ANNOUNCEMENTSMulti-location POS platform Appetize raised over $20 million in funding to expand its team in Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta. The round was led by Los Angeles-based private equity fund Shamrock Capital Advisors. Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff's Oak View Group participated in the round, along with follow-on capital from several current investors. Shamrock Partners Andy Howard and Alan Resnikoff join Appetize's board and Tim Leiweke joins as a board observer.
CrossCheck Inc. recognized President and Chief Executive Officer J. David Siembieda and Senior Vice President Mike Harris, respectively, in honor of their 25 years of service with the company. The company's statement acknowledged how the two men have been an inspiration to others and reflected on the stories of each executive and how they rose through the ranks, took on expanded responsibilities and guided the firm into the 21st century.
Delve Labs raised $1.5 million in seed funding from Real Ventures, Desjardins Innovatech and Fonds Quebecor Innovation. The investment is slated to accelerate the company's growth and support its vision for redefining the way large organizations protect their information technology networks using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence methods. This round marks $1.8 million in total funds raised by Delve Labs to date.
Cyber-intelligence firm EverCompliant, which specializes in transaction laundering detection and prevention, completed $9.5 million in Series A funding led by Arbor Ventures, including existing investors Carmel Ventures, Star Farm Ventures and Nyca Partners. With this investment, Melissa Guzy, Managing Partner at Arbor Ventures, joined the EverCompliant board. The funds will be used to fuel the company's continued growth, including the opening of an office in Asia in 2017, an additional expansion in the U.S. and European markets, and growth of its research and development operations.
First Data Corp. unveiled a new workplace policy providing fully-paid parental leave to both full-time and part-time employees who qualify based on tenure. The initiative is designed to provide new parents, regardless of gender, with the critical time needed to care for their newborn or newly adopted child without the financial constraints associated with unpaid leave. Beginning in January, the policy includes 12 weeks of paid leave for primary caregivers, and two weeks of paid leave for secondary caregivers.
PayJunction was named among Glassdoor Inc.'s list of The Best Places to Work in 2017. Glassdoor lists over 540,000 businesses, publishing a Best Places to Work in 2017 list for large businesses. The rankings reflect how employees, former and current, rate their experiences working for an employer. PayJunction has a Glassdoor rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars. Additionally, 93 percent of reviewers said they would recommend PayJunction to a friend and 100 percent approved of its CEO.
Payscout Inc. plans to open a European office location in Malta. The news followed the company's preliminary EU Payment Institution license approval that will allow the company to function as a Payment Facilitator in the European Union. "We are excited to have obtained preliminary approval, which will enable Payscout to continue its global expansion, and help emerging business owners achieve the entrepreneurial dream one transaction at a time," said Payscout CEO Cleveland Brown.
Dallas startup SmartBlue Technologies Inc. recently unveiled Tipatuity, a social tipping app that accommodates tip transfers through Dwolla Inc.'s payment platform. "Our goal is to empower service professionals with the tools they need to make the money they deserve and to bring more of the in-store tip jars online," said Shehadi Dayekh, founder of SmartBlue. "Tippers on the other hand will find tipping easy to track and expense especially on business travel."
TCF National Bank raised over $50,000 for Make-A-Wish Minnesota through donations accepted at all TCF Bank branches in Minnesota, as well as funds collected during team member fundraising events. The bank also historically invites Make-A-Wish children to be TCF Bank Kickoff Kids honorees at University of Minnesota football games at TCF Bank Stadium. "We hope our fundraising efforts help to provide experiences for children and families that last a lifetime," said Kent Engler, Director of Retail Banking at TCF Bank.
Next Money revealed the 24 international startup company finalists who will compete in the Fintech Finals 2017 being held in Hong Kong during January. Each startup will have five minutes to pitch their business in front of industry judges and a live audience. The final winning team will receive the coveted Best in Show prize of $10,000 and also be invited for a co-creation engagement with Visa Inc. at its Innovation Center in Singapore.
Wyre launched its cross-border, blockchain-based payments platform, which enables businesses to move money across borders from country-to-country at a highly competitive foreign exchange rate, the company said. Wyre also closed $5.8 million in Series A funding led by Chinese venture firm Amphora Capital. The Wyre platform is available in the United States and China, and the company plans to expand service to Europe and Latin America.
RESEARCHRecent research from ABI Research forecast the POS hardware market will jump to more than $4.5 billion in 2021. Revenues generated from a combination of traditional POS and mPOS systems are expected to come from merchants looking to enhance convenience, and foster new experiences and transaction choices. Findings also indicate mPOS vendors are already moving up the value chain via respective smart POS solutions and Tier One hardware suppliers extending product portfolio entry points for lower-tiered merchants. "Arguably, despite hype, mPOS did not yet eat into the traditional POS market as many industry experts initially hoped," said Phil Sealy, Senior Analyst at ABI Research. "This is reinforced by the continual emphasis on aggressive hardware pricing strategies in a bid to gain market share among low-tier merchants, while shifting focus to longer-term reoccurring revenue opportunities via services, analytics, and fraud management."
The ATM Industry Association's 2016 global fraud and security survey revealed the percentage of respondents reporting a general increase in ATM crime declined to 42 percent, down from 51 percent in 2015. The study offers an overview of crime facing the industry, as well as detailed information on how to address specific threats like ATM skimming, personal identification number compromise, deposit-related fraud, cash trapping, dispenser jackpotting, transaction reversal fraud, card trapping, eavesdropping, card data malware, shimming chip card data, network packet sniffing, along with other network compromises.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, conducted by The Nielsen Company LLC, posted another gain in December rising to 113.7, up from 109.4 the previous month. Over the same time frame, the Expectations Index increased sharply from 94.4 to 105.5, but the Present Situation Index decreased from 132.0 to 126.1. The index also reported that consumer sentiment on current conditions and the labor market both declined in December, but the consumer short-term outlook improved considerably.
The Electronic Funds Transfer Association released its final white paper in a three-part series on "User Authentication," which details the benefits and challenges of utilizing user authentication as a component of an overall security strategy. In an effort to address documented threats and obstacles to digital commerce, the white paper explores user authentication, which forms deliver security benefits and how industry stakeholders will play key roles in moving forward with its wider adoption.
According to a Federal Reserve study of U.S. non-cash payments, from 2012 to 2015, credit and debit (including prepaid and non-prepaid) card payments continued to gain ground. The study reports these payments account for more than two-thirds of all core non-cash payments in the United States. Findings also indicated automated clearing house payments grew modestly over the same period and check payments declined at a slower rate than in the past.
Paragon Application Systems, provider of simulation, configuration, certification, performance and end-to-end testing solutions for the financial services industry, issued predictions for 2017 payment trends. According to Paragon, 2017 will bring enhanced payments system testing practices; the continued rise of DevOps, a collaborative approach that bridges development, operations and testing; a greater emphasis on security and EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa); and an evolution (versus revolution) mindset that builds upon existing technologies.
A Research Systems Research benchmark report, The Internet of Things in Retail: Getting Beyond The Hype, discusses the value of IoT as an enabling technology to help retailers reach out to customers and at the same time measure the effectiveness of that outreach. To be effective, retailers are finding that the ultimate goal is to deliver differentiating value to customers, and they see IoT as yet another way to do that, the authors wrote.
PARTNERSHIPSGlobalOnePay partnered with BillGO Inc., a bill-pay app which lets customers pay and manage all their bills to various entities, including rent. GlobalOnePay's payment gateway will handle the automated subscription billing process, helping BillGO to grow and manage its user base more efficiently, the companies said. GlobalOnePay's credit card authorization will be delivered to BillGO users, providing additional ease of use, a reduction in transaction declines and uninterrupted billing.
Citigroup Inc. formed a strategic agreement with PayPal Inc., enabling its card members to use Citi cards with PayPal online, in-app and in store. Citi is the first global bank to partner with PayPal to tokenize cards for U.S. customers using PayPal for in-store purchases across Visa and Mastercard portfolios. "This agreement gives PayPal and Citi the ability to leverage each other's core assets to create better payment experiences that add value to the lives of consumers and merchants," said Gary Marino, Chief Commercial Officer at PayPal.
Digital River World Payments strategically partnered with dLocal to offer online merchants not domiciled in Latin America, a full-money-remittance payment solution. The integration supports a suite of traditional cards and alternative payment methods, including installments, cash-payments, and various domestic card brands relevant in key emerging markets. The partnership also leverages Digital River World Payments' back office capabilities.
CheckAlt was selected by Evertec Inc. to provide item processing through its browser-based image capture solutions that use advanced character recognition software to ensure accurate check-to-image translation. "CheckAlt shares the same level of commitment to delivering top-notch services as we do, and we look forward to providing our customers with a reliable and effective product," said Philip Steurer, Chief Operating Officer of Evertec.
Avalon Solutions Group LLC incorporated its myOmny POS software solution into North American Bancard's Velocity Marketplace to provide retailers and home-services businesses using QuickBooks Online real-time synchronization of business data. The solutions seamlessly integrate to strategically meet tablet POS requirements and offer installation, training, technical support, operations management, and other benefits to businesses, the partners stated.
Net Element Inc. strategically partnered with E2Exchange Ltd., an organization that supports entrepreneurs and facilitates entrepreneur-to-entrepreneur information exchange, equity-funding transactions, and recruitment. As part of the partnership, members of E2Exchange will benefit from access to Net Element's global multi-channel payment services offering. Net Element will also lend its experience and expertise to assist E2E members as they work to achieve their specific growth strategies.
Pitney Bowes Inc. partnered with online marketplace Bonanza in deploying Pitney Bowes' application protocol interface (API) technologies to power cross-border commerce, as well as domestic commerce and shipping. Leveraging the Pitney Bowes Borderfree Marketplace solution, Bonanza's U.S. sellers can reach buyers in more than 100 countries and will have access to Pitney Bowes' Shipping APIs, solutions and analytics through the Pitney Bowes Commerce Cloud.
Nonprofit fundraising platform RallyUp was selected as the technology partner for the Nothing But Nets global fundraising campaign, a collaborative effort between the United Nations Foundation and Golden State Warriors basketball team to help families fight malaria by providing essential bed netting. "Our proprietary platform was built to manage all aspects of this new generation of online fundraising campaigns, which require expertise in security and logistics involving hundreds of thousands of participants and infrastructure capable of managing all types of campaigns," said Steve Bernat, RallyUp founder and CEO.
Signifyd and ThreatMetrix joined forces to eliminate online fraud for customers leveraging the ThreatMetrix Digital Identity Network through Signifyd's Guaranteed Payments solution. "The ThreatMetrix Digital Identity Network provides additional insights for Signifyd's machine learning capabilities enabling the company to authenticate orders from customers who may have previously been denied," said Skye Spear, Vice President of Partnerships at Sifnifyd.
Electronic invoicing, payments and cash management firm Viewpost IP Holdings LLC, partnered with Comdata Inc. to give businesses an option to pay their suppliers with virtual credit card transactions. A virtual card is a single-use, 16-digit virtual credit card which can be used to make secure supplier payments with good funds. "Comdata's technology is a natural fit for making virtual credit card payments available to customers seeking to further improve operational efficiency and cost savings," said Pat McMonagle, Executive Vice President, Director of Payment Operations at Viewpost.
ACQUISITIONSAppTech Corp. ceased discussions with FlowPay Corp. Pursuant to terms, the Agreement and Plan of Merger documents leading to the acquisition of FlowPay by AppTech have been terminated. Subsequent exploration of a new agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding executed in that regard were also terminated pursuant to terms. The parties have mutually agreed to cease further communications at this time.
McKesson Technology Solutions and Change Healthcare Holdings Inc. received notification by the Department of Justice the proposed merger of the two companies had satisfied conditions of the waiting period. Pending customary closing conditions, the entities plan to form a new company whereby McKesson will maintain 70 percent ownership.
Senjō Group entered an agreement with GVC Holdings PLC to acquire its payments processing business Kalixa Group, a provider of global payment services that enables consumers, small businesses and merchants to make and accept payments. Kalixa currently processes transactions for more than 800 merchants and supports 100 of the world's most popular payment methods. In addition to acquiring and gateway capabilities, the Kalixa wallet, issuing technologies and operations will also be part of the acquired assets.
APPOINTMENTSTrustCommerce has promoted Jennifer Cervantes to Vice President of Account Management and Andy Moorhead to Vice President of Sales. Cervantes has been with TrustCommerce for eight years as Director of Account Management and Moorhead has been with the company for three years as Director of Sales. Cervantes will continue to lead the Account Management team with a focus on ensuring excellence in account services and Moorhead will be responsible for sales operations, current clients and strategic growth.
Monica Eaton-Cardone, co-founder and Chief Information Officer at Global Risk Technologies, was appointed to the advisory board of the Emerging Payments Association for 2017. Eaton-Cardone has been recognized as a thought-leader in payments and innovation, and sought after by Money20/20 Europe and Forbes magazine for her insights. According to Tony Craddock, Director General of the EPA, "[Eaton-Cardone's] knowledge and expertise in payments, chargebacks, legislation and understanding merchant challenges will help drive the growth of the emerging payments industry."
Pivotal Payments Inc. promoted Edward Garcia to serve as Chief Operating Officer, where he will be responsible for all operations functions, including the contact center, loyalty and retention, risk management and corporate project management. Garcia joined Pivotal in 2015 as Senior Vice-President, Operations, bringing more than 25 years experience managing payments operations and technologies.
Springbot Inc. appointed Wayne Hunter, Managing Partner at Harbert Growth Partners, to its board of directors. The appointment comes as a result of Springbot's $10 million Series B financing round, also led by Harbert Growth Partners, with participation from existing investors including TechOperators and TTV Capital. "A significant and growing market such as ecommerce combined with Springbot's unique platform represents a highly attractive investment opportunity," said Hunter.
William A. Pruett, TSYS Senior Executive Vice President and President of TSYS' North America Services segment, will retire effective April 1, 2017. TSYS will combine its North America Services and International Services segments into an Issuer Solutions segment to be led by Gaylon Jowers effective April 1, 2017. In addition, Allen Pettis will be named President, North America Issuing, and Kelley Knutson will be named President, International Issuing.
Kount Inc. CEO, Brad Wiskirchen, was appointed to the High-Level Advisory Group of the International Monetary Fund's Interdepartmental Working Group on Finance and Technology. Wiskirchen will be working with financial technology colleagues to inform and guide the IMF's research on the economic and regulatory implications of changes brought by advancements in fintech.
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