Payments initiated by financial institutions over Swift will reach TerraPay’s system with speed and efficiency, and with end-to-end transparency from account to wallet, powered by Swift’s transaction tracking capabilities. Swift connects more than 11,500 financial institutions in over 200+ countries.

TerraPay’s extensive network facilitates payments to more than 2.1 billion mobile wallets and 7.5 billion bank accounts globally, giving recipients the flexibility to receive funds in their preferred currency. This expansive reach underscores TerraPay’s steadfast commitment to fostering financial inclusion and accessibility on a global scale. It also marks further progress towards the G20’s goals for enhanced speed, greater transparency, greater access and lower costs in cross-border transactions.

Ambar Sur, Co-Founder and CEO at TerraPay, said: “This development represents a strategic leap forward in our mission to revolutionise the cross-border payments landscape. By marrying Swift’s industry-leading capabilities with TerraPay’s advanced digital infrastructure, we are empowering financial institutions to meet evolving customer needs with unprecedented speed and transparency.”

“This not only underscores our commitment to innovation, but also aligns seamlessly with our vision of fostering a borderless financial ecosystem where moving money everywhere is instant, reliable and compliant, especially to underserved consumers. We estimate that we are reaching 600m unbanked consumers.”

Thierry Chilosi, Chief Business Officer at Swift, said: “It’s always exciting to see financial service providers like TerraPay utilise Swift to innovate their offering and deliver an enhanced customer experience. It underlines the broad utility of Swift’s highly secure, globally inclusive network, and demonstrates how we’re equipping our community to meet the rapidly rising expectations for choice and simplicity in cross-border transactions.”

Stay Ahead of the Financial Curve with Our Latest Fintech News Updates!

The post Terrapay Enables Banks to Transfer Funds to Wallets first appeared on FinTecBuzz.

Agora’s first product—a fully collateralized, freely tradeable US digital dollar (aka stablecoin)—will be launched soon and will only serve select markets outside the United States. Agora’s digital dollar, AUSD, will differ materially from existing product offerings. Agora believes in an open partnership model and that digital dollars should be treated akin to public goods.

“We’ve been thrilled to see the market demand and reception of AUSD. We’re expecting to come to the market and shake up the rent-seeking and closed-partner models,” said Nick van Eck, co-founder and CEO of Agora.

“The stablecoin market is rife with misaligned incentives, outdated technologies, and dubious regulatory structures,” noted Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly. “Agora is upending those existing models by approaching the market from a customer first perspective while building best in class technology in a compliant infrastructure that allows them to bring together the best partners in the world.”

Agora’s reserve fund will be managed by VanEck, one of the world’s largest ETF issuers. The cash custodian of the fund will be one of the largest custodians in the world. Agora’s reserve fund assets will be bankruptcy remote, held in trust, and regularly audited. Agora is focused on regulatory compliance and is pursuing licenses where applicable.

“At Agora, we’ve assembled an incredible team with deep blockchain, financial markets, and payments experience. Together we’re highly focused on building the most liquid and widely accepted digital dollar,” said Drake Evans, co-founder and CTO of Agora. Nick and Drake are joined by co-founder Joe McGrady, COO of Agora.

Stay Ahead of the Financial Curve with Our Latest Fintech News Updates!

The post Agora has raised a $12M Seed round led by Dragonfly first appeared on FinTecBuzz.

Embedded finance is also a key component in the $176B rewards and incentives market. Fast and flexible disbursement solutions are critical for companies looking to reward loyalty or payout for research participation, or employers seeking a modern way to incentivize their employees. Giftbit is an elegant platform for enterprises and small businesses, as well as schools and universities, to offer rewards and incentives to their employees and customers. Giftbit leverages Marqeta’s platform for faster, more flexible, disbursement solutions to their growing international customer base.

“Our customers value choice and flexibility, so modern prepaid cards are critical for rewards and incentives,” said Leif Baradoy, CEO of Giftbit. “Using Marqeta’s platform, Giftbit delivers a simple and remarkable prepaid reward experience to our customers and their recipients. We’re pleased to partner with Marqeta because of their expertise in payments and their innovative technology.”

Vivian Health is transforming how the healthcare industry hires. As the leading healthcare jobs marketplace, Vivian empowers a broad range of healthcare professionals to find jobs they love. The Vivian VIP program offers participating clinicians first access to new job openings. It also flags them to recruiters so clinicians hear back sooner on opportunities, and recruiters fill jobs faster. Now, with Marqeta, Vivian is providing cash rewards to travel clinicians with VIP Elite status – those who find roles on their platform. By leveraging Marqeta’s cutting-edge technology, Vivian can seamlessly issue disbursement cards, ensuring that these rewards are easily accessible to their valued healthcare professionals. Vivian believes that by recognizing their efforts and providing tangible rewards, they can foster a sense of loyalty and appreciation that extends far beyond the job search journey.

“We deeply value the tireless efforts and unwavering commitment of healthcare professionals who dedicate themselves to the well-being of patients,” expressed Parth Bhakta, CEO at Vivian. “In recognition of their exceptional contributions, we are delighted to introduce Vivian VIP Elite, a program designed to reward these hard-working individuals who find employment opportunities through our platform. Through our partnership with Marqeta, we are able to extend our gratitude with cash rewards to travel clinicians who achieve VIP Elite status,” continued Bhakta. “This small token of appreciation is our way of expressing our profound gratitude for their dedication to helping patients and overcoming the challenges they face in their noble profession.”

Whistle is an employee loyalty platform helping companies improve employee retention and productivity – in some cases by more than 25% in a few months. At the heart of the Whistle platform is a digital, rewards wallet powered by Marqeta. The reward and incentive technology has proven so effective, Whistle launched Whistle Rewards, a Reward-as-a-Service API that is among the easiest ways for software platforms to integrate rewards and incentives with any workflow. Technology companies from healthcare to construction are leveraging this new capability.

“It’s remarkably easy for our clients to send a reward, buy lunch for a remote team, or give everyone a budget to make a charitable contribution,” said Drew Carter, CEO of Whistle. “We are changing how companies build culture, reward employees, and motivate teams. Marqeta plays a critical role in making that experience effortless.”

“Embedded finance enables companies to create a seamless payments experience, helping them build loyalty among employees and reduce friction with their customers,” said Todd Pollak, Chief Revenue Officer, Marqeta. “In a highly competitive environment for talent, embedded finance offerings can make a lasting impression on potential workers and customers. Marqeta is thrilled to work with dynamic companies like Giftbit, Vivian and Whistle to help them develop innovative payments offerings with embedded finance, resulting in greater loyalty and retention for their customers and workforce.”

Fintech News – The Latest News in Financial Technology.

The post Marqeta announces New Customers Giftbit, Vivian and Whistle first appeared on FinTecBuzz.

Nuvei’s market-leading agile technology and global reach through a unified solution provide significant advantages for CloudPay customers that demand the ability to make payroll fast, flexible, and certain. The partnership also supports a broad range of global salary payment solutions, including the capability to push salary payment to cards through Visa Direct, reducing payment times from days to 30 minutes or less.

These expanded capabilities generated through the partnership are currently live in the U.S., and an expansion into new regions including Europe and APAC is expected to launch before the end of the year.

“This partnership enables us to meet the growing global demand for innovative payment solutions that are transforming the end-to-end employee pay process and providing new ways of attracting and retaining talent,” said CloudPay Strategic Initiatives Director Nick Newman.

Nuvei Chair and CEO Philip Fayer commented on the announcement: “We’re excited to be demonstrating yet another fantastic use case for our cutting-edge payments technology. Our mission is to enable our partners to offer a market-leading payments experience for pay ins and payouts, bringing businesses closer to their customers, or in this case employees. Enabling CloudPay to offer a transformative payroll solution is just the latest example of how our agile, customizable platform is revolutionizing online payments globally.”

CloudPay data finds 95% of employees who use the CloudPay NOW app choose to use their debit card to receive salary payments because the transaction is instant and available 24/7. Traditional salary payment structures rely on banks and limited hours of operation. There are no waiting periods when transactions are processed through Nuvei. In some instances, this allows companies to move from a biweekly pay cycle to a monthly cycle, saving time, money, and resources.

“The next generation of global money movement is one where companies may soon say goodbye to the traditional, biweekly pay cycle,” said Anastasia Serikova, Head of Visa Direct, Europe. “CloudPay and Nuvei are at the forefront of providing solutions that help workers access their pay faster. With Visa Direct, CloudPay’s clients can eliminate inefficiencies associated with traditional ways that employees are paid, and provide quick access to the money they’ve already earned.”

Together with its partners, CloudPay is defining the modern pay experience. Through strategic partnerships that extend capabilities and increase speed, the company is elevating pay from an operational function to a business driver. Employers looking for ways to elevate the employee experience now have the ability to do so at scale across the globe.

Fintech News – The Latest News in Financial Technology.

The post CloudPay selects Nuvei to bring speed and agility to its payments first appeared on FinTecBuzz.

This investment brings the total Series C funding to USD $72m, coming shortly after Thunes announced an investment of $60m led by London-based hedge fund Marshall Wace with support from Bessemer Venture Partners and Southeast Asian private equity firm 01Fintech.

Thunes already has an ongoing global partnership with Visa. In October 2022, Visa and Thunes announced a strategic collaboration to extend Visa Direct’s reach to 1.5 billion digital wallets. Through this partnership, Thunes B2B payments platform offers a send-to-wallet capability to 78 digital wallet providers globally. Using an API integration with Visa Direct, Visa’s customers – financial institutions, governments, neobanks and money transfer operators – can enable consumers and small businesses to send funds to eligible digital wallets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, powered by the Thunes global network.

Peter De Caluwe, CEO, Thunes, says: “We’re proud to close Series C with such a strong roster of influential investors. Support from Visa, EDBI and Endeavor is a powerful endorsement of our strategy and capabilities, providing us with additional resources to develop innovative solutions to face industry challenges. By leveraging the insights and support of our investors, we will expand our network and offer businesses and consumers an unparalleled cross-border payments experience. I’m delighted to see an even deeper collaboration with Visa. Together, we will pave the way towards a global payment ecosystem that is inclusive, efficient and ubiquitous.”

“And as a Singapore-based company, EDBI’s backing is also incredibly important to us. Though our business has a global nature, Singapore continues to serve as our home-base and we are proud to be deeply embedded in this dynamic global Fintech hub. This supportive ecosystem provides us great benefits, with a market for top talent, an excellent infrastructure, and a progressive regulator at the forefront of financial innovation.”

Ruben Salazar Genovez, Global Head of Visa Direct, adds: “Digital wallets play a key role in providing underserved communities with greater economic empowerment and financial inclusion by penetrating previously unreached regions. Visa is proud to take part in Thunes’ Series C investment round and we look forward to continuing our collaboration aimed at providing more customers around the world with quick and simple access to the financial system through digital wallets.”

Paul Ng, CEO of EDBI, adds: “Thunes’ commitment to addressing the business challenges of international money movement aligns well with our mission to strengthen Singapore’s position as a global innovation and financial hub. As strategic investors, we deeply appreciate the significance of nurturing Singapore-based companies like Thunes throughout their growth journey, and we are excited to provide our support in expanding their local and regional presence. We anticipate a close collaboration with Peter and his team as we work together to achieve even greater milestones.”

Fintech News – The Latest News in Financial Technology.

The post Thunes adds three prominent investors to Series C funding round first appeared on FinTecBuzz.