Finastra, a global provider of financial services software applications, today announced an integration with Prelim, an industry-leading fintech, for its Finastra Phoenix core solution, enhancing the retail and commercial deposit account opening experience.Prelim empowers financial institutions to digitize the customer experience by automating the application process and internal operations such as reviewing, processing, underwriting, and servicing. From onboarding deposit customers to provisioning treasury services and originating select credit products, Prelim’s technology helps make account opening faster, reduces back-office complexities, and provides a more seamless and enhanced customer experience for account holders.“Customers expect an easy to use, real-time onboarding process when applying for a new financial product or service,” said Heang Chan, CEO and co-founder of Prelim. “We’re excited to be partnering with Finastra to help accelerate retail and commercial deposit account opening for financial institutions around the world.”Through Finastra’s Open Finance ecosystem, Prelim integrates seamlessly with Phoenix APIs, enabling the creation of new accounts for both new and existing account holders. These accounts are then reflected within the digital banking solution, providing a cohesive user experience. This comprehensive integration allows financial institutions to efficiently onboard new accounts and services, ensuring a smooth and streamlined process.“In a digital-first society, consumers and businesses expect their financial solutions to be agile and transform as needed to keep pace with their needs,” said Peter Longo, vice president of product management, US Mid-Market Banking Solutions at Finastra. “As we look to continuously enhance our offerings, Prelim is a trusted partner to support this transformation and our Open Finance ecosystem

Another work week in the books.For Southeast startups, this week brought early-stage funding news and impressive acquisition headlines. As you catch up on work and prepare to wind down for the weekend, here is a round up of what happened across the region:The BIG Stories on HypepotamusAtlanta-based zerodivide.ai is looking to use artificial intelligence to help students with autism and others in the I/DD community unlock their ideas through writing. More here.Knoxville has a new VC firm. We have some of the details on Market Square Ventures.Get to know the CEO of Gabriel Money, an Atlanta-based neobank focused on financial literacy and empowerment for the Latino community in the US.Funding NewsCharlotte-based Lucid Bots closed its $9.1 million Series A funding round, led by Cubit Capital, with participation from Idea Fund Partners, Danu Venture Group, and existing investors that include Y Combinator’s Growth Fund and Gratus Capital. Previous Hypepotamus coverage of Lucid can be found here.Birmingham-based Acclinate, a health equity startup focused on improving clinical trials, raised its $7 million Series A funding round. More on the funding round here.Acquisition NewsFlashtract, an Atlanta-based software startup for construction billing automation, announced it was acquired by California-based Trimble

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--We are excited to share that Prelim has been selected as the best-in-class solution in the American Bankers Association's (ABA) 2024 Digital Account Opening Product Assessment, conducted in partnership with Datos Insights. Prelim was highly ranked in terms of live deployments, contracts sold in 2023, customer feedback, and out-of-the-box core and financial application integrations, positioning it as a leader in the digital onboarding space.As echoed by one of Prelim's satisfied clients:"Prelim's innovative approach and commitment to excellence have truly transformed our digital onboarding experience. Their modern and open architecture allows us to connect to any system and partner with Prelim's highly responsive team to tailor a solution that works for our current technology infrastructure, processes, and compliance/risk requirements." Head of Digital - $38bn Regional Publicly Traded BankWhat Does the Assessment Measure?As part of this initiative, the ABA commissioned Datos Insights to research and evaluate a selection of digital account opening products, providing valuable insights to support member banks' vendor and product decisions.The assessment highlights key trends and challenges in the digital account opening space, emphasizing the importance of enabling financial institutions to remain competitive through seamless and intuitive account opening processes.How Did Prelim Fare? Insights from the AssessmentIn the evaluation, Prelim showcased remarkable performance across various criteria:Tailored Solutions : Prelim's product suite is built by former top bankers and Silicon Valley engineers and crafted to align with financial institutions' diverse offerings, requiring minimal engineering or IT resources.: Prelim's product suite is built by former top bankers and Silicon Valley engineers and crafted to align with financial institutions' diverse offerings, requiring minimal engineering or IT resources. Diverse Portfolio : Since its inception in 2017, Prelim has curated a robust selection of 100 solutions, spanning from Consumer and Business Account Onboarding to Treasury Services Onboarding, catering to the unique needs of banks and credit unions.: Since its inception in 2017, Prelim has curated a robust selection of 100 solutions, spanning from Consumer and Business Account Onboarding to Treasury Services Onboarding, catering to the unique needs of banks and credit unions. Regional/Community Bank Focus: Prelim boasts a wide-reaching presence across 41 U.S. banks, including Banc of California, City National Bank of Florida, and Metropolitan Commercial Bank, indicating its relevance and appeal to a diverse clientele.Prelim boasts a wide-reaching presence across 41 U.S