The Fintech Times News Roundup
Fintech Industry Roundups Trending

This Week in Fintech: TFT Bi-Weekly News Roundup 11/01

The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Tuesday sees credit card provider Keebo work with Experian to tackle financial inclusion. While, Allica Bank becomes the APPG’s latest associate member. 

Partnerships

EML Payments backs fintech REPX‘s partnership with the Italian football team AS Roma with prepaid cards. The general purpose reloadable virtual and physical cards for Roma fans includes behind-the-scenes privilege experiences.

B2B rebate management SaaS provider Enable has entered into an exclusive partnership with IDEA (Industry Data Exchange Association), the electrical industry-owned data syndication provider. With constantly updated product data available from IDEA Connector, organisations can create, track, and execute rebate agreements instantly and with no data migration.

Global AI-powered credit decisioning disruptor Scienaptic AI says Advantage One Credit Union has chosen its AI-based underwriting platform to complement its lending process and make advanced loan decisions. The deployment of Scienaptic’s AI-powered loan decisioning platform will further the company’s reach throughout Michigan.

Songwriter and artist Ross Golan has teamed up with Terra Virtua, the digital collectibles plaform, to turn his The Wrong Man muscial into the world’s first non-fungible token (NFT) musical. Limited edition NFTs, including music, graphics and film, will be available to buy in coming weeks.

Golan The Wrong Man
Golan’s The Wrong Man becomes the first NFT musical
Additional partnerships

CNNB Solutions, an e-commerce and direct-to-consumer specialist in MENA, has announced an exclusive partnership with global beauty brand IT Cosmetics. IT Cosmetics has selected CNNB Solutions to handle multiple operational areas for its e-commerce and e-distribution requirements.

AscendEX, the global cryptocurrency platform, has joined forces with SuperAlgos in order to offer unique algo-trading capabilities for its community. Through the partnership, Superalgos will bring the exchange’s users its arsenal of trading automation tools, enabling them to deploy sophisticated trading systems.

Meanwhile, challenger credit card provider Keebo has joined forces with Experian. Drawing on Experian’s credit risk, affordability, and compliance services, Keebo conducts robust credit decisioning and affordability checks. Experian’s categorisation technology also helps Keebo leverage the power of open banking data for credit decisioning to help customers gain access to credit.

Finally, global fintech NIUM announces a partnership with Alchemy Pay (ACH), a fiat-cryptocurrency gateway solutions provider. Alchemy Pay will leverage NIUM’s global coverage in 190+ countries and territories. In addition, NIUM has 11 licences in regions, which will enable Alchemy Pay to extend its reach into key financial markets.

Job moves

interactive investor, the UK direct-to-consumer investment platform, has appointed Camilla Esmund as PR manager. Esmund joins from the Investment Association (IA), where she worked as communications executive within the corporate affairs function. She will help to identify key research and campaign initiatives, as well as broadcast PR.

Peter Marton is the new virtual currency chief for the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Marton He joins NYDFS after more than six years at IBM-owned Promontary Financial Group, where he most recently led the digital assets practice.

Meanwhile, LMAX Group, an operator of institutional execution venues for FX and crypto currency trading, has appointed Sean Cleary as head of liquidity management and analytics for Americas. Cleary will oversee liquidity and analytics across the LMAX Group product suite for all clients in the Americas. In addition, he will have an integral role in devising and executing the Group’s institutional FX growth strategy in the region.

SmartSearch, the anti-money laundering specialist, hires Guy Harrison as CEO. He will drive SmartSearch’s strategic plan to build additional growth. Last year, the company increased its team from 117 to 168 to cope with demand. Meanwhile, SmartSearch’s current CEO and founder John Dobson will remain as a non-executive director.

Guy Harrison
SmartSearch names Guy Harrison as CEO
More job moves

Paddle, the payments infrastructure provider for software-as-a-service companies, has appointed software marketing veteran Andrew Davies as chief marketing officer. Davies joins from digital experience platform Optimizely where he served as VP corporate marketing. Paddle has also launched its ‘Navigate’ working policy, letting any employee to work 45 days a year abroad, in partnership with Airbnb.

Appian Capital Advisory LLP, the investment advisor to private equity funds for mining companies, unveils Danny Malchuk as a senior advisor in Chile. He will provide guidance during the sourcing, due diligence and execution process, with a focus on the Americas.

Meanwhile, payments firm BlueSnap has expanded its sales and partnership team with Chris McNulty and Brent Godfrey. McNulty leads global sales wh ileGodfrey oversees global partner sales. With the addition, BlueSnap says it is well-positioned to expand on its ‘remarkable success over the next few years and beyond’.

Finally, Eduardo Gramuglia Pallavicino joins Luxembourg fintech Next Gate Tech as chief revenue officer. He will be responsible for taking on the responsiblity for driving and aligning all revenue-related aspects of the company.

Launches

Fineon Exchange unveils its new Broker Module, enabling trade finance intermediaries to source and close trade finance deals more efficiently. The digital, one-stop-shop solution provides trade finance brokers, advisors and consultants with access to a wide pool of funders. It also identifies the bankability of deals through its matchmaking capabilities.

Data provider Uplinq Financial Technologies has launched its service to customers and sales partners worldwide. The startup promises to revolutionise the credit evaluation process for small business lenders. The system analyses billions of unique and validated data signals.

Meanwhile, Reality Gaming Group is launching the third sale of its ‘Founders Token’ high-utility NFTs for the officially licensed Doctor Who: Worlds Apart digital trading card game. The Founders Tokens grant a wide variety of features to the holder, including free airdrops, guaranteed free card packs during new set launches, and a sitewide 20 per cent discount on all card packs.

Doctor Who

Company updates

Digivault, the digital asset custody business within EQONEX Limited, has achieved a 30-fold increase in assets under custody in 2021. Digivault now supports more than 50 digital assets including BTC, ETH, BCH, DOT and XRP.

Allica Bank has become the latest challenger to join the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Challenger Banks and Building Societies. The APPG is a cross-party group of MPs and Peers that seeks to inform parliamentarians about challenger banks and building societies, and the issues and challenges facing them – as well as to promote competition and diversity within the banking sector.

Funding updates and investments

Sygnum Series B raises $90million in a Series B led by Sun Hung Kai & Co. Other significant co-investors in the round include Canadian investment firm Meta Investments. The round gives the digital asset group firm a post-money valuation of $800million. Proceeds will accelerate the development of new institutional-grade Web 3.0 offerings. It will also drive expansion into new global markets and the international distribution of products with new strategic investors.

Ankorstore, the European B2B marketplace, has reached unicorn status with a valuation of €1.75billion. The marketplace has secured a Series C funding round of €250million. Ankorstore has seen a 950 per cent growth and has gathered 200,000 retailers and 15,000 brands across Europe in two years.

Meanwhile, Bonaccord Capital Partners has invested in Park Square Capital, a European credit investment firm. The investment will have no impact on the day-to-day management or operations of Park Square and is non-voting, which means the firm’s investment and decision-making processes will remain unchanged.

iProov has secured $70million investment from Silicon Valley funder Sumeru. iProov will use the new capital to rapidly build on its leadership in the US and expand its international customer base. It will also accelerate the growth of its global partner network.

FashionRESPONSIBLE, the embedded finance platform in fashion, has raised a $6.6million round of investment capital. Led by Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital and Techstart Ventures, participants also included Rafał Brzoska and Sarah Friar. It will use the funding to expand its reach throughout Europe as well as extend its network of brand partnerships.

Payments firm DIGIDOE has enjoyed more than £850,000 from new investors. The funding was led by investment firm Joint Journey. The company offers biometrics-based payments to merchants without the presence of a card or phone.

Mergers, acquisitions and rebrands

The regtech platform acarda has been fully integrated into the product portfolio of LPA, the capital markets technology and advisory firm. It will operate under the new name Capmatix Regulations. The rebrand follows the acarda acquisition by LPA in 2019.

Delta Capita has snapped up JDX Consulting. Delta Capita is the financial services division of Prytek and this acquisition is part of the committed $500million allocation of capital to accelerate the build and deployment of the ‘one bank’ infrastructure platform.

Bitcoin Latinum has announced the acquisition of cyberyachts.com in partnership with recording artist Quavo of Migos. Cyber Yachts will consist of NFT collections totaling 888 extraordinary yachts, and will be exclusively offered on the UnicoNFT marketplace for sale in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Latinum. Included in the collections are the Quavo branded Cyber Yachts.

bitcoin latinum

Finally, ParentPay, the UK provider of school payment and parental engagement services, has acquired BlueRunner, a meal ordering solutions provider. The deal expands ParentPay’s reach into the hospitality and corporate catering markets in the UK. The deal also extends ParentPay’s platform with additional functionality for meal ordering in primary schools as well as rewards, loyalty and hospitality booking for schools and tertiary education institutions.

Author

  • Claire is an experienced editor and writer with 25 years of experience in the publishing industry. As a tech journalist, Claire has covered every subject possible over the years, from the launch of broadband and next generation mobile networks to the arrival of the metaverse and Web3.

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