Delve into The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Tuesday 11 July 2023 for the latest appointments, partnerships as well as funding news.
Industry hires
International investment bank DC Advisory appoints Mark Litz as managing director joining its technology and software team in London. Litz has over 20 years’ M&A, private equity and strategic transaction experience and was previously EMEA head of fintech IB at Citigroup. Prior to that, he also held positions at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Bear Stearns.
Fintech Gresham Technologies has named Geneva Loader as chief marketing officer. Before joining Gresham, Loader worked at organisations including Bain & Company, WPP and Omnicom Media Group. She is responsible for leading all aspects of Gresham’s marketing efforts, including brand development, customer acquisition and retention, digital marketing, product positioning and market research.
GoCardless, the bank payment company, has appointed Franck Cohen as the chair of its board. His previous roles include EMEA president and global chief commercial officer at SAP. Cohen also serves as the chairman of the Board of CYE, a cybersecurity company in Israel, and acts as an advisor to UIPath an d Workday.
Dave Inc, a US neobank, adds Yadin Rozov to its board of directors. Rozov is also the founder and managing partner of Terrace Edge Ventures LLC. He will support the company in navigating the public financial markets and investor relations. Separately, Tesa Aragones will depart Dave’s board at the start of August.
Global personal finance and fintech comparison site Finder has revealed its UK CEO, Jon Ostler, has also been appointed CEO of Finder’s US operations. Ostler started his career in military intelligence before spending 20 years founding several digital marketing and online businesses.
Additional job moves
Mashreq has announced Hassan Ali will lead its internal audit group. In his new role, Hassan will spearhead Mashreq’s strategic and tactical internal audit objectives. He previously worked at Dubai Islamic Bank and Noor Bank. In his new role, Ali is responsible for providing assurance on the effectiveness of internal audit.
OPPO appoints Chi Zhou as the global technology brand’s president for the Middle East and Africa region. Zhou is responsible for spearheading OPPO’s sales, product, and market development strategies to ensure the brand’s continued success and growth in the region.
The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) board has elected T. Dessa Glasser of Financial Risk Group Inc, as its new chair. Glasser succeeds Steven A. Joachim. Three new non-executive directors include Folarin Alayande, VP of Mastercard, Angela Kyermaten-Jimoh, strategic partnerships lead at Microsoft and Luis Felipe Monterio, CEO of Cateno Payments.
London-based fintech Silverbird hires Stu Bailey as chief product officer. Bailey, previously CPO at Currencycloud, is responsible for scaling Silverbird’s infrastructure as it grows internationally. Silverbird’s banking services cover 200 countries, with a specific focus on collaborating with exporters and importers.
Pyrpose, a platform which lets consumers invest in climate solutions, has welcomed Glisten Cieslak and Rishi Bhattacharya, experts in marketing, partnerships and communication, to its advisory board. They join ahead of Pyrpose’s MVP launch targeted for the third quarter this year. It also follows its recent fundraise, with a seed round opening in a few weeks.
Tarabut Gateway, an open banking platform in MENA, appoints Tariq Sanad as its new chief financial officer. He joins from Pure Harvest Smart Farms, where he served as CFO since 2020. Sanad was also among the first 100 team members at Careem, the first unicorn and super-app in the MENA region, where he served as the CMO & VP of finance.
Funding and investments
Intelligent logistics platform Raft has completed a Series B funding round, raising $30million. The funding round was led by Eight Roads with participation also from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Episode 1 and Dynamo Ventures, as well as Moguntia Capital. The fresh capital infusion will increase development and deployment of Raft’s core automation products.
Solaris SE, a European embedded finance platform, has announced the €38million first close of its Series F round, led by existing investors. Solaris will use the funds primarily to strengthen governance and compliance and lay the foundation for the company’s next phase of growth. In addition, chief operating officer Chloé Mayenobe is leaving the company on 31 July but the position will ‘not be refilled’.
Fintech Clair has raised $175million in funding to launch a consumer lending programme backed by an FDIC-insured bank. The new program provides for a participation amount of up to $150million, which allows front-line workers to take wage advances from Pathward. The funding includes an additional $25million in equity in a round led by Thrive Capital. Upfront Ventures and Kairos also participated.
Partnerships
Global branded payments provider Blackhawk Network (BHN) has expanded its relationship with European branded payments company Recharge.com. The announcement builds on Recharge.com and BHN’s existing collaboration in Europe. In the US and Canada, BHN will also now offer leading e-gift and virtual prepaid card brands in Recharge.com’s digital marketplace.
Financial wellbeing platform Claro Wellbeing and pay solutions firm CloudPay have forged a new partnership to provide financial wellbeing and education via the CloudPay NOW app. Claro Wellbeing is providing financial content to CloudPay to give users of the app additional wellbeing support as well as money-related advice.
Grow Finance partners with Pismo to issue new Mastercard credit card for small businesses in Australia. Grow has chosen Pismo’s all-in-one, public cloud-native financial services platform to support its card-issuing operation. The Grow Mastercard credit card will be available from September.
The Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK) has announced a contract agreement with Mambu, the cloud banking platform, and Knowit, a Stockholm-based digital consultancy. The partnership aims to modernise SPK’s housing loan solution, allowing the institution to build a flexible, user-friendly, and complete component-based banking offering.
Meanwhile, AXA Hong Kong and Macau has collaborated with CoverGo, the no-code insurance SaaS core platform. AXA will use its platform for general insurance related products, to increase its speed to market and improve customer experience, achieving optimal efficiency.
More partnerships
Specialist insurer Hiscox has signed a partnership deal with digital platform and distribution solutions provider IS2. This latest contract renewal is an extension of a 10-year long relationship between the pair. IS2 will deliver a multi-channel digital roadmap for the schemes insurer that will reduce the cost of its distribution and increase the efficiency of its schemes.
Nexi, the European paytech, and German e-commerce provider Shopware, have also agreed to expand their collaboration. Nexi’s payment capabilities and local presence will help Shopware further scale its business and also leverage a wide offering of local payment methods.
Product updates
Citi has launched a new platform, CitiDirect Commercial Banking, specifically to address the needs of Citi Commercial Bank (CCB) clients. It provides clients with a 360° consolidated view of their Citi banking relationship across Cash, Loans, Trade, FX, Servicing and Onboarding.
