Welcome to The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Thursday 6 April.
Jobs
Law firm TLT has further expanded its national structured finance practice with the appointment of Steve Downey as a partner. It follows the recent appointment of fellow partner Mark Thomas. The appointments form part of the firm’s strategic plans to continue to grow TLT’s UK-wide banking and structured finance offering.
MENA Fintech Association appoints Bryan Zhang, co-founder of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, to its advisory board. He will share insights on emerging market trends, global opportunities and risks, regulatory changes and supervisory innovation, policymaking as well as digital financial inclusion.
VikingCloud, a provider of cybersecurity and compliance solutions, hires Jim Burke as chief executive officer. Robert McCullen will continue as board chairman and play an active role in the company. Most recently, Burke served as CEO of Workforce Logiq.
Airwallex, a global payments and financial platform, unveils Stacey Zolt Hara as its head of corporate affairs, Americas and EMEA. She will be responsible for leading Airwallex’s integrated communications strategy and implementation in the regions. Prior to Airwallex, Stacey was SVP and Head of Global Corporate Communications at Udemy.
Clearwater Analytics, a provider of SaaS-based investment management and analytics solutions, appoints Scott Erickson as its first chief revenue officer. He oversees Clearwater’s sales efforts in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. With an 18-year track record of driving Clearwater’s growth including roles in services, product strategy, and sales, Erickson will continue to lead the company’s market share expansion across all regions.
Ness, the credit card company, unveils hairstylist and personal care advocate Jonathan Van Ness as chief self-care officer. This announcement follows last month’s public beta launch of the company’s first product, the Ness Card – a premium health and wellness credit card.
More hires
MENA’s open banking platform Tarabut Gateway names Chun Ong as its new chief operating officer. He will lead the company’s operations as it continues to expand across multiple jurisdictions. The hire also follows the recent appointments of two new vice presidents in customer success and engineering.
Dr. Lea Maria Siering is the new MD of Token GmbH, a European open banking platform. Siering will be responsible for driving Token GmbH’s growth strategy, leading its Berlin operations, and expanding its presence in the region. Previously, she was chief risk officer at finleap connect.
Opensee, which provides analytics to financial institutions, has appointed Emmanuel Richard as chief growth officer. He joins Opensee from Rimini Street, the enterprise software support company. In his new role, he will help to accelerate Opensee’s go-to-market strategy and its execution.
Drawbridge, a provider of cybersecurity software and solutions to the alternative investment industry, hires Chris Aronis as its chief revenue officer. Aronis leads the Drawbridge sales, account management and business development teams to accelerate the company’s global growth, enhance client service and evolve its go-to-market strategy.
Jennifer Kerber has joined Socure as senior director of government affairs. Kerber will work with legislators, policymakers, and government stakeholders to address digital identity challenges. Prior to joining Socure, Kerber served as director of public policy for Grant Thornton, LLP.
Remote hires Michiel Boere as chief financial officer. Boere will be responsible for the global financial strategy and operations of the company as it enters its next phase of growth. He joins Remote from Uber. Remote builds, manages and supports global distributed workforces.
Funding and investments
Fintech Soft Space has raised $31.5million in its latest funding round. Southern Capital Group led the funding round, with participation also from transcosmos, JCB and Hibiscus Fund. The funds raised will be used to fuel the company’s continued growth and expansion.
Paymenow, an earned wage access platform in South Africa, has secured a R250million debt facility through Rand Merchant Bank (RMB). It will use the funding for growth plans. Paymenow is the first EWA provider to launch in Namibia and Zambia and it also intends to scale across additional strategic jurisdictions, including Lesotho, Ghana and Kenya.
Malaysian health-tech startup Qmed Asia has raised RM5,101,298 through an equity crowdfunding campaign on Leet Capital. It attracted support from 110 investors, including angel investors, the Malaysia Co-Investment Fund (MyCIF) and 1337 Ventures.
Acquisitions
Navan Travel, the expense and corporate card management platform, has snapped up India’s travel and expense management company Tripeur. The acquisition marks the Navan Group’s fifth acquisition in two years, following purchases in the UK, Germany, Sweden, and Spain.
Tandem Bank has strengthened its strategy to build the UK’s greener, digital bank with the acquisition of Loop, the socially-conscious money sharing app. Loop will continue to operate as a standalone app and brand, with plans to embed Tandem products and features in the Loop app, offering users access to a wider range of savings and lending services.
Partnerships
Software company Klippa partners up with Rutter to help companies automate and streamline their accounting workflows and integrations. The partnership provides an opportunity for businesses to build products in areas such as expense management, accounts payable automation and accounts receivable automation.
CardX, a Stax company and a surcharging compliance platform, has launched Mastercard Click to Pay on Lightbox, CardX’s online payment form, to expand the product’s reach. With this partnership, Click to Pay is now available for all existing and new card-not-present merchants on CardX’s platform.
Nefta, the Web3 platform, has announced the expansion of its partnership with blockchain gaming studio VIKER. Nefta’s technology will enable VIKER to easily onboard gaming guilds, supporting the growth of its player base by giving gaming guilds a dedicated platform for renting and leasing, alongside tools for commission management and cash outs.
DataBP has partnered with Thailand Stock Exchange (SET) to launch an online platform to streamline the market data administration process. DataBP is a provider of software and managed services for managing market data and index commercialisation.
ClearScore also announces a new partnership with StepChange, the UK debt advice charity. Its users can now access budgeting tips and debt advice early in the repayment process before debt becomes a problem. ClearScore will also direct people to the charity’s ‘Money Health Check’.