This Tuesday’s The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup brings news of a partnership for Experian and Newday. Plus funding success for Capital on Tap.
Job moves
Africa’s Flutterwave appoints Marshall Lux as senior advisor. Most recently, Lux held the role of senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). He will advise across Flutterwave’s businesses, with an emphasis on global risk management, compliance and security-related areas.
Mea, the AI powered processing platform for insurers, has named Lohitashwa Thyagaraj as CTO. Thyagaraj joins mea after more than a year of advising and supporting the company in its development. He joins mea from IBM India.
ScalingFunds has introduced Imran Khan as its new chief commercial officer. Khan will focus on the global growth and expansion activities of ScalingFunds’ next-gen fund administration platform. He is also responsible for enhancing strategic partnerships with key infrastructure partners in the industry.
Encompass Corporation, the KYC provider, has expanded its footprint and awareness in North America, appointing Steve Hadaway as new chief revenue officer. Catherine Warren also joins as a US-based KYC transformation director. Employee headcount in North America has also doubled following its $33million capital raise.
Equifax has appointed Phillip Davies as chief information security officer for Europe. He joins Equifax from a role as global CISO for Planet Payment. Equifax says Davies’experience advising boards on operational risks and crises will be ‘critical’.
Additional appointments
LPA, the financial markets software and advisory firm, hires Matthias Schulz as chief technology officer to oversee the development of LPA’s technology stack. He leads all of LPA’s engineering efforts going forward, creating synergies between different product teams as well as positioning the company as an ‘innovative business that is accelerating the transformation of financial markets through next-gen technology’.
Fintech Kyriba appoints William Goodall as VP of sales for Northern Europe. He will lead Kyriba’s sales strategy in the UK and Ireland. Prior to joining Kyriba, William worked at Coupa Software. Goodall also previously held executive sales and treasury positions at global organisations including MicroStrategy, J.P. Morgan and SAP Ariba.
Meanwhile, Philipp Wendenburg has joined SAP Fioneer, a provider of financial services software solutions, as global head of ESG solutions. He previously worked at PwC for over 14 years and was most recently responsible for transformation projects in the CFO area of international institutions. His newly created role at SAP Fioneer addresses how ESG affects organisational growth alongside customer and market needs.
Mashreq has appointed Hamda Al Shamali in the newly created role of chief people and intellectual capital officer. She is tasked with leading and growing human resources, nurturing and developing Mashreq talent, and supporting culture and engagement enhancement programmes across the organisation.
Funding Circle, the UK lending platform, has unveiled Greig McEwan as CTO. He joins Funding Circle’s global leadership team. Most recently, McEwan was CTO at sennder, Europe’s leading digital freight-forwarder platform. He was also previously CTO at Paddy Power Betfair.
Finally, Barclays Bank UK has announced two new non-executive appointments to further bolster its board. Bernadette Wightman joined as an independent non-executive director in September while John Liver joined this week. The new appointments bring further expertise to support the bank’s strategic transformation and growth.
Funding news
Fintech Capital on Tap has secured a £100million corporate revolving credit facility with Atalaya Capital Management to provide small businesses in the UK and US with a central hub to manage all aspects of their business finances. Since launching in 2012, Capital on Tap has provided more than £4billion of funding to more than 200,000 small businesses.
Insurtech bolttech has revealed that Tokio Marine will lead its Series B funding round. The investment values Singapore’s bolttech at around $1.5billion, one year after it closed the largest ever Series A funding round for an insurtech. Tokio Marine’s partnership as a strategic investor will complement bolttech’s capabilities and reach.
Turkish mobile games studio Magic Games has raised more than $5million in seed funding led by Makers Fund, with participation also from Firat Ileri, Hummingbird Ventures. Magic Games will use the funds to grow its team, hire artists and developers in Istanbul as well as open a second office in Europe.
Acquisitions
Investment banking boutique CFE Finance has snapped up 60 per cent of the share capital of alternative investment boutique RiverRock. The deal, subject to regulatory approval, enables CFE Finance to further strengthen and expand its investment offering in Europe, by diversifying its investment portfolio.
Partnerships
Platform bank Wio Bank PJSC has partnered with Stripe to enable SMEs in the UAE to access the power of e-commerce faster and more easily. Partnering with Stripe, through Wio Business – the first digital banking application from Wio – is a ‘significant stride’ forward in the new bank’s commitment to streamlining the process for SMEs and freelancers alike to manage their finances and get paid faster.
Experian and Newday partner to give consumers more competitive rates. Experian Boost data will now be included in Newday’s credit decisioning process giving Boost users access to more favourable credit options. The partnership with NewDay further supports Experian’s mission to improve financial inclusion for consumers.
