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NEON RAISES $80M IN ITS FIRST CREDIT CARD INVESTMENT FUND (FIDC)
Neon, a digital bank and FinTech firm whose mission is to better the lives of Brazilian workers, has disclosed that it has secured $80 million for its initial Credit Rights Investment Fund (FIDC) focusing on credit cards. With this investment, the overall equity fund rises to $170 million US, which is forecast to nearly treble.
“The funding endorses the strength and positive history that we have been building in the management of the credit portfolio over the last few years. Today our credit engine is mature and the FIDC resources will give us the strength to continue expanding our portfolio in a sustainable and balanced way in the med-long term. The focus continues to be on the Brazilian worker, and always with the mission to reduce inequalities by building paths to credit,”
Jamil Marques, CFO of Neon.
Given that Neon had already raised little more than $40 million for its private payroll deductible FIDC at the beginning of 2022, this is the second fundraising effort the company has made in the private credit market this year. Emprica, an asset management company with more than 12 years of market expertise, a concentration on structured credit, a portfolio of more than 50 funds, and more than $1.5 billion in assets under custody, was given credit for managing the FIDC with a focus on credit cards.
“We are excited about this partnership that began on the first months of the year as a one-off investment in another Neon FIDC, focused on private payroll loans. Based on this good experience, we expanded our relationship to take over the management of the credit card fund. The intention is to bring more comfort and security to investors, including ourselves who, via funds managed by us, contributed a total of $20 million to FIDC Neon. This shows an alignment of interests with the other investors in this fund,”
“The check may increase as the FIDC grows. In addition to Empírica, XP and BV also led investments in the FIDC.”
Giuliano Longo, Managing Partner of Business Expansion at Empírica.
AIRWALLEX LAUNCHES ONLINE PAYMENTS APP ON SHOPIFY
Global FinTech platform Airwallex announces the opening of its Shopify Airwallex Online Payments App. Merchants can incorporate the Online Payments App, a payment gateway plugin, into their online business to take payments from customers all over the world.
The payment acceptance solution from Airwallex, which accepts a variety of payment ways, is used to provide this new app. Along with 30+ other regional payment options from Asia-Pacific and Europe, such as GrabPay in Southeast Asia, WeChat Pay in APAC, and Bancontact and Sofort in Europe, these payment options include bank cards from Visa, MasterCard, and UnionPay.
“We are excited that our online payment acceptance solution will now be available on Shopify, helping merchants create a seamless payment journey on their online store,”
“Our app is one of many offerings we have built to help merchants accept cross-border payments. In this case, by using an Airwallex account, merchants can gain secure access to a multitude of payment methods, both globally and locally, in a convenient, fast and affordable way possible.”
Ravi Adusumilli, SVP of Partnerships at Airwallex.
Airwallex merchants are able to take payments from customers all over the world and can also get settlements in 7+ major currencies, including the US dollar, preventing the need for costly currency conversions and associated costs. Additionally, businesses have the option of accepting payments straight into their Airwallex multi-currency wallets and disbursing funds via Borderless Cards or Transfers.
FIS EXPANDS ITS WEALTH MANAGEMENT OFFERINGS IN THE UK WITH NEW PENSION SERVICES
FIS has revealed that the UK’s self-invested personal pension (SIPP) servicing has improved its wealth management products. FIS is significantly increasing its capabilities to wealth managers in this area by introducing retirement services in the UK.
“The UK is a world leader in wealth management with £1.3 trillion in assets under management, and with the advanced offerings from FIS, we’re poised to help these firms operate more efficiently,”
“The FIS wealth platform offers a broad set of capabilities for wealth managers across the globe, and by adding such critical services like SIPP for our UK market, we are committed to becoming the provider of choice for wealth and retirement managers everywhere.”
John Beeston, Head of Platform Securities at FIS.
By collaborating with UK investment and pension services company Quai Digital, the new SIPP option is made feasible. As a result of the cooperation, Quai will gain from employing Platform Securities Limited’s wealth management and service solutions from FIS to improve the operation of its savings and investment company.
FIS Wealth as a Service is a comprehensive solution that can be adjusted and customized to meet the specific requirements of an investment business. It handles order management, execution, clearing, custody administration, and settlement. Additionally, businesses that get their wealth platform from FIS will experience lower operational costs thanks to a managed technology solution.
“The industry of pension and retirement investing is moving faster than ever with new technology and new demands from our clients, a partnership with FIS works very well for both parties and allows Quai to enhance its already market-leading infrastructure and services, which is why we sought a solution that we knew would carry us into the future,”
“FIS will allow us to redouble our focus on our clients while we can trust the technology can meet our needs as we continue to grow our business and support the FIS expansion into Pensions.”
Tony Webb, CEO at Quai Digital.
FIS announced the introduction of its Guaranteed Payments solution, making it the first payment processor to provide a fully integrated solution intended to guarantee merchants higher acceptance rates for e-commerce transactions and do away with chargebacks resulting from fraudulent purchases.
UNITPLUS TEAMS UP WITH VODENO AND AION BANK TO LAUNCH ETF INVESTMENT PRODUCT
UnitPlus, Vodeno, and European digital bank Aion have joined forces to give savers the opportunity to now also become investors. The trio is making this possible by helping savers invest unused money and make prospective market returns to combat inflation, all while retaining instant access to cash.
Holding onto funds in savings accounts loses value in these times of inflation. In order to assist consumers access this flexible kind of investment, the Berlin-based start-up UnitPlus has developed a platform that enables one to invest the money as well as “pay with your portfolio.”
“A single product that lets you both invest money smartly and conveniently ‘pay with your portfolio’ is a financial revolution, and our mission is to help people easily access this flexible way of investing.”
Fabian Mohr, CEO & Co-Founder of UnitPlus.
UnitPlus launched for iOS users in Germany at the start of May 2022, garnering thousands of downloads in the first few days. The software is currently accessible to Android users in the nation. Customers of UnitPlus have the option of investing any excess funds in diversified ETF (exchange-traded fund) portfolios and using their portfolio to make purchases using the UnitPlus debit card anywhere in the world for no additional cost.
“Our product development was made possible through the close partnership with Aion Bank and Vodeno, giving us access to one of the most modern banking infrastructures in Europe. We have a unique value proposition, and with one of the most innovative BaaS players in Europe as partners, we were able to bring UnitPlus to life in just over a year,”
Kerstin Schneider, CFO & Co-Founder of UnitPlus.
For the first time, UnitPlus enables its users to invest their ETF portfolios rather than leaving them inert in bank accounts with meager interest rates. Additionally, UnitPlus offers its clients a very convenient investment option, with funds ready whenever they need them.
“UnitPlus is a great example of how fintech innovation is being powered by BaaS. We were able to make their idea a reality with the VODENO Cloud Platform and our KYC and compliance expertise. Integrating the investment and payment worlds in such an elegant way will introduce ETF investing to many more people.”
Wojciech Sass, CEO of Aion Bank.
In order to launch Tricount’s new service, which enables users to reimburse expenses in its app through a one-click bank transfer, the company partnered with Vodeno, a cloud-native Banking-as-a-Service provider, Aion Bank, a European licensed digital bank, and Tricount, a pioneer in group expense management.
KOHO AND MASTERCARD COLLABORATE TO OFFER NEW PRODUCT TO CANADIANS
KOHO Financial Inc. recently announced that it has partnered with Mastercard to offer improved services and an all-around better customer experience to its clients. With one simple mission: to find better financial solutions for all Canadians, this new partnership will help KOHO get one step further to reaching that goal. The partnership, announced recently, will mean an improved service for their users, with fast, flexible, and more convenient payments and offer an all-round better customer experience.
The KOHO Mastercard is designed to provide better financial solutions to meet the everyday spending needs of Canadians. With all the same features KOHO customers are used to, including no fees, high-interest rates, and cash back, a Credit Building feature, and smart ways for users to make the most of their money, there are a ton of reasons why over 650,000 Canadians have already signed up to the Company, and the new KOHO Mastercard is another one to add to the list. The KOHO card will now be more widely accepted across more than 24 million locations in over 210 countries. The KOHO Mastercard can be used by cardholders everywhere that Mastercard is accepted.
“Our goal for KOHO is simple: we want to make the lives of Canadians easier by giving them better ways to spend and manage their money,”
“Our partnership with Mastercard will help us hugely along that journey, by providing a new and improved solution to spending that will still offer all the same benefits our customers have grown to know and love.”
Daniel Eberhard, CEO, and Founder of KOHO Financial Inc.
“Canadians have diverse needs and expectations about their experiences with brands, especially now with our lives being more digital than ever,”
“We’re thrilled to partner with KOHO to offer a solution that meets and exceeds the growing needs of Canadians to use their money where or how they want.”
Sasha Krstic, President of Mastercard in Canada.
KOHO’s product roadmap is always evolving to meet everyday Canadians’ evolving financial needs. Since 2020 the company has launched simple and affordable products that always put the users at the forefront and help to democratize access to wealth creation, like:
- Cover: An overdraft feature that gives users a buffer for everyday spending.
- Instant Pay: Users can access their pay daily rather than bi-weekly.
- Earn Interest: A KOHO spending & savings account can earn 1.2% interest.
- Credit Building: Users can build their credit history by paying a $7 monthly subscription.
COVER WHALE REACHES $100 MILLION IN YEAR-TO-DATE INSURANCE PREMIUM IN 2022
Cover Whale, an insurtech focused on the commercial auto space, today announced reaching $100 million in insurance premiums in the first half of the year. This growth far outpaces competitors within its industry class. Leading a new vision for the insurtech industry, the company owes this milestone to its ongoing technological innovation, a distinct business model focused on controlling for loss ratios, and efficient client and partner services.
“We’re thrilled to reach $100 million in year-to-date premium and continue our upward, fast-paced, and industry-leading exponential growth,”
“Since our founding, we have experienced rapid growth, but never at the expense of underwriting profitability. I can’t thank my team enough for working hard to get us here, and I look forward to the next chapter at Cover Whale.”
Dan Abrahamsen, CEO of Cover Whale.
“Reaching this monumental milestone in such a short period shows that we’re determined to continue changing and disrupting the insurance landscape,”
“We’re committed to delivering our technology and capabilities to as many insureds as possible to make our roads and world a safer place. InsurTech 2.0 is about leveraging technology to create efficiencies and more precisely price the upfront exposures as well as actively underwriting and monitoring in real-time, 365 days a year.”
Kevin Abramson, President of Cover Whale.
TINK LAUNCHES SETTLEMENT ACCOUNTS TO SIMPLIFY REAL-TIME BANK PAYMENTS FOR MERCHANTS
Tink has announced a significant upgrade to its payment stack with the launch of settlement accounts, a new feature that aggregates PIS settlements. Starting in the UK with a wider European roll-out to follow in the coming months, this launch enables real-time payment confirmation, instant refunds and payouts, integrated reporting, and more.
This means that in addition to being able to benefit from Tink’s Payment Initiation Service (PIS) technology which already delivers secure, cost-effective, and frictionless instant bank payments, merchants can now also benefit from a full-stack payment offering that enables fully automated refunds, payouts, and reconciliation.
For merchants, settlement times can be slow, taking up to four days in some cases. Fraud rates are an ongoing concern, high fees and operational costs are associated with many payment methods, alongside friction at the checkout. Tink’s new payments stack addresses these pain points directly. Merchants can now accept low-cost bank payments with integrated, real-time settlement and reporting, meaning you can send and receive money online faster while simplifying payment operations. Tink’s platform can accelerate merchants’ time-to-market since there’s no need for merchants to build and operate their settlement or reconciliation systems, and manual processes for issuing refunds and payouts can be fully automated.
“The arrival of settlement accounts in the UK means that our partners can now enjoy the full-time and cost-saving benefits of real-time bank payments more easily. We already enabled instant, seamless pay-ins that reduce friction for the end-user, and now we’re removing friction for merchants with the ability to receive a real-time payment confirmation and automate manual processes like issuing refunds and payouts or reconciling payments. This has the potential to be a game-changer for merchants by unlocking the full value of open banking payments for key use cases like eCommerce and crypto. We are proud to partner with Solidi as our first settlement account customer in the UK.”
Tom Pope, Head of Payments and Platforms at Tink.
The first customer to use Tink’s settlement accounts feature in the UK is instant purchase crypto exchange, Solidi. Solidi already lets users start investing in crypto in less than two minutes, and by partnering with Tink, Solidi can take advantage of the core benefits of open banking payments, low transaction fees, and reduced operational overheads while continuing to offer instant account top-ups. Solidi can also cut out the manual work of reconciliation and troubleshooting user errors since payment details are pre-populated.
“Providing Solidi customers with a completely seamless experience when investing in crypto is key. Tink’s open banking payments technology is the obvious choice for our customers it takes our already instant onboarding experience and adds easy, frictionless payments enabling anyone to invest in their first crypto in less than two minutes. For Solidi, Tink’s new settlement features reduce integration and operational costs, as well as the time to market. Unlike other open banking platforms, Tink enables us to perform payment initiation and settlement using a single API rather than multiple APIs from different providers.”
Jamie McNaught, CEO, and Co-Founder of Solidi.
Tink, Europe’s open banking platform, and Revolut, the global financial super app with more than 18 million customers worldwide, have entered into a strategic partnership for open banking technology.
MOTIVE PARTNERS RAISES $2.5B
Motive Partners, a leading specialized private equity firm focused on financial technology, today announced the successful final close of its second flagship fund, Motive Capital Fund 2, with total capital commitments of $2.54 billion for the Fund and its affiliated co-investment vehicles.
The Fund employs the same investment strategy executed in Motive Partners’ inaugural flagship fund. The Fund focuses on growth and buyout investments in software, investment, and information services businesses located in North America and Europe. The Fund has already partnered with ten companies – InvestCloud, Insurify, Wilshire, Trumid, Motive Capital Corp II, CAIS, FNZ, Forge Global, BetaNXT, and Backbase.
Commitments to the Fund were secured from a geographically diverse group of investors, including public and private pensions, sovereign wealth funds, foundations, financial institutions, institutional fund managers, family offices, and high net worth individuals. A significant group of new investors joined existing investors from the inaugural fund.
“We are deeply grateful for the support from our existing investors and are delighted to welcome a roster of new partners to the Motive family – thank you for your trust. We will continue to be laser-focused on partnering transformational capital with world-class management teams.”
Rob Heyvaert, Founder & Managing Partner at Motive Partners.
During the fundraising period, Motive continued to invest behind its integrated approach, building out the Motive team to include over 180 Investors, Operators, and Innovators.
“We greatly appreciate the support of such an esteemed and diverse group of investors, and we take seriously the responsibility that our investors have bestowed upon us. We continue to invest into our distinct operating capabilities, allowing us to identify attractive investment opportunities and support our portfolio companies in the next stage of their growth.”
Bob Brown, Founding Partner & Head of Investor Relations.
APPLE TEAMS WITH GOLDMAN SACHS TO OFFER SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
Apple has joined forces with Goldman Sachs to add a high-yield savings account feature to its credit card.
Apple Card users will be able to automatically deposit their Daily cashback rewards into a new savings account, which is expected to launch in the coming months. Goldman Sachs offers no fees, no minimum deposit and no minimum balance requirements for the account.
Users can also deposit money into their savings accounts through a linked bank account or from their Apple Cash balance. You can also withdraw money at any time to your linked bank account or Apple Cash card.
Once set up, Apple Card users can track funds in their Wallet through a savings dashboard, which shows their account balance and accrued interest over time. Interest rates are yet to be disclosed.
“Savings delivers even more value to users’ favourite Apple Card benefit — Daily Cash — while offering another easy-to-use tool designed to help users lead healthier financial lives.”
Jennifer Bailey, VP, Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.
Goldman has been Apple’s credit card partner since its launch in 2019. However, the tech giant has since taken steps to ensure its independence in financial services.
Apple is rumored to be using Goldman Sachs for its next BNPL loan. However, Goldman only facilitates the service as a technology provider for official BIN loans and sponsors, with Apple providing the loans directly through a new subsidiary.
This week, Bloomberg reported that Goldman may back off from their recent push into retail banking. With the consumer sector expected to lose $1.2 billion this year, the bank could reduce the value of digital lender Marcus, Bloomberg said.
PLUM RAISES £1M FROM INVESTORS IN ONLY 8 HOURS OF CROWDFUNDING
Smart money app Plum has secured £1m from investors in the first eight hours of its crowdfund, achieving its initial target.
So far, more than 3700 investors from the UK, Greece, Cyprus, France, Bulgaria, Belgium, and Spain have contributed money.
Five more days remain for new investments in the crowdfunding project, and additional share allocation is now accessible.
Given the difficult macroeconomic backdrop, the enthusiastic response from many investors, particularly among Plum’s users, shows faith in the app’s successes.
“I want to thank our 3700 investors for joining Plum in its journey with this new round of crowdfunding. I am thrilled to see that our campaign has secured such good traction in a short amount of time and I am excited about what is yet to come.
“Plum has worked hard to deliver its promises in 2022, bringing major new features to its app, from introducing commission-free investing and a debit card, to expanding into new European markets and enabling cryptocurrency trading. As we look towards the future, we are eager to push even stronger features, winning in the European market with our standout proposition.”
Victor Trokoudes, CEO and co-founder of Plum.
In response to these events, Plum’s client base increased to +1.4 million, an almost 50% growth over the previous year, and it assisted individuals in saving £1.4 billion.
This year, Plum is seeking funding to quicken the pace of its entry into Europe, improve its products, even more, to better meet the demands of its clients, and create a quicker, more streamlined app. It recently revealed that Silicon Valley Bank UK has provided $5 million in financing. In assisting the fintech business to expand, the Bank partnered with seasoned investors and financing partners dmg ventures, VentureFriends, and Global Brain.
Investors in the UK and throughout Europe can participate in the new campaign, which is being hosted on Crowdcube, one of the biggest equity crowdfunding platforms in the world.
MEDIOBANCA’S CREDIT ARM COMPASS STRENGTHENS ITS BNPL OPERATIONS
Compass, the Mediobanca Group’s consumer credit arm, has completed two deals in the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) segment. The rationale for the deals is to accelerate the bank’s growth in the deferred payment business using digital channels, which it has entered successfully with the launch of its PagoLight product.
With the two deals, Compass has acquired:
• A 19.5% stake in HeidiPay, a fintech company based in Switzerland, and specialized in the development of digital platforms to support BNPL in the e-commerce segment. In operation since 2021, the company has developed agreements with important distributors and luxury brands, and today has one of the most important plug-ins in the market, which can already be activated for multi-country product offerings;
• 100% of Soisy, an Italian fintech operator with strong expertise in granting special purpose loans for the purchase of goods and services using e-commerce platforms, with a portfolio of active partners. Founded in 2017, the company has developed agreements with 800 e-tailers, has more than 70,000 clients, and posts new loans per annum of €50m.
Using its proven risk assessment capacity and the two acquisitions, Compass will be able to pursue its expansion strategy in the BNPL category for sums and terms characteristic of consumer lending. The company will be able to cross-sell Compass items to a younger target market that is more likely to make online purchases as a result of the expansion and diversification of its client base.
Compass will be able to launch geographical diversification with both domestic and international coverage thanks to the HeidiPay transaction. All of this will be made possible by Compass’s comprehensive credit evaluation capabilities, which have always been a strength of the company.
“The two deals have a strong strategic and business rationale as far as we are concerned, consistent with the innovation process launched at Group level”,
“The synergies we will generate from our acquisition of these two companies will give us access to new expertise and next-generation technology assets, an important value option in a segment such as deferred payments which is changing at such a fast pace. Leveraging these acquisitions will also act as a driver to obtain new clients, not just in Italy but also elsewhere”,
Alberto Nagel, Chief Executive Officer of Mediobanca.
Compass will be able to use its fully digital BNPL solutions, which can be linked to e-commerce websites, in connection with these two acquisitions, which will improve the PagoLight offering even more. The PagoLight service, which was first introduced in 2021 and was initially only available for physical businesses, has now been activated with more than 7,000 actual points of sale (POS) systems and about 40 e-commerce platforms thanks to the patented BNPL solution built by Compass.
“Buy Now Pay Later is now an established trend”,
“Compass is so far the only bank in Italy to seize the opportunities offered by this business and create its own interest-free deferred payment solution with PagoLight: it’s a business which dovetails perfectly with consumer credit, innovative and with excellent potential to support growth. BNPL also allows a bank such as Compass to strengthen our presence in e-commerce, with a focus on certain categories of products and targets in particular, such as younger and digitally-literate clients, which historically have received less coverage from consumer credit”, Sichel concluded.
Gian Luca Sichel, Compass CEO.
The improvement of Pagolight operations led to the granting of about €70 million in BNPL financing in FY 2021–2022; this trend has continued to rise even after the summer. By the conclusion of FY 2022–23, Compass’s capacity to add new clients through BNPL is anticipated to have quadrupled (from 5,000 to 20,000 new clients per month).
The transaction has no effect on the Core Tier 1 ratio for the Mediobanca Group.
TRIPACTIONS’ ALL-IN-ONE PLATFORM INCREASES VALUATION TO $9.2B
TripActions, the all-in-one travel, corporate card, and expense management company, today announced its Series G financing at a post-money valuation of $9.2 billion. The raise, a combination of $154 million in equity from new and existing financial investors as well as a $150 million structured capital transaction led by Coatue, marks the third financing round for the company in three years. Since early 2020, TripActions has recorded a 2x-plus valuation increase, validating the company’s choice to double down on travel and payment innovation during the peak of the pandemic.
“TripActions is building the best travel and expense management solution in the world. The recent funding round shows not only the strength of its business model but also the value to companies looking to increase savings and enable responsible spending,”
“TripActions is proof that empowering users through relentless innovation and automation is the future of travel.”
TripActions CEO and co-founder, Ariel Cohen.
Savings features including dynamic travel policies, real-time reporting with benchmark data, traveler incentive programs, and Liquid’s integrated spend controls have helped businesses maintain their best operations without allowing costs to soar in tandem with the company’s expansion. Employees are free to concentrate on their work rather than paperwork thanks to automated features including expenditure reporting, itemization, and reconciliation.
“From the start, TripActions revolutionized business travel by automating, personalizing, and professionalizing the experience,”
“Despite a pandemic that brought business travel to a standstill, the company doubled down on innovation and now those bets are paying off in a big way.”
Ben Horowitz, cofounder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
Joining the TripActions Board of Directors is Sandesh Patnam; Dan Rose, Chairman at Coatue Ventures, will additionally join the Board as an Observer.
“TripActions is a complete travel and expense platform,”
“As the market shifts, companies will look to platforms that provide real value by increasing productivity and decreasing costs. TripActions’ growth over the past two years has proven the strength of its user-first, online approach and it is now well-positioned to capture this market. I am excited to join them on this journey.”
TripActions Board of Directors, Sandesh Patnam.
The funding will be used to speed up the TripActions Group’s quick international expansion, which has already seen it acquire travel management firms Reed & Mackay, Comtravo, and Resia in the last year. It has also launched TripActions Liquid in Europe and opened offices in Portugal, Germany, France, and the UK. More than 2,500 people will be employed by TripActions by the end of July 2022, spread over almost 60 global offices.
“All road warriors have experienced the pain of booking flights, making last-minute changes, and submitting expenses,”
“TripActions is bringing modern software to make all of this more seamless. And at a time when companies are more focused than ever on controlling expenses, TripActions saves enterprise companies money by aligning employees’ incentives with the business. Coatue looks forward to supporting TripActions as it continues to scale this platform.”
Dan Rose, Chairman, Coatue Ventures.
JPMORGAN AND VISA UNVEIL JOINT BLOCKCHAIN PAYMENT GATEWAY
JPMorgan Chase and Visa are to establish connectivity between their global private blockchain networks, Liink and B2B Connect.
As part of the partnership, Visa B2B Connect will use Validation, a new tool from Liink, to authenticate new accounts for cross-border payments and approve accounts when new users join.
Validation allows organizations to securely validate account information before sending payments, ensuring less payment reversals due to missing or incorrect information, and minimizing fraudulent activity by pre-validating account information so attendees know in advance if the payee listed matches the owner of the account they are paying for.
JPMorgan launched Confirm in beta last year and just signed a contract with Deutsche Bank as a founding member of the product in Nga Mi. Bank of America is looking to recruit founding member banks across Apac, Latam and NAMR with the goal of expanding its coverage to 35,000 banks and over two billion accounts.
The service will operate in 10 countries by the end of 2022 and will strengthen its presence in more than 30 countries by 2023.
“Confirm’s growth is heavily influenced by network effects. Therefore, naming Deutsche Bank as a founding member, while also establishing interconnectivity to Visa B2B’s blockchain, will accelerate our adoption on a global scale.”
Alex Littleton, global head of Confirm.
Founded in 2017, JPMorgan’s Liink currently has 75+ global participants that are live on the network and has so far processed 60m+ messages.
CUBE ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC GROWTH INVESTMENT FROM BREGAL MILESTONE
CUBE Global (“CUBE”), a global leader in Automated Regulatory Intelligence (“ARI”), today announced a strategic growth investment from Bregal Milestone (“Milestone”), a leading technology growth capital firm with c. €1.2 billion of capital raised dedicated to investments in high-growth, market-defining technology companies.
This investment marks the first institutional equity investment for CUBE. Serving some of the world’s largest financial institutions, CUBE will leverage investment to help enhance product capabilities for customers, drive international expansion and accelerate overall growth both in terms of organization and through acquisitions.
As global regulations continue to evolve rapidly, compliance departments, especially in large financial institutions, struggle to clearly define applicable requirements and their impact across multiple sectors. industries, jurisdictions, products and services. With large financial institutions spending 10-15% of their annual operating costs on regulatory compliance and fines running into the billions, immediate action is needed.
CUBE’s RegPlatform ARI transforms complex regulatory change management and compliance processes, enabling compliance teams to significantly reduce existing costs and bring highly skilled people into the value chain while minimizing risk. By capturing changing or emerging regulations and using AI to automatically enrich and map them to customer policies, procedures and controls, CUBE solutions mean Businesses are immediately alerted to regulations affecting them. Thus, freeing up compliance departments to focus on preventing noncompliance and ensuring good governance practices.
“We are highly enthusiastic to partner with CUBE for this next phase of growth. As a founder-led, category-leading Regulatory Technology (“RegTech”) business, benefiting from powerful regulatory tailwinds and market momentum, we believe CUBE is an innovation leader, and one of Europe’s most exciting high-growth technology companies. We look forward to working with Ben and his ambitious team to further develop their business and drive growth.”
Philippe Lautenberg, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Bregal Milestone.
By utilizing both the growing company’s vast experience in scaling international technology companies and its in-house value creation team, Milestone Performance Partners, this strategic growth investment from Milestone will help CUBE’s next phase of expansion. The company also plans to maintain support for CUBE’s further geographic expansion and strengthen CUBE’s technological advantage in order to enable further organic growth.
“Raising this level of investment in the current market from such a high-quality growth capital investor is a significant validation of both our market position and vision. Given the current macro environment, customers across financial services and beyond will want to partner with providers that have a strong track record and a clear vision with the ability to execute – now is the right time for us to bring in a strategic partner.”
“We are building for the long term to ensure both our customers and their stakeholder’s success. Milestone is a strategic partner for CUBE that share our vision to be a category-defining RegTech leader. Our customers can be confident in CUBE being with them every step of the way in delivering on their regulatory compliance strategy.”
CUBE Founder & CEO, Ben Richmond.
Investec Bank Plc, which oversaw the advisory, Taylor Wessing LLP for legal advice, and Buzzacott LLP for financial and tax advice were among CUBE’s investment advisors.
On the investment, Milestone had the help of ICAG Partners for commercial due diligence, Alvarez and Marsal’s (A&M) for financial and tax due diligence, Endava Private Equity Group for technology due diligence, the Mid-market M&A Tax team at Deloitte for transaction structuring, and Goodwin for legal work. The investment’s terms were kept a secret.
UAE FINTECH MAMO RECEIVES REGULATORY APPROVAL IN DIFC
Mamo, a homegrown UAE-based FinTech and financial services platform for SMEs, has been granted regulatory approval to operate from Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the leading global financial center in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region. The license has been granted by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the independent regulator of financial services conducted in or from DIFC, to carry out the regulated activity of providing money services. The license allows Mamo to further expand its products and services without user restrictions and provide unmatched security while fully complying with DFSA rules.
As the future global hub of finance and innovation, DIFC offers one of the most comprehensive FinTech and venture capital environments in the region, including cost-effective licensing solutions, regulation responsive, accelerated development programs and funding for the start of growth. – UPS. The Center continues to inspire Dubai-based businesses by providing the ideal environment to help them shape their financial future.
Mamo received DFSA approval to operate under the Innovation Test Licensing (ITL) Program in June 2021, allowing the company to operate in a controlled regulatory environment for model testing. it’s business. What makes this announcement important is Mamo’s diligent work in successfully exiting the ITL program and obtaining Authorized Company status. The regulation provides the required frameworks for transparency, fairness and efficiency, which all regulated companies must follow. It also aims to protect businesses, consumers and users of financial services (and other services) offered by regulated companies, such as Mamo.
Mamo has built a reputation for being completely customer-centric, with incredibly fast product development times – often rolling out and announcing many new features within weeks – a fresh approach from a regional startup. Currently, Mamo has two products; Mamo Pay for the Business product is growing rapidly, has been adopted exponentially by SMBs in recent months and is expected to grow further with official regulatory green light and Mamo Pay, a peer-to-peer (P2P) wallet for consumers.
“We’ve built a financial services platform that enables both SMEs and consumers to move money faster, more efficiently and more securely in the UAE. Today marks a crucial milestone for our business and a major inflection point in our growth trajectory. Receiving full regulatory approval in DIFC allows us to continue to expand our product stack, offering new features and functionality to our customers. Today’s achievement marks the culmination of years of hard work and innovation, and to have the recognition by a leading regulator in the DFSA is a testament to the quality of our product, providing Mamo and its user’s security, safety, and peace of mind by licensing us. We are making sure we set a new example for compliance and regulation and are incredibly grateful to the DFSA for their support and guidance through the process.”
Imad Gharazeddine, CEO and Co-Founder of Mamo.
Mamo has its own in-house built systems, including cryptographic security protocols, fraud detection and prevention tools, as well as a standardized and automated financial transaction management system. digitization, reduce human error and protect against fraud. On the interface front, Mamo has implemented Know Your Customer (KYC) digital that allows users to quickly identify themselves through a user experience that puts users in control of their personal and private information.
“DIFC’s ongoing commitment to providing MEASA’s most enabling platform for FinTech firms has involved working with the DFSA on the UAE’s first comprehensive money services regime. We are pleased that Mamo, one of our FinTech clients, has been granted approval from the DFSA to operate as an authorized money services firm in the Centre. DIFC will continue to help Mamo and other FinTech firms grow by harnessing opportunities in the region.”
Arif Amiri, CEO of DIFC Authority.
FINASTRA CONNECTS TO CONTOUR, OFFERING AN ENHANCED DIGITAL TRADE FINANCE NETWORK
Today at Sibos 2022 in Amsterdam, Finastra announced a strategic collaboration to integrate its Fusion Trade Innovation software with Contour, the global digital trade finance network, providing banks and corporates with a streamlined end-to-end back-office workflow. Users may access their data through either platform, providing banks with increased efficiency and faster turnaround times when processing Letter of Credit transactions. Ultimately, it opens the door for increased access to trade finance and stronger returns for banks.
“Our partnership with Finastra is an important step forward in breaking down barriers to adoption and increasing access to trade finance. By integrating with Finastra’s Fusion Trade Innovation, financial institutions and corporates will have access to an end-to-end ecosystem of services that will enable them to transact seamlessly and securely.”
Carl Wegner, CEO of Contour.
Global trade is a trillion-dollar industry that businesses and consumers depend on every day. To increase efficiency, many financial institutions have sought a network that supports a collaborative workflow between transaction participants. Finastra and Contour address this need through this new integration, enabling digital adoption while reducing costs for customers, reducing reliance on paper transactions, and reducing risk.
Together, Finastra and Contour will further accelerate the adoption of digital commerce solutions by linking two key components of digital trade finance – a deeply integrated central banking platform for internal processes and an external decentralized network to communicate with the bank and corporate customers. The solution provides full transparency and visibility, reducing the life of letters of credit by up to seven days, freeing up working capital for businesses and improving profitability for banks.
“We are excited to connect with Contour, an innovative leader in this space, in our journey to orchestrate the digital trade ecosystem for our clients. Finastra is focused on making it simple for our financial institution clients to connect seamlessly to the global trade ecosystem so they can maximize business efficiency and develop new business opportunities. We’re pleased that this collaboration enables corporates, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), access to trade and working capital finance where they transact.”
Isabel Fernandez, EVP, Lending Business Unit at Finastra.