Fintech, Finance, Technology, Banking Highlights – 22 November 2018
Whirl launches crowdfunding platform
An all-star team of nonprofit, blockchain, and crowdfunding veterans, including Roel Wolfert (Bancor, VISA) and Martijn Hekman (World Vision, United Nations), is thrilled to announce the launch of Whirl, a socially driven crowdfunding platform that’s built on the blockchain.
Located at www.whirl.com, WHIRL gives the world a new way to finance their dreams and obligations, while introducing a revolutionary incentive system to encourage giving and maximize campaign success.
Powered by a team of 20 with support from a broad business network, WHIRL launches after years of research and after a year and a half of development with thorough legal vetting as the market’s first credible blockchain-powered consumer crowdfunding platform. WHIRL is co-founded by Roel Wolfert, a pioneer in digital payments, founding member of Liqwith, early adviser to Bancor, and former Senior VP at VISA, and Martijn Hekman, who has led large-scale humanitarian aid efforts across 15 countries, for World Vision, the United Nations, and multiple NGOs.
“Consumer crowdfunding was an original use case for blockchain technology, and today we realize its promise and potential with WHIRL,” says co-founder Roel Wolfert, “But we didn’t stop there. WHIRL is built to unite the world in mutual self-support and create a platform with real social impact that helps people realize their dreams.”
Over the last decade, crowdfunding has stagnated due to oversaturation, fraud, and declining success rates. WHIRL solves these problems by listing a limited number of campaigns at once and by incentivizing backers with a fair and transparent points system, called “Karma.” When you back a campaign on WHIRL you earn Karma. Then when it’s your turn to create a campaign to realise your dream, your Karma determines when it goes live and how much it can raise. This pay it forward feedback loop was inspired by historic community giving pools.
Banco Original chooses Fico for launch of 100% digital platform
Banco Original, the first Brazilian bank to offer a 100% digital checking account, has chosen FICO as its strategic partner to launch its digital platform.
The financial institution, based in São Paulo, aims to create a safe and simplified origination process to reduce bureaucracy while keeping up safety. To that end, the bank acquired FICO Origination Manager and FICO Application Fraud Manager to manage credit operations and reinforce fraud prevention.
“Our customer contact is 100% digital,” said Alexandre Pinelli, Banco Original’s IT Superintendent. “We require solutions and technologies that allow us to assess a customer’s profile in our digital process so that we may take the right decisions as fast as possible.”
Launched in 2016, Banco Original was formed to meet the needs of digital consumers who are looking for reduced bureaucracy, increased agility and personalised services. In just two years, the bank attracted more than 600,000 customers. It has a net worth of BRL 2.2 billion, with BRL 8.8 billion in assets and a credit portfolio of BRL 5 billion.
“We believe that we offer the most comprehensive service portfolio among digital banks” said Pinelli. “We offer checking accounts, cards, loans, investments, insurance and pension plans. We have a very clear roadmap of the development of our products and services.”
Uruguay’s Bankingly raises $5.25 million funding
Bankingly, one of Latin America’s leading providers of world-class digital banking channels to financial institutions, announced today that it has raised $5.25Mn in a round led by Elevar Equity, and in which The Rise Fund, through its co-investment partnership with Elevar Equity, and Endeavor Catalyst also participated.
Through its software as a service solution (SaaS), Bankingly seeks to further financial inclusion by providing digital channels – mobile, online and conversational banking – to financial institutions (“FIs”) that focus on low-income and underserved customers. The company targets medium and small banks, member-owned FIs (cooperatives, credit unions, SACCOs) and microfinance companies (“MFIs”), often operating in semi-urban or rural markets, enabling them to become more competitive and better serve a customer segment historically overlooked by the traditional banking sector. Bankingly seeks to reach a market of roughly 5,000 cooperatives and 1,000 MFIs in Latin America, which currently serve over 92 million end customers. Furthermore, given that its fully customizable, secure and cloud-based SaaS digital banking solution can be integrated remotely, the company has begun and will continue to expand into Europe and Africa, where more than 200 million people are underbanked or unbanked.
While large banks and FIs dedicate a significant portion of their budgets to technology developments to offer their clients online banking, mobile access and new communications channels, small and medium FIs struggle with limited resources and often cannot make significant capital investments. The challenge to provide sophisticated digital solutions to Latin America’s banking customer is widespread, and Bankingly is closing the gap by bringing affordable world-class digital channels to every FI so that they continue to grow, improve their customer acquisition and be better equipped to compete in an ever-changing environment.
