January 26, 2025 @ 10:09 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

This week, Alkami Technology (Nasdaq: ALKT), a cloud-based digital banking solutions provider, announced the launch of its Business Banking Digital Maturity Assessment. Built only for financial institutions, this tool was derived from a recent study that was published in partnership with Emerald Research Group and… Read More

January 25, 2025 @ 5:23 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

This week, Foyer, a Fintech company focused on first-time homebuyers, announced the successful closure of a $6.2 million seed round led by Alpaca VC and Hometeam Ventures with participation from Animo Ventures, Resilience VC, Accion Venture Lab, Detroit Venture Partners, and Clocktower Ventures. The funds… Read More

January 25, 2025 @ 5:20 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Moniepoint, a Nigerian business payments and banking services platform, has secured an investment from Visa. Founded in 2015 by Tosin Eniolorunda and Felix Ike, Moniepoint (formerly known as TeamApt) has targeted Nigeria’s network of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), offering a suite of services including… Read More

January 25, 2025 @ 12:34 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Entrust, a provider of trusted payments, identities, and data security, this week introduced AI-powered identity verification as a new capability for its Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) platform. In 2024, US businesses lost an estimated $112 billion to fraud, the equivalent of nearly 7% of their revenue. Modern attacks,… Read More

January 21, 2025 @ 8:18 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

Socure, a provider of artificial intelligence for digital identity verification, sanction screening and fraud prevention, this week unveiled research revealing that one in eight Americans (13%) committed first-party fraud over the 2024 holiday shopping season. First-party fraud, sometimes referred to as “friendly fraud,” occurs when consumers exploit return and refund policies… Read More

January 19, 2025 @ 10:10 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

1Money, which is developing a purpose-built Layer 1 exclusively designed for stablecoin payments, this week emerged from stealth with more than $20 million in funding. The seed capital will power the launch of the 1Money Network, a payment network engineered to be a Layer 1… Read More

January 18, 2025 @ 4:56 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

This week, KCB Bank Kenya and UnionPay International partnered to enhance e-commerce payment capabilities in Kenya, enabling UnionPay cardholders to transact on digital platforms. This collaboration is aimed at enriching the online shopping experience for consumers and merchants across Kenya. “We are delighted to join hands with UnionPay… Read More

January 18, 2025 @ 12:53 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Cryptocurrency ETFs attracted industry attention this week as participants await the influences of Donald Trump’s inauguration and the potential approval of a Solana ETF. Impossible Cloud Network co-founder Kai Wawrzinek said VanEck’s newly proposed Onchain Economy ETF could make crypto’s bull-bear rollercoaster a thing of… Read More

January 17, 2025 @ 7:41 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

The faults that contributed to the massive data leak on the NFT platform Open Sea back in 2022 came home to roost on Monday when more than seven million email addresses were publicly released. Impossible Cloud Network co-founder Kai Wawrzinek it’s a “sad indictment of… Read More

January 16, 2025 @ 1:46 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

CertifID, a provider of wire fraud protection for the real estate industry, announced on Jan. 14 that it acquired Paymints.io, a solution that enables digital money transfers by title companies, law firms, and real estate brokerages. According to the FBI, $1.9 billion in funds have been stolen… Read More

January 16, 2025 @ 10:19 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

Banking-focused data insights platform Wealth Access this week announced an integration with Q2’s Digital Banking Platform, via the Q2 Partner Accelerator Program. Q2 Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: QTWO) provides digital transformation solutions for financial services. Wealth Access’ integration with the Q2 Digital Banking Platform allows financial institutions to access their… Read More

January 15, 2025 @ 1:15 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

This week, the United Kingdom governmental organization Open Banking Limited celebrated the seventh anniversary of PSD2 and the creation of open banking. Open Banking Limited is the implementation entity described in a Competitions and Market Authority Order. It created an open banking standard and industry… Read More

January 14, 2025 @ 11:18 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

This week, British Business Investments announced an initial £ 20 million funding facility to Sprk Capital. The facility will provide capital to smaller businesses in the UK engaged in innovation. British Business Investments, a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, aims to improve… Read More

January 12, 2025 @ 1:21 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

This past week, Fazeshift, an AI agent for accounts receivable, announced it raised $4 million in seed funding led by Gradient, Google’s early-stage AI fund. The round also included investments from Y Combinator, Wayfinder, Pioneer Fund, Ritual Capital, Phoenix Fund, and such angels as Terrence… Read More

January 11, 2025 @ 6:15 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

This week, Deep Vector, an AI platform for analyzing underwriting documents, closed its seed round of $1.5M, co-led by Aperture Venture Capital and InsurTech NY. Deep Vector helps insurers and brokers translate the influx of analog documents used for underwriting risk—claims loss runs, Acord forms, motor… Read More

January 11, 2025 @ 6:05 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

The following information was provided by Patrick Skjennum, the co-founder and CTO of anti-money laundering company Strise 1. Evolving sanctions evasion tactics will drive advanced AML capabilities As criminal networks increasingly leverage decentralized finance platforms, unregulated cryptocurrencies, digital twins and synthetic identities to evade sanctions,… Read More

January 11, 2025 @ 11:21 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

This week, the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) unveiled its new “Repair, Reform, and Thrive” plan for the 119th Congress and the incoming Trump administration to address what it said are “the nation’s broken banking regulations and kickstart economic growth in local communities.” The… Read More

January 11, 2025 @ 11:19 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

As Bitcoin’s price surges, it is attracting more thieves. According to the FBI, in 2022, crypto scams resulted in north of $2.57 billion in losses. The average victim lost $54,000. The increasing intersection of cryptocurrency popularity and evolving fraud tactics highlights the critical need for… Read More

January 10, 2025 @ 5:10 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

While human-like AI agents look to gain a more prominent role throughout the business in 2025, Harrison Seletsky sees reason for concern. The director of business development at the digital identity platform SPACE ID, Seletsky, cautioned that these tolls are still in their early development stages. Likening… Read More

January 10, 2025 @ 7:23 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

An executive with open banking platform Tink believes the Jan. 9 deadline for Eurozone banks to receive instant payments marks the most significant shift since PSD2 seven years ago. Head of industry and wallets Jan Van Vonno believes Europe is finally poised to realize the… Read More