Today in FinTech: Kadmos Eyes New Sectors; Chetwood Acquires Yobota

Today in FinTech news, Kadmos is eyeing new industries as it secures seed funding, while Chetwood Financial acquires Yobota. Plus, new unicorn Clara expands into Colombia, and Cross River taps Chainalysis to help cryptocurrency firms scale.

German FinTech Kadmos Closes $9.1M Seed Round

Kadmos is using its seed funding capital to grow beyond the shipping sector into new industries while also adding employees and boosting new product development. Targeting migrant workers, the German FinTech is eyeing a move into construction, healthcare and hospitality. The company plans to officially launch by the end of this month.

Digital Bank Chetwood Acquires Yobota to Expand BaaS

Chetwood Financial is growing its Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) operations with the acquisition of cloud-native core banking platform Yobota. Under the deal, Yobota will continue operating as an independent brand under the Chetwood umbrella. Chetwood operates products including Wave, LiveLend, SmartSave and BetterBorrow.

FinTech Clara, Mastercard Expand in Colombia

Freshly minted unicorn Clara is expanding its reach beyond Mexico and into the transcontinental country of Colombia. Supported by Mastercard, Clara also has its sights set on expanding its spend management platform into Argentina, Chile, Panama, Peru and Uruguay.

Cross River Expands Crypto Services Through Chainalysis

Banking-as-a-Platform firm Cross River is partnering with blockchain data platform Chainalysis to expand its cryptocurrency services. Using technology from Chainalysis, Cross River will use its own infrastructure to help crypto companies build and scale. The collaboration will give Cross River access to transaction monitoring tools from Chainalysis as well as investigation and risk management software.

Mollie Partners With Mazda on Simplified Payments

Dutch payments service provider Mollie has closed a multiyear deal to offer frictionless payments for a new marketplace platform with Mazda Motor Europe. Mollie’s Connect for Platforms portal launched last week and facilitates payments between buyers and sellers. Mazda’s new marketplace platform is focused on enhancing digital and eCommerce experiences for its customers.

Online Sellers Needing Capital Turn to FinTech Lenders Who Know the Terrain

FinTechs have always been there for eCommerce sellers, even when the business model was untested and banks didn’t want to risk doing business with them, Payability Co-Founder and CEO Keith Smith told PYMNTS. Experienced eCommerce lenders like Payability know the ropes and are now there to help smaller online merchants grow. Payability’s solutions aim to even out newcomers’ cash flow with instant payment options and advances of up to $250,000.