Finovate Global Israel: From Innovations In Payroll To The Impact Of Politics

Republished By Plato

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Israel-based payroll and payments technology company Papaya Global unveiled its latest solution this week. The new offering, Papaya Global Payroll Payments, is a fully automated, embedded payments platform that facilitates global payroll processing and mass payments. The solution is designed to assist payroll vendors who typically outsource these payments to third party vendors who often are not best suited to handling payroll payments.

“Papaya Payroll Payments is a game changer, full stop.” Papaya CEO and co-founder Eynat Guez said. “No other company is offering fully automated, embedded payments designed for payroll. We are the first payroll payments company in the industry to help its clients navigate the needs of the local employee and the global employer.”

Papaya’s solution will also enable its customers to process payments faster given the fact that Papaya owns money transfer licenses globally and its technology is built specifically to facilitate payroll payments. The company said that payroll payments typically arrive within 72 hours, which it calls “an industry first.”

“We’re giving organizers with global workforces a true borderless solution for getting team members their payments quickly and accurately,” Guez said. “No more manual processes, no more late or inaccurate payments, no fees reaching the employees.”

Founded in 2016, Papaya Global maintains offices in Tel Aviv, New York, Austin, London, Kiev, Singapore, and Melbourne, Australia. Named to the Forbes Cloud 100 and CNBC’s Top Startups for the Enterprise, Papaya Global has raised more than $444 million in funding from investors such as Scale Venture Partners and Insight Partners.

E-commerce risk management platform Riskified announced late this week that it was pulling $500 million in cash and equivalents out of Israel. The move comes as concerns grow about a controversial judicial reform plan championed by the current government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The proposal would give the executive branch greater control over judge selection and limit the ability of the country’s Supreme Court to strike down legislation.

Riskified CEO Eido Gal was quoted by Reuters as fearing that the Israeli government might limit transfers and withdrawals of large sums should the financial situation in the country “continue to deteriorate.”

In addition to transferring funds out of the country, Riskified reported that it will expand hiring in its research and development site in Lisbon, Portugal.

Riskified was founded in 2012 and is based in New York. The company is publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker RSKD and has a market capitalization of more than $940 million.

Learn more about the challenges currently faced by startups in Israel in this explainer from Crunchbase News. Note that Papaya Global, mentioned above, also moved funds out of Israel earlier this year, citing similar concerns about the country’s business climate and political uncertainty. Shuly Galili, founding partner at UpWest, a Silicon Valley-based seed investor that specializes in funding Israeli startups, was quoted as saying that passage of the judicial reform legislation would result impact “investments coming into the country, founders staying or not staying in the country.” Galili added that the new law could result in between $7 billion to $10 billion in funds leaving Israel.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

U.S. payment service provider i2c forged a partnership with UAE-based Mashreq.
Egypt-based Paymob announced a collaboration with streaming platform Shahid.
Crunchbase News featured Papaya Global in its look at the challenges faced by startups in Israel amid the country’s political turmoil.

Central and Southern Asia

India-based fintech unicorn Slice acquired a 5% stake in Indian bank North East Small Finance.
Pakistan fintech platform for the country’s trucking industry, Trukkr, raised $6.4 million in funding.
GrayQuest, the largest education-focused fintech in India, secured $7 million in new Series A funding.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Mexican fintech Bitso launched its Bitso Card payment solution in partnership with Mastercard.
Brazilian financial giant Nubank appointed former Meta executive David Marcus to its board of directors.
AI automation provider Esker partnered with Ecuador-based outsourcing and consulting specialist BPONE.

Asia-Pacific

Philippines-based Security Bank Corporation partnered with ACI Worldwide to enhance its real-time payment capabilities.
WeChat added digital yuan to its payment platform offerings.
Indonesia’s Bank BTPN teamed up with Surecomp for its trade financing platform Doka.

Sub-Saharan Africa

A partnership between U.S.-based Clickatell and South African telecom Telkom will enable mobile messaging payments via WhatsApp.
Nigeria’s central bank issued new open banking legislation.
Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) teamed up with Mastercard in a strategic agreement that will enable banks to offer payment cards to fintechs in Kenya.