In a harbinger of hard times to come for financial technology fundraising, fintech cheerleader SoftBank has posted a record loss at its Vision Fund investment arm amid a rash of downgrades among its portfolio companies.

• 08.08.2022 -- 12:06 pm

Amon Ghaiumy is CEO and Co-founder of Ophelos, a technology firm helping businesses and their customers to resolve debt with a fairer, more manageable approach. Founded in July 2021, Ophelos is committed to creating a better debt resolution process through customer-centric product development and machine learning technology.

Backbase is proud to announce that the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform is now listed in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, online store providing applications and services for use on Azure. Backbase customers can take advantage of the productive and trusted Azure cloud platform, with streamlined deployment and management.

After launching a global collaboration with Microsoft in November 2021 to re-architect banking around the customer, integrating its Engagement Banking Platform with Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services, this listing is the next exciting step in bringing customer-first banking to more financial institutions and Azure customers.

Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services is an industry-specific, integrated set of cloud solutions, with the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform serving in the engagement layer and fully using Azure’s underlying capabilities. Backbase offers out-of-the-box customer journeys as well as an engine room of capabilities to empower banks to build differentiated offerings. Banks can also leverage Backbase’s integration with leading core banking providers and best-of-breed fintech fulfilment partners through the Backbase Marketplace.

Microsoft then adds the powerful cloud-based infrastructure layer while facilitating security, compliance and interoperability, allowing banks and credit unions to move quickly and embrace an end-to-end cloud-based operating model.

“This is an exciting next step in Backbase and Microsoft’s collaboration,” said Jouk Pleiter, Backbase Founder and CEO. “With Microsoft as the cloud platform of choice, we’re making it easier for banks and credit unions to select the Engagement Banking Platform in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, enhancing the benefit of all new Backbase and existing Microsoft customers.”

“Through Microsoft Azure Marketplace, customers around the world can easily find, buy, and deploy partner solutions they can trust, all certified and optimized to run on Azure,” said Jake Zborowski, General Manager, Microsoft Azure Platform at Microsoft Corp. “We’re happy to welcome the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform to the growing Azure Marketplace ecosystem.”

Crypto.com, the world’s fastest growing cryptocurrency platform, announced today it has secured Electronic Financial Transaction Act and Virtual Asset Service Provider registration by acquiring payment service provider ‘PnLink Co., Ltd.’ and virtual asset service provider ‘OK-BIT Co., Ltd.’.

“This is an exciting next step for Crypto.com in an important market,” said Kris Marszalek, Co-Founder and CEO of Crypto.com. “We are committed to working with regulators to continue to bring our products and services to market, particularly in countries like South Korea where consumers have shown strong interest and adoption of digital currencies.”

“We believe our services can not only help further evolve and empower commerce in Korea but also support the greater creation and development of our Web3 ecosystem,” said Patrick Yoon, General Manager, South Korea of Crypto.com. “Korea is a tremendously important market for Crypto.com in advancing blockchain technology.”

Geopagos, the payment acceptance infrastructure with the most comprehensive omnichannel offering in Latin America, has announced that it has received a $35 million equity round led by Riverwood Capital, a global investor in high-growth technology companies, with participation in Endeavor Catalyst. The round represents the company’s first institutional financing and will facilitate the acceleration of its expansion plan in Latin America while increasing investments in its technological infrastructure.

Geopagos provides an infrastructure through which it develops end-to-end digital solutions for large financial institutions, fintechs, retailers and software companies, among others, that want to launch or scale their payment acceptance business in the region. The company was founded in 2013 by Sebastián Núñez Castro, Julián Lisenberg, Fernando Tauscher, Raúl Oyarzun and Damián Harburguer. As part of this investment, Alex Porto of Riverwood joins the Geopagos Board of Directors.

With a presence in 15 countries in Latin America, Geopagos’ infrastructure processes more than 150 million transactions and more than USD 5 billion in volume processed annually. Its main clients include companies such as Santander, BBVA, Itaú, Fiserv, Bac Credomatic, Niubiz, Banco Estado de Chile, among others.

Sebastián Núñez Castro, CEO and co-founder of Geopagos, said: “Since our inception we set out to make payment acceptance easier and more accessible, helping our customers launch successful and innovative products through a robust and comprehensive solution that can provide a superior consumer experience, generating customer loyalty. Throughout these years, we have built a consolidated and profitable business, and we are convinced that this was the opportune time to accelerate the growth of the business by expanding our infrastructure throughout Latin America and investing more in R&D. We are excited to continue this new stage together with Riverwood, whom we consider the ideal partner, as it has a 15-year track record of supporting technology companies globally, a leading presence and reputation in the region, and is extremely selective with the destination of its investments.”

The funds received will be used for the development of new products in order to expand geopagos’ omnichannel proposition, in addition to enabling new payment acceptance methods and opening its API platform for companies to accelerate time to market.

“Latin America is a market with very low card penetration and Geopagos is well positioned as a software enabler and infrastructure provider to boost card acceptance and digital payments across the region,” said Francisco Álvarez-Demalde, co-founder and managing partner of Riverwood Capital. “We are excited to partner with this extraordinary team as they invest heavily to bring disruptive and trusted products to Latin America by consolidating the use of digital payments at a critical time of change for the region as more companies actively enter into the acquisition and integration of payments into their offering.”

Penfold, the digital pensions platform, today announces the close of its £7m Series A funding round. This follows the significant expansion of the business and the launch of its workplace pension platform in late 2021. 

The round was led by Bridford Group, an investment group that deploys its permanent proprietary capital in a range of sectors, including tech, sustainability, and biotech. Bridford Group and its affiliates have been invested in Penfold since its first funding round in 2018.  

Penfold also opened the round to its customer base and the wider community with a crowdfund which reached 190% of its goal from over 900 contributors. 

Penfold launched its Series A in order to expand the pension provider’s workplace pension division, which has signed more than 150 businesses since its launch ten months ago, including some of the UK’s biggest scale-ups such as Cuvva, Elvie and Attest.  

Penfold’s workplace pension scheme is designed to give employees greater control and ease of access over their pension and to transform an expensive and often underappreciated benefit into a powerful retention tool for businesses.  

Penfold’s goal is to help everyone save more for retirement, and by offering its pension to everyone, from the self-employed to large employers, Penfold can deliver on its aim to be the pension that stays with you for life. 

Chris Eastwood, Co-Founder at Penfold, comments: 

“We’re delighted to have built on the continued backing of our existing investors in our Series A raise with another hugely successful crowdfund. It’s been a big year for Penfold - from launching our workplace pension offering, to reaching £100m AUA - and this latest funding round is a testament to the growth already achieved by the business, as well as the hard work of our team.  

“We are incredibly thankful to our investors who share our vision of getting more people engaged with their retirement savings in a meaningful way.”  

“This funding will have a huge impact on our ability to bring our pension to more people, especially as we look to expand our workplace pension offering and give savers more control over their pension. Today’s funding is another step toward building a modern pension that helps everyone save more for their retirement.”  

Bridford Group, lead investor, comments: 

“The pensions industry represents a huge market - with £8trn in savings in the UK alone. Despite this, many people remain uninterested and unengaged in their pensions. With so many people not saving enough, there’s a real opportunity for a new provider to step in.” 

“By building its administration and operations arm from scratch, Penfold is uniquely positioned to solve this problem.  It’s able to offer a better, more efficient option to savers and businesses alike.” 

“In the nearly 3 years we’ve been working with the team at Penfold, we’ve been consistently impressed with the high quality of everything they do and the rapid growth of the business.  In particular, the rapid roll-out of the workplace pension offering to 150 signed businesses in well under a year has been most impressive.” 

Digital payment expert, PayPoint, is expanding its range of solutions available to help local authorities financially support the most vulnerable people in their communities. The launch of Love2shop Essentials Range, developed in partnership with Appreciate Business Services, the home of Love2shop, follows the success of PayPoint’s Cash Out offering.

Employed by a range of organisations across the UK, including energy companies, charities, local authorities, and the Department of Work and Pensions, PayPoint’s Cash Out disburses up to 210,000 emergency fund vouchers at a value of £16 million per week. The addition of the Love2shop Essentials Range to the PayPoint emergency funds proposition means local authorities now have even more options to provide immediate access to funds for food, clothing and electrical goods.

More than 20 household brands are available to Love2shop Essentials Range beneficiaries, including Argos, Asda, Currys, Marks & Spencer, Primark, Sainsbury’s, Sports Direct and Tesco. Local authorities apply for the funding online on behalf of a resident which will be delivered as an e-Code via SMS, email or in the post. Once the e-Code is activated by the recipient it can be redeemed at any of the partnering brands.

Danny Vant, Client Services Director for PayPoint said, “This new scheme is simple for both the local authority and for the recipient of the funds. If a resident needs urgent help purchasing a new fridge, for example, the council will set up the e-Code to be used in one of four high street electrical retailers. However, if they need help buying food the e-Code can be allocated for use in any one of five main supermarkets. With the cost of living crisis deepening, this type of flexible support is more important than ever, and it needs to be provided quickly to ensure the funds are available to help people immediately.”

Frank Creighton, Director of Business Development, Appreciate: The home of Love2shop added, “Appreciate Business Services was delighted to develop the Love2shop Essentials Range for PayPoint as it strengthens its work with local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales. By enabling vulnerable communities to receive critical funding to support them at a time when they need it most, local authorities can rely on Love2shop Essentials Range to deliver funds quickly, securely and safely.

“We provide a broad range of UK retailers through our Love2shop retailer partnerships allowing recipients of the funds to select their essential items from reliable brands, whether that’s food, clothing or electrical goods. As it is a digital activation and redemption process from start to finish, the process is more secure than the cash equivalent, and can be used online, in addition to in-store, with the majority of the selected retailers.” 

Digital Investment Platform Stackwell Closes $3.5M Round

Stackwell, the digital investment platform created to eliminate the racial wealth gap, announced the successful closing of a $3.5 million seed funding round that will accelerate the company’s launch plan, allowing it to rapidly reach key product development and go-to-market milestones, as well as support the hiring of key personnel. The funding round was led by Michael Gordon, President of Fenway Sports Group, Jeremy Sclar, CEO and Chairman of WS Development and The Kraft Group.

auxmoney Secures €250 Million Investment into its Loans

auxmoney, a leading digital-lending platform for consumer credit in Europe, has secured a EUR 250 million investment for its marketplace loans from Citigroup and Chenavari Investment Managers. After auxmoney announced to invest in loans on its own marketplace in November 2020, the fintech company is now co-investing for the first time alongside partners as part of this transaction.

Compliance.AI Announces New CEO, Asif Alam, as it Secured $6M with Cota Capital and JAM FINTOP

US RegTech software firm Compliance.ai has raised $6 million in funding and appointed a new CEO to replace co-founder Kayvan Alikhani. The new funding comes from existing investor Cota Capital and new investment partner Jam Fintop. The company provide compliance teams with an automated approach to monitoring and reacting to regulatory updates, identifying obligations and ensuring required changes are completed.

Earned Wage Access Provider ZayZoon Raises $25.5M to Bring Financial Flexibility and Empowerment to All Employees as a Standard Benefit

ZayZoon, a provider of voluntary benefits that allows employees across the United States to instantly access their earned wages on-demand, announced a series of financings that total $25.5 million in aggregate, consisting of $12.5 million in equity and $13 million in a new credit facility with ATB Financial. This current round of equity, led by Carpae Investments and Alpenglow Capital, brings the total equity raised by the company to $25 million.

IDnow Secures New €60 Million Debt Facility

IDnow, a leading European identity proofing and digital identity provider, has successfully arranged a new debt facility from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock that provides up to €60 million in financing. The debt facility will enable IDnow to leverage its existing market-leading identity platform. The company intends to use the capital to scale investments across a range of strategic initiatives including the introduction of new identity-proofing solutions, continued geographic expansion, and potential acquisitions.

Cornerstone VC Reaches First Close of £20M Fund to Back UK Tech Start-ups Led by Diverse Teams

Cornerstone VC, born out of black-led angel group Cornerstone Partners, has launched a £20m fund to invest in exceptional entrepreneurs in the UK from diverse backgrounds. The fund will focus on tech-enabled companies at the pre-seed and seed stage, typically investing initial cheques of between £250k and £1m with capital reserved for follow-on funding. It plans to invest in up to 40 companies with a significant proportion based outside of London.

Savana Raises $45M in Series A Funding

Savana, a financial software player that helps banks and fintechs go digital, has raised $45 million in a Series A funding round led by growth-stage investor Georgian. Fintech giant Fiserv, which has a reseller agreement with Savana, joined the round. Savana's API-first and cloud-native digital delivery platform promises to "orchestrate" a bank's technology ecosystem to eliminate silos and automate servicing for bank teams and customer-originated requests.

Growth Intelligence Secures £1.5M of Venture Debt Funding from Shard Credit Partners

Growth Intelligence has secured £1.5m of funding from Shard Credit Partners through its UK  technology-focused venture debt fund. This marks the third investment made by Shard Credit  Partners’ new fund and the first since its successful first close which was announced in June 2022. Growth Intelligence helps B2B marketers, who have struggled to accurately and completely define their audiences, run more efficient and creative digital-first campaigns.

Digital Bank Grasshopper Raises $30.4M

Grasshopper, a US digital bank serving SMEs and entrepreneurs, has raised $30.4 million. Patriot Financial Partners, Endeavour Capital Advisors, FJ Capital Management, Carpenter & Company, and GCP Capital Partners joined the round, which brings Grasshopper's total funding to $160 million. Grasshopper serves founders, their companies, and the investors supporting them across the innovation economy.

Partnerships 

ACI Worldwide and CARDNET Partner to Modernize Digital Payments in Japan

ACI Worldwide the global leader in mission-critical, real-time payments software, announced an agreement with Japan’s leading central domestic payment network, Japan Card Network, Inc, CARDNET, to modernize its digital payments infrastructure. The agreement will see ACI work with CARDNET to provide the latest digital payments technology and next-generation solutions to CARDNET’s customers.

BlackRock Teams Up With Coinbase in Crypto Market Expansion

Over the past few years, Coinbase has played a central role in developing and strengthening crypto markets as the safest, most trusted bridge to the crypto economy. Today marks an exciting next step on our journey as they announce that Coinbase is partnering with BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, to provide institutional clients of Aladdin®, BlackRock’s end-to-end investment management platform. 

Ranqx Expands Visa Partnership to North America

Ranqx, the digital lending platform built specifically for lenders to small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs), expands its work with Visa into North America. Prior to collaborating with Visa in North America, Ranqx worked with Visa in its Asia/Pacific region. Under the expanded arrangement, Visa will introduce Financial Institutions to Ranqx’s digital capabilities, helping direct lenders provide easier access to much-needed capital for SMBs.

TradeSun and Coriolis Technologies Partner for ESG Scoring of Trade Transactions

TradeSun, a technology company leveraging artificial intelligence for trade compliance and automation, and Coriolis Technologies, a leading trade data and analytics provider, have partnered to launch an integrated solution for banks to measure and verify environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance across trade transactions.

Sonovate Announces New Partnership with Demica as it Continues to Redefine Embedded Finance for the Contingent Workforce

Sonovate, the leading provider of embedded finance and payment solutions for the contingent workforce, announced a new partnership with Demica, the market-leading trade finance fintech, to enhance its reporting processes so it can continue to support thousands of business customers globally. Under the terms of the partnership, Sonovate will use Demica’s Platform to enable it to lend more efficiently to more customers, ultimately growing Sonovate’s customer base and business.

VNX Adds Visa and Mastercard Payment Methods to its Native Tokenized Gold Platform

VNX, the first European regulated platform for investment into tokenized precious metals, now accepts major credit cards Visa and Mastercard as payment options on its native platform. The addition of the two largest credit payment methods unlocks the gates for accredited investors to utilize VNX’s tokenized gold platform without the requirement of using crypto payments or cumbersome wire transfers.

TBC Bank Decreases Time to Market for New Offerings by 40% While Reducing Integration Costs by One-third with Kong

TBC Bank, a leading financial institution in the Caucasus and Central Asia Region, has reduced the time to market for new and enhanced products and services by 40% since implementing Kong Enterprise, the cloud-native API platform.  By removing the need for a centralised integration layer and scaling back the associated resources, Kong’s technology has not only streamlined innovation processes at the bank but reduced costs by one-third.

Ecospend Partners with CDER Group to Provide Customers with Secure Pay By Bank Account Solution

Ecospend, the open banking technology provider announced it is partnering with CDER Group, one of the UK’s foremost Enforcement and Debt Resolution companies, to provide its account-to-account ‘Pay-by-Bank’ solution. Collecting over £250m of unpaid Central and Local Government debt each year, CDER Group is using Ecospend’s ‘Pay-by-Bank’ solution to provide an additional, easy-to-use, secure payment channel.

4G Capital and Mambu Empower Entrepreneurs in Africa

4G Capital, an award-winning neobank powering micro and small business growth in Africa, announced their go-live on Mambu's leading cloud banking platform. 4G Capital provides unsecured business loans along with enterprise training and access to digital solutions. Mambu’s platform will enable the neobank to scale and expedite its digital journey to meet customer business needs.

Deutsche Bank Partners with Traydstream to Automate Document Checking for Their Trade Finance Products

Deutsche Bank and Traydstream have been working together since July 2021 with a detailed pilot of the Traydstream automated trade document checking platform. Both parties have now announced a further commitment for a deep dive into the bank’s trade operations as well as integration of Traydstream’s AI tools. The parties have agreed to integrate the Traydstream platform into the Deutsche Bank environment and intend to subsequently roll out the platform globally.

Fabrick Selects Innovative Fintech Solutions to Accelerate in Collaboration with Federated Innovation @Mind

Federated Innovation @MIND, a public-private collaborative model to foster innovation and Fabrick, a business that promotes Open Finance at an international level, are two businesses that share a common desire to encourage the development of innovative concepts into concrete new products, processes and services that can contribute to economic growth in Italy and Europe while enabling collaboration and synergies between different sectors through the open platform model.

Open Banking One Partners with Nordigen To Deliver a Single View of All Customer Accounts

Fintech application Open Banking One has joined forces with Nordigen to provide their customers with a simple way to interact with all their bank accounts at once. Open Banking One (OB1) is the brainchild of the developers at Cabora Technologies, which specialise in mobile applications centred around financial services, e-commerce, retail and fitness. OB1 was created to enable customers with multiple banks or credit card accounts to access all their accounts from a single application.

FloQast Collaborates with Microsoft to Deliver an Efficient and More Accurate Financial Close

FloQast, a provider of accounting workflow automation software created by accountants for accountants, expanded its role as a Microsoft partner by joining the Microsoft Business Applications ISV Connect program and launching multiple apps on Microsoft AppSource. FloQast’s participation in the Microsoft Business Applications ISV Connect Program provides Microsoft ERP customers with a way to increase the efficiency and accuracy of the Close with a centralized suite of solutions.

Launches 

American Express Launches Digital, Cross-Border Payment Solution for US Small Businesses

American Express the leading Small Business Card issuer in the U.S. announced American Express Global Pay a new digital solution that enables U.S. businesses to securely make domestic and international business-to-business (B2B) payments. This new digital solution allows business customers to send payments funded from their business bank account to their suppliers in more than 40 countries. 

Fintech Company Sunbit Announces Next Generation Financing Product

Sunbit, the company building financial technology for everyday expenses, announced that it has expanded beyond point-of-sale lending with the introduction of a new, next-generation credit card. The Sunbit Card delivers unprecedented flexibility and a personalized APR for every approved consumer. In addition to standard credit card functionality, cardholders can choose to pay in full or select a 3-, 6-, or 12-month payment plan at the individual transaction level with no annual fees. 

Yapily Launches VRP, Announces Volume and Ozone API as First to Market

Open banking platform Yapily launched Yapily Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) to accelerate innovation across the open banking ecosystem. Put simply, VRP allows businesses and consumers to use open banking for recurring payments of varying amounts, without the need to re-authenticate every transaction. This could be automatically moving money between their own bank accounts now and paying subscriptions or household bills in future.

Australian Neobank Up Launches Maybuy - A BNPL Killer

Australian neobank Up Bank has launched savings service Maybuy. Maybuy is designed as an alternative to Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) products which have become increasingly popular in recent years. Maybuy will create an automated savings plan for users looking to purchase items online. Upon reaching their goal, consumers can decide to buy the item or save the money for another purpose.

Fast-Growing Crypto Exchange Bybit Launches Shark Fin Structured Product

Bybit, the third most visited cryptocurrency exchange in the world, launched a new structured product Bybit Shark Fin for all users on August 1, 2022. Bybit Shark Fin is a low-risk, principal-protected structured product that affords better capital protection to users as they reap profit. Users deposit their funds into the product and receive a yield based on the performance of the strategy. The underlying strategy utilizes up-and-out call options to generate the yield.

Merger & Acquisition

Thoma Bravo To Acquire Ping Identity For $2.8B

Ping Identity, provider of the Intelligent Identity solution for the enterprise, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $28.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at an Enterprise Value of approximately $2.8 billion. The transaction, which was unanimously approved by the Ping Identity Board of Directors, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Ping Identity shareholders and regulatory approvals.

B2B Payments Startup Paystand Acquires Mexican Peer Yaydoo

Paystand, the leader in blockchain-enabled accounts receivable and B2B payments, announced the acquisition of Yaydoo, the leader in accounts payable, cash flow management, and liquidity solutions in Mexico and LATAM. The deal represents one of the biggest technology unions in Mexico and LATAM and makes commercial blockchain-based solutions more accessible across the Americas.

Global Payments to Acquire EVO in $4B Deal to Boost B2B Segment

Global Payments is to acquire smaller rival EVO Payments for nearly $4 billion in an all-cash deal that will extend its reach in the B2B sector. Global Payments is paying a significant premium for the acquisition, which will expand its geographic footprint and also add accounts receivable automation software capabilities that complement its existing B2B and accounts payable offerings.

Job Moves

Recognise Bank Appoints Jean Murphy as CEO

Digital SME banking startup Recognise Bank has appointed Jean Murphy, a former senior banker at Credit Suisse, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, as CEO. Alongside her background in banking, Murphy has spent the past seven years running her own wealth management startup, FSG. At Recognise Bank, she will be charged with steering the business and spearheading future funding rounds.

Accelerated Payments Appoints Dermot Nutley as Chief Operating Officer

SME funding provider Accelerated Payments announced that it has made another strategic appointment with Dermot Nutley stepping into the role of Chief Operating Officer.  Dermot brings a wealth of experience to the role, specialising in technology transformations, business process outsourcing and digital process optimisations. He has over 30 years of experience as COO, CTO, CEO and Head of Lean Six Sigma. 

Detected Appoints Fintech and Payments Leader as Chief Revenue Officer

Detected, the London-based fintech that provides frictionless global business onboarding, announces that it has hired Top 100 Women in Fintech, Rebecca Duckworth, as Chief Revenue Officer. Rebecca joins with over 25 years of experience working in digital transformation across the payments, fintech and software sectors, and most notably spent six years working in Leadership roles at Fiserv, the global fintech and payments company.

Wirex Credit Launches in UK and Expands Crypto Collateral Options

Wirex, a leading crypto and payments ecosystem, has expanded the Wirex Credit program to new regions and developed additional features. Their crypto-back credit lines are now available to UK users and has added WXT as a token to be used as collateral. Having launched last month on the Wirex app, Wirex Credit has become a hugely popular option for users wanting to easily and quickly borrow crypto-backed credit lines of up to $100,000. 

AstroPay Appoints Fayyaz Ansari as Chief Financial Officer

AstroPay, the payment solution of choice for millions of users globally, announced the appointment of Fayyaz Ansari as Chief Financial Officer. Having worked in finance for over 20 years, Fayyaz brings with him a deep understanding of the global payments industry. Prior to joining AstroPay, he was working at Skrill, NETELLER & Income Access (part of Paysafe Group Plc) as CFO of their digital wallet division and board member of their regulated entities.

Singapore Fintech Robocash Group Appoints New CEO

Robocash Group announced the appointment of Natalya Ischenko as Chief Executive Officer and Ivan Adamovich as Chief Financial Officer. Sergey Sedov, who founded and led the company to international expansion, remains in the position of Chairman of the Board. Natalya is a knowledgeable leader with more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry and consulting Big Four companies.

nCino Announces Executive Leadership Appointments

Matt Hansen has been named Chief Product Officer of nCino, overseeing the Company’s Product Development & Engineering organization globally. Jaime Punishill has been named Chief Market Officer (CMO) of nCino, taking over for Jonathan Rowe, PhD, who is taking on a new strategic role with the Company after serving as its CMO since 2012. Ben Miller has been named Chief Executive Officer of SimpleNexus, a nCino Company, taking over for Cathleen Schreiner Gates, who will remain with the Company in an advisory capacity. 

Shieldpay Appoints Sophie Condie as Chief Operating Officer

Shieldpay, the market leader in secure digital payments, announced the appointment of Sophie Condie as Chief Operating Officer. The addition of Sophie to the Shieldpay C-Suite further develops the company’s focus on delivering the best outcomes for customers as part of its overarching customer-first strategy. In her role, Sophie will continue her work transforming Shieldpay’s day-to-day operations, driving efficiencies and improving performance across the business as it continues to scale and grow.

BVNK Appoints Sales Director for its FX Business

BVNK, the crypto-powered business banking and payments platform, announces that it has appointed Jonathan Cumberlidge as its FX (foreign exchange) Sales Director. Cumberlidge joins the company as it seeks to disrupt legacy FX payments and OTC (over-the-counter) trading infrastructure and processes with a faster, more transparent, and more cost-effective alternative based on crypto. 

Michaela LeBlanc Weber Named Mollie’s New VP of Partnerships

Michaela LeBlanc Weber has joined Mollie as our new Vice President of Partnerships, working to develop and maintain our strong relationships with local and global partners. Michaela will lead the development of our partner network to provide small- and medium-sized e-commerce businesses with access to cutting-edge SaaS-based tools and help them to compete with larger e-commerce competitors.

Robinhood Chief Product Officer Quits

In the same week, it announced plans to axe nearly a quarter of its staff, and trading app Robinhood has lost chief product officer Aparna Chennapragada. Chennapragada joined the company from Google a little over a year ago as its first chief product officer to oversee all product, design and research. In a tweet thread, she says that she was "drawn to Robinhood for its potential to democratize finance for all". 

Neobanks are shaking up the fintech (financial technology) industry with their innovative technologies and unique business models. Sometimes referred to as “challenger banks,” neobanks are fintech companies that offer financial services solely digitally or via a mobile app, without physical branches.

Over the past years, as customers have become increasingly comfortable using technology platforms, client banking preferences have shifted to a more convenient, easily accessible digital experience. This shift has exposed a gap between what traditional banks offer and their consumers’ expectations. Neobanks are eager and particularly well-positioned to fill that market gap, leveraging cutting-edge technologies that help to provide more dynamic customer service.

However, neobanks face their own set of challenges. Setting up a neobank is an expensive and time-consuming process. Getting a regulatory-compliant and operationally-ready neobank typically requires at least 18 months and 15 to 20 million USD of upfront capital expenditure. Neobanks must contend with these challenges to compete effectively with incumbents.

Neofy, a digital financial cloud provider, offers a compelling solution: a pre-orchestrated financial services cloud that allows a bank or a fintech company to launch itself from scratch with a predominantly pay-as-you-go Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. Neofy has partnered with leading global technology providers to include all the functional systems needed to launch a bank or fintech, from core banking systems to cards management systems, in a full stack. All these components are pre-integrated and pre-configured, not only creating a cost advantage but also cutting down the time-to-market to under three months.

With the goal of providing users with a frictionless transaction experience powered by most modern biometrics verification, Neofy has partnered with HPS (Hightech Payment Systems) to provide a Cloud-based Digital Cards platform.

Puneet Gupta, CTO & Co-Founder of Neofy, says, “Payments-based innovations are at the heart of Neofy proposition for its clients. HPS is an important piece in our solution set to offer Cards Issuing / Acquiring and Switch and seamless Payments. ”

Niraj Vedwa, CEO & Co-Founder of Neofy, commented, “Our partnership with HPS significantly enhances our offerings in the digital Payments space. We are excited about the value that HPS offers today and the extensive roadmap that it has.”

Abdeslam Alaoui Smaili, CEO of HPS, said, “The use of APIs and composable services is crucial to make payments simple, seamless, and secure. We are beyond excited to partner with Neofy, to offer them access to our powerful and flexible PowerCARD solutions and help them deliver a product that meets today's digital banking industry standards.”