Draft:Alviere

Alviere

Alviere is an American financial technology (fintech) company with headquarters in Denver, CO that provides an embedded finance platform for businesses to offer branded financial services to their customers, employees, and partners​ thepaypers.com. Founded in 2017 as a consumer payments startup (Mezu) and later rebranded, Alviere now operates globally, enabling non-financial enterprises to integrate banking products such as accounts, payments, cards, and money transfers into their offerings​ mckinsey.com thepaypers.com. The company's platform (called “The HIVE”) delivers these services via a single API, with built-in compliance and security features, allowing brands in various industries (retail, online marketplaces, travel & hospitality, etc.) to launch financial products in multiple regions including North America, Latin America, Europe, and Africa​ fintechfutures.com.

History

Alviere originated from a mobile payments app named Mezu, which was co-founded in early 2017 by Yuval Brisker and Pedro Silva​ mckinsey.com. Mezu’s mission was to enable peer-to-peer money transfers without sharing personal information, addressing privacy concerns in cashless payments​ fintechnexus.com. The Mezu app launched in mid-2018 and introduced features like location-based money exchange via one-time codes, allowing users to transact anonymously​ fintechnexus.com. Despite attracting users, Mezu faced challenges to compete against larger P2P payment services (such as Venmo and Cash App) and to achieve sustainable growth​ (fintechnexus.com). By mid-2020, the founders decided to pivot the business model. They had already built a back-end platform for Mezu – including bank connectivity, know your customer (KYC) identity verification, card issuing, and money transfer capabilities – and saw an opportunity to offer this infrastructure to other companies​fintechnexus.com.

In the summer of 2020, Mezu was relaunched as Alviere, shifting focus from direct-to-consumer payments to a B2B embedded finance platform serving enterprise clients​ fintechnexus.com. As part of this transition, the company pursued regulatory licenses to operate independently. By obtaining money transmitter licenses (MTLs) throughout the U.S., the founders ensured Alviere could provide financial services without relying on third-party banking intermediaries​ mckinsey.com

Alviere (as the successor to Mezu) began securing venture funding to fuel its new strategy. In April 2021, it closed a $20 million Series A round led by Viola Ventures and Viola Fintech, followed by a $50 million Series B in October 2021 that included investors such as CommerzVentures, North Coast Ventures, and Opera Tech (the venture arm of BNP Paribas)​ fintechfutures.com. These funding rounds, totaling $70 million, were earmarked for scaling operations and expanding into international markets beyond the United States​. By late 2021, Alviere had begun partnerships in Europe and Latin America, and in subsequent years it extended its services into new regions (for example, partnering in 2024 to enable remittances to Africa)​ fintechfutures.comfintech-intel.com. The company’s rapid evolution – from Mezu’s niche payments app to Alviere’s embedded finance platform – illustrates a major pivot in response to market demand for fintech infrastructure​ tearsheet.co mckinsey.com

The HIVE

Alviere’s core offering is its HIVE platform, a cloud-based software solution that delivers a suite of financial products via API​ fintechfutures.com. The platform is modular and configurable, allowing client companies to select the services they need, and brand them under their own name.

Accounts

Alviere enables the creation of bank-account-like stored value accounts (including support for FDIC-insured accounts in the U.S.) and digital wallets for end users​ thepaypers.com bankingdive.com. These accounts support standard banking functions such as deposits, withdrawals, and ACH transfers, and can be linked to payment cards.

Payments

The HIVE platform supports domestic and international payments, including ACH, card payments, electronic funds transfers, and remittances. Businesses can facilitate peer-to-peer transfers, bill payments, and cross-border money transfers for their users through Alviere’s integrations​ fintechfutures.comfintech-intel.com. In 2024, for example, Alviere partnered to enable remittance flows from the U.S. to mobile wallets and bank accounts across Africa, illustrating its global payment capabilities​ fintech-intel.com

​Branded Cards

Alviere offers card issuance services, allowing enterprises to launch their own debit or prepaid cards. Through the platform, a company can issue co-branded payment cards (physical or virtual) linked to customer accounts, complete with card processing and network integration (e.g., with Visa or Mastercard)​ fintechnexus.com (pymnts.com. Clients have used this service to create loyalty and incentive cards – for instance, an auto services firm using Alviere issued prepaid debit cards redeemable at its dealerships as part of a customer retention program​ pymnts.com.

Global Money Transfers

The HIVE platform includes multi-currency and cross-border transfer capabilities. Alviere integrated tools like Currencycloud’s foreign exchange wallet to let users hold and send funds in multiple currencies, and it facilitates remittances via partnerships with payment networks in various countries​ pymnts.comfintech-intel.com.

Wallets

The company’s technology can power mobile wallet applications for clients, providing stored value accounts and peer-to-peer transfer features within a client-branded app. For example, the Coppel Access wallet (serving Mexican American customers) and Boost Mobile’s OmniMoney app are both built on Alviere’s platform, offering wallet balances, money transfers, and bill payment features to users​bankingdive.comamericanbanker.com. Across all its services, Alviere emphasizes built-in compliance and security: the HIVE platform comes with features like AI-driven fraud detection, identity verification (KYC/KYB), and transaction monitoring, which operate behind the scenes for each client program​ fintechfutures.comthepaypers.com. This comprehensive product suite enables non-financial companies to quickly launch a range of financial services. ​Security and regulatory compliance is supported by internal and external teams.

Executive Team

Alviere was co-founded by Yuval Brisker and Pedro Silva, who have both been instrumental in its strategic direction​ [viola-group.com] mckinsey.com. Yuval is a tech entrepreneur known for previously co-founding TOA Technologies (a field service software company acquired by Oracle in 2014)​ fintechnexus.com. At Alviere’s inception, Yuval served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), leveraging his experience to lead the company through its pivot from Mezu to an enterprise fintech provider. Pedro, Alviere’s co-founder, initially held the role of Chief Operating Officer and has a background in technology development and financial services​ fintechnexus.com (mckinsey.com. Pedro played a key role in architecting the HIVE platform and navigating the regulatory licensing process during the company’s early years​mckinsey.com. In November 2023, Alviere announced a leadership transition in which Pedro assumed the position of CEO, while Yuval moved to a strategic board role​ viola-group.com. This change formalized Pedro as the chief executive officer as the company entered its next stage of growth. The broader leadership team at Alviere includes executives overseeing finance, compliance, and marketing.

Steven Scofelia serves as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), responsible for the company’s financial strategy and capital management​bizjournals.com. Christine Bottagaro serves as Chief Marketing Officer, responsible for branding and marketing efforts as Alviere promotes embedded finance solutions to enterprise clients​ globally prnewswire.com. Jorgen Norgaard is the Chief Compliance & Risk Officer, in charge of regulatory compliance programs, risk management, and ensuring adherence to anti-money laundering (AML) requirements across Alviere’s services​ (alviere.com. Together, Yuval Brisker (Co-Founder/Board Member), Pedro Silva (CEO), and their executive team have positioned Alviere as a growing player in the fintech industry, backed by investors including Viola Ventures, CommerzVentures, and others from its funding rounds​ fintechfutures.comviola-group.com. The leadership emphasizes a vision of enabling any enterprise to offer financial services without building a bank from scratch​ mckinsey.com, which guides Alviere’s strategic decisions and partnerships.

Clients & Partners

Alviere has formed several strategic partnerships and client collaborations to deploy its embedded finance technology across different industries and regions. Notable partnerships include: Boost Mobile (OmniMoney): In 2022, U.S. prepaid wireless carrier Boost Mobile launched a banking service called OmniMoney aimed at underbanked customers. The service – offering a mobile banking app, debit card, and remittances – is powered by Alviere’s platform in partnership with Community Federal Savings Bank​ bankingdive.com americanbanker.com. Through Alviere, Boost provides features like no-fee digital accounts and cross-border money transfers to Mexico as a value-add for its mobile subscribers​ bankingdive.comamericanbanker.com. This collaboration marked one of the first instances of a telecom company using embedded finance to offer financial products under its own brand.

Grupo Coppel (Coppel Access): In January 2023, Mexican retail giant Grupo Coppel (which operates Mexico’s largest department store chain) introduced Coppel Access, an immigrant-focused digital wallet for Mexican Americans. Grupo Coppel chose Alviere as its embedded finance provider to enable this service​ (bankingdive.com). The Coppel Access mobile app allows users in the U.S. to open an account with a Mexican ID, get a branded debit card, and send remittances directly to Mexico. The wallet is built on Alviere’s HIVE platform and is FDIC-insured on a pass-through basis by Alviere’s U.S. banking partner​bankingdive.com, extending Coppel’s financial services reach to customers living abroad.

AutoPayPlus: In March 2022, Alviere partnered with AutoPayPlus, a fintech company in the automotive sector, to roll out embedded financial services for car buyers. AutoPayPlus, known for its automated loan payment programs, became the first automotive industry client to leverage Alviere’s full platform​pymnts.com. The initial offering provided by this partnership was a prepaid promotional debit card given to car purchasers, which could be used for dealership services and rewards​pymnts.com. By using Alviere’s card-issuing and account capabilities, AutoPayPlus turned one-time car sales into ongoing relationships, as the co-branded cards encourage customers to return to dealerships for maintenance and repeat business pymnts.com.

Onafriq (formerly MFS Africa): In 2024, Alviere forged a strategic alliance with Onafriq, an Africa-based digital payments network (previously known as MFS Africa). This partnership enables cross-border payment flows from the United States to multiple African countries via Alviere’s platform​ fintech-intel.com. Onafriq connects to over 500 million mobile wallets and hundreds of millions of bank accounts across Africa​ fintech-intel.com. By integrating with Alviere’s HIVE and using Alviere’s regulatory framework in the U.S., Onafriq can offer faster and compliant remittance services for the diaspora customers sending money to Africa​ fintech-intel.com.​Deel: In 2024, global HR and payroll company Deel expanded its strategic investment and partnership with Alviere as part of a strategy to enhance payments to U.S.-based workers. Deel, which helps companies manage international payroll and contractors, made a strategic investment in Alviere and integrated Alviere’s compliance and finance platform into its system​ pymnts.com. Through this partnership, Deel is leveraging Alviere’s capabilities to offer faster payouts, digital wallets, and even bank-like services to workers that clients hire via Deel’s platform​ pymnts.com. Because Alviere is a regulated financial entity, the solution ensures that all payments and accounts provided to Deel’s users adhere to U.S. know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements​ pymnts.com.

References

Alex Pugh (20 October 2021). "Embedded finance platform Alviere lands $70m in funding." FinTech Futures. fintechfutures.com

Gabrielle Saulsbery (25 January 2023). "Mexico’s largest department store now offers banking services to Mexican Americans." Banking Dive. bankingdive.com

Carter Pape (27 October 2022). "Boost Mobile launches mobile banking for the underbanked." American Banker. americanbanker.com

PYMNTS (1 March 2022). "Embedded Finance FinTech Alviere Partners With AutoPayPlus." PYMNTS.com. pymnts.com

Josh Poyser (22 January 2024). "Onafriq chooses Alviere to launch embedded remittances." Fintech Intel.fintech-intel.com​PYMNTS (28 May 2024). "Deel Taps Alviere to Help Global Companies Pay US Workers." PYMNTS.com. pymnts.com

The Paypers – Company Database: Alviere. (Accessed 2024/2025). Profile of Alviere with product and compliance information​ thepaypers.com​Roshan Varadarajan (moderator) and Pedro Silva (guest) (12 December 2024). "Financial services beyond the bank" (Talking Banking Matters podcast transcript). McKinsey & Company. mckinsey.com​Isabelle Castro Margaroli (5 May 2022). "Alviere turns to Crypto-as-a-Service." Fintech Nexus. fintechnexus.com

Iulia Ciutina (29 December 2021). "‘People don’t care about privacy’: How payment app Mezu pivoted to become embedded finance platform Alviere." Tearsheet. tearsheet.co