Fintech, Finance, Technology, Banking Highlights – 15 November 2018
Digital lender Credimi secures EUR10 million funding
Continental Europe’s one of largest-volume digital factoring platform Credimi has received a 10 million euro capital increase from investment funds United Ventures SGR and Vertis SGR, as well as some of the investors who took part in the first round of 8.5 million euros in September 2015.
Since it was founded less than two years ago, Credimi has lent over 200 million euros to 3,500 companies of all sizes, sectors and geographical locations. These companies have discovered how Credimi gives them a competitive edge over traditional banking and factoring solutions by offering more power, speed and flexibility. Credimi is authorized by the Bank of Italy as a financial intermediary.
In 2018 Credimi has added new features and functionalities to its lending platform, including giving clients direct access to non-recourse financing for their unpaid invoices – something which has been particularly popular with small- and medium-sized companies.
Credimi will use the new 10 million euros in funding to further expand its client base, product offering and talent pool, while continuing with its mission to help companies improve their ability to manage their working capital and their client networks and supplier chains. This new development phase will enable Credimi to lay the groundwork to expand into other European markets.
Ignazio Rocco di Torrepadula, Credimi founder and CEO: “Credimi’s initial startup phase has been exhilarating, with results that have far exceeded our expectations. Being able to succeed in just a few months, and without any sort of commercial intermediary, in becoming a go-to solution for so many companies of so many different types all across Italy is really a remarkable achievement for such a young company. We are proud to announce that two funds as important as United Ventures and Vertis have decided to support us in this new phase that will be crucial for our future growth. We have set some very challenging goals: we aim to grow in Italy and start expanding in foreign markets. The confidence our new backers have shown in us underlines how much we have delivered so far, and is also a new starting point. This transaction means we can help an ever-wider range of companies, giving them access to factoring in a quick and simple way, thanks to our proprietary technology.”
Bilbao selects Masabi for EMV contactless ticketing system
Masabi, the company bringing Software-as-a-Service (Saas) ticketing and payments to public transport, announced that it has added new contactless EMV ticketing capabilities to its Justride fare collection platform.
Passengers will simply be able to tap their contactless bank cards to travel, removing the hassle of having to purchase a ticket or carry cash.
The city of Bilbao will be the launch operator initially piloting on its urban bus service, Bilbobus and working in conjunction with Masabi’s Spanish partner Gertek. This new component of Masabi’s Justride Platform makes using contactless payment cards to tap to travel available to authorities and operators of all sizes around the globe. Due to Masabi’s SaaS approach to fare collection this can be enabled efficiently with the cloud-based system reducing the cost of running and maintaining expensive IT infrastructure. The system can also be configured to meet customers specific fare and policy requirements, including rules such as entitlements, fare capping and best fare finding.
The new system includes an account-based back office with a dedicated management suite enabling Bilbobus staff to perform a variety of customer service and administrative tasks. The Bilbao deployment will use contactless EMV validation devices across busses used in the pilot, providing Bilbobus with rich data insights as well as helping reduce dwell times, improving journey times for all.
The Justride platform is already in use with over 40 transport authorities and operators around the globe including in major cities such as New York, London, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Boston, Sydney and for Lurraldebus in Spain.
“Masabi is bringing SaaS account-based contactless EMV ticketing to cities and transport authorities of all sizes around the globe. This will revolutionize the passenger experience, allowing them to simply tap their contactless bank card to travel,” said Brian Zanghi, CEO of Masabi. “We are very excited to bring this new service to passengers in Bilbao and to offer it to other customers of our Justride platform.”
Worldpay and CYBG extend partnership
Worldpay, a payments technology company and CYBG, the UK’s one of largest challenger bank have agreed a new five-year referral partnership bringing Worldpay’s payments technology to CYBG business customers.
The extended agreement gives business customers of Britain’s sixth biggest bank access to a full suite of Worldpay’s payments products; from traditional and mobile POS solutions to online gateway products, as well as to its leading omni-channel payments technology[1]. CYBG business customers will now also be able to access additional services through the partnership, including Worldpay’s business insight tool Worldpay Business Dashboard, which harnesses the power of payments data to help optimise their business operations.
Leveraging the companies’ national scale, the new deal seeks to speed up the time it takes for UK SMBs to access the right technology and services needed to set up and run their business. Supporting CYBG’s digital strategy, Worldpay will extend its payments technology to help deliver integrated payments services for the UK’s dynamic small business sector. Through the use of APIs, CYBG and Worldpay will also create a seamless experience for new business customers, giving them quicker access to payments technology to get them selling faster.
Steve Newton, Executive Vice President, UK & Europe, said: “Over the past few years we’ve witnessed a really positive focus on the digital transformation of retail banking services in the UK -it’s imperative that financial services available to small business are not left behind by this revolution. CYBG’s dedicated and industry leading services are vital for driving these changes across the British economy.”
