Latest news with #Toku
TechCrunch
4 days ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
Rippling calls Deel ‘a criminal syndicate' and claims 4 other competitors were spied on, too
The fight between HR tech startups has heated up another notch this week as Rippling on Thursday filed an 84-page amended complaint in its lawsuit against Deel. The complaint accuses Deel of targeting, infiltrating, and compromising four other competitors, in addition to Rippling. The revised complaint doesn't name all of the four other alleged victims, except cryptocurrency-based tax and payroll compliance company, Toku. Toku is suing its competitor LiquiFilegal also alleging corporate espionage, and that Deel was involved. The complaint alleges that 'Victim-3 is a startup accelerator that previously partnered with Deel.' The complaint doesn't name, or even imply, who that is. (Y Combinator backed both Rippling and Deel but there's no indication this refers to the VC firm. YC has not yet responded to our request for comment.) The complaint also vaguely says that there are one or more additional victims who are 'one or more major competitors of Deel' in the employer of record market. A source familiar with the investigation believes that more witnesses will soon come forward at these other companies to offer details. (Deel did not immediately comment. We will update this story with its response once it does.) Rippling's amended suit also alleges that Deel's CEO Alex Bouaziz was the direct mastermind of it all, sharing screenshots of messages as its evidence. And, although this is a civil suit, Rippling is now implying that this could be a criminal matter. 'This case is about a criminal syndicate that operated from the shadows of a multibillion-dollar technology company – Deel,' the complaint reads. Rippling's amended lawsuit is now suing Deel under the federal RICO statute, as well as the Defend Trade Secrets Act, and California state law. The lawsuit directly names Alex Bouaziz, his father Philippe Bouaziz who is chairman and chief financial officer, and Deel's chief operating officer Daniel Westgarth. It's important to note that the lead attorney for Rippling is Alex Spiro of white-shoe law firm Quinn Emanuel. Spiro is a former prosecutor for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. (He's well known in the legal world, and has his own Wikipedia page.) Using words like 'criminal syndicate' in a civil case would be a deliberate choice. According to the source familiar with the case, federal prosecutors are now actively looking into the allegations against Deel as well. An investigation, however, is not a conviction. But should charges be filed, Rippling is doing its best to set up Bouaziz himself as one of the people responsible. The complaint even goes so far as to repeatedly use the colorful language 'the Bouaziz Racketeering Enterprise.' Other than that, much of the amended complaint reiterates what Rippling has already alleged. To recap: a Rippling employee confessed to being a paid spy for Deel in an Irish Court, in an affidavit that reads like a Hollywood movie. The employee admitted in court to taking sales leads, product roadmaps, customer accounts, names of superstar employees, and whatever other information was asked for. The employee was caught in a Rippling-set honeypot, both he and Rippling say. Rippling is suing Deel, alleging misappropriation of trade secrets, tortious interference, unfair competition, and more, largely based on the spying allegations. Deel has counter-sued in a case that is less about denying Rippling's charges and making a bunch of its own claims about Rippling. For instance, earlier this week, Deel filed an amended lawsuit that claimed that Rippling was spying on Deel by having an employee 'impersonate' a customer to obtain non-public product information. Grab some fresh popcorn. This battle between arch rivals shows no sign of slowing.
The Star
14-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Edible works of art on a plate
OPTIONAL Naotaka (right) crafting his signature Wagyu Beef and Foie Gras Charcoal Bread Sandwich at Iketeru. — GLENN GUAN/The Star WAGYU beef and foie gras in a sandwich is as decadent as it gets. As we took our seats at the marble countertop teppanyaki bar in Iketeru, Hilton Kuala Lumpur, a heady mix of anticipation and appetite hung in the air – all of it building towards that first bite of the Japanese sando. We knew what was coming wasn't just food – it was theatre, indulgence and craftsmanship layered between slices of charcoal bread. Watching the chefs move with quiet precision, knowing that soon, intensely marbled Wagyu beef and rich foie gras would meet in a lavish sandwich was a heady feeling. Showing his prowess was the new executive Japanese chef Naotaka Tokuhisa, who hails from Fukuoka in southern Japan. He took over from his predecessor Kunihiko Hamada. The sando was just the start of a preview of new dishes in Iketero's revamped menu. The Wagyu was seared to attain the Maillard reaction, that occurs when meat is cooked between 140°C and 165°C. Shrimp and Shiso with Bean Curd Sheet and Homemade Tomato Sauce (left) with Deep-Fried Soft Shell Crab. This added flavour and accentuated natural sugars in the meat. Deep, matte smoky grey charcoal bread was arranged neatly on the teppanyaki griddle, poised to cradle the richness of Wagyu and duck foie gras. The vessel, exuding an almost velvety darkness, was made with Taiwanese charcoal powder. Duck liver was used instead of goose liver. A technique employed to balance the richness of the foie gras was coating it with tempura flour. 'We use flour to sear the foie gras, giving it a nice crust to bring out its natural flavours. 'Even if the foie gras is resting, the tempura flour can retain its crispiness,' said Hilton Kuala Lumpur's executive chef Paul McLoughlin. To enhance the dish's luxury factor, a gold leaf was placed on the beef. A simple seasoning of natural Japanese sea salt, reminiscent of the ocean, was gently sprinkled over the dish that was delicately garnished with dehydrated carrots and sweet pea tendrils Monaka Ice Cream with Chestnut. 'Everything that goes in our dishes must have a purpose and accentuate each element's flavours,' added McLoughlin. The sizzle and clatter of the teppanyaki bar, a vibrant dance of flame and steel, gradually faded behind us as we transitioned into the dining room to savour the rest of Tokuhisa's exquisite offerings. A lush and serene Japanese garden was the backdrop for our meal. We savoured dishes like Shrimp and Shiso with Bean Curd Sheet and Homemade Tomato Sauce, accompanied with Deep-Fried Soft-Shell Crab. The bean curd and soft-shell crab dish was a complex combination of skill and clever ideation to elevate Japanese flavours. We also had Striped Jack fish with Orange Sauce. 'In Japan, we use basic ingredients like dashi, kombu and bonito and enhance these with French elements,' explained Tokuhisa. The Striped Jack fish was a treat for the eyes and taste buds. It was beautifully balanced with citrus flavours and delicate textures of coloured sesame seeds. As for the Grilled Chilean Sea Bass with Salt, Miso Sauce, Tokuhisa explained that the sea bass took the place of black cod that was typically served. O-Toro/Amber Jack/Sea Bream/Tuna Roll and Ebi Miso Soup. We found that the sweetness and umami flavours of the miso elevated the fish to a higher level. Finally, O-Toro/Amber Jack/Sea Bream/Tuna Rolls were accompanied by Ebi Miso Soup. The clean flavours of the assorted sushi were complemented by the flavourful prawn miso soup. On any day, a big bowl of this would be soothing for the soul. Monaka Ice Cream with Chestnut, served for dessert, was a painstaking work of art on a plate. Monaka is a Japanese sweet made with azuki bean paste sandwiched between two thin crisp wafers but instead of wafers, Tokuhisa made rice crackers from scratch to delicately carry the green tea ice-cream. IKETERU, Hilton Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Stesen Sentral, Kuala Lumpur. (Tel: 03-2264 2264) Business hours: Noon-2.30pm, 6.30pm-10.30pm. This is the writer's personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Toku Raises $48 Million Series A
Raising the largest A round ever for a LatAm female founder NEW YORK, April 17, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Toku, an account receivable SaaS platform, announced today that it has raised $48 million in Series A funding, bringing its total funding to $55 million. With this fundraise, Toku and CEO Cristina Etcheberry have raised the largest Series A by a female founder in Latin America. The round was led by Oak HC/FT, representing its fourth fintech investment in LatAm in the past three years. Existing investors, including Gradient Ventures (one of Google's investment funds), F-Prime, Clocktower, Y Combinator, and Honey Island by 4UM, also participated. Toku's software connects companies' ERPs with banks and payment rails, enabling payment orchestration and automated collections. Its suite includes customizable payment portals, automated reconciliations, and optimized collection strategies. In Latin America, where automatic payment adoption is low, Toku increases automated payment methods from 10% to 90%, significantly boosting companies' revenue. By leveraging real-time data, Toku automates the entire payment cycle – from method selection to customer engagement – enhancing both efficiency and user experience. The company is focused on Mexico, Brazil, and Chile, serving mid-market to enterprise businesses in sectors like insurance, credit, education, real estate and utilities, handling collections from $10 million to $10 billion. The newly raised funds will be deployed to double down on its existing go-to-market strategy, while accelerating its product development. In 2024, Toku more than doubled in revenue, tripled its TPV, and achieved 160% net dollar retention. Across Latin America, Toku now has more than 150 employees and serves more than 450 enterprises, including Chevrolet, Mapfre, Liverpool, and MetLife. "Latin America still heavily relies on manual and inefficient payment collection processes, creating challenges for businesses and frustrating customers," said Cristina Etcheberry, CEO of Toku. "These outdated methods lead to high delinquency rates and unnecessary friction. This latest investment round further validates the demand for Toku's solutions, and we are excited to bring our technology to even more companies and regions," added Etcheberry, who grew up in Chile in an entrepreneurial and finance-focused family. "Mid-to-large enterprises in Latin America are navigating high operational costs, complex payment infrastructures, and increasing delinquency rates," said Allen Miller, Partner at Oak HC/FT. "Toku is addressing this pain point and empowering businesses across diverse industries with its seamless, world-class payment technology. We are thrilled to partner with the Toku team and look forward to supporting the company in this next phase of growth." Toku was founded with the mission to free Latin American enterprises from outdated processes, manual tasks, an inflexible software stack, and unnecessary risks. The company ensures that businesses receive their revenue reliably and cost-effectively while enhancing the payment experience for their customers. "We aim to provide peace of mind, acting as a trusted partner that safeguards our clients' revenue streams. By enabling businesses to focus on their core operations without added payment concerns, we help them achieve their goals. Our impact may be indirect, but it is significant – we continuously work alongside our clients to refine our services, aiming to reach over 100 million people in the next few years," concluded Cristina Etcheberry. For more information about Toku and its innovative payment solutions, visit About Toku Toku is a leading financial technology company in Latin America, specializing in comprehensive payment solutions. Founded in 2020, Toku provides tailored payment solutions to industries with recurring payments, empowering businesses to increase revenue while minimizing costs through efficient payment processing and enhanced customer experiences. With operations in Mexico, Chile, and Brazil, Toku is committed to transforming the financial landscape in Latin America. For more information, visit About Oak HC/FT Oak HC/FT is a venture and growth equity firm specializing in investments in fintech and healthcare. Using partnership as a foundation, Oak HC/FT guides companies and founders at every stage, from seed to growth, to create businesses that make a measurable and lasting impact. Founded in 2014, Oak HC/FT has invested in over 85 portfolio companies and has over $5.3 billion in assets under management. Oak HC/FT is headquartered in Stamford, CT, with an office in San Francisco, CA. Follow Oak HC/FT on LinkedIn and X and learn more at View source version on Contacts Media Jackie Kahn, jackie@ Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
17-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Fast-Growing Fintech Bringing Stripe-Like Payments To Latin America
Toku cofounder and CEO Cristina Etcheberry has secured the largest ever Series A fundraise for a female-founded tech startup in Latin America. Toku Toku, a 170-person startup based in Santiago, Chile, has raised $39 million in new funding to make it easier for Latin American companies to accept and track the digital payments they receive from consumers. Founded five years ago by entrepreneur Cristina Etcheberry, Toku aims to do for business-to-business payments what Brazil's Nubank has done for consumer banking: use technology to dramatically improve the outdated status quo in the region. Fintech-focused venture capital firm Oak HC/FT led the new Toku fundraise, which values the startup at more than $175 million. Existing backers also invested, including F-Prime Capital, Gradient Ventures (Google's investment fund), Clocktower, Y Combinator, Mexican VC firm Wollef and Brazilian VC Honey Island. The $39 million in Series A funding comes a year after Toku received $9 million in a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) fundraise, where no valuation was set. That $9 million investment will now be converted into Series A stock, and Toku is combining the two financings into a $48 million Series A round. According to PitchBook, it's the largest Series A fundraise ever by a female-founded technology startup in Latin America. The closest runner-up was a $35 million fundraise in December 2021 by Mexican corporate spend management startup Mendel. Similar to payment giant Stripe's fast-growing Billing product, Toku helps businesses with features like accepting consumer payments, sending payment reminders and signing up consumers for auto-pay. It first launched in 2023 in Chile, followed by Mexico and Brazil, and has 475 medium-sized and large businesses as customers. So far, it has targeted companies in five industries: insurance, lending, real estate property management, education and utilities. This year, Toku has reached slightly more than $10 million in annualized revenue, roughly doubling from a year ago, and has spent just $11 million in investment capital to get there. Such capital efficiency is much better than that of most fintech startups, according to Rocio Wu, a Toku investor and board member, and Allen Miller, a partner at Oak who led the new Toku investment and is also joining the startup's board. Have a story tip? Contact Jeff Kauflin at jkauflin@ or on Signal at jeff.273. Growing up in Santiago, Chile, Etcheberry started learning about the intricacies of payments as a teenager. Back then, a consortium of banks called Transbank was the only payment processor in the country. But in 2007 her father, Javier Etcheberry, who had previously led the Chilean government's Internal Revenue Service, started his own payments company. 'My dad was the first one that challenged this monopoly. So I grew up learning about the problems in the current payments infrastructure,' says Toku's 32-year-old CEO. Her father's business, originally called Multicaja and later renamed Klap, has gone on to grow to 500 employees and processes more than three million transactions a day for a 9% share of the payment processing market. (Last year, Javier Etcheberry left Klap and was reappointed as the head of Chile's Internal Revenue Service.) Before founding Toku in 2020, Etcheberry worked as a product manager at Latam Airlines, where she worked on projects like leading the airline's integration with Amazon's Alexa in Brazil. When she started Toku with cofounders Francisca Noguera and Enzo Tamburini, her father wrote the first check to get the startup off the ground. The payments processing market in Latin America is highly fragmented and vastly different from the U.S. market. Ninety-five percent of businesses process payments through local banks, Etcheberry says, and American fintechs like Stripe and Adyen have little market presence there. Payment methods differ by country, and Latin American consumers don't use credit and debit cards as much as Americans do. For example, in Brazil, paying through your bank account with the country's high-speed Pix system is extremely popular. Mexico has its own Pix-like rails called Spei. Oak's Allen Miller says that many elements of payments in Latin America are 'very regional-specific, where a U.S. competitor cannot come in and recreate this overnight.' Toku's software has a few features that aren't currently offered by the incumbent-bank payment processors. First, it helps businesses more easily accept payments from multiple processors. Transactions fail more often in Latin America than they do in the U.S., causing businesses to manually contact customers to collect. Toku's software can route payments to multiple processors so that, if a transaction drops with one, it can quickly move to another to try to complete the payment. Second, it tracks businesses' incoming payments in one place, which helps them more easily send billing reminders to consumers. Third, it helps companies enroll more customers in automated bill pay by offering it at the point of sale. Auto-pay is less popular in Latin America than it is in the U.S. because consumers often need to fill out paperwork or make a phone call to set it up, Etcheberry says. Toku's software sits between companies' accounting systems and their payment processors, and Toku typically doesn't process the actual payments, though it offers that feature too. When asked why she's not pushing harder into payment processing, Etcheberry says Toku will only invest more in building those features 'if we think we can do a better job than the banks … But most of the pain points that our customers have, we can solve through software.' Another likely factor at play: Since credit and debit cards (and the lucrative interchange fees that they come with) aren't as dominant in Latin America, there's less revenue up for grabs in providing processing services. With its new funding, Toku plans to focus on growing in Mexico and Brazil. Brazil has huge potential since it's the largest market in Latin America, but it's also the toughest to conquer. Few Latin American fintech companies have successfully expanded into Brazil after starting elsewhere, says Toku investor Rocio Wu, though she thinks Etcheberry is up for the challenge. She says of Toku's CEO, 'I can totally see her ringing the Nasdaq bell.'
