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TRUSTLY ACQUIRES UK OPEN BANKING VENDOR ECOSPEND
Swedish account-to-account payments platform Trustly has acquired UK open banking vendor Ecospend.
The acquisition gives Trustly a foothold in the UK market and a marquee client in Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, for whom Ecospend has enabled open banking payments. FCA-regulated Ecospend also counts several blue-chip private sector clients such as ITV, Toolstation, Anglian Water, and London Mutual Credit Union.
In the past year, Ecospend has processed over £5bn in A2A payments to over two million consumers.
Trustly – which shelved plans for a €785 million IPO last year over regulatory due diligence concerns – serves 8,100 merchants, connecting them with 525 million consumers and 6,300 banks in over 30 countries. Nordic Capital bought a 70% stake in the company in 2018 at a valuation of roughly €700 million and merged it with US-based PayWithMyBank in 2019.
In 2021 Trustly processed over $28 billion in transaction volume.
“Ecospend’s strong UK Payment Initiation and Account Information Services (PIS & AIS), as well as connectivity with 80+ UK banks, makes it a strong fit with Trustly’s collection capabilities and wider European footprint.”
“This is a perfect strategic fit,” “I am convinced that it will enable us to deliver a market-leading product in the UK, allowing us to capture opportunities and accelerate our current UK expansion.”
Johan Tjärnberg, group CEO of Trustly.
ADCB EGYPT CHOOSES TEMENOS FOR NEXT-GENERATION DIGITAL PAYMENTS
ADCB Egypt, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Group – the third largest bank in the UAE, has extended its collaboration with Temenos to offer the next-generation digital payments on the Temenos open platform for composable banking.
The bank will compose payment solutions for its retail and business customers to adopt new global standards such as ISO20022 and SWIFT GPI and power new payment offerings, including instant and cross-border payments. With Temenos, the bank will benefit from the agility and flexibility to process payments instantly from any channel, local or international, all in real-time.
ADCB Egypt will also compose digital banking solutions to streamline and automate its treasury management lifecycle with the latest core banking capabilities.
“ADCB Egypt is always keen upon embracing the latest technologies and partnering with the best service providers. This new step of our existing collaboration with Temenos will empower the bank’s internal systems as the new instant payments solutions. The technological upgrades will always keep us ahead in offering our customers the best-in-class service quality and compliance with regulatory directives. This is also in line with our digital transformation strategy and commitment to being at the forefront of innovation that differentiates our service, delights customers, and meets their growing needs.”
Ihab ElSewerky – Managing Director & CEO, ADCB-Egypt.
“ADCB is leading the way in digital banking in Egypt. With Temenos, it has created a modern, customer-centric digital bank that can innovate fast and deliver outstanding customer experiences. Temenos is the clear market leader with a strong presence in Egypt. Our global expertise combined with local market knowledge will support ADCB as it continues to develop and grow its banking services in Egypt.”
Jean-Paul Mergeai, President – EMEA-APAC, Temenos.
With this new cooperation, ADCB Egypt will tap into the growing customer demand for cross-border payments, offering instant and frictionless payments, from account to account, anywhere in the world. Temenos Payments on Temenos open platform will also enable the bank to automate its front, middle and back-office functions. The bank has seen rapid take-up in its first year. Today, more than half of the bank’s customer transactions are digital.
Temenos Payments is a comprehensive platform for efficient payment execution and distribution – removing the need for a different system for different payment business types or payment rails. The platform will enable ADCB Egypt to continue to enhance the digital customer experience with new payment products, such as instant payments and request-to-pay, quickly and at a low cost. Temenos Payments is API-enabled and compliant with ISO20022 messaging standards and business flows.
NAB TO LAUNCH BNPL PRODUCT
National Australia Bank is inviting customers to pre-register for the forthcoming launch of a new buy now, pay later offering, punningly dubbed ‘NAB Now Pay Later.
Under the scheme, NAB customers will be able to access up to $1,000, split purchases into four payments, use it anywhere Visa is accepted and add NAB Now Pay Later to their digital wallets for online and in-person payments.
Unlike other installment payments or pay-in-four products, NAB’s offering has no late fees, no interest, and no account fees.
“Hundreds of thousands of NAB customers are using installment payment services so we’ve created NAB Now Pay Later to make this option simple and digital for them.
“It’s also safer than the alternatives as these are already our customers. We know their banking and credit history and we’re assessing them based on our existing banking relationship.”
Rachel Slade NAB group executive personal banking.
In October, NAB rival ANZ announced that it was joining forces with Visa to bring its installment payments product to Australia, enabling the bank’s credit card customers to buy now, and pay later at the checkout.
Set for launch in July, NAB Now Pay Later has been built for mobile with a range of new technology, including instant credit decisions and safety and security features.
“In the time it takes for a customer to go from the fitting room to the register, we’ve assessed their application, undertaken a credit check, and opened an account with a virtual card so they’re ready to purchase,”
“We’re able to do this quickly because of the combination of technology and knowing our customers.”
Rachel Slade NAB group executive personal banking.
The virtual card also features biometric fraud detection and a dynamic CVV that refreshes regularly to protect customers from fraud and theft.
NAB Now Pay Later follows the bank’s launch of StraightUp, Australia’s first no interest credit card, in September 2020.
ALPHER PARTNERS WITH WEALTHKERNEL TO TACKLE THE £15B GENDER INVESTMENT GAP
WealthKernel, the wealthtech provider of API investment services, announces its partnership with Alpher, the female-first investment platform focused on closing the gender investment gap.
WealthKernel will provide Alpher with its core investing infrastructure, including brokerage and custodian services, fractional stocks and ETFs, portfolio management functionality, and access to the UK tax account wrappers like ISAs and GIAs (general investment accounts).
By accessing the building blocks it needs to power its investing services over API, Alpher will be able to launch faster and focus vital resources on its core mission to support women with better investment services while addressing the growing £15 billion gender investment gap.
Founded by CEO Mini Maxwell and CTO Oli Bates, Alpher is a community-driven platform created to reshape the way women think about investing. Despite women adding approximately $5 trillion to the wealth pool every year, modern investment platforms remain heavily dominated by and catered to the needs of male investors. Alpher aims to change this by providing women with the support networks to build their investing confidence and an investment solution built to enable women to grow their wealth independently over the long term.
“Alpher is working to tackle a very well-known, but the little challenged aspect of the investment industry that I hope will benefit millions of women across the UK. By encouraging and supporting more women to engage with investing and grow their wealth, I hope we can see a more balanced and inclusive investment landscape in the years to come. Companies like Alpher are part of the reason why I founded WealthKernel, and I’m looking forward to supporting Mini and Oli as they launch Alpher in the coming months.”
Karan Shanmugarajah, CEO of WealthKernel.
“Retail investing is more popular and accessible than ever before, yet the majority of women remain on the investment sidelines. At Alpher, we are building a product that puts women at the core – building what we know women want rather than what people assume they want. Partnering with WealthKernel to enable this vision was, therefore, an obvious choice for us and will enable us to launch our platform seamlessly and effortlessly. Karan and his team’s commitment to Alpher’s overall direction have been amazing, and we can’t wait to put WealthKernel’s services to use to benefit our users.”
Mini Maxwell, CEO, and Co-Founder at Alpher.
CIBC INNOVATION BANKING PROVIDES GROWTH CAPITAL FINANCING TO DEALMAKER
CIBC Innovation Banking is pleased to announce growth capital financing for DealMaker, a leading capital raising technology platform. The financing will enable the company to accelerate its growth across North America.
Founded in 2018, by experienced Bay Street lawyers, Rebecca Kacaba and Matt Goldstein, DealMaker’s ambition is to modernize the shareholder issuance space, with recent successes including the Green Bay Packer’s issuance.
“DealMaker is providing customers with a comprehensive and modern capital raising experience while maintaining a laser focus on transparency,”
“We are proud to provide them with financial and advisory support as they continue their impressive growth trajectory.”
Rob Rosen, Managing Director in CIBC Innovation Banking’s Toronto office.
“We are committed to not only making raising capital digitally seamless but also are driving to democratize the capital markets as a whole,”
“Raises done through our platform typically see a much more diverse set of investors and founders, resulting in a much-needed redistribution of access to the capital markets.”
Rebecca Kacaba, CEO of DealMaker.
This announcement comes on the heels of DealMaker’s recent acquisition of Ridge Growth Agency, the industry-leading crowdfunding marketing agency that supports companies with their private placements.
LAVU AND VERIFONE PARTNER TO PROVIDE UNIFIED PAYMENTS AND POINT OF SALE SOLUTIONS TO RESTAURANTS
Lavu, a major global restaurant software and payments solution provider built by restaurant people, and Verifone, a global FinTech leader, and payment solution provider to the world’s best-known brands, today announced a new cross-distribution partnership that will seamlessly integrate Lavu’s all-in-one restaurant software suite with Verifone’s FLEX payment solution, including its Advanced Payment Methods platform, benefiting Lavu and Verifone customers.
The strategic partnership helps better serve the restaurant industry, allowing both Verifone and Lavu to offer a high-quality, unified point of sale (POS) and payment experience to their customers. Lavu will now be able to expand its payments acceptance offering into new markets by leveraging Verifone’s breadth of payment connections. The first available product will be comprised of a Verifone Engage e285 device with Lavu’s tablet-based POS solutions.
With access to Verifone’s Advanced Payment Methods platform, millions of restaurants will more easily meet rapidly evolving consumer behavior, most notably the accelerated shift to digital and split payments. Whether splitting a bill with a large party, paying using cryptocurrencies, or spreading payments over time, the Verifone user experience is simple: customers select their desired advanced payment method on the Verifone terminal and use their mobile device to complete the transaction.
The following payment methods, and more, will become available to Lavu customers and Verifone customers: Alipay, Affirm, Cryptocurrency (including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and several USD stablecoins) using prominent Crypto wallets, PayPal, Venmo, WeChat Pay, Klarna, Swish, and Vipps.
“Our partnership with Verifone advances our mission to help even more restaurants reach new customer segments and remain profitable during an increasingly challenging time,”
“Especially over the past two years, consumers have acclimated to contactless, cardless, and flexible payment methods, and we’re excited to call Verifone our ally in ensuring that restaurateurs meet this customer needs amidst inflationary pressures and staffing shortages.”
Saleem S. Khatri, CEO of Lavu.
“There’s massive interest from dining establishments to expand their payment acceptance options as consumer trust in these popular digital wallets accelerates,”
“We’re excited to partner with Lavu to provide an unparalleled end-to-end experience for restaurant merchants by joining the most adaptable restaurant POS system with our payment solutions and suite of Advanced Payments Methods.”
Tim O’Loughlin President and EVP, Verifone.
FINTECH MATCHMOVE PAY BUYS ECOMMERCE STARTUP SHOPMATIC
MatchMove, a Singapore FinTech, has bought eCommerce startup Shopmatic, also from the same country, for $200 million.
This shows how much the startup ecosystem in India and Southeast Asia has been consolidating.
The combined entity will be called the MatchMove Group and will target revenues of $400 million and four million customers in over 15 countries by 2026, including India.
This is the first acquisition in several of them planned by MatchMove, which will work on a rounded set of offerings that will help businesses digitize themselves.
“Combining embedded finance tools such as credit card payments with eCommerce features such as social commerce will smooth the digitization journey of small and medium businesses,”
Shailesh Naik, MatchMove’s founder and chief executive officer.
The report notes the potential of eCommerce in the Asia Pacific region, which could double and hit $2 trillion by 2025.
And the two startups are in complementary realms and both have Indian founders, along with most of their businesses located there.
Shopmatic’s services allow businesses to add eCommerce tools for digitizing inventory, social commerce, web stores, and automated access to the world’s biggest markets.
MatchMove’s customers can customize and embed financial services like banking or credit card services.
PYMNTS wrote in 2020 about MatchMove’s deal to buy a “strategic stake” in Shopmatic.
OPAY ADDS VIRTUAL MASTERCARD TO WALLET
Mastercard and fintech giant OPay today announced a strategic partnership, which marks a significant boost for wider financial inclusion and economic prosperity by opening up digital commerce to millions of people across the Middle East and Africa.
The collaboration enables OPay consumers and merchants in the region – including Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa, and the UAE – to engage with brands and businesses anywhere across the globe, thanks to a Mastercard virtual payment solution linked to the OPay eWallet.
This partnership is the latest milestone in Mastercard’s emerging market strategy where the technology company is collaborating with growing Fintech such as OPay to expand access to digital payments, enable multiple lifestyle services, create new pathways to financial inclusion and support the next generation of super-apps. Consumers are increasingly looking for seamless user experiences on a single platform offering easier interactions to complete various day-to-day needs, including sending and receiving money, ordering food and groceries, organizing transport, lending, investing, and listing items they wish to sell.
In the initial phase of this partnership, OPay customers will benefit from the Mastercard virtual payment solution linked to their OPay wallets, to shop at well-known global brands for leisure, travel, accommodation, entertainment, streaming services, and more. The service is available regardless of whether or not the customer has a bank account. It also allows small business owners to purchase from suppliers abroad and pay with the secure virtual payment solution.
“At Mastercard, our innovation strategy is rooted in partnerships to support inclusion at scale. Our partnership with OPay demonstrates our commitment to supporting payments providers across the world to create an interconnected global payments ecosystem that benefits an array of consumers with unique needs.”
Amnah Ajmal, EVP for Market Development, Mastercard EEMEA.
“As the leading fintech in the Middle East and Africa, we are delighted to be partnering with Mastercard as we continue on our journey to promote financial inclusion, helping to open up the global economy to more consumers and businesses across the Middle East, and Africa.”
Yahui Zhou, CEO of OPay.
Since its operations started in 2018, OPay’s active users have grown to 15 million in dozens of markets in which it operates. The company processes millions of transactions per day on average. In Nigeria alone, where OPay takes a significant market share, users have saved billions of US dollars in the last four years through credit-linked savings accounts from their mobile wallets and small loans from lenders that use its platform.
Plans are in place to launch OPay services in other markets in the next three to five years, significantly driving the growth of digital inclusion and digital commerce, while at the same time widening OPay customer inclusion into the global economy.
AQUILA BROADENS GLOBAL FINTECH REACH THROUGH ACQUISITION OF CIBAR
Aquila today announced the acquisition of Cibar Inc. (“Cibar”), a best-in-class banking software solution for the international trade finance industry.
Cibar, a pioneer and specialist in trade finance applications, was established in 1969 and has its headquarters in Colorado Springs, USA. Its modules cover imports and exports, standby letters of credit, guarantees, cash letters, wire transfers, and more. One of the most complete back-office systems is offered by Cibar through its flagship products, the “GTSnet” trade finance system, “ICCnet” customer portal, and “CASHnet” cash letter system. These products serve the demands of major and middle-market trade finance institutions as well as their customers.
“We’re grateful for this union with Cibar,”
“Aquila is delighted to uphold and accelerate Cibar’s long-standing mission. Cibar has an incredibly customer-focused team and a wonderful brand in the trade finance marketplace. They are an important addition to Aquila’s group of independent fintech businesses.”
Daniel Lee, CEO of Aquila.
“Cibar is very excited to join the Aquila team. In our 53 years in business we never really considered selling the company until we were introduced to Daniel Lee and his team at Aquila. As we went through a detailed due diligence process, it became apparent that Aquila’s vision aligned with Cibar’s. We feel this will be a great partnership for our employees and customers moving forward.”
Nick Mayer, President of Cibar.
As an independent business division of Aquila, Cibar will continue to service its clients and partners.
WAYFLYER SECURES $253M DEBT FINANCING FROM CREDIT SUISSE
Wayflyer, the revenue-based financing and growth platform for e-commerce businesses, has secured a $200 million (plus a $53 million mezzanine) debt financing facility from Credit Suisse.
The extra financing facility will be used by Wayflyer to support other origination, allowing it to quickly give capital to e-commerce companies and assist them to spur growth, enhancing cash flow, and increasing sales. It will also enable Wayflyer to increase liquidity and support its goal of giving its customers in the US and Western Europe the most affordable fares.
Wayflyer is pleased with its solid business strategy, methodical underwriting approach, and status as a premier partner to some of the biggest financiers in the world. A $300 million financing line with J.P. Morgan was also approved by Wayflyer earlier this year.
Wayflyer specializes in providing funding for e-commerce companies, assisting them in resolving crucial working cash issues that might limit growth. By enhancing cash flow, its clients are better able to take advantage of opportunities, such as buying more stock, adding personnel, or just boosting their company’s profitability and durability.
“Now, more than ever, eCommerce businesses need access to fair, flexible and affordable funding solutions from a trusted and resilient partner. At a practical level, this deal helps support our objective to offer the fairest terms and the best rates to our customers while advancing Wayflyer’s unwavering commitment to being a trusted partner, irrespective of the impact of wider economic conditions on the market.”
Aidan Corbett, Co-Founder and CEO, Wayflyer.
The e-commerce growth platform, Wayflyer had announced the appointment of Rebecca Weizenecker as Head of US Sales. Rebecca joined Atlanta-based invoice payment FinTech, Now, where she was Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
valU AND PayTabs EGYPT PARTNER WITH notchnco
valU, MENA’s leading Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) lifestyle enabling FinTech platform, PayTabs Egypt, the payment processing solution, and notchnco, an independent software vendor (ISV) for meta products, have announced a collaboration that will allow valU’s clients to enjoy a unique WhatsApp shopping experience. For the first time in Egypt, through an automated workflow developed by notchnco, valU is capitalizing on WhatsApp’s business Application Programming Interface (API) while processing payments via PayTabs Egypt’s digital payment solutions to offer clients the convenience of paying via chat.
“It is part of our strategy to offer all-inclusive solutions to clients through unique, innovative partnerships that break new ground in MENA’s fintech market,”
“We are excited to be utilizing the synergies across our NBFI platforms with our sister company valU to widen our scope of products, services, and partnership network through this collaboration with notchnco. This offering will contribute towards promoting a cashless payment culture in the region via a secure, seamless, and integrated user experience available on an extensively used social media app.”
Karim Eyada, Country BD Manager of PayTabs Egypt.
Through this collaboration, notchnco’s ‘humanized’ WhatsApp chatbot software will allow valU to target different consumer groups with offers that are specifically suited to their interests, buying cycles, and purchase behaviors. This will enable valU to provide a customized purchasing experience to a certain customer base. The upside is that it will make convenient campaign-based selling possible by delivering clients who have opted in for tailored, timely messages with an unrestricted character limit. The entire procedure will be totally automated from start to finish thanks to PayTabs Egypt’s ability to send fast payment links through WhatsApp. This will give the user a simple, straightforward payment process and the chance to benefit from valU’s reasonable and adaptable 6- to 60-month installment payment options.
“This is a historic moment for us as we partner with an innovative fintech player like notchnco to provide the most convenient and up-to-date digital-friendly shopping experience. With 60% of our population under the age of thirty, this new offering is exactly what the youth are looking for. This collaboration not only diversifies our network of partners but further cement our position as a champion of the latest digital solutions in MENA’s retail space alongside our sister company, PayTabs Egypt. Offering an even more seamless user experience, valU customers can now enjoy our customizable BNPL payment plans in an end-to-end automated process through notchnco’s chatbot and complete their payments via PayTabs Egypt, all through a single platform – WhatsApp.”
Bassel ElTokhy, COO of valU.
Notchnco is working to use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to better the consumer experience. Offering its proprietary omnichannel platform and humanized chatbot software, notchbot, it presently conducts business in Cairo and Abu Dhabi. This platform has proactive messaging tools and a sales tool that can be tailored to individual businesses. By providing an interactive platform that enables users to construct their own chatbots, notchbot delivers a user-friendly experience. Through various interactions, intents, and channels, the user is effortlessly guided into the discussion flow.
“We are delighted to be partnering with two premier players in Egypt’s fintech scene, valU and PayTabs Egypt, to offer customers a seamless and fully automated user experience while enjoying the convenience of customizable installment plans. This collaboration reflects the main cornerstone of our purpose as a company which is to make customers’ experience more flexible, intelligent, and personal. Customers will be able to make purchases through our intuitive AI-powered notchbot, choose one of valU’s payment plans, and complete their purchase through PayTabs Egypt’s payment gateway in one all-inclusive shopping experience,”
“It was a one-of-a-kind experience working with the number one BNPL player in Egypt, driving conversions for their business growth to engage customers for unique offers and installment payment schedules via a complete software suite developed by notchnco, inspired by valU’s team, finalised through PayTabs Egypt payment gateway, and enabled by WhatsApp’s business API,”
Bassem Nassif, Founder and CEO of notchnco.
This partnership serves as an example of EFG Hermes Holding’s strategy to take advantage of business line synergies and further cross-selling opportunities across its NBFI platforms in order to provide clients and partners with customized, all-inclusive financing solutions. The collaboration between valU and PayTabs Egypt, which has previously inked agreements with companies like Mazadat, Inertia Real Estate, Lulu Market, EgyptAir, and The Knowledge Hub Universities to provide their customers with convenient financing options and e-payment processing, is the most recent of many.
SOLID RAISES $63 MILLION SERIES B LED BY FTV CAPITAL
Solid, the leading fintech-as-a-service platform that offers a modern infrastructure for any company to launch and scale fintech products, today announced its $63 million Series B funding round. Led by FTV Capital, a sector-focused growth equity firm with nearly 25 years of experience investing in financial technology, the funding will accelerate Solid’s expansion into fintech-ready verticals such as travel, logistics, construction, healthcare, education, and the gig economy. Existing investor Headline also participated in the round.
Modern businesses are becoming more aware of the potential for integrating fintech solutions to broaden their value propositions, boost user engagement, and generate additional money. Traditional fintech infrastructure, however, was not created for the modern business; as a result, it frequently necessitates dozens of point solutions, millions in initial and ongoing maintenance expenses, and years before a live product can be launched.
Solid’s vision is to make it easy to embed fintech products, with a fully abstracted fintech-as-a-service platform that provides modern developer interfaces and experiences. “We built the most comprehensive fintech infrastructure from the ground up, so others don’t have to,”
“Now, any company can quickly spin up bank accounts, crypto wallets, send payments, and issue cards to their end users, right in their product experience, while Solid does the heavy lifting of building and maintaining compliant fintech infrastructure.”
Arjun Thyagarajan, co-founder and CEO at Solid.
“With over two decades of investing in category-defining fintechs, FTV has been closely following the rise of banking-as-a-service or BaaS,”
“Solid is meeting a real market need for modern fintech infrastructure, delivering a best-in-class platform that encompasses technology, compliance and everything in between. The company’s strong financial position, explosive growth, and calibre of clients speak for themselves, and we are delighted to back the leading fintech-as-a-service platform with unmatched leadership and a commitment to compliance, technology, and customer experience.”
Robert Anderson, partner at FTV Capital, who joined Solid’s board of directors as part of this investment.
Today’s announcement comes on the heels of unprecedented 10x growth in revenue, customer base, and transactions processed in the last 12 months, which accelerated the company’s path to profitability.
“With over 100 fintech programs and $2 billion in transactions processed on our infrastructure, year to date, Solid has quickly become the go-to provider for high-growth companies that want a one-stop shop for their fintech needs,”
Raghav Lal, co-founder and president at Solid.
Prior to Solid, Lal launched several successful fintech programs at American Express and Visa.
The experience is their own, and there is minimal to no regulatory burden for fintech programs that are built and launched on Solid. A few lines of code and a call to current APIs suffice for integration, which allows for an incredibly quick time to market. Programs from Solid include well-known fintechs, SaaS industry giants, and quickly expanding companies.
“The future of commerce, media, and work is increasingly driven by passionate creators. Lumanu’s first-of-its-kind payments platform with embedded financing tools, built on Solid’s infrastructure, empowers creatives to deliver great work without worrying about money,”
Tony Tran, CEO at Lumanu, powering payments for over 40K creators and 300 businesses.
BYBIT PARTNERS WITH CIRCLE, PLANS TO LAUNCH USDC SPOT PAIRS AND OFFER INTEGRATIONS FOR CLIENTS
Bybit, the third largest crypto derivatives exchange in the world by volume, has partnered with Circle Internet Financial, a global digital financial technology firm and the issuer of USD Coin (USDC) and Euro Coin (EUROC) to help accelerate the growth of Bybit as a gateway for retail and institutional USDC-settled products.
Bybit wants to be a one-stop gateway for choices with USDC settlement. With features like portfolio margin, which reduces margin requirements on hedged positions, and unified accounts that take BTC/ETH/USDT/USDC as collateral, the Exchange’s market-beating liquidity is matched. In accordance with the agreement, Bybit will make Circle’s services available to its customers, increase the number of USDC spot pairs it lists, and promote increased public awareness of USDC and related goods. Bybit’s collaboration with Circle, a pioneering exchange for new digital asset classes, aims to increase cryptocurrency adoption and utility. The first stablecoin-margined option contract was USDC options, which Bybit released earlier this year. The exchange promised to soon make Ether and SOL options available as well.
“We have been building throughout the bear market, and have found USDC to be an excellent fit for our operations,” “After the success of our USDC options, it was opportune to further develop our working relationship with Circle, which has a reputation for openness and integrity in their services and development of cutting-edge financial technology. We look forward to offering more USDC spot pairs and products to our retail and institutional clients.”
Ben Zhou co-founder and CEO of Bybit.
As part of its commitment, Bybit will use its knowledge and proficiency in running its top cryptocurrency exchange to develop and market products including spot trading, perpetual contracts, and options that assist the expansion of USDC. Additionally, Bybit will support quick, automatic conversions between USD and USDC (or other Circle-issued stablecoins).
“Over the last year, Bybit has ceaselessly delighted users of USDC with the continued expansion of their innovative product offerings,”
“We are thrilled to have Bybit onboard as a partner in our efforts to promote greater access and adoption for USDC.”
Jeremy Allaire, co-founder & CEO of Circle.
PEZESHA RAISES PRE-SERIES A OF $11M TO GROW ITS EMBEDDED FINANCE PLATFORM
Pan-African embedded finance Fintech Pezesha has raised a pre-series A investment of $11 Million. The round was a mix of $6 million equity and $5 million debt. The funding round, which was led by Women’s World Banking Capital Partners II (WWBCP II), will see the company significantly scale operations in its core markets and grow into new markets within Sub Sahara Africa.
Pezesha provides a B2B digital lending infrastructure with an emphasis on giving financially disadvantaged SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa access to inexpensive working capital. According to estimates, this industry has a $328 billion financing deficit. Hilda Moraa, a second-time fintech entrepreneur who successfully sold her first fintech company in 2015, created Pezesha in 2017. The money from this investment will be used by Pezesha to strengthen its position in East Africa and extend its network of online lenders across the continent of West Africa.
With its headquarters in Kenya, Pezesha has concentrated on finding solutions to difficult infrastructure issues that leave MSMEs in the “missing middle.” Pezesha, a pioneer in embedded finance in Africa, provides productive loans to tech-enabled platforms like Twiga Foods, Jumia, and Marketforce among dozens of others. By bridging the MSME information gap and mending fractured value chains.
Partners offer credit and other financial services to their merchant network at the time of sale by effortlessly integrating with Pezesha’s APIs. MSMEs who want to buy stock but pay later can obtain real-time loan offers thanks to the credit scoring APIs from Pezesha. To help MSMEs who do not qualify for loans build their credit and assure prudent borrowing as they advance up the Pezesha financial ladder, Pezesha also provides financial literacy classes and debt counseling.
Through the issuance of more than 100,000 loans to MSMEs in Kenya, Uganda, and Ghana over the past two years, Pezesha has increased the value of its disbursements by more than 2,000%.
“ We are excited about attracting institutional investors led by the Women’s World Banking Capital Partners II to harness our growth plans and push our mission to the next level. We are equally excited that WWBCP II intentionally invests in women, which allows us to cement inclusivity in our growth plans as a sustainable path toward our vision of building Africa’s MSME lending infrastructure.
Additionally, this round has brought together strategic investors who underpin the fundamentals of financial inclusion in their thesis and we believe these combined experiences will help us accelerate and enable millions of MSMEs across African value chains to access affordable working capital.”
Hilda Moraa, Founder & CEO, Pezesha.
The second gender-lens investment fund launched by US-based nonprofit Women’s World Banking and administered by WWB Asset Management is known as WWBCP II. By making investments in high-performing financial service companies that cater to low-income women and have a dedicated technical assistance facility to support portfolio companies in achieving their strategic goals for gender inclusion, the fund intends to close the gender gap. Verdant Frontiers Fintech Fund, an early stage African Fintech Fund focused on accelerating financial inclusion, cFund and IOG, ventures investing in blockchain infrastructure-layering innovations, Talanton (values-driven private impact investment fund), and Verdant Capital Specialist Funds investing debt in this round are additional strategic investors that have joined the round.
“We’re excited to join Pezesha’s journey,”
“Pezesha is dedicated to solving Africa’s working capital problem through its robust lending infrastructure and this investment will allow them to deepen the range of financial products offered especially to women-owned MSMEs. We look forward to teaming up with Pezesha as it drives financial inclusion in Africa and continues to increase the number of women served in its business ecosystem.”
Christina “CJ” Juhasz, Chief Investment Officer, Women’s World Banking Asset Management.
In addition, Pezesha is expanding the debt liquidity market by collaborating with smart institutional investors like IOG-Cardano. By overlaying DeFi liquidity channels on top of the scalable digital lending infrastructure, the alliance enables the business to access affordable funding.
“I’m delighted to announce our investment in Pezesha. Facilitating the movement of capital into emerging markets to support economic growth and job creation is a core promise of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Our vision is centered on using technology to make it easier for people across the globe to borrow and lend to each other in a regulated way. This investment in Pezesha is an important milestone, and we’re excited to be a part of their growth story.”
Charles Hoskinson, Co-founder of IOG and Cardano.
“Pezesha is democratizing financial services to the underserved SMEs through its infrastructure that has validated trust, rockstar team and scale. We are allowing distribution models for our partners to grow with little acquisition costs while increasing retention and profitability. We are the trade shift for Africa. Providing the rails for everyone to offer fintech services from supply chains, cooperatives, payments, e-commerce marketplaces etc by leveraging our lending infrastructure to operate and offer working capital to their customers in an effective and affordable way. In a nutshell, Pezesha has demonstrated the trust of all key stakeholders within its digital ecosystem and the capital markets.”
“Embedded finance is the future. The ability to embed financial services to traditional workflows or processes through tech and automation is estimated to be at $248Bn by 2032. The foundation that Pezesha has built so far is anchored for the future with a talented team at the helm of it.”
Hilda Moraa, Founder & CEO, Pezesha.
FISERV AND RUTGERS-NEWARK PARTNER ON PROGRAM TO DRIVE FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY INCLUSION AND INNOVATION
Fiserv, Inc., a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology with a growing presence in New Jersey, is partnering with Rutgers University-Newark to create and fund a new program designed to drive diversity and innovation within the financial technology field. Over a five-year period, the Fiserv-RU-N Program for Inclusive Innovation will fund career modules to help students get ready for internships and jobs, establish a center on campus that will serve as a research and incubation space for the RU-N community and nearby businesses, and award annual scholarships to undergraduate students.
“Through its synergy with Rutgers-Newark, Fiserv will foster inclusive innovation in New Jersey’s largest city,”
“The tremendous growth and success of Fiserv in New Jersey epitomize what a company can achieve when it creates value while simultaneously reflecting the values of its customers. Diversity and inclusion are core principles that define us as New Jerseyans, and I am delighted that Fiserv is launching initiatives that not only embody but build upon, those principles.”
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.
Fiserv will also finance studies into technology and business, including those into cybersecurity and the moral and legal implications of financial technology.
“Consumer expectations for financial services and payment experiences continue to evolve, creating a demand for continuous innovation,”
“This program will add a new dimension to our ability to bring together a diverse range of perspectives as we develop new answers to the challenges faced by our clients and the financial services industry. With nearly every household in the U.S. having a touchpoint with a Fiserv solution, from digital banking to card payments, we have a tremendous opportunity to deliver capabilities that enhance financial services experiences. We’re energized by the opportunity to cultivate great talent and ideas through the Fiserv-RU-N program.”
Frank Bisignano, Fiserv Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
“This is a watershed moment for Rutgers-Newark. Fiserv is a visionary company that shares our sense of urgency in building and broadening pathways to business and tech careers for students from our increasingly diverse communities, and shares our understanding that doing this helps drive innovation forward. We’re creating an unprecedented partnership right here in Newark. Its nerve center will be a collaborative innovation lab right on Washington Street where we can set new standards for the fintech industry, where experienced professionals work side by side with university researchers and professionals of tomorrow from Newark, Greater Newark, and beyond, leveraging diversity, creating better, smarter solutions by bringing people from many backgrounds together to tackle problems,’’
Rutgers-Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor.
PayPal LAUNCHES GRANT PAYMENTS
PayPal Holdings, Inc., in partnership with National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) and Vanguard Charitable, announced Grant Payments. This new product enables Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) sponsors, community foundations, and other grantmakers to deliver grants to charities quickly and electronically via PayPal.
Charities will be able to collect awards soon after the grantmaker has authorized the cash thanks to grant payments. Grant details, including donor information when provided, will be accessible to both grantmakers and organizations via a PayPal dashboard. The strict compliance criteria of PayPal have been applied to the evaluation of eligible and participating charities.
“PayPal is committed to offering safe, secure, and seamless products and services that drive efficiency for grantmakers and charities to digitally send and receive grant payments,”
“By partnering with National Philanthropic Trust and Vanguard Charitable, PayPal Grant Payments will enable more than 200,000 PayPal confirmed charities to quickly receive grants electronically, streamlining and simplifying what has historically been a much more manual and drawn-out process.”
Oktay Dogramaci, VP of Giving at PayPal.
Donor grants from the DAF will reach record highs in 2020. The expected $34.67 billion in grants from DAFs to qualified charities represents a 27.0% increase compared to 2019 and the biggest DAF grant increase in ten years. Grant payments to charities totaled $6.4 billion in 2021 from NPT and $1.78 billion from Vanguard Charitable; checks accounted for the majority of these payments.
“NPT is always interested in innovation and the pandemic amplified the need for non-profits to receive grant dollars more efficiently,”
“This solution does that and more. We believe that PayPal-based Grant Payments will simplify and accelerate how grantmakers can get funds to non-profits for mission-critical programs. The partnership with PayPal and Vanguard Charitable on this sector-wide solution could be a game-changer for other funders as well and has been enormously gratifying.”
Eileen Heisman, CEO of National Philanthropic Trust.
This procedure may be pricey and drawn out. Due to postal service delays and the inability of some non-profits with limited access to offices to retrieve cheques, the pandemic made it even more difficult for charities to receive grant checks on time. Grant Payments allow both grantmakers and non-profits to focus on carrying out their respective philanthropic missions while saving time and resources.
“We are thrilled to partner with PayPal and NPT to bring modern and effective granting solutions to our donors and non-profit partners alike,”
“Charities today need sustainable donor support more than ever. By streamlining the granting process, donors can make an even greater – and faster – impact on meaningful cause areas. We look forward to continuing to bring innovative solutions to the granting space, ensuring that we’re always working to increase philanthropy and maximize its impact over time.”
Rebecca Moffett, president of Vanguard Charitable.
PayPal Holdings had announced the Venmo Small Business Grant, a new program for emerging and small businesses that would provide financial grants and mentorship services to 20 new and existing Venmo Business Profile customers.