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September 15, 2022

On the web

Adyen Selected As First Financial Technology Platform to Launch Cash App Pay

Prnewswire

“Adyen (AMS: ADYEN), the global financial technology platform of choice for leading businesses, has partnered with Cash App (Block, Inc.) to offer Cash App Pay, a mobile payment method, to Adyen’s U.S. customers. Businesses working with Adyen will have access to Cash App Pay as an integrated payment method for their U.S. customers. The payment method will be available online shortly and in-store next year. By offering Cash App Pay, Adyen’s businesses will be providing customers with a convenient and simple way to pay using their Cash App balance or linked debit card. This Cash App software integration will also provide Adyen’s business customers access to Cash App’s 80 million annual actives, which make up a third of Millennial and Gen Z consumers in the U.S. This will provide their customers with access to a seamless, secure checkout experience that can feature high authorization rates and an improved shopping experience.”

August 17, 2022

On the web

Payments Firm That Shed $16 Billion Emerges as Best Brazil Stock

Bloomberg

“Payment processing company Cielo SA is pulling off an unlikely comeback after four years of declines, as the deep pockets of its principal backers allow it to ride out the surge in Brazilian interest rates this year. Shares in the Barueri, Sao Paulo-based company have more than doubled in 2022, leading gains on the nation’s benchmark Ibovespa equity index, as it recovers market share from rivals such as StoneCo Ltd and PagSeguro Digital Ltd.”

Nebeus Partners With Modulr for European Expansion

AltFi

“Nebeus has announced a partnership with payment platform Modulr as it looks to expand its crypto lending operations across the UK and Europe. The partnership will add fiat accounts, payments and cards for Nebeus’ crypto lending app, helping to bridge the gap between fiat and crypto. Accounts and embedded features offered on Modulr, like Direct Debit, Faster Payments and SEPA Instant can now be accessed by Nebeus customers. Another boon from the partnership are the virtual and physical card offerings, with card-freezing, real-time spend notifications and spend control features available to customers in the UK and Europe.”

On the wires

Remitly to Acquire Rewire to Expand into Complementary Geographies with Account-Based Remittance Product

Businesswire

“Remitly Global, Inc., (NASDAQ: RELY) (“Remitly”), a leading global digital financial services provider for immigrants and their families, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rewire, an Israeli-based financial services platform for migrant workers. Under the terms of the agreement, Remitly will acquire Rewire for approximately $80 million consisting of a mix of cash and stock. Founded in 2015 with offices in Amsterdam and Tel Aviv, Rewire’s remittance platform builds deep customer relationships and is geographically complementary to Remitly. Rewire’s customers create an account with which money can be stored to be remitted at any time. This approach deepens relationships with customers and provides additional flexibility and convenience. Additionally, Rewire’s product development and engineering teams add further capacity and expertise to a seasoned Remitly team.”

Arc Raises $20 Million Series A Led By Left Lane To Build The Digital Bank For Software Startups

Businesswire

Arc , the future of startup finance, today announced that it has closed a $20 million Series A financing round led by Left Lane Capital. Other investors include NFX, Y Combinator, Clocktower Technology Ventures, Torch Capital, Atalaya, Bain Capital Ventures, Soma, Alumni Ventures, and Dreamers VC, as well as the founders of Wayflyer, Plaid, Column, Chargebee, Vouch, and Jeeves. The company will use the new funding to accelerate its growth and expand the availability of its treasury and software products built to help startups access and manage capital while retaining equity. The company also announced that Dan Ahrens, Managing Partner at Left Lane Capital, will join its Board of Directors.”

April 22, 2022

On the web

Fintech Giant Stripe Jumps Into Crypto With a Feature That Lets Twitter Users Get Paid in Stablecoin

Coindesk

“Stripe will allow businesses to pay their users via cryptocurrencies, starting with Twitter, in the latest sign of how large financial firms are warming to digital assets. The $95 billion online payments company said Friday it will start offering merchants the ability to make payouts in crypto through the stablecoin USDC, which is issued by crypto firm Circle. Stablecoins are tokens that are pegged to fiat currencies to maintain a stable price. In USDC’s case, as the name suggests, the cryptocurrency is backed by the U.S. dollar.”

On the wires

Primer Partners With Hoolah to Bring ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ Solution to Fuel Merchants’ Growth Across Asia

Prnewswire

“hoolah, Asia’s leading omnichannel ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ (BNPL) platform, today announces its partnership with Primer, the world’s first no-code automation platform for payments and commerce, allowing merchants in Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong to integrate hoolah’s BNPL solution, while providing consumers payment flexibility and an optimised, seamless shopping experience. An unprecedented innovation in the payment industry, Primer allows merchants to truly consolidate their payment stack, and add any API or tool from across the web to build dynamic, end-to-end payment flows. Since launching in 2020, Primer is fully distributed globally, serving merchants across APAC, Europe and the U.S., with over 70 payment and commerce services and dozens more in the pipeline. With this partnership, merchants will be able to seamlessly enable hoolah’s BNPL solution in minutes through Primer’s unified checkout and payment integration—with clicks, not code.”

Alacriti Featured in Federal Reserve’s New FedNowSM Service Provider Showcase, Expands Its Unified Payments Platform for the FedNow Service

Businesswire

Alacriti , a fintech company specializing in payments and money movement, is proud to be featured in the Federal Reserve’s new FedNow Service Provider Showcase, an online resource designed to connect financial institutions looking to adopt and innovate upon the FedNow Service with service providers offering instant payment solutions. In addition, connection to the upcoming FedNow Service is now included in Alacriti’s Cosmos Payments Services to give financial institutions multiple paths forward for faster payments innovation.”

U.S. Xpress Goes “OnRoad” With Comdata

Businesswire

Comdata, Inc. , a FLEETCOR company and world leader in payment innovation, today announced a recent partnership with U.S. Xpress (NYSE: USX) to advance and enhance its fleet management operations. U.S. Xpress will implement use of Comdata’s OnRoad program to accommodate and facilitate both company and driver purchases.The Comdata OnRoad Card is a universally accepted MasterCard with access to both the Comdata Proprietary and MasterCard Signature Debit networks. With OnRoad, professional drivers can receive fund disbursements (payroll, settlements, reimbursements) and company funds all on one card. Drivers can use their funds for any personal needs, all with zero transaction fees*. The Proprietary side of the card works like a traditional fuel card, meaning there is access to real-time reporting and fleet controls on the card’s usage. Negotiated fuel discounts and discount fuel administration are also included.”

April 21, 2022

On the web

Australian Business Credit Card Startup Archa Raises $24 Million in Debt and Equity

Finextra Research

“The equity injection came from a list of experienced investors and founders, including CEO and founder of Wisr, Anthony Nantes, Alex Vynokur of Apex Capital and Betashares, Adam Jacobs, co-founder of The Iconic and Hatch, and former Macquarie Capital executives John Prendiville and Link Chairman. The round also included both Founders of Netspace, Stuart Marburg and Richard Preen, and a list of high-profile family offices.”

Funding Circle Founder and Ex-CEO Launches New Payments Fintech

AltFi

Samir Desai, a co-founder and long term CEO of Funding Circle until the start of 2022, has raised a $30m round to launch a new fintech Super Payments. Desai, according to a repor t in Sky News, has backing from VCs including Accel, an investor in Funding Circle, and Local Globe, an early Facebook investor, as well as Union Ventures. Funding Circle was co-founded in 2010 by James Meekings , Andrew Mullinger and Desai, who is still a director of the business with a sizeable equity stake, as a peer-to-peer lender focused on the SME market.”

On the wires

U.S. Bank, Apex Fintech Solutions to Deliver Real-time Payments to Brokerages

Businesswire

“U.S. Bank today announced a real-time payment collaboration with Apex Fintech Solutions (“Apex”) to provide greater speed and security to money movement between individual investors and broker dealers. Through its subsidiary Apex Clearing Corporation, Apex provides clearing and custody services to some of the top online brokerages, powering the future of digital wealth management through innovation. With this real-time payment solution, brokerages using Apex will be able to offer individual investors a more streamlined payment solution that enables instant funding of their brokerage accounts and instant disbursement from their brokerage accounts to their bank accounts.”

Gr4vy Simplifies International Expansion for Merchants With New Global Payment Partnerships

Prnewswire

Gr4vy , a cloud-native payments company, today announced new partnerships with Boku and EBANX to quickly give merchants access to local payment methods in new geographies. These partnerships will fuel international growth and revenue while reducing risk, resource burden and the overall total cost of ownership. Merchants can now access billions of emerging market consumers across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Importantly, this comes at a time when the transaction value of digital commerce in Latin America is projected to increase 73%, and payment revenue in APAC is forecasted to reach $935 billion by 2025.”

April 20, 2022

On the web

Here’s Why Brex Just Paid $90M for 10-person Software Startup Pry Financials

TechCrunch

“In line with its April 13 announcement that it’s making a “big push” into software , Brex has acquired Y Combinator-backed Pry Financials for $90 million, the company told TechCrunch exclusively. Founded in 2019, San Francisco-based financial planning software startup Pry raised $4.2 million in venture funding last year in a seed round of funding. Investors include Y Combinator, Global Founders Capital and Pioneer Fund, among others. The company’s software targets seed to Series B companies. Originally, Brex was a startup focused on startups. Specifically, it provided corporate cards aimed mainly at startups and SMBs. Over time, Brex has gradually evolved its model with the aim of serving as a “financial operating system” for companies of all sizes.”

On the wires

EPayments and Alchemy Pay Partner for Australian and NZ Crypto Payments

Prnewswire

“Fiat-crypto payments provider, Alchemy Pay (ACH), has partnered with merchant payment provider, ePayments, to offer crypto payments and services in New Zealand and Australia. ePayments will integrate with Alchemy Pay to provide to their merchants with crypto payment acceptance, as well as payments with Binance Pay. As part of the partnership, Alchemy Pay will also leverage ePayments’ NZ and Australian fiat payment channels and provide global crypto service providers with access to users in these markets.”

Nelo Enables Buy Now Pay Later For All Ecommerce Stores In Mexico

Prnewswire

Nelo , a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) product in Mexico, announced that it has launched their all-in-one app. Nelo’s customers can now use Nelo at any online merchant, through a partnership with Mastercard. Nelo’s app is the first of its kind in the region, where customers can shop and pay in installments at their favorite stores like Mercado Libre, Amazon, and Liverpool. This is enabled through a virtual card that Nelo customers generate at checkout. It is now live for 100% of customers.”

CPACharge and IRS Solutions Software™ Release New Integration to Implement Contactless Payment Options for Tax Resolution Professionals

Businesswire

CPACharge , the online payment solution developed specifically for accounting firms, announced a new partnership with IRS Solutions providing users with digital payment acceptance and advanced security data protection meeting PCI Compliance requirements. IRS Solutions Software™ is the leader in tax resolution software for professionals working tax resolution cases with the IRS.The integration provides a modern payment tool for tax resolution professionals and their clients to benefit from by giving users a more streamlined payment management solution.”

Nationwide Building Society Improves Member Experiences With Pega Smart Dispute

prnewswire

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ: PEGA ), the software company that crushes business complexity, today announced Nationwide Building Society deployed Pega Smart Dispute for Issuers to transform its Visa card disputes process. This enabled Nationwide to improve agent performance and customer satisfaction by streamlining the systems required to handle a dispute from 15 down to two and reducing dispute processing time by approximately 15%.”

April 19, 2022

On the web

Robinhood Buys U.K. Crypto Firm With Eye on Global Expansion

bloomberg

Robinhood Markets Inc. agreed to acquire Ziglu Ltd. , a London-based crypto and payments company, ending the U.S. brokerage’s long pause on international expansion. The transaction will give Robinhood a platform that allows customers to buy and sell 11 cryptocurrencies as well as move and spend money abroad, the Menlo Park, California-based company said Tuesday in a statement . Terms weren’t disclosed.”

On the wires

MYPINPAD and SmartPesa Merge to Become the Global Leader in Mobile Payments Acceptance

businesswire

“MYPINPAD, a global leader in mobile-based payments acceptance and digital authentication solutions, and SmartPesa, a leading provider of payments and agency banking solutions, have agreed to merge. The combined entity will operate under the MYPINPAD brand.Customers will benefit from greater scale, a wider product offering and the certainty of continued support as the industry moves towards the PCI Security Standards Council’s forthcoming Mobile Payments on COTS (MPoC) Standard. The deal positions MYPINPAD as the leading global provider in the rapidly expanding mobile payments acceptance market. The combined entity expects to double its existing footprint in APAC, LATAM and EMEA and target North America in 2022 and beyond.”

Thunes Takes Majority Stake in AML and Compliance Platform Tookitaki

Thunes

Thunes , a Singapore-based global payments company, today announced that it has taken a majority stake in the anti-money laundering (AML) and compliance technology firm, Tookitaki Holding Pte Ltd (‘Tookitaki’) by making an investment of over $20 million. The alliance of both firms empowers the banking and financial services industry to fight money laundering and offer safe and secure payments to customers.”

April 18, 2022

On the web

Uber Ties Up With Rakuten for Food-Delivery Payments in Japan

bloomberg

Uber Technologies Inc. will integrate Rakuten Group Inc. ’s payment services into its Uber Eats and later Uber mobility app in Japan, one of its key international markets. Rakuten, Japan’s homemade answer to Amazon.com Inc. , operates a broad range of e-commerce and fintech services and has a widely used Rakuten Points loyalty program. The integration with Uber Eats, which will roll out in stages by the end of this month, will allow Rakuten account holders to log in without a pre-existing Uber account and earn and spend their Rakuten Points or Rakuten Pay credit, the companies said Monday.”

On the wires

Versapay Acquires Leading Cash Application Fintech Company DadeSystems

prnewswire

“Versapay, the leader in Collaborative Accounts Receivable, announced today it has completed its acquisition of U.S.-based fintech company DadeSystems. The acquisition broadens Versapay’s suite of accounts receivable (AR) automation solutions and expands its AI and machine learning capabilities. It also expands the company’s enterprise and mid-market footprint while adding key talent to the growing Versapay team.”

2C2P and Ant Group Enter Strategic Partnership to Further Digital Payment Adoption and Innovation in Southeast Asia Amid Regional Economic Recovery

businesswire

“2C2P, a global payments platform and Ant Group today announced a strategic partnership to accelerate digital payment adoption and innovation. The partnership, upon completion, will see Ant Group becoming the majority shareholder of 2C2P.Through the strategic partnership, 2C2P’s extensive pool of merchants inclusive of global and regional brands will be connected with Alipay+, extending its current 250 payment options offering to include even more e-wallets and local payment methods. With this, merchants will benefit from a wider geographical reach, connecting seamlessly to over one billion consumers globally.”

Stripe Launches Konbini and Furikomi, Deepening Investment in Japan

“Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, today announced that it supports two important forms of payments in Japan: Furikomi, a highly popular bank transfer method, and Konbini, the ubiquitous convenience store payment option. Now through a single integration, businesses of all sizes can use Stripe’s platform to accept Furikomi and Konbini payments, in addition to credit and debit cards. The expansion further accelerates Stripe’s growth plans in Japan.”

April 15, 2022

On the web

UK Fintech Startup Leatherback Raises $10M for Its Cross-border payments Led by ZedCrest

TechCrunch

“Immigrants, international students, and the migrant population in general all require international payments, or foreign exchange. Revolut and Wise are among those platforms to have taken advantage of this international audience. Now, fintech startup Leatherback , a U.K.-based cross-border payments platform, has raised what it describes as a $10 million pre-seed round led by ZedCrest Capital , a pan-African investment firm. Leatherback offers a multiple currency solution for cross-border transactions.”

Bitfinex Collaborates With OpenPayd to Enable SEPA Payments

Finextra Research

“Bitfinex, a state-of-the-art digital token trading platform, in collaboration with fiat on-ramp services provider OpenPayd, is enabling real-time Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payments for euro-denominated deposits and withdrawals. The introduction of SEPA payments provides additional options for Bitfinex customers to deploy euros onto the platform. Through the new collaboration, customers will have the ability to pay-in and pay-out from their accounts near-instantly.”

On the wires

The Gemini Crypto Rewards Credit Card Is Now Available in the United States

Gemini , a cryptocurrency platform to buy, sell, earn, and store crypto, today announced the Gemini Credit Card ™ is now available in all 50 U.S. states. Cardholders can earn up to 3% crypto back on dining+, 2% crypto back on groceries, and 1% crypto back on all other purchases, with rewards automatically deposited into their Gemini account. The Gemini Credit Card is issued by WebBank and features Mastercard as the exclusive card network. Since launching the waitlist, the Gemini Credit Card has amassed more than 500,000 sign-ups. Cardholders will be able to use the Gemini Credit Card anywhere Mastercard is accepted and can choose from among 60+ types of cryptocurrencies currently supported for rewards on Gemini’s exchange platform, including bitcoin, ether, dogecoin and other tokens.”

Impervious.ai Raises Seed Round to Develop the Peer-to-Peer Internet Standard

prnewswire

“Impervious Technologies Inc. ( impervious.ai ) is excited to announce the close of their seed financing round, with participation from notable Bitcoin and privacy-focused investors including CoinShares, NYDIG, Trammell Venture Partners, Fundamental Labs, Strategic Cyber Ventures, TEN-31 and others to scale the Peer-to-Peer (“P2P”) internet standard. In late 2021, Impervious launched a series of API’s that serve as a programmatic layer for the Bitcoin Lightning Network, adding Peer-to-Peer communications and data transfer capabilities to the real-time payments protocol of the Bitcoin Lightning Network.”

Leading Growth Investors Acquire Minority Stake in Coda Payments, the World’s Leading Independent Content Monetization Platform

prnewswire

“Today, Coda Payments (“Coda”), the world’s leading independent platform for digital content monetization, announced that a consortium of top-tier growth investors has acquired a minority stake in the company. Smash Capital, New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners, and Singapore’s sovereign-wealth fund GIC invested US$690 million to partner with the company during a period of rapid international expansion. Apis Growth Fund II, a private equity fund managed by Apis Partners LLP (“Apis Partners”), and the company’s other existing shareholders retain equity positions in Coda moving forward.”

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