New business finance solution aims to alleviate growing demand for working capital in the UK

LONDON, JUNE 2022:

Muse Finance - the business finance startup - today announces that it has launched a new solution combining supply finance and invoice finance, to help businesses pay overseas suppliers while unlocking cash tied up in their pending invoices.

The new business finance product was developed by Muse after recognising a rising demand for an extension to working capital in the UK. By alleviating the financial burden on small businesses when paying their suppliers, as well as increased flexibility when repaying finance - customers can better manage their cash flow and maintain supplier relations.

With Supply Finance, Muse pays suppliers on its customers’ behalf for goods they are bringing into the UK from overseas for their business. By doing so, Muse’s customers benefit from increased cash flow flexibility while they wait for goods to arrive in the UK - repaying the loan over a 120-day period. By integrating Invoice Finance, Muse also subsequently eases the repayment of the Supply Finance by enabling customers to claim 90% of the value of their invoices within 24-hours.

This level of flexibility is increasingly important given new regulations surrounding Brexit and the fallout of Coronavirus Pandemic, both of which have caused delays in the shipment of goods to the UK, and an increased demand for working capital.

By combining Supply and Invoice Finance, customers can also eliminate the need to take on additional debt - via a business overdraft, or in company credit -  to meet repayments. Managed via the Muse portal, customers can easily monitor their cash flow and see when funds are available to their business, helping them to better forecast for future work. From application for finance, through to supplier payment and invoice management, Muse also handles the entire finance process on behalf of its business customers - alleviating the need to chase for payment.

Ringside Boxing Ltd, a provider of premium boxing equipment, is one of the first of Muse’s customers to have utilised the solution.

Ann Marie Juliano, Founder & CEO of Muse Finance said:

“Our new combined supply and invoice finance solution will help our customers seeking fast access to funds to continue to grow their business whilst alleviating the cash flow pressures that they often face. By facilitating the fast access to funds for businesses and their suppliers, we hope to help improve their relationships with their partners and streamline their business operations.”

David Hill, Director of Ringside Boxing Ltd said,

“With supply chains getting longer and longer in the wake of Brexit and the pandemic, maintaining financial stability of our business, but also ensuring our suppliers are paid on time is of paramount importance. Muse Finance’s Supply & Invoice Finance facility has helped us do just that, allowing us to make an order which has helped to grow our business, but with accessible repayment terms. We’re thankful for the increased flexibility that Muse has given our business, as well as the high level of service the team has provided when using the product.”

Cion Digital, developers of the first enterprise SaaS blockchain orchestration platform, announced today the appointment of senior executive Sundar Nagarathnam as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Sundar will play a dynamic role in accelerating execution and innovation as the company executes on its growth and expansion goals. 

Cion Digital, which provides businesses with the infrastructure required to rapidly deploy new compliant crypto-backed payments, finance, and lending systems, has expanded rapidly since launching in 2021. The company is working with FinTech lenders, big-ticket retailers (like auto dealers), loan brokers and marketplaces, crypto wallets and exchanges, and traditional financial institutions to deliver alternative financing and payment solutions.

“Sundar’s established track record of achieving measurable results in driving innovation and transformation across a variety of sectors speaks for itself and I am delighted to welcome him to the team,” said Snehal Fulzele, Founder and CEO of Cion Digital. “His in-depth knowledge and expertise will play a pivotal role in ensuring smooth, seamless client onboarding and operational excellence as we expand into different sectors and markets.”  

“Cion Digital is at the forefront of providing highly differentiated and innovative blockchain-based lending and payments solutions,” said Sundar Nagarathnam. “I am incredibly excited to join the company during this phase of rapid expansion as increasing numbers of companies seek to adopt the technological innovation required to meet the demands of the burgeoning alternative finance sector.”

Prior to this appointment, Nagarathnam was Senior Vice President of Professional Services, Training and Enablement at Automation Anywhere.  He brings over 25 years’ expertise in Operations, Customer Success, Professional Services, Training and Product Management, building and transforming organizations from start-up companies such as Cloud Lending Solutions (acquired by Q2 eBanking) to larger enterprise companies including Oracle, VMware, and Salesforce. 

Sundar holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) and an M.SC. in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University.

Sumsub, a tech company that offers an all-in-one technical and legal toolkit to cover KYC/KYB and AML needs, has become the first regulated Compliance-as-a-Service provider for global businesses. Now companies can delegate their compliance and verification-related issues to Sumsub and focus entirely on their core business goals.

Backed up by its powerful in-house team of experts, Sumsub is a proven leader in identity verification, KYC/KYB and AML compliance, helping businesses all around the world successfully verify users and comply with regulations. Today this leadership is proven once again, with the launch of Compliance-as-a-Service which can be adjusted to the specific needs of different customers.

Businesses can benefit from this service in two main ways. First, Sumsub offers consultation support, which means that our compliance experts will assist in drafting AML policies, consult on regulatory specifics and provide practical advice on building user verification processes in a fully compliant and efficient way.

Second, clients may outsource their compliance tasks to Sumsub, and take full advantage of the AI-powered antifraud software and full-time compliance assistance on offer. This means that Sumsub’s in-house compliance officers and AML analysts will handle the client’s KYC-related tasks—reviewing sensitive or complex cases, studying compliance regulations across different regions, monitoring user onboarding processes, handling suspicious transactions, etc.

“With Compliance-as-a-Service provided by Sumsub, companies can gain expert consultation support wherever they need it, or they can fully rely on our compliance officers team and outsource their verification-related projects and processes. Regulated businesses will get multiple benefits from such collaboration since Sumsub’s experts are ready to get the job done—completing these KYC/AML tasks in accordance with specific needs and applicable regulations. Solving compliance issues timely will help companies minimize expenses, spare human resources and save millions on potential fines from regulators” – explains Tony Petrov, Chief Legal Officer.

Hatch, the Manchester-based food and drink destination, is trialling a new way for its customers to pay and prove their age. The system is now in place at the Oxford Road Manchester venue, from Thursday – Saturday, with the trial ending on June 30th. The unique vein mapping technology is provided by FinGo, a biometric identity authentication solutions provider. FinGo enables age-verified payments by taking a simple scan of a person’s unique finger vein pattern through an infrared device.

To use FinGo, Hatch customers simply sign up for the service, verify their chosen ID document and add their payment card details through the FinGo app. They then link their finger to a FinGo device, securely connecting it to their registered details. Customers can then scan their fingers at the till to make fast and convenient age-verified payments at Hatch.

This FinGo trial at Hatch is part of the Home Office Regulatory Sandbox which is providing an opportunity for industry and retail to test innovative approaches to age verification, such as digital ID and other products with age assurance attributes.

Prior to this trial, FinGo has been deployed for use in other venues across the city including The Alchemist, making Manchester the first city in the world to introduce the technology for this purpose.  

Simon Binns, Chief Commercial Officer at FinGo commented “It’s a significant step to have brought our new generation product, which combines digital identity with payments, to Hatch, right in the heart of Manchester’s Innovation District as part of the Home Office trial. Requesting and being asked for ID can be frustrating for both staff and customers, and it is our hope that our technology will make age verification simpler and easier for all parties.”

Andrea George, Director, Bruntwood, added “We’re excited to trial this new technology at Hatch as we’re always looking for ways to improve our customers’ experience at the venue. Giving people a simple, but innovative way to pay and prove their age, through biometric technology, does just that.”

Veridas has won the Best IT Project in Customer Engagement award at the Platinum Contact Center Awards for its joint project with BBVA Mexico: a biometric solution that allows Mexican pensioners to verify their identity using only their voice. An unprecedented event that has completely digitized a procedure that, until now, had to be carried out in person at the bank's branches twice a year. This represents an excellent example of how applying the best technology can reduce the digital divide, especially for the elderly, and significantly improve their daily lives. 

To date, thanks to BBVA and Veridas, nearly 100,000 Mexican pensioners have provided proof of life by making a simple phone call. The system recognises them with just 3 seconds of speech regardless of what they say or the language they use. This simple process allows them to receive their pension fee, avoid long trips, polluting the environment and expose their health. 

Belén Aliño, Business Development Manager at Veridas, and Miguel Villaumbrales, Global Head of Digital Identity at BBVA, accepted the award. Villaumbrales pointed out that this innovation also helps to reduce the digital divide: "Older people accept biometrics when a problem is solved for them, and we have achieved this thanks to Veridas technology". For her part, Belén Aliño stated that "we dream of a world in which no credentials, keys or passwords are needed to exercise our identity in both the physical and digital world; cases like this one with BBVA perfectly reflect that we can build a better, more comfortable and secure future for everyone".

Biometrics improves the lives of BBVA customers

BBVA aims to make the opportunities of this new era available to everyone, and the collaboration with Veridas is an excellent example of this. This technology focuses on customers' real needs and aims to achieve a more inclusive and sustainable society.

BBVA and Veridas have been deploying use cases with facial biometrics, voice biometrics, and document verification in more than 25 countries worldwide since 2017, with use cases ranging from digital customer registration to identity verification or fraud prevention, among others. A successful relationship based on the technological excellence of Veridas and the digital leadership of BBVA.

Platinum Contact Center Awards, 13 years of rewarding customer service

The Platinum Contact Center Awards were created 13 years ago by Contact Center Hub, a benchmark platform in the customer service and customer experience sector. They have established themselves as independent and prestigious awards that recognize, through a jury of experts, the good work of customer service in the Spanish industry.

The awards have rewarded quality customer experience and technological innovation. The gala was held at the Teatro Goya in Madrid and, as the organizers point out, served to "thank those who, with their daily work, contribute professionalism and become the spearhead of a sector in constant change". 

The prize for Best IT Project in Customer Engagement awarded to Veridas is part of the Technological Innovation category. It aims to reward the implementation of new technologies that improve customer service management methods.

Beanstalk, the family app that invests for your kids, has exceeded its crowdfunding target with new investments taking the company into overfunding ahead of the funding round closing on 29 June 2022. Beanstalk has raised over £650,000 via the Seedrs equity crowdfunding platform, with new direct investors including the former CEO of one of the leading fintech investment platforms sitting behind a number of stock trading apps/advisers. The funds raised will help get Beanstalk to even more families so that they can start building a nest egg for their children.

Built on an innovative 'family view' and technology, Beanstalk is a fintech app reinventing how families save & invest for their kids' future, making it easy and affordable. The Beanstalk app takes a minute or two for a parent to open accounts for their children or themselves. The tools to help put money away include open banking powered roundups and instant top-ups, cashback at 2,000+ retailers, friends and family gifting, and through its unique invite tool, grandparents (and others) can link and contribute directly to the child's account.

“Parents know their children face a tougher time than they did – university fees, housing costs, cost of living – but tell us it is hard to know what to do: putting money aside is tough; the choices are confusing making it difficult to decide what is right; and the products out there are often poor value, expensive or require commitment,” said Julian Robson, co-founder and CEO, Beanstalk. “However, despite mass adoption of fintech amongst consumers, child savings products have been slow to catch up. Beanstalk is changing this by making it really easy for all parents, whatever their means, to build a nest egg for their children’s future.”

CleverTap, the modern, integrated retention cloud, has been recognized by Great Place to Work® India as one of India's Great Mid-size Workplaces 2022. CleverTap is recognized for creating and sustaining a high-trust, high-performance work culture.

In its 6th edition this year for India, the list has grown to include the top 75 companies, up from the top 50 until last year. The rigorous methodology to assess workplace culture and identify India's Great Mid-size Workplaces 2022 is considered the gold standard globally.

In the Great Place to Work® India study, they have observed that the Great Mid-size Workplaces have gone above and beyond to create and sustain aspirational organizations. Effective leadership is visible in these workplaces that are fostering a culture of fairness and originality while offering flexibility to their employees in the current hybrid work environment. Organizations that succeed in establishing high-trust, high-performance cultures, and maximizing human potential by bridging experience gaps, will be Great Places to Work For All in the future.

"We're very excited to be recognized by Great Place to Work® India as one of India's Great Mid-size Workplaces. Even before the pandemic hit, we believed that empathetic and flexible work culture is the essence of an organization's growth," says Sidharth Malik, Chief Executive Officer, CleverTap. "Our employees and their holistic well-being have always been the top priority for us. The recognition by Great Place to Work® India is a testament to our commitment of building a workplace that is inclusive and driven, and one that provides its people with an environment to thrive and succeed in everything they do."

"With homes becoming an extension of people's workplaces, this year companies around the world were challenged to put their people at the centre of their strategies. But the organizations that invested in their culture and people before the pandemic has overcome these challenges effortlessly. Being recognized as one of India's Best Workplaces 2022 demonstrates these organizations' commitment to improving their culture and putting their people first, whatever challenges they face," says Yeshasvini Ramaswamy, CEO, Great Place to Work®, India.

As a global authority on workplace culture, Great Place to Work® has been studying employee experience and people practices across organisations for over three decades. Every year, more than 10,000 organizations from over 60 countries partner with the Great Place to Work® Institute for assessment, benchmarking, and planning of actions to strengthen their workplace culture.

Pendo – the all-in-one product experience platform - today announced it has strengthened its presence in EMEA to meet rising local demand and empower European businesses to put products at the heart of their strategy, both to drive growth and to improve efficiency. This includes the opening of a new central London office and the hire of a new EMEA managing director who will be responsible for spearheading the company’s growth strategy in the region.  

Since Pendo established a London presence in March 2019, it has grown the EMEA customer base from 40 to over 300. Strong relationships with leading European companies like Advanced Software, Clarivate Analytics, CloudPay, Collibra, Elsevier, Essity Hygiene and Health AB, Firefly Learning, Gett, MessageBird, Mimecast, monday.com, Pistor AG, and Tes Global have helped the EMEA team increase new annual bookings 10x since early 2020.  

Demand for Pendo is driven by the rise of the product-led movement, as product is increasingly recognised by leading companies as a key tool in powering efficient growth, fueling adoption and retention, and helping leaders hit ambitious goals without increasing spend. Pendo’s recently launched State of Product Leadership Report found over half of European companies plan to increase their investment in product management technology in 2022. 

Spencer Earp will be joining Pendo in July as managing director of EMEA. He will be based in London and will channel his extensive experience of building and propelling organisations’ European go-to-market strategies, to help Pendo address EMEA’s rapidly evolving software market. Prior to joining Pendo, Spencer was senior vice president of EMEA sales at Salesforce and has over 25 years of experience uniting and leading sales teams in senior roles at Oracle, ServiceMax, and Vlocity. Notably, Spencer was the ‘first man on the ground’ and responsible for the development and growth of ServiceMax’s business in EMEA before its acquisition by GE Digital in 2017.  

“It’s a historic time of fast-moving change for the software world and Europe’s product managers are producing some of the most advanced and slick products on the global stage,” said Spencer Earp, EMEA MD at Pendo. “Pendo already has a strong foundation in Europe but there’s still a phenomenal untapped market to be served as software continues to play an even more pivotal role in how we live, work, and play. With a new office and central London hub, I can’t wait to execute on the big opportunity ahead of us.”  

The Pendo team in London has grown from 22 to 67 employees over the last year. It includes sales, marketing, customer success and support members, as well as the staff of Mind the Product, the world’s largest community of product managers, which joined the company through acquisition in February 2022.  

“Europe is an incredibly advanced market that we’ve built up in the last few years. Today, we’re putting our flag in the ground to say we’re here and we have the local presence and expertise needed to bring Pendo to even more product managers in the region and help them stay ahead,” added Todd Olson, CEO and co-founder of Pendo. 

Today’s news follows another quarter of rapid global growth for the US-founded unicorn, which recently announced 60% ARR growth, more than 2,500 paying customers, and 3,300 Pendo Free users worldwide. Pendo’s total headcount nearly doubled in 2021 — the company currently has more than 950 employees worldwide.