The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup brings you a selection of the latest global fintech partnerships, job appointments and funding rounds.
Mergers, acquisitions and rebrands
Paymentology and Tutuka are merging to create a new payments and card processing firm. Operating under the Paymentology name, the merger gives banks and fintechs the technology, team and experience to issue and process Mastercard, Visa and UnionPay cards, across 49 countries. Rowan Brewer, previously CEO at Tutuka, will also take the helm as the new CEO.
Credit insurance and surety specialist Xenia Broking Group has acquired Peter Hill Credit & Financial Risks Limited. Peter Hill is a surety broker focusing on the construction sector. It is Xenia’s seventh acquisition in 2.5 years. The Peter Hill team led by Mark Davison and Dave Smith will continue to run the business post-transaction from its current offices.
Job moves
Allica Bank, the leading fintech SME challenger bank, announces the appointment of Emma Lane as head of client relationship management. She joins from Allied Irish Bank (GB) where she led their team of relationship managers in the South East. Prior to this, Lane also held a number of senior roles at Lloyds Banking Group.
D-MARKET Electronic Services & Trading (Hepsiburada), the Turkish e-commerce platform, has appointed Alexey Shevenkov as its chief technology officer. Meanwhile, current CTO Gürkan Coşkuner is now the company’s chief information officer. Shevenkov will play a key role in driving business performance and further differentiating customer experience.
Kalgera has expanded its senior team with the addition of Phil Sorrell as commercial director. He previously worked with SaaS cybersecurity startup CyberSmart and FinTech-Labs. Kalgera hopes Sorrell will deliver new opportunities to design innovative solutions to meet the needs of the financial sector.
Excellarate has announced Rob Howe as the company’s chief financial officer. Howe was most recently a financial consultant for several venture-and private-equity-backed portfolio companies. The digital transformation company also recently hired Vikram Bhalchandra, Lori Meyers and Jithendra Ganj.
Finitive, the data-driven private credit marketplace, has hired fintech veterans Steve Yampolsky as head of engineering and Chris Benjamin as principal software architect to drive growth and further the company’s mission to make private credit transactions fast, accessible and easy. Yampolsky previously led a team at BNY Mellon, while Benjamin worked at CRE Simple.
Eurowag, an integrated payments and mobility platform, has appointed Mittu Sridhara (previously SVP, technology) as chief operating officer. He will focus his efforts on driving Eurowag’s mission to become the technology leader in commercial mobility. The Group has also appointed former Prague Airport CEO Vaclav Rehor as chief performance officer.
More appointments
StrikeX, the blockchain technology company, has hired Rob Clark as interim chief technology officer. He will drive the launch of StrikeX Wallet and the TradeStrike platform, as well as implementing important updates to its decentralised exchange TradeStrike Lite.
TrueLayer, the open banking platform, has announced that Sebastian Tiesler has joined the firm as country manager for Germany. He will define and manage commercial strategy in Germany, alongside TrueLayer’s chief revenue officer Max Emilson.
Technology business veteran Jeff Dobo joins Lightico as senior vice president of sales, North America. Dobo is the latest in several significant talent acquisitions at the digital completion pioneer including Moti Gabay as vice president of global partnerships and alliances.
Company updates
Hong Kong digital asset exchange HKD.com, headquartered in Hong Kong, is expanding across Southeast Asia. It is currently preparing to apply for relevant Thai licences to achieve legal compliance. Plus it is also considering acquiring a local licensed exchange in Thailand to speed up the process.
Open banking provider Yolt is granted DNB licence, expanding its B2B offering across Europe. Through its PSD2 license from De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), Yolt can now independently conduct open banking activities, including payment initiation services (PIS) and account information services (AIS).
Global payments platform Transact365 has shifted its Asian headquarters to Singapore as it focuses on international expansion. Transact365’s business development and Asian management compliance teams will be based out of the new office, located at Singapore Land Tower. The company’s Asian office was previously in Hong Kong.
Funding round and investments
Fayre, a global NFT club for creators, brands and fans, has successfully raised $3.4million in private funding ahead of the upcoming launch of its platform. Fayre also recently joined the Outlier Ventures accelerator within the FileCoin Basecamp.
Nigerian fintech TradeDepot has raised $110million in a Series B funding round, with Royal Park Partners acting as financial advisor. The funding will accelerate TradeDepot’s expansion. Other investors included Novastar, Sahel Capital, CDC Group, Endeavor Catalyst, Partech and MSA Capital.
Enfuce, the next-gen card-as-a-service platform, raises €45million Series C round led by international investment firm Vitruvian Partners. The new capital will be used to further accelerate growth internationally as well as development of the company’s leading technology platform.
Launches
TripActions, the all-in-one travel, expense and corporate card solution, has launched TripActions LiquidTM in Europe. Through its partnership with Stripe, TripActions Liquid can now process cross-border payments in multiple currencies. The expansion increases TripActions’ ability to provide an end-to-end solution for global companies of all sizes.
GoHenry, a debit card and financial education app designed for children, unveils a direct deposit feature for working teenagers. It lets teens 14 and older have their paychecks deposited directly into their GoHenry account. GoHenry also recently introduced its Money Missions financial education in-app gamified platform.
Meanwhile MX, the financial data platform, says First Foundation Bank has gone live on the MXmobile platform for mobile banking. The new mobile platform, available on the Apple app Store and Google Play as FFB Mobile, will efficiently manage a user’s bank accounts and credit cards offering personalised insights
Partnerships
B2B cross border payment provider Verto has joined forces with Banking Circle to streamline international payments for its clients. Utilising the Banking Circle Virtual IBAN solution, alongside access to Banking Circle’s local payment rails, Verto is addressing the pain points of complicated pay-ins and cross border payments.
CoinFLEX and Bitcoin.com have announced a $30million strategic partnership. It brings CoinFLEX’s spot, derivatives and yield products to users of 25-plus million Bitcoin.com wallets – now live on Bitcoin.com Exchange. CoinFLEX’s yield products will also be directly integrated into the Bitcoin.com wallet.
UniTeller, the cross-border and remittance payments processor, has extended its remittance services to more customers in Asia Pacific by partnering with Tranglo. The partnership with Tranglo will let UniTeller further expand its services in 13 Asia Pacific markets including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Nepal. The collaboration also gives UniTeller access to RippleNet, the global financial network of Ripple.
Global payments company Elavon has partnered with Liberis to offer funding for SMEs in the UK. Through the partnership, Elavon’s customers can apply for Liberis’ business cash advance for personalised and convenient financing based on their projected sales.
DriveWealth partners with Hisa Technologies to expand access to investing and financial literacy in Kenya. The partnership empowers the Kenyan population to invest in fractional shares of US equities for the first time. It follows DriveWealth’s recent partnership with Chipper Cash which brought first-time access to investing in US equities in Uganda as well as Nigeria and South Africa.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem Hub71 has signed a new partnership with Sber, Russia’s largest commercial bank, providing services to more than 100 million customers and approximately one million enterprises and one of the largest digital ecosystem uniting 60+ companies in various industries.
More partnerships
US and Lithuania-based compliance platform A.ID establishes a partnership with Lithuania-based identity verification and proxy detection service provider iDenfy. The partnership will further enhance A.ID’s compliance as a service platform that is tailored for the higher risk segments of the financial market.
ACI Worldwide is extending its partnership with PayPoint to drive modernisation of its payments business. PayPoint will utilise ACI Acquiring, a secure and scalable solution, to deliver digital innovation and capabilities to accept both traditional and alternative payment methods.
Meanwhile, Mashreq has teamed up with Turtlemint, an insurance distribution platform, to create a unified and seamless platform for the bank’s insurance customers. The platform will digitally interact with all the insurance providers in Mashreq’s network through APIs built for MashreqPad and consumed by providers.
MX, the financial data platform, is partnering with Suncoast Credit Union, Florida’s largest credit union in both membership and assets. Suncoast has selected MX’s award-winning data enhancement platform, personal finance management, and MXinsights to help members proactively manage their finances and take action on recommended steps.
Credit app TotallyMoney announces new API integration with digital consumer lender Fintern. TotallyMoney’s pre-API filters and actionable insights lets Fintern optimise performance based on data-driven recommendations. Fintern also leverages open banking data and AI to analyse their customers’ transaction data.
Alif Bank has accomplished the first stage of its partnership with Visa with the issuing of debit and premium Visa cards for Tajikistani residents. Tajikistani fintech will be using the Visa payment network to roll out its suite of financial products and services over the coming years.
Research and insights
KPMG, a provider of audit, tax and advisory services in Saudi Arabia, has published the latest edition of its Banking Pulse quarterly report series, highlighting the latest developments in the Kingdom’s banking sector following the publishing of third-quarter 2021 financial results by Tadawul-listed banks. Saudi banks post sturdy interim results, without any single domestically significant credit default.
