Dive feet first into The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Friday 6 October 2023!
Partnerships
Settle, the cash-flow management platform, has partnered with bookkeeping software Finaloop to help e-commerce and CPG brands and founders with an all-in-one finance platform. The Finaloop and Settle integration gives CPG businesses the ability to optimise cash flow and sync to financial statements in real time.
Visa has partnered with fintech ABHI and YellowPepper to introduce account-to-account (A2A) payments in the UAE. ABHI and Visa say they are united by a vision to bridge the gap between the financially underserved population and mainstream financial services while advancing environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.
Viamericas Corporation, a licensed, international remittance company, has expanded its relationship with Kori Global Services to provide international money transfer services to reach all the African countries that Kori serves. Headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Kori extends Viamericas’ African coverage to Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo, Mali, Congo, Gabon, Chad, Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea.
BlueSnap, a global payment orchestration platform, has announced a partnership with Retail Realm, a multinational Microsoft ISV specialising in payments. BlueSnap’s platform provides Microsoft Dynamics 365 users with the ability to create more dynamic global payment experiences for their customers, while increasing payment ROI for their business.
Swan, the embedded finance company, announces its strategic partnership with Lucca, the HR and finance software platform. This partnership comes on the heels of Swan’s recent announcement of a €37million Series B investment round. Swan’s banking-as-a-service technology is helping Lucca to enhance its expense management offering.
More partnerships
Galileo Financial Technologies‘ buy now, pay later offering is now available for lenders to offer it as a service for their small business clients. In partnership with Mastercard, banks and fintechs working with Galileo can offer installment financing options to small businesses via Mastercard Installments, providing them with more flexibility to make larger purchases and manage their cash flow.
Mergers and acquisitions
ieDigital, a UK digital banking software company, has acquired Connect FSS, the US-based digital banking software as a service (SaaS) technology provider. The acquisition will bring together the expertise of both companies, signifying a shared vision to deliver new and improved digital software solutions and exceptional customer service to financial services firms and credit unions.
Funding and investments
Fintech Octane has closed a $380million securitisation collateralised by its fixed-rate installment powersports and recreational vehicle loans issued through its in-house lender, Roadrunner Financial. This transaction is Octane’s ninth since launching the programme in December 2019 and third of 2023. The company has completed more than $3billion of asset-backed securitisations to date.
Brite Payments has bagged a $60million funding round led by specialist B2B software investor Dawn Capital alongside Headline and Incore. Brite will use the fresh funding to accelerate its geographic expansion, strengthen its presence in existing markets, and invest further in product development. Notably, the capital will drive further development of the Brite Instant Payments Network (Brite IPN); a proprietary network that is the backbone of the company’s offering.
Stampli, an AI-powered accounts payable automation company, has raised $61million in a Series D venture funding round led by funds managed by Blackstone. Existing investors Insight Partners, SignalFire, Bloomberg Beta, and NextWorld Capital also took part. This latest funding round takes the total amount raised by the company to over $148million.
A social impact investment fund developed by Big Issue Invest (BIIFM) and UnLtd, has provided a further £500,000 in investment to two social purpose organisations, taking the Fund’s total investments made to £1million.The fund is a £25million evergreen fund, investing in early and growth stage organisations.
The British Business Bank is launching a new £150million investment fund for Scotland unlocking additional funding to help smaller businesses to prosper and thrive. The fund will drive sustainable economic growth by supporting new and growing businesses across the whole of Scotland through investment strategies that best meet the needs of these firms.
Job moves
ESG Book appointed John Wise as the company’s first chair of the board. The move is the latest part of ESG Book’s rapid global expansion as the company responds to fast-growing demand for technology-based sustainability data solutions. Wise joins from InvestCloud, the SaaS-based global wealth platforms provider.
European paytech payabl. appointed group CEO Ugne Buraciene to TechIsland’s board of directors. TechIsland is a tech association focused on leveraging Cyprus as an international tech hub and destination for investors, world-class tech talent and entrepreneurs.
UK digital compliance provider SmartSearch has appointed Julie Green as client services director. Her appointment comes as SmartSearch enjoys a period of substantial growth, driven by its expansion across all regulated markets such as financial services, accountancy, banking, legal, crypto and property. Green initially joined SmartSearch in 2018 to support current COO, Collette Allen in building the client services team that she now leads.
ClearBank, an enabler of real-time clearing and embedded banking for financial institutions, unveils four new non-executive directors at its parent company, ClearBank Group Holdings. Peter Herbert is named ClearBank group chair, Tim Wade as senior independent director and group chair of audit committee, while Richard Anderson is named group chair of risk committee. Additionally Susanne Hannestad is a non-executive director.
More appointments
Stockholm-headqartered fintech Treyd appoints Colin Moss-Davies as its first chief revenue officer, as the company continues a phase of rapid growth and progress towards profitability. His previous roles include 10 years at PayPal. In September 2023, Treyd raised an additional $12million to take total funding to over $25million.
Regtech company TSS Consultancy, which has built TrackWizz for fighting financial crimes, appoints John Mathew as advisor. Prior to joining TSS, he was a member of the startup team at HDFC Asset Management. TSS Consultancy is focussed on fighting financial crime specifically in money laundering, monitoring and screening, terrorist financing and insider trading.
Clear Street, an independent, non-bank prime broker fintech, names Steve Bisgay as chief financial officer. Bisgay succeeds Jacob Asbury, who will help with the transition and remain with the company in a consulting capacity. Ursula Clay is named chief compliance officer, managing director, Clear Street Derivatives, while Brent Posner is chief operating officer, Clear Street Futures.
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