Payments Infrastructure Innovator Finzly Locks in $10 Million in Funding

Payments Infrastructure Innovator Finzly Locks in $10 Million in Funding
  • Payments infrastructure company Finzly secured $10 million in Series A funding this week.
  • The round was led by TZP Growth Equity. Finzly will use the capital to accelerate expansion.
  • Finzly won Best of Show for its demos at FinovateWest and FinovateFall in 2020.

Payments infrastructure innovator Finzly has raised $10 million in funding. The Series A round was led by TZP Growth Equity. Finzly, which won Best of Show at FinovateWest and FinovateFall in 2020, will use the investment to accelerate expansion.

“Throughout Finzly’s history, we have carefully invested in disciplined and organic future growth by developing products and solutions that deliver value to our customers by simplifying their operations,” Finzly founder and CEO Booshan Rengachari explained. “This capital raise will enable us to further invest in our product roadmap built around the theme of providing real-time financial services demanded by today’s real-time economy, scaling our product delivery to maintain our high customer satisfaction rate.”

Finzly made its Finovate debut in 2019 and returned to the Finovate stage the following year. The company won Best of Show in the spring of 2020 and again in the fall. Finzly’s technology connects FIs with customers through a modern, digital banking experience and an efficient, real-time payments hub. The company’s “payments core” is a single platform that consolidates all payment rails, simplifying back-office operations and the customer journey. Finzly’s high automation rates enable banks to reduce operating expenses and offer friction-free payments. The company was among the first to offer an API connection to FedNow, the Federal Reserve’s new instant payment service.

Shamit Mehta, TZP’s lead partner on the investment called Finzly “a catalyst in the transition towards more agile and customer-centric banking experiences.” Further, Mehta added that Finzly was “well-positioned to drive significant advancements in how banking and financial services operate and will become a category-defining company.” As part of the funding, Mehta will join Finzly’s board of directors.

Finzly’s investment news comes in the wake of the company’s latest partnership. Metropolitan Commercial Bank, a New York-based financial institution with assets of more than $6 billion, turned to Finzly to enhance its payment operations for ACH, Fedwire, and FedNow. Earlier this year, banking platform Mode Eleven partnered with Finzly to transform its wire and ACH operations.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Finzly was founded in 2012.


Photo by Essow K

Finzly’s New API Offers Access to FedNow Payment Rails

Finzly’s New API Offers Access to FedNow Payment Rails
  • Finzly has released an API connection to the U.S. FedNow Service.
  • The API enables developers to test out the new set of payment rails in a sandbox environment.
  • FedNow, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s real-time payment rails, is set to launch later this year.

Banking-as-a-service provider Finzly released its new API that offers connection to the U.S. FedNow Service in a sandbox environment.

Through its sandbox, Finzly enables fintech, bank, and third party developers to use its API to build real-time payment experiences via the FedNow’s pilot version.

“The future of the economy is connected and real-time. Insurance payouts, government benefits, healthcare payments, online commerce, subscriptions, point of sale, investment, lending, treasury, and several other platforms are expected to connect to the new FedNow Service for an integrated, cardless, bank-to-bank, instant payment experience,” said Finzly Founder and CEO Booshan Rengachari. “Finzly APIs and its direct connection to the FedNow service will accelerate the adoption of instant payments in several use cases. We are excited about being the world’s first player to offer access to FedNow service via an API.”

Launching later this year, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service is a set of new, real-time payment rails. The service will facilitate instant money transfers to and from any U.S. financial institution at any time of day, on any day of the week for both commercial and retail customers.

Today’s news comes a little over two years after Finzly announced it was among 110 other organizations participating in the FedNow pilot program, a beta test of the new rails. Other non-bank pilot participants include ACI Worldwide, Finastra, Jack Henry & Associates, and Q2 Software.

Founded in 2012, Finzly offers banking-as-a-service tools via Finzly OS— which it demoed at FinovateSpring last year– that enable users to launch a modern bank from scratch. The company offers an API that connects to all U.S. payment rails, including Fed ACH, Fedwire, RTP, SWIFT, and now FedNow. Formerly known as SwapsTech, the North Carolina-based company recently added a handful of clients, including Veritex Community Bank, Coastal Community Bank, First Internet Bank, and ICBA Bancard. Finzly recently


Photo by Benjamin Svobodny

FinovateSpring 2022 Sneak Peek: Finzly

FinovateSpring 2022 Sneak Peek: Finzly

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateSpring in San Francisco on May 18 and 19. Register today and save your spot.

Finzly allows the building of programmable banks by providing a financial infrastructure for banks, fintechs, and businesses to quickly offer and access financial services in an open ecosystem.

Features

  • Speed to market
  • Agility to assume new avatars
  • Freedom to innovate

Why it’s great

Speed, agility, and freedom culminate in innovation and the democratization of banking!

Presenters

Booshan Rengachari, CEO & Founder
Rengachari founded Finzly in 2012 with a vision to simplify transformation of financial institutions and democratize banking. Today, his brainchild – the award-winning nextgen platform, Finzly OS – is a testament to his vision, helping banks play an active role in the connected economy. He is a member of the U.S. Faster Payment Council Advisory Board, regular speaker at leading industry forums, and acclaimed for his thought leadership in bank transformation.
LinkedIn

Murthy Bulusu, CTO & Co-Founder
Co-founder of Finzly, Bulusu is instrumental in building the Finzly platforms and streamlining the customer implementation process. Bulusu formerly led technology teams at Wells Fargo, TIAA-CREF, Ford, and Chrysler. Working in tandem with the product team, he explores emerging technologies and appropriately uses them in Finzly products.
LinkedIn

Vijay Vardhan, VP of Products
Vardhan is the VP – Products at Finzly, leads product management, and helps to maximize the company’s customer-centric focus through the correct approach to product design. Innovation to solve real-world problems in the modern economy and working on the right product roadmaps is Vardhan’s forte. He has 4 patents in automobile technology, worked at GM & Chrysler, and has an MBA from Michigan State.
LinkedIn

Partners in Payments: Best of Show Winner Finzly Teams Up with ICBA Bancard

Partners in Payments: Best of Show Winner Finzly Teams Up with ICBA Bancard

This week’s Partnership Outlook focuses on recent Finovate alum – and Best of Show winner – Finzly. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based fintech announced that it will work with ICBA Bancard to bring instant payments to its payments hub, Payment Galaxy. ICBA Bancard is the payments services subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), and the partnership with Finzly will enable the company to offer community banks and credit unions – as well as their customers and members – more efficiency and convenience, as well as improved cash flow.

“The rise in digital and contactless payments, fueled by the pandemic, has heightened demand for faster payments,” ICBA Bancard President and CEO Tina Giorgio said. “Through this collaboration, ICBA Bancard is helping community banks deliver payments when and where customers want while streamlining their payment processes for additional value and distinction in the market.”

Finzly’s Payment Gateway features preloaded connections to both the Fed and The Clearing House to support instant payments; built-in compliance tools for powerful, thorough audit trails; a bulk payment service for both real-time and future-date scheduling disbursements; and a secure, fraud management system for both payments and messages.

“Finzly’s payments hub not only helps banks stay relevant in today’s fast-paced market, but also helps future-proof their payment infrastructure,” Finzly founder and CEO Booshan Rengachari said. “We are very excited to partner with ICBA Bancard and are eager to see more community banks pursuing the road to innovation through smarter payments transformation.”

Most recently demonstrating its technology at FinovateWest 2020, Finzly took home Best of Show honors for its demonstration of its Digital Account Opening (DAO) solution, powered by Finzly’s BankOS. In the months since then, the company has teamed up with Pacific Western Bank, which selected Finzly’s FX STAR platform for end-to-end management of international banking products, and announced a strategic partnership with Fintel Connect, a performance marketing company specializing in financial services companies and fintechs. The Finzly-Fintel alliance will create a digital growth solution for bank partners, enabling them to meet growing customer demand for digital services and provide alternatives to in-person, in-branch services.

“Banks that rely on Finzly’s modern offerings really want help with digital marketing,” Finzly Chief Strategy Officer and advisor Dave Hunkele. “Fintel Connect provides our clients with a cost-effective, digital channel for attracting potential customers, who can then be onboarded through Finzly’s account opening solution. 

Other major partnerships this year for a very-busy Finzly have included collaborations with California Community Banking Network and Fulton Bank, both announced in March. The company began the year with news that it had joined the pilot program for Federal Reserve’s FedNow instant payment service. Finzly was founded in 2012.


Photo by Rebecca Diack from Pexels

Ten Finovate Alums Join FedNow Instant Payments Pilot Program

Ten Finovate Alums Join FedNow Instant Payments Pilot Program

More than two years in the making, the FedNow payments initiative – launched by the U.S. Federal Reserve to accelerate payments and transfers – is picking up speed. The project currently has more than 110 banks, financial services providers, and other organizations slated to participate, and among them are ten Finovate alums.

“We’re gratified by the industry’s tremendous interest and willingness to devote time and energy to help us develop the FedNow Service,” Esther George, executive sponsor of the Federal Reserve’s payments improvement initiatives, said. George, who is also President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, added that the pilot has had to “adjust” to accommodate greater than expected interest.

The idea behind the service is to expand the reach of instant payment services offered by financial institutions and enable businesses and individuals to send and receive instant payments, with full access to their funds within seconds. The FedNow Service will leverage the Federal Reserve’s FedLine network, which connects to more than 10,000 financial institutions directly or via their agents.

The pilot program is designed to review the technology’s features and functionality, assess the user experience, and greenlight the product for further testing and eventual general availability. Participating institutions will be retained, post-launch, to provide additional review and advice with regard to issues like adoption roadmap, industry readiness, and overall payments strategy.

“The FedNow Service marks a turning point in the industry’s move to making real-time payments a reality,” Booshan Rengachari, founder and CEO of Finzly, explained. Finzly is one of Finovate’s newest alums – most recently demoing its technology at FinovateWest Digital last fall – and is one of the participants in FedNow’s pilot program.

Rengachari further suggested that this “turning point” was a moment his company had anticipated. “We created our Payment Hub specifically to help FIs prepare and go to market faster with newer RTP networks,” he said. Finzly’s CEO added that this helps “address the challenges of offering single payment API for multiple payment networks without having to run disparate payment systems from multiple vendors.”

The 10 Finovate alums participating in the FedNow project are listed below.


Photo by Inge Wallumrød from Pexels

FinovateWest Digital 2020 Sneak Peek: Finzly

FinovateWest Digital 2020 Sneak Peek: Finzly

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateSpring Digital on May 10 through 13, 2021. Register today and save your spot.

Finzly Digital Account Opening is the next generation answer to engaging with customers, creating the right first-impression, and onboarding valuable consumer and business customers.

Features

  • Flexible, escalating security and KYC models
  • Forms-based workflow composer provides institutions with flexibility and control
  • Funded accounts, online and mobile service activation and card issuance

Why it’s great
Finzly Digital Account Opening helps institutions establish profitable customer relationships and is an app easily subscribed to through Finzly BankOS.

Presenters

David Hunkele, Chief Strategy Officer & Advisor
Hunkele is Chief Strategy Officer and advisor with expertise in SaaS software, cloud-banking, go-to-market strategy, and digital transformation within fintech and financial services.
LinkedIn

Terry Howell, CTO
Howell is co-CTO and VP of Technology for Finzly with responsibility for R&D of the BankOS platform, treasury and digital banking products, and quality assurance for test and engineering automation.
LinkedIn

FinovateFall Digital 2020 Best of Show Winners Announced

FinovateFall Digital 2020 Best of Show Winners Announced

Digitally or in-person, the live fintech demos continue to be one of the most popular and worthwhile features of our fintech conferences. This year was no different. FinovateFall Digital featured fewer demoing companies than in years past to better accommodate our COVID-induced, all-digital format. But, as always, the quality of demos was absolutely on point.

With that, let’s take a look at the companies that our attendees have awarded with Best of Show trophies at this year’s event.


Finzly with its BankOS open banking platform that helps banks innovate at speed by transitioning away from legacy technology. Video.

Horizn for its ability to help financial institutions accelerate digital adoption with customers and employees. Video.

Lendsmart for its AI-driven technology that solves for the lack of automation, transparency, and communication in the lending process. Video.

Monit for its finance application that gives small business leaders the insights and personalized guidance they need to manage their businesses successfully. Video.

Q2 for its online digital marketplace that makes collaboration between fintechs and financial institutions easier and more efficient. Video.


Thanks to all the companies that participated in FinovateFall Digital! And thank you, our FinovateFall Digital attendees, for making your voices heard and for being part of a very special event this year. We look forward to seeing many of you in a few months for FinovateWest!


Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their five favorites.
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”
4. The five companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named “Best of Show.”
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2020 conferences are below:
FinovateEurope 2015
FinovateSpring 2015
FinovateFall 2015
FinovateEurope 2016
FinovateSpring 2016
FinovateFall 2016
FinovateAsia 2016
FinovateEurope 2017
FinovateSpring 2017
FinovateFall 2017
FinovateAsia 2017
FinovateMiddleEast 2018
FinovateEurope 2018
FinovateSpring 2018
FinovateFall 2018
FinovateAsia 2018
FinovateAfrica 2018
FinovateEurope 2019
FinovateSpring 2019
FinovateFall 2019
FinovateAsia 2019
FinovateMiddleEast 2019

FinovateEurope 2020

Finzly Teams Up with Derivative Logic

Finzly Teams Up with Derivative Logic

A new partnership between digital banking solution provider Finzly and independent hedge advisory firm Derivative Logic will help regional banks better serve their commercial borrowers.

“We see our mission as helping community banks and credit unions better compete in the marketplace by offering services and capabilities on par with – and even exceeding – those of much larger institutions,” Finzly CEO and founder Booshan Rengachari said. “By partnering with an industry leader like Derivative Logic, our financial institution customers, and their own commercial borrowers, benefit from access to world-class hedge advisory services that are proven to positively impact their balance sheets.”

Finzly’s open, cloud-based bank operating system, BankOS, enables financial institutions to integrate and offer a wide variety of third-party services. Courtesy of this partnership with Derivative Logic, the company will enable banks to offer interest rate hedge capabilities to their commercial clients. Derivative Logic Managing Director Jim Griffin called these services “a true strategic differentiator for banks and credit unions” when it comes to attracting commercial customers.

“Through our partnership with Finzly, we help small-to-mid-size financial institutions overcome the complexity of offering these capabilities as we advise and assist our bank customers with pricing, swap documentation, compensation plans, negotiations with dealers, hedge accounting as well as assist with borrower-facing processes,” Griffin said.

Finzly’s partnership announcement is only the latest in headline-making news from the Charlotte, North Carolina-based fintech. Since its debut at FinovateFall a year ago, the company has partnered with a regional bank in California to drive the institution’s international banking services, teamed up with Arvest Bank to streamline the Arkansas-based community bank’s trade finance operations, and announced the availability of its contactless consumer digital account opening solutions.


See Finzly for yourself as the company returns to the Finovate stage for FinovateFall Digital, September 14 through 18. Visit our registration page today and save your spot for our latest all-digital fintech event.


Photo by Karim MANJRA on Unsplash

FinovateFall Digital 2020 Sneak Peek: Finzly

FinovateFall Digital 2020 Sneak Peek: Finzly

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateAsia Digital on June 22, 2021. Register today and save your spot.

Finzly’s Finzly BankOS enables financial institutions to subscribe, try, and launch Finzly and third party apps that modernize the digital experience for consumers and businesses.

Features

  • Open banking API enables third party service providers
  • Specialty banking options to support new market opportunities
  • Freedom from legacy technology limitations

Why it’s great
Finzly BankOS helps FIs create and choose best-in-class products and services for their customers while quickly and seamlessly adding new solutions through Finzly’s plugin app-based architecture.

Presenters

David Hunkele, Chief Strategy Officer
Hunkele is Chief Strategy Officer and advisor with expertise in SaaS software, cloud-banking, go-to-market strategy, and digital transformation within fintech and financial services.
LinkedIn

Terry Howell, CTO
Terry Howell is co-CTO and VP of Technology for Finzly with responsibility for R&D of the BankOS platform, treasury and digital banking products, and quality assurance, test and engineering automation.
LinkedIn

A Baker’s Dozen of Our Favorite North Carolina Fintechs

A Baker’s Dozen of Our Favorite North Carolina Fintechs

After nCino’s impressive initial public offering this week – the largest, one-day gain for a U.S.-based tech IPO since the Dot Com Days – everyone now will be able to name at least one Finovate alum from the great state of North Carolina.

But there’s more to Carolina fintech than nCino. Among Finovate alums alone there are at least a dozen other companies from the Tar Heel State whose innovations in and contributions to fintech are also worth noting.

Cognitect

  • Enterprise information systems development firm. FinDEVr London 2017. Founded in 2003. Headquartered in Durham.

CrediVia

  • Online marketplace for commercial real estate loans. FinovateFall 2018. Founded in 2018. Headquartered in Raleigh.

Finzly

  • Digital transformation and open banking solution provider. FinovateFall 2019. Founded in 2012. Headquartered in Charlotte.

LendingTree

Passport

  • Mobile payments platform for integrated urban transportation. FinovateEurope 2016. Founded in 2010. Headquartered in Charlotte.

Shoeboxed

Sitehands

  • On Demand marketplace for IT field services. FinovateFall 2018. Founded in 2016. Headquartered in Charlotte.

Spreedly

  • Networked Commerce enablement platform. FinovateFall 2018. Founded in 2007. Headquartered in Durham.

Stratifyd

  • Augmented Intelligence platform. FinovateFall 2019. Founded in 2015. Headquartered in Charlotte.

Tradier

Zenmonics

  • IT services and mobility product provider for financial markets. FinovateFall 2013. Founded in 2007. Headquartered in Charlotte.

Zogo Finance


Photo by icon0.com from Pexels

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Finzly

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Finzly

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateMiddleEast on November 20 and 21, 2019 in Dubai. Register today and save your spot.

Finzly (formerly SwapsTech) is focused on enabling digital banking transformation for banks of all sizes. The company is dedicated to freeing banks from the limitations of their core systems and vendors.

Features

  • Open, hyper-scalable, flexible bank operating system
  • App store ecosystem with a range of valuable banking applications on a single platform
  • Modern, omni-channel digital user experience

Why it’s great
Finzly BankOS makes it easy for banks to modernize their customer offerings and take advantage of the latest cutting edge technology with open, API-driven, digital online banking.

Presenters

Brian Anderson, Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Anderson has over 25 years of experience helping financial institutions discover, implement, and profit from the latest in fintech.
LinkedIn

Terry Howell, Chief Technology Officer
Howell is a technology leader with 20 years of experience guiding brilliant engineering teams to deliver innovative, valuable solutions to customers.
LinkedIn

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • BNP Paribas to Deploy Dynamic Hedging Tech from Kantox.
  • Terafina Teams Up with Alabama’s Listerhill Credit Union.

Around the web

  • Klarna deepens ties with H&M to enable customers to shop now and pay later using the H&M app.
  • NICE’s AML and fraud SaaS solutions to power financial crime strategy for both anti-money laundering compliance and enterprise fraud protections.
  • Terafina to power Listerhill Credit Union’s omnichannel sales strategy and continue its digital transformation to increase member satisfaction and deepen relationships.
  • OurCrowd expands U.S. operations, opens office in Chicago.
  • ID R&D’s IDLive Face to power remote customer account openings and digital ID verification for Innov8tif’s EMAS eKYC.
  • ndgit and Synpulse launch international fintech marketplace in Switzerland.
  • Macrosoft joins Quadient’s Partner Advantage Program.
  • Onfido reports strong revenue growth momentum for Q2 2019; earns recognition from The Sunday Times as one of the fastest growing private companies in the U.K.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.