The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Tuesday brings you the latest fintech updates from around the world.
Company updates
SH Payments, a provider of tier one banking and payments services, has officially joined the CENTROlink payments system in order to give its clients access to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). CENTROlink, which is operated by the Bank of Lithuania, will allow SH Payments to clear SEPA payments via the European Banking Authority (EBA) clearing without using a correspondent bank.
FintechOS has announced it is an accredited fintech for PwC and Microsoft’s digital banking solution, designed to empower financial institutions to innovate, adapt and modernise. The FintechOS platform playing a key role in the provision of banking and investment, customer management, and integration and orchestration services.
Cryptocurrency app OKX has acquired a substantial land holding in Everdome, the hyper-realistic metaverse, marking its first foray into the metaverse. OKX will work with the Everdome team to bring their partners and others into the metaverse to design unique cultural programming and innovative experiences that ‘surprise and delight’.
Partnerships
Payments technology company Mastercard and travel website Musafir have partnered to beef up bookings originating in the Middle East and North Africa. The partnership will digitise end-to-end payment flows and launch new payment products with travel benefits to both consumers and corporates. Musafir.com says it is the UAE’s first online travel agency.
Fintech startup Grey has launched a service to East Africa starting with Kenya in partnership with Cellulant. Its products, including foreign bank accounts, instant currency exchange and international money transfers, are now available to Kenyan residents who sign up on Grey.
Meanwhile, crypto wallet MetaMask has unveiled a strategic partnership with Asset Reality, an end-to-end solution for recovering, managing, and accessing seized crypto and complex assets. Through this partnership, MetaMask and Asset Reality will be helping victims of scams recover their digital assets where possible.
Northern Arc has entered a strategic partnership with Indian Bank to leverage synergies and offer customer-centric financial solutions to retail borrowers. The partnership will enable Indian Bank to access Northern Arc’s n-POS platform, which helps NBFCs, fintech, digital lenders, and investors co-lend to retail borrowers.
Alquity, the investment manager, has teamed up with Haven Green Capital Partners, the multi boutique focused on sustainability. The agreement will give investors wider access to Alquity’s ESG and impact funds through Haven Green. It will focus on institutional investors and with geographical coverage across the Nordics, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Latin America. In the Benelux and UK, the Haven Green and Alquity teams will also work alongside each other.
Job moves
Bitfinex Securities, the tokenised securities trading platform of Bitfinex, has appointed Jesse Knutson as head of operations. Knutson will be responsible for expanding the platform’s issuance pipeline, oversee distribution, build out its user base and work with regulators.
Cashplus Bank appoints Tatiana Lipiyaynen as chief customer & marketing officer (CCMO). She was most recently sales and marketing director at Virgin Money Investments. She will also take responsibility for customer experience, UX and design strategy.
Mollie, the European payment service provider, has named Koen Köppen as its new CTO. Prior to Mollie, he spent more than a decade at Klarna. Köppen will be tasked with accelerating technological innovation to enhance Mollie’s existing and future products and services.
Muse Finance, the business finance startup, has hired Darren Ross as its head of embedded risk. Ross will be responsible for spearheading Muse’s risk underwriting as well as the implementation of embedded financing products.
Meanwhile, TradeSun has hired Bhumish Shah as CTO as the company continues its rapid global expansion. He joins TradeSun from banking leader JPMorgan where he was most recently executive director for more than a decade, with a focus on financial and cloud-based solutions across banking.
Finally, Kore Labs has announced Vincent Cambonie as CFO. Cambonie was most recently a partner and goup CFO of Embark Group. He will help Kore build on its significant growth in the past 18 months, and further strengthens the leadership team.
Funding news
Berlin-based fintech Mondu has unveiled a $43million Series A round led by US-based venture capital fund Valar Ventures. The funding will enable Mondu to scale its BNPL for B2B solution for merchants and marketplaces by investing in its product and customer acquisition. Mondu also plans to expand into more European countries later this year, starting with Austria this summer.
Kroo has raised £26million in a funding round that saw more than 60 per cent of investors reinvest. This round of investments will assist the neo bank with further growth and development including recruitment, expansion and social causes.
Babel Finance, a wholesale crypto financial services provider, has completed a $80million Series B financing round at a valuation of $2billion. The main investors in this round include Jeneration Capital and 10T Holdings, as well as existing shareholders Dragonfly Capital and BAI Capital. The firm has also opened a new office in Singapore and applied for licences in Hong Kong, Luxembourg and the UK.
Viola Credit, an alternative credit asset manager, has closed Viola Credit Alternative Lending Income Fund II (ALF II) with $700million of investable capital including its flagship fund and related managed accounts. ALF II will follow the strategy of its prior vintage and will provide minimally dilutive asset-based lending capital solutions to emerging and established global fintech, proptech and insurtech companies.
