Sat.Aug 24, 2019 - Fri.Aug 30, 2019

article thumbnail

Founder’s Guide to Venture Debt

The SaaS CFO

How Venture Debt Helps Founders Grow Their Businesses Many founders of SaaS businesses I speak with look only to equity to finance the start-up and early growth of their businesses. They may not be aware of, or do not appreciate the value of, venture debt financing which is complimentary to venture financing. In this guide […]. The post Founder’s Guide to Venture Debt appeared first on The SaaS CFO.

CFO 99
article thumbnail

The Cyber Hack From Space

PYMNTS

This week marked a historical milestone that many Americans probably missed in the course of trying to follow a news cycle that is always full, to say the least. This week an American citizen’s bank account was hacked. From space. The story, admittedly, is a bit less exciting than the setup makes it sound; it is not the case that E.T. has picked up a bad bitcoin habit and turned to a life of cybercrime to support his cryptocurrency speculating addiction.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Finance: A journey to the future?

Future CFO

Finance functions across many organisations are at a key point in their development. They need to evolve to create the value sought by their customers, both internal and external. What is the nature of this challenge and how prepared are they for it? What is the relevance to attaining this future state of the discussion in which the finance community is engaged?

Finance 52
article thumbnail

Return on Inertia (ROI): The Price of Standing Still

CFA Institute

Wealth managers should give as much weight to return on inertia as they do return on investment, says April J. Rudin.

article thumbnail

From Start to Scale: Driving Growth Through Seamless Payments Implementation

Speaker: Michael Veatch, Senior Director, Implementations & Ella Aguirre, Director of Solution Consulting

Embedding payments can be a transformative step for software companies looking to enhance their platform capabilities, boost customer satisfaction, and drive long-term growth. However, the success of payments hinges on a single thing: implementation. Drawing on real-world insights and experiences, payments implementation experts Michael Veatch and Ella Aguirre will explore actionable strategies that can lead to a transparent, friction-free launch and mitigate potential challenges like technical

article thumbnail

Visa: New Cyber Threats Require New Fraud Tools

PYMNTS

The phenomenon of payments fraud is not a modern one — far from it. But as RL Prasad, SVP of payment system risk at Visa , told Karen Webster in a recent conversation, what is new today is the who and the how of fraud, particularly in a digital world. As for the who, Prasad told Webster that there are still plenty of attacks perpetrated by the more professional organized crime-modeled hacker gangs that are behind massive breaches that capture the headlines.

More Trending

article thumbnail

Vietnam: The Next Payments And Commerce Frontier

PYMNTS

Here’s a thought as the unofficial end of summer draws near and a new decade looms: Pay more attention to Vietnam. No doubt you already are, but maybe pay even more attention, especially to get a better sense of how digital and mobile payment and commerce trends are playing out in one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. In a new PYMNTS interview with Karen Webster, Ryan Frere, the vice president of global payments at Flywire , made one of the latest cases we’ve heard about why Vietnam

article thumbnail

PNC Kicks Off RippleNet Cross-Border Transactions

PYMNTS

U.S. bank PNC has begun using RippleNet to facilitate cross-border transactions, reports said Thursday (Aug. 29). Fintech Futures reported that PNC is the first U.S. bank to use RippleNet’s blockchain network to move money across borders. The solution is available to corporate clients of the bank’s PNC Treasury Management unit, according to reports, and will enable PNC to offer businesses real-time global payments.

article thumbnail

Speed, Security And Simplicity: The Three S’s Of Payments Innovation 

PYMNTS

From the biggest transactions between enterprises to the small weekly allowances doled out weekly by 70 percent of America’s parents , there are three ingredients necessary when trying to reap the many rewards of digitization. First, it has to be fast , because no one likes standing in line. It has to be safe, because trust is the grease that keeps the financial services wheels spinning.

article thumbnail

MoneyGram And Vietnam’s HD Bank Team On Home Delivery

PYMNTS

Global payments company MoneyGram announced a new partnership with HD Bank in Vietnam to provide a home delivery service, MoneyGram said in a press release on Thursday (Aug. 29). . MoneyGram already has a home delivery network in Vietnam, but teaming with HD Bank offers customers more confidence money will arrive where it is supposed to and on time.

Banking 75
article thumbnail

Less Stress, More Success: Accounting Best Practices & Processes for 2025

Speaker: Amanda Adams, Fractional CFO, CPA

Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Amanda Adams, a seasoned fractional CFO and CPA passionate about transforming back-office operations for finance teams. This session will cover critical best practices and process improvements tailored specifically for accounting professionals.

article thumbnail

Social Network Telegram Races To Release It’s Own Cryptocurrency

PYMNTS

While Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency Libra hangs in regulatory limbo over concerns of money laundering and a threat to financial stability, popular social network Telegram has plans to release its own cryptocurrency by October, according to a report by The New York Times. “A whole new economy saturated with goods and services sold for cryptocurrency will be born,” the company said in 2017.

article thumbnail

Bitcoin Daily: Hedgefund Billionaire Plans $1B Crypto Venture; Baton Gets Series A Funding

PYMNTS

Elwood Asset Management — owned by British billionaire and Brevan Howard Founder Alan Howard — is planning a $1 billion venture into the crypto hedge fund space. The asset manager is developing a platform that would tailor portfolios of cryptocurrency funds for institutional investors, the Financial Times reported on Aug. 30. Howard is launching a $1 billion endeavor for specially-designed cryptocurrency hedge fund portfolios.

article thumbnail

AI-Powered Visual Shopping Experiences For Millennials, Gen Z

PYMNTS

Retailers looking to engage tech-savvy millennials and Gen Z consumers are quickly doubling down on their efforts to offer more visual content and enhance the discoverability of their products and services. The need for fast, visual-based search systems is filtering into the mainstream, with Google recently revamping its Image tool to include a new user interface that allows shoppers to compare product images.

Retail 74
article thumbnail

How Open Banking Can Benefit Credit Unions

PYMNTS

While all financial institutions (FIs) operate on customer relationships, trust and loyalty can play a larger role for credit unions. According to PYMNTS’ Credit Union Innovation Index, 65 percent of credit union members said they chose a credit union (CU) as their primary because they trusted it, as opposed to 45 percent of non-CU members who said the same.

Banking 73
article thumbnail

Avoiding Lease Accounting Pitfalls in 2025: Lessons Learned from Spreadsheet Errors

Speaker: Abdi Ali, Sr. Lease Accounting Consultant

Join this insightful webinar with industry expert Abdi Ali, who will discuss the challenges that can arise from managing lease accounting with spreadsheets! He will share real-world examples of errors, compliance issues, and risks that may be present within your spreadsheets. Learn how these tools, while useful, can sometimes lead to inefficiencies that affect your time, resources, and peace of mind.

article thumbnail

Tencent Is Bringing WeChat To Cars

PYMNTS

Chinese tech giant Tencent has said it will release a version of its ultra-popular WeChat app specifically for drivers to use in cars, according to a report by Reuters. The company is teaming up with China carmaker China Chang’an Automobile Group on the function. WeChat is China’s most popular chat app, with upwards of a billion users. The app will be integrated into upcoming car models later this year.

article thumbnail

The Three Golden Rules Of Growing Global Marketplaces  

PYMNTS

Gaining scale as a marketplace is, by-and-large, a good thing. . It’s a sign that one has successfully found a way to reach a stable base audience with its goods or services to such an extent that it is time to think about expanding that footprint. . However, as marketplaces start gaining scale, their thoughts turn to the global marketplace and how to expand fully into it, said Yapstone Executive Vice President and Chief Product and Technology Officer Sanjay Saraf to Karen Webster in a recent

article thumbnail

As Netflix Turns 22, Questions Remain About Subscriber Loyalty

PYMNTS

Turn off that TV show or movie — even if you are binge-watching this holiday weekend, just take a minute away from the addictive content — and wish a hearty happy birthday to the force more or less behind all your home-entertainment enjoyment. Yes, Netflix is another year old. The streaming and subscription service turned 22 on Thursday (Aug. 29). The trends sparked largely by this company since 1997 have led to new areas of commerce, new opportunities for payments and even potentially existenti

article thumbnail

Upcoming Tell-All Book Questions Uber’s Fee Structure

PYMNTS

Uber is trying to reassure its customers before a tell-all book about the company is released. One excerpt of the book, authored by New York Times reporter Mike Isaac , reveals that Uber misled customers into paying $1 more per ride by telling them the rideshare giant would use the proceeds to pay for an “industry-leading background check process, regular motor vehicle checks, driver safety education, development of safety features in the app, and insurance.”.

article thumbnail

Back to Basics with Reconciliations

Join us in this webinar, where we share best practices on how to think about the reconciliation work each month, when best to do reconciliations, how they should be prepared, and some common pitfalls to avoid. Learning Objectives: This course objective is to understand how to properly prepare and review balance sheet reconciliations and its impact on the financial statements.

article thumbnail

When Micro Supply Chain Frictions Create Major Payment Bottlenecks

PYMNTS

Down supply chains, paper checks indeed remain the dominant way companies pay suppliers, logistics service providers and business partners. While the payment method is far from efficient — paper requires manual data entry, expanding the risk of mistakes and fraud and taking up valuable time — it’s often the actions before the actual act of payment bogging up cash flow.

B2B 66
article thumbnail

New Nike Shoes Respond To Siri Commands

PYMNTS

Nike’s new Adapt Huarache shoes work with voice commands on Siri and Apple Watch , allowing owners to adjust the fit and lace and unlace their sneakers, CNBC reported on Thursday (Aug. 29). This redesign of the 1991 Nike Huarache uses FitAdapt self-lacing technology, similar to the Nike Adapt BB shoes that were announced in January. The latest iteration of FitAdapt allows for more personal preferences, environments and situations.

article thumbnail

Breach At Cybersecurity Firm Imperva Exposes User Data

PYMNTS

California-based Imperva , a principal cybersecurity provider that works to prevent website breaches, has said it was hacked, The Next Web reported on Wednesday (Aug. 28). The popular security vendor said its cloud-based firewall product exposed user data online, including email addresses, passwords, API keys and SSL certificates. The hack affects customers using the Cloud Web Application Firewall (WAF) product.

article thumbnail

Mastercard On The Opportunity Ahead For ePayables

PYMNTS

In the quest to streamline B2B processes, and to move beyond the way things have always been done – especially when it comes to managing payments and cash flow — ePayables are gaining traction with financial professionals. As noted in a recent Optimization and ePayables Playbook , more than one-third of businesses are “enthusiastic” about adopting that innovation, with an eye on improving day-to-day operations.

article thumbnail

Usage-Based Monetization Musts: A Roadmap for Sustainable Revenue Growth

Speaker: David Warren and Kevin O’Neill Stoll

Transitioning to a usage-based business model offers powerful growth opportunities but comes with unique challenges. How do you validate strategies, reduce risks, and ensure alignment with customer value? Join us for a deep dive into designing effective pilots that test the waters and drive success in usage-based revenue. Discover how to develop a pilot that captures real customer feedback, aligns internal teams with usage metrics, and rethinks sales incentives to prioritize lasting customer eng

article thumbnail

Building A DTC Men’s Personal Care Brand With eCommerce

PYMNTS

To provide men’s personal care items that feel like premium brands at accessible price points, eCommerce innovators are building product lines through the direct-to-consumer (DTC) model. Take Huron , which sells body wash, face lotion and face wash through its website. Founder Matt Mullenax was inspired to start the brand after cutting his teeth in the DTC world as an early employee at Bonobos.

article thumbnail

How Square’s Orders API Became Central To Its Strategy

PYMNTS

When Square released its first set of developer application programming interfaces (APIs) about five years ago, the focus was to attract partners able to give its sellers tools to more effectively manage their point of sale data. The archetypical example, Square Developer Platform Lead Carl Perry, told PYMNTS in a recent conversation, was QuickBooks.

Sales 65
article thumbnail

Football Season To Kick Off New Payments Plays

PYMNTS

It’s that’s time of year again – football season is upon us. As diehard baseball geeks pout about having to share TV time with another major sport, and most of the country goes into New England Patriot-hating mode, the digital payments and commerce industry gets pretty optimistic – and even excited. That’s because every NFL season promises to bring advances in payments.

Retail 64
article thumbnail

How Will 5G Weather Growing Resistance To Deployments?

PYMNTS

Everyone in retail and payments is – or should be – getting ready for 5G mobile network technology. More potential and real 5G use cases keep popping up (more about that in just a bit), but it also pays to keep in mind that as the technology moves closer to the mainstream, more consumers are fighting back against those deployments. Here at PYMNTS, we take a generally optimistic and robust view of the coming decade of the 2020s, during which many fresh payments and retail innovations promise to c

article thumbnail

Solve Your Firm's Automation Complexities Once and For All

Speaker: Mark Stovel

When it comes to automating, many firms focus on finding the latest tech, believing that efficiency is something achieved through new tools. Yet true efficiency is achieved by delivering real value to clients, not merely by upgraded systems. Without a clear approach, no level of automation can overcome the complexities of serving every client’s needs.