General News

June 21, 2023 @ 11:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bluevine, the provider of small business banking solutions, today announced the appointment of Kevin McLaughlin as the company’s new Senior Director of PR & Communications. McLaughlin is said to be “a seasoned communications leader and marketing strategist with significant expertise supporting financial services and technology… Read More

June 21, 2023 @ 2:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

Darren Westlake, co-founder and former CEO of Crowdcube, has joined the board of directors of Crowdfunder, a UK-based rewards platform. According to multiple reports, Westlake will become the “interim chairperson” to help direct the strategy of the platform. Westlake exited Crowdcube earlier this year, passing… Read More

June 21, 2023 @ 1:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed an enforcement action against audit firm Marcum LLP regarding its audit work for “hundreds” of SPACs. Marcum has settled the matter without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, paying a $10 million penalty while agreeing to remedial… Read More

June 21, 2023 @ 9:33 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The dramatic rise of cryptocurrency theft during the last couple years has become a serious concern for US authorities, who are increasing their efforts to crackdown on bad actors and illicit crypto-related activities. This past year, crypto-focused hackers have reportedly been able to steal around… Read More

June 21, 2023 @ 7:25 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Tracking and paying for mileage expenses can “create complex challenges for businesses,” according to an update from Payhawk. The process can “be time-consuming and riddled with errors, from manual tracking with logs and spreadsheets to inconsistent reporting,” the team at Payhawk notes in a blog… Read More

June 20, 2023 @ 11:31 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Venture capital (VC) funding activity in the US experienced a significant decline from January to May 2023. A total of 3,532 VC funding deals of worth $55.3 billion “were announced in the US during the period.” This represents “a year-on-year (YoY) decline of 36.4% in… Read More

June 20, 2023 @ 10:47 am By JD Alois  |  

Eos Advisory LLP  has received a £10 million commitment from British Business Investments, a subsidiary of the British Business Bank. The funding is part of the Regional Angels Programme and will be allocated to invest alongside Eos’s Angel Syndicate and EIS Innovation Fund.  Eos is… Read More

June 18, 2023 @ 6:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Transcend, a provider of liquidity, funding, and collateral optimization solutions, has appointed Emily Harris as a Product Specialist, based out of the United Kingdom. In this role, Emily will “focus on leading Transcend’s securities finance product development efforts and growing the firm’s global footprint, particularly… Read More

June 18, 2023 @ 6:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) announced that it has committed more than $500 million in equity investments “to minority- and women-led funds, more than doubling its initial $200 million commitment.” The bank has “committed equity to more than 150 funds, which to date have invested… Read More

June 18, 2023 @ 9:42 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Hexaware Mobiquity, a digital consultancy that designs and delivers innovative digital products and services for the world’s leading brands, released the results of the firm’s annual Global Benchmark for Sustainable Banking Report. This third iteration of the report “surveyed 600 C-suite banking executives across the… Read More

June 18, 2023 @ 9:36 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Only a couple months after finalizing a $155M acquisition of Apex Crypto, an established trading infrastructure provider, the New York–headquartered crypto-assets platform Bakkt Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BKKT) is delisting three major digital currencies: Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC), and Cardano (ADA). Marc D’Annunzio, Bakkt General Counsel… Read More

June 18, 2023 @ 8:57 am By Omar Faridi  |  

EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM), a digital transformation services and product engineering company, announced a strategic, global partnership with Google Cloud to develop and deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI)-first Google Cloud solutions to help enterprises overcome operational challenges and drive transformational growth. Through this partnership EPAM… Read More

June 18, 2023 @ 6:11 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Profile, a financial solutions provider, has implemented its treasury management system Acumen.plus at Diamond Trust Bank. The fully STP, real-time cloud-native platform “that delivers advanced UX and automation to the modern Treasurer, offers new functionalities covering Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.” Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) is… Read More

June 17, 2023 @ 4:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Finery Markets has announced the digital assets prime broker and exchange, Bequant, as its latest partner, with the company using its new FM Liquidity Match service. FM Liquidity Match, introduced in April 2023, is “a service that gives institutional market players and crypto businesses access… Read More

June 17, 2023 @ 4:10 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

One in every five global consumers surveyed in 2022 said they “fell victim to payments fraud in the last four years — 26.9% of whom are victims of Authorized Push Payment (APP) scams, which is the number one fraud threat globally” — according to the… Read More

June 17, 2023 @ 10:06 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Crypto infrastructure provider Wyre is reportedly winding down its operations. This, after really feeling the pressure of dwindling interest in a volatile market that was promoted as the next frontier of innovative finance. The decision by Wyre, announced via a tweet this past Friday, comes… Read More

June 16, 2023 @ 7:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

The commercial real estate (CRE) market is struggling a bit as the work-from-home (WFH) movement, combined with the flight of businesses away from certain markets that were once hot, has caused some observers to predict calamity at some point in the not-so-distant future. We have… Read More

June 15, 2023 @ 10:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Venture capital firm Menlo Ventures announced a new partner: Amy Wu. Amy joins Menlo “to grow the firm’s consumer and gaming practice and build on Menlo’s track record, which includes early investments in well-known consumer companies like Chime, Pillpack, Poshmark, Roku, Rover, Siri, Uber, and… Read More

June 14, 2023 @ 3:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

The US Federal Reserve has decided to pause rate hikes as it aims to assess the impact of the past rate hikes that have been some of the fastest in history. The Federal Funds Rate will remain at 5 to 5-1/4%. The Federal Open Market… Read More

June 14, 2023 @ 6:17 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Sequoia India & Southeast Asia, the “largest” venture capital firm in the region which manages over USD 9.2 billion across 13 funds, will now be known as Peak XV Partners globally. The rebranding has “come after Sequoia Capital (US/Europe), Sequoia China and Sequoia India & Southeast… Read More