Welcome to The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Tuesday 15 August 2023.
Funding and investments
Berlin-based insurtech startup SureIn has closed a €4million seed round. The funding round was led by Pact VC. The funding will help further develop the SureIn platform and improve product automation across the lifecycle. It will also help expand the range of insurance products to healthcare and pension in existing and new verticals.
Homely, the free-to-access digital platform which aims to create a fairer property market for homebuyers and renters, has received its first strategic pre-seed investment, at a valuation in the double-digit millions, from UST, a leading digital transformation solutions company.
Appointments
Fintech Paytrix appoints Joe Redmond as CEO for Paytrix Ireland. Redmond oversees Paytrix Ireland’s programme of licence acquisition and regional expansion. Paytrix Ireland has also hired Esther Espina as chief risk officer and Phillip Halford as head of internal audit to support Redmond in executing his plans.
BlackDice has appointed Paul Jenkins to the newly created role of chief information security officer. Jenkins previously played a key role in the formation of BlackDice in 2019 as co-founder. He has returned to the business to focus on the next stage of growth in a combined role as CISO and data protection officer.
K1x, the data distribution platform for alternative investments reporting, has added former IRS commissioner Charles ‘Chuck’ Rettig to its board of directors. Rettig’s extensive tax law experience supports K1x efforts to digitise and streamline the complex and labour-intensive IRS tax compliance requirements for alternative investments, which are expected to total at least $17trillion by 2025.
CloudPay, the global employee pay provider, appoints Roland Folz as CEO. He joins CloudPay from Solaris SE. In his new role, Folz will lead CloudPay into the next phase of profitable growth following the expansion of the company in recent years. Folz previously senior leadership roles across various corporate and high-growth organisations including Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Telecom and Mercedes Benz Bank.
On-demand insurance platform INSHUR names Chris Wells as president of its fully owned third-party administrator (TPA), Genoteq Claims Investigations. Before joining INSHUR, Wells served as the head of claim operations and consulting at Munich Re.
Partnerships
noqodi has broadened its collaboration with Network International, the enabler of digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. Network will empower noqodi’s various existing payment channels, including e-commerce, POS, and SoftPOS, to accept card payments, as it looks to support new unbanked segments and sectors such as retail and commerce.
Tabit, a B2B BNPL solution provider powered by Merchant Growth, and Jifiti, a multinational embedded lending company, have teamed up to serve B2B merchants in the Canadian market. The solution is powered by Jifiti’s robust embedded lending platform and white-labeled for the merchant.
Manchester-based customer engagement technology provider MaxContact has forged a partnership with Marston Holdings, a solutions provider in corporate debt recovery. Marston Holdings is implementing the MaxContact solution company-wide across all of its brands, as the company continues to grow.
Checkout finance platform Deko partner to provide checkout finance solutions for merchants with Aero Commerce. Among the checkout finance capabilities available through this partnership, Aero has directly integrated Deko’s Newpay product, a digital credit account, that improves conversion rates and encourages repeat spending.
Kani Payments, the global data reconciliation and reporting company, has teamed up with Earthchain, an API-powered digital carbon marketplace, enabling Kani Payments’ clients to show their customers the real-time carbon footprint associated with every purchase they make at checkout.
Company updates
Temenos has earned the Trusted Cloud Provider trustmark from the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) dedicated to defining and certifying best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. CSA assists customers including financial institutions in identifying cloud providers that demonstrate their commitment to holistic security and are aligned with their individual security requirements.
Recharge, a prepaid payments provider, is entering the B2B sector with a pilot service enabling corporations to procure from a wide selection of branded products, and incentivise and reward employees. The pilot service will enable businesses to achieve cost savings during corporate gifting while minimising their environmental footprint.
