Fintech, Finance, Technology, Banking Highlights – 26 February 2018
Mobile technology platform Thyngs exceeds £300,000 in crowdfunding
Norwich-based startup, Thyngs, has secured £300,000 in seed funding on equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube to help further develop its mobile technology that transforms any physical object into an instant point of sale.
The company’s app-free approach and three-tap payment proposition has attracted over 280 investors on the popular crowdfunding service, including the founder of Tossed, the first hospitality business in Europe to go completely cashless, founders of leading experience design agency Foolproof, and a telecoms industry veteran who was Microsoft’s first European MD.
The investment round has been extended due to continuing interest in the proposition and will close on February 28, giving new investors the opportunity to join the cashless revolution and stake a claim in the future of Thyngs.
Retailers and brands can add the company’s technology to any physical object, allowing consumers to make mobile purchases without having to download an app, which causes a significant roadblock in the payment journey. The Thyngs technology alleviates this pain-point and is set to transform the way in which consumers purchase items, marking an important step forward in the cashless revolution.
IPC and GreenKey collaborate on voice-to-data AI
IPC, a leading global provider of secure, compliant communications and networking solutions for the financial markets community, and GreenKey Technologies, creator of patented voice software with integrated speech recognition designed specifically for the financial markets, announced that they have just signed an agreement for a significant collaboration between the firms.
The agreement brings to market a powerful AI-based speech recognition solution that converts real-time voice into useable data for financial market users.
The two firms have been working together since early 2017 on a voice-to-data solution that will enable IPC customers to harvest their audio streams as structured text data to enhance front-, middle- and back-office workflows. Examples include integrating high-quality voice streams into compliance, surveillance and business analytics systems, as well as speeding up front-office workflows, such as voice populating trade tickets, capturing in-stream orders and quotes, and call transcript integrations with CRM systems.
The collaboration unlocks the value in voice communications by bringing together IPC’s trading communications expertise and cloud financial ecosystem of over 6,000 diverse market participants with GreenKey’s next-generation machine-learning technologies.
Singapore Insurtech UEX raises S$1.3 million
One of the first InsurTech platform in Singapore has just raised 1.3 million SGD of funding from its seed investor VERSPIEREN (a French insurance broker) to strengthen its presence on the Singaporean market.
UEX will use part of the proceeds to enhance its focus on developing its tech platform, and to enlarge its range of health insurance products that address the SME’s needs through a sub-brand called UEX for business.
With the startup’s growth over the past 6 months, UEX has confirmed its potential and aims at becoming the leader in both personalized individual health insurance and employee benefit program in Singapore.
SMEs market has a great potential as it represents 99% of the ACRA registered companies in Singapore with 64,000 new business entities that have been created in 2016.
“Health insurance is the main focus of our InsurTech” said Grégoire Rastoul, CEO and founder of UEX. The startup firmly believes that its model will enable employers, employees and their families to ease their purchase of health insurances and be appropriately covered with a one stop shopping solution. This is made possible thanks to a simplified onboarding process and a flexible way to personalize each SME’s insurance plan. “We want to reconnect the dots between the coverage offered by the employer with a potential insurance top-up by the employees.”
