Payments Innovation

When your toaster and your TV are programmable, doesn't it make sense that your payments should be programmable, too? Card payments often settle on ACH, but accessing the ACH Network for electronic payments is tough. It can take years to figure out accounting, corrections, automating returns, identity verification, and reconciliation. What if those technical gaps were fixed? What if there were a simpler system? Would businesses use it? The gaps have been fixed, a simplified solution has been created, and businesses are using it. That solution is called Dwolla, and we had a conversation with the company's founder, Ben Milne, on this episode of the Payments Innovation podcast. To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Venmo offers people a completely digital, cashless payment network experience. But commercial enterprises, weighed down with invoices and contracts, often still rely on paper checks. What if you could use the blockchain to digitize the process for these companies and help them get their revenue faster, cheaper, and more efficiently like Venmo does for individuals? Jeremy Almond, CEO of a business-to-business payment network called PayStand, believes you can. A completely digital cashless payment network experience, PayStand works like Venmo only with a contract and an invoice in the process. We invited Jeremy onto the podcast to talk about PayStand and the future of the blockchain for business-to-business payments. What we talked about: How complicated commercial transactions could be fully digitized on an app Working through many different kinds of systems to make digital commercial payments happen How to move money through smart contracts without running afoul of U.S. regulations Banks are experimenting with blockchain for commercial payments Repositioning blockchain from a cryptocurrency delivery mechanism to a safe and automated payment solution To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How much could your business save if you didn't have to pay credit card processing fees? Could you get a 30% net margin increase? It's possible but tough under the current regulations. To solve this problem, InterPayments, a financial technology firm, developed SurchX, a product that can help businesses recover the maximum allowable amount of their credit card processing fees by passing them onto a consumer as a surcharge. Andrew Bart, the chief growth officer for InterPayments, joined us on the podcast to talk about how SurchX works and who it can benefit. What we talked about: How SurchX got started The difference between SurchX as an ISV and other surcharge solutions in the market How acquisitions and mergers are shaking up in the fintech space Andrew's predictions for the future of the surcharge industry How much money surcharging involves (trillions!) To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Merchant cash advance (MCA) solutions have been making finance payments easy for retailers and restaurants since 2005. So how does someone who was in the pioneering days of MCAs shift into the in healthcare system? Scott Griest decided to find out. He built a product to automate loan origination for medical procedures. This platform was built in a way where other originators could license it as well, leveraging the technology with their own financing partners. Scott is the founder and chief operating officer of PrimaHealth Credit, which is a fintech startup concentrating on patient health care finance. What we talked about: The early days of MCA solutions, 2005-2007 How MCAs fit in the U.S. regulatory framework for lenders How MCAs can differentiate themselves in their crowded space The value and solutions MCAs can bring to healthcare Building the tech stack to help doctors collect on their own plans Scott's advice for entering, operating, exiting, and investing in fintech To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why do so many of us toss our change in charity jars? Because it’s easy. So, what if there was a physical jar for your credit card, where you simply dip your credit card, and boom, you’ve donated? No forms, no iPad, no “What’s your address?” “Check this box.” “Put your name here.” Just a simple credit card dip to give? Well, that jar does exist. It’s called DipJar, and we sat down with their CEO, Chris Selland, on this episode of the Payments Innovation podcast. He told us all about how DipJar is increasing engagement (and increasing donations) for charities. What we talked about: DipJar evolved from a tip jar Engagement is the secret sauce of DipJar It’s not just a device — it’s a platform DipJar is a management platform: Spark: a visualization platform Biggest area of growth — socially responsible for-profits Fintech, payments platform, P2P payments, B2B payments To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you could solve one problem in ecommerce transactions, what would you solve?If you answered “friction,” that’s the same place Yitz Mendlowitz started. But he found out very quickly that friction is a consumer issue, not a merchant problem. The problem merchants want solved is fraud liability. In this episode, Yitz shares how credit card networks are finally listening to ecommerce merchants, and started to shift fraud liability away from the merchants and onto the card issuers (the banks). Yitz is the co-founder of PAAY. What we talked about: Friction is not the major transaction pain point for merchants The main pain point for merchants: fraud liability The original Card Not Present policies weren’t written for the ecommerce age How friendly fraud impacts the financial landscape New policies to benefit merchants Credit card networks, banks, card issuer, acquirers, fraud, liability, card not present To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Global trade payments are a little … broken. Plenty of fintechs and startups have created better trade payment platforms domestically. Plus, various payment systems have focused on the international P2P transactions. But few fintechs have really tackled the global B2B space. That’s exactly why Asnee Fernando founded Shoptaki. Asnee came on the Payments Innovation podcast to share all about Shoptaki’s capabilities, which streamline global trade payments by using collaborative AI. What we talked about: B2B transactions are not as simple as using Amazon The global problem with B2B wire transfers & checks How does Shoptaki solve these global trade issues? What about blockchain? How difficult is it for a business to move to Shoptaki? Collaborative AI Distributed AI Blockchain To reach Asnee: Go to Shoptaki’s website Email Asnee at [email protected]. To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fintechs are the future. Banks represent tradition. And in between … is our data. In this episode, we interviewed Adwait Joshi, Chief Seer (actual title) at DataSeers, a company dedicated to “creating simple solutions to handling complex data.” Adwait has used data to solve pain points in healthcare, animal health, and, now, financial services. In this episode, he shared how DataSeers is using data to create win-win-wins for consumers, banks, and fintechs. What we talked about: Getting data out of silos How to halt fraud (as it’s happening) Stopping financial loss Better fintech-sponsor bank relationships Fintechs can utilize DataSeers as a plug & play for fraud monitoring You can configure DataSeers for a variety of products What’s on the horizon for financial services? 1) Smaller community banks are becoming sponsor banks for fintechs 2) Remittance will increase 3) Global banking will increase AML, fraud detection, monitoring, money laundering To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Open banking actually serves smaller financial institutions, like credit unions and community banks, more than anyone else … they just need to know the value. That’s why we invited banking experts Ralph Marcuccilli & Kelli Schultz on this episode of the Payments Innovation podcast. They explain the ins and outs of open banking, and what it can mean for smaller financial institutions. Ralph was a 20-year veteran of the banking industry, and, in 2010, he founded Allied Payment, where Kelli is now the President. She comes from 2 decades of experience in and around the networks surrounding banking platforms. What we talked about: Open banking: the answer for smaller financial institutions Open banking can serve businesses Allied’s next product: real-time bank payments Community banks, fintech, and credit unions Why Allied was well-positioned for open banking 1) ‘Allied was born in the cloud’ 2) Allied has an API-driven vision To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why we all love credit cards: they’re speedy, convenient, and transparent. Why we all dislike credit cards: they’re expensive. What if you could make a bank account transaction at the speed, convenience, and transparency of a credit card transaction, but without the fees? That’s the basic premise behind Hamed Arbibi’s newest venture, VoPay. In this episode, 3-time Founder and CEO, Hamed Arbibi talks about how VoPay is creating a new financial landscape in Canada, enabling rapid bank-to-bank transactions, without overbearing credit card interchange fees. What we talked about: Hamed saw the banking industry was ready for real-time payment processing 80% of business transactions go thru banks (& they’re invisible) How VoPay is creating speed & visibility thru bank-to-bank processing The similarities between EFT in Canada & ACH in the US 1 more differentiator: VoPay’s product is built on customer feedback Real-time bank-to-bank processing Bank account payment transactions To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The term “disruption” doesn’t just get thrown around occasionally. “Disruption” gets thrown around incessantly — especially in tech, and, perhaps even more especially in fintech. Let us introduce perhaps the one founder who is not actually trying to disrupt traditional banking. Meet Eric Solis, a 3-time fintech founder, former SVP of investments for Merrill Lynch, former VP of Investments for Prudential Securities, a full stack entrepreneur with educational credits in bitcoin, AI, and business from MIT, Oxford, and Stanford. Eric came on the Payments Innovation podcast to share about his latest creation — MovoCash, and how he’s using it to solve problems for the underbanked, without disrupting traditional banking. What we talked about: What is MovoCash Eric says they solve 3 problems traditional banks couldn’t: 1) Guaranteed payment 2) Getting money off the ledger 3) Preventing fraud & creating denominations Eric’s not actually out to disrupt the banks To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Across the United States, challenger banks are springing up, such as Chime and Simple. But, within the US, most of these don’t actually have their own charter. Meet Varo Money — the digital bank that wants to become the first challenger bank to receive its own US charter. I spoke with Wesley Wright, Varo’s COO, on the Payments Innovation podcast to hear about why pursuing their own charter is so important. Wesley’s response? Because they want to own the entire customer experience. What we talked about: Traditional banks haven’t responded to everyone’s needs Varo focuses on long-term, core banking relationship with customers Varo’s goal: own the customer experience The sponsor bank model versus being a chartered bank What would need to change to become their own charter How does Varo determine which processes to keep in house and which to outsource? Varo’s “customer-centric” approach To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever tried purchasing life insurance? It seems like it should take less than 60 minutes, but it rarely takes less than 60 days. So Yaron took that process, laden with pdfs, phone calls, and paperwork, and turned it inside-out, co-founding Haven Life. On this episode, Yaron gives his insights on: Why buying term life insurance has been so difficult traditionally Giving customers what they need Allowing customers to purchase how they want How Haven Life is using modern tech to align with the customer Rapid application approval How Yaron defines success Yaron’s insights into the future of insurtech To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It would be easy to chalk Brandon’s passion into something driven by his near-death experiences. But that’s only half the story. Brandon Dewitt is CTO at MX, a company that grew from the merging of his own company, MyJibe. At his heart, he’s a computer scientist. He wants to help people solve real-life problems, by separating out those things computers do well to help people with their lives. But a while back, he found out he had over a dozen tumors. The docs gave him 30 to 90 days. That was over 4 years ago. On this episode of the Payments Innovation Podcast, Brandon discusses his passion for consumer-friendly, computer-driven financial analysis built for the everyday person. What we talked about: Everyday people need a different financial visualization Visibility for consumers Showing a consumer’s “trajectory,” with colors and graphs, not just the exact numbers Consumers don’t want to look at their own numbers The banking industry is becoming more consumer-focused Banks actually want to do what’s best for the consumer Brandon’s beating more than cancer Financial services is really good at reducing risk To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Problem: Local financial institutions don’t have the access to resources or multiple branches that a larger bank like JPMorgan has. So, usually, local community lenders find a niche, and double down on 1 type of lending products. But, that creates at least 2 problems: An over concentration in geography An over concentration in 1 lending product So Ian Lampl stepped in, and by comparing lending to the bond market, LoanStreet was born. On this episode, Ian tells us all about his end-to-end lending platform that 600 local financial institutions are already falling in love with. What we talked about: Community lenders had 2 problems: geography & product Most people thought ‘matching’ would solve the issue The problem wasn’t ‘matching.’ The issue was infrastructure How LoanStreet modeled their loan platform after the bond market LoanStreet’s platform is actually better than the bond market’s standardization model Example LoanStreet in action To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I don’t have that much cash available. Is there any way I can get a loan to finance this?” “I’m sorry, not really,” said the dentist. Adam Rice overheard the conversation, and the idea for Loan Connect was born. Their goal is simple: provide Canadians with personal loans that lenders actually compete to provide. On this episode, Adam discusses how the platform works, and how it’s defying the odds (and the banks) in Canada. Adam is the CEO and Founder of Loan Connect, with an MBA from UNSW, and a Masters in Communication and Management from UWO. What we talked about: Loan Connect had a “chicken-and-egg” problem Canadian banks are slow to change Example of getting a personal loan in Canada Loan Connect’s desire to help the end-user Why Adam went around the “big 5” & focused on credit unions. Traditional Canadian banking Fintech in Canada Lending/borrowing in Canada To contact Adam: Email him at [email protected] Connect with him on his LinkedIn To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Richard Donaldson is the VP of Management and Marketing for Requis, a technology company that according to their website “connects buyers and sellers, enabling enterprises to procure, manage, and dispose of assets with greater visibility, simplicity and capital efficiency.” Richard joins us on the Payment Innovations podcast to share his insights for how the future of enterprises are changing, all because of the way that their company is changing asset management. There is a very large gap of technology solutions of the enterprise supply chain, which Requis is working on filling. Of the global 2,000 enterprises (as measured by Forbes) those companies represent more than $12 Trillion of procurement per year. Their massive amount of buying and selling each year adds up to over $20 Trillion per annum--which is the same size as the entire US economy based on GDP. That’s twice as big as the consumer economy! In order to keep all of this working like clockwork, Requis has four main pillars which are the keys to their success. They are: Requis has four main pillars Procurement Marketplace Facilitation Directory Creation Asset Management Never before have all four coexisted within one company that was built to be cohesive. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Financial services make plenty of sense. If you are a financial services professional. But what about the rest of us? On this episode of the Payments Innovation Podcast, our guest Carey Ransom joined us to discuss his passionate belief that financial services should revolve around the average human’s life. What we talked about: People in financial services understand the financial game. But what about the rest of us? Customer-focused product dev vs. profit-focused profit dev The 1 product Carey is particularly proud of — Payoff The 1 problem Carey is waiting for a founder to solve: AI & ML in fintech Checkout these resources we mentioned during the podcast: Carey’s podcast, AccelerateOC To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Successful people get our attention. We’re fascinated by how they got to where they are. Well on the latest episode of the Payments Innovation podcast, we didn’t just interview someone successful. We interviewed Brendan Holt Dunn who’s carrying on his family’s legacy — five generations’ worth of successful business. Brendan is the CEO at Holdun Family Office and Founder at Holt Fintech Accelerator. He came on the show to talk about his family, their businesses, and their fintech accelerator. To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marqeta isn’t your usual sort of fintech. They don’t wrap their API into a legacy system. They own everything, from the hardware, to the API. Dave Matter, Head of Global Product Strategy at Marqeta, recently joined us on the Payments Innovation podcast to discuss what he sees as the future of banking, and how their unique product is taking advantage of financial service opportunities around the globe. Dave has worked in fintech with digitizing student loan processing, and with investments, mortgages, Quicken loans … you name it, he’s done it. What we talked about: How Marqeta has no middle layers and is a full stack, fully certified program manager How Marqeta works with the issuing banks The advantages of working with Marqeta 1 — Time to market 2 — Marqeta supports various form factors 3 — Onboarding time for customers 4 — Different country, same interface The future of Marqeta To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When it comes down to payments and foreign exchange exposure, small and medium sized businesses don’t have a good understanding of what it’s costing them. It varies from company to company, obviously, but even the big companies can be oblivious to the charges — up to 5%. On this episode, I talked with Pourash Pant, co-founder of Tigerflo Global Payments, about why most SMBs don’t even realize how much they’re losing. What we talked about: The reality of foreign exchange payments losses Why SMBs are particularly susceptible to the “used car dealership model” Average losses for small businesses and medium businesses Educating SMBs in foreign exchange solutions The next 5-10 years in FinTech To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A lot of people ignore the middle part of the United States. The “flyover” states, as they’re called, get a bad rap. They’re ignored for the likes of New York, LA, Silicon Valley, and Austin. But there is so much happening in Middle America. Incredible things really. On this most recent episode of the Payments Innovation Podcast, we sat down with Nikkee Rhody, Vice President of Product Development and Marketplace Strategy at Central Payments, and Co-Founder and Managing Director at Falls Fintech. We talked about Middle America, what’s going on with Falls Fintech, a fintech accelerator, and what their plans are for the coming year. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For many businesses, the 2008 financial crisis was a death blow. But for at least one opportunistic entrepreneur, it was the moment he made a game-changing dive into a fintech business. David Gens is the Founder, President, and CEO of Merchant Growth, a fintech specializing in delivering financing to small retail businesses in Canada. David joined me on the Payments Innovation podcast to share how he’s leveraging AI to deliver game-changing financing to small business. What we talked about: How the 2008 financial crisis impacted financial services Traditional financial institutions aren’t really competitors anymore in the small business financing arena David’s first challenge was building trust with small business owners David alleviated some of the trust issues by partnering with big-name logos Merchant Growth’s financing structure: built on data Leveraging AI to drive financing One fintech CEO’s predictions about the financial services Small retail businesses needed a new funding source after the 2008 financial crisis To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a Business Development Rep, Brady is experienced in enterprise-level solution selling with determination to learn and master complex industries. With years of experience Brady has worked for Healthify, TruClinic, and Better before joining the Currencycloud team. In this episode we welcome Brady to the hosting team at the Payments Innovation podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of the Payments Innovation Podcast we sit down with Bill Dague a Senior Data Scientist at Quandl. Before he began working with Alternative Data at Quandl he was at Nasdaq, before they acquired Quandl. According to Bill, the world of data science is changing, for employees dedicated to working in the field, and companies seeking to maximize revenue by leveraging its power through data. Sometimes, the byproduct data can help companies to sort out the following unexpected benefits: -new consumer insights -deeper understanding of consumer trends and habits -competitive dynamics by industry -broader overall picture of the economy Data can come from anywhere, which is why it’s such an important field. Due to the ubiquity of the data available to companies, Bill explains that we are only now just beginning to scratch the surface of how that data can be relevant and useful to companies. For instance, most data is tied up in a small handful of companies. Bill shared that from his perspective it appears that the playing field is about to open up with new emerging companies stepping into the arena. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cara has a passion for helping community banks and credit unions survive and thrive. As the daughter of parents who were small business owners she understands the importance of community financial institutions to the survival of small and medium size businesses who provide the majority of jobs for the American people. At Currencycloud, Cara partners with financial institutions to provide better solutions for their commercial customers looking to facilitate global business. Prior to joining Currencycloud, Cara spent 4 years at CBANC as the Director of Business Development helping community banks, credit unions, and their vendor partners navigate complex challenges in the industry. Before that she spent over six years at Barclays in New York as a VP in Sales where she was responsible for securing large hedge fund mandates for the firm. Cara holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire where she concentrated on entrepreneurship. When she’s not learning what keeps community financial professionals awake at night, Cara enjoys playing soccer, relaxing with her dog, traveling and pretending to be a home chef. In this episode we welcome Cara to the hosting team at the Payments Innovation podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

76% of banks use fintechs for payment solutions for their corporate clients. Why, then, are some banks still stuck in the Dark Ages? Craig Jeffery, Managing Partner at Strategic Treasurer LLC fills us in on the latest B2B Payments Survey Report and his predictions for the future of bank/fintech relationships. In this episode, we cover: The current landscape of B2B payments Improving enterprise customer experience Protecting against fraud To listen to this episode and more like it, subscribe to Payments Innovation on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Natalie Cartwright and her team at Finn AI have a mission: to improve the financial well-being of 100M people by 2025. And they’re leveraging AI to achieve that mission. What we talked about: How Finn AI is applying AI in the financial services industry How do virtual assistants create more value for customers? How do virtual assistants create more value for financial institutions? Check out these resources Finn AI Natalie’s LinkedIn To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since the 80s, we’ve watched automation make the buy side of trading much more effective. But when it comes to the retail side, the technologies haven't evolved at all. But that’s where Quantreex comes in. It’s a web based trading platform that allows you to create automated trading strategies in under a minute. It also leverages AI and machine learning to help you control risk and increase returns. On this episode of the Payments Innovation podcast we caught up with Ali Kousari, Co-Founder of Qantreex, to get an inside look at why this solution works and what it could do for you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ricardo Pero is changing the landscape for how and where small to medium businesses find capital funding. In 2016, he left JP Morgan to start SellersFunding. We got a chance to sit down with Ricardo to learn all about his inspiration behind starting his company and how his product will transform funding for these important enterprises. From lead time to risk assessments, big banks and cash advance merchants have made it really difficult for these startups to get the funding they need. When your industry is growing on average 15-20% year over year, it doesn’t matter how good you are or how great your product is, you’re going to have an issue with your budget. And SellersFunding is stepping in to fill in the gap with an integrative solution to solve this once and for all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s no getting around it. It’s tough to enter a foreign market. From the application process to the fees to the language barriers; it can be a balancing act. We had the opportunity to chat with someone who knows this journey all too well. Marcus Shin from WireBarley answered all of our questions regarding entering a foreign marketplace with an M2M business model. In this episode, w Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rick Lynch is the senior vice president for business development at Verifi. He got into the payments industry in 1999, and has been innovating in the space ever since. We sat down with Rick on this week’s episode of Payments Innovation to learn more about what Verifi is doing to shake up the industry and equip business owners to take control of their chargebacks. They’re creating post-authorization tools to help reduce risk and loses after the sale by preventing and fighting chargebacks, preventing customer disputes, and any other negative events that happen after the sale. While most of the vendors you see in the marketplace today are really focused on before-the-sale, Verifi is focused on the opposite--and it’s really working out in their favor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Government grants nearly equate to free money for businesses. Owners and founders don’t have to dilute their equity by taking on investors, and, usually, there’s no requirement to pay back any money. Plus, there is a lot of it. North of $200B a year, in the US, Canada, and the UK alone. How can companies access these pools of cash? We asked Teri Kirk, founder of Funding Portal how businesses can access this money and write winning grant requests. She told us how on this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Has your company considered Point of Sale financing? Here’s a better question: does your company even know what Point of Sale financing is? And how it could benefit your business by bringing in more customers, allowing them to potentially spend more money with you? On a recent episode of the Payments Innovation podcast, we sat down to chat with Daniel Shain, co-founder at Credit Genie, for a discussion around why businesses choose Point of Sale Financing, why customers choose Point of Sale financing, and why it may just lead to bigger profits for your organization. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you probably double-down on your personal skill set, pursuing those pieces of your business(es) that you’re most passionate about. The other areas of the business, whether it be HR, legal, or financial, may not get the attention they need. That’s where entrepreneur Marc Alloul found himself. He’s a physicist engineer who left a $12B enterprise in 2000 to start his own company. He quickly found there was no real user-friendly budgeting platform built for high-level, fast-moving entrepreneurs who don’t necessarily have a background in finance or accounting. So, he started Budgeto. In a nutshell, it’s a budgeting software program developed for entrepreneurs to get a budget up and running with just a few clicks. Currently, 35 thousand budgets are on the platform. This episode explores Budgeto’s features, why it was started, and who’s using the platform. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of the Payments Innovation podcast I sat down with Andrew Graham to get an inside look at what his team did to generate additional revenue, increase customer satisfaction, and improve efficiency in their company. Andrew is the Co-founder and CEO at Borrowell, a Canadian Fintech company helping consumers with their credit decisions. Andrew is also a Harvard MBA and is member of the Fintech Advisory Committee. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On another episode of Payments Innovation podcast, we interviewed Rafael Lourenco, Executive Vice President, at ClearSale. Many merchants think of fraud prevention as a technical decision, but it’s much more than that. In this episode, Rafael explains why fraud management can drastically affect a business’s revenue, costs, CX, and overall bottom line. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On another episode of Payments Innovation podcast, we interviewed Brian Billingsley, Chief Revenue Officer, at Modo. Brian talked about how Modo adds value to customers and why Modo is set apart from its competitors. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When you grow up in a family of small business owners, it’s as if you’re raised with a unique sense of empathy for this special kind of entrepreneur. So much so that you usually become one yourself. That’s the story of Eytan Bensoussan. He grew up watching his grandparents faithfully work in their business day in and day out. But he noticed a pattern that didn’t sit well with him. At the end of a long day running their business, his grandparents would retreat in their home to do their bookkeeping. They’d sit and work on payroll, invoices and all the other financial responsibilities that fell on them. That’s why he founded NorthOne, a small business banking service built on the idea that API’s should power the future of banking. The kind of banking that will be mobile first. He wanted to create a way to remove as much of the financial “busy work” as possible from small business owners. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Payment options options are endless. PayPal, Visa/Mastercard Debit, Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Amazon Balance, … The list goes on. This provides phenomenal variety for consumers. But consider a commercial payer. They now have to have multiple systems to pay a variety of payees in each of their methods of choice. Or risk losing a partner or contractor by not providing payments in their desired method. That’s why when we found out about Sipree, we were astounded. Being in the payments space ourselves, we understand how impressive it is to have a uniform payments system. Sipree takes in payments on the payer’s side, and then spits them out to the payees … in almost any method on the market. We had to find out more, so we invited Mark Sole, Sipree’s CEO and Co-Founder on our Payments Innovation podcast. He gave us all the details on their amazing platform. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While plenty of new pay methods are soaking up all the attention, ACH is being left left out of the popular arenas. We understand why. ACH can be cumbersome, requiring layers of authorization to finalize a single transaction. Many perceive it as outdated, awkward, and time-consuming. It’s time ACH had a makeover. Yelena Reznikova joined us on this episode of the Payments Innovation podcast to show how she’s leveraging the power of ACH and tech to drive profit for businesses, and convenience for consumers. Yelena is currently the Director of Partnerships at Quovo in New York, a data platform that provides connectivity to financial accounts and is now a part of Plaid, where she’s worked since receiving her MBA from Harvard Business School. Previously, she worked in VC and product at Indicator Ventures and Troops. She doesn’t believe ACH is dead. She believes with some technological TLC, it becomes an underutilized alternative to the dizzying amount of new payment methods on the market. Listen in for 3 reasons you should consider ACH as a payment method. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever split a bill with a group of friends? Ever get stuck with more than your fair share? That’s the sort of issue CashStash is committed to solving: Co-Founder Turner Coggins came on the Payments Innovation podcast to share how his new application allows users more transparency in their shared payments. With CashStash, users can store funds in a shared virtual wallet, giving all members visibility into who’s paid, who hasn’t, and who may need a reminder message. Turner is a Senior Financial Consultant at Capco., has worked with PwC, and received his MBA from Emory. He’s seen it all in finance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Millennials are clouding out prior generations in the coveted 18-34 consumer space, they are using credit cards less and less. Many of them have no credit, which puts them in the never-ending “you don’t have credit, so we can’t offer you credit” cycle. Or they’ve been told to steer clear of the debt trap, so traditional plastic is a non-option for them. This leaves gaps, for both consumer needs and merchant revenue. And that’s where Sezzle comes in. Sezzle is a payment method that offers 0-interest 0-fee lines of credit to consumers while they are shopping. See a $200 jacket at a participating merchant? Use Sezzle and break that up into 4 easy payments of $50. We brought on their CEO and Founder Charlie Youakim, for our Payments Innovation podcast. He shared how the app works, why it works, and why merchants are partnering with him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Payments shouldn’t be the only thing going digital. Giving to your favorite local charity should be easy. Digital easy. Hector Pages knows. He grew up in Puerto Rico and saw firsthand devastation from natural disasters. So when he found In/PACT, he had to jump on board. In/PACT is the creator of Good Coin, an integrated giving solution that allows payments to nearly 1.8 million nonprofits. Now, users can give straight to their favorite charities through their mobile banking app or online. Hector serves as the Chief Growth Officer for In/PACT, and he joined us on the Payments Innovation podcast to tell us all all about the collision of giving and digital. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Artificial Intelligence. Machine learning As buzzwords go, they’re the hottest things in almost any tech space. “AI” conjures spectacular images of Sci-fi films and robotic engineering. But when it comes down to the reality of your international commerce, you need to know how AI affects your business. We went straight to the top of the AI and machine learning industry by roping in Emerj CEO and Founder Dan Fagella for our latest episode of the Payments Innovation Podcast. This guy’s career is nothing short of mind-blowing: He’s a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion, started and sold his first company just to “pay for Ivy League grad school,” and since then has been a serial entrepreneur. Currently, Dan is running his highly successful AI and Machine Learning research company, Emerj, which has become the international go-to for businesses and executives needing to understand the implications of AI upon their companies. He delivered an action-packed 15 minutes of what AI means for fintech and international commerce. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cookie cutter solutions don’t work for everyone. Often, smaller community banks are left out, especially when considering international exchanges. Mike Salerno, Vice President of Global Banking at FNB Omaha, saw a host of opportunities following the recession as larger banks tightened up. This allowed other correspondents to come in and establish partnerships. Mike and FNB have made a commitment to continue to service their downstream and correspondent banks. This includes partnering with them to help them come up with and work on creating a solution set. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More and more workers are abandoning the traditional "Nine to Five" jobs for contract 1099 work. While this provides more freedom for workers, Dylan Massey, Co-Founder and CEO of Intercheks, says this also presents some issues when it comes to streamlining the payment processes for individual contractors, some of whom may come and go or have multiple side jobs. Dylan talks to us about his pathway to Interchecks and how his team is helping to solve specific problems by working to streamline the payment process. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As US merchants expand their operations across the world into emerging markets, they quickly discover an interesting fact: Many cash-centric nations, have leap-frogged over the usage of plastic. Now, many of these traditionally cash-heavy nations, have found tech integrations that allow merchants to sell online and collect cash with receipts, QR codes, and other methods. There’s around 300 different major payment methods available across the globe. If your company is going global, it can be intimidating navigating the cultural, regulatory and technical aspects of such a wide variety of payment options. That’s what Steve Villegas does. He’s a pro at payment integration. He’s the Partner Management & Head of US Office for PPRO, where he and his team are educating companies on how to accept payments in the preferred method of countries from Eastern Europe to Africa to Asia. You don’t want to miss this. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a simple way to make international transactions easier for you and your clients: Make payments in local currency. Bob Murray is the Director of Foreign Exchange at Brookline Bank and he’s been involved in foreign exchange markets since the early 80’s. Throughout the years, he’s seen how foreign exchange can really touch all areas of a bank. From international payments to wire transfers, having a solid foundation in foreign exchange markets is critical for the success of a bank. Bob has also noticed something else that has stayed the same in the several decades he’s been in this space: it’s still fundamentally a relationship market. Without a relationship formed between a foreign exchange salesperson and a customer there can be no hope for a productive and lasting business exchange between the two parties. We sat down with Bob in this episode of Payments Innovation to talk about Brookline Bank, the foreign exchange market, international currency exchange best practices, and educating customers on this space. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeff is passionate about all things Fintech and Payments. He has consulted with eCommerce platforms, PSP's, Challenger Banks, and Financial institutions of all types and sizes to deliver business-critical payments, banking, and compliance solutions via cloud and on-premise. With over 10 years working in the finance, banking, and payments space, Jeff has extensive knowledge in solving problems and removing barriers to entry for Fintech's in the new digital era. In this episode we welcome Jeff to the hosting team at the Payments Innovation podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.