Fintech
This Week in Fintech: TFT Bi-Weekly News Roundup 16/07
Welcome to The Times of Financial Technology Fortnightly press review for Tuesday 16 July 2024 with the latest news from around the world.
Appointments
CUBE, a UK regtech backed by Mercury, has welcomed new members to its board. Chelsea FC CEO Chris Jurasek joins as non-executive chairman, while Emma Brown joins the company as financial director. Stephane Besson joined the CUBE board earlier this year and continues to serve as a non-executive director. The CUBE board also includes the founder and CEO Well Richmondas well as Christopher Fielding AND Thomas Martin from CUBE investment partner Hg.
Allied Payment Networkprovider of real-time, open-network payment solutions for banks and credit unions, adds Hank Vanjaria as its new CFO. Most recently, Hank served as CFO at ApptegaB2B SaaS provider of cybersecurity and compliance solutions.
Redwood Bank has a mission to become the UK’s leading specialist high street bank and has promoted Mr. Taylor to the role of business development manager to support its growing business development offering across the East of England and East Midlands. Sam joined Redwood from Royal Bank of Scotland in 2020 and has more than eight years’ experience in secured lending and asset finance roles.
Capco, global management and technology consultancy, appoints Paul Riseborough as managing partner for Cooker hoodin the UK. Previously, he was a partner in Capco’s UK banking and payments practice, where he worked with clients to deliver solutions that help them achieve their growth and transformation goals. Based in London, Riseborough will also become a member of Capco’s global senior leadership team.
Accommodation paymentsa payment technology provider, has appointed Valentino Neiconi as Chief Risk Officer. Neiconi brings more than 15 years of risk and fraud management leadership experience to his new role. Most recently, Neiconi was responsible for North America risk and fraud management for Adyen. It is also part of Visa’executive risk council.
Other appointments
Cryptomatics welcomed Edmund Diaz as the new Sales Director for Southern Europe, Africa and Latin America. Prior to joining Cryptomathic, Diaz was the Sales Director for Europe, North Africa and Latin America for the cybersecurity solutions provider Ascesis.
Pied Piper DLA appointment Lorica Elferink as the new corporate director in South Africa. Elferink advises domestic and international clients on corporate, securities and governance matters. These include acquisitions, private takeovers, mergers and demergers, joint ventures, restructurings, listings and capital raisings. His experience spans the consumer goods, food and retail, insurance and financial services sectors.
SMEBa financial services and payments company dedicated to supporting small businesses, has appointed Mr. Dickson as Head of Payments. Having previously held senior product roles at Dedoco, Lalamove AND Your journeyDickson specializes in building and leading product teams, with a focus on global product development at startups.
BCB Groupa provider of corporate accounts and trading services for the digital asset economy, has welcomed Tim Renews as Chief Revenue Officer. He is responsible for leading and managing the company’s commercial functions, as well as executing the strategy for the expansion of BCB Group. Prior to joining BCB Group, Renew spent over four years at Banked, where he served as CEO APAC and CRO of the group.
Financing and Investments
Merged Enterprises, a VC firm that invests in high-growth technology companies, led the latest round in A dataa German software company, with a Series B extension totaling €32 million. HV Capital AND Venture Vsquared One Data intends to use this additional capital to strengthen its position in data product management, as well as to expand into new international markets.
Cubit, a geo-distributed cloud storage enabler, has closed its $12.5 million funding round. Local Globe AND ETF Partners co-led the fundraising. The new funding will enable Cubbit to grow CAPEX-free in Europe, focusing on the DACH and Francophone regions, as well as the UK. The round will also accelerate Cubbit’s adoption of the technology. Part of the funding will also go towards further strengthening the application ecosystem around Cubbit’s enabling technology to support vertical projects in various industries.
fundraiser, a fintech specializing in digital native fund operations, announces the successful initial closing of MiddleGame Enterprises‘ third Fintech Fund. The fund, which is targeting €150 million, leverages Fundcraft’s innovative digital platform to streamline operations and improve efficiency. MiddleGame Ventures used Fundcraft’s digital operations to achieve a seamless fundraising process.
According to a new analysis by HSBC Innovation Bank UK AND Trading Room. UK AI startups raised $2.1 billion in the first half of 2024 and are on track for a record year, with the sector set to raise $4.4 billion by the end of the year. Year-to-date, UK AI has surpassed a quarter of a trillion dollars in value and now represents 22 percent of the UK’s tech value, up from 12 percent in 2019.
More funding news
OCN (formerly OneCarNow), a fintech for the self-employed in America, announces an $86 million Series A funding round. Participating institutions include Capital of the Caravela (Brazil); Capital in Collision (United States); and Big Businesses of the North (USA) with the debt element provided by the new investor Group i80 – an investment firm based in New York. The proceeds will be used for strategic international expansion.
Pay, The fintech that provides a digital payroll and payments platform serving unbanked and underbanked workers in emerging markets, has closed a $13.5 million strategic Series A extension round. This funding milestone complements a previous $18 million Series A funding round and marks a significant step in Dopay’s mission to transform cash-based economies by digitizing payments.
Collaborations
Tottenham Hotspur has unveiled a global brand partnership with The Kraken. Ahead of the 2024/25 season, Kraken will become the club’s first official crypto and Web3 partner, as well as the official sleeve partner for its men’s and women’s teams. Both parties will work to educate Spurs’ global fan base about crypto and offer fans the opportunity to deepen their connection with the club through crypto assets.
Financial Technology PAYSTRAX has entered into a new partnership and integration with the UK payment solutions provider Card flow to provide seamless online and card transactions to their customers. Using Cardstream’s global payment gateway, PAYSTRAX customers can now benefit from an additional way to connect to its acquiring services and accept cross-border payments seamlessly and securely. PAYSTRAX merchants can also integrate Cardstream’s payment gateway into their online platforms, websites or mobile apps.
Expedia Group, online travel platforms, have finalized a multi-year agreement with Fargo Wells AND MasterCard to launch two new co-branded credit cards. Designed to complement Expedia Group’s One Key loyalty program, the One Key Card and One Key+ Card will offer more flexibility, savings and benefits for U.S. travelers.
LoadAfterthe integrated lending platform for point-of-sale financing, announces its partnership with Snap Financea provider of flexible financing options with payments over time. The partnership strengthens ChargeAfter’s subprime lender coverage, providing merchants with additional options to better support customers who may be turned away for traditional financing or credit models.
Company Launch
Lemonadethe digital insurance company powered by AI and social impact, has launched buildings and contents insurance in the UK. Expanding the company’s home insurance offerings, homeowners across the UK can now purchase extensive cover for their home and possessions. It launched the insurance in partnership with Aviva.
Hi Sure, a Canadian insurance comparison service provider, has launched an AI-powered Blue Card insurance comparator, a service exclusive to the Canadian market, developed to help Quebec consumers understand and maximize the insurance coverage included in their bank cards.
Xsolla, a global video game commerce company, has introduced Xsolla Backend, a solution designed to help developers of all sizes, especially indie and mid-sized teams, work across multiple gaming platforms. Xsolla Backend makes games more accessible by enabling developers to unite their audiences across all platforms: PC, console, mobile, and web. This addresses the audience fragmentation common to most games and allows developers to save costs while creating deeper engagement as they scale their gaming business.
Bandhan Bank has launched its latest QR code payment solution Bharat for its current and savings account customers. This will simplify the way these self-employed segment customers make payments at any point of sale. An instant notification will also be received for every payment through a small speaker.