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DouxMatok Announces a $30 Million Round of Funding to Scale-Up Commercialisation, Rebrands to Incredo

May 25, 2023 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Today, leading global food tech company DouxMatok has announced a rebrand to: Incredo LTD. The unveiling of the new name, based on the company’s signature product Incredo® Sugar, coincides with Incredo’s announcement that it has raised $30 million in a Series C funding round to further support research and development, integrate its product in a variety of applications and accelerate its commercial partnerships. This latest round of funding is led by dsm-firmenich Venturing and Sienna Venture Capital, along with strategic commercial partners such as Ferrero and investments from new investors including Teseo Capital and existing investors Pitango and BlueRed Partners, who led the previous round.

Incredo’s capital raise will help the company expand its research, development, and commercialisation efforts into its flagship product, Incredo® Sugar. Incredo Sugar is a first-of-its-kind, delicious, clean-label sugar reduction solution that reduces the amount of sugar in sweet foods by 30-50%, with no change in taste, mouthfeel, or texture, and no additions to the ingredients label. By binding real cane or beet sugar with trace amounts of a natural carrier, Incredo Sugar aids in the delivery of sugar molecules to sweet taste receptors on the tongue. This means that less sugar is required for the same level of sweetness.

“Now that our flagship product, Incredo Sugar, has become commercially available and is gaining more awareness within the industry, we have decided to simplify our communications by unifying our identity under the name ‘Incredo’ – a single, powerful brand that will be memorable to our customers as we gear up for a period of continuous growth and commercialisation,” said Ari Melamud, CEO of Incredo LTD.

Incredo’s latest round of funding comes on the heels of a successful 2022, when it announced partnerships with Batory Foods and Blommer Chocolate Company. Incredo is looking to accelerate commercialisation of Incredo Sugar in 2023, with new and increased availability across the US, Europe, and Israel.

“Incredo has developed one of the most promising innovations in the food space we’ve seen – a delicious affordable and clean-label product that can reduce the sugar in foods without additives or changes to taste,” said Isabelle Amiel-Azoulai, Managing Partner at Sienna Venture Capital. “Incredo has everything in the right place for Incredo Sugar to appear in products around the world, and our injection of capital will help support this mission-driven company to accelerate its growth.”

IIT Kanpur to upskill workforce in Quantitative Finance and Risk Management with eMasters degree

April 26, 2023 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Over the years, the finance industry has undergone a major paradigm shift from traditional queue banking to digital swipes in the stock market. The pandemic hit the financial sector with a massive blow, keeping digitalization no longer a novelty. Today, artificial intelligence and machine learning create customized investment options and improve user experience through chatbots. The financial services sector aim to invest significantly in new-age technologies to ensure more personalized finance options that favor growth and minimize risks.

Being one of the most significant sectors in AI-led services, various new-age and emerging technologies like Blockchain, Machine Learning, Market and Data Intelligence, Quantitative Modeling, etc., are becoming quintessential for processes in the finance industry. To adapt to this crucial shift, IIT Kanpur offers a unique eMasters degree in Quantitative Finance and Risk Management that helps budding traders, commodity market specialists, and finance enthusiasts create a valued impact in alternative investment segments, with proper amalgamation of theory and practice.

Professionals pursuing this degree can specialize in the evolving domains of finance, making a difference in whichever job role they are in. They will also be trained to manage finance treasury models by using top-notch technologies. The real-world curriculum of the degree includes ten modules starting from the basics of economics, complex derivatives, extensive data analysis, treasury, and credit risk management, to name a few. It also provides exposure to quantitative modeling and theory based on specialized modules in R, Python, Machine Learning, and Blockchain in Finance.

The executive-friendly format offers a flexible approach for professionals to complete the degree anywhere between 1-3 years. The degree includes IIT Kanpur campus visit, mentorship, and career support. Professionals signing up for the degree will be agile in navigating through the fintech revolution, and gain multifold expertise to shape and build the country’s economic future. Following the success of two batches, the program has opened the application window for Batch 3. Application window will be open till May 12, 2023.

Future FinTech Group Regains Compliance with NASDAQ Listing Requirements

April 24, 2023 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Future FinTech Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FTFT) (“hereinafter referred to as “Future FinTech”, “FTFT” or the “Company”), a blockchain application technology developer and a fintech service provider, announced today that on April 21, 2023, it received a written notification from the NASDAQ Stock Market Listing Qualifications Staff (the “Staff”) indicating that the Company has regained compliance with the periodic filing requirement for The Nasdaq Stock Market under Listing Rule 5250(c)(1).

On April 18, 2023, the Company received a letter from the Staff stating that it was not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) as a result of it not having timely filed its Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Form 10-K”) for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Based on the April 19, 2023 filing of the Company’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, Staff has determined that the Company complies with the Nasdaq Listing Rule and accordingly, this matter is now closed.

Sharegain announces strategic alliance with J.P. Morgan

April 18, 2023 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Sharegain, a leading B2B securities lending fintech, today announced a strategic alliance with J.P. Morgan’s Securities Services business.

Sharegain Ltd.’s SLTech solution will enable J.P. Morgan to enhance its securities agency lending offering by making it more accessible to new wealth managers and online broker participants. This collaboration adds another global custodian to Sharegain’s growing roster of clients in APAC, Europe, and the Middle East.

Harpreet Bains, Global Head of Product Management, J.P. Morgan’s Agency Securities Finance division said, “This exciting collaboration enables J.P. Morgan to address the growing needs of the aggregator segment, which is increasingly searching for scalable solutions to offer securities lending to their end customers without the time and cost burden of implementing complex technology. Connecting our best in breed technology and global distribution capabilities to Sharegain’s SLTech solution allows clients to monetize a new and substantial pool of attractive lending supply and addresses the complexities requiring consideration when aggregators expand their offering to include securities lending.”

Boaz Yaari, CEO & Founder of Sharegain, said, “We are thrilled to partner with the great team at J.P. Morgan to deliver a fully digital securities lending solution to its customers. This strategic alliance represents another validation of Sharegain’s industry-leading technology and expertise. It also underscores the power of innovation as a catalyst to democratization and inclusion in capital markets.”

Smallcase hires KraftPixel for WordPress Development

April 18, 2023 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

s mallcase, a fintech company focused on providing professionally-managed stock baskets that represent an investment idea, recently awarded the mandate to build, develop and manage its WordPress properties to IT firm KraftPixel, which is known for its specialization in bespoke and optimized WordPress development. The partnership aims to improve smallcase’s digital discoverability and on-site search engine optimization (SEO), ensuring an enhanced user experience and online visibility.

smallcase has built a reputation in the fintech industry for its innovative approach to investments, allowing users to pool multiple stocks together, thus simplifying the investing process and enabling informed decisions based on financial goals and risk tolerance.

KraftPixel, an IT company with experience working with various notable fintech clients in India, specializes in bespoke IT development, optimization and on-site SEO, helping businesses expand their reach, connect various systems and software together and increase revenue.

Aniket Thakkar, VP of Marketing at smallcase, shared his thoughts on the collaboration, “We are pleased to work with KraftPixel, a company known for its expertise in WordPress development and optimization in the fintech space. We are confident that KraftPixel’s expertise in building custom WordPress solutions will help us in our next phase of growth. We are committed to building new tools that will help our customers make smarter investment decisions.”

Sourav Kundu, General Manager (Marketing) at smallcase, added, “Our partnership with KraftPixel aligns with our mission to constantly innovate and build next-gen investment products for India. We look forward to the potential outcomes of KraftPixel’s efforts in enhancing our on-site SEO and web experience for our users.”

Abhishek Gharat, CEO at KraftPixel, emphasized the significance of optimization of digital properties and SEO for fintech companies, “In this dynamic digital environment, fintech companies are taking the right approach by prioritizing their online presence and user experience. We are eager to support smallcase by applying our expertise in WordPress and other advanced technologies, including the use of automation, to solve present-day challenges in digital.”

Prathamesh Gharat, CTO at KraftPixel, further explained, “A robust online presence is essential for fintech companies to gain users’ trust and extend their reach. Our experience indicates that open-source technologies like WordPress can be highly beneficial for businesses seeking to improve SEO when the WordPress instance is managed objectively. We aim to help smallcase capitalize on these advantages and strengthen its market position.”

In addition to their work with fintech clients, KraftPixel has a lesser-known history of contributing their effort to social good initiatives. Among multiple such initiatives, they have collaborated with the Maharashtra State Election Commission to optimize their voter search engine, enhancing accessibility and efficiency for users. In the outcome of this project, the tool built by KraftPixel managed around 9,000 simultaneous visitors on local body poll days, demonstrating their technical capabilities and commitment to social responsibility.

Last week, Nithin Kamath of Zerodha announced that they will be forming a joint venture (JV) with smallcase to start a new asset management company (AMC), highlighting the ‘6+ years of experience that smallcase has in building investment products’ via a LinkedIn post.

The collaboration between smallcase and KraftPixel represents a noteworthy development in the fintech industry’s pursuit of improving its discoverability via digital pursuits. As the two companies join forces, the prospects for smallcase’s growth and success within the fintech sector appear to be continuing on an upward trend.

Broadridge Integrated Solution Drives Increased Simplification and Lower Costs Across the Trade Lifecycle

April 18, 2023 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Today Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: BR) announced the launch of a trading solution that enables clients to achieve increased straight-through processing and efficiency, better trading decisions and client insights, improved controls, and reduced risk. The new solution will enable clients of Broadridge Trading and Connectivity Solutions to achieve greater agility and faster time to market, improved scalability, and reduced fragmentation of interfaces and tech costs.

The new Broadridge offering is built with a standard foundational integration solution across its front, middle and back-office capabilities for trade processing, which leverages an enterprise integration layer and common data model that can be used across the Broadridge product portfolio as well as with third party applications.

“Broadridge’s new solution marks a significant evolution in trading technology infrastructure,” said Justin Llewellyn-Jones, Broadridge Head of Capital Market Product Strategy. “Currently, firms have several front, middle, and back-office systems that are typically integrated using numerous point-to-point connections each with their own data model, creating fragmentation and complexity. By using our unique ability to look across front, middle, and back as a whole, we are helping our clients solve pain points through trade lifecycle simplification. By utilizing our pre-integrated offering to simplify across the trade lifecycle, firms can simultaneously reduce risk, increase efficiency, enhance business growth and reduce costs by an estimated 20–30% in key areas.”

Capital Markets firms face a challenging environment, with economic and geopolitical uncertainty. In addition, regulatory pressures will continue with the shift towards shortened settlement cycles. As a result, it is critical for firms to focus on simplification and innovation across the trade lifecycle to reduce risk and cost of change, while enabling greater business agility. Broadridge’s integrated front, middle, and back offering enables these benefits through features such as a common data model, normalized data sources, business insights for the front-office using post-trade data, integrated reporting, a global, multi-asset middle office and a single point of trade capture and management.

UP Fintech unveils TigerGPT, the industry’s first AI investment assistant

April 12, 2023 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

TigerGPT, a text-generating AI chatbot developed among UP Fintech’s vast internet services, is introduced as the first deployment of an AI investment assistant in the industry.

The feature, now in user testing and soon to be rolled out on the flagship platform Tiger Trade, also makes UP Fintech Holding Limited (“UP Fintech”, Nasdaq: TIGR, and all its subsidiaries and consolidated entities) one of a handful of financial institutions offering this OpenAI technology-based service aimed at providing intelligent global investment decision-making support for users.

TigerGPT leverages UP Fintech’s vast content library and its expansive access to paid sources to offer timely and informative responses, including but not limited to, listed companies’ profiles and data, an ocean of financial knowledge and investor education materials, and market and stock insights, in a response to users’ investment-related queries in easily digestible conversations within a span of seconds. This feature helps save time spent on market research and raises efficiency in pre-investment preparation.

In the meantime, TigerGPT is undergoing daily-basis training and absorbing the latest market updates to ensure the interactions are concise and to-the-point, thanks to the company’s self-owned meticulous classification and easy navigation of information — two key benchmarks that define UP Fintech’s ever-improving R&D capabilities.

“Our commitment is to constantly facilitating global investing by placing innovations at the center of every step we take in creating the best possible user experience, boosting our users’ overall investing literacy, and bringing more sense to smart investing,” said Wu Tianhua, founder and CEO of UP Fintech. “To eliminate the overwhelming feeling our users get due to mountains of scattered data and information, we do believe our TigerGPT feature can bring a breath of fresh air deeply valued by users, by addressing various queries on investment research, quenching curiosities of specific stocks and industries, and presenting the very piece of information needed in a well-articulated and highly-pertinent manner — all the factors needed before making informed, efficient and smart investments.”

The company’s R&D team is also adding more languages in TigerGPT to its current support in English, Traditional Chinese, and Mandarin Chinese, in tandem with the company’s scaling up global expansion.

TigerGPT is now undergoing user testing in selected markets. Tiger Trade app users who are interested are welcome to join the test waiting list through the link or in-app banner.

Disclaimer:

Please note that the information provided by TigerGPT is for reference only, and should not be treated as financial advice. UP Fintech shall not be liable in any way in connection with the use of TigerGPT. TigerGPT does not provide any recommendation, all information provided is from the open data source.

iSHANG LAUNCHES WORLD’S FIRST “WEB3-AS-A-SERVICE” PLATFORM WITH 10+ TURNKEY VERTICAL ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS FACILITATING WEB3 ADOPTION FROM BRANDS AND ENTERPRISES

April 11, 2023 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

iSHANG Technology Limited (iSHANG – www.ishang.com), the Web3 business arm of the leading digital asset group, COINSTREET, today announced the launch of world’s first “Web3-as-a-Service” (W3aaS) platform that provides the infrastructure and gateway for brands & enterprises to enter into the Web3 market through over 10 turnkey Web3 services & applications anchored on Decentralized Ledger Technology (DLT).

iSHANG Web3-as-a-Service (W3aaS) Platform is built on Ethereum and Polygon blockchain using IPFS (Inter Planetary Filing System) decentralized storage system. To ensure seamless integration with conventional Web2 system from enterprises, iSHANG also leverages on AWS’s cloud infrastructure and high-available secure computing environment.

In addition, iSHANG also provides one-stop consulting services, empowering mainstream brands and enterprises to transform their businesses and to tap into the limitless potential of the Web3 market, and offering revolutionary ways for brand engagement, customer acquisition & retention. This provides an end-to-end solution for brands and enterprises to launch customized and innovative Web3 Vertical Applications in a timely & cost-efficient way.

Web3-as-a-Service Platform and Solutions

iSHANG’s W3aaS platform includes three main components, 1) 10+ ready-made turnkey, but fully customizable decentralized blockchain applications, 2) tailor-made Web3 campaign management, and 3) campaign-driven NFT & dApp marketplace, such as –

Web2-to-3 Membership & Lifestyle Program
Collectible Phygital Value-Backed NFT, or “vNFT”
Decentralized Affiliate & Social Marketing Program
“Proof-of-X” Non-Transferable NFT Certificate
O2O Commerce and Global Payment
Tokenization of ESG & Charity Project
Web3 Voting Campaign & Survey
Branded Web3 Game & Metaverse
Decentralized Coupon, Voucher & Ticketing
Crowdfunding & Trade Financing Program

Web3 Consulting Service

Advisory / Consultation – Project idea conception, strategic planning and commercialization plan;
Technical Development & Operation – Smart contracts & dApp creation, mini-site creation, blockchain wallet & payment system;
Marketing & Launch Campaign – Community management, MarCom strategy, campaign management;
Post-Launch Trading & Support – Trading & auctioning, DAO management, exit strategies.

Samson Lee, Co-Founder of iSHANG commented, “Despite the hype, Web3 mass adoption has been slow and mostly focused on cryptocurrency, Game-Fi and NFT. Research has shown that both users and brands have a strong interest in adopting Web3; however, there are many gaps and hurdles in the deployment of technologies, as well as a lack of talent in the field and cost-efficient solutions. iSHANG aims to solve these issues and provide a bridge for mass adoption with a total solution of Web3-as-a-Service technology platform, together with turnkey enterprise solutions and practical consulting services.”

Stephen Law, Vice Chairman of COINSTREET, the holding company of iSHANG, commented, “We were recently granted of first license of Security Token Offering Platform in Hong Kong (under another subsidiary of Signum Digital) and are now delighted to announce the launch of iSHANG Web3-as-a-Service Enterprise Solutions Platform. With the two platforms in operation, Coinstreet group aims to capture the vast Web3 transformation business opportunities from within the regulated financial service area, to overall non-regulated business trades and industries.”

Alice So, Head of Entrepreneurship at Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, added, “Hong Kong Cyberport is dedicated to nurturing the growth of the Web3 ecosystem. We are pleased to see our incubatee, iSHANG, launching their Web3-as-a-Service Platform with the aim to facilitate mass adoption of Web3 by end consumers and corporations. We will continue to support the development of this emerging industry and attract international Web3 companies to set up operations in Hong Kong through Web3 [email protected].”

Web3 has been described as the next evolution of the World Wide Web. It is also a general term referring to all kinds of new Internet services that are built using decentralized blockchains. Recent research indicates that the global Web3 market size is expected to reach USD 81.5 Billion in 2030 with revenue CAGR of 43.7%. Web3 is predicated on the creation of a completely decentralized ecosystem, representing a potential power shift in allowing consumers to control their personal data. Individuals will be able to own-trade-profit from the digital assets through direct P2P transactions, with transactions tracked with total transparency and streamlined by settlement of stablecoins. Operational efficiency will be largely increased by lowering operation cost and increasing settlement speed through smart contracts. With iSHANG W3aaS Platform, all brands and enterprises can make a move to take advantage of this paradigm shift in timely and cost-efficient ways.

ICC and TradeFlow Capital Management unveil plans to launch the ICC SME TradeFlow Fund to improve access to trade finance for SMEs in the commodities sector

April 11, 2023 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

ICC and TradeFlow Capital Management unveil plans to launch the ICC SME TradeFlow Fund to improve access to trade finance for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the commodities sector, to be established in Europe.

This launch is the culmination of over a year and a half of efforts by ICC and TradeFlow Capital Management to bring this unique offering to market which intends to help SMEs access trade finance.

This will be a fund advised by the founders of TradeFlow Capital Management, Dr Tom James and John Collis, specifically targeted to enable businesses in the commodities sector around the world and working in conjunction with ICC’s TradeNow programme.

Building on 5 years of success with CEMP USD TradeFlow funds, John and Tom will bring their method to the ICC SME TradeFlow Fund to help unlock liquidity in SME commodity markets and increase financial inclusion across the commodity sector.

Over the last 5 years, TradeFlow Capital Management funds have enabled more than $1.5b of trades for SME commodity firms and contributed to promoting SME businesses and commodity trades to every continent on the planet and, throughout, made continued, positive returns with low volatility to their investors.

Working with ICC gives TradeFlow Capital Management the opportunity to bring the benefits of its method to even more SMEs in the commodity sector around the world.

InCore Bank signs Maerki Baumann as first client for Ethereum staking, powered by SDX

April 6, 2023 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

InCore Bank will offer Ethereum (ETH) staking to their clients using SDX Web3 services. ETH staking will become an important yield opportunity when the upcoming Shapella Release is implemented as this will enable the withdrawal of ETH coins that are allocated to staking.

InCore Bank can now offer Ethereum staking capabilities that are fully compliant with Know-Your-Client (KYC) and Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) regulations. In this collaboration, InCore Bank provides crypto brokerage, banking operations and custody services, while SDX Web3 provides crypto custody and non-custodial-staking services.

The Zurich-based private bank Maerki Baumann launched its crypto strategy in 2019. Apart from corporate accounts for companies focusing on blockchain technology and crypto applications, it offers services in crypto trading and custody in collaboration with InCore Bank. Maerki Baumann will continue expanding its crypto offering by making the new Ethereum staking services available to its private and corporate tech banking clients.

Mark Dambacher, CEO InCore Bank, stated, “We perceive an increasing interest in staking and ways to participate in the decentralized economy. InCore Bank’s fully integrated and future-oriented staking services via segregated wallets, enable us to offer staking within a convenient, secure, regulated and tax compliant setting. We are proud to be part of this strategic alliance with SDX”.

David Newns, Head of SDX adds: “This collaboration between established digital asset institutions is the first of its kind in Switzerland. We are strengthening the Swiss digital asset ecosystem by enabling key market players to provide value adding capabilities like Ethereum custody and staking their clients are asking for.”

Author: TheFintechBuzz.com

DouxMatok Announces a $30 Million Round of Funding to Scale-Up Commercialisation, Rebrands to Incredo

IIT Kanpur to upskill workforce in Quantitative Finance and Risk Management with eMasters degree

Future FinTech Group Regains Compliance with NASDAQ Listing Requirements

Sharegain announces strategic alliance with J.P. Morgan

Smallcase hires KraftPixel for WordPress Development

Broadridge Integrated Solution Drives Increased Simplification and Lower Costs Across the Trade Lifecycle

UP Fintech unveils TigerGPT, the industry’s first AI investment assistant

iSHANG LAUNCHES WORLD’S FIRST “WEB3-AS-A-SERVICE” PLATFORM WITH 10+ TURNKEY VERTICAL ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS FACILITATING WEB3 ADOPTION FROM BRANDS AND ENTERPRISES

ICC and TradeFlow Capital Management unveil plans to launch the ICC SME TradeFlow Fund to improve access to trade finance for SMEs in the commodities sector

InCore Bank signs Maerki Baumann as first client for Ethereum staking, powered by SDX

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