Today in FinTech: Rapyd, Neat Combine for X-Border Trade; Ayoconnect Raises $15M

In today’s FinTech news, FinTech-as-a-Service firm Rapyd snaps up cross-border trade enabling platform Neat to deliver expanded digital services to small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Plus, Indonesian FinTech Ayoconnect picks up $15 million in Series B funding, while Nigerian brokerage app Bamboo raises $15 million in a Series A round.

Rapyd Acquires Neat to Advance Cross-Border Trade

With a global payments network supporting in excess of 900 payment methods across more than 100 countries and global payouts in over 200 countries, Rapyd acquired Neat to integrate the companies’ complementary services and streamline the process. The combined entity will offer real-time payments with FPS, CHATS and SWIFT to Hong Kong, as well as make payments faster in China. Virtual and physical Visa cards are also on deck, and eligible firms can apply for a working capital credit line.

Indonesian FinTech Ayoconnect Gets $15M in Series B Funding

Indonesian FinTech startup Ayoconnect picked up $15 million in a Series B funding round for its open finance platform, with plans to launch innovative products while boosting overall capacity. The startup launched in 2016 and has more than 200 application programming interface (API) clients and 4,000 embedded finance products. Ayoconnect’s Banking-as-a-Service APIs offer account opening, disbursement, credit, investment, savings and more.

Nigerian FinTech Brokerage App Bamboo Notches $15M Series A

Brokerage app Bamboo is expanding its penetration in Africa with $15 million from a Series A funding round that also will be used by the Nigerian startup to fast-track its growth and roll out additional products. The company has over 300,000 accounts in Nigeria that give users the chance to buy and trade U.S. stocks in real time using local currency. Bamboo’s API is available for use by asset managers, FinTechs and banks to empower customers to invest globally.

Convenience Driving Consumers to Open Banking

American and Canadian consumers surveyed by Mastercard indicated the willingness to share financial information with FinTechs if the processes were fast and convenient. The survey showed that 90% of respondents in both countries already make use of digital financial apps for money management. Some 82% said they have paid bills with apps, while 80% use them for banking.