This Tuesday’s The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup sees crypto exchange Gemini plump for ComplyAdvantage to boost its anti-money laundering risk management. While moneycorp announces a new vice chairman.
Funding and investments
Belgian blockchain technology provider Arkane Network has closed a €1.55million seed round led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). DM-BB David Majert, Palentine Ventures (Blockrocket) and imec.istart Fund joined the round. Arkane will grow its team, as well as setting up an independent branch in Berlin.
Level E Research closes seed funding round, raising £1.2million from a group of private investors. The Edinburgh-based specialist in AI investment solutions for institutional investors says it will scale up business development efforts as well as continue to invest in cutting edge research and attract the most talented people.
Israel’s TipRanks closes $77million Series B round after subscription sales to its B2C platform grew by 300 per cent. In addition, its B2B clients have reported massive increases in stock trading volumes. The stock research platform’s latest round was led by Prytek and More Investment House.
Meanwhile, fintech Bleu has secured $2million in funding from private investors. It will help Bleu expand its frictionless payment solutions to buyers and issuers in the US and the Asian Pacific Region, specifically Australia and New Zealand. Bleu offers merchants a payment solution, eliminating the need to carry cash or payment cards.
Paymob, an Egypt-based digital payments provider, has announced a $15million Series A round, led by Global Ventures, with participation from A15 and FMO. It follows $3.5million raised in July 2020, bringing the Series A round to a close at $18.5million.
Finally, Pan-African fintech software provider Appzone has closed a $10million Series A round led by CardinalStone Capital Advisers with participation from V8 Capital, Lateral Investment Partners, Constant Capital and Itanna Capital Ventures. It will bolster Appzone’s core technologies and start a wave of new country expansions.
Job moves
Barclays has appointed Helen Kelly as head of corporate banking for Barclays Europe. It says Kelly will play a key role in continuing to expand its presence in Europe over the years ahead. As well as increasing its physical presence on the continent to nine different countries, Barclays has developed a digital banking platform in Europe.
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, parent company of the Ecobank Group, has unveiled Tomisin Fashina as its group executive for operations and technology. He will hold the position in addition to his existing role of managing director at eProcess International.
John Hammond
Industry veteran John Hammond has joined the senior team at Railsbank as chief commercial officer. In a ‘fantastic four’ reunion, he joins his former Currencycloud colleagues Nigel Verdon, Nick Bourner, as well as Dov Marmor. Railsbank, which recently launched in Australia in partnership with local challenger bank Volt, plans to deepen its footprint across Europe, Asia Pacific and the US.
Meanwhile, Thomas Kräuter is now group chief technology officer at German digital firm intive. He joined the company in 2017. He will help intive build on its cross-industry potential, as well as supporting customers in ‘realising their bold digital strategies’.
More appointments
David Yates says he is excited to join international fintech moneycorp as its new vice chairman. His aim is to cement moneycorp’s position as a digital-first global payments platform. His appointment also follows the recent hire of Velizar Tarashev as CFO.
Maktoum bin Mohammed has unveiled Fadel Al Ali as the new chairman of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). The appointment will follow the retirement of Saeb Eigner on 1 June 2021. DFSA is the independent regulator of financial services conducted in or from the Dubai International Financial Centre.
Mohamed Alabbar, founder of Emaar and e-commerce platform Noon.com will chair Zand. The digital bank – due to launch soon in the UAE – wants to become a digital economic accelerator offering both retail and corporate banking services.
Finally, Elif Haykir Hobikoglu is elected a monetary policy committee member of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. He will attend the next policy-setting meeting on 15 April.
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