The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup brings you the latest fintech news from around the world on Thursday 7 April 2022.
Job appointments
Fintech Nucleus Commercial Finance has expanded its growth and acquisitions team with the appointment of Nigel Hibbert as sales director. He will drive continued expansion of the growth and acquisitions strategy, aiding the procurement and delivery of transactional based deals for UK businesses of all sizes.
Australian digital expense platform DiviPay names Damon Hauenstein as its new chief financial officer. He was most recently a director of Citi’s global investment banking team. DiviPay says Hauenstein will play a key role in its evaluation of funding options to capitalise on recent momentum and unlock the next stage of growth.
Reassured, the UK’s largest life insurance broker, has appointed Simon Towndrow as its new head of digital product. Towndrow joins from Hero, the social shopping platform acquired by Klarna in 2021, where he worked as director of performance. He is the third senior hire to the company in as many months.
David Briggs joins digital bank Tandem as managing director of its car finance division. He is the first senior appointment to Tandem’s executive committee following its acquisition of consumer lender Oplo in January. Tandem intends to broaden and develop its product offering across a range of consumer lending products.
Meanwhile, Paynetics, the e-money services provider, has appointed Andy Patton as its new chief commercial officer. He is responsible for developing and implementing breakthrough go-to-market strategies and accelerating growth. He joins Paynetics from Nets-Nexi.
More job moves
Neobank Tonik has named Manoj Varghese as chief people officer. Varghese will spearhead the continuous growth and cultural integration of the Southeast Asian fintech company. Tonik said his mission includes working with its diverse teams as it ramps up accelerating financial inclusiosn in the Philippines.
Taulia, a leading provider of working capital management solutions, has announced the promotion of Bob Glotfelty to chief growth officer. He previously served as Taulia’s VP of Growth. Now he is also responsible for overseeing Taulia’s growth plans since being acquired by SAP. Glotfelty will also be in charge of growing Taulia’s full suite of services in China.
MoneeMint appoints Kevin Guy as group chief operating officer. MoneeMint has revealed plans to take over the ethical banking market through offering innovative products and services to the UK, Europe and the GCC. He previously worked at RBS and Natwest Group.
Kimberly Cassady is the new chief people officer for MX, the open finance firm. Cassady will serve on the company’s executive leadership team overseeing the people and culture teams following a year of tremendous growth. Most recently, Cassady was chief talent officer at Cornerstone OnDemand for 10 years.
Fintech Phos has named Chris Haincock as its new chief operating officer. He will optimise the customer journey, set the product roadmap, as well as create and expand the company’s project and operations support function. Haincock has also previously worked at Visa and Elavon.
Finally, Miguel Traquina jons iProov. The biometric face authentication technology firm has appointed Traquina as chief information officer. Prior to joining iProov, he was chief information officer at Santander UK and began his career with Accenture.
Mergers and acquisitions
Gupshup, a conversational engagement firm, has acquired Active.Ai, the conversational AI platform used by banks and fintech firms. The acquisition strengthens Gupshup’s customer experience solutions. The acquisition intends to bring advanced omnichannel engagement across messaging, voice and video to enterprise customers.
Funding and investments
Vested Finance, the online investment platform that enables Indian investors to invest in the US stock market, has raised $12million in Series A funding. Ayon Capital led the round while the company received continued support from existing investors Tenoneten, Ovo Fund, Wedbush Ventures, IPV and Upscale. New investors including 9Unicorns have also come on board.
Book Salon, the Finnish payment and booking service provider, has closed a €3million funding round led by Joint Effects. Previous investor Big Bets VC also participated in the round. The funding will be used for European expansion with the first targets being the Nordics, UK, Ireland, Spain and Italy.
Meanwhile, Timeline has successfully raised £6million of Series A financing to fund its rapid new business growth. The round was led by MTech Capital, withFNZ also taking part. Timeline’s focus is on lowering the cost of financial advice and investment.
RockX, a crypto staking provider, has completed a $6million Series A funding round. The funding round was led by Amber Group, with others including Matrixport and Primitive Ventures taking part. RockX will use the funds to enhance its product and service offerings, as well as grow its team.
Finally, Uplinq has raised $3.5million in a pre-seed funding round led by N49P and Surface Ventures. The business will use the investment to further its commitment to help banks and lenders deliver financial inclusion for their small business customers across the globe.
Partnerships
NatWest Group partners with Bottomline to reduce payment fraud. NatWest Group has adopted Bottomline’s Confirmation of Payee (CoP) solution to service their Agency Institutions in the fight against authorised push payment fraud (APP) across the UK.
FintechOS, a global technology provider for financial services companies, and Salt Edge, which offers open banking and secure customer authentication solutions, have unveiled a partnership to enable financial institutions, banks and EMIs improve both the speed and quality of their regulatory compliance with the PSD2.
Bright Moments, the traveling NFT gallery, has named Coinbase Wallet as its preferred wallet partner. By joining forces with Coinbase Wallet, Bright Moments will enable opportunities for both seasoned collectors and NFT newcomers to mint and purchase NFTs.
