Welcome to Thursday 20 January’s edition of The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup. Today brings news of a leadership reshuffle at HyperJar and funding success for Tabby.
Partnerships
Payment and remittances company Tempo France has partnered with Cyprus-based fintech company Armenotech. The agreement provides for collaboration in a wide spectrum of business ventures, ranging from joint participation in international remittance projects to innovative products in the payment market.
Haven Technologies, the cloud-based quote-to-claim insurtech platform, is partnering with the GraceKennedy Financial Group (GKFG) to offer the insurer’s Creditor Life products on its core insurance platform. Once Phase 1 work is completed, the partnership will turn to focus on the implementation of GraceKennedy’s Creditor Life products in additional countries and the implementation of new products.
BMCI, the Moroccan subsidiary of the French bank BNP Paribas, has teamed up with online marketplace Autochek Group Maroc. With this partnership, Moroccans can ‘access the financing they need’ to purchase their used vehicles via the KIFAL Auto platform, and without needing to enter a physical bank branch.
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) has partnered with innovation platform, Plug and Play, to call on ambitious startups and entrepreneurs around the world to join the seventh Elevator Pitch Competition 2023 (EPiC 2023), one of the biggest pitch events in Hong Kong. The final entry deadline for the competition has also been extended to 20 January 2023.
TPAY, a payments company for the META region, has unveiled a strategic partnership with TOD, a MENA streaming platform. The partnership lets TOD customers use their mobile numbers to pay for its sports and entertainment content.
More partnerships
Currencycloud has partnered with UK-based venture capital platform Vauban, to enable the platform to be more accessible and permit global investors to launch and run their special purpose vehicles (SPVs) both easily and instantly. By integrating Currencycloud’s APIs into its platform, Vauban can deliver SPVs and funds in hours rather than weeks or month.
There’s also a strategic partnership for Flooid and FreedomPay. Powered by FreedomPay, Flooid lets merchants connect their retail channels, removing barriers between online and in-store payments. FreedomPay’s data-driven commerce platform grants merchants access to analytics and a business intelligence platform.
IMPT announces €50million 10-year deal to purchase carbon credits from Thallo. Thallo will supply credits for IMPT’s platform to connect retail brands with socially conscious consumers seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. The agreement with IMPT represents the first use of Thallo’s ‘bridging-as-a-service’ offering, which lets Web3 companies integrate carbon credits directly into their own infrastructure.
AI solutions developer Axyon has joined forces with fintech C8 Technologies, a fintech company that has developed a global platform where customers have access to a marketplace with strategies and can trade underlying assets directly via their own broker. Following the partnership, a wide selection of Axyon AI’s model strategies is now available via C8 Studio.
Coincover, the digital asset protection technology company, has teamed up with Fireblocks, a platform to create products on the blockchain and manage day-to-day crypto operations. The partnership provides Fireblocks customers with a secure alternative for key backup and disaster recovery to ensure that users have access to and are in control of their assets at all times.
Funding
Stockholm-based Anyfin, the scaleup that enables consumers to refinance existing loans, has completed a €30million Series C funding round. The capital will fuel the growth of its business across Europe, as well as helping Anyfin to strengthen its product suite in existing Europe markets.
Tabby, the MENA shopping and financial services app, has raised $58million from Sequoia Capital India, STV and PayPal Ventures, Mubadala Investment Capital, Arbor Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst in a Series C round which values the company at $660million. The fundraise will be used to expand Tabby’s product line into next-gen consumer financial services and support the company’s growing operations. This round also makes Tabby the first in the GCC to receive funding from PayPal Ventures.
Company updates
Discover® Global Network, the payments brand of Discover®, has launched Tap and Pay solutions with transit agencies and local acquiring partners including EMT Madrid, Metro de Seville and GetNet in Spain, Mennica in Poland and New Taipei Metro in Taiwan. Riders can use their Discover, Diners Club International® and network alliance partner cards to make contactless payments at these transit agencies.
MANGOPAY, the platform-specific payment infrastructure provider, is celebrating more than 35 per cent growth in 2022. Total 2022 transaction value totalled over €11.3billion. It also revealed other achievements including adding nearly one new customer per working day and adding100 new hires.
WeLab Bank, a bank in Hong Kong, has launched a Tesla-dedicated loan with zero per cent APR for selected Tesla owners and staff from selected organisations across Hong Kong. Eligible customers will also enjoy bonus offers including free supercharging. The offer is the latest joint-effort between the Bank and Tesla after announcing a strategic partnership last December.
Jumio, a provider of automated, end-to-end identity proofing, risk assessment and eKYC solutions, has revealed a ‘record-breaking close to a successful 2022’. Jumio became the first identity company to clear more than $200million in bookings. Q4 also saw Jumio close both the largest new deal and the largest total deal in its company history.
HPS, a provider of payment solutions and services, has opened a new office in Singapore to support the business’ continued growth in Asia. The Group’s new office will enable HPS to welcome more than 80 colleagues in support of the continuous HPS’ business in the region.
Appointments
Allfunds, a B2B wealthtech platform for the funds industry, has appointed Tom Wooders as UK country head. Prior to Allfunds, he was group head of sales at Titan Wealth with responsibility for business development. Allfunds hailed Wooders’ ‘invaluable’ knowledge and contacts as it aims to enhance its proposition.
There also new hires for RSA Insurance, as it plans for technological transformation. Sally Ng is appointed specialty & commercial delivery director, while Katie Hermans is named head of technology risk management. Their appointments are in addition to those of Matt Lockie and Toby Harris, who joined in late 2022. RSA has a five-year transformation roadmap.
UAE-based open finance platform Fintech Galaxy hires Turki AlAhmed to lead its operations in Bahrain as country manager. Also joining Fintech Galaxy is Sara Al Zeera as compliance and anti-money laundry officer. Fintech Galaxy recently secured licensing as an account information service provider with the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB).
Money20/20, the global fintech show, appoints Ken Gibbs as its new editor-in-chief. Gibbs has also previously worked at ViacomCBS, BET Networks, Aol Time Warner and Prime Video. Prior to this new role, Gibbs also served as global head of social media marketing at Spotify.
More job moves
BR-DGE, the payment orchestration provider, has revealed changes to its senior management team. Founder Brian Coburn is to lead product development in CSO role, while CFO Thomas Gillan becomes CEO to oversee BR-DGE’s next phase of growth. It has also hired Mark Whybrow to forge new relationships with players across the retail sector. BR-DGE also plans release its network tokenisation offering as a standalone product early this year.
BrokerTec, a provider of electronic trading platforms, has revealed three new hires, following strong growth in 2022. Jamie O’Hara joins as a director based in New York to support the dealer-to-client venue, BrokerTec Quote, in the US. Sammie Hodgson joins the team in London as a director in the repo business, while London-based Luke Negal joins as a senior director, government bonds.
Dr Luke Carrivick is appointed executive director at ORX, the operational risk association. He has been a member of ORX’s executive team since 2016, leading the research and information department prior to this new role as deputy executive director.
Rob Rooney is named HyperJar’s new CEO three months after joining its board. He was previously at Morgan Stanley for 32 years. Founders Paul Rolles and Mat Megens will move into new roles as architect, business and architect, consumer, respectively. Scott Davies, a board member of the money-saving platform since January 2019, becomes chairman.
Acquistions
Abacus Group, a provider of hosted IT services and solutions to alternative investment firms, has acquired two boutique cybersecurity consulting companies, Gotham Security and its parent company, GoVanguard. Gotham Security, as the new business will be known, will be a subsidiary of Abacus Group but continue to operate independently.
