Headspace names Zapata as CMO
Val Kaplan Zapata will join mindfulness and meditation-focused app Headspace as Chief Marketing Officer next month. She will join the senior leadership team and lead a cross-functional marketing team with shared responsibility for acquisition, conversion, and retention.

Zapata most recently held the role of Vice President of Growth Marketing for Hulu, where she led growth marketing efforts across the full subscriber lifecycle, including media, acquisition, lifecycle and analytics. Prior to Hulu, she led growth efforts for both direct-to-consumer and media businesses. Zapata built the business development function at Helix Sleep and worked on market operations and monetisation at Instagram.

“I am thrilled and privileged to be joining the talented team at Headspace,” said Zapata. “At this moment in time, I can’t think of a more powerful mission than spreading health and happiness to all. I look forward to helping a growing member base create healthy wellness routines that last a lifetime.”

Madan joins Birdeye as CIO
Birdeye, an experience marketing platform, has hired Sunil Madan as its Chief Information Officer. He will head up revenue operations, internal technology, and help build processes and infrastructure for scale.

Madan arrives at Birdeye from Zoom, where he served as corporate CIO. At Zoom, he was responsible for defining business transformation and executing operations strategy during a period of exceptional growth for the cloud-based video communications platform. He was also previously responsible for strategically designing and executing RingCentrals business systems architecture.

“Customer experience is so close to my heart, and I just love companies that continue to raise the bar in providing delightful experiences, while having a laser focus on categorical transformations. I’m very excited to bring my playbook to Birdeye to help the company’s founders rapidly scale a successful platform and a vision that matches exactly what multi-location businesses need to thrive,” said Madan.

Criteo brings in Scheel on DEI
Rachel Scheel has become the first Senior Vice President of Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at ad tech company Criteo. She will be responsible for designing and driving Criteos Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programme, collaborating across the organisation to launch strategic initiatives that foster a more diverse and inclusive culture.

Scheel joins Criteo with over 20 years of experience in HR leadership roles. Prior to joining Criteo, she was the Global Executive for Culture, Inclusion, Diversity and Engagement at GE Healthcare. In this role, she was responsible for driving employee engagement for the business along with the diversity and inclusion strategy, and aligning with learning and development, talent, reward, and employee life-cycle mechanisms to do so.

“In my career, I have been a passionate advocate for diversity and making a real difference both inside and outside of an organization,” said Scheel. “I am eager to drive Criteo forward in becoming equitable throughout every level of the company, driving engagement from leadership to management and employees to deliver an inclusive culture.”

Hesse takes seat at head of Akamai board
Content distribution network Akamai Technologies has appointed its current Director and Chair of the Environmental, Social, and Governance committee, Daniel R. Hesse, to Chairman of its Board of Directors. Hesse will succeed Frederic V. Salerno upon his retirement in June.

Hesse has been an Akamai board member since August 2016. He is the former CEO of Sprint and currently serves as a member of the boards at Just Capital and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

“It has been a pleasure to work alongside Fred. He has been a great partner in and out of the boardroom and I thank him for his leadership,” said Hesse. “I am honoured to succeed him as Akamais chairman and look forward to helping the management team increase Akamais role in enabling a connected world of unimagined potential.”

Dreams promotes Hegenbartova to CCO
Lucia Hegenbartova has been announced as Chief Commercial Officer at Swedish financial wellbeing platform Dreams. She will be responsible for building Dreams’ new B2B business unit dedicated to the acquisition and development of B2B partnerships, overseeing all revenue-generating functions across the sales, marketing and customer success departments, and carrying out Dreams’ international expansion strategy.

Hegenbartova joined Dreams in April 2020, serving as Country Manager for Germany and then Head of Customer Success B2B. Prior to Dreams, she was instrumental in the market launch of three other tech startups in a number of senior roles including Chief Operating Officer at Contiamo, VP of Marketing at CrossEngage, and VP of Marketing at Commercetools.

“From day one I’ve been fully on board with the company’s vision of empowering people to feel better about their money, and I’ve been really impressed with how Dreams has already flawlessly delivered on this mission by significantly, and measurably, improving the financial wellbeing of thousands of customers,” commented Hegenbartova.

“These are now really exciting times for Dreams, as the company looks to consolidate its international expansion and growth strategy, and further transform the entire industry. I’m thrilled to be able to bring this bold vision to life, and I look forward to working with some of the world’s most visionary banking partners and help them prevail at the forefront of the emerging financial wellbeing movement.”

BianRosa to take up CPO gig at N26
Mobile banking platform N26 has named Gilles BianRosa as its Chief Product Officer. Taking up the role ‘in the coming months’, he will lead all product teams based across the companys main offices and technology hubs in Berlin, Barcelona, Vienna and New York and be responsible for defining, steering, and implementing N26’s global product strategy.

BianRosa was most recently CPO at SoundClound and, before that, CPO at Samsung Electronics, where he oversaw content and services for Samsung Smart TVs globally. He was also the Co-founder and CEO of FanTV and Vuze.

“After almost two decades in Silicon Valley, Im very pleased to be joining one of the most dynamic product teams in FinTech globally,” said BianRosa. “I look forward to applying my experience from the world of online consumer services to help N26 continue to connect authentically with its customers. Having already begun to redefine banking for customers, I believe that N26 has a unique opportunity to touch more aspects of daily life with their simple, trusted, and delightful experience.”

Freshworks recruits SaaS veteran Epstein as CMO
Stacey Epstein has been brought in as Chief Marketing Officer at Freshworks, a customer engagement software company. She will play a pivotal role in Freshworks’ next phase of growth, leading global marketing strategy for the company.

Epstein was ranked as one of the ‘Top 50 women leaders in SaaS of 2020’ by The Software Report and hailed as the ‘Global CMO of the Year’ by Enterprise IT World. She took SuccessFactors from $10m in ARR through six years of triple-digit revenue growth, an IPO, and subsequent acquisition by SAP for $3.4bn. She went on to join the ServiceMax founding team then went on to serve as CEO of Zinc, which was acquired by ServiceMax in 2019. Epstein stayed on at ServiceMax as Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer until her move to Freshworks.

“With more than 50,000 customers leveraging our modern and highly intuitive solutions, Freshworks has been quietly disrupting several enterprise SaaS categories,” said Epstein. “With a visionary founding CEO in Girish Mathrubootham, who is obsessed with building software that delights both customers and employees—along with a leadership team full of experienced veterans from Atlassian, Oracle, Veeva, and Zuora— the massive opportunity to help transform entire industries is ours to lose. I can’t wait to tell our story.”

Meier arrives to lead digital marketing at Organic
Digital agency Organic has hired Gillian Meier as its Head of Digital Marketing, a new role for the agency. She will be responsible for the creation and delivery of digital marketing strategies across all accounts and disciplines, particular focusing on improving the data and analytics performance, while working closely with Organic’s Creative, UX, and SEO leads to deliver best in class results for clients.

Meier arrives at Organic with 24 years of experience in the digital sphere. She was most recently CEO & Global Head Global Head of BlueMagnet, a business that she founded.

“I have always stood for digital excellence, white-hat, ethics and best practice. Using digital to impact the masses in a positive and meaningful way is not only a skill, but also a weapon with which we can change the world, and it is our duty as digital marketers to use this power responsibly,” said Meier. “These are the ‘Digital For Good’ values that Organic stands for, and these resonate with me to my core. I want to be part of a collective of industry leaders that are committed to driving this message forward.”

Brand Advance turns to Lawson-Wall to direct on people
Melanie Lawson-Wall has been appointed as Director of People and Wellbeing at global diversity media network Brand Advance. She will be responsible for devising and deploying a new HR and wellbeing framework for the business.

Lawson-Wall started her career as a performance coach in the education space and has provided leadership advice to businesses including Deltatre. She is the Founder of Assist Coaching and Text Coaches. Lawson-Wall is also part of the CIPD Steering Group.

“I’m excited to be joining the Brand Advance team, having closely followed the company since its inception and witnessed it go from strength to strength,” said Lawson-Wall. “I’m here to champion the employees that have been critical to Brand Advance’s success so far, and ensure that they can operate in an environment which encourages them to bring their best selves to the workplace and continues to bring their individuality to the fore.”

Bezi? added to board at Infobip
Infobip, a cloud communications company, has welcomed its new Vice President of Planning and Strategy Implementation, Marin Bezi?, to its Board of Directors. He will be responsible for optimising business management including enhancing the go-to-market framework and overseeing revenue operations.

Previously at Microsoft, Bezi? was central to product development and the force behind Microsofts first business intelligence application. After spending eight years at Microsoft’s global HQ in Washington state, he moved to Microsoft’s EMEA HQ in London, where he led the application platform business in over 100 countries. In 2009, he returned to his native Croatia to run his own consultancy firm.

“Im excited to be a part of Infobips story. The feeling is very similar to the beginning of my career when I came to Microsoft. Infobip is a globally recognizable, fast-growing company full of fantastic people. Its great to be part of a company that allows people worldwide to improve the way they live and work, all with the help of technology. I am looking forward to being able to use my knowledge and experience to help Infobip realize its vision,” Bezi? said.

Flashtalking selects Tuminello as strategy VP
Michael Tuminello has been hired as Vice President of Strategy at Flashtalking, an ad management platform. He will be instrumental in bringing Flashtalking’s offerings to market globally across Europe, the US, and APAC and refining them to keep pace with a rapidly changing market.

Tuminello brings varied and deep industry experience to the new role at Flashtalking, with over 15 years in leadership at companies including Integral Ad Science, Innovid, and Sizmek.

“Having watched Flashtalking evolve and lead in the industry, I’ve always been really impressed with the breadth and depth of the offering,” said Tuminello. “I’m excited to guide our ongoing advance into the verification space, particularly as the industry seeks to establish a foundation of trust in the high-value OTT and CTV channels.”

Clarizio takes spot on board at Simpli.fi
Programmatic ad company Simpli.fi has added Lynda Clarizio to its Board of Directors.

Clarizio has previously held the positions of President of US Media at Nielsen, Executive Vice President at AppNexsus, CEO at Invision, President of Advertising.com, and Board Member at IAB, among others.

“True to its name, Simpli.fi has simplified programmatic buying and cross-channel workflow for thousands of independent agencies, enabling them to better serve brands in media planning and buying,” said Clarizio. “I am pleased to join Simpli.fi’s board and look forward to working with Frost Prioleau and Paul Harrison as Simpli.fi continues to grow and expand.”

Brand Metrics expands London team
Dhruv Roy and Sumran Kaul have joined measurement company Brand Metrics as Integrations Manager and Client Lead respectively.

Roy is an accomplished digital advertising specialist, and has held roles in a range of businesses including Microsoft, Apple, DAZN, the BBC, Zee5 and SoundCloud.

Kaul was most recently Senior Manager of Insights at News UK, where he used research and insight to advise clients when planning and executing their marketing strategy and objectives. He has also held insights leadership roles at Ofcom and ITV. 

“Dhruv and Sumran boast impressive technical knowledge and broad experience, but they are also strategic thinkers and passionate team players,” says Anders Lithner, CEO of Brand Metrics. “The response we’ve had from the UK media market has been overwhelming. Providing better insights and audience understanding and consistent, comparable brand lift measurement is resulting in larger campaign investments, winning more campaign pitches, and lower overall measurement costs.”

Kelleher added to mParticle board
mParticle, a customer data platform, has announced the arrival of Eric Kelleher to its Board of Directors.

Kelleher is currently Chief Customer Officer at Okta, where he oversees all of Okta’s customer relationships and is responsible for building its global teams and businesses for professional services, education services, success management, customer support, and subscription renewals. Prior to Okta, he spent 11 years in customer leadership roles at Salesforce. Kelleher was also the first Global Head of Customer Success at LinkedIn Talent Solutions.

“The market for data infrastructure to help teams leverage their customer data to drive personalized customer experiences is exploding,” said Kelleher. “The opportunity is enormous and theyve built a great company with incredible momentum. I look forward to working with the team to help them continue to scale.”

The post Movers and Shakers: Headspace, Birdeye, Criteo, Akamai, and more appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

With just 12 per cent of globally circulating banknotes featuring a woman – and that’s despite Queen Elizabeth II appearing on every note in the Commonwealth – the German neobank has teamed up with creative technologist Ommy Akhe of Autonommy and Facebook to launch the ‘Balance the Banknotes’ AR effect in the US and Europe.

Users can open the filter on Instagram or Facebook and hold up any €5, €10, $1, $5, or $10 note/bill to their phone’s camera. The user can then watch as the male on the banknote morphs into a pioneering woman, from Rosa Parks to Emmy Noether to Emilia Pardo Bazán. Alternatively, a Google image can be scanned instead.

N26 will promote the campaign across its Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook channels.

The post N26 launches AR effect to challenge gender imbalance on banknotes appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

N26 makes a pair of C-level additions
Adrienne Gormley and Diana Styles have joined mobile banking platform N26 as Chief Operating Officer and Chief People Officer respectively.

Gormley joins N26 with over 20 years of experience working with technology leaders, including Google and Dropbox. She will oversee N26’s customer service, business operations, service experience and workplace divisions, working to scale and elevate internal capabilities and build a culture of customer-centricity and operational excellence across the organisation.

“I’m thrilled to be joining N26 at a time full of opportunity. With more people turning to digital banking than ever before, I believe that we can be the first to pioneer a truly world-class, fully-digital service experience in banking that can set the standard for the future of this industry,” Gormley shared.

Former Adidas executive Styles will oversee employee experience, leadership and organisational development, recruiting, employer brand, rewards, and people operations divisions.

“N26 has been on a truly incredible journey to transform an industry as a disrupter, challenger and pioneer. Having grown its team to a 1,500-strong workforce of 80 nationalities in just five years, I’m extremely excited to further strengthen the N26 culture and talent pool and build a world-class employee experience that matches the organisation’s next chapter of transformational growth and change,” said Styles. 

Rao takes charge of people at Publicis Sapient
Publicis Sapient, Publicis Groupe’s digital transformation hub, has promoted Kameshwari Rao to the role of Global Chief People Officer.

Rao enters the new role having served in multiple people success leadership roles prior to this position. Since 2001, she has led human resources practices in a variety of roles at Publicis Sapient. Her most recent role at the company was Group Vice President of People Success.

“I am thrilled to take on this new role and excited about the opportunity to continue building upon the backbone of Publicis Sapient; its people,” said Rao. “Since joining nearly two decades ago, Ive seen from multiple perspectives how we have consistently thrived through challenges. Most recently, COVID-19 has given me the opportunity to partner with leaders to enable our people to look into the future with optimism and hope. This includes crafting a new way of working, addressing inclusion and equity in our business, and helping build courage and resilience to create an environment that allows all of our people to thrive for years to come.”

Malwarebytes promotes Mainz to COO
Barry Mainz has been elevated to the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer at Malwarebytes, a cybersecurity software firm. He is responsible for leading customer-facing go-to-market strategies, operations, and activities, accelerating growth across the companys consumer and corporate businesses.

Mainz, who was previously Malwarebytes’ Chief Revenue Officer, has held numerous executive leadership roles, including CEO, president, COO, and CRO, as well as advisory and board positions at private and public companies such as MobileIron, Wind River (an Intel subsidiary), Makara (acquired by Red Hat), and Sun Microsystems.

“When I joined Malwarebytes, I was drawn to an incredible product and its untapped potential, a highly-accomplished leadership team that inspired me, and a lot of passionate employees working hard for our customers,” said Mainz. “We are growing and creating value for our customers that will lead to a very exciting future for our company. As COO, I look forward to empowering our employees, continuing to improve operational excellence, and further accelerating Malwarebytes growth.”

Parkes to lead new BIMA network
The British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) has named Laurence Parkes as Founder and Chair of its new Digital Leaders’ Network. The BIMA Digital Leaders’ Network will meet regularly to explore key issues, find solutions and issue advice and guidance, with plans for a peer-group mentoring scheme in the near-future.

Parkes, who is currently Chief Executive Officer at Rufus Leonard, has been appointed after leading the BIMA roundtable series, which helped business leaders navigate the immediate impact of the coronavirus.

“Now more than ever it is important to help clients and agencies understand each other’s challenges, to drive productive support across the industry,” said Parkes. “The BIMA Digital Leaders’ Network aims to be the catalyst of this change. As Founder & Chair, I’m excited to work with my peers to help the digital and tech industry thrive in such uncertain times.”

Facebook names Schultz new CMO
Alex Schultz has been promoted to Chief Marketing Officer at Facebook. He takes over from Antonio Lucio, who stepped down from the position last month. Schultz will continue to oversee product growth, analytics, and internalisation.

Schultz, who has been at Facebook for 13 years, started life at the social network in an Analyst capacity before rising to Manager, then Director, then Vice President, and now CMO. Prior to Facebook, he was a Marketing Manager at eBay.

“I am super proud to be Facebook’s next CMO. Lucio has left huge shoes and a great team behind and I’m really excited to get stuck in with them,” Schultz said in a Facebook post. “Gracias, Antonio for being a great friend, colleague, creative leader and voice of experience and wisdom for this company… You have strengthened our ability to tell meaningful, culturally relevant stories with our family of brands. I hope to build on this and bring my experience in segmentation, targeting, and measurement to bear as we work to reach people more meaningfully through our product.”

Breeden to head up safety at Match
Match Group has hired Tracey Breeden as its Head of Safety and Social Advocacy. In the newly created role, she will oversee Match Groups trust and safety policies and initiatives across its global portfolio of dating products – including Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, Match, and Plenty of Fish – and will work with each brands product teams to continue developing new safety features.

Breeden comes to Match from Uber, where she led global safety initiatives across six continents, advising teams on product development, training, policies, and initiatives that addressed safety and social issues, with a special emphasis on women and marginalised communities.

She will work directly with the Match Group Advisory Council, which is involved in the study and prevention of sexual assault, sex trafficking, abuse, harassment, and similar issues.

“Ive spent my entire career fighting to create safe spaces for all people so Im excited to bring my passion for promoting safety and advocacy to Match Group and its brands,” said Breeden. “Corporations play an important role in sparking positive, social change but also have a responsibility to help ensure safe experiences for their users. I look forward to developing pathways to more equitable and inclusive solutions when it comes to safety across Match Groups many communities.”

Cheil brings in Chadwick to lead strategy
Michael Chadwick has been appointed Head of Strategy at digital marketing and advertising agency Cheil UK. He will work to develop and further enhance Cheil’s strategic offering, and oversee integration of Cheil’s online and offline business areas to help clients deliver connected, omnichannel experiences and drive better overall performance. He will also be responsible for evolving Cheil’s new performance division.

Chadwick joins from Dentsu Singapore, where he was responsible for strategy across 30 offices in 17 countries for key regional/global new business and clients. Prior to Dentsu, Chadwick has held roles at TBWA/Group, Mondelez International, and JWT.

“I’m so excited to join the team at Cheil, and be part of a culture that’s delivering creativity and innovation across the whole customer experience,” said Chadwick. “There’s huge opportunity to deliver powerful strategy that connects the dots across channels, and fuels work with real commercial and cultural impact. Cheil UK is unique in its approach, with a perfect blend of creativity and technology at its heart. I will be working to optimise our products and services and create new ones to continue to support the huge change brands are undergoing to help them grow and succeed.”

Shin joins TextNow to lead engineering
Free texting and calling app TextNow has selected Andrew Shin as its Senior Vice President of Engineering. He is responsible for overseeing all technical aspects of the app, growing the engineering team, and scaling the TextNow platform to meet the demands of a rapidly growing user base, while maintaining and improving user experience and call quality.

Shin brings more than 20 years of experience building software for consumer internet and eCommerce platforms and was most recently the Chief Technology Officer at GOAT.

“I’m excited to change the way people think about wireless communications,” said Shin. “I’ve been inspired by how much people love our service and how much they rely on it. With the talented team we have in place, we can deliver even more value at a much lower cost than traditional carriers.”

Lab Group elevates GM Mason
Andy Mason has been promoted to a new role as the Lab Group, a collection of digital marketing, technology, and creative services agencies, establishes two special agency brands called Riverr and Verj.

He has assumed the dual role of Chief Operating Officer of Lab Group and Managing Director of Riverr after shifting from his position as Lab General Manager.

“Labs direction has always been driven by several core teams of pioneering and future-focussed subject-matter experts, and its fantastic to play a part in establishing two best-in-class agency brands that will further enable and stimulate these teams to flourish and to explore innovative digital solutions to the new challenges lying ahead of us all,” said Mason.

“Im delighted to step into this dual role in order to help shape and drive the next phase of Lab Groups growth strategy, and its a privilege to do so as part of such a passionate team, all working creatively to ensure that this success story continues into 2021 and beyond.”

Jerig becomes IT head at Fingerpaint
Fingerpaint, a health and wellness marketing agency, has named Tony Jerig as its Head of Information Technology. In this newly created role, he will oversee Fingerpaint’s internal information structures to ensure seamless integration as the agency continues to expand its capabilities through organic growth, new offices, and acquisitions. He has also been added to the agency’s operating board.

Jerig brings over 30 years of industry knowledge and experience in the advertising space, including holding information systems and technology roles at agencies like inVentiv Health (now Syneos Health) and GSW. He joins Fingerpaint from e-Cycle, where he was Chief Information Officer for the past eight years.

“The people-first culture Ed [Mitzen] has built here at Fingerpaint drew me in from the very beginning,” said Jerig. “This agency is truly something special, and I am humbled to continue improving the internal structures so that client teams can continue to create work that is awe-inspiring.”

Blue Array brings in Emmanouel as MD
Stephanie Emmanouel has been hired as Managing Director at SEO agency Blue Array. She will be responsible for Blue Array’s operations as of 1 October.

Emmanouel arrives at Blue Array with 20 years’ business experience. She joins from Rokt, where she held the position of Vice President, EMEA. Prior to joining Rokt, she was General Manager CCM at Somo.

“Blue Array has a stellar reputation in our industry and I could not pass up the opportunity to work with such a talented team that is laser focused on the single highest-performing digital marketing channel out there,” Emmanouel explained. “I started my digital career in ‘search’ back in 2004. Having been part of the founding team of one of Google’s European offices has made me experience and value the ‘power of search’ first hand, and I am looking forward to being part of this exciting and ever changing journey for years to come.”

MD and board chair appointed at CHS
Steve Keats will move into the role of Chair of the Board, as he hands over the Managing Director gig to Chris Southgate, at creative marketing agency CHS.

Southgate joined the agency in 2009 to lead a growing digital team and has since been instrumental in winning pitches for key client accounts including HSBC, Allianz, and Mastercard.

“Over the past 11 years, Ive had the absolute privilege to be part of the team here at CHS, working with some of the most talented, creative, incredible people Ive ever met. And I could not be more excited about our next chapter,” said Southgate.

Keats added: “I am delighted that Chris will be stepping up to Managing Director as I take a step back, although I won’t be going anywhere. I’ll still be actively involved as Chair of the Board, setting and implementing our strategy and direction, and of course, supporting Chris in his new role.”

Peak Indicators looks to Unsworth as group MD
Pipa Unsworth has been appointed as Group Marketing Director at Peak Indicators, a data science and analytics consultancy. She will steer growth strategy and head up the company’s marketing operations team.

Unsworth, who has 25 years of experience leading marketing activities for organisations including Samsung, Oracle, and Sainsbury’s, also serves on the board of the Data & Marketing Association.

“I’m delighted to be joining Peak Indicators,” commented Unsworth. “It has cutting edge technology, an enviable client list of FTSE 350 companies and employs some of brightest minds in data science. Peak’s growth potential is enormous and I look forward to helping the company achieve its full potential.”

Separately, Daniela Gheorghe has been promoted to Peak Indicators’ Board of Directors. Gheorghe, who joined Peak from Oracle in 2012, will lead the company’s consulting, managed services and data science activities in her new role of Delivery Director.

The post Movers and Shakers: N26, Publicis Sapient, Malwarebytes, BIMA, Facebook, and more appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

The Series D funding comes just 10 months after the company picked up $160m in a funding round led by the Allianz Group’s digital investment unit, Allianz X, and Tencent Holdings. In total, the startup has raised more than $500m from investors.

“Around the world, millions of people still suffer from bad banking experiences and high fees,” said Valentin Stalf, CEO and co-founder of N26. “With Insight Venture Partners and GIC joining our renowned group of investors, N26 has the support of the best investors globally to disrupt one of the largest industries in the world.”

N26 currently operates in 24 markets across Europe, and has set its sights on landing in the US in the first half of this year. In the last 12 months, it has tripled its customer base to more than 2.3m people – with ambitions to reach over 100m customers around the world in the ‘coming years’.

The post Mobile-first bank N26 raises $300m at a valution of $2.7bn appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

In an interview with Reuters, Stalf said that the UK and US were “natural next steps” for the firm in its aim to become a global finance brand, and despite uncertainty raised by Great Britains exit from the EU, “the UK market was always a no-brainer for us”.

The mobile-first company, which offers a suite of banking services, has a 50,000-strong waiting list in the UK, but will be opening up accounts slowly, with just a handful of customers getting access in October. The firm will use its German banking licence to operate in the UK via a passporting arrangement which will continue post-Brexit, although the details of how this will work are still unclear.

“We have a branch here in Britain, we are licenced and its cealr it will be valid in the short term via a grace period, but we may need to do something more in say three years time,” said Stalf. “No on in the regulator seems to know, which is quite striking only six months away from Brexit.”

N26 will compete with other homegrown mobile-first banking services such as Monzo and Starling in the UK, as well as traditional branch-based banks, but is hoping to appeal to consumers with its combination of digital tools and well-established reputation. The firm is aiming to be profitable in Q2 2019, with revenues coming from fees on products like overdrafts, as well as subscription revenues from its premier-level cards.

The post N26 launches in UK and eyes 2019 for US expansion appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

N26 launched in January 2015 and has acquired more than 850,000 customers to date, making it one of Europes fastest growing banks. The company has set its sights on reaching more than 5m customers by the end of 2020, and will use the new investment to accelerate its global growth strategy and product vision.

“We are very pleased to have Allianz X and Tencent leading our Series C,” said Valentin Stalf, CEO and co-founder of N26. “Not only are they powerhouses in their respective fields of financial and internet services, but they also understand the power of intelligent technology and design to disrupt industries.”

N26 currently focuses on retail banking, with over €9bn in transactions processed to date, and a projected volume of more than €13bn expected in 2018. In addition to international expansion, particularly into the US and UK later this year, the new investment will support product development, with a focus on integrating AI into the banks platforms.

“As a pioneer of the mobile banking industry in Europe, N26 is committed to offering their customers a more convenient and cost-efficient banking experience,” said Lin Haifeng, managing partner of Tencent Investment at Tencent Holdings. “We see the increasing demand of digital banking products and services in the European markets and we are delighted to be a strategic investor of N26 to build a long-term partnership and participate in their growth.”

The post Mobile-first bank N26 announces $160m in Series C funding appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

The N26 Metal card comes with dedicated customer service, worldwide travel insurance, and no additional fees when withdrawing money abroad. Customers with the card will have access to a personalised section of the N26 app where they can take advantage of exclusive partnerships.

“N26 Metal is more than just a premium banking product, it’s a card for today’s digital lifestyle,” said Valentin Stalf, founder and CEO of N26. “By partnering with the best brands, we go beyond providing purely financial products and give our customers access to the best products and services in a few taps within the N26 app.”

The first partner onboard is collaborative workspace company WeWork. Through the partnership, N26 Metal customers will be able to earn credits to reserve workspaces and conference rooms in WeWork locations around the world.

The N26 Metal card will be available to selected N26 Black customers in Germany, France, Italy, and Austria from 14 December. The card will officially rollout in early 2018. N26 recently announced it would enter both the UK and US market by mid-2018, so the Metal card can also be expected to land in those markets at launch.  

The post N26 introduces debit card aimed at digital customers, partners with WeWork appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

With that in mind, our Peoples Choice categories let the mobile marketing industry vote for a winner from our shortlist of deserving nominees. Voting has already begun, but this week, well be shining a spotlight on each of the different Peoples Choice categories to give you more information before you make your decision.

Once youre ready to vote, head to our survey to pick your winners before midnight UK time on Friday 29 September. The Peoples Choice winners will be announced alongside the rest of our Awards at our lavish ceremony on Thursday 16 November. You can book your place at this annual highlight here.

Brand of the Year

Amazon – Few can deny the impact that Amazon has had on the digital landscape this year. With the retail giant bringing in $91.4bn (£69bn) in revenues from its core retail business alone in 2016, it continued to go from strength to strength in 2017. The Amazon Echo and its Alexa virtual assistant proved the brand to beat in this exciting new space, while its purchase of Whole Foods made even the largest traditional retailers worry about the disruptive power it could bring to the grocery sector. Add in its growing Web Services business and you have a true digital titan.

Disney – The House That Walt Built has always been a leader when it comes to technology, and this year proved to be no exception, as Disney continued to embrace mobile in all its forms. From partnerships with platforms like Snapchat, Uber and Google Home to innovative campaigns that make use of interactive video and virtual reality, Disney has led the way when it comes to a mobile-first approach to marketing, and with plans to launch its own streaming services in the new year that will compete with rivals like Netflix and Amazon, it’s just beginning to flex its muscles.

Monzo – Since its launch in 2015, Monzo has been the poster child for the new wave of fintech disruption, challenging old assumptions about what a bank has to be. This year, the mobile-first platform officially became a fully authorised digital bank, opening the window to a much wider range of financial products, and celebrated reaching both 100,000 and 200,000 customers within the space of just three and a half months, demonstrating an astonishing speed of growth and a huge demand for its app-focused money management.

N26 – Founded in 2013, N26 was one of the pioneers of the mobile banking movement, and has spread across Europe at astonishing speed, with a presence in 17 countries now and over 500,000 customers. In 2017 alone, it added around 1,500 new accounts every day, while increasing total card transactions by 176 per cent year on year. The firm also launched a wide range of new products this year, including business accounts, savings and even insurance, becoming a true mobile hub for financial services with over $55m under its management.

Pizza Hut – Mobile and convenience have always gone hand-in-hand, so it’s no surprise that a brand like Pizza Hut has leapt into the mobile world from the beginning, constantly working to improve its app and mobile web channels while also producing innovative marketing that seamlessly integrates the latest tech. This year, the firm has collaborated with Amazon to deliver flexible ordering via the Alexa digital assistant, launched a new pizza tracker that provides customers with text alerts, and even debuted a line of promotional connected shoes that could order pizza at the touch of a button.

Sony – As a global technology brand, it’s only natural that Sony’s marketing would incorporate the latest cutting-edge developments. As well as facilitating the rise of VR this year with over 1m Playstation VR headsets sold, the brand launched creative digital campaigns featuring virtual reality, AR, vertical video and even a digital treasure hunt that drove people to real world locations in search of mobile rewards. Add in growing investment in its ‘mixed reality’ Hololens device which is being targeted at business users, and Sony continues to innovate and excel.

Dont forget to cast your vote in all our Peoples Choice categories here before midnight UK time on Friday 29 September, and good luck to all our nominees.

The post Peoples Choice Spotlight: Brand of the Year appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.