March 17, 2023 @ 8:56 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Cross-border payments platform CurrencyFair has announced a partnership with international payments company Thunes, who will support CurrencyFair to offer its money transfer services in 25 new currencies, including Mexican peso, which has now gone live. This represents “a growth in current markets of more than… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 7:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, announced OpenAI has chosen Stripe to power payments as it “moves to commercialize its groundbreaking ChatGPT and DALL·E generative AI technologies.” Stripe is also “incorporating OpenAI’s new natural language technology, GPT-4, into its products and services.” Peter Welinder,… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 7:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

FedNow, the US Federal Reserves – a near real-time transfers platform that will soon be made available to all banks in the United States, will enable individuals and businesses to move their money in a frictionless manner. In development for years, FedNow is currently scheduled… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 6:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

VirtuSwap has reportedly integrated PARSIQ’s Tsunami API for real-time synchronization and automation of (decentralized exchange) DEX trading pools. This should help with enhancing efficiency for traders and Liquidity Providers (LPs). VirtuSwap is described as “a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on the Polygon network.” Their unique… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 6:20 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently connected with Oren Barzilai, CEO at EquityBee, the startup employees’ stock options funding solution. Oren Barzilai from EquityBee talked about what led to them compiling their latest report on startups. Barzilai also discussed how common stock options have become at startups. In addition… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 3:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

The largest banks in the US have joined to support First Republic Bank by providing $30 billion in money to backstop the firm reflecting their “confidence in the country’s banking system.  Bank of America, Citi, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo each have committed $5… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 3:29 pm By JD Alois  |  

Stripe, a leading Fintech in the payments and transaction sector, has raised $6.5 billion (€6.15 billion) at a $50 billion (€47 billion) valuation. The “Series I” round took a significant haircut from its last round. In 2022, Stripe raised money at a $74 billion valuation. … Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 3:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Embroker, the digital insurance platform making it a radically simple single destination to get business insurance, announced that Chris Spagnuolo has come on board as Chief Product Officer (CPO). He joins the team at a pivotal time “to continue fueling Embroker’s momentum in developing innovative… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 3:10 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Ibanera‘s shareholders on recently finalized an $18.5 million funding round. The shareholders in Ibanera, a digital banking and payments company with a focus on embedded payments for Web3 platforms closed an $18.5 million investment round “for themselves to enable them to keep supporting Ibanera’s business… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 11:02 am By JD Alois  |  

Neobank PayStand is looking to provide an alternative to bank cash management following the collapse of several banks and the ongoing panic regarding regional/smaller banks. First, Silvergate Bank failed, followed by Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic. The ensuing fear, uncertainty, and doubt pushed people… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 10:19 am By JD Alois  |  

Circle, the issuer of dollar-based stablecoin USDC, was hammered when it was announced that the Fintech held $3.3 billion at Silicon Valley Bank (NASDAQ:SIVB). For a long minute, things looked a bit dire. That reversed when the federal government decided to back all deposits –… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 10:02 am By JD Alois  |  

Online investment platform SyndicateRoom has distributed an update on its performance. According to an email, SyndicateRoom’s Access Fund 2020 cohort is up 45%, not including tax reliefs or loss reliefs. Tax benefits may include EIS/SEIS programs that mitigate risk and could reduce any capital gains…. Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 9:22 am By JD Alois  |  

Pointing at persistent inflation, the European Central Bank (ECB) has increased benchmark rates by 50 BPS. The Governing Council of the ECB said it decided to raise the three key interest rates by 50 basis points. Accordingly, the interest rate on the main refinancing operations… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 8:54 am By JD Alois  |  

The FedNow Service will commence operations this coming July, according to a statement by the US Federal Reserve. FedNow is an effort to facilitate instant payment services by financial institutions 24/7/365. Currently, most transactions provided by legacy financial institutions can take days. Both businesses and… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 8:36 am By JD Alois  |  

Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) has taken “decisive action” to buttress its balance sheet by tapping into a CHF 50 billion ($54 billion) loan from the Swiss National Bank. (SNB) In recent days, shares of Credit Suisse had been hammered by speculation that the bank was in… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 8:17 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Nium, a global transfers and payments Fintech, and Travel Ledger, a B2B settlement network for the travel industry, have announced a strategic agreement to bring innovative payments solutions to travel businesses worldwide. Nium’s single platform for global payments and card issuing provides banks, fintechs, payment… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 8:14 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Fintech firm Hokodo joins forces with French international banking group BNP Paribas in order to deliver a frictionless B2B Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solution that “enables large multinational corporates to provide payment alternatives to their business customers.” Together, BNP Paribas and Hokodo will “offer… Read More

March 16, 2023 @ 8:11 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Cashlink, the Frankfurt-based Fintech providing infrastructure for tokenized assets, has closed a Series A funding round in the mid-seven-figure range. New investors on board “include Swiss venture capitalist TX Ventures, as well as Futury Capital, Beteiligungs-Managementgesellschaft Hessen and several business angels.” In addition, existing investors… Read More

March 15, 2023 @ 11:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Traditional payments monitoring systems often do not detect money mules’ movements as they secure illicit funds from financial institutions. To address this problem, NICE Actimize, a NICE business (Nasdaq: NICE), announced its cloud-first Money Mule Defense Solution designed “to detect, investigate and prevent mule account… Read More

March 15, 2023 @ 10:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), the global firm focused on mission-critical, real-time payments software, announced a partnership with financial technology company RedAbierta in order “to power real-time payments in Honduras.” RedAbierta, the central infrastructure provider in Honduras, will “leverage two ACI solutions — ACI Enterprise Payments… Read More