The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Tuesday 2nd of August sees Snoop raise £15million in Series A funding, and the Technology Innovation Institute appoint a new CEO.
Appointments
Blockchain Association Singapore (BAS) has announced the appointment of Mr Richard Teng, former CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), as a member of its Advisory Board. On his appointment, Teng said, “It is a privilege to join the Advisory Board of Blockchain Association Singapore. I look forward to providing strategic guidance to the BAS in promoting education, exchange of ideas, and thought leadership in the areas of blockchain and digital assets.”
Technology Innovation Institute (TII) have announced Dr Ray O. Johnson as Chief Executive Officer. Dr Johnson will work on shaping the strategic direction of the Institute and lead the execution of its growth strategies to achieve operational excellence.
Drata, a security and compliance automation company, has announced the appointment of Ross Hosman as Chief Information Security Officer. In his new role, Hosman will be responsible for leading and growing Drata’s security program, as well as providing industry expertise and guidance to the company’s current and prospective customers.
Goal Group, the global fintech in withholding tax reclamation and securities class action recovery services, has announced the appointment of industry stalwart Bryan Gray as Brand Ambassador for its APAC region. Gray will help Goal Group’s local team strengthen relationships, build new ones and ensure that they are meeting service delivery expectations across the region.
Following the announcement of its £7million seed funding, Weavr add three new faces to its executive team: Dave Joyce as COO, Daniel Greiller as chief commercial officer, and Regina Lau as chief financial officer.
Two new senior additions have taken place at Neocova‘s leadership team alongside a new board member: Aldo Pietropaolo has joined as chief solutions officer (CSO), Dino Pietropaolo has joined as chief technology officer (CTO), and Barbara Piette has been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors.
Adv. Anat Bernstein-Reich will head India-Israel Investment Banking and Business Development at BDO Israel.
Partnerships
Amadeus, the travel platform, has partnered with travel app Hopper, to deploy the company’s fintech products as part of Hopper’s B2B initiative, Hopper Cloud. This partnership will allow for any travel provider with access to the Amadeus’ platform to integrate and distribute Hopper’s fintech solutions.
Meanwhile, Bring Global, a business digital transformation company, and Zafin, the SaaS cloud-native product and pricing solutions for financial institutions (FI), announced a partnership to provide FIs immediate access to solutions and provide services that enable them to manage their products in a central catalogue and offer personalised customer journeys.
Democrance, the UAE-born InsurTech startup, has entered a partnership with MetLife as part of the global insurer’s commitment to simplifying interactions with customers through innovation and digitisation. The partnership will offer MetLife customers easy access to its wide range of targeted critical illness, accident, and health insurance retail solutions via their mobile devices.
Funding Rounds and Investments
Rapyd, a global Fintech as a Service company, announced a $300million Series E funding round led by Target Global. The funds will be used to capitalise on emerging opportunities driven by the unprecedented demand for Digital Payments, Embedded Finance, and scalable cloud-based payment infrastructure across all segments and verticals, and will be used to accelerate the company’s growth.
Paulson & Co. Inc. (“Paulson”) led Snoop‘s latest funding round as the open banking platform secured £15million in Series A funding, giving the business a post-money valuation of £47million. Snoop will be putting some of the funds towards international expansion as well as being used to continue to scale rapidly, fund product and distribution development and extension.
Yazeed Alrajhi and Brothers Holdings and Riyad Fintech Fund, the fintech venture fund backed by Riyad Bank, led KSA-based Islamic P2P lending marketplace, Forus Capital‘s Series A funding round in which an undisclosed amount was raised. Forus Capital intend on utilising the funds to further develop its technology innovation to help bridge funding gaps for small and medium-sized businesses (SME) in Saudi Arabia, expand its market share, and diversify its array of offerings.
A Qatar-based Fintech startup, Spendwisor, has raised $1million in a pre-seed funding round. The company aim to use this to accelerate the development and expansion of the platform and further grow its operations and team to cover new markets in Qatar.
Announcements and launches
In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch e-RUPI, a cashless and contactless instrument for digital payments. It acts as an e-voucher based on a QR code or SMS string, which is delivered to the mobile phones of the beneficiaries. The one-time payment mechanism of e-RUPI will allow users to redeem the voucher without a card, digital payments app or internet banking access, at the service provider.
Jo Bamford, green pioneer and owner of Wrightbus, has launched a unique asset finance company, FUZE, to get more zero-emission buses on the roads. FUZE will design, deliver and finance the seamless transition to a zero-emission fleet by offering funding on the vehicles, infrastructure, fuel – either hydrogen or electric – and a repair and maintenance package.
Eurotrader Group has accelerated its expansion with the addition of a new South African-licensed entity and the acquisition of a new domain. These major changes come as Eurotrader ramps up its creative efforts via a rebrand geared towards its millennial and younger audience. The rebrand has been launched via Eurotrader’s new domain, eurotrader.com, and the CySec-regulated eurotrader.eu domain.
noon.com, the region’s homegrown digital marketplace and Saudi e-tailer, has launched prepaid gift cards, powered by noon pay. Available in multiple denominations from 25 AED to 1,000 AED, the gift cards can be easily sent to recipients via message or email.
Klarna, the global retail bank, payments, and shopping service, has launched a new £3million Small Business Support Package to help British SMEs recover from the pandemic. The Support Package will provide 100 retail SMEs with access to much needed support across different elements of their business, from office space and customer acquisition to advertising support.
Additionally, Quantum Group has announced the expansion of its London offices to further support their next phase of growth. Locations in Victoria and Belgrave Square have been carefully selected to reflect each company’s identity and future growth plans, as Quantum Group and the companies within its portfolio return to offices after working from home.
Other News
In Oman, an announcement was made by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion which stated: With effect from January 1, 2022, all commercial transactions at select stores and business establishments will be cashless as part of the Omani government’s drive to promote electronic channels as the principal mode of payment – a key objective of the Oman 2040 Vision. The measure is seen as a big boost to Oman’s rapidly growing epayments and fintech sector, which has capitalised on the burgeoning e-commerce industry to gain traction in the local market. The fintech strategy has the potential to fuel, among other things, the roll-out of innovative banking and financial products, promote venture capitalism, drive entrepreneurship and employment generation, and spur economic development in general.
