Recently in BillShrink Category

We're very excited to reveal the 56 cutting-edge companies that have been selected to demo their latest technology innovations on October 4 and 5 in New York City at FinovateFall.

Over the show's two days, attendees will get to watch the future of fintech and banktech unfold on stage via fast-paced demos (28 each day) from these innovators. And then have a chance to interact with top executives from each of the demo companies during intimate networking sessions.

Without further delay, here's the list of companies we're excited to showcase:

If you're interested in attending the conference, registering now will save you $100 on your ticket via the early-bird discount and reserve your spot (space is limited and we're expecting to sell out). We'll see you in New York!

Eric Mattson is CEO of Online Financial Innovations, the parent company of NetBanker, Online Banking Report and the Finovate Conference Series. He can be reached at eric@netbanker.com.

Here are the news headlines we posted this week on Twitter (follow our feed here).

ThreatMetrix partners with Offerpal Media to stop fraud -- The ThreatMetrix data will give Offerpal additional abilities to identify potentially fraudulent user transactions. http://bit.ly/cerWUY

Peter Pham to leave BillShrink -- Schwark Satyavolu will re-assume the CEO Position. Pham will be leaving BillShrink to join Trinity Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE611

iBearSoft releases a video demo of the iBearMoney for iPad -- Money for iPad is a top-selling app in the paid personal finance category in the American iTunes app store. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE613

Lending Club hits $10 mil in monthly originations for first time -- Congratulations to Lending Club on their continued growth! http://bit.ly/Finovate621

mFoundry featured in NY Times -- (6/1/10 p.B1) Article on card-based loyalty programs moving to mobile. http://nyti.ms/cardloyalty

Zecco's CEO Michael Raneri has been named a winner of IDG's 2010 InfoWorld CTO 25 Award -- Zecco is an online brokerage which offers free stock trades and low-cost options trades. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE621

Alpha Clone investment account service has launched -- A clone is a portfolio of stocks based on the stock idea of one or more fund managers. http://bit.ly/aQcBgu

Bling Nation, mobile payments provider, hires Shan Mehta to lead strategic alliances -- Mehta will also be responsible for maintaining and expanding exiting relationships with service partners. http://bit.ly/Finovate631

MoneyStrands adds cash tracking to application -- Cash tracking is now available for MoneyStrands via Web and mobile app. http://bit.ly/finovate641

Here are the news headlines we posted this week on Twitter (follow our feed here).

Expensify releases version 2.0 of iPhone app for expense reports - The new Expensify app now allows users to add cash expenses and scan receipt images to work off

line. Users can now create an entire expense report from their mobile device. http://bit.ly/b1CAc0

AlphaClone adds new search, percent of portfolio - The AlphaClone percent of portfolio option allows viewers to look at a single stock and see which funds have the greatest exposure within a portfolio. http://bit.ly/dojmhz

Lee Barba and Bruce Shelly join the Kapitall team - Barba joins the Kapitall Board of Directors with experience in acquisitions. He was CEO of Investools. Shelly joins the team as Advisor to Kapitall with experience from the video gaming business. http://bit.ly/a4Augw

Amazon Payments Implements Yodlee Instant Account Verification - Amazon Payments now uses Yodlee's technology to verify user accounts to create faster, safer P2P transactions according to Yodlee. http://bit.ly/9UThEa

Intuit has selected Expensify as a promotion partner for expense

reporting -The Intuit Workplace App Center with Expensify, MyFax, and OfficeDrop. http://bit.ly/dwQiry 

iBearMoney launches the Money 4.1 App - iBear Money's Money 4.1 works on Windows mobile phones, iPhone, iPod Touch and now iPad and allows users to synchronize data between multiple devices. http://bit.ly/atbUPw

BillShrink.com launched a new search for TV, cable, satellite services to search for the best value - Billshrink's new search allows users to compare television service pricing based on their preferred channels or programs and available service based on the user's address. http://tcrn.ch/cujEE8

Fiserv, Inc. study shows that 80% of internet-capable households use online banking while only 40% use online billpay - The Fiserv, Inc. study also shows that women now make up the majority of online bill pay users, a reversal from the 2002 study. http://bit.ly/dtVOFM

Fiserv, Inc. partners with Phone Factor, Inc. to provide phone-based user authentication - The Fiserv, Inc. partnership will allow financial institutions using the Fiserv systems to provide passive or active user authentication via customers' mobile phones. http://bit.ly/bz1tvo

Visa, Inc. and Monitise PLC announced a joint venture to provide mobile payment technology in India - India is the world's second-largest mobile market with nearly 600 mobile-subscriptions. The technology from Monitise will allow for bill-payment, transit ticketing and other services via mobile phone. http://bit.ly/bLFgmI

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of our alums, using data from Web-analytics company Compete to review the 132 sites they operate. (Our review for the previous month is available here.)

Out of 105 sites with data available (see note 1), 44 (42%) had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in March 2010 (see table #1, below), up from 42 last month. Of the 105, only seven (7%) had fewer visitors than in the previous month and 25 (24%) saw a decline year-over-year.

Notable successes:

• Mint saw the most unique U.S. visitors in March, with more than 1.6 million hits.
• Expensify saw impressive month-over-month growth, with more than three times as many visitors.
• BillShrink and Credit Karma (including its Sears site) both saw traffic double year over year.

While the top six positions remained unchanged between January and February, March brought several changes. Previous monthly leader FiLife has dropped to number five, being replaced at the top by Mint. BillShrink joined the top five for the first time this year, rising from seventh to fourth. Motley Fool CAPS and Digital Insight both rose on the list, while Credit.com and Credit Karma fell one place.

#1. Finovate alumni with more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in March 2010

Source: Compete.com, April 15, 2010

#2. Finovate alumni with year-over-year growth of at least 5,000 U.S. visitors

Source: Compete.com, April 15, 2010

Notes:

1. We reviewed 132 unique sites. Data was unavailable for 27 sites because they had been acquired, were no longer available online, or had active sites that were not covered by Compete for various reasons, including some that were not U.S. domestic companies.

2. At larger companies we tried to measure traffic to the sub-domain most closely aligned with the Finovate demo, e.g., www.checkfree.fiserv.com. Also, searscreditscore.com, a private-label site supported by Credit Karma, and Money Island, a new BancVue site, have been added to the list.

3. Numbers have been rounded to three significant digits.

4. The charts include companies that did not have measurable traffic in February 2009, indicated by a N/A.

5. Compete draws its information from the online activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic, and may undercount at-work usage.

Here are the news headlines we posted this week on Twitter (follow it here).

Billeo includes AARP discounts in Offer Assistant - Billeo's Offer Assistant program, which helps online shoppers find discounts and incentive rewards, now includes AARP (American Association of Retired Persons). The association has about 40 million members. http://bit.ly/dtxfzU

BillShrink holds Facebook sweepstakes - BillShrink is giving away an iPad in a sweepstakes to encourage Facebook users to follow the company. The company will also give an iPad to the person who referred the winning user. The contest is similar in structure to a Mint promotion (our story here). Both are being handled by Wildfire. http://bit.ly/b8Vr6M

Bling Nation signs Adirondack Trust Company - The Adirondack Trust Company, located in Saratoga Springs, New York, is offering mobile payments through Bling Nation's system. This is the first East Coast deployment of the payments system. http://bit.ly/8Y0QR2

Bling Nation helping banks and merchants build relationships - According to a report from American Banker, Bling Nation's community-based payments system is building stronger ties between banks and retailers. By providing a payment system between community banks and merchants, Bling can offer lower transaction costs, encouraging merchants to work with local banks. http://bit.ly/9JkfgK

CashEdge provides P2P to Boeing Employees Credit Union - Boeing Employees Credit Union (BECU) is the first credit union in the country to offer CashEdge's POPMoney person-to-person payments service. The service launched on March 20. http://bit.ly/9RPJ2k

Diversinet expands focus on healthcare sector - Diversinet announced at the CTIA Wireless 2010 conference that it would increase its focus on providing mobile solutions to the healthcare market, connecting care providers and payers with healthcare information. The company's new strategy involves introducing new mobile applications, creating custom data portals for care providers, and developing systems to connect mobile devices to medical equipment. http://bit.ly/dcshRf

Fiserv to provide Mobile Money services to SunTrust Banks - SunTrust Banks selected Fiserv's Mobile Money to provide customers with mobile financial services. The Fiserv system will allow SunTrust to offer account access and customer alerts via text messaging and mobile browsers. http://bit.ly/bvvcFY

Lending Club photo contest with up to $2,500 in prizes - Lending Club launched a photo contest to encourage submission of new background images to use in its redesigned website; as many as six winners will take home cash prizes. http://bit.ly/b632aj

Mortgagebot case study: Community Bank - Charmichaels, PA- based Community Bank is using technology from Mortgagebot to open up new business channels and make the mortgage loan process more efficient. A Mortgagebot-produced case study on the bank reported a 68% increase in the volume of closed loans in 2009, compared to its results in 2008. http://bit.ly/9fi0t2

SecondMarket plans presence in Asia -- SecondMarket is preparing to push into Asian markets, where it may eventually employ as many as 150 people. The move into Asia follows $15 million in financing obtained from two Asian investors in February 2010. http://bit.ly/9OcLyQ

Yodlee data aggregation powers new PFM -- Newly launched online PFM In & Out Cash Management has partnered with Yodlee to import transaction data from more than 10,000 U.S. financial institutions. http://bit.ly/ah4nbY

Zopa marks fifth year in business -- Zopa (UK) announced its fifth anniversary in March. To celebrate, the company is running a sweepstakes awarding a 5% loan each day. http://bit.ly/9O5nQu

BillShrink, which provides money-savings advice to consumers, has expanded its offerings to include a new feature for business owners.

BillShrink offers online tools to help consumers find the best prices on goods and services in markets where comparison shopping can be difficult. The company collects geographic and usage data from the consumer in order to create personal recommendations. BillShrink currently offers price comparison services for cell phone plans, savings accounts/CDs, credit cards, and gas stations. (Finovate 2009 video here; FinovateStartup 2009 video here.)

The company's new BillShrink for Business service helps businesses find better credit card deals. The company currently has online tools in the works for comparing business wireless phone services and savings accounts.

How it Works:

1. The business owner goes to the BillShrink for Business site and answers two basic questions: Do you pay off your credit card monthly? And what is the annual revenue of the business?

2. Next, the site collects more detailed data about the card usage, followed by questions about what services the user values in a credit card account. (See screenshot #1, below.)

3. The last personal detail required is an email address.

4. The system presents a quick analysis of the user's current credit card (screenshot #2) and then recommends money-saving alternatives (screenshot #3). Clicking on a link that reads How is this calculated provides additional data, showing the value of cash rewards and other incentives that may come with the new card.

5. At the bottom, there is a link to apply for the recommended card at the card-issuer's site. (Screenshot #3.)

BillShrink is paid by retailers when consumers switch to the suggested products. Offering its comparison-shopping services to businesses expands the company's market, allowing it to draw a new category of shoppers to the site.

According to traffic estimates from Compete, the BillShrink site saw about 150,000 unique visitors in December, slightly less than its median average for 2009. Site usage peaked in summer with about 490,000.

Compete.com, January 2010, traffic data here.

#1. BillShrink collects basic usage data

#2. Analysis of current credit card (highlight added)

#3. Recommendations for a new credit card