Welcome to The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Tuesday 31 January
Mergers and acquisitions
Card issuing platform Marqeta has agreed to acquire credit card program management platform Power Finance. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023. Power’s platform offers program management services for companies creating new credit card programmes. As part of the acquisition, Power Finance CEO Randy Fernando will lead product management of Marqeta’s credit card platform.
Job moves
Invoice finance provider Bibby Financial Services has appointed Martin King as head corporate sales, strategy and partnerships. King joins from BOOST&Co, where he developed growth and venture debt funding for SMEs. Prior to this, he held senior ABL roles with Lloyds Bank and NatWest Group.
Arabesque AI has named Dr Carolina Minio Paluello as its new CEO and to the group’s executive committee. Dr Minio Paluello will lead the roll-out of the company’s AI-powered portfolio management service. The platform is the second release from Arabesque, following the launch of ESG Book in 2021. She joins from Schroders.
Global Processing Services (GPS) appoints Jim McCarthy as executive vice president – global head of sales and product. While Kevin Fox is named the company’s new chief revenue officer. McCarthy will lead GPS’ global commercial and product teams in close collaboration with Fox on sales acceleration.
There’s more news for Marqeta as it appoints Simon Khalaf as its new CEO. Khalaf will also join Marqeta’s board of directors. Jason Gardner, Marqeta’s founder, chairman, and current CEO, will become executive chairman. Khalaf joined Marqeta in June of 2022 as chief product officer. Alongside Khalaf’s appointment, Todd Pollak joins the company as chief revenue officer.
Insurtech Send Technology Solutions Ltd has hired its first chief people officer Pat Caldwell, following a 2022 Series A funding round. Caldwell has oversight of all recruitment, talent development and employee experience. He is also a non-executive director and board member at social enterprise ImpactEd.
Paymentology, a global issuer-processor, appoints Nadia Benaissa as global head of marketing, and member of its leadership team. She will also spearhead the company’s continued expansion across the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.
Additional appointments
Smart Data Foundry has unveiled its inaugural board. Joining chair Dame Julia Unwin and CEO Frank Gauld is Zachery Anderson, chief data officer at NatWest Group, and Professor Kim Graham, Provost, University of Edinburgh. Also joining is Stephen Ingledew OBE, chair, FinTech Scotland and Fiona Duncan, independent strategic advisor, the Promise and Professor Chris Speed, director, Edinburgh Futures Institute.
Cryptocurrency-based fintech services group SG Veteris appoints Meryem Habibi as chief revenue officer. Habibi will oversee the group’s global revenue generating functions and is also responsible for the growth strategy, performance and alignment of its revenue-generation operations.
ECOMMPAY hires Moshe Winegarten as chief revenue officer. Winegarten joins to scale the company’s robust and innovative products. Most recently, he was senior vice president of sales at Checkout.com.
ECOMMPAY is currently enhancing its open banking offering and exploring the latest payment options from BNPL to crypto.
Monica Long is named president of global crypto and blockchain payments exchange Ripple. Long previously held the position of general manager at the exchange. She joined Ripple a decade ago as one of the first 10 employees within the companies marketing and communications function.
The Wall Street Technology Association (WSTA) has announced Ken DeGiglio, chief information officer EquiLend, as 2023 WSTA president. He has served on the WSTA board since 2017, his most recent position as 1st vice president.
Built Technologies, a real estate software providers in the US, hires James Chen as CTO. Under Chen’s leadership, Built will continue to accelerate its development of innovative solutions for construction and real estate stakeholders as they build and manage the world around us.
Partnerships
Asset management firm Liontrust has entrusted fintech business Defaqto to provide risk profiling for its range of investment solutions. Defaqto’s investment experts conduct risk assessments, quantitative and qualitative portfolio reviews, and analysis of ESG policies across the UK market of retail funds and discretionary MPS portfolios.
Router Protocol, an infrastructure layer enabling communication between blockchains, has partnered with FXDX, a decentralised on-chain derivative exchange, to power its cross-chain launch on Optimism. Going live on Optimism marks a significant step in FXDX’s multi-chain expansion – a growth strategy that will propel trading volumes and bring new users to the dApp.
Grasshopper Bank has joined forces with MANTL, a provider of account origination solutions. Through this partnership, Grasshopper Bank will leverage commercial deposit origination by MANTL. The bank will also collaborate with MANTL to build a fully-automated business online loan origination solution from the ground up, which is currently in development.
Tech services firm SLK Software has teamed up with AI company V-Labs and US insurance provider CNA Insurance. Together they will deploy an enterprise-wide AI and ML-led solution to accelerate CNA’s intake process for new business submissions, claims, and other critical business processes.
CellPoint Digital, a payment orchestration company, has partnered with Akwaaba, a multinational food, grocery and household goods retailer. By leveraging CellPoint Digital’s payment orchestration solution, Akwaaba can optimise existing operations and make its global scaling plans a reality.
FIS is to power real-time payment transactions for Singapore’s first digitally-native bank, Trust Bank. This cloud native solution will let Trust scale payments volumes as the bank continues to grow its business. Trust is backed by a partnership between Standard Chartered Bank and FairPrice Group.
Additional partnerships
ResClub, an investment company from Florida, has selected Velmie to launch a new investment platform for providing fund management, payments and crypto exchange services for ResClub members. ResClub is looking to build the new platform on top of Velmie banking software utilising the available modules and components for fast-track go-to-market with the new product offering.
Identity verification startup iDenfy has revealed a new partnership with Finora Bank, the Lithuania-based financial service provider. With iDenfy’s IDV and AML solutions, Finora Bank will automate compliance and secure the customer onboarding process.
Zorion has chosen WealthOS as its strategic back and middle office technology partner. WealthOS will support Zorion’s expansion plans to push out its mobile platform in Malaysia, Bahrain and thereafter, expand into the UK.
Regtech startup Amlyze has teamed up with Ondato, a KYC and AML compliance company. They say the pairing will streamline KYC and AML procedures, assuring the highest standard of financial crime prevention. In addition to the cooperation in the acquisition of new customers, AMLYZE and Ondato’s partnership will also include working together to build new AML/CFT and KYC solutions.
Funding and investment
Inscribe, the fraud detection and document automation platform, has raised $25million in Series B funding to help companies build digital trust by pioneering risk intelligence. The round was led by Threshold Ventures and joined by existing investors Crosslink Capital, Foundry and Uncork Capital, as well as angel investors. It brings the total raised to $38million.
Hatchfi, a crypto integration platform, has launched out of funding with $1.2million in funding. The round was led by Golden.com CEO Jude Gomilla, Delta Blockchain Fund, OrangeDAO, as well as other angel investors. The funds were used for development and early access launch.
DailyPay has secured $260million of capital to fuel growth domestically, expand internationally and further invest in product innovation. The funding is divided between revolving credit facility capacity provided by Barclays and Angelo Gordon, and new term loan funding from SVB Capital and a fund managed by Neuberger Berman.
Sunstone Credit, a clean energy financing platform, has announced an oversubscribed $20million Series A funding round. The round was led by an affiliated fund of Greenbacker Capital Management LLC, which provides flexible capital and best-in-class guidance for growth-stage clean energy companies.
