation Challenge 2022 winners announced are:

1.       Team Stampd, led by William Montgomery: A Peer-2-Peer platform for the resale/used goods market, with a searchable and viewable NFT of the product and its information history.

2.       Team Minipay, led by Michal Borowiecki: Contactless payments connected to Minima wallet, using NFC and QR codes.

3.       Team MDAE, led by Josep Escofet: Decentralized advertising ecosystem that rewards customers for loyalty and viewings.

Minima worked with Edenbase to lay down the challenge for creators to think of applications ‘outside-the-box’ to extend the type of applications that Minima can run. Selected from applications from over 20 countries, [and with over 40 applications], the three teams were crowned joint winners with each team receiving $20,000 in Minima tokens. The winning teams will now work alongside Minima and Edenbase to help them take their ideas forward into reality.

The winners were chosen from ten finalists who initially completed the Ideation Phase. The Minima Innovation Challenge consisted of two stages - the Ideation Phase and the Coding Phase - which saw the teams build their solutions and provide a Proof of Concept (PoC).

Minima’s Head of Partnerships, Adam Feiler, as part of the judging committee, said: “The quality of applications from all the ten finalists was astonishing. They worked very hard and all delivered high-quality submissions. We were impressed by the range of applications. The three winners had excelled in developing applications, MiniDapps, running on Minima which interacted with the core technology and utilise unique properties of Minima’s blockchain.  The apps that were developed bring utility and real-world value which will encourage further adoption of Minima for daily use.”

Winner, William Montgomery, from team Stampd, commented, “It’s incredibly exciting. I feel very lucky to have won. I've just been speaking to one of the other 10 finalists that were part of the competition. I love his idea as well. For me, it's been really fun. I'd like to highlight that this is a team effort -  I've got my team members, Raz and Joel, to thank for the design and bouncing ideas off and Joel worked on the development of our entry.”

Minima CEO and Co-Founder, Hugo Feiler, said: “Everyone at Minima has been genuinely impressed with the ideas and development of the concept that the winners have displayed in their projects and creation of their demo apps. What we have seen over the past few months is the Minima protocol in practice and how it will change our daily lives, giving everyone more freedom with absolute security.”

Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company, today announced Google Pay, a mobile payment service, developed by Google, as a payment method on Flutterwave. As part of this collaboration, Google Pay will serve as an additional payment option for merchants on Flutterwave for business. This collaboration will offer safe and seamless payments, as well as convenient checkout experiences for customers.

Google Pay is a safe, simple, and helpful way to make contactless payments in-store, and also payments in apps and on the web. Users store their cards for Google Pay in Google Wallet, a digital wallet app that is available on supported Android smartphones, tablets or watches.

With this collaboration, Google Pay users in supported countries across the world can pay businesses on Flutterwave across Africa. With an average transaction completion time of 3 minutes, this integration is slated to reduce the cart abandonment rate for businesses on Flutterwave.

How it Works

1. Get on a Flutterwave-supported website
2. Select what you want to pay for
3. Fill out the order form
4. Select Pay with Google Pay as your payment method
5.  Complete the payment with your Google Pay details.

To get paid via Google Pay, Flutterwave merchants must manually opt-in on their dashboard.

Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, said, “The continued and rapid growth of Flutterwave is due to our commitment to building a platform with simplified payments for everyone. The GooglePay payment option will attract more international customers and increase the current success rates for businesses on Flutterwave. Integrating with Google pay will allow users across the globe to participate in the booming e-commerce ecosystem in Africa. It will enable us to further fulfil our promise of creating endless possibilities for all”.

Payments fintech Instapay Technologies Sdn Bhd, an E-wallet and Mastercard issuer, today announced that it has raised USD 4.75 million (MYR 21.5 million) in Series A funding round. This round is led by Daiwa ACA APAC Growth I, a growth capital fund managed by ACA Investments, an investment management firm backed by Daiwa Securities Group, that focuses on companies in the growth stage in Southeast Asia, with participation from Spiral Ventures Asia Fund I, an early stage and digital tech focus venture capital fund managed by Spiral Ventures Pte. Ltd., and existing investors of Instapay.TOP2, a Singapore-based corporate finance advisory firm advised Instapay on this fundraise.

Instapay Technologies, started its market operations in Malaysia about two years ago as a banking alternative for low-income workers, providing e-wallets and Mastercard to unbanked migrant workers as a Payroll Solution. Founded with a vision to provide financial inclusion to the underserved customer segments, Instapay has grown rapidly and today services hundreds of corporates for payroll accounts for their migrant workers as well as a large base of retail customers. It enables corporates to pay salaries digitally to their workers’ Instapay e-wallet. Instapay has seen rapid customer adoption in its target segment and continues to be among the highest-rated e-wallet apps in Malaysia.

Instapay e-wallet enables workers to do digital cross-border remittance, bill payments, mobile top-ups etc. Instapay Mastercard is accepted globally at millions of Mastercard merchants and can be used for purchases as well as for ATM cash withdrawals. 

Rajnish Kumar, Co-founder and CEO, Instapay Technologies said, “We are delighted and honoured with the trust placed in us by our new and existing shareholders. We founded Instapay to better serve unbanked migrant workers and the companies that employ them, and we are glad that in our new investors we have found a common match for this mission. The new funding will enable us to further enhance our technology platforms and introduce innovative product features that we believe will be very useful for our customers. It will also enable us to geographically expand into new markets in South East Asia and the Middle East.” 

“Our investment in Instapay reflects our view that digital financial inclusion will grow exponentially over the next decade, especially in markets that have large unbanked foreign workers. We see corporates wanting to stop cash salary payments and move to digit salary payments that are transparent and compliant with local regulations. We believe that Instapay has the right technology platform, business model and the leadership team to emerge as a global market leader in this space.” – Hajime Adachi, Associate Partner of ACA Investments.

Commenting on the investment, Mr Ryusuke Hirota from Spiral Ventures said “We invest in startups in their early growth stage, who through their technology innovations are bringing a social change. We believe in the vision of Instapay to create a financially inclusive society where all workers have access to digital financial solutions.”

Capchase, a leading provider of non-dilutive financing to SaaS companies, has announced a partnership with Sastrify, the global automated SaaS procurement platform, to offer a “Save Now, Pay Later” program to high-growth customers.

This program will enable Sastrify's customers to extend their runways, cutting their SaaS and cloud costs by up to 30% in their yearly licenses, while maintaining flexible payment terms.

Through “Save Now, Pay Later”, Capchase finances SaaS subscriptions purchased through Sastrify, allowing companies to enjoy their yearly or multi-year licenses with a significant discount, while also deferring their payment to monthly or quarterly instalments thereby avoiding a large upfront investment. Sastrify’s ROI-positive guarantee means companies can invest in their growth while extending their runways with a low-risk financing solution.

With Sastrify, companies such as international grocery delivery provider, Gorillas, have saved over seven figures on their SaaS costs.

This partnership follows a series of recent announcements for Capchase. It secured $400m in debt financing in July and expanded its platform with the launch of Capchase Analytics, as well as agreed on partnerships with leading financial infrastructure platform Stripe and finance automation platform Ramp in the last two months. In 2022 already, Capchase expanded to the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Sweden and Denmark, and launched its new European headquarters in London.

Miguel Fernandez, Capchase CEO and co-Founder, said: “Our partnership with Sastrify is an important part of our mission to help innovative SaaS companies grow by using our non-dilutive financing options.”

“Alternative finance has a vital role to play in offering fast and flexible financing solutions that can support businesses, especially during difficult economic times. By working with Sastrify, we will be able to help many companies significantly reduce their SaaS and cloud costs and pay for those products on their terms. Not only will this enable them to extend their runways, it will support the wider SaaS industry by providing these startups with more financial certainty.”

Sven Lackinger, Sastrify’s CEO and co-Founder, said: “The current economic climate requires that cost-savings and efficiency are top of mind for everyone. Our partnership with Capchase reflects our dedication to ensuring that companies save time and money on their SaaS, freeing them up to run their businesses and grow faster.”