The Fintech Times News Roundup
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This Week in Fintech: TFT Bi-Weekly News Roundup 29/03

The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup brings you the latest partnerships, funding success stories and job appointments. 

Collaborations and partnerships

Apollo Fintech is using ThetaRay’s anti-money laundering solution to monitor global cross-border payments on its new Knox Wire service. Knox Wire is a bank-to-bank communication system that enables financial institutions to offer their clients cross-border payments to 200+ countries in 150 currencies. ThetaRay analyses SWIFT traffic, risk indicators and client/payer/payee data to detect anomalies.

Crypto.com has partnered with Cardlytics to provide up to 10 per cent additional rewards for Crypto.com Visa cardholders in the US. The partnership gives cardholders access to rewards at retailers, including brands such as Adidas, Costco and H&M. According to a study, 75 per cent of Crypto.com customers want to purchase goods and services with cryptocurrency.

EML‘s open banking business partners with Praxis Tech. Praxis’ integration with Nuapay’s proprietary open banking technology and instant cardless payment solutions will be available to all of Praxis’ European customers. Nuapay has added to its existing payment service providers network, including Worldpay, Visa’s CyberSource as well as Nuvei.

Financial services company Lemonade Finance has partnered with Currencycloud to offer immigrants and businesses a ‘more streamlined experience; when sending money home to Africa. Lemonade’s customers can now hold multiple currencies but also settle to Lemonade Finance who then make onward payments to local African-based partners like Flutterwave.

Terra Virtua, the sustainable metaverse and digital collectibles platform, is launching Terra Virtua Studios. Terra Virtua Studios will develop new games, alongside first-party and third-party publisher partnerships. A partnership with Stainless Games will begin with the development of an action/puzzler game for PC and mobile.

Choco Up, the Asian revenue-based financing and growth platform, has forged a partnership with B2B wholesale marketplace Peeba. Through the partnership, Choco Up will provide a $10million funding facility to enable the ‘sell first, pay later’ payment option for retailers on Peeba’s platform.

Insight and research

Nearly two-thirds of US renters prefer to receive reimbursements, such as security deposits, via digital methods, according to corporate disbursements platform Onbe. Forty-one per cent would also be willing to pay a convenience fee for immediate access. Despite the growing trend towards faster payments, half of surveyed tenants still receive their security deposits via paper cheques.

E-commerce SMEs plan significant growth, with 90 per cent going international, but poor integration threatens progress reveals payment service provider Mollie. UK SMEs grew ecommerce revenues by more than a quarter in 2021; 70 per cent expect the same level of growth over the next three years, while 30 per cent anticipate higher growth.

Mollie
Mollie survey reveals eCommerce SMEs plan huge growth but poor integration threatens progress.
Company updates

Moneycorp Americas, a payments services provider, is now a FX liquidity provider for digital asset exchanges around the world. According to Moneycorp, the new vertical will help supply forex liquidity rails to DAX providers around the world with competitive FX rates and better settlement times than traditional banks.

MillTechFX, the fintech affiliate of Millennium Global Investments, has expanded into Europe following the success of its multi-bank foreign exchange marketplace in the UK and North America.The firm has selected Paris for its European hub after receiving regulatory approval.

Payments platform ZNAP, which offers up to 50 per cent cashbacks on 300 plus partner merchants, is offering double cashback at partner restaurants during the Holy month of Ramadan. Double cashback is valid on dine-in Ala carte and Iftar Menus at all partner restaurants on ZNAP.

Znap

Funding and investments

Crypto Raiders, a dungeon crawler role-playing game built on the blockchain that rewards players with NFTs, secures $6million in funding. Investors include DeFiance Capital and Delphi Digital who co-lead the round. GuildFi, Merit Circle, Three Arrows Capital, Yield Guild Games and others also participated. It will use the funding to bring in new game features.

Orka, a SaaS business that provides tech-based solutions for shift workers, has secured £3million investment from Praetura Ventures. The business will use the funding to support people – such as cleaners, engineers and security staff – seeking shift work by helping them to source job opportunities, onboard with new employers and get paid.

Meanwhile, Sprout has raised $3million in an early funding round. The funds will be used to power the company’s next stage of development, including the launch of Folium, its new token management platform. Backers include Sequoia Capital India, Sovereign’s Capital, NDN2 Vision Fund and Firsthand Capital.

Dapio, the cashless payment solutions provider for businesses, has raised $3.4million in growth funding to fuel the launch of its ‘Tap to Pay’ solution for Android users in the UK and Europe. The funding was led by Flutterwave alongside Techstars, PactVC and Daniel Gould of Asymmetry Ventures.

Dapio

Further funding news

Brazil-based fintech a55 closed its first USDC/BRZ debt operation to fund companies based on their recurring revenue data. The startup also closed a $17million series B funding round in 2021, backed by Mouro Capital and Movile. The new venture uses alternative data as collateral to unlock capital through the blockchain.

Seedbox Technologies, the wealth management platform providing, has announced a $6million investment by new investors SBI VENTURES and Philippine Equity Partners. The new funding will support Seedbox’s rapid growth. It will also allow the company to scale its operations with investments in upgrading its technology platform, enhancing its product suite, and expanding its team.

Launches

Allstar Business Solutions, the fuel expenses payment provider, has launched Allstar Homecharge, simplifying at-home EV charging for fleet operators and drivers. Powered by Mina, the new solution provides businesses with full visibility of home charging across fleets, with all EV charging costs coming through on one consolidated invoice. It also mitigates driver expense and administration headaches as payments are made directly to the energy supplier.

Job moves

MENA cashback shopping service WaffarX announces Kevin Johnson as its new chairman. Johnson was previously CEO of Ebates Inc, an e-commerce marketplace and global cashback platform. His appointment follows WaffarX’s multi-million dollar fund raise in December 2021.

PayZen, a fintech startup tackling healthcare affordability in the US, names Chiranjib Gupta as the company’s first chief risk officer. Gupta was formerly head of data science for Marcus by Goldman Sachs for their card and personal loan products. He’ll be helping to build PayZen’s high-end ML capabilities and managing credit risk to provide affordable medical bill payment options to more patients.

Michael Power
Michael Power

Scottish fintech Guiide appoints Michael Power as non-exec chairman. He previously founded and scaled up Delta Financial Systems before its sale in 2020 to ASX-listed Bravura Solutions. He will help scale the existing Guiide, Guiide.dc and Guiide.db product offerings.

James Cowen has joined insurtech firm Humn as chief commercial officer. He will take charge of organising strategic partnerships and company expansion, while maintaining a strong ‘across the board’ position in terms of capacity planning and fundraising. Humn recently acquired Walsingham Motor Insurance to further develop Humn’s four-year-old data-led platform .

Digital identity firm Signicat has announced new hires to its management team fueling Signicat’s international focus. Pinar Alpay joins Signicat as chief product officer, while Thijs Vink is promoted to chief Central and Southern Europe. Finally, Arne Vidar Haug is appointed to chief global solutions and Atul Randev is promoted to chief of M&A and strategy.

Igloo, the Southeast Asia focused insurtech firm, names Wilson Tseng as its new chief business officer. Tseng is responsible for driving Igloo’s commercial strategy, expanding partnerships with business and insurer partners, as well as identifying and developing new growth opportunities and revenue streams.

2C2P strengthens local leadership team in Indonesia. The payments platform has appointed Muhammad Arifin Adi Nugroho as Indonesia’s Country Head while Mira Tania is named partnership director. They are expected to further and localise the company’s sales, product and network capabilities in the archipelago.

Mergers and acquisitions

Medius, a provider of accounts payable automation solutions, has snapped up OnPay Solutions, an invoice payments provider.. The deal will enable Medius to integrate payment processing directly into its source-to-pay platform. This enhances its customers’ operational efficiency and strengthens their anomaly, fraud and risk detection capabilities.

Author

  • Claire is an experienced editor and writer with 25 years of experience in the publishing industry. As a tech journalist, Claire has covered every subject possible over the years, from the launch of broadband and next generation mobile networks to the arrival of the metaverse and Web3.

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