In today’s top payments news around the world, Nium announced that it would purchase Ixaris as part of an international expansion, while Worldline announced it will bring Toshiba’s Pro-X Hybrid Kiosk to market. Plus, foreign backers are investing millions into Pakistan’s FinTechs.
Nium Invests In B2B Travel Payments With Ixaris Acquisition
Payment platform Nium announced that it would purchase Ixaris, a travel payments optimization platform, as part of an international expansion. “The travel industry has long been dependent on slow-moving, monolithic payment platforms,” Nium Co-Founder and CEO Prajit Nanu said. “Our acquisition will serve to replace these incumbents with a modern solution that combines Ixaris’ leading virtual card capability with Nium’s advanced pay-in, pay-out and embedded foreign exchange capabilities.”
Worldline, Toshiba Partner On Hybrid Checkout Kiosk
European payments and transactional services company Worldline has announced that it will bring Toshiba’s Pro-X Hybrid Kiosk to market, helping merchants make the most of the layout of their stores by way of a more flexible approach to the point of sale (POS) and offering a more sophisticated checkout experience. To that end, the kiosk can be harnessed as a traditional register, while it can also be used as a self-checkout station.
Foreign Investors Pour Millions Into Pakistan’s FinTech Startups
Foreign investors are investing millions of dollars into Pakistan’s FinTech upstarts as two new funding deals — Abhi and KTrade — land an infusion of an overall $6.6 million in fresh capital. Those newest funding arrangements are on top of the $19.3 million raised by Pakistan’s upstarts in the first quarter of 2021. Of that, nearly $15 million came from international investors.
China Flexes Anti-Crypto Muscle, Blocks Weibo’s Crypto Influencers
China has blocked digital currency and decentralized finance (DeFi) accounts and influencers from Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo. Popular Weibo accounts that were related to digital currency were blocked over the weekend of June 5. The move comes on the heels of China’s vow in May to accelerate its crackdown on bitcoin mining and trading.