The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Thursday 13 July 2023 brings you the latest news from around the world.
Funding and investments
Alma Health, a digital healthcare provider supporting individuals living with chronic conditions, bags a $10million Series A funding round. This funding will enable Alma Health to accelerate its growth in Saudi Arabia, enter new markets and hire new talent. The round was led by Knuru Capital and Hambro Perks Oryx Fund, with participation also from e& Capital, S3 Ventures, Pinnacle Capital and Khwarizmi Ventures.
SaaS operations platform Zluri has secured a $20million funding round. The round was led by Lightspeed, with participation also from existing investors including MassMutual Ventures, Endiya Partners and Kalaari Capital. With the new funding, Zluri will expand generative AI capabilities in enterprise SaaSOps with CoPilot, an intelligent assistant to boost efficiency and productivity across enterprises using no-code workflows.
ESG self assessment platform ESG Bay has raised £135,000 in pre-seed investment from investors on the FundMyPitch platform. The funds will be used to drive expansion plans as well as bolster headcount by 50 per cent. The investment was led by Bigspace Investments Ltd as well as a number of angel investors, raising 180 per cent of ESG Bay’s initial £75,000 funding target.
MerQube, a pioneer in technology for next generation index-linked investing, announces $22million in a Series B funding round. was led by Intel Capital with participation from new investor Allianz Life Ventures, and existing investors Citi, J.P. Morgan, Laurion Capital Management and UBS. In conjunction with the financing, David R. Mueller, Intel Capital Investment Director, will join MerQube’s board of directors.
Partnerships
Convera, the US global B2B payments provider, has selected Temenos Payments Hub running in the Temenos Cloud to modernise its payments infrastructure. Temenos offers a single platform across all banking verticals, fintechs, and associated business segments including payments and core banking.
Paynovate, a provider of digital payment solutions, announces that its services are now available in France, thanks to a partnership with LACPS (La Centrale de Paiement Sécurisé), the first transaction broker in France. LACPS, which covers the South of France, will offer a range of Paynovate solutions to bakeries, pharmacies, tobacco shops, restaurants and hotels.
Managed networks and IT provider Evolve can now support card transaction routing via BT Cardway. By directly interfacing with BT Cardway, Evolve can now offer its customers across the UK and Europe payment traffic routing with the UK payment routing service provider.
Global issuer-processor Paymentology has expanded its current partnership with TrueMoney, the Southeast Asian e-payment services and financial services provider. Strengthening the alliance between TrueMoney, Paymentology, Google and Mastercard, Google Wallet users can now add a TrueMoney Mastercard to pay with Google Wallet.
Insurtech Send has partnered with ACORD Solutions Group (ASG), the digital solutions provider subsidiary of global insurance standards-setting body ACORD, to create a frictionless underwriting process for Lloyd’s and London Market customers. Send is utilising ADEPT (ACORD Data Exchange Platform and Translator) via API to enable standardised communication from placing platforms in the insurance ecosystem.
finova, the cloud-based mortgage and savings software provider, has teamed up with Leeds Building Society. finova’s Apprivo² core banking originations platform will help Leeds Building Society with its limited company buy to let offering. It leverages interfaces to Valuations (Quest) and CRA & EID (Experian) for credit scoring rules and identification checks as well as payment card services (Barclaycard).
Appointments
Finnovating, the AI-based deal-matching platform, has appointed Nick Cabrera as head of ecosystems and partnerships for the UK. He is responsible for driving the company’s growth in this strategic market, as well as contributing to the consolidation of Finnovating’s growing UK presence, fostering the growth of an ecosystem to facilitate partnerships, fund raises and collaboration with corporations and investors.
WTW has revealed Punil Chaubal will lead its activity with insurers as its UK insurance investment advisory proposition leader. He first joined WTW in June 2022. Prior to that Chaubal led EY’s non-life capital and sustainable finance initiatives. His new role follows a number of senior hires in 2023 for WTW’s insurance investment solutions offering.
Nortal, a multinational strategic change and technology company, has appointed Thomas Hedley as managing director to expand the company’s global capabilities in the UK. Hedley will oversee the establishment and growth of the UK arm, which is already home to Nortal’s cyber consulting team, supporting Nortal’s customers globally.
Finery Markets, a multi-dealer electronic marketplace for crypto businesses and institutions, appoints Stanislav Bublik as chief product officer. He was previously head of trading products at Exness. Bublik will play a pivotal role in shaping Finery Markets’ product strategy and enhancing its offerings.
BKN301 Group, a fintech offering banking-as-a-service solutions in high-growth markets with a strong focus on North Africa and the Middle East, appoints Mahesh Paolini-Subramanya as its new CTO. Paolini-Subramanya will be responsible for the development of the BKN301 platform and solutions, ensuring global process vision and capability.
Liminal, a provider of wallet infrastructure and custody solutions, appoints Manhar Garegrat as the country head, India and global partnerships. Garegat will contribute to Liminal’s mission of providing secure and compliant custody solutions to enterprises and crypto-native organisations.
Mergers and acquisitions
Nexus has completion of its acquisition of Evolve, a California-headquartered cyber-MGA. This is the 17th acquisition for Nexus since its formation in 2008 and marks an expansion into the fast-growing specialist cyber class of business. Evolve’s distribution network and experienced team of cyber experts will complement Nexus’s existing technology-enabled data driven underwriting.
