Latest news with #JasonGardner
Fintech News ME
2 days ago
- Business
- Fintech News ME
Stitch Raises $10M to Improve Financial Infrastructure in MENA
Stitch, a Saudi Arabia-based platform for launching and scaling financial products, has announced the close of a US$10 million seed funding round. The round was led by Arbor Ventures, COTU Ventures, Raed Ventures, and SVC, with participation from family offices and industry figures including Marqeta founder Jason Gardner and Abdulmalik AlSheikh, known for his role in establishing the mada and Sadad payment networks in Saudi Arabia. The funding will support Stitch's efforts to expand its team and enhance its technology platform, which aims to simplify the development and launch of financial services. Demand for integrated financial infrastructure is increasing across both the Middle East and global markets. The global banking and financial services industry is projected to grow from US$91.42 billion in 2024 to US$221.39 billion by 2033, at a compound annual growth rate of 10.3 percent. In Saudi Arabia, banking sector assets have reached US$1.12 trillion (SAR 4.22 trillion), while digital payments grew by 75 percent between 2019 and 2021. Point-of-sale transactions in the country totalled US$177.69 billion (SAR 667 billion) in the 2024 financial year. Despite this growth, many businesses in the region continue to face challenges in building financial products due to outdated systems and complex regulations. Stitch aims to address this with a unified, API-driven platform. Currently serving clients in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the company has also expanded into East Africa, beginning with Kenya. Mohamed Oueida, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Stitch, said: 'Businesses are forced to navigate outdated legacy systems and complex regulatory frameworks, making things slow, expensive, and mostly painful. It does not have to be this way. Stitch exists to change this. Institutions should be able to focus on what matters and have a platform that can mould around their creativity. We are generally looking to make this process a lot more enjoyable for our partners.' Stitch's platform enables clients to develop and launch financial services more efficiently, with the company claiming product deployment times can be reduced by up to 80 percent. Clients include Lulu Exchange, Alamoudi Exchange, Foodics, Dar Al Tamleek, Raya Financing, and Tanmeya Capital, all of whom are using the platform to offer customised financial solutions. Founded in 2022, Stitch has brought together talent from institutions such as FIS, Geidea, Rain Financial, NPCI India, and Al Rajhi Bank, with a focus on long-term innovation in banking and payments.
Zawya
5 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Stitch secures $10mln in funding to simplify banking and payments innovation
Stitch's clients include cross-sectoral regional leaders such as Lulu Exchange, Alamoudi Exchange, Foodics, Dar Al Tamleek, Raya Financing and Tanmeya Capital Stitch enables financial institutions to launch products in under 90 days — an 80% reduction in implementation time compared to industry norms Funding to fuel product innovation and growth in line with Saudi Vision 2030 and a booming digital payments market Riyadh, Saudi Arabia/ Dubai, UAE – Stitch ( the unified platform for launching and scaling financial products, today announced the successful closing of a $10 million seed round. The Saudi Arabia headquartered company attracted investments from leading investors including Arbor Ventures, COTU Ventures, Raed Ventures, and SVC. The round has also had participation from various family offices and industry veterans including Marqeta's founder Jason Gardner, and Abdulmalik AlSheikh who previously led the establishment of critical payment networks such as mada and Sadad in the KSA. The funding will accelerate Stitch's growth to transform financial infrastructure in the region. The demand for integrated, technology infrastructure for financial and non-financial institutions is accelerating both globally and across the Middle East. The global Banking & Financial Services Industry (BFSI) is projected to reach USD 221.39 billion by 2033, up from USD 91.42 billion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.3% during the forecast period. This surge is driven by the increasing demand for digital transformation across banking, financial services, and insurance sectors. In Saudi Arabia alone, banking sector assets have surged to US $ 1.12 trillion (SAR 4.22 trillion), while digital payments grew by 75% between 2019 and 2021, and point-of-sale transactions reached US$ 177.69 billion (SAR 667 billion) in FY 2024. Businesses in the Middle East, from banks and lenders to consumer brands and large enterprises still face significant barriers to building modern financial products. Stitch is addressing this gap with a unified infrastructure platform built in the Middle East and designed to compete globally. Launched initially for clients in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Stitch is already attracting interest beyond the region, and has secured clients in the Eastern African region, starting with Kenya. "At Stitch, our vision is to reinvent how financial and non-financial institutions bring banking and payment products to market." said Mohamed Oueida, Founder & CEO of Stitch. "Today, the process of building financial products is broken. Businesses are forced to navigate outdated legacy systems and complex regulatory frameworks, making things slow, expensive, and mostly painful. It doesn't have to be this way. Stitch exists to change this. Institutions should be able to focus on what matters and have a platform that can mold around their creativity. We are generally looking to make this process a lot more enjoyable for our partners." The first-of-its-kind business in the Middle East, Stitch's technology offers the simplest way for enterprises to build financial products, delivering an API-driven solution that eliminates the inefficiencies and complexities of legacy systems. Designed to meet the evolving needs of modern financial services, Stitch serves as the unified platform to launch and scale banking and payment products up to 80% faster. The $10 million raised will be used to expand Stitch's team and enhance its platform capabilities, further establishing the company as a trusted infrastructure partner for banks, fintech firms, and non-financial enterprises integrating financial services. Major clients such as Lulu Exchange, Alamoudi Exchange, Foodics, Dar Al Tamleek, Raya Financing and Tanmeya Capital—are already leveraging Stitch's technology to launch tailored financial solutions across diverse sectors and regions. Nora Alsarhan, Deputy CEO and Chief Investment Officer at SVC, commented, 'Our investment in Stitch is driven by our commitment to supporting the growth of innovative Saudi-based startups, enabling them to compete both regionally and globally. We believe Stitch has the potential to play a significant role in developing a more capable and resilient financial ecosystem in the Middle East and around the world.' Khaled Lababidi, Partner, Arbor Ventures commented, 'As emerging markets digitalise their financial services, we believe the next generation of technology infrastructure will come from places like Saudi Arabia and led by founders who understand these regions. Stitch is a clear example of this shift, combining local expertise with global standards to support institutions across emerging markets. Their platform addresses long-standing infrastructure gaps by offering a simplified but compliant solution that's built for scale, speed and security.' Wael Nafee, General Partner, Raed Ventures, commented: 'For the first time, financial institutions in the region have a local infrastructure partner that was built from the ground up with their realities in mind, with the ability to compete anywhere in the world. Stitch isn't just creating an alternative to legacy systems; they're setting a new standard for how financial products should be built. Their focus on technical depth with global ambitions has set them apart from day one. This is not just the kind of company we want to back, but is also indicative of the impact that Middle East startups can have on the global tech ecosystem.' Founded in 2022, Stitch has attracted industry-leading talent from global organisations including FIS, Geidea, Rain Financial, NPCI India, Al Rajhi Bank and many others, with a commitment to driving long-term innovation in the banking and payments industry. About Stitch Stitch empowers visionary businesses to seamlessly build, deploy, and scale financial products. As a unified SaaS and API platform, Stitch eliminates the complexities of traditional financial infrastructure, enabling rapid innovation and sustainable growth in a dynamic market. For more information, visit
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Finance and HR Software Stocks Q1 In Review: Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) Vs Peers
As the Q1 earnings season wraps, let's dig into this quarter's best and worst performers in the finance and hr software industry, including Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) and its peers. Organizations are constantly looking to improve organizational efficiencies, whether it is financial planning, tax management or payroll. Finance and HR software benefit from the SaaS-ification of businesses, large and small, who much prefer the flexibility of cloud-based, web-browser delivered software paid for on a subscription basis than the hassle and expense of purchasing and managing on-premise enterprise software. The 13 finance and hr software stocks we track reported a satisfactory Q1. As a group, revenues beat analysts' consensus estimates by 1.4% while next quarter's revenue guidance was 1.1% below. In light of this news, share prices of the companies have held steady as they are up 4.5% on average since the latest earnings results. Founded by CEO Jason Gardner in 2009, Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) is an innovative card issuer that provides companies with the ability to issue and process virtual, physical, and tokenized credit and debit cards. Marqeta reported revenues of $139.1 million, up 17.9% year on year. This print exceeded analysts' expectations by 2.4%. Overall, it was a strong quarter for the company with an impressive beat of analysts' EBITDA estimates and a narrow beat of analysts' total payment volume estimates. Marqeta achieved the fastest revenue growth of the whole group. Unsurprisingly, the stock is up 28% since reporting and currently trades at $5.24. Is now the time to buy Marqeta? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free. Originally created to process international tuition payments for universities, Flywire (NASDAQ:FLYW) is a cross border payments processor and software platform focusing on complex, high-value transactions like education, healthcare and B2B payments. Flywire reported revenues of $133.5 million, up 17% year on year, outperforming analysts' expectations by 5%. The business had a very strong quarter with a solid beat of analysts' EBITDA estimates and revenue guidance for next quarter meeting analysts' expectations. Flywire pulled off the biggest analyst estimates beat among its peers. The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 6.1% since reporting. It currently trades at $10.66. Is now the time to buy Flywire? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free. Holding close ties to American Express, Global Business Travel (NYSE:GBTG) is a comprehensive travel and expense management services provider to corporations worldwide. Global Business Travel reported revenues of $621 million, up 1.8% year on year, falling short of analysts' expectations by 1.9%. It was a softer quarter as it posted full-year EBITDA guidance missing analysts' expectations. Global Business Travel delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates and slowest revenue growth in the group. As expected, the stock is down 9.1% since the results and currently trades at $6.26. Read our full analysis of Global Business Travel's results here. Created in 1983 when founder Scott Cook watched his wife struggle to reconcile the family's checkbook, Intuit provides tax and accounting software for small and medium-sized businesses. Intuit reported revenues of $7.75 billion, up 15.1% year on year. This number beat analysts' expectations by 2.6%. Overall, it was a very strong quarter as it also produced full-year EPS guidance exceeding analysts' expectations and a solid beat of analysts' EBITDA estimates. Intuit pulled off the highest full-year guidance raise among its peers. The stock is up 12.7% since reporting and currently trades at $750.46. Read our full, actionable report on Intuit here, it's free. Founded by industry veterans Aneel Bushri and Dave Duffield after their former company PeopleSoft was acquired by Oracle in a hostile takeover, Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) provides cloud-based software for organizations to manage and plan finance and human resources. Workday reported revenues of $2.24 billion, up 12.6% year on year. This result topped analysts' expectations by 1%. Aside from that, it was a satisfactory quarter as it also recorded a solid beat of analysts' EBITDA estimates but a significant miss of analysts' billings estimates. The stock is down 12% since reporting and currently trades at $239.43. Read our full, actionable report on Workday here, it's free. As a result of the Fed's rate hikes in 2022 and 2023, inflation has come down from frothy levels post-pandemic. The general rise in the price of goods and services is trending towards the Fed's 2% goal as of late, which is good news. The higher rates that fought inflation also didn't slow economic activity enough to catalyze a recession. So far, soft landing. This, combined with recent rate cuts (half a percent in September 2024 and a quarter percent in November 2024) have led to strong stock market performance in 2024. The icing on the cake for 2024 returns was Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. Presidential Election in early November, sending major indices to all-time highs in the week following the election. Still, debates around the health of the economy and the impact of potential tariffs and corporate tax cuts remain, leaving much uncertainty around 2025. Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our Top 6 Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. Join Paid Stock Investor Research Help us make StockStory more helpful to investors like yourself. Join our paid user research session and receive a $50 Amazon gift card for your opinions. Sign up here. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Unpacking Q4 Earnings: Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) In The Context Of Other Finance and HR Software Stocks
Wrapping up Q4 earnings, we look at the numbers and key takeaways for the finance and hr software stocks, including Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) and its peers. Organizations are constantly looking to improve organizational efficiencies, whether it is financial planning, tax management or payroll. Finance and HR software benefit from the SaaS-ification of businesses, large and small, who much prefer the flexibility of cloud-based, web-browser delivered software paid for on a subscription basis than the hassle and expense of purchasing and managing on-premise enterprise software. The 14 finance and hr software stocks we track reported a mixed Q4. As a group, revenues beat analysts' consensus estimates by 1.1% while next quarter's revenue guidance was 1.4% below. Amidst this news, share prices of the companies have had a rough stretch. On average, they are down 11.6% since the latest earnings results. Founded by CEO Jason Gardner in 2009, Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) is an innovative card issuer that provides companies with the ability to issue and process virtual, physical, and tokenized credit and debit cards. Marqeta reported revenues of $135.8 million, up 14.3% year on year. This print exceeded analysts' expectations by 3%. Overall, it was a very strong quarter for the company with an impressive beat of analysts' EBITDA estimates and a solid beat of analysts' total payment volume estimates. "In 2024, we empowered our customers to achieve significant growth and scale, maintaining both stability and compliance," said Mike Milotich, Interim CEO at Marqeta. Interestingly, the stock is up 13.9% since reporting and currently trades at $3.97. Is now the time to buy Marqeta? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free. Founded by industry veterans Aneel Bushri and Dave Duffield after their former company PeopleSoft was acquired by Oracle in a hostile takeover, Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) provides cloud-based software for organizations to manage and plan finance and human resources. Workday reported revenues of $2.21 billion, up 15% year on year, outperforming analysts' expectations by 1.3%. The business had a very strong quarter with a solid beat of analysts' EBITDA estimates and an impressive beat of analysts' billings estimates. The stock is down 5.8% since reporting. It currently trades at $240.40. Is now the time to buy Workday? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free. Originally created to process international tuition payments for universities, Flywire (NASDAQ:FLYW) is a cross border payments processor and software platform focusing on complex, high-value transactions like education, healthcare and B2B payments. Flywire reported revenues of $117.6 million, up 22.4% year on year, falling short of analysts' expectations by 4.9%. It was a softer quarter as it posted revenue guidance for next quarter slightly missing analysts' expectations. Flywire delivered the fastest revenue growth but had the weakest performance against analyst estimates in the group. As expected, the stock is down 49.4% since the results and currently trades at $8.92. Read our full analysis of Flywire's results here. Founded in 2010, Workiva (NYSE:WK) offers software as a service product that makes financial and compliance reporting easier, especially for publicly traded corporations. Workiva reported revenues of $199.9 million, up 19.9% year on year. This result topped analysts' expectations by 2.4%. Taking a step back, it was a mixed quarter as it also logged an impressive beat of analysts' EBITDA estimates but full-year EPS guidance missing analysts' expectations significantly. Workiva scored the highest full-year guidance raise among its peers. The company added 129 enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually to reach a total of 2,055. The stock is down 12.4% since reporting and currently trades at $73.32. Read our full, actionable report on Workiva here, it's free. One of the oldest service providers in the industry, Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) offers its customers payroll and HR software solutions. Paychex reported revenues of $1.51 billion, up 4.8% year on year. This print met analysts' expectations. More broadly, it was a mixed quarter as it underperformed in some other aspects of the business. Paychex had the slowest revenue growth among its peers. The stock is flat since reporting and currently trades at $144.73. Read our full, actionable report on Paychex here, it's free. Thanks to the Fed's rate hikes in 2022 and 2023, inflation has been on a steady path downward, easing back toward that 2% sweet spot. Fortunately (miraculously to some), all this tightening didn't send the economy tumbling into a recession, so here we are, cautiously celebrating a soft landing. The cherry on top? Recent rate cuts (half a point in September 2024, a quarter in November) have propped up markets, especially after Trump's November win lit a fire under major indices and sent them to all-time highs. However, there's still plenty to ponder — tariffs, corporate tax cuts, and what 2025 might hold for the economy. Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our Top 5 Quality Compounder Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. Join Paid Stock Investor Research Help us make StockStory more helpful to investors like yourself. Join our paid user research session and receive a $50 Amazon gift card for your opinions. Sign up here.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Unpacking Q4 Earnings: Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) In The Context Of Other Finance and HR Software Stocks
Wrapping up Q4 earnings, we look at the numbers and key takeaways for the finance and hr software stocks, including Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) and its peers. Organizations are constantly looking to improve organizational efficiencies, whether it is financial planning, tax management or payroll. Finance and HR software benefit from the SaaS-ification of businesses, large and small, who much prefer the flexibility of cloud-based, web-browser delivered software paid for on a subscription basis than the hassle and expense of purchasing and managing on-premise enterprise software. The 14 finance and hr software stocks we track reported a mixed Q4. As a group, revenues beat analysts' consensus estimates by 1.1% while next quarter's revenue guidance was 1.4% below. Amidst this news, share prices of the companies have had a rough stretch. On average, they are down 11.6% since the latest earnings results. Founded by CEO Jason Gardner in 2009, Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) is an innovative card issuer that provides companies with the ability to issue and process virtual, physical, and tokenized credit and debit cards. Marqeta reported revenues of $135.8 million, up 14.3% year on year. This print exceeded analysts' expectations by 3%. Overall, it was a very strong quarter for the company with an impressive beat of analysts' EBITDA estimates and a solid beat of analysts' total payment volume estimates. "In 2024, we empowered our customers to achieve significant growth and scale, maintaining both stability and compliance," said Mike Milotich, Interim CEO at Marqeta. Interestingly, the stock is up 13.9% since reporting and currently trades at $3.97. Is now the time to buy Marqeta? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free. Founded by industry veterans Aneel Bushri and Dave Duffield after their former company PeopleSoft was acquired by Oracle in a hostile takeover, Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) provides cloud-based software for organizations to manage and plan finance and human resources. Workday reported revenues of $2.21 billion, up 15% year on year, outperforming analysts' expectations by 1.3%. The business had a very strong quarter with a solid beat of analysts' EBITDA estimates and an impressive beat of analysts' billings estimates. The stock is down 5.8% since reporting. It currently trades at $240.40. Is now the time to buy Workday? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free. Originally created to process international tuition payments for universities, Flywire (NASDAQ:FLYW) is a cross border payments processor and software platform focusing on complex, high-value transactions like education, healthcare and B2B payments. Flywire reported revenues of $117.6 million, up 22.4% year on year, falling short of analysts' expectations by 4.9%. It was a softer quarter as it posted revenue guidance for next quarter slightly missing analysts' expectations. Flywire delivered the fastest revenue growth but had the weakest performance against analyst estimates in the group. As expected, the stock is down 49.4% since the results and currently trades at $8.92. Read our full analysis of Flywire's results here. Founded in 2010, Workiva (NYSE:WK) offers software as a service product that makes financial and compliance reporting easier, especially for publicly traded corporations. Workiva reported revenues of $199.9 million, up 19.9% year on year. This result topped analysts' expectations by 2.4%. Taking a step back, it was a mixed quarter as it also logged an impressive beat of analysts' EBITDA estimates but full-year EPS guidance missing analysts' expectations significantly. Workiva scored the highest full-year guidance raise among its peers. The company added 129 enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually to reach a total of 2,055. The stock is down 12.4% since reporting and currently trades at $73.32. Read our full, actionable report on Workiva here, it's free. One of the oldest service providers in the industry, Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) offers its customers payroll and HR software solutions. Paychex reported revenues of $1.51 billion, up 4.8% year on year. This print met analysts' expectations. More broadly, it was a mixed quarter as it underperformed in some other aspects of the business. Paychex had the slowest revenue growth among its peers. The stock is flat since reporting and currently trades at $144.73. Read our full, actionable report on Paychex here, it's free. Thanks to the Fed's rate hikes in 2022 and 2023, inflation has been on a steady path downward, easing back toward that 2% sweet spot. Fortunately (miraculously to some), all this tightening didn't send the economy tumbling into a recession, so here we are, cautiously celebrating a soft landing. The cherry on top? Recent rate cuts (half a point in September 2024, a quarter in November) have propped up markets, especially after Trump's November win lit a fire under major indices and sent them to all-time highs. However, there's still plenty to ponder — tariffs, corporate tax cuts, and what 2025 might hold for the economy. Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our Top 5 Quality Compounder Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. Join Paid Stock Investor Research Help us make StockStory more helpful to investors like yourself. Join our paid user research session and receive a $50 Amazon gift card for your opinions. Sign up here.
