The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup brings investment success stories for Shield and Buckzy Payments, plus a new sales director for Tuum.
Funding and investment
Buckzy Payments, a Canadian real-time cross-border payments network, has bagged $14.5million in Series A financing from new and existing investors. It plans to use the funding to enter new geographies and support the expansion of its product offerings. The financing was led by Mistral Venture Partners and Uncorrelated Ventures, with participation also from Luge Capital and Blue 9 Capital.
Teampay, the all-in-one-purchasing platform, has raised $47million in a Series B funding led by existing investor Fin Venture Capital. Mastercard, Proof Ventures, Trestle and Espresso Capital also supported the oversubscribed round, bringing Teampay’s total funding to $65million. In addition, Teampay will expand its partnership with Mastercard to accelerate its go-to-market strategy.
Israel’s Shield has secured a $20 million Series B financing round. Led by Macquarie Capital and joined by UBS through its venture and innovation unit UBS Next, Mindset Ventures as well as OurCrowd. It follows a $15million Series A round in early 2022. It will use the funds to further grow in existing markets and expand into new ones, including the US. The firm is also opening its second R&D facility in Lisbon, Portugal.
Job appointments
Cloud banking solutions provider nCino has appointed William (Bill) Spruill to its board of directors. Spruill is the co-founder and former CEO of Global Data Consortium (GDC), an electronic identity verification firm. He joins as the company plans to scale globally.
Defaqto, a financial information, ratings and fintech business, has appointed Glenn Porter as its new chief commercial officer. He will lead the development of its insight and data-led services to help people make smarter financial decisions. Steve Lomax also joined the company as chief operating officer earlier this year.
IDnow, the European identity proofing platform provider, has appointed Jason Tucker-Feltham as its head of crypto sales. He is also the committee chairman at Crypto Club Global. He will be responsible for IDnow’s go-to-market crypto strategy.
Tuum, the core banking platform, has named Giorgio Daher as UK sales director. The appointment is part of the company’s wider strategy to support strong demand for its technology in the UK , including the opening of a new office in London. Tuum was formerly known as Modularbank but rebranded last September.
Company updates
Cambrist’s data processing platform has now processed over $1billion in issuer cross border payment transactions since the platform’s official launch in 2019. Its platform is used by banks and fintechs to deliver advanced back-office efficiencies associated with currency wallets, card scheme settlement, reconciliation and reporting for debit and credit card programmes.
MANGOPAY acquires Nethone to provide platforms and marketplaces with dedicated anti-fraud solutions. As part of Advent International’s investment, MANGOPAY acquires fraud detection and prevention company Nethone to provide platforms with a holistic payments and risk management solution.
Kriya – the new name for MarketFinance – has unveiled the company’s new brand and also appoints a new board chairman and two other board members. Michael Woodburn becomes Kriya’s new board chairman. Also joining Michael on Kriya’s board are Luke Griffiths and Myles Dawson.
Partnerships
Nefta, the Web3 technology platform, has announced a new partnership with VIKER, a blockchain gaming studio with a growing portfolio of play-and-earn mobile games. Nefta will provide its end-to-end Web3 technology to VIKER in order to facilitate deeper blockchain integration in its current and upcoming games.
Paysafe, a payments platform, has partnered with travel brand Virgin Voyages. Paysafe will ensure travelers can quickly and securely pay online for their next cruise with the company. It also means Virgin Voyages can accept payments in multiple currencies besides the US dollar.
Visa and GoHenry expand successful partnership in the UK to help children across the world gain confidence with money and finances. Visa becomes the exclusive network partner for GoHenry’s prepaid cards for kids and teens in the US, UK and Europe.
Mbanq, a US banking-as-a-service provider, has expanded its relationship with Temenos to accelerate BaaS adoption in the US. The agreement deepens the companies’ collaboration following last year’s launch of a joint credit union as-a-service offering. Temenos has also made a minority investment in Mbanq.
Pyramid Analytics, the intelligence platform provider, has announced new partnerships with Datazed Associates, Data Reply and Digital Data Consultancy. Partners get access to the Pyramid Decision Intelligence Platform, an innovative augmented analytics platform.
