• 13.06.2022 -- 09:57 am

Financial IT Interviews Patrick Murphy, Director of UK at Eightcap

• 13.06.2022 -- 09:34 am

An interview with Mathias Höllerl, VP Sales, EMEA of tru.ID at Money20//20 Europe 2022

Catalyst Blockchain Platform is now available on Corda, the leading distributed ledger technology platform from R3, created specifically for highly-regulated markets. Users benefit from both Corda Community Edition and Corda Enterprise Edition, using Catalyst's highly-automated processes and intuitive user interface to streamline the development, deployment, and maintenance of their Corda networks and applications.

On Corda, privacy is paramount. The protocol enables scalable, secure data transactions between network participants while ensuring the highest level of privacy and security. Corda employs a unique peer-to-peer architecture that maximizes confidentiality, while Corda distributed applications offer exceptional flexibility and interoperability.

These features together make Corda ideal for deployment by financial institutions and financial service providers, governments, healthcare providers, insurers, and other regulated organizations.

"On Corda, Catalyst Blockchain Platform brings a whole new frontier of data privacy and ease of use to blockchain network development. It is especially relevant for those operating in challenging regulatory contexts, and we are extremely proud to be able to offer these organizations an easy pathway to blockchain adoption," said Yana Koldra, Head of Product Management, IntellectEU.

Catalyst Blockchain Platform on Corda takes all of the strengths of the protocol and renders them easier and faster to work with by removing the technical barriers to entry. With Catalyst, users can build complex Corda infrastructure with just a few clicks, zero coding, and highly automated and optimized processes.

Engagement Banking Leader Backbase Raises €120M from Motive Partners

Backbase, the creator of the category-leading Engagement Banking Platform, raised €120 million in growth equity funding from Motive Partners. Having grown organically to over €200 million in revenue, Backbase is now partnering with a Fintech specialist private equity firm, to further strengthen its claim in the Engagement Banking category. This growth investment values Backbase at €2.5 billion.

Codat Raises $100 Million to Build the Internet for Business Data

Today Codat, the universal API for small business data, announced that it has raised $100 million in a Series C investment round led by JP Morgan Growth Equity Partners. Canapi Ventures and Shopify also participated in the round and Plaid has been publicly named as an investor for the first time. Existing investors Index Ventures and PayPal Ventures also participated in the round. As part of the financing, Patrick McGoldrick, Partner at J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners will join Codat’s board.

Live Oak Ventures Participates in Series B Financing of AgencyKPI

Live Oak Ventures, the investment arm of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc., has announced an investment in AgencyKPI, the developer of the first business intelligence platform designed to address and manage data in the insurance industry. Live Oak participated in the Series B round of financing which will support the software company’s growth and add resources to continue building cloud-based software that strengthens the ability of independent insurance agencies to assess data to remain nimble and profitable.

LiquidX Announces Strategic Investment by Citi

LiquidX, the leading global fintech platform for digitization, monetization, and risk mitigation for working capital, trade finance, and insurance assets announced a strategic investment from Citi, one of the largest trade finance banks in the world. The funding round was led by Broadridge, LiquidX’s largest strategic investor. The investments underscore LiquidX’s position as the industry’s leading innovator in supply chain digitization and automation, which will deliver transformative efficiencies and value to all commercial users of the platform.

Kushki Reaches Unicorn Status with $100M in New Funding to Accelerate its Development of a Modern Payment Infrastructure in Latin America

Kushki, the payment technology company that connects LatAm through payments, announced a $100 million extension of its Series B fundraising at a valuation north of a billion dollars. The latest round includes participation from new and existing investors including Kaszek Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, SoftBank Latin America Fund and DILA Capital among others, and brings the total amount raised in the combined Series B to $186 million.

LoopingOne Secures €800.000 Strategic Investment From Ebury and Forms Partnership Between Companies

LoopingOne, the most flexible KYC and Payments platform for Marketplaces and Platforms has closed its first seed round from Ebury, one of the world's largest fintech companies offering financial solutions to simplify international trade. The investment aims to further develop the LoopingOne product and start the Electronic Money Institution (EMI) application process at the Dutch Central Bank (DNB). An integration with Ebury will also give LoopingOne the capability to offer multi-currency services to its marketplace customers from the get-go.

Cryptio Raises $10 Million for Their Enterprise Crypto Back-Office Platform

Cryptio, an enterprise-grade back-office platform, has secured $10 million in a Series A round led by Point Nine, early investors in Chainalysis, Zendesk, and Revolut. Other participants include BlueYard, Alven, Coinshares, Avantgarde Finance, Protocol Labs, and Draper Associates. Senior executives from Twitter, GoCardless, Fireblocks, and Ledger also participated in the round as angel investors. Accountability and reporting are a priority – both for crypto-native businesses and financial institutions with digital assets operations and holdings, especially in turbulent markets.

CybSafe Raises $28M Series B Funding Round as it Eyes up Global Leadership

CybSafe, the cybersecurity software company using behavioral science and data science to transform security awareness and human cyber risk management, announced it has closed a $28 million Series B funding round, taking its total funding to $40M. The round was led by Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from Emerald Development Managers and existing investors IQ Capital and Hannover Digital Investments (HDI) GmbH.

Klasha Closes a $4.5 Million Seed Fundraise, with an Additional $2 Million Raised

Klasha, a San Francisco and Lagos-based technology company transforming cross-border African commerce, announces an additional $2.1 million fundraising - to complete its $4.5 million seed round. The funding round included Amex Ventures - its first investment in an African-focused startup.  Klasha’s funding round also included Global Ventures, a leading MEA-focused venture capital firm. Klasha will use the proceeds to expand into five more African countries in 2022 and re-launch its consumer app - renamed KlashaCart - to allow African consumers to shop from eligible international merchants online.

Crypto DEX ApolloX Secured Seed Funding

ApolloX, one of the top 10 decentralized exchanges (DEXes) on CoinMarketCap as of June 2022, announcedthat it has secured an undisclosed amount in seed funding from investors including Binance Labs and Kronos Research. Other investors who participated in the round include Lingfeng Capital, SafePal, Token Pocket, 3Commas and LUX Capital. The strategic funding will help ApolloX expand its current product and build new product lines in the ecosystem —  including spot trading, predict-to-earn, and DEX-as-a-Service.

Keepit Receives $22.5 Million Funding from Silicon Valley Bank

Copenhagen-based cloud backup platform Keepit has raised $22.5 million in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in partnership with Vaekstfonden. The new funding will drive the platform’s international expansion and product development as it continues to scale its SaaS data protection platform. After 20 years of bootstrapping, the Danish company had raised $30 million in funding in 2020. The Series A round was the single largest SaaS investment in a bootstrapped company in the Nordics, according to Crunchbase.

Micro MSME Fintech ARTH Raises $2.5 Million

ARTH, a micro MSME fintech, has raised $2.5 million in a funding round led by DEG, MIT alumni and US and Canadian angel investors. The fresh fund will be used to expand the suite of financial services being offered to ultimately be a single-point platform for micro MSMEs. It will also be used for strengthening the technical capabilities and building robust risk management systems to meet the scale requirements.

Partnerships 

Mastercard Partners With NFT Marketplaces for ‘Easier and Safer’ Purchases

Mastercard is working with a host of non-fungible token marketplaces to make it easy for people to buy NFTs with their cards. The payments giant has struck deals with Immutable X, Candy Digital, The Sandbox, Mintable, Spring, Nifty Gateway, and Web3 infrastructure provider MoonPay. Consumers will be able to buy NFTs, whether on one of these companies’ marketplaces or using their crypto services.

PXP Financial Partners with Discover® Global Network to Extend Payment Capabilities

PXP Financial (‘PXP’), the expert in payment services, data analysis and fraud, announces that it is partnering with Discover® Global Network, the payment brand of Discover and the world’s fastest-growing global payment card network. The partnership will allow merchants who use PXP’s point of sale or eCommerce solution to accept payments from the 280 million Discover Global Network cardholders around the world, who collectively represent $500 billion in spending opportunity.

Spanish Neobank Plazo Partners with Mambu to Fuel the Expansion of its Innovative Lending Solutions

Spanish neobank Plazo has closed a strategic partnership with Mambu, the world’s leading cloud banking technology platform. This alliance allows Plazo to accelerate the development of cutting-edge lending solutions, with access to over 30,000 new product combinations and fuel its expansion to further consolidate as the go-to financial wellness app covering people’s daily purchase, saving and lending needs.

Scroll Finance partners with Modulr to Disrupt Homeowner Financing

Scroll Finance (Scroll), a next-generation fintech providing smart financing solutions to homeowners, has announced that Modulr, the embedded payments platform, will power its underlying payments infrastructure. The partnership will enable Scroll to accelerate its mission to disrupt the homeowner financing sector in the UK. Scroll aims to bring the flexibility, speed and convenience of unsecured lending to homeowner financing. 

BR-DGE and Trust Payments Partner to Expand Payment Offering to Merchants

Leading payment orchestration provider BR-DGE has partnered with global fintech disruptor Trust Payments to provide its merchants access to Trust Payments’ suite of Converged Commerce™ offerings. The new partnership will enable BR-DGE customers to access Trust Payments’ technology, including an all-in-one payments platform, award-winning risk management tools, Anti Money Launder (AML) and fraud detection features.

Biller Genie Announces Integrated Partnership with Maverick Payments

Biller Genie is now integrated into the Maverick Payments gateway, enabling Maverick’s thousands of merchants to use Biller Genie’s robust cloud-based accounts receivable tools for both Credit Card and ACH (eCheck) Processing. The partnership expands the list of payment gateway options available via Biller Genie software. "Maverick is an industry-leading payment processor and we are thrilled to join forces with a partner who is not only full service but who is a technology leader in the space," said Biller Genie President and Co-Founder Garima Shah.

Curve and TrueLayer Partner to Create Flexible Recurring Payment Options

TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking platform, announces its collaboration with Curve, the fast-growing financial super app, that will give Curve customers more control and flexibility over their finances. Curve represents the next generation of financial apps where customers enjoy the convenience of keeping all their cards and accounts in one smart digital wallet to manage their finance, and gain insights into their financial lives - empowering them to make better financial decisions, save money on fees, earn rewards and even flex any transaction into instalment from any of their accounts.

Anubi Digital Enters a Partnership with Maple Finance to Bring its Clients New Opportunities in Institutional DeFi

After being one of the first Italian companies subscribing to the Italian OAM's special registry for Virtual Assets Service Providers (VASP), the crypto custodian Anubi Digital entered its third international agreement in a few months. Anubi Digital is bringing institutional DeFi to Italy for the first time, through the existing partnerships with Aave Arc and Celsius Network and now by launching a major new project with Maple Finance.

Pomelo Pay Partners with Dialog Axiata to Digitalise Payments for SMEs in Sri Lanka

Digital payments company Pomelo Pay (Pomelo) announced a partnership with Dialog Axiata PLC (Dialog), Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, to consolidate and provide an enhanced payment platform for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Sri Lanka, helping them to digitalise and accept payments. The partnership is in line with Pomelo’s plans to expand its global presence in Asia and Europe and will consolidate about 80,000 SME merchants across Dialog’s multiple platforms, including ezCash into a common payment platform Genie.

Sage Partners with Lloyds Bank to Help SMBs Access Instant Financing

Sage, the leader in accounting, financial, HR and payroll technology for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) today kicked off Sage Partner Summit 2022 announcing three new strategic partnerships. During his keynote speech to Sage Partners, channel head Aziz Benmalek, announced partnerships with technology and banking leaders Lloyds Bank plc, Satago, and Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP), a provider of HR and Payroll software and services.  

Serve First Named BigCommerce Preferred Technology Partner

Serve First Solutions announced it has been named a BigCommerce Preferred Technology Partner, providing approximately 60,000 BigCommerce merchants access to Serve First's B2B Payment Gateway, Serve First Secure. Beginning today, BigCommerce customers can integrate Serve First's B2B Payment Gateway through the BigCommerce App Marketplace. BigCommerce has released the gateway integration with Serve First Solutions through their payments SDK.

Western Union Integrates Mambu into its New Digital Bank Platform in Europe

Mambu, the cloud banking platform, has teamed up with Western Union, a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, to integrate its solution into the latter’s next-generation real-time multi-currency digital wallet and digital banking platform in Europe. Mambu will enable Western Union to extend the relationship with its customers, and create a new banking experience. With its cloud-native platform, Mambu has 70 million daily users and over 230 banks and financial institutions as customers.

Mastercard to Secure Mercado Libre Crypto Ecosystem in Brazil

Mastercard has partnered with Mercado Libre to strengthen the security and transparency of its recently launched crypto program in Brazil. Mastercard's CipherTrace technology will allow Mercado Libre to monitor, identify and understand risks, and help the retailer manage its regulatory and compliance obligations. As part of its mission to democratize financial services in Latin America, last December Mercado Libre announced that millions of Mercado Libre and Mercado Pago customers in Brazil would be able to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies.

Infor Partners with Everstream Analytics to Help Organizations Better Anticipate and Navigate Supply Chain Complexity & Disruptions

Infor, the industry cloud company, announced that it has entered into a technology partnership with Everstream Analytics, the global supply chain insights and risk analytics company, to help organizations better anticipate and navigate supply chain risks and disruptions. Through the partnership, Infor will integrate Everstream’s end-to-end supply chain risk assessment and monitoring data with its Infor Nexus multi-enterprise business network platform.

Tink Partners With Revolut for European Payments

Tink, Europe’s leading open banking platform, and Revolut, the global financial super app with more than 18 million customers worldwide, have entered into a strategic partnership for open banking technology. Tink’s payment initiation services (PIS) technology will allow Revolut users across Europe to seamlessly move money into their Revolut accounts. PIS enables users to connect to the bank account they want to move money from, and instantaneously authorise and complete the payment without leaving the Revolut app.

Ziglu Partners With ClearBank to Offer Virtual GBP Bank Accounts

ClearBank, the cloud-based clearing bank, announced that it is providing agency banking services to UK-based money app Ziglu. ClearBank’s technological infrastructure, regulated payment rails and treasury management service have bolstered Ziglu’s banking and investment offerings, enabling Ziglu to offer virtual GBP accounts to its customers.

Launches 

Apple to Launch Buy Now Pay Later Feature

Apple revealed a "buy now, pay later" service for iPhones at  Worldwide Developer Conference. Apple's BNPL service will compete with Klarna, ClearPay, and Affirm by offering a four-month interest-free loan on Apple Pay payments. It's also partnering with Shopify to help users track their orders in Apple Wallet. When iOS 16 hits in the fall, BNPL will be for the US market only. Apple also unveiled a revised MacBook Air with a new MagSafe charging port and a design similar to the MacBook Pro, ending the line's distinctive tapered shape.

GivingPay Launches with Fintech Platform Trust Payments to Simplify Charity Donations Online

Sentinels, a Fenergo company and Europe’s leading intelligent transaction monitoring platform, has been appointed by payments fintech kevin. to handle transaction monitoring compliance. The relationship means kevin. now detects suspicious transactions in real-time while ensuring compliance with local anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.

Technology Investment Tracking Tools Released by Apptio

Apptio, the leading provider of technology business management (TBM) applications, announced several enhancements to its product portfolio that support organizations adopting a digital-first strategy and improving technology investment decision-making. New features provide key decision-makers with improved visibility and insights into their technology spending and the ability to prioritise investments that deliver the most value to the organization.

Digital Bank Zopa Enters BNPL Space with Suite of Regulated Products

Digital bank Zopa has entered the BNPL space with a suite of fully regulated products that prioritise transparency and customer protection. Setting its sights on the UK’s £6 billion BNPL market, Zopa brings a simple and fair option for larger purchases (£250 - £30,000) that may take customers months or years to save up for. The new offering combines the technology and innovation that enables instant decisions and fast consumer journeys of a fintech, alongside the consumer protection, credit checks and safeguards of a regulated bank.

Persona Unveils New KYB Solution to Automate and Streamline Business Verification Process

Persona launched the only end-to-end solution that enables businesses to configure and automate KYB and KYC verification processes to help meet compliance requirements—all from a single platform. Now, companies can simplify the orchestration of KYB and KYC workflows for their customers to provide a secure and streamlined identity verification experience.

Merger & Acquisition

MFS Africa Acquires US-based Global Technology Partners (GTP)

In a rare acquisition of a US tech company by an African tech company, MFS Africa, Africa’s largest digital payments network, announces that it has reached an agreement to buy Global Technology Partners (GTP). Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, GTP is the number one processor for prepaid cards in Africa, with over 80 banks – including UBA, Ecobank, BIA, Stanbic, Coris, NSIA and Zenith Bank – using its platform. GTP’s client base covers 34 countries and is fully connected to the Visa, Mastercard, GIM, GIMAC and Verve networks for which it provides the processing.

Job Moves

ACA Group Announces New CFO, Following Merger with Foreside

ACA Group (ACA), the leading governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) advisor in financial services, announced that Neeraj Karhade has joined the firm as Chief Financial Officer. Neeraj joins ACA with over 20 years of experience in finance, private equity, organizational transformation, and business operations. Most recently, he worked as CFO of Transformco where he had responsibility for the company’s financial functions, including financial reporting, audit and compliance, treasury, tax, strategic planning, and corporate finance.

OKX Names Rachel Conlan Global Head of Brand Marketing and Partnerships

OKX, a world-leading crypto trading app and Web3 ecosystem, announced the appointment of Rachel Conlan as the Global Head of Brand Marketing and Partnerships. With extensive experience in the sports, entertainment and marketing industry, Rachel will be instrumental in building the OKX brand internationally.Rachel will be responsible for driving the company’s brand and marketing efforts through partnerships with Manchester City F.C., McLaren Racing, and Tribeca Festival.

British Business Bank Appoints New CEO

Louis Taylor has been appointed CEO of the British Business Bank, the UK’s economic development bank, and will take up the role from 1 October. Louis Taylor is currently CEO of UK Export Finance, the UK government's export credit agency. Louis Taylor joined UK Export Finance in 2015, enjoying a stellar career that saw the department provide its highest level of support for UK exporters in 30 years and end its financial support for overseas fossil fuel projects – all while operating at no net cost to the UK taxpayer.

Mirato Names Daniel Ravner Chief Marketing Officer

Mirato, provider of an AI-enabled third-party risk management (TPRM) intelligence platform, announced the appointment of Daniel Ravner as chief marketing officer. Ravner had been working with Mirato as a marketing consultant since the Israeli company launched its technology in the U.S. two years ago. A multi-award-winning veteran of the marketing, content and innovation worlds, Ravner has led international marketing for B2B startups at Ravner – Marketing Innovation agency for the past decade, during which he and his team oversaw the growth of numerous tech ventures through a unique outsourced marketing department model.

ComplyAdvantage Names Industry Veteran Mark Watson As Chief Technology Officer

ComplyAdvantage, a global data technology company transforming financial crime detection, announced that Mark Watson has been named as the company's Chief Technology Officer and the newest addition to the leadership team.   In his role, Mark will lead all engineering and technical innovation efforts including the expansion of the company's proprietary knowledge graph called ComplyData™ which contextualises insights across the company's award-winning Transaction Risk Management and KYB solution sets.

ECOMMPAY Accelerates Efforts to Tackle Financial Crime, Hiring Francisco Mainez from HSBC

ECOMMPAY, a leading international payment service provider and direct bank card acquirer with its own fintech ecosystem for business growth, has appointed Francisco Mainez as its Head of Financial Crimes and Payments Digital Transformation. The appointment comes as ECOMMPAY strengthens its capabilities in combating financial crime through automated and streamlined processes, following industry reports of 5.3 million fraud offences across the payments sector in 2021, an increase of 36% from two years earlier.

VikingCloud Announces New Chief Financial Officer

VikingCloud, a leading provider of cyber security and compliance solutions, has announced the appointment of Tracey Luehring as its new Chief Financial Officer. Tracey brings her considerable expertise in enterprise-wide financial and transformation management to drive VikingCloud’s ambitious growth strategy. Her impressive track record of achievements in driving business strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and financial planning and analysis, was garnered through hugely successful stints at two Fortune 500 companies. 

FlyFin, a fintech provider, unveiled a free tax form recommendation tool for self-employed people, freelancers and small business owners. FlyFin's Tax Form Wizard shows 1099 taxpayers the IRS tax forms that apply to their needs as self-employed individuals, with recommendations for forms specific to the kind of work they do and their individual situations.

With more than 800 different tax forms that the IRS makes available, the sheer volume and complexity of various tax forms can make tax preparation overwhelming. FlyFin's Tax Form Wizard empowers self-employed people and freelancers with a tool to help them bypass the need for a tax professional. The bespoke tax form recommendation tool lets people quickly find and download only the forms that apply to their employment circumstances over the tax year.

Just in time for the June 15th tax quarterly deadline, the Tax Form Wizard guides self-employed people and freelancers in understanding exactly which forms they will need for their tax preparation and filing.

Every year, self-employed people across America are unsure about the tax forms and the details of filing their taxes and end up underpaying, which generally leads to tax penalties and interest charges from the IRS.

FlyFin developed its new Tax Form Wizard when the response to its 1099 Tax calculator made the need known for tools that help self-employed individuals with their taxes. The 1099 Tax Calculator quickly computes quarterly or annual income taxes for freelancers and self-employed individuals so they know what the amount of their next tax payment needs to be. Taxpayers who receive 1099 Forms are typically self-employed, sub-contractors, independent contractors, gig workers, freelancers and creator economy workers.

"We developed the Tax Form Wizard as a solution for self-employed people, freelancers and small business owners, who have more complicated tax filing requirements, to take the hassle out of tax preparation for them," said Jaideep Singh, CEO of FlyFin. "The IRS provides a mountain of information on tax preparation, but it can be difficult to find what you need, and the explanations can be confusing or overwhelming. Our Wizard cuts through the chaos and lets people know only the tax forms that apply to their needs as self-employed individuals and freelancers."

The Tax Form Wizard is part of a larger project FlyFin is undertaking to build a comprehensive resource center for tax preparation specific to the needs of self-employed people and freelancers.

Lisk, the accessible blockchain platform for building applications with JavaScript, has revealed the agenda for the once-off Lisk Blockchain Day aimed at blockchain developers, taking place on Monday, June 13th, in the Lisk Center Berlin.

The Lisk Blockchain Day will update the Lisk community with highly-anticipated research and development progress while attracting new developers and supporting the mass onboarding of blockchain solutions. Key highlights of the Lisk Blockchain Day agenda include: 

Key highlights of the Lisk Blockchain Day agenda include: 

• June 13th

  • An introduction to Lisk and Blockchain Applications in Javascript from Alessandro Ricottone, Head of Research and Jan Hackfeld, Chief Research Officer

  • A workshop for budding developers on how to start building blockchain applications through the Lisk SDK 

  • WeAreDevelopers guest speaker, Michael Ionita discussed ‘Smart Contract Architecture: How to not get punished by the blockchain’

  • What is the future of blockchain interoperability? Lisk and Cosmos: Panel discussion

Other agenda items include a panel discussion on the Lisk Interoperability Solution and what the future of blockchain interoperability looks like, with guest speaker Susannah Evans, IBC Product Lead at Interchain on behalf of Cosmos. The Lisk Interoperability Solution will enable Lisk sidechains to connect with the mainchain, providing a fully functional ecosystem for decentralized applications to interact and transact with one another. 

The Lisk Blockchain Day will be followed by the WeAreDevelopers Conference taking place on the 14th and 15th of June in the convention centre CityCube, Berlin. In addition to sponsoring WeAreDevelopers, Lisk will hold workshops for developers who wish to take part and have a booth on-site for participants to learn more about the Lisk SDK, as well as connect to their fellow developers building on the Lisk platform.

Max Kordek, CEO and co-founder of Lisk said: “The Lisk Blockchain Day will enable us to offer developers aspiring to build on blockchain the opportunity to learn about the Lisk SDK and upcoming Lisk Interoperability Solution, to ask questions and to engage with their fellow developers. This event, followed by Lisk’s presence at the WeAreDevelopers, will bring the Lisk community together with developers from around the world, to network and learn how to better build applications on the Lisk ecosystem.”

The Lisk Blockchain Day is not the first major event to be held by Lisk, having hosted their most recent event Amplifire, where a series of significant developments were announced which will see the network become more accessible than ever before. This included the implementation of its interoperability roadmap as well as Lisk’s planned expansion into the DeFi market with the anticipated launch of the Lisk Decentralized Exchange (DEX).

Mphasis, an Information Technology (IT) solutions provider specializing in cloud and cognitive services, today joined the Government of Alberta and the University of Calgary to announce the launch of the world-leading QuantumCity - Canada. Quantum city will further establish Alberta as a leading technology hub and will accelerate the development of the quantum ecosystem in Calgary.

The partnership aims to utilize the synergy between academia, industry, and government to put the process of ideation to market at the forefront. This will include assessment, consulting, and joint development of quantum computing solutions along with exploring possible industry solutions in the areas of machine learning, optimization, simulation, and cryptography, among others. Additionally, to enable capability building in next-gen technologies, joint design, and development of an industry-focused quantum computing curriculum and leveraging Mphasis’ TalentNEXT training framework at the University of Calgary will help build an industry-ready workforce to operationalize the development and delivery of quantum solutions for real-world problems.

Further, Mphasis will help with Go-To-Market activities through its sales, partner, and analyst channels for commercialization and adoption of Quantum computing solutions by the public and private sectors developed under this partnership. Mphasis has built a host of industry-focused IPs in areas including AI and Quantum computing and will extend those to the University of Calgary to jumpstart innovation and ideation. The collaboration will also accelerate the university’s innovation ecosystem to build a quantum start-up incubation centre.

Quantum City will cultivate a national network of researchers, spur economic, technological, and infrastructural development, and act as a focal point for attracting talent through high-quality mentoring, training, and skills development in the country. The centre will focus on developing cutting-edge solutions, collaborations, and skills-building initiatives in crucial areas of research such as Health, Energy, Environment, Agriculture & Food, Clean Tech, Oil & Gas, Social Sciences, Space, Finance, Logistics, and Transportation, etc. 

“Alberta’s tech sector is one of the fastest-growing in the world, and that is thanks to the ingenuity, know-how, and hard work of Alberta’s innovators and job creators. With this new support, the University of Calgary and its partners will play a key role in making Alberta a world-renowned technology and innovation hub – diversifying our economy today to create more jobs tomorrow,” said the Honorable Jason Kenney, Premier of Alberta, Canada.

The partnership in quantum computing will foster economic growth and job creation in the region. Our aim is to leverage the Engineering DNA, to help advance the adoption of digital technologies and talent for the future Mphasis seeks to strengthen and contribute to Alberta's quantum computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence ecosystems. Our aim is to help organizations harness the power of rapidly advancing digital technologies to gain competitive advantage and advance their business strategies,” said Nitin Rakesh, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Mphasis.

The collaboration between Mphasis and the University of Calgary will also focus on hosting quantum consulting workshops for use case identification, assessment, and infrastructure requirements. In addition, Mphasis will identify several industry partners and prospective clients for the commercialization of jointly developed quantum solutions.

“Quantum City is a leading example of how world-class talent, investment, and advanced technology are coming into Calgary. Calgary's economy will grow and diversify as a result of the technologies developed through Quantum City. The University of Calgary will offer deep research expertise that can bring innovations to life and will reap immense benefits for people and societies. UCalgary is excited to be partnering with Mphasis and the Government of Alberta to leapfrog towards the future of innovation,” said Ed McCauley, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Calgary.

“Our collaboration with the University of Calgary and Govt. of Alberta will enable us to tap into quantum computing's enormous potential, allowing us to create cutting-edge capabilities and talents for the future. The opening of our center illustrates our commitment to bringing the most creative, game-changing solutions to market and to investing in skills early on, to stay ahead of the curve. With the world on the verge of a new age of computing, Quantum Computers will soon be able to tackle issues that were previously unsolvable by traditional computers. Building a unified quantum computing business demands a concerted effort to grow the ecosystem across industries, which is what our partnership aims to do. The Quantum Computing Centre is another example of our dedication to fostering open innovation ecosystems to address the big problems of our time,” said Rohit Jayachandran, Senior Vice President and Head of Strategic Accounts, Mphasis.

The centre will work in alignment with the goals of the government and harness the computational technology for traffic management, vehicle routing, financial services portfolio, and social network analysis. The confluence of machine learning and quantum simulation & modelling will be utilized for supply chain demand prediction, anomaly detection, drug development, human mobility modelling, cybersecurity, and climate modelling.

Mphasis is at the forefront of leveraging the power of quantum computing in solving complex business problems in areas such as machine learning, optimization, and simulation problems. As a pioneer in delivering AI/ML solutions, Mphasis foresee quantum computing as a major driver in solving clients’ business problems. Mphasis EON (Energy Optimized Network) quantum computing framework is a patent-pending framework that overcomes the limitations of quantum computing systems not being able to work on varied input datasets. It consists of Quantum assisted Machine Learning, Quantum Circuit and Deep neural network layers.

ARTH, a micro MSME fintech, has raised $2.5 million in a funding round led by DEG, MIT alumni and US and Canadian angel investors. The fresh fund will be used to expand the suite of financial services being offered to ultimately be a single-point platform for micro MSMEs. It will also be used for strengthening the technical capabilities and building robust risk management systems to meet the scale requirements.

"ARTH is on a mission to engage, support and service millions of capital-starved underserved entrepreneurs through a well-balanced data-driven phydigital distribution model that works for the segment. At ARTH, we are trying to bring this refreshing change in financial services approach to being a proactive financing partner to the micro MSME," said Shweta Aprameya, founder, ARTH.

The company currently provides well-priced working capital, embedded insurance and income-generating payment services through its financial services platform specially designed for micro MSMEs. The company claimed that it has already facilitated 3,50,000 credit and insurance across India, out of whom are new to formal credit. The company plans to scale to 1 million nano and micro-business owners through its phydigital model.

"ARTH has already shown a strong track record as a young startup with a strong business and good governance. We are delighted to support the leadership to take this mission forward and impact the success of micro MSMEs and the lives of their owners in India," said Petra Kotte, Head of DEG's division of banking and German business.

"ARTH team has some impressive accomplishments during the pandemic with various foundations and impact agencies to support the customers. Shweta has the right blend of business and technology acumen supported by an impact-driven purpose and I am happy to support her and ARTH team in this journey," said Brian. J. Bailey, a US-based fintech executive and investor.

Founded in 2018 by Shweta Aprameya, ARTH enables access to affordable financial services and livelihood support for the last-mile unbanked and underserved micro MSME. Its unique data and distribution model is well placed to offer credit, payment, insurance and welfare support to micro-entrepreneurs in local markets. ARTH aims to become the provider of choice in financial services for its customer segment.

Small business working capital startup Factris secured 10 million euros in funding from NN Investment Partners, a Goldman Sachs-owned asset manager.

Headquartered in Amsterdam and co-founded in 2017 by Brice Laurent and board advisor Marcel Meijer, the FinTech offers capital to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe, Silicon Canals reported on Thursday (June 9).

The startup aims to offer personalized guidance to SMEs when providing affordable capital and relies on factoring as its primary form of financing. In factoring, Factris gets SMEs money instantly on unpaid invoices instead of having to wait a month or longer for the invoice to be settled. Factris charges a percentage of the invoice for its fee.

Factris expanded into Poland and Belgium in the first quarter of this year and works with SMEs in five countries in the European Union (EU).

“With all of the problems European SMEs face, Factris is proud to be part of the solution. Thanks to more funding, we can increase capacity and offer alternative financing to new markets and more businesses — all to help sustain and grow EU businesses,” Factris CEO Brian Reaves told Silicon Canals.

Factoring is a faster way for SMEs to keep the necessary cash flow on tap when compared to applying for a small business loan, Factris said.

The startup posted double-digit growth over the past year and grew its portfolio by 41% this year compared to 2021. The firm also has 32% more customers now than it did last year, according to the report.

In April, Factris partnered with pan-European integrated payments and mobility platform Eurowag. Targeting the commercial road transport sector, the companies will offer Eurowag Cash to help transport and logistics companies finance invoices, according to a press release.