ISC CEO Matt Grossberg commented on the new appointment: “We are excited to have Matt join our team. His extensive experience and deep understanding of the transportation industry will be invaluable as we continue to expand our capabilities and deliver innovative solutions to our clients.”

“I am thrilled to join ISC Transportation at such an exciting time,” said Matt. “I look forward to leveraging my experience in transportation underwriting to help elevate Paramount’s offerings and continue the company’s tradition of excellence. The opportunity to work with a best-in-class team and contribute to the company’s growth aligns perfectly with my professional goals.”

With over 25 years of experience in transportation insurance management, including a decade in private law practice specializing in personal injury cases involving the trucking industry, Matt brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to ISC and Paramount, positioning the company for continued growth and success. Matt’s extensive career in the transportation insurance industry includes leadership roles at several prominent organizations. Most recently, he served as President of Greenwich Transportation Underwriters, Inc., where Matt was responsible for the operations, profitability, and growth of the transportation managing general agency and program administrator specializing in truck insurance and a leading provider of products and services to the logistics industry.

Before his tenure at Greenwich, Matt was the President of Vanliner Insurance Company, overseeing the company’s operations and leading initiatives that strengthened its position in the moving and storage insurance market. He began his transportation insurance career at Great West Casualty Company, initially serving as a Claims Attorney before advancing to Underwriting Manager for the Southeast Region.

Throughout Matt’s career, many major industry associations have sought his subject matter expertise, including the American Trucking Association, the American Bus Association, the American Moving and Storage Association (now part of the ATA), and the National Home Delivery Association.

The post Matt Grimm Joins ISC as Senior VP of Transportation first appeared on FinTecBuzz.

The vast majority of businesses and people around the world depend on a form of payment financing. Credit cards alone finance $16T in merchant payments globally. Trade finance facilitates $10 trillion in B2B payments. One in every six families depends on remittances—money sent back home across the borders—yet even that system depends on trillions of dollars being locked in pre-funding accounts. The list goes on. While the demand for payment financing increases daily, creating an urgent need for more innovative solutions, traditional financial institutions are unable—or unwilling—to meet this need, widening the liquidity gap with each passing day.  Payment financing is so ingrained in every part of our lives that, without it, the entire economy would stop growing.

PayFi aims to address this giant liquidity gap by bringing trillions of dollars of real world payment volume over to blockchains and stablecoins. Leveraging the core strengths of blockchain—global money movement in seconds through programmable money—PayFi also enables new real-world use-cases that were previously impossible. Huma has built the first ever PayFi network with all of these use cases in mind, adopting an open, modular and decentralized approach to empower interoperable solutions across participants. By bringing the best of RWA, Payments, and DeFi together, Huma is creating a network that is far more efficient and accessible than traditional alternatives.

“While designing Huma, we often asked ourselves: How do you build an open payment financing network on blockchain that is more powerful than Visa? Today, stablecoins are already powering $2T in payments annually. An open payment financing network is going to help grow the entire payment ecosystem faster.” said Huma co-founder Richard Liu. “The surge of interest we’re seeing right now is a testament to PayFi’s potential. As more partners join us every week, it’s clear that PayFi is quickly becoming the new frontier of RWA.”

Building on this vision, Huma’s April merger with Arf, the leading on-demand liquidity solution for global payments, brought together the two of the most prominent PayFi players. Huma and Arf have already surpassed $1.8 billion in payment financing transactions and are on track to reach $10 billion next year, making them one of the fastest growing use cases for Circle’s USDC.

Part of this raise came as investments into Arf’s high-yield RWA assets. The Stellar Development Foundation provided a $10 million investment. Additionally, tokenized assets are currently available to accredited investors on Scroll for a limited period. With this funding infusion, Huma plans to further expand its PayFi network to the Stellar smart contract platform and to Solana in the coming months, making sure the network is accessible from all the major payments-focused chains.

“Moving money quickly and cheaply across borders is at the core of what the Stellar network does best. PayFi is providing real world utility that solves problems for people and companies, and it is the type of project tailor-made for the Stellar network. We look forward to continuing to working with Huma to grow the PayFi ecosystem,” said Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation.

“Huma’s PayFi network represents an important step forward in payment financing, offering solutions to long-standing inefficiencies in the industry,” said Chao Deng, CEO of HashKey Capital. “We believe innovations like this are crucial for addressing real-world challenges, and we’re pleased to see Huma playing a key role in advancing the Web3 space.” Huma’s growing PayFi network has caught the attention of leading blockchain advocates, further fueling the momentum behind PayFi. The Solana Foundation’s support signals how PayFi’s innovative on-chain financial solutions are set to redefine global finance.

“PayFi is the creation of new financial markets around the time value of money. On-chain finance can enable new financial primitives, product experiences, and financial access that are impossible in traditional or even Web2 finance. When I met the Huma team, it was immediately apparent that they’d be a great anchor for the PayFi ecosystem within Solana.” said Lily Liu, President of Solana Foundation.

Huma plans to launch the Huma Foundation this year, a pivotal move to decentralize its PayFi network and broaden global access, further solidifying its leadership in the RWA space. Additionally, Huma is set to host the inaugural PayFi Summit in collaboration with the Solana Foundation and Stellar Development Foundation at Singapore Token 2049 on September 17th——an event poised to ignite conversations and drive innovation in the industry.

The post Huma Raises $38M to Hyper-scale its Payment Financing Network first appeared on FinTecBuzz.

CEO of Wealth Access, David Benskin, said, “I have known Drew for more than a decade, and his unparalleled industry knowledge and technological and domain expertise, as well as his leadership skills, are reflected in every aspect of his work. In his previous positions, he has been extremely successful in developing client relationships that drove overall company growth. We are thrilled to have him join our already strong leadership team, where he will play a crucial role in shaping our future business acumen.”

DiMarino joins Wealth Access having worked with many prominent companies in the financial and wealth industries including Riskalyze, now Nitrogen Wealth, Chief Growth officer where he led revenue efforts driving the company to serve thousands of customers. DiMarino also held executive positions at Apiture as EVP of Sales and Marketing, and eMoney Advisor as EVP of Sales where he was instrumental in helping with the subsequent acquisition by Fidelity.

DiMarino said, “Wealth Access, by unifying data, empowers banks to break down the traditional silos between Wealth, Trust and Brokerage to offer a more personalized experience that drives deeper relationships and unlocks cross-sell opportunities with existing clients to win a larger share of wallet. I am excited to be part of such a dynamic company that is revolutionizing the way banks can unleash untapped potential to now handle wealth management within their own four walls.”

Benskin added, “Drew joins us at a perfect time. Our Wealth Access Annual Executive Summit is next week, where we will have leadership from 22 firms representing more than $1.3 trillion in bank assets and over $11 trillion in wealth management. Drew’s extensive knowledge and past experiences will undoubtedly provide invaluable insights to everyone in attendance.”

The post Wealth Access Taps Drew DiMarino as Chief Revenue Officer first appeared on FinTecBuzz.

Ninth Wave serves over 2,000 financial institution clients including 7 of the top 10 US banks and 8 of the top 10 wealth management firms, providing secure connectivity for over 120 million accounts, enabling them to connect seamlessly to the fintech ecosystem. Ninth Wave’s SaaS platform allows financial institutions of all sizes to provide their clients with real-time, secure, reliable, and privacy-compliant data connectivity to a vast ecosystem of fintech providers.

“We chose to partner with Level Structured Capital not only for their financial backing, creative structuring, depth of knowledge of the B2B SaaS sector, and collaborative approach but for the invaluable operational support provided to Ninth Wave through their NextLevel Operations team. Their group of industry experts brings a depth of knowledge across key business areas like finance, technology, and marketing, empowering us to ‘level up’ every facet of our business. This funding arrives at a pivotal moment for Ninth Wave as the financial industry accelerates toward open banking regulations. Our platform is essential for financial institutions navigating the complexities of data connectivity and APIs, and this partnership will allow us to deliver even greater value and cutting-edge solutions that drive meaningful ROI for our customers and partners,” said George Anderson, Founder & CEO of Ninth Wave.

“Since our launch in 2019, Ninth Wave has grown efficiently and sustainably, adding some of the premier names in the industry. We are excited to partner with a firm of Level Equity’s caliber as we focus on expanding our proven platform to financial institutions across North America,” said Thomas Fast, Ninth Wave CFO. The capital will be used to add key team members primarily in sales, marketing, and client support. Additionally, the company will aggressively recruit top talent that can help accelerate product innovation and technical excellence.

“Ninth Wave is exactly the kind of company we seek to partner with—proven technology, a high-caliber team, strong customer relationships, and a scalable business model. We are thrilled to support the team as they continue to roll out their platform to solve this critical industry need,” said Barry Osherow of Level Structured Capital.

The post Ninth Wave Secures Growth Funding to Expand Open Finance Platform first appeared on FinTecBuzz.

“We are excited to welcome GEM as our first institutional-grade investor,” said Chad, Founder. “GEM’s commitment to our vision and their substantial investment underscores the potential of Vitreus to shape the future of blockchain technology. With GEM’s expertise and resources, we are poised to expand our reach, accelerate our development, and realize our mission of creating a decentralized, globally connected ecosystem.”

Over the next two years, GEM will engage in ongoing OTC purchases of wVTRS, supporting Vitreus’ growth while ensuring stability within the market. This partnership aligns with the long-term goals of both Vitreus and GEM, ensuring a collaborative approach to driving innovation and expansion within the blockchain industry.

“As we embark on this transformative journey with GEM, we’ll unlock new possibilities, drive innovation, and shape the future of blockchain,” added Chad. “This partnership is not just about investment; it’s about aligning our visions for a decentralized future and working together to make that future a reality.”

The partnership with GEM is a testament to Vitreus’ potential to disrupt the AI revolution. Together, Vitreus and GEM are set to redefine what is possible in the world of decentralized technology.

The post Vitreus Secures $15,000,000 Investment Commitment from GEM first appeared on FinTecBuzz.

“We are incredibly honored to be recognized as the ‘Best RegTech Solution’ at the Finovate Awards,” said Chris Hilliard, CEO of Winnow. “This award validates our commitment to delivering groundbreaking technology that empowers organizations to navigate the complexities of compliance with ease and confidence.”

The win follows Winnow’s successful demo of its compliance platform at FinnovateFall. Winnow’s platform enables customers to build highly tailored compliance surveys unique to their business type, licensing, financial products, and jurisdictions. Winnow also showed off its recent AI-powered legal search product that provides fast and accurate answers to legal and compliance questions powered by over 80,000 attorney-reviewed regulatory requirements.

FinnovateFall 2024 marks Winnow’s second nomination at the Finovate Awards and its second time being selected to demo at a Finovate event. Winnow was also a finalist in the “Most Impactful AI-Based Solution” category for Winnow AI, and Winnow CEO Chris Hilliard was nominated in the “Executive of the Year” category.

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“Tadgh is a proven, highly regarded executive within the financial services industry,” said Chris Aliotta, CEO and co-founder of Quantalytix. “He is joining Quantalytix at a pivotal time in the company’s evolution as we prepare to further expand our platform and continue to build on the momentum we’ve gained within the community banking and credit union markets. His unique ability to help financial institutions identify challenges and areas of improvement including opportunities to generate efficiencies, automate operations and workflow, as well as create new sources of revenue will be key as we roll out the latest version of our Enterprise Data Management platform. We welcome Tadgh and are honored to have someone with his caliber of financial experience join our team.”

With more than 25 years of executive sales experience, Spradlin has a proven track record of selling complex software solutions to the financial services industry and Fortune 500 firms. In his most recent position, he was responsible for sales and client success of enterprise practice management solutions for many of the top 300 CPA firms.

“While guiding professional services firms through the software buying process was an honor, my passion is helping financial services to unlock their performance,” Spradlin said. “Joining Quantalytix at this point of market inflection is a tremendous opportunity. Financial institutions recognize how vital data analytics are to their future success and Quantalytix has developed a powerful platform that eclipses the first-generation dashboard platforms, yet is user-friendly, intuitive and easily deployed. This truly levels the playing field for community banks and credit unions that until now, have lacked the resources or teams of data scientists to fully capitalize on the volumes of proprietary data accessible across the institution. Founded by former bankers, Quantalytix has such a passion for helping financial institutions and I am pleased to join such a client-focused and driven organization.”

The post Quantalytix Taps Tadgh Spradlin as VP of Sales and Partnerships first appeared on FinTecBuzz.

Jack Henry

Founded in 1950 at Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, N.Y., AmeriCU provides military personnel and an expanded field of membership with solutions to help them achieve their financial goals and make banking easier. Today, the credit union serves more than 164,000 members in 20 locations throughout Central and Northern New York.

AmeriCU has used Jack Henry’s Symitar core system for the past 30 years, expanding its assets from $193 million to $2.7 billion with the support of the technology provider. As it scaled, Jack Henry was able to meet AmeriCU’s needs, transitioning them to the private cloud while optimizing and extending its systems. Continual modernization made the credit union more efficient, allowing it to reallocate time and resources toward expansion and greater community impact.

AmeriCU’s expansion is powered by a broader digital footprint. Jack Henry’s SymAdvisor consulting team helped the credit union launch a competitive rewards checking and debit card account for consumers and businesses, attracting new members. They also provided data analytics and reporting solutions to support easy adoption-based rewards, keeping members engaged. Collaborating with Jack Henry, the credit union was able to identify and verify member eligibility more efficiently, reducing account opening time from 10 minutes to just 3.5 minutes. In addition, they added features to differentiate the credit union and increase wallet share, such as earned wage access, which offers employees and members the financial flexibility to access their wages before payday.

“For the past three decades, Jack Henry has equipped AmeriCU with the scalable infrastructure and strategic guidance to attract new growth and further support our communities,” said Jason Lewin, CIO of AmeriCU. “As we expand, we’re eager to find ways to strengthen and maintain our relationships with members and businesses alike. Our continued growth and reinvestment allows us to be a better resource for our communities, making financial services more affordable and accessible.”

AmeriCU is dedicated to its community. When intense weather hit the area in July, the credit union was quick to offer members 0% APR emergency loans, skip-a-payment options, and business emergency relief loans. As an ongoing effort, the credit union accepts donation requests that are reviewed and approved by local community members. AmeriCU also provides discounts to first responders and military members to help them achieve homeownership. Since 2022, 27% of closings have come through these specialty programs.

“AmeriCU is a true embodiment of the credit union movement,” said Brynn Ammon, president of Credit Union Solutions at Jack Henry. “The credit union continues to invest in technology, support, and service to meet the evolving needs of its community. We’ve enjoyed working with them to maximize their investments and reach their goals and look forward to seeing the positive impact they continue to have on their communities.”

About Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.^®

Jack Henry (Nasdaq: JKHY) is a well-rounded financial technology company that strengthens connections between financial institutions and the people and businesses they serve. We are an S&P 500 company that prioritizes openness, collaboration, and user centricity – offering banks and credit unions a vibrant ecosystem of internally developed modern capabilities as well as the ability to integrate with leading fintechs. For more than 48 years, Jack Henry has provided technology solutions to enable clients to innovate faster, strategically differentiate, and successfully compete while serving the evolving needs of their accountholders. We empower approximately 7,500 clients with people-inspired innovation, personal service, and insight-driven solutions that help reduce the barriers to financial health. Additional information is available at www.jackhenry.com.

About AmeriCU Credit Union

As a credit union, AmeriCU is a not-for-profit financial institution owned by our members. Serving 24 counties in New York and beyond, AmeriCU provides you with all the products and services you need – often with low or no fees, and better rates. The organization has been serving the local community for over 70 years and, in that time, has grown to more than 164,000 members, 20 financial centers, and $2.7 billion in assets. AmeriCU is located in Central New York and is among the State’s largest, full-service financial cooperatives. For more information, visit www.AmeriCU.org. Equal Housing Lender – Federally Insured by NCUA – Membership Eligibility Required.

The post AmeriCU Credit Union Uses Jack Henry for Community Growth & Reinvestment first appeared on FinTecBuzz.

“We continue to see increased demand from large enterprises, all of whom are unhappy with the status quo and are looking to improve efficiency and efficacy by evolving from overly manual, inefficient, on-premise financial crime risk management solutions,” said ComplyAdvantage CEO Vatsa Narasimha. “Paul’s impressive record of accelerating growth for AI-driven, cloud-native, risk and security companies will be critical as we demonstrate the value ComplyAdvantage can bring to those global customers.”

Kizakevich joins ComplyAdvantage from AI-augmented software testing automation platform Katalon, where he served as president and CRO. Katalon was featured on Deloitte’s 2023 Technology Fast 500 thanks to its 3,482 percent revenue growth in the preceding three years. Prior to that, he was CRO at ASAPP, an AI-driven customer interaction platform delivering more than $100M in operational efficiency gains for Fortune 100 organizations. Kizakevich was also a senior vice president at the real-time customer experience and security platform ThousandEyes (now part of Cisco after an approximately $1B acquisition), working with global financial services companies, such as JPMorganChase, Bank of America, and Lloyds.

At ComplyAdvantage, Kizakevich will oversee the global commercial organization to increase global market penetration, invest in its thriving partner ecosystem, and ensure material success for its 1,600 customers. His appointment also reflects the company’s momentum in the U.S. market. Eric Lightfoot, VP of sales, also joined ComplyAdvantage in April 2024 to help further accelerate growth in this market.

“ComplyAdvantage has an impressive track record of using AI to disrupt the fraud and anti-money laundering market,” Kizakevich said. “The company’s team of dedicated individuals is focused on providing the technology, data, and insights to help customers manage their risk exposure and fight financial crime. I am thrilled to join this group of extraordinary people to help the company achieve its vast potential.”

This announcement follows ComplyAdvantage’s recent acquisition of Golden and continued product momentum. The company was again placed in G2’s Leader Quadrant for Anti-Money Laundering solutions, recognizing the consistently strong customer feedback on its products.

About ComplyAdvantage

ComplyAdvantage is the financial industry’s leading source of AI-driven financial crime risk data and fraud detection technology. ComplyAdvantage’s mission is to neutralize the risk of money laundering, terrorist financing, corruption, and other financial crime. More than 1,300 enterprises in 80 countries rely on ComplyAdvantage to understand the risk of who they’re doing business with through the world’s only global, real-time database of people and companies. The company identifies thousands of risk events daily from millions of structured and unstructured data points.

ComplyAdvantage has five global hubs in New York, Lisbon, London, Singapore, and Cluj-Napoca and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Index Ventures, and Balderton Capital. Learn more at complyadvantage.com.

The post ComplyAdvantage Hires Paul Kizakevich as CRO first appeared on FinTecBuzz.

OpenEden’s mission is to bring trillions of dollars in real-world yields on-chain. They believe internet-native money will make RWAs accessible to everyone, creating a more inclusive and decentralized economy. Last month, OpenEden announced that they had achieved over $100 million in Total Value Locked (“TVL”) for their tokenized TBILLs.

By enabling KYC-ed investors, DAOs, and crypto treasury managers to connect their self-custodial wallets and mint TBILL tokens, OpenEden allows them to earn a yield on their idle working capital in stablecoins. The platform’s in-house management of the entire tokenization stack results in greater operational efficiency and higher net yields for token holders. To date, OpenEden has on-boarded over 100 institutional clients.

With the new funding from Binance Labs, OpenEden plans to expand access to RWA-backed yields throughout the DeFi ecosystem. This will be achieved through the introduction of new products, the establishment of channel partnerships, and the exploration of emerging markets.

“Binance Labs provides unwavering support to projects that are unlocking the next wave of opportunities in Web3 through meaningful and sustainable technologies. We believe OpenEden is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing adoption of stablecoins and RWAs, and we are excited to join them on this journey,” said Andy Chang, Investment Director, Binance Labs.

“We are delighted to have the support of Binance Labs, a leader in the Web3 space, as we drive the growth of tokenized real-world assets. Their backing empowers us to accelerate our efforts in blending native yields with real-world yields, which will help stabilize returns in DeFi and create pathways for bringing institutional liquidity onto decentralized platforms,” said Jeremy Ng, Co-Founder of OpenEden.

As the demand for tokenized RWAs has surged, T-Bills have emerged as a preferred choice among issuers. According to blockchain analytics firm Messari, the total value locked in RWAs has grown exponentially over the past year, reaching $8 billion.

About Binance Labs

As the venture capital arm and incubator of Binance, Binance Labs is dedicated to empowering early-stage projects and leading the growth and development of the Web3 ecosystem. Since our founding in 2018, we have consistently focused on the long-term, and provided strategic support and funding to projects, regardless of market cycles.

As a chain- and sector-agnostic venture capital leader in the Web3 space, we back everything from infrastructure to application layers, and our focus has consistently been on tech innovation with meaningful product-market fit and sustainable revenue models.

Binance Labs’ portfolio covers over 250 projects from over 25 countries across six continents. More than 65 of Binance Labs’ portfolio companies are projects that have gone through our incubation programs. For more information, follow Binance Labs on X.

About OpenEden

OpenEden Labs is building the bridge to a new financial system. Its mission is to bring real-world assets to DeFi to unlock trillions of dollars in value.

For more information, visit https://openeden.com/.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, endorsement, analysis, or recommendations with respect to any financial instruments, investments, or issuers. This article may contain forward-looking statements which are by nature subject to risks and uncertainties. Investment in cryptocurrency and DeFi projects involves substantial risk, including the risk of complete loss. This article does not take into account the investment objectives, financial situation, or specific needs of any particular person and each individual is urged to consult their legal and financial advisors before making any investment decisions.

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