Got Capital selects directID To Digitise SME Funding Process
Scottish fintech and global credit risk platform DirectID, have just announced a partnership with SME capital provider Got Capital.
From now on, SMEs applying for financing will be able to use the power of Open Banking within the application journey, letting agents at Got Capital quickly categorise and determine businesses’ true revenue without the need for PDF or paper bank statements. This new solution will allow for a much faster and accurate process, de-risking the financing whilst providing a better experience for SMEs.
Nicola Dunn, Business Development Manager, DirectID said:
“Small businesses are the backbone of any economy, they are continuously struggling to get access to affordable financing. Traditional lenders find it difficult to ensure fast and safe underwriting processes for SMEs. Existing and traditional credit reports lack sufficient credit history information such as bank account information or bank statement data. On the other hand, SMEs often cannot provide any collateral to mitigate this information gap and ensure financing.
This information gap can be filled by open banking data which is highly in demand in the market. DirectID are delighted to be the chosen open banking partner of Got Capital and we are very much and looking forward to working with Got Capital on a variety of use cases in the future.”
Mr. Alex Afek, Managing Director, Got Capital Officer said:
“We are very excited to get on board the DirectID platform. Got Capital is funding businesses across the UK and we require a very good e-banking coverage. It simplifies the process for our applicants and customers and reduces the time to funding decisioning. Got Capital’s Royalties based investment is a timely instrument and”¯is used by many different types of businesses when they need cash at hand yesterday.”
AutoRek to hire a further 30 positions
Scottish fintech Autorek, is growing its team to cope with an unprecedented level of demand for it financial control and regulatory reporting solutions. The company has already recruited 40 people in 2022 and is looking at filling 30 more positions across the U.K.
This rise in demand can be attributed to a need for more integrity and accountability across the financial services sector, leading to increased regulation, especially across the payments and asset management industries. The FCA’s new Consumer Duty, which was introduced on 27th July, is the most recent example of this market shift.
AutoRek’s CEO, Gordon McHarg comments:
“We currently have 140 employees, and we’re projecting this number to rise to 170 by the end of the year to keep up with the demand from clients and prospects. We’re extremely proud that the average tenure of employees is currently four years – more than double the sector norm for most fintechs, with almost 40% of these employees playing a huge part in the growth journey with four years or more as part of the AutoRek team.”
He continued,
“The demand for greater automation is at the centre of our need to continue hiring. Within the payments, asset management and insurance sectors, the increasingly complex regulatory landscape is forcing firms to automate to keep pace with their competitors and their own customers’ expectations. Therefore, we have a particular focus on hiring SMEs in each of our sectors, with a number of positions available in insurance. As we look to expand our services internationally and focus on growing software engineering, professional services and sales, we expect this growth to continue as the global business world embraces the benefits of automation.”
Encompass Wins Best KYC/KYB Innovation
Scotland-based fintech, Encompass Corporation, just announced that Aite-Novarica Group, a global advisory firm, has awarded them the winner of the 2022 Fraud & AML Impact Awards’ Best Know Your Customer/Business (KYC/KYB) Innovation.
The award recognises the fintech for its capacity to combine a huge number data sources, technology and expertise to deliver best in class corporate KYC due diligence with automation.
Alex Ford, President, North America at Encompass, said:
“By automating the KYC process, financial institutions can pursue aggressive growth agendas and scale while avoiding additional compliance costs. Our platform is used by banks across the globe to significantly improve the onboarding experience of their clients while also future-proofing technology and processes. We’re grateful to be recognized by Aite-Novarica Group for our innovative approach, which brings speed, accuracy and control.”
Encompass’ platform gives financial institutions access to real-time to global public and premium data sources, enabling:
- Search based on pre-defined policy using only bank-approved sources;
- Mapping of ultimate beneficial ownership and corporate hierarchy;
- Screening of entities for PEPs, sanctions and adverse media;
- Cross-checking documents, matching and merging data;
- And the automatic creation of a complete audit trail in real time.
Winners were selected by a global panel of experts on fraud and AML.
Encompass will be presented with the AML Impact Award at the fifth annual Financial Crime Forum, taking place from September 18-19 2022 in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
BR-DGE announces partnership with leading travel organisation, Travel Counsellors
Payment orchestration scale-up, BR-DGE, has announced a new merchant partnership with leading independent travel company, Travel Counsellors.
This partnership will provide the business with access to a multitude of payment providers and alternative payment methods, from Open Banking to eWallets, via BR-DGE’s market-leading orchestration platform, ensuring a streamlined booking experience for all global customers. This will enable Travel Counsellors to utilise BR-DGE’s dynamic rules engine to build a multi acquirer strategy across its global business operations.
Jacob Spencer, Head of Commercial at BR-DGE, said
“We are excited to be working with Travel Counsellors to revolutionise its payments infrastructure with considerable benefits for its customers and business.
We have seen that the sector is on track for a strong recovery; Travel Counsellors was well placed to bounce back and has had a tremendous last six months with record bookings in FY22 as sales levels reach 140% of FY19.
Our research has shown that over 8% of online transactions in the travel sector fail. As demand returns, with consumers expecting a seamless booking experience and merchants aiming to lift margins, payment orchestration is vital to boosting the sector’s resilience and increasing conversion rates.”
Travel Counsellors is a global travel business, turning over £700m per annum and serving over 600,000 customers worldwide by booking over 300,000 itineraries each year.
Mat Hanson, Chief Financial Officer at Travel Counsellors added
“Our core strategic focus of continued growth and delivering a personalised service to all of our customers remains unchanged. Working with BR-DGE is another example of how we’re continuing to enhance our customers’ experience though the use of new technology. Continuing to provide a seamless booking experience remains pivotal and especially at a time when many of our Travel Counsellors are so very busy.”
Legado acquires Wonderbill’s bill management technology
Scottish fintech Legado just announced it had acquired the consumer and B2B bill management technology from WonderBill.
Launched in 2016, WonderBill allows people to manage all their household bills and subscriptions.
Legado will look at using the technology to support its B2B personal data management and engagement platform that counts M&G, one of the UK’s largest and longest established investment managers, among its clients.
Josif Grace, CEO, and founder of Legado, said:
“WonderBill has invested significantly in its technology over the last few years. The integration of the consumer and B2B bill management technology into Legado’s platform will provide our corporate partners with a market-leading and compliant solution to manage, share, and access personal data in a way that is meaningful for customers.”
Nathaniel Mead, Director at WonderBill said:
“We are delighted that Legado will integrate our innovative technology into their platform to deliver on their vision of managing important customer data in a single, secure place that’s easy to navigate. By offering the WonderBill functionality to its rapidly growing set of large B2B clients, Legado will provide increased ease and comfort to millions of households in the UK and beyond.”
Mansfield Building Society partners with DirectID
To help mortgage applicants to provide digital bank statement, Mansfield Building Society has partnered with Scottish open banking platform DirectID.
Applicants can now allow their bank to share their statements online with The Mansfield, hence speeding up the income and expenditure check and help prevent brokers from having to use PDFs or paper.
Mansfield Building Society Commercial Development Executive, Richard Crisp, said:
“Brokers and borrowers regularly tell us that they value our individual lending approach in providing flexible solutions to slightly unusual or niche circumstances. At the same, they need an increasingly swift and efficient service and, as a result, we’re delighted to be launching this service with DirectID.
This new service is a safe and convenient way for borrowers to provide their bank statements online via DirectID’s open banking platform. This improvement can help brokers reduce the amount of chasing around they do for their clients and help us deliver a faster speed to offer.
Combined with our robotics developments, not only can we continue to commit to our flexible underwriting approach, we can do it with the modern service that brokers and borrowers need.”
DirectID Soars To The Top Of The Credit & Risk Space, Unveiling A Slick New Visual Identity
UK ”“ 21 July, 2022 – DirectID takes another leap forward in their year-on-year growth, launching a new website and unveiling a refreshed visual identity.
Scotland-born fintech, DirectID, has always been at the forefront of open banking technology and are the earliest pioneers in the space. They rallied to the UK government for the launch of PSD2 – the world’s first open banking programme. The fintech then went on to build the first open banking integration in the world. Now, DirectID has attained super-aggregator status with 13,000+ connections in 45+ countries across the globe ”“ providing the highest coverage in the market.
The leadership team have been working with credit & risk data for over a decade and have more than 100 years of combined experience in senior roles at organisations such as FICO, Experian & TransUnion.
DirectID have brought open banking technology to some of the world’s biggest brands. Their partnership wall hosts logos from the likes of Deliveroo, XE, Nasdaq, Target, and many more. The new visual identity reflects their status as the leading provider of open banking data to the credit & risk space.
DirectID recruited Edinburgh-based maclean creative agency to launch an exciting, fresh technology brand that pays homage to the experience and specialist knowledge contained within the team.
The branding, visuals & messaging can be found on the new website at direct.id.
The rebrand launch is another marker of the growth of open banking technology in the credit & risk space.
James Varga, Founder & CEO, said:
“In the last few years we have seen an exponential growth in the use of open banking data
“With the current economic pressures, we are seeing demand for alternative data continue to grow and DirectID is set to reach a new peak in terms of revenues and market share. I am proud of our accomplishments, our new visual identity, and of our role in driving open banking data in to a global trend – putting our data at the heart of advanced credit & risk decisioning.”
and I, personally, am proud to be at the forefront of this movement having lobbied to the government for PSD2. The last few years have been a real catalyst for change and highlighted how essential real-time credit and risk data is to decision makers.
Clare McCaffery, Chief Commercial Officer, said:
“Having worked in credit & risk for > 20 years, and with alternative data for the past 12, I immediately recognised the potential within DirectID.
“Open banking fills a critical gap for decision makers who struggle to risk assess consumers with limited credit history and is proven to provide significant uplift to predictive models in both consumer and SME risk. This visual refresh and new website reflects DirectID’s focus on providing advanced data for risk decisioning, data for a new generation of consumers.”
The launch of Know-it
Be A Know-it-all: The solution to the £61 billion late payment problem has launched
First of its kind cloud-based platform streamlines the approach to the credit management
process, helping businesses mitigate credit risk, reduce debtor days and boost cash flow!
Know-it, a Glasgow-based fintech start-up, has officially launched their cloud-based credit management platform. Founded by Lynne Darcey Quigley, the new platform gives businesses the tools and intelligence to automate and simplify the way they manage credit risk and the credit control process, helping save time, reduce late payments and allow them to focus on other aspects of their business.
The platform is yet another example of the ongoing innovation in the Scottish technology
industry, illustrating the continued resilience the sector has shown during recent economically volatile years.
As part of their commercial launch, they will be exhibiting at the sold out Xerocon, at Tobacco Dock, London, on 20 th and 21 st July in partnership with leading accountancy app Xero.
The platform, which is the first of its kind, allows businesses to credit check and monitor, chase for payment, collect overdue unpaid invoices, and more, all from one place. By partnering with some of the UK’s leading accountancy software and credit reference agencies ”“ such as Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, FreeAgent, and Graydon ”“ users can instantly credit check companies, get live data, and real-time updates to monitor customer’s credit behaviour and mitigate potential credit risks.
The platform also gives finance teams and business owners a simple way to check their customers’ credit worthiness. It also ensures customers pay on time through scheduled reminders and customisable chaser emails, letters, and SMS, helping reduce debtor days and increasing cash flow. Users can also get instant quotes to collect unpaid invoices quickly and efficiently through their commercial debt recovery partner, Darcey Quigley & Co, as well as receive 24/7 case updates.
Lynne Darcey Quigley, CEO, and founder of Know-it, explains: “Know-it is a fresh perspective on a traditional process ”“ while the credit control process hasn’t changed over time, our new unique platform brings together all credit control functions into one place. By removing the need to access and subscribe to multiple different platforms, our cloud-based platform streamlines the credit control process so you can credit check and monitor, chase for payment, collect overdue unpaid invoices, and more all from one easy to use platform, levelling the playing field for SMEs. This is set to transform the way businesses view the credit control process, as it will immediately help them save time and costs by providing real-time data, all from the convenience of one place.
“With the current financial climate mounting huge pressure onto the economy, businesses across the country need all the help they can access. This is a crucial time for technology to step in and offer a helping hand through an affordable and innovative credit management platform. With the launch of Know-it’s platform, businesses of all sizes are now able to Check-it, Chase-it, and Collect-it, all in real-time and without the headache of manual processing.”
The Know-it platform has launched against the backdrop of a global financial recovery and an increasing culture of late payments, which have mounted pressures on businesses and their finance departments. According to recent figures, the UK is expected to experience the slowest economic growth among other developed nations and almost half a million SMEs are at risk of failure as a result of late payments. This bleak outlook for UK businesses only intensifies the need for further support for businesses to gain access.
This follows a busy 12 months for Know-it, which saw Know-it win the prestigious Scottish EDGE award and many high-profile partnership announcements, including VFD Pro, FutureX, Nimbla and Gigged.AI, to name a few. Know-it has laid the foundation before launching and is working alongside some of most respected names in the industry. These partnerships will help more SMEs reduce instances of late payments and also help accountants better serve their clients with either a full-serviced or outsourced solution.
Know-it were recently announced as supporters of the Good Business Pays Wait Off campaign, a movement calling for faster payment drive to support small businesses as operating costs soar. The alliance is supported by the Small Business Commissioner, Federation of Small Businesses, CBI, Liz Barclay, British Chambers of Commerce and major banks amongst others.
On the recruitment front, Know-it also announced the hire of Gordon Merrylees, former Managing Director of Business Banking Scotland and Head of Entrepreneurship for Natwest, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and Ulster Bank. Merrylees joined Know-it as its inaugural Chief Commercial Officer in the summer of 2021 following a 36-year career within the banking sector. Merrylees’ arrival has helped Know-it connect and form crucial partnerships across the UK entrepreneurial ecosystem in particular banks, serial entrepreneurs, industry bodies and the accountancy sector ahead of its commercial launch. The adoption of technology by small and medium sized businesses is massive as Gordon adds “Notwithstanding the many challenges of the current financial crisis post pandemic, technology adoption is a big driver of productivity, however micro SMBs are half as digitized as medium sized firms. We know that using 2 or more innovative, tech solutions such as our Know-it platform to automate their credit control process for example, micro-SMBs benefit from a 25% increase in productivity whilst at the same time are able to reduce their debtor days, tackle late payments and improve their cashflow daily.”
Know-it have also very recently appointed Wendy McMurray as Head of Product, an accomplished product manager and innovator with 20 years’ experience and a proven track record in designing, developing and delivering products in line with strategic priorities. They have also appointed a new Head of Marketing starting in August.
Jack Malcolm, Relationship Manager, West Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “Royal Bank of Scotland is proud to have played a part in Know-it’s journey, helping support Lynne and the team from their inception and beta testing, through to providing funding to achieve its growth plan and the launch of today’s credit management platform. As a leading champion of Scottish SMEs, we look forward to continuing to work with Know-it, and are excited to see what the future holds for this promising Scottish fintech.”
Marketing Director of Fintech Scotland, Mickael Paris adds “We’re delighted to see Know-it launch its exciting and innovative solution. The team engaged with FinTech Scotland early on so we have been privileged to witness their journey from ideation to commercialisation. Know-it will play a crucial role in helping businesses improve their cashflow which, now more than ever, can be vital for them to face the current economic uncertainty. Know-it exemplifies how fintech is a real force for good, delivering better outcome for businesses and people. We look forward to accompanying Lynne and her team on their road to success.”
Lynne concludes: “Although this platform has been several years in the making, it was not our intention to launch the Know-it platform during the global economic struggle. Yet there is a timely opening for the platform to provide an additional layer of support for vulnerable businesses at a time when they need it most. Support from automated and effective credit management systems has traditionally been out of reach until now. We hope this pioneering technology will provide businesses with the comprehensive and holistic solution they need to work smarter at a time when businesses are now turning to technology to help mitigate current financial challenges.”
“Here at Know-it, we are proud to be the latest Scottish innovators harnessing the newest technologies and provide a solution for businesses to overcome the challenging, real-world issues facing their operations.
ENDS
About Know-it
Know-it is the cloud-based credit management platform with a difference. The platform streamlines the credit control process so you can credit check and monitor, chase for payment, collect overdue unpaid invoices, and more all from one place. They partner with leading credit agencies and accountancy software such as Graydon, Companies House, The Gazette, Unsecured Creditors, Sage, Xero, QuickBooks, and FreeAgent. These partners provide businesses with essential real-time credit information that will help to avoid fraud, get real-time credit information for companies, upload sales
and purchase ledger and automatically send payment chasers when invoices are due. In turn, Know-it provides you with a place that brings it all together. Know-it was founded in 2019 by Lynne Darcey Quigley, who has worked within the debt recovery industry for over 25 years and is also the founder of commercial debt recovery company, Darcey Quigley & Co. For more information, please see: https://know-it.co.uk/
Scottish Fintech Snugg® raises £1.2m
Scottish Fintech start-up Snugg® has raised £1.2 million in their first seed fundraising round. The funding from private investors is being used to accelerate development of a unique, net-zero eco platform for UK homeowners and private landlords to make home energy efficiency improvements simpler and more affordable.
With some of the oldest housing stock in Europe and just over 20% of UK CO2 emissions coming from residential homes*, improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings is critical to the UK meeting its net-zero targets.
In partnership with banks, installer networks and data providers, the Snugg® platform will provide energy efficiency recommendations to homeowners based simply on their address. Developed by leading digital experts, Snugg® tackles the complex and fragmented home energy efficiency market by helping homeowners easily identify, finance and implement improvements to their homes. It will also link to smart meters to monitor reductions in carbon emissions.
Snugg® is part of the growing FinTech Scotland community and is based in the Bayes Centre at the University of Edinburgh, a data hub that is home to many data and digital start-ups. Edinburgh is also home to some of the UK’s largest banks and financial services institutions, making the city the perfect home for Snugg®.
Snugg® co-founder and CEO, Robin Peters, said: “We’re delighted to have raised the finance we need to accelerate the development of our new platform. We’re passionate about helping homeowners across the UK, and in international markets, tackle climate change by improving the energy efficiency of their homes. As part of the thriving Scottish Fintech community, we’re in the perfect place to forge the industry partnerships and access the skills we need to deliver a unique, market-leading digital proposition. I’d like to say a big thank you to our investors for their enthusiastic support for Snugg®.”
* Source: Energy Saving Trust: https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/net-zero-carbon-emissions-and-homes-whats-the-connection/
AutoRek wins ”˜Best CASS Solution’ Award
Scottish fintech company, AutoRek, just announced it won both the Best CASS Solution’ and Best Wealth Management Solution of the year at the City Financial Technology Awards 2022.
Lyn Canavan, Head of Marketing at AutoRek, commented,
“We are delighted to have won this prestigious award and to be recognised again as a provider of the Best CASS Solution’ by the Systems in the City Financial Technology Awards judging panel. We have developed our CASS solution with our clients over the years to fine tune it into the best CASS solution. The recognition is a reflection of the hard work and dedication of the AutoRek team behind the scenes.”
The Awards are organised by Goodacre and recognises service and system suppliers for their innovation. Based on an independent and factual annual accreditation process, the selection process is overseen by three independent judges.
The Awards provide an important point of reference for user firms assessing the suitability of their operational infrastructure.