This Week in Fintech: TFT Bi-Weekly News Roundup 23/04

Welcome to The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Tuesday 23 April 2024

Appointments

Global technology company SAP appoints Sundus Bushahri as managing director for its Kuwait operations. With more than 15 years of experience gained at large multinationals and Fortune 500 companies, Bushahri will lead her team in supporting Kuwait’s ambitious digitalization and workforce training agenda, helping companies to leverage the enormous potential of cloud computing and business AI.

Insurtech Send Technology Solutions Ltd (Send) has appointed William Harnett as its head of business strategy and customer success. Harnett has spent the past 20 years at AXIS Capital. In this new role, created to support Send’s continued international growth, he help Send’s customers address their biggest pain points and barriers to innovation, their digital targets and existing processes.

Bank of Singapore has named Rickie Chan as chief executive of its Hong Kong branch. Chan will retain his duties as head of private banking, Greater China in Hong Kong in addition to his duties as chief executive. He succeeds former Hong Kong chief executive Cindy Wong.

Meanwhile, SCRYPT, the Swiss financial services provider with a focus on institutional-grade crypto asset services, has welcomed Keith Noyes as chief compliance and risk officer, as well as Helen Harvey as director of sales.

Virtual payments provider Conferma has appointed Kriya Patel as its new non-executive director to support its drive to make it simple for any company, anywhere in the world, to connect and do business. Patel, currently CEO of Tap Global, will play a pivotal role in supporting Conferma through the next stage of its growth.

More appointments

10x Banking, the cloud-native SaaS core banking platform, appoints Will Dale as its regional vice president in APAC. The appointment, which sees Dale join from Mambu where he held the role of regional VP for nearly five years, sees 10x cement its presence in APAC as part of its mission to bring core banking transformation to financial institutions across the region.

Unity Trust Bank has promoted Scott Hutchinson to deputy regional director, alongside the appointment of two new relationship managers to its Scotland team. Hutchinson will support John Copping, regional director for the North, while Michelle Wilson and Jordan Hady will support the growth of Unity’s North & Scotland portfolio.

Partnerships

KogoPAY, a payment platform, has solidified its partnership with The Estate (Thailand) by MQDC (Magnolia Quality Development Corporation Limited) to ensure secure financial transactions for UK and European citizens opting to retire in Thailand. To facilitate their retirement in Thailand, UK and European citizens planning to move to the Aspen Tree for five years and over will be granted visas and healthcare insurance.

Nium, the real-time cross-border payments company, is teaming up with Artajasa, an Indonesian payment infrastructure companies. The partnership will ensure seamless, real-time, cross-border transfers between Indonesia and the world.

Google Cloud has joined forces with Allfunds, a B2B platforms for the funds industry, to accelerate its capabilities through cloud computing, data analytics and AI. Using Google Cloud’s tools and infrastructure, Allfunds will be able to enhance its existing data analytics offering, inspire smarter decision-making across the board and drive new growth opportunities.

Finastra, a provider of financial software applications and marketplaces, announces that British Caribbean Bank Limited (BCB), a Turks and Caicos-based financial institution offering international bank accounts and customized loan options, has selected Finastra Essence, deployed on Microsoft Azure cloud, to modernise its core and transform its back-office operations.

Airwallex, a global payments and financial platform for modern businesses, partners with Bird (formerly MessageBird), a global communication platform, to power Bird’s international payments operations. Using Airwallex’s global payments and financial infrastructure, Bird has been able to consolidate its financial operations across multiple entities and currencies into a single platform

More partnerships

Sopra Banking Software (SBS), a provider of banking software solutions, and Paymentology, a global issuer processor, have forged a strategic partnership aimed at delivering comprehensive card issuing services within SBS’s next-generation SBP Digital Core platform. The integration process is streamlined and accelerated with the development of a dedicated connector by SBS.

Accelerated Payments, a provider of business funding solutions, has unveiled a strategic partnership with inflverse, a global financial management platform for creator agencies. This collaboration aims to build a more financially sustainable creator economy. Leveraging Accelerated Payments funding solutions, inflverse has developed a proprietary platform that is revolutionising payments within the creator economy.

Trading and investment platform eToro and 21Shares, an issuer of crypto exchange traded products, have partnered to launch a new portfolio named 21Shares-Flows, designed to offer retail investors a dynamic and data-driven approach to crypto investing.

M&As

Thunes, a global cross-border payments company, is acquiring Tilia LLC, an all-in-one payments platform based in San Francisco. Tilia is licensed in 48 US states and territories and offers payment solutions (acceptance and pay-outs) for online games, virtual worlds, creator economies and in-app purchases. This latest company milestone aims to accelerate Thunes’ growth in the US as well as its presence in the online gaming market.

Company updates

Network International LLC (Network), an enabler of digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa region, has obtained a stored value facility (SVF) licence from the Central Bank of the UAE that will enable it to further support the UAE’s growing digital payment ecosystem. The procurement of the licence marks a major milestone in Network’s efforts to better support fintech and financial institutions and help enhance the UAE’s digital economy.

Monzo has launched three expanded subscription plans: Extra, Perks, and Max, designed with feedback from over 45,000 customers. Perks and Max both include new benefits including a weekly hot drink or snack from Greggs, an annual railcard, as well as car breakdown cover. Customers using the current subscriptions – Plus and Premium – can switch to any of the new plans.

Funding and investments

Payflows, the AI-powered SaaS finance platform built by veterans of Airbnb and Luko, has raised €25million in Series A funding from Balderton Capital. Existing investors Headline and Ribbit Capital also doubled down on their previous investments.

Midas, the fintech startup, has raised $45million in equity funding. The new capital will enable Midas to expand and roll out three new products: cryptocurrency trading, mutual funds, and savings accounts. The $45million fundraise was led by Portage and is also one of Turkey’s largest ever Series A rounds.

Matera, a Web3 foundation spun off from Landvault, secured $3.6million in a strategic Token round from  investors including Sidedoor Ventures (backers of Polygon and Mysten Labs), metaverse project The Sandbox, APAC launchpad Enjinstarter, and long-term backers Gemini and Kingsway Capital. This strategic token round fuels Matera’s mission: unlocking creator monetisation through DeFi on existing social networks.

Pomelo announces $35million Series A in venture capital and a $75million expansion of its warehouse facility from Vy Capital, Founders Fund and A* Capital. This brings total funds raised to date to $55million in equity capital and $125million for its warehouse facility.

AI-driven business finance comparison site FundOnion has unveiled plans to facilitate over £1billion in funding to help up to 25,000 SMEs grow over the next four years. The plans come as the small business finance platform continues to work to consolidate what is a historically fragmented market for small business loans.

Fundpath, the critical data and business intelligence service for the wealth and asset management industry, has completed a further £2million funding round with its venture capital partner, Fuel Ventures. This second round of funding follows Fuel’s initial £4million investment, made in March 2023.