Venture funding

The commercial potential of internet-connected devices appears bound only by imagination and comfort. For security companies, there's a similar broad horizon as watches, refrigerators and other everyday items become tools for payments.

Security companies are using technology to stop more complex fraud based on a smaller amount of data, and investors are taking notice.

San Francisco-based startup UnifyID is developing an “implicit authentication” platform that requires no conscious actions by users to authenticate identities, and it’s just closed $20 million in fresh funding to support its growth.

Visa's recent leading of a $25 million investment round in Marqeta is an unusual move for the card network, which has most recently focused its investments in merchant acquiring technology companies.

The federal agency's investigative report concludes that crowdsales of blockchain tokens known as initial coin offerings may need to comply with securities laws.

The app allows users, many of them first-time investors, to get started for as little as $5.

The Spanish bank's VC arm added two companies focused on artificial intelligence to its portfolio this week. Both firms promise to help banks connect better with customers.

Much like the consumer retail acquisition market, business payment companies are expanding the appeal of transaction automation by tying it to international growth and value-added merchant services.

InstaReM plans to use the investment to accommodate rapid volume expansion.

LendUp is seeking to differentiate itself from competitors by making fast loan decisions and designing its customer experience around the mobile phone.