Welcome to The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Thursday 27 July 2023.
Partnerships
GoCardless, the bank payments company, has agreed a four-year deal to become the official payments partner for Swim England, with plans to extend offers and benefits to affiliated groups and individuals including swimming clubs, swim schools and trainers. GoCardless will also become the headline sponsor for all Swim England national events, including swimming, diving, artistic swimming and water polo.
KPMG and ServiceNow have expanded their partnership – a decade‑long relationship that spans IT, HR, risk, cybersecurity, and environmental, social and governance (ESG). The commitment includes significant joint investment in new offerings combining AI, low‑code capabilities, and deep industry expertise.
Sumsub, a full-cycle verification platform, has unveiled a collaboration with HoppyGo, a P2P carsharing company founded by Škoda, offering its clients a quick and easy way to rent a car through a mobile app. HoppyGo chose Sumsub for KYC, age, document verification due to the platform’s smooth user onboarding process, high-quality driver licence checks and strong fraud protection.
Global payments provider Checkout.com and Chinese online gaming company NetEase Games have forged a global acquiring partnership to accelerate NetEase’s global expansion. The companies will optimise payments for players in Europe, the Americas, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, providing convenient localised payment pages for players to seamlessly top up their credit.
Additional partnerships
Mollie announces a new integration and joint marketing effort with Klaviyo, a marketing automation and customer data platform. Through the new integration, merchants of the two firms can use information collected from payment transactions within Klaviyo’s platform to personalise customer communications and marketing email flows. Klaviyo and Mollie will also empower merchants to leverage payment information.
Meanwhile, Currencycloud has partnered with Malaysia-based GAT Investment Bank to launch GAT Money GAT Money, an app offering an alternative solution to new clients who need a global banking solution which offers access to competitive FX rates and an extensive cross-border collections and payments network, all in one place.
Industry updates
Whitecap Consulting is appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia to support its UK trade strategy, with particular focus on supporting Estonian SMEs. The programme will consider opportunities in high growth sectors including fintech, deeptech and AI. Whitecap will consult with UK organisations in these sectors to find opportunities for collaboration with Estonian organisations.
Funding and investments
Insurance data intelligence provider Percayso Inform bags a second major investment with a £2.7million fundraise led by Neil Utley. Existing venture capital investor Praetura Ventures also took part. Its 65-strong client base now includes Ageas, Covea, Direct Line, Markerstudy, Somerset Bridge and The AA. Earlier this year, it also acquired Cazana – now branded Percayso Vehicle Intelligence.
Mercury Financial has closed a $200million debt facility from client funds managed by Neuberger Berman. Mercury will use the funds to expand its credit card business and continue its mission of providing middle-class Americans responsible financial products to improve their lives.
Appointments
Provenir, the AI-powered risk decisioning software firm, has named Richard Kern as senior vice president of global professional services. Kern is responsible for overseeing client delivery services, including implementation and design, strategic consulting, and training services for all Provenir customers. Prior to joining Provenir, Kern was VP, head of implementation and professional services at Alkami Technology.
Motorway, the used car marketplace, appoints Liz Kistruck as its first chief financial officer. She joins from fashion technology platform Lyst, where she was also CFO. Central to her role is leadership of the finance and legal functions as well as strategic partner to the leadership on opportunities for growth and acceleration.
Entrustody, a digital-first custodial platform, appoints Brian Kutmas as its new senior vice president of product and technology. Kutmas joins the company to spearhead the acceleration of its strategic roadmap. Entrustody’s goal is to develop the custodial platform of the future for registered investment advisors (RIAs) to better serve end investors.
Susan Rann, CEO of Paylink Solutions is stepping down with Jake Ranson appointed as successor. However, Rann will be remain connected to the business in an advisory capacity.
More appointments
Huddersfield based SaaS provider Adventoris has appointed its first head of partnerships Matthew Pinel, a former tennis pro and FMCG expert. The firm appointed Pinel to oversee its growing partnerships programme, highlighted by its latest partnership with global enterprise resource planning firm Vision 33.
Embedded finance startup Monite has made a trio of new additions on its exec team. Dan Osburn, a former VP of product at Marqeta takes on the role of chief product officer. While Sophie Haagensen, formerly COO at KodyPay is named chief of staff. Hoang Pham, previously part of Mollie’s growth team is appointed head of marketing. Monite plans expand its footprint in the EU and UK while also expanding into the US.
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