Author: Akin Naphtal

Amplify Life Insurance, a digital-first life insurance platform focused on helping customers build wealth through permanent life insurance, announced an investment round led by Munich Re Ventures (MRV), with follow on investment by Crosslink Capital, Greycroft, and Conversion Capital. The investment brings Amplify’s total funding to $25.1 million. Amplify is the first digital platform that offers customers the ability to invest in public markets with their life insurance premiums, accessing tax-efficient returns throughout their lifetime via a product that has been historically available primarily to affluent and more mature demographics. Amplify’s digital interface provides customers with a customised policy based…

Visa and Mastercard are facing a class action lawsuit in the UK seeking compensation for businesses charged Multilateral Interchange Fees (MIFs) for accepting payments using corporate credit cards. Commercial litigation law firm Harcus Parker has brought the claim at the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), the UK’s specialist judicial body for hearing competition cases. The suit claims that Visa and Mastercard have forced banks to agree to a level of MIFs set by the two giants, which are “anti-competitive and unlawful”. Since 2015, EU law capped MIFs at 0.3% on consumer credit card transactions, and 0.2% for consumer debit cards. However,…

Payhawk, the fast-growing spend management platform combining company cards, reimbursable expenses, and accounts payable in one solution has announced the launch of a business credit card in the UK. This new release quickly follows its launch of credit cards for US businesses in September this year, as well as year-to-date revenue growth of 520% and an employee headcount growth of over 250%. With this new product launch, Payhawk becomes the only spend management solution to offer UK businesses a choice between smart VISA credit cards and debit cards. This card choice gives businesses looking for a card or a broader…

Rapid Finance, a market leader in helping small businesses find sustainable and customized financing solutions through a fast and simple application process, announced today its acquisition of digital lending platform provider, Thrive, at American Banker’s Small Business Banking conference. As part of Rapid Finance’s recent corporate rebrand and restructuring, the Thrive acquisition represents a significant addition to the company’s new Rapid Finance Technology business unit. Thrive’s true, end-to-end digital lending platform enables banks, non-bank lenders and credit unions to realize meaningful operational efficiencies through a streamlined origination process and more efficient underwriting for both consumer and SMB lending. “Since its…

Global technical body EMVCo has today announced the appointment of Arman Aygen to the role of Director of Technology. Arman brings proven expertise from across the payments industry, having held senior technology leadership positions in the U.S., Europe and Asia. This includes roles at FIME and UL, where he was responsible for leading payments innovation and strategic relationship management with global payment brands. As EMVCo Director of Technology, Arman will play a key role in EMVCo’s efforts to advance technical initiatives that address industry needs and support the evolution of payments. He is responsible for oversight of technical developments across…

Mastercard has joined forces with fintech Inswitch to launch embedded payments and issuing programmes across industries in Latin America. Embedded banking and payments player Inswitch will start issuing cards as a Mastercard principal member in Mexico, with plans to expand to other Latin American markets. Ronald Alvarenga, CEO, Inswitch, says: “Now our clients can issue branded cards to support different use cases: digital wallets, Buy now pay later, supplier payments, working capital for corporate expenses or cash management necessities; among others.” In addition to the issuing programme, Inswitch and Mastercard will work together to offer an agnostic platform supporting different…

Egyptian startup Mazaya, a B2B e-commerce marketplace that focuses on electronics, has raised a US$5 million pre-seed funding round to scale its operations in Egypt and expand into new markets and verticals. Founded in December 2021, Mazaya empowers retailers and merchants of electronic goods and home appliances by enabling them to efficiently procure inventory for their stores through its app. It also gives them access to value-added services. Since its launch, the startup has worked with over 6,000 retailers, fulfilled 30,000 orders, and achieved a gross merchandise value of US$15 million. It currently has over 1,000 SKUs on its platform.…

Ghanaian agri-tech startup Farmerline has raised a further US$1.5 million in pre-Series A funding to close out its round at US$14.4 million. Launched in 2013 by Alloysius Attah and Emmanuel Owusu Addai, Farmerline partners with agribusinesses and farm associations to support African farmers with high-quality fertiliser and seeds, free education on climate-smart farming practices, and access to international markets. Its marketplace combines digital tools with logistics, field agents, farm resources and strategic partnerships, while the company’s in-house technology platform Mergdata is licensed by global food traders and manufacturers who use its customisable tools to improve the lives of farmers around…

Ugandan fintech startup Numida, which uses proprietary credit models and tech-enabled underwriting processes to provide unsecured working capital loans to African micro and small businesses (MSBs), has raised a US$12.3 million pre-Series A round of equity and debt funding to help it expand its team and move into new markets. Launched by Mina Shahid, Catherine Denis and Ben Best in 2017, Numida began life enabling traditional MFIs to provide unsecured credit to semi-formal businesses, but soon pivoted to begin lending to micro and small businesses directly. The startup’s proprietary credit models and tech-enabled underwriting processes allow it to provide unsecured…

Newtek Business Services Corp., an internally managed business development company, announced it has selected the Apiture Digital Banking Platform to support the digital capabilities of Newtek Bank, pending regulatory approvals and the close of the acquisition of the National Bank of New York City. Newtek plans to leverage Apiture’s Business Banking and Account Opening solutions in combination with Newtek’s existing business and finance solutions and the Newtek Advantage™ to deliver a comprehensive suite of financial and business solutions and services to independent business owners. Newtek previously announced an agreement to acquire NBNYC, a nationally chartered bank, and to reposition Newtek…