Finovate Alumni News

  • Business Standard looks at the partnership between TradeHero and OANDA.
  • P2Binvestor reaches $50 million invoices-funded milestone.
  • Ripple Labs adds former State Department policy official, Anja Manuel, as advisor.
  • peerTransfer picks Digital River to provide payment processing.
  • Trustev Wins Most Disruptive Technology Award at SXSW.
  • WattzOn to participate in Georgetown University Energy Prize competition to help communities reduce energy consumption.
  • Toopher raises $200,000 of planned $300k financing round.
  • Fifth Third Bank launches online money movement solution from CashEdge.
  • Finovate Debuts: How Bitbond Leverages Bitcoin to Benefit Borrowers and Lenders.
  • Madrid-based Banco Mare Nostrum implements MicroStrategy as its analytics standard to drive analysis and insight for its employees.
  • American Banker features David Pinski’s move from a bank to a startup, Zumigo.
  • Payment Week interviews Cardlytics on how big data is changing consumer engagement.
  • American Banker: Ripple Labs hires Anja Manuel, a former U.S. State Department official, as company adviser.
  • Ovum names Kony a leader, recognizes it for its comprehensive cloud-based mobile solution.
  • ThreatMetrix enhances TrustDefender Mobile to help businesses meet new payment card industry data security standards.
  • Spring and All: FinovateSpring 2015 Presenters Revealed!

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Infographic: Internet Banking Vendor Timeline, 1997 to 2012

Here is a monster infographic from our friends at Mindful Insights LLC, a boutique consulting firm in the digital finance space (previous post). You can click on the image for a larger version, or better yet, grab the PDF version here. We appreciate the opportunity to publish it.

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Finovate Alumni Website Traffic in September

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of Finovate alums using data from Web-analytics company Compete.
Out of 268 alumni, 80 had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in September 2011 and are included in the tables below. Of those, 33 (41%) had more visitors in September than August. Year-over-year, 42 (52%) had traffic increases.
Private Companies
  • Seeking Alpha and Cortera had the highest traffic in September with 2.1 and 2.0 million unique visitors, respectively. Cortera also had the highest increase in number of unique year-over-year visits with over 1.5 more visits in 2011 than in 2010.
  • Kabbage had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, up 280x.
  • Weemba saw the highest monthly growth percentage with more than 7.5 times the number of unique visitors in September compared to August.
  • SmartCredit.com had the highest increase in number of unique year-over-year visitors, growing by 126,000.
PrivateWebTrafficSeptember2.jpg
Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of October 26, 2011
 
1) The previous month recorded was August 2011
2) Sears Credit Score is powered by CreditKarma.com
3) Truaxis was formerly BillShrink
4) Kasasa is powered by BancVue
Public companies
 
  • CheckFree had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, with over 7 times the number of visitors this year than last year.
  • Intuit had a notable increase in number of unique, year-over-year visitors, increasing by 300,000 visits.
  • Check Point had the highest month-over-month percent growth, with 41% more visitors in September than in August.
PublicWebTrafficSeptember2.jpgSource: Compete.com retrieved the week of October 26, 2011

1) The previous month recorded was July 2011.
_______________________________________________________
Notes:
1. We reviewed 268 Finovate alumni. Only those with at least 10,000 unique visitors in July are listed.
3. NM = not measurable
4. t= tie
5. Compete estimates online visitors based on the 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.

Finovate Alumni Website Traffic in August

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of Finovate alums using data from Web-analytics company Compete
Out of 268 alumni, 75 had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in August 2011 and are included in the tables below. Of those, 41 (55%) had more visitors in August than July. Year-over-year, 45 (60%) had traffic increases.
Private Companies
  • Seeking Alpha — the most-trafficked in August with 2.5 million unique visitors — also had the highest increase in number of unique month-over-month visits with 300,000 more visits in August than in July.
  • Budgettracker.com saw the highest monthly growth percentage with more than 6.5 times the number of unique visitors in August compared to July.
  • Betterment had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, up 88x.
  • Cortera had the highest number of unique year-over-year visitors, growing by 1.5 million. 
August2011PrivateWebTraffic4.jpg
Source: Compete.com retrieved week of October 3, 2011
1) The previous month recorded was July 2011
2) Truaxis was formerly BillShrink
4) Kasasa is powered by BancVue
5) Checkingfinder.com is powered by BancVue

Public Companies

  • Fiserv had the highest month-over-month percent growth, with 50% more visitors.
  • CheckFree had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, with over 5 times the number of visitors.
  • S1 also had a high percentage growth year-over-year, doubling its visitors.
August2011PublicWebTraffic5.jpg
Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of October 3, 2011
1) The previous month recorded was July 2011.
_______________________________________________________
Notes:
1. We reviewed 268 Finovate alumni. Only those with at least 10,000 unique visitors in July are listed. 
3. NM = Not measurable
4. t= Tie
5. Compete estimates online visitors based on the 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.

Finovate Alumni at BAI Retail Delivery Conference

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The BAI Retail Delivery conference begins tomorrow with 29 Finovate alumni participating in sessions and/or exhibiting on the trade show floor.
Session Speakers
  • Tuesday, Global Game-Changer Session
    Speaker: Jim Taschetta from FreeMonee
  • Wednesday, Technology for Business Summit 
    Speaker: Mitch Jacobs from On Deck Capital
  • Wednesday, Technology for Business Summit Session 
    Speaker: David Eads from Kony Solutions
  • Thursday, Technology for Business Summit Session
    Speaker: Eric Connors from Yodlee
  • Thursday, Marketing & Product Management Summit Session 
    Speaker: Rod Witmond from Cardlytics
Exhibitors 
BAI Mobile Link
Mobile Link Panel Discussions
Solutions Theatre
Jim Bruene and I (julie@netbanker.com) will be in attendance and will update the blog and Twitter with new developments throughout the event. 

Finovate Alumni Website Traffic in July

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of Finovate alums using data from Web-analytics company Compete
Out of 255 alumni, 59 (23%) had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in July 2011 (see tables below). Of those, 19 (32%) had more visitors than in the previous month and 25 (42%) were flat. Year-over-year, 26 (44%) had an increase, 10 (17%) were flat, and 23 (39%) were down. 

Private Companies
Notable successes:
  • Seeking Alpha had the most traffic in July with more than 2 million unique visitors.
  • eToro saw the highest monthly growth percentage with 3 times the number of unique visitors in July compared to June.
  • Bundle had the highest increase in number of unique month-over-month visits, with 450,000 more visitors in July than in June.
  • eRollover had the highest percent year-over-year traffic increase, with 260,000 more visitors from last July. 
JulyWebTrafficPrivate6.jpg
Source: Compete.com retrieved week of August 15, 2011
1. The previous month recorded was May 2011
2. Sears Credit Score is powered by CreditKarma.com
3. Kasasa is powered by BancVue
Public Companies
Notable successes:
  • PayPal had the highest number of U.S. visitors in July, with more than 30 million visitors.
  • Jack Henry & Associates saw the highest monthly growth with twice as many visitors in July than June.
  • Wipro Technologies had the highest year-over-year growth, with 3 times as many visitors this year compared to last year.
  • FIS Global and Online Resources also doubled their traffic compared to last year. 
JulyWebTrafficPublic4.jpg
Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of August 15, 2011
1. The previous month recorded was May 2011.
_______________________________________________________
Notes:
1. We reviewed 255 Finovate alumni. Only those with at least 10,000 unique visitors in July are listed. 
3. NM = Not measurable
4. Compete estimates online visitors based on the 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.

M&A: Fiserv to Purchase CashEdge for $465 Million

On June 29, Fiserv agreed to acquire CashEdge. Here are some quick facts about the acquisition. 
  • The deal is expected to be complete by September 2011.CashEdge Logo2.jpg
  • The all-cash $465 million purchase price is more than six times CashEdge’s projected 2011 revenues of $75 million.
  • Fiserv’s last large acquisition was CheckFree for $4.4 billion in 2007, which was 4.5 times its expected revenue. In comparison, Jack Henry & Associates’ $300 million purchase of iPay Technologies last year was 5.5 times iPay’s revenue.fiserv logo.2.jpg
  • The expected consolidation of CashEdge’s Popmoney P2P transfer service (200 signed clients) and Fiserv’s ZashPay (700 signed clients) will create a stronger competitor to bank-owned clearXchange.
More Information

PayPal and Cortera Take Charge in May’s Web Traffic

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of our alums, using data from Web-analytics company Compete to review the sites they operate. 

Out of 255 alumni, 62 (24%) had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in May 2011 (see tables below). Of the 62 reviewed, 25 (40%) had fewer visitors than in the previous month and 28 (45%) saw a decline year-over-year.

Private Companies
The 44 private companies are as follows:

Notable successes:

  • Cortera saw the highest number of unique U.S. visitors in May, with almost 2 million hits.
  • HelloWallet experienced the greatest month-over-month growth, with more than four times as many visitors.
  • Betterment saw its traffic increase an impressive 38 times from May of last year.

Private Finovate Alumni With More Than 10,000 Unique Visitors in May 2011

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for May2011PrivateWebTraffic.jpg





Source: Compete.com retrieved June 29, 2011

Public Companies
The 18 public companies are as follows:

Notable successes:

  • PayPal experienced the highest number of U.S. visitors in May, with over 32 million visitors.
  • TransUnion Interactive saw the highest month-over-month growth with more than two times the number of visitors in May than in April.
  • Sybase 365 experienced the highest year-over-year growth, with its traffic up almost 80% from last year.

Public Finovate Alumni With More Than 10,000 Unique Visitors in May 2011 

May2011PublicWebTraffic.jpg

Source: Compete.com retrieved June 29, 2011

_____________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

1. We reviewed 255 unique sites. Data was unavailable or irrelevant for 201 sites because: 

  • They had been acquired.
  • They were no longer available online.
  • They were not covered by Compete for various reasons (including some that were not U.S. domestic companies).
  • The number of unique visits was too small to be considered accurate.
  • They were subdomains of larger websites.

2. Numbers have been rounded to three significant digits.

3. The charts include companies that did not have measurable traffic in May 2011, indicated by “N/A.”

4. 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.

Alumni News– Week of June 20, 2011

AlumNewsIMG.jpg

AlphaClone
AlphaClone launched a new feature that measures sentiment. Link
BillFLO
Taulia acquired BillFLO. Link
Bills.com

Bills.com.jpg

Bills.com shared money-saving strategies for recent college graduates. Link
BrightScope
BrightScope was highlighted on the Tuscon NBC news channel series, “4 Your Money.” Link
CashEdge
Ally Bank began offering CashEdge’s Popmoney service. Link
Continuity Control

ContinuityControl.jpg

LEVERAGE, the Service Corporation for the League of Southeastern Credit Unions, began offering Continuity Control’s CreditUnion Assistant program. Link
CreditKarma
Credit Karma introduced its Approval Odds service to help avoid being declined for a card. Link
Currensee
Currensee reached $6 billion in trading volume and $12 million under management. Link
doxo
The MakeUseOf blog reviewed doxo’s online filing cabinet. Link
Dwolla
  • Dwolla CEO commented on the Bitcoin virtual currency debate, exchange, and hysteria.  Link
  • Dwolla’s fees were compared to PayPal’s. Link
  • Silicon Prairie News discussed Dwolla CEO’s comments on Bitcoin. Link
eWise
eWise Payo’s smartphone app won the Editor’s Award for Consumer Focus at the 2011 Cards International Awards. Link
Expensify

Expensify.jpg

  • The Dallas News highlighted Expensify. Link
  • Expensify was listed as one of 25 tools to help you manage spending by cmvlive.com Link
HelloWallet
HelloWallet posted a short video series explaining its wealth-tracking service. Link
Jwaala

Jwallaa.jpg

KEMBA Financial Credit Union implemented Jwaala’s platform. Link
Lending Club
  • Lending Club is approaching its financial breakeven point. Link
  • Reuters commented on Lending Club’s P2P marketplace. Link
Lendio
Lendio helped banks increase business loans by finding qualified borrowers. Link
Mortgagebot

mortgagebot.jpg

Mortgagebot and Business Solutions extended their Tech Alliance to provide mortgage application solutions at preferred terms. Link
PayNearMe
PayNearMe facilitated 7-Eleven’s partnership with Greyhound for cash transactions. Link
Prosper
Reuters commented on Prosper’s P2P marketplace. Link
Receivables Exchange

Receivables exchange.jpg

The Receivables Exchange won 2011 “Management Team of the Year” at the Stevie Awards. Link
Strands
Strands Personal Finance landed in the 2011 Red Herring Top 100 North America list. Link
TradeKing
TradeKing announced its free webinar series on trading advice beginning July 12th. Link
Voice Commerce

VoiceCommerce.jpg

Voice Commerce launched its CashFlows app. Link
Xero
Getapp.com reviewed Xero’s cloud-based software. Link

Alumni News: Week of May 2 and May 9

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Finovate_Alumni_news.jpg

Backbase

backbase.jpg

Backbase will provide TCS Bank in Russia with a website integration solution through Bank 2.0 Portal. Link

Bill.com

Bill.com rolled out Sage Peachtree Sync, software for controlling bill payment and management. Link

BrightScope

BrightScope released its second annual list of the Atlanta-based companies with the best 401k plans. Link

CashEdge

CashEdge expanded Popmoney service by adding Popmoney for Prepaid. It also announced a partnership with TxVia. Link 

CashEdge.jpg


Check Point Software Technologies

Check Point was listed on Acadian Asset Management’s Top 15 Buys list.  Link


Cortera

Cortera announced a new version of its PULSE app, a customer monitoring service. The new version will add Growth Clues alert.  Link


DebtGoal

DebtGoal.jpg

DebtGoal hired Igor Vaks, former Experian CIO, as new COO. Link


eToro

eToro emerged as the preferred platform for building forex wealth through web trading.  Link

Expensify

Expensify advertised on giant billboard in the Bay Area. Link

Fiserv

fiserv.jpg

Fiserv announced improvements to its Relationship Rewards. Link

ID Analytics

CoreLogic partnered with ID Analytics to integrate ID Network with LoanSafe Fraud Manager. Link

ID Analytics will host Advance 2011, its 9th Consumer Risk Management Conference, this September.  Link

IP Commerce

IP Commerce recently raised another round of funding. Link

Lending Club

Lending Club issued a record high of $17.5M loans in April. It is the 4th record month in the past 5. Link

Lending Club won Webby Award for the Banking/ Bill Paying category. Link


Mint 

Mint won Webby Awards for the Financial Services category. Link

MoneyAisle

Mone
yAisle launched live auctions for unsecured personal loans to help consumers across a wide range of credit scores. Link

PayNearMe

paynearme.jpg

PayNearMe raised $16M in funding from new and current investors. Link

Plastyc

Plastyc won a patent for improved online payment methods. Link

Prosper

Prosper increased loan volume by more than 50% compared to 3 months ago, issuing over $5M in new loans in April. Link

Yodlee

Yodlee is looking into developing mobile apps with new “FinApp Store” strategy. Link

Alumni News — Week of April 25, 2011

On April 27, Prosper gave 200 new lenders $104 to get started. The company is celebrating the news that prosper lenders are averaging 10.4% returns. http://bit.ly/finovate426111

American Banker on Yodlee and Geezeo growth in the PFM market. Yodlee grows French market, and Geezeo signs more credit unions. http://bit.ly/finovate429111
Author Jean Chatzky opens her Debt Diet Challenge to 5 Credit.com readers who are in debt. http://bit.ly/lDmZ54
Bank Innovations highlights six companies as noteworthy to see at Finovate Spring on May 10th & 11th in San Francisco. http://bit.ly/kqBr39
Bill.com releases site upgrade. The upgrade, made over the Easter weekend, includes improved calendar, a revised mobile application, receivables managements and online payments and more. http://bit.ly/finovate427113
BrightScope featured on TechCrunch. The post highlights BrightScope’s launch of advisor pages. http://tcrn.ch/finovate426113
Capital Access Network awarded prestigious award. The company won the 2011 Monarch Innovation Award from Barlow Research Associates. http://bit.ly/finovate425113
CashEdge’s Small Business Survey finds that small businesses want electronic payment solutions. http://bit.ly/kmC1lM
Consumer Reports integrates BillShrink’s recommendations into reviews. BillShrink has similar affiliate relationships with Walmart.com and T-Mobile. http://tcrn.ch/finovate426112
Credit Karma releases Credit Score Climate Report stating credit scores fell two points in the Q1 2011. http://mwne.ws/lnXZn7
Currensee makes Lead411’s Hottest Boston Tech Companies list second year in a row. See them at Finovate Spring. http://bit.ly/lmrLNK
H&R Block names former eBay exec as new CEO. http://buswk.co/ipszZa
Mengia signs with Icelandic banks, Arion and Landsbanki. Mengia will provide PFM services to both banks, which will provide 90% of Icelandic banking customers with access to an integrated PFM platform. http://bit.ly/finovate427112
Monitise launches Hong Kong mobile service with JETCO, which will help it break into the Asia Pacific market. http://bit.ly/kEEcCP
Stock Twits names Francisc Costello chief operating officer.  http://bit.ly/finovate429114
Tile Financial releases the “Spend Grow Give” app. Now available free in the App Store. http://bit.ly/finovate425111
USA Today covers BrightScope’s new tool for choosing the right financial adviser & informs what attributes to look for. http://usat.ly/msrb7l
Wescom Resources Group offers Geezeo PFM to clients. Wescom will be rolling out Geezeo as a complement to the Credit Union’s existing online banking platform. http://bit.ly/finovate425112
Xero releases Xero Touch, its new app built on HTML5 that will run on iPhone, Android, Windows7 and Blackberry. http://bit.ly/eLPrdA
Yodlee holds a mobile banking webinar on May 3. Attendance is free. Details online at  http://bit.ly/finovate427111

Alumni News — Weeks of March 7, 13 and 21, 2011

To view our alumni news updates in real time, follow us on Twitter

Andera adds its 500th customer. http://bit.ly/finovate322116
Bill Harris and Mark Goines join the Pageonce Advisory Board. Harris was formerly CEO of Intuit and of PayPal, and Goines was formerly a senior executive at Intuit and Charles Schwab. http://prn.to/finovate322111
Bill.com named to the JMP Securities “Hot 100.” The list includes the 100 best privately held software companies for 2011 according to the investment bank. http://bit.ly/finovate38113
BillShrink adds Anil Arora, Yodlee president and CEO, to its board of directors. The announcement comes just after the launch of “Statement Rewards” from BillShrink. http://bit.ly/finovate322112
Boku moves from virtual-goods billing to real-goods billing in Germany. Now real goods can be added to wireless bills thanks to Boku’s technology. http://bit.ly/finovate324112
Cardlytics wins Judge’s Choice Award in the 2011 Paybefore Awards. The Paybefore  awards are hosted annually by Prepaid Media. http://bit.ly/finovate38111
CashEdge signs Huntington for P2P PopMoney. http://bit.ly/finovate322117
Check out the Filene webinar with Thwakk on how to leverage financial education to increase youth membership. http://bit.ly/finovate322113
Columbus Water Works customers can now pay their utility bill via eWise’s secure payment platform. http://yhoo.it/finovate37113
Cedit Sesame closes on $6.15 million Series B funding round led by Melo Ventures. http://bit.ly/finovate322118
eToro launches “Trade Story.” This social platform helps traders learn the strategies behind other users’ trades. http://bit.ly/hQNDGc
Expensify is featured in Money magazine. http://bit.ly/finovate322114
Guardian Analytics raises $11 million. This is Guardian’s fourth round of funding, this time led by Split Rock Partners. http://bit.ly/finovate323113
H&R Block and Yodlee partner to make it easier to file taxes. http://yhoo.it/finovate3236
ICICI and Intuit partner on a Mint-like platform for India. http://bit.ly/finovate324113