Illuma founder and CEO, Milind Borkar, recognized the significance of the latest additions to the list of investors committed to the company’s growth. “While we are excited about the capital infusion to accelerate our development of fraud prevention and deep fake detection tools, we are equally excited about bringing in new partners to fuel Illuma’s continued commercial growth. LiveOak Ventures and Forefront Venture Partners bring invaluable operating expertise and industry connections to help Illuma scale to the next level. And we are deeply appreciative of the continued support from Curql Fund, UsNet, Capital Factory, Connexus, and TDECU.”

With a diverse career that stretches over 27 years, Jeremy Whittington, CTO, has excelled in roles ranging from developer and architect to journalist, advisor, and serial entrepreneur. Under Jeremy’s leadership, the Illuma team has successfully converted innovations in voice biometric authentication into state-of-the-art products that are easy for financial institutions of all sizes to operationalize. “My career started in customer service, and that has been a primary driver for the past 20 years. It’s exciting to work on technology that can reduce fraud and improve the customer experience at the same time. A rare achievement.”

Venu Shamapant, Founding Partner at LiveOak Ventures, offered his perspective on the benefits of partnering with Illuma. “With Illuma’s position in the Fintech sector as a provider that delivers state-of-the-art voice biometrics accessible for financial institutions of all sizes, there is a clear growth path to becoming the preferred provider of voice authentication and fraud prevention solutions in this space.”

TDECU and Connexus Credit Unions were early adopters of Illuma’s Fintech solution. Both are continuing their support in this latest round of funding. Chad Rogers, Executive VP and COO at Connexus, spoke about the long-term benefits of having voice authentication in place. “Too often, adoption of increased security measures results in less convenient, less pleasant member service interactions. That said, our collaborative four-year Illuma partnership and our strong track record with their innovative Illuma Shield voice biometric technology have proven just the opposite. Not only are we doing more to mitigate fraud while ensuring the safety of our members’ data and assets, but we’ve streamlined their member service experience by eliminating traditional, often burdensome, out-of-wallet authentication questions. With Illuma Shield, we’ve shortened individual call times by one minute on average, significantly reducing our operational expenses, and affording our members and employees a much more engaging, efficient, and secure experience.”

The Illuma team was celebrated in 2024 for Innovations in Fraud, winning the CreditUnions.com award in the fraud category. This accolade was followed by recognition of the company’s leadership in the inaugural list of AI 75 by Dallas Innovates for pioneering work in artificial intelligence.

The latest addition to the Illuma team, Amy Travers, is another significant win for the organization. Travers, formerly Regional VP of Security and Biometrics at Nuance, joined Illuma this year to systemize and scale the sales effort across the U.S. “It’s an exciting move to be embedded with a team that is innovating so rapidly to address emerging threats in fraud, and making voice biometric technology affordable for community banks and credit unions,” said Travers.

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Based in the United States, Mark will be responsible for driving revenue growth with focus on the commercial aviation, hospitality and overall travel industry. He will report to Kristian Gjerding, the CEO of CellPoint Digital.

Mark’s growth mandate is driven by the increased demand for Payment Orchestration solutions in CellPoint Digital’s target industries. The global Payment Orchestration Platform market was valued at $1.1 billion in 2022 and it is anticipated to grow up to $10.1 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 24.5% during the forecast period, according to McKinsey & Well Company market research. As more companies turn to Payment Orchestration to mitigate payment fragmentation and facilitate scalable growth (Bain & Company), they need a partner with expertise in Payment Orchestration and industry-specific experience in deploying these solutions. CellPoint Digital is ideally positioned to deliver on both.

Having held the role of Global Head of Payments at CellPoint Digital since 2019, Mark brings an in-depth understanding of the business. He joined CellPoint Digital from Intrapay, a fintech startup providing international cross-border payment services to clients in Europe and Asia Pacific, where he was Chief Operating Officer. Prior to that, he was Chief Executive Officer at GoSwiff (now PaySwiff), a mobile commerce firm headquartered in Singapore with global operations. Before GoSwiff, Mark was the GM and Regional Head of Ingenico (formerly Global Collect) ePayments business in the Asia Pacific region.

Kristian Gjerding, CEO at CellPoint Digital says: “We are pleased to see Mark Patrick take up a new role within CellPoint Digital. As Chief Revenue Officer, Mark oversees CellPoint Digital’s revenue strategy and global business development teams as well as the development of a new account management function. This comes amidst growing demand from businesses seeking to streamline their digital payment capabilities while countering the major challenges they face with existing providers to deliver a seamless service.”

Mark Patrick adds: “It has been a career highlight to be a part of CellPoint Digital’s growth story and to stand at the forefront of optimising customers’ path to purchase across digital channels. This business-critical issue will only grow in importance as consumers increasingly opt for alternative payment methods and demand friction-free payment experiences. As we continue to scale, this requires a new, digital-first approach to revenue generation and account management to ensure client satisfaction.”

Advancing Payment Orchestration across Key Regions

CellPoint Digital’s rapid growth and increasing market demand have necessitated a strategic expansion of their revenue team, with new hires across revenue and account management in key regions such as Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific. This expansion is a direct response to the surging interest in Payment Orchestration across diverse industries and global markets.

Central to CellPoint’s revenue strategy is showcasing the transformative benefits of Payment Orchestration to enterprises worldwide. CellPoint is committed to meeting the evolving needs of a growing client base. Payment Orchestration, a concept that encompasses the end-to-end management of all payment activities—from authorisation and routing to settlement and reporting—has proven invaluable for companies seeking to boost conversions in both direct and indirect sales channels while reducing transaction costs.

The platform’s versatility and efficiency have driven strong demand, fueling CellPoint’s expansion and reinforcing their position as industry leaders in the rapidly evolving payment technology landscape.

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As a silver sponsor, Flipster will maintain a strong presence at the event with a dedicated booth, offering attendees the chance to engage with the team, learn about the platform’s latest innovations, and participate in discussions about the evolving cryptocurrency trading landscape.

In addition, Flipster is partnering with the popular Pudgy Penguins NFT project to co-host an exclusive side event at Zouk, one of Asia’s most renowned nightlife venues, on September 17. The event at Zouk will provide a relaxed yet dynamic environment for attendees to network, share ideas, and celebrate advancements in Web3 and digital assets.

Flipster’s involvement in Token2049 comes during a period of rapid growth for the platform. In recent months, Flipster has solidified its position as a preferred platform for both novice and experienced traders. With a robust set of features, including advanced trading tools, strong security protocols, and a user-friendly interface, Flipster has seen a significant increase in its user base. The platform’s total assets have nearly doubled in the past two months, driven by rising demand for digital assets and Flipster’s focus on innovation and user experience.

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As digital transactions surge and cyber threats evolve, these tools offer fintechs, financial institutions and businesses advanced real-time fraud detection and risk management capabilities, addressing an industry in which 63% of financial firms reported an increase in fraud, with digital channels contributing to half of the total fraud losses.

Galileo Instant Verification Engine

Galileo Instant Verification Engine (GIVE) provides real-time verification of external bank accounts and ownership. Whether used as a standalone product or integrated with the Galileo Payment Risk Platform (PRP), GIVE delivers real-time insights that help businesses prevent fraud by quickly verifying account existence, status, and ownership before processing transactions.

GIVE is further enhanced by its integration with the Galileo Payment Risk Platform, which uses a sophisticated Transaction Decision Rules Engine. This engine applies customizable models, rules and profiles to each transaction, allowing for real-time, automated fraud prevention decisions tailored to the specific needs and risk appetite of each business.

The key benefits of GIVE are:

• Instant Account Verification: GIVE instantly verifies external bank account information, confirming its existence, status, and risk signals. This enables Galileo clients to make informed decisions when linking accounts or processing transactions, such as determining account status and risk associated with the account.
• Instant Identity Verification: GIVE ensures that only authorized individuals can transact by verifying the ownership of external bank accounts. It matches the account holder’s name and personal information — such as social security number (SSN), date of birth, and address — against the provided owner details, which is particularly useful for preventing identity fraud.
• Account Risk Profiling: By leveraging machine learning, the Galileo Instant Verification Engine generates risk scores that assess the probability of ACH returns and non-sufficient funds (NSF) issues, providing a comprehensive view of account reliability. This enables businesses to predict funding issues and take proactive measures to prevent them.
• Seamless User Experience: GIVE supports “me-to-anyone” and “anyone-to-me” use cases without requiring customers to input their credentials for external accounts, ensuring a frictionless and secure transaction process.

The Galileo Instant Verification Engine significantly reduces the risk of fraud by providing real-time verification of external bank accounts and ownership, cutting verification times from days to seconds. This minimizes customer drop-offs — reducing abandonment rates from nearly 50% based on a traditional method such as MDA (Micro-deposit Authentication) to as low as 1% — and delivers a smoother, more reliable customer experience across multiple channels, including ACH, FedNow, Wires and check deposits.

Transaction Risk GScore

Transaction Risk GScore is a machine-learning-based risk score that assesses the risk of card transactions in real time. By analyzing multiple data points, such as user behavior and transaction patterns, GScore enables financial institutions, fintechs and businesses to detect and respond swiftly to potential fraud, reducing losses and ensuring more efficient operations.

GScore supplements the existing enhanced capabilities in Payment Risk Platform by adding a layer of fraud signals while allowing the client to determine the risk appetite based on the multiple model responses. GIVE and GScore are designed with scalability in mind, ensuring they can grow alongside your business.

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AutoPass is the automotive industry’s only FCRA & GLBA-compliant fraud and early payment default risk solution that allows the automation of loan application decisions to increase loan capture rates by up to 40-50% while simultaneously reducing losses by 40-50%. It addresses the growing $8B auto loan fraud problem by revealing hidden risks in loan applications, empowering credit unions to reduce losses, and automating loan approvals. By leveraging data from more than 230 million auto loan applications, AutoPass can help credit unions reduce losses by up to 50% while also decreasing friction for their lowest-risk members by waiving unnecessary stipulations and manual reviews. Lenders can choose between the FCRA-compliant version of AutoPass, allowing it to be embedded in automated credit decisions, or the GLBA version to manage loan stipulations, depending on their specific needs.

As part of this exciting new offering, Sync1 Systems customers are eligible for a 30-day free AutoPass trial and a 20% discount on the first year’s licensing fees for those who sign up by December 31, 2024.

“Credit unions are constantly searching for effective ways to combat fraud without sacrificing member experience,” said Tim Grace, CEO of Point Predictive. “By integrating AutoPass into Sync1 Systems’ platform, we’re offering a comprehensive fraud solution that fits seamlessly into their decision systems and operations, helping credit unions both protect their assets and streamline their lending processes.”

Key Features of AutoPass + Sync1 Systems Integration

• Leverages insights from over 230 million auto loan applications to detect hidden fraud risks
• Reduces credit union fraud losses by up to 50%
• Decreases friction for low-risk members by enabling auto approvals while eliminating unnecessary stipulations and manual reviews
• Available with a 30-day free trial and a 20% discount for new users who sign up before the end of 2024

“The partnership reflects our ongoing mission to provide our credit union clients with the most advanced, reliable tools for fraud detection and risk management,” said Steve Maloney, CEO of Sync1 Systems. “Announcing this collaboration at Lendtopia underscores its significance to our credit unions, and we are excited to showcase the integration’s potential to transform the way they approach fraud prevention.”

Attendees at Lendtopia are invited to visit the Point Predictive booth to learn more about the AutoPass integration and to participate in live demonstrations.

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The acquisition of Barnet aligns with KORT’s aggressive growth strategy and commitment to providing innovative solutions to businesses across North America. In this new chapter, the KORT team will focus on scaling Barnet’s technology and integrating it with their own payment platform to provide a holistic solution for clients, ultimately accelerating the company’s growth. The new integrated system will not only provide added value to existing customers but also generate new recurring revenue streams for KORT.

“We established KORT with a mission to identify strategic opportunities in new verticals and our acquisition of Barnet signifies the beginning of this exciting next phase,” said Joel Leonoff, Chairman and CEO of KORT Payments. “Barnet has an exceptionally thorough understanding of regulated industries and a robust technology platform which will serve as a strong foundation as we work to integrate and optimize their product offerings.”

“Barnet has always been focused on delivering reliable and efficient solutions to our clients and with KORT’s resources and expertise, we can expand our offerings and bring greater value to our current and future customers,” said Olena Dubina, Founder and CEO of Barnet Technologies. “This acquisition will also enable us to increase the investment in our core offerings and broaden our reach, especially as the market for licensed and regulated businesses continues to grow.”

The transaction underscores KORT’s ongoing commitment to identify and capitalize on high-potential opportunities within integrated software platforms and payment services. The company is well-positioned to continue its trajectory of aggressive expansion, technological innovation, and delivering exceptional value to its clients and partners in the rapidly evolving fintech landscape.

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A seasoned entrepreneur and executive with a proven track record in leading and scaling companies in the financial technology sector, Ben-Zvi is currently the general manager and COO of Surety at Tinubu, the global insurance software development firm. Previously, Ben-Zvi was the co-founder and CEO of Haven Life, the groundbreaking life insurance company backed by MassMutual, where he played a pivotal role in transforming the life insurance landscape by leveraging technology to offer a seamless and customer-centric experience.

“Yaron’s deep expertise in financial services and his passion for leveraging technology to deliver experiences that consumers love make him an excellent addition to our board,” said Jim Morgan, president and chief executive officer of SBLI. “We are confident that his insights and leadership will contribute significantly to SBLI’s ongoing efforts to innovate and expand our offerings while maintaining our commitment to providing reliable and affordable life insurance solutions.”

In addition to his entrepreneurial achievements, Ben-Zvi has held leadership positions at several other financial institutions and technology companies, where he has consistently driven growth and innovation. His forward-thinking approach will be invaluable as SBLI continues to navigate the evolving insurance landscape and seeks to better serve its policyholders.

“I am honored to join SBLI’s Board of Directors at such a dynamic time for the company and the industry,” said Ben-Zvi. “I look forward to working with my fellow board members and the executive team to help guide SBLI’s strategic initiatives and to contribute to the company’s continued success.”

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Thomas Vandeville brings over 25 years of experience driving strategic business outcomes, large transformations, operational excellence, and innovation within the banking, insurance, and asset management industries, most recently as Deputy CEO of Groupe CCF and previously of HSBC France, where he successfully led the retail banking, insurance, and wealth management activities in France since 2016. Thomas started his career at Exane, focusing on research in London and Paris. He then worked as an investment banker in the Financial Institutions Group (“FIG”) at Merrill Lynch in New York and London, before working as a consultant at McKinsey in their FIG practice in Europe. Thomas subsequently transitioned to leadership roles at Groupama, as Head of Group Strategy, CEO of various life and P&C insurance companies in France and Italy, and finally as Head of Distribution and Digital Transformation. Thomas Vandeville is a graduate of ESSEC and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Thomas Vandeville succeeds Guillaume Autier, who is stepping down after having served as CEO for the past four years. During his tenure, Autier has played an instrumental role in the continued growth trajectory and development of Meilleurtaux. He will remain involved with the company as a strategic advisor in support of a smooth transition.

Thomas Vandeville commented: “For many years, I have been impressed by Meilleurtaux’s clear leadership on its markets, historical growth, real spirit of avant-garde and innovation, strategic insight, entrepreneurial spirit and clear value proposition for its customers supported by a very strong brand name. I am thrilled to be joining Meilleurtaux for the next phase of development, as a central player in the French financial services and technology industries, and leverage its exceptional potential across its core verticals (credit, insurance, savings, etc.). I can’t wait to start working with its impressive teams, networks, and all of its partners to help the Company accelerate its next phase of growth.”

Christian Lucas, Meilleurtaux Chairman and Managing Partner at Silver Lake, commented: “We are thrilled to partner with Thomas Vandeville, a dynamic leader and accomplished executive who brings extensive leadership experience to the Company. His proven success in driving growth and transformation in digital financial services businesses makes him the perfect fit as we continue to invest in accelerating our growth. We also extend our gratitude to Guillaume for his significant contributions to Meilleurtaux and for helping establish the strong leadership position we have today.”

Hervé Hatt, Meilleurtaux Board Member and former CEO, commented: “Having led Meilleurtaux from 2011 until Guillaume was appointed CEO in 2020, and having remained involved both as an investor and as Board Member since, I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished together. It has been a remarkable journey under Guillaume’s leadership, and I am confident that Thomas Vandeville will continue and further accelerate this trajectory of success.”

Guillaume Autier, CEO of Meilleurtaux, commented: “Leading Meilleurtaux over the past four years has been a privilege. We achieved strong growth and built a world-class team dedicated to helping our customers make better decisions every day. I warmly thank all the Meilleurtaux teams for their commitment, as well as our clients and partners for their trust. I would also like to thank our majority shareholder, Silver Lake, for their exceptional partnership during my tenure. I wish Thomas Vandeville the best in his new role and Meilleurtaux continued success.”

Thomas Kienzi, Meilleurtaux’s CFO, will also leave his position as of September 15 for a new professional opportunity following five years of strengthening the Company’s financial function to enable its next stage of growth. The Board has already significantly progressed a search to replace him and will be announcing the Company’s new CFO in the near future. The Board wishes Thomas Kienzi success in his new responsibilities.

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The collaboration caters to the growing need for innovative B2B payment options, as the digitalization in B2B purchasing processes is progressing at a fast pace, and a large majority of business buyers today start their buying journey online. Merchants that want to benefit from this shift to online must establish a compelling e-commerce proposition, including convenient and secure payment during checkout.

However, offering invoice payment in a webshop checkout can expose merchants to various risks, such as credit defaults. As a result, online merchants tend to be very cautious when it comes to approving business buyers for invoice payment – while approval rates in B2C usually reach 90% and above, in the B2B context acceptance typically averages 40-50%, and in some cases merchants only accept advance payments.

Combining Atradius’ international expertise in trade credit insurance with Mondu’s innovative BNPL technology, the collaboration enables B2B merchants to manage this challenge with easy-to-access deferred payment options ranging from 30-90 days net terms and 3-12 months installments. The merchants can enjoy the benefits of instant credit decisioning by Mondu supported by Atradius trade credit insurance expertise with payout for approved orders by Mondu within a few days, default protection, and outsourced payment collection from the business buyers.

“By collaborating with Mondu and facilitating their Buy Now Pay Later solutions, we take a significant step to expand our commitment to clients by supporting enhanced financial flexibility and security for BNPL,” said Andreas Tesch, CMO of Atradius. “This collaboration will enable businesses to increase their sales and offer various favorable payment options to their customers.”

“Teaming up with Atradius as their preferred partner enabling Mondu to offer BNPL solutions and additional Mondu services to Atradius clients across Europe is an honor for us and testament to the strong value proposition Mondu has developed over the past years,” said Malte Huffmann, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Mondu. “We see significant synergies for Atradius merchants to use and benefit from Mondu BNPL options for their business across all distribution channels, especially online.”

Both Atradius and Mondu share a dedication to propelling businesses forward in the global B2B marketplace. This collaboration leverages their combined expertise and unwavering commitment to innovation, creating a win-win scenario for all stakeholders involved.

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