The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup takes a look at the latest fintech stories from around the world on Tuesday 3 April 2025.
Job moves
Anant Patel is appointed CEO of UK payments company Judopay, the brand which operates under Alternative Payments Ltd. Patel will spearhead the company’s next stage of growth and development, with a particular focus on strengthening synergies with Fabrick, an international open finance first mover. Most recently, he served as chief commercial officer at Monavate, a UK based payments company.
Thredd, the next-generation global payments processor, has strengthened its management team to accelerate business growth and capture the global payments and embedded finance opportunity. Simeon Lando joins Thredd as chief marketing to drive international growth and execute the company’s global go-to-market strategy. Lando has previously led marketing teams at companies such as Form3, Finastra, Oracle, PayPal and Barclaycard.
Kueski, a BNPL and online consumer lender in Latin America, appoints Yumi Hosaka Clark to its board of directors. She has led global product and payments strategy at some of the most influential companies in
fintech. Her leadership spans Capital One, Intuit, PayPal and multiple high-growth startups, with a focus on building innovative, user-centred financial products.
Basware, an invoice lifecycle management company, has appointed Mark McCarthy as chief revenue officer to lead sales strategies that will drive growth and strengthen Basware’s market position. Since 2022, he has served as an advisor to the company in his role as operating partner at Basware investor, Accel-KKR and more recently as the company’s chief of staff, as part of the executive team.
Delta Capita has welcomed Simon O’Malley as group chief finance and operating officer. Prior to joining Delta Capita, O’Malley was CFO and board member at Saxo Capital Markets UK (part of Saxo Bank). He previously held senior finance, COO and transformation roles at HSBC, Barclays, NatWest and ABN AMRO.
More jobs
PayRetailers, a payment processor for Latin America, has named Tristán Torres Velat as its new chief commercial officer. Prior to joining PayRetailers, he served as sales vice president at Mangopay, where he led global sales efforts and played a role in the company’s international expansion. His experience includes key leadership positions at Amazon, Deliveroo and Ant Financial.
Paymentology, the global issuer-processor, appoints Jim Hart as its new chief information security officer. He joins from GENII Software Group, where he served as group chief information security officer. His experience also includes senior roles at Pollinate International, CyberProof, AlixPartners, Symantec and Integralis.
Featurespace, global fraud and financial crime prevention innovators, that CEO Martina King will retire following the company’s successful acquisition by Visa. Jason Blackhurst will take on the role of SVP, head of Featurespace and acceptance risk solutions at Visa. Blackhurst is relocating with his family from the US to Cambridge, UK to oversee Featurespace’s continued innovation and growth.
Funding and investments
TaxZap, the viral Tinder-inspired tax app has raised £2.2million in a seed funding round led by Affinity Ventures, whose partners were early investors in Europe’s fastest-growing unicorn fintech, Zilch. Investors in the round include Aidan Corbett, CEO of Wayflyer, Nick Mullen from Happy Stack Ventures, and Henry De Zoete, former AI advisor to the UK Prime Minister. This funding injection will fuel TaxZap’s expansion into the UK market, offering more people an affordable, fast and AI-driven alternative to traditional accountants.
UBC Bank Uzbekistan (TBC UZ), the country’s largest digital bank, has secured $20million in debt financing from a fund managed by Switzerland-based impact investor BlueOrchard. The new agreement takes the total funding for TBC UZ from BlueOrchard to $45million, further extending the impact investor’s commitment to the Bank on the back of the original $25million agreement signed in August 2024.
Zepz, the global payments group behind WorldRemit and Sendwave, has secured a total of $165million in revolving and term facilities. The $110million revolving credit facility was led by HSBC Innovation Banking while HSBC Private Credit was the sole underwriter of the $55million term facility. The financing strengthens Zepz’s financial position and equips Zepz with the resources needed to capture new market opportunities.
Ayan Capital, a fast-growing provider of halal vehicle financing, has secured £25million in Shariah-compliant financing from institutional debt provider Partners for Growth (PFG), a global private credit firm. This latest funding follows Ayan Capital’s recent £3.4million Pre-Series A round. Ayan Capital aims to accelerate growth, enhance its technology-driven underwriting capabilities and target a UK banking licence application.
Partnerships
TrueLayer, a European payment network, has forged a partnership with pizza brand Papa Johns to introduce Pay by Bank, a payment method that enables customers to pay directly from their bank accounts. With TrueLayer’s open banking technology, Papa Johns customers can bypass traditional card networks. Transactions are authenticated in real time, often using biometrics verification through users’ banking apps.
Lamina has unveiled a strategic collaboration with CoBank, a cooperative bank serving agribusinesses, rural infrastructure providers and Farm Credit associations throughout the US to streamline its multi-lender loan lifecycle with an automated platform. The collaboration leverages Lamina’s API-first and AI-enabled technology with CoBank’s expertise in multi-lender transactions.
High-frequency cryptocurrency market maker and OTC liquidity provider Wincent has selected OpenPayd, a provider of financial infrastructure, to power its fiat accounts and real-time payments. Wincent will leverage OpenPayd’s global banking and real-time payment network to deliver enhanced fiat capabilities for its institutional client base. Wincent will also benefit from OpenPayd’s expansive network of 200+ digital asset businesses, enabling instant global money movement between counterparties within the ecosystem.
M&As
Nayax Ltd, a global commerce enablement and payments platform designed to help merchants scale their business by simplifying payments and maximising loyalty, has acquired Inepro Pay, a subsidiary of Inepro and a Nayax distributor in the Benelux region. Nayax will leverage Inepro Pay’s local expertise and skilled sales team to expand direct outreach, increase Nayax’s revenue while delivering faster and better support for the customers.
Linedata, a global provider of asset management and credit technology, data and services, announces the acquisition of NROAD, a specialist in AI-enabled automated unstructured financial data processing based in Boston and Pune, India. As financial data volumes continue to grow exponentially, the acquisition, combining NROAD’s shared vision, will help clients streamline operations, reduce costs and uncover deeper insights.
