Canada
Acuant Announces the Acquisition of Hello Soda to Strengthen Its Trusted Identity Platform and Global Position in Digital Identity
The acquisition follows the company’s best quarter in history with record revenue
Acuant, the global trusted identity platform for fraud prevention and AML compliance, announced the completion of the acquisition of Hello Soda as part of their continued investment and commitment to innovative technology. Hello Soda is a global provider of identity verification and KYC solutions headquartered in the UK with focus on the European and Asian markets. Along with the company’s deep expertise in eMoney and gaming, with customers including VirginBet, Klarna and Paysafe, the union will bring together powerful technology and data science capabilities that are key to unlocking trust in digital identities.
“Our goal has always been to power trust for all, a vision we share with Hello Soda whom we are excited to welcome to the Acuant family,” said Yossi Zekri President and CEO of Acuant. “This is truly the most exhilarating time in our company’s history, coinciding with the disruption of traditional financial markets, the rapid digitalization of the world and the need for business and governments to help safeguard identity more than ever before. Adding Hello Soda to our Trusted Identity Platform will reach more people today and position us even stronger for the future of digital identity.”
Hello Soda’s foundation in advanced analytics has driven its success in developing and delivering to market, a suite of solutions that leverage digital data sources and capabilities for the purpose of KYC and AML. With a strong focus on ensuring businesses receive actionable insight, Hello Soda’s technology utilizes proprietary analytics, matching algorithms and data science modelling to provide configurable and composite scoring, enabling businesses to make trusted decisions from the point of onboarding to enhanced due diligence (EDD) and continuous monitoring. Their leading dark web solution mitigates the risk of impersonation fraud by searching over 600 million records on the dark web for a customer’s information and provides an extra level of security by searching and monitoring customer PII against compromised data. Its innovative and multilingual platform has enabled Hello Soda to become a market leader in automated identity solutions, currently verifying identities in over 180 countries.
“We could not be happier to join Acuant, bringing our talent, technology, network and expertise to strengthen all we have accomplished and to take our mutual vision further as a team,” stated James Blake, Founder and CEO of Hello Soda. “Our combined technology will serve us well in our joint mission to democratize trust and provide solutions to reach every sector of the global population, allowing every individual to conduct trusted transactions when and where they wish.”
Acuant Experiences Record Growth
The acquisition comes on the heels of Acuant’s best quarter in company history and groundbreaking accomplishments:
Robust Growth: In Q1 2021, Acuant saw record revenue with over 30% growth YOY and ARR up over 60%, compliance revenue (with the acquisition of IdentityMind AML solutions in 2020) also grew over 170% YOY; adding several key new hires, total headcount grew over 30% YOY; the company welcoming dozens of new partners (including Refinitiv, Unisys, CoreSE and Albo) and had noticeable business spikes in healthcare and cryptocurrency verticals.
Patented Technology: This quarter, Acuant was awarded Patent # 10,931,461 and 10,965,668
the USPTO both for system and methods relating to digital identity verification (adding to patent
10,872,338); the company also celebrated hitting over 450M digital identities being created with their patented eDNA®).
Enhanced Global Coverage & Technology Partners: Along with the industry’s largest ID library (6k+ templates), Acuant has expanded its leading third-party data ecosystem to expand offerings and increase global coverage for verification to reaching more of the world’s population without physical IDs and/or smart devices.
Industry Leadership: Acuant has joined the Digital ID and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC), Open Identity Exchange (OIX) and The Investing and Savings Alliance (TISA) to expand its membership of working groups such as the Document Security Alliance (DSA) and Association of Document Validation Professionals (ADVP), among others, and continues to meet INCITS, ICAO, NIST and ISO standards, and is in on track for FedRAMP certification in 2021. The Company continues to be the gold standard with PCI, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications and is on track for FedRAMP certification in 2021. Acuant works to meet with INCITS, ICAO and NIST standards and puts privacy first and puts consumers in control of their identity (see their latest with Microsoft in Verifiable Credentials).
Powered by WPeMatico
BGaming
CasinoCanada launches free social slot tournament
CasinoCanada.com launches a new social tournament system built around free-to-enter slot competitions, combining daily, weekly, and monthly events with leaderboards, bonus prizes, and exclusive merchandise.
The tournaments are powered entirely by BGaming slots, marking the first industry collaboration between an affiliate brand and BGaming focused specifically on social tournament engagement.
Participation in all tournaments is free for registered users of legal gambling age.
Players compete across rotating tournaments featuring a changing lineup of BGaming titles, including hit titles Aztec Magic Bonanza, Bonanza Billion, and Elvis Frog, among others.
Prizes include various bonuses and free spins from CasinoCanada partner casinos.
Selected special tournaments also feature exclusive BGaming merchandise prizes.
Tournament performance is reflected in public leaderboards, adding a competitive and community-driven layer to the CasinoCanada experience.
While social slot tournaments have become increasingly common in iGaming, many existing formats are built around the same providers and similar tournament structures.
CasinoCanada’s approach focuses on free participation, rotating BGaming content, partner casino bonus rewards, merchandise prizes, and recurring competition.
Eugene Ravdin, Head of PR at CasinoCanada, said: “The affiliate industry is moving beyond static review pages and traditional bonus listings. Community features, recurring engagement formats, and social competition are becoming increasingly important for long-term audience retention.
“Our goal is to create something more interactive and community-driven while also giving more visibility to BGaming’s slot portfolio through a format that players can engage with on a daily basis.”
Kate Puteiko, CMO at BGaming, said: “Players and the community have always been the beating heart of everything we do here at BGaming.
Online play no longer has to be a solitary activity, and tournaments like this are an excellent way to connect players and enhance everyone’s experience.
CasinoCanada shares this vision, and this collaboration is a natural extension of that.
We are excited to see our games front and centre of these tournaments and for players to begin creating memorable moments competing with them.”
CasinoCanada plans to introduce additional community features in the future, including gamification systems and forum functionality designed to expand user interaction around the tournament ecosystem.
The tournaments are now live at: https://casinocanada.com/tournaments/
The post CasinoCanada launches free social slot tournament appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
Betnova
Delasport Accelerates Canadian Growth
Delasport continues to strengthen its position in the Canadian regulated market, now powering three live brands in Ontario while preparing for further expansion into Alberta as the province moves toward opening its regulated online gaming market.
Delasport’s technology is currently live in Ontario with TitanPlay.ca, Maverick Games, and Betnova.ca. The company provides a combination of full turnkey platform solutions of Casino, Sport, Player Account Management and Managed Services as well as its high-performance Sportsbook iFrame technology. This enables operators to launch quickly while delivering a premium user experience tailored to the Canadian audience.
With Ontario continuing to establish itself as one of North America’s most competitive regulated markets, Delasport’s growing local presence reflects the company’s long-term commitment to Canada and its confidence in the market’s continued evolution.
“Ontario is a strategically important market for us, and it has already proven to be a strong success story. Seeing multiple brands successfully operating on our technology and services demonstrates the strength of our platform in acquiring and retaining players in Ontario. We’re excited to continue this momentum as we prepare for Alberta,” said Oren Cohen Shwartz, CEO of Delasport.
As part of its next phase of Canadian growth, Delasport has officially applied for Alberta’s upcoming B2B licensing framework and is already preparing to go live with a partner operator once the market opens.
The company’s Canadian momentum is further supported by its mobile-first approach. TitanPlay’s iOS application is already available on the Apple App Store for users in Ontario, delivering a seamless casino and sportsbook experience powered by Delasport technology.
Delasport’s platform in Canada includes a wide range of personalization and engagement tools designed to enhance user retention and entertainment value.
The company has continued to position itself as one of the industry’s leading providers in regulated markets worldwide, with a strong focus on scalable technology, localization, compliance, and player-centric innovation.
The post Delasport Accelerates Canadian Growth appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
Canada
Responsible Gambling Council Urges Financial Institutions to Strengthen Protections Against Gambling Harm
The Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) has urged Canada’s financial sector to take a proactive role in mitigating gambling-related financial harm. A new whitepaper released highlights how banks and credit unions are uniquely positioned to protect the financial well-being of their customers.
The whitepaper, Opportunities for Impact: The Role of Financial Institutions in Mitigating Gambling-Related Harm, argues that financial institutions have a unique duty of care. Financial institutions have direct access to gambling transaction data that reveals early warning signs of financial vulnerability. These indicators include rapidly shrinking savings and an increased reliance on overdrafts or credit.
“The rapid expansion of regulated gambling in Canada requires an evolved response from our financial systems. By adopting tools already proven in other jurisdictions, Canadian banks can become leaders in protecting customer financial health,” said Tracy Parker, SVP, Accreditation, Advisory & Insights at RGC.
Jurisdictions like the UK and Australia have already recognized the powerful role financial institutions play. Banks such as Monzo and Starling in the UK were the first to offer voluntary gambling blocks to their customers. Similarly, the National Australia Bank provides dedicated support pages and links to financial counseling.
RGC recommends that Canadian financial institutions implement several key strategies:
• Improving the accuracy of Merchant Category Codes to better track gambling spend.
• Offering voluntary transaction blocks and self-defined monthly spend limits.
• Providing targeted messaging and support resources within digital banking platforms.
Beyond retail banking, RGC highlights the importance of commercial relationships. Financial institutions can influence industry practices by setting high harm prevention expectations for gambling operators. Integrating these considerations into due diligence processes helps mitigate reputational and regulatory risks.
The post Responsible Gambling Council Urges Financial Institutions to Strengthen Protections Against Gambling Harm appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
-
AGCO5 days agoAGCO Takes Enforcement Action Against Two Companies for Allowing Their Games on Unregulated Gaming Websites
-
Apple4 days agoIBJR hails App Store approval as a milestone in the fight against illegal betting in Brazil
-
AB Trav och Galopp5 days agoRichard Woodbridge Elected to ATG Board of Directors
-
Caleta Gaming6 days agoCaleta Gaming launches Cluster Cup high-volatility football-themed slot
-
apuestas deportivas4 days ago¿Por qué Pix es central en la lucha contra el mercado ilegal de apuestas?
-
game release5 days agoSpinomenal adds Desperado Drifter Hold & Hit 3×3 to slot portfolio
-
Brazil4 days agoEsportes da Sorte campaign celebrates fans’ resilience in support of Brazil
-
Black Label4 days agoPragmatic Play signs Latam Agreement with Black Label



