In this Valentine’s Day edition of The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup, we bring you the latest partnerships and job moves.
Appointments
Sprint legend Usain Bolt has joined cryptocurrency casino Gamdom as a brand ambassador. The appointment of the Jamaican sports star follows the news that Gamdom has grown its user base to 10 million global customers.
Durlston Partners, a talent advisory firm specialising in technology, quantitative finance and data science, has appointed Meraj Bahram as managing partner. He is responsible for accelerating the firm’s global expansion. Bahram takes over from founder Vax Bahram, who has stepped down to focus on his other business interests.
VeUP is planning to hire 40 fulltime staff this year and has opened offices in the UK and the US. VeUP, a global technology consultancy, provides bespoke services to independent software vendors working in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) ecosystem. James Campanini is named CEO. Campanini previously served as head of channels and alliances, UK&I at AWS, and will oversee the company’s expansion.
Global identity verification provider ID-Pal appoints Tim Murphy as its new independent chairperson. Murphy has sat on the board as a non-executive member since 2017. His current position is principal director at mergers and acquisitions advisory firm, Guacamole Partners Limited.
SCRYPT, the Swiss-licensed company offering a single point of access into digital assets for institutions, hires Marc Wäckerlin as chief technology officer. Most recently, he was CTO and executive director at Swiss crypto bank Sygnum Bank AG.
Infinicept, a provider of embedded payments, has appointed Anne-Jeanette LeBell as the company’s chief technology officer. In this newly created role, LeBell is responsible for developing and delivering on Infinicept’s technology strategy to support ongoing growth. Prior to joining Infinicept, she was the co-founder of fintech BankShift.
Partnerships
Baker Hill, a financial technology provider delivering solutions for loan origination, risk management, and analytics, has expanded its partnership with Union Bank of Vermont & New Hampshire. The bank has upgraded to Baker Hill NextGen, a unified solution that streamlines loan origination and portfolio monitoring.
US venture capital firm Pelion Venture Partners has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Greenstone Equity Partners, a capital raising firm in the Middle East. The objective is to broaden Pelion’s GCC investor base as it raises capital for two funds, Pelion Ventures VIII, and Pelion Olympus Fund I.
Paysend, the UK-based fintech, has forged a commercial partnership with Purpl, the Lebanese remittance and cash out platform. Through this partnership Lebanese people can “connect and support their family, friends and loved ones through quicker, more affordable and more secure money transfers”.
Brokerage GCEX has partnered with Komainu. The partnership will enhance GCEX’s offering of regulated custodians to its institutional and professional clients. Komainu currently supports custody for 34 native blockchains and 5,700 tokens. Assets are fully segregated from both those of Komainu and of other Komainu clients.
Wirex, a crypto payments platform, has signed a long-term strategic global partnership with payments company network Visa. This includes becoming a member of Visa in APAC and the UK to allow Wirex to directly issue crypto-enabled debit and prepaid cards themselves to over 40 countries. The agreement will also support further collaboration in major markets, including APAC, UK, Europe and the USA.
LMS, the UK conveyancer and panel management company, has teamed up with Tandem Bank, which becomes the 34th lender to join LMS Panel Link. LMS will deliver a fully vetted, secure panel of conveyancing firms that meets Tandem’s exact requirements, across England and Wales.
Funding and investments
Fintech Omnio raises €12million in advance of planned merger with Nordiska and Swiss Bankers. Following the merger, the group also intends to list its shares on a recognised stock exchange within the next 12 months. Omnio has completed a €9million equity funding but will keep the round open for selected investors, targeting a total of €12million.
Landytech, the company behind leading investment reporting platform Sesame, has secured $12million in Series B funding. The raise is led by Aquiline Technology Growth with additional investment from existing investor Adelie Capital. The funding will accelerate Landytech’s growth, as the company expands internationally, as well as support its product development.
Company updates
Paysera, a fintech company that processes payments in e-shops, has acquired a 1.5 MW solar park in the southwest of Lithuania and a 600 kW wind farm on the park’s territory. The alternative energy generated there will fully supply electricity to Paysera’s offices in Vilnius, Kaunas, and Alytus, with the majority of the energy going to the national electricity grid.
