SaveUp Raises $5 Million, Voices Usage Stats

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SaveUp, a free rewards program to help consumers get out of debt, announced a $5 million round of financing yesterday, which comes after the initial $2 million seed round from Blue Run Ventures and True Ventures it closed in November of last year.

Existing investors participated in the new round, and the remaining contributors are undisclosed. So far, SaveUp has closed $4 million of the $5 million, and is looking for prominent angel investors to close out the round.

Along with covering the announcement, TechCrunch disclosed the following stats:

    • 20% of users sign in daily
    • 45% of users sign in weekly
    • 68% of users sign in once a month
    • Users have registered over half a billion dollars in debt in the system, including:

– $317 million in mortgage debt
– $45 million in credit card debt- $148 million in loan debt

    • Since launching, its helped users pay down $74 million in debt and save $93 million

SaveUp will use the funding to increase distribution of the product and expand to new platforms.

To learn more about SaveUp, watch its FinovateSpring 2012 demo.

Finovate Alumni News– July 25, 2012

  • Fiserv launches mobile app for debit and credit card rewards program.
  • Investment News features FutureAdvisor.
  • TIO Networks signs deal with MAPCO Express to deploy bill pay kiosks across Tennessee.
  • Wipit enables e-commerce websites to accept cash payments.
  • ActivePath’s ActiveMail reaches major milestone with 500,000 downloads.
  • SaveUp raises $5 million, voices usage stats.
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.

Finovate Alumni News– July 20, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgDynamics certified as payment card production vendor on MasterCard network.
  • Lighter Capital hires BJ Lackland as new CEO.
  • Netbanker reports: BillGuard Puts Extra Effort into Contacting Customers.
  • Lazy Man and Money blog features SaveUp.
  • TechCrunch reports Credit Karma app becomes #1 Financial app in Apple App Store and #22 overall, only 1 day after debut.
  • TSYS signs 6 year agreement to provide BofA processing services for consumer credit card portfolios in the U.S.
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.

Finovate Alumni News– June 7, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgCheck out VC funding trends in financial services startups.
  • Cartera Commerce raises $12.2 Million in growth equity.
  • Braintree expands payments gateway to merchants in 30 countries.
  • Lending Club receives $15 mil from Kleiner, Mary Meeker joins board.
  • ThreatMetrix positioned as a “Visionary” in the Magic Quadrant for Web Fraud Detection.
  • Clairmail awarded 2012 Best Mobile Application or Service.
  • mFoundry launches mobile banking solution for Eli Lilly Federal Credit Union.
  • City National Bank partners with Cachet Financial Solutions and Panini to deliver RDC to Mac users.
  • Bill.com receivables wins ninth annual Tax and Accounting Technology Innovation Awards.
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.

Finovate Alumni News– June 6, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpg2 Minute Finance covers Concur’s FinovateSpring 2012 demo.
  • Quid puts FinovateSpring companies through its Big Data algorithm.
  • Netbanker reports Doxo Provides the Missing Login at Small Billers.
  • TIO Networks named to PROFIT Mag’s list of Fastest-Growing Companies in Canada.
  • GigaOM reports Wonga readies $1.5 billion IPO.
  • Wall Street Journal reviews FutureAdvisor.
  • ThreeThriftyGuys.com reviews SaveUp.com.
  • American Banker reports Computer Services Inc. (CSI) adds Geezeo’s PFM tools to its online banking suite.
  • Business Insider recommends using Credit Karma and ReadyForZero to get out of debt and raise your credit score.
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.

Finovate Alumni News– May 17, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgSoMoLend raises $1.17 in Seed Funding.
  • TradeKing and Zecco announce agreement to merge.
  • The Economist names CurrencyFair as an option for transferring money abroad.
  • The Economist looks at how Wonga, Mint, SaveUp, and ReadyForZero use Big Data.
  • Xconomy reports Kony Solutions receives $15 mil in Series C financing.
  • Finextra reports SafetyPay takes e-commerce cash payment service global.
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.

Finovate Alums Take the Stage at the Future of Money Conference 2012

Earlier this week, we attended the Future of Money conference in San Francisco. Over 20 Finovate Alumni companies were represented in the audience, and many of them presented or were included on panels.

During the conference, we gathered tidbits from some of the companies. Here are a few highlights:

Personal Capital

Bill Harris, CEO, (pictured below) spoke about how wealth management needs to be more virtual, secure, and personal. He provided some stats 

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about the wealth-management platform:
    • Average account size nearly $500,000
    • Operates on a freemium model with $100,000 minimum account size
Mike Alfred, Co-founder and CEO, (pictured right) commented on BrightScope’s role in the advisor business:
    • Seeks to bring transparency to the market
    • Helps consumers steer away from “funds that suck”

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Bo Lu, Co-founder and CEO, (pictured right) commented on FutureAdvisor’s platform:
    • Makes the advisor process more convenient than traditional advisors
    • Scales the advisor process to take less of a percentage than traditional advisors
Bertram Meyer, CEO, (pictured below) discussed how Taulia helps small businesses 
get paid faster:
    • The platform is free for suppliersIMG_1093.JPG
    • Charges corporations (buyers) for either:
      1. A license subscription
      2. A gain share from the additional discounts earned against the target rate

Tradeshift

Christian Lanng, CEO and Founder, (pictured right) described Tradeshift’s platform:
    • It differs from banks because it has the ability to sift through the data that backs both the buyers and suppliers
    • The platform is free for suppliers
    • It sells connectivity to buyers as a SAAS platform to connect with supply chain

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Priya Haji, CEO and Co-founder spoke about SaveUp’s user base:

    • Skews towards users in their 20s and 30s
    • Half male, half female
    • Middle to upper-middle class
    • Average income ranges from $75,000 to $125,000
    • 30% of users are on the site every day
    • 60% of users are on the site every week
To learn more about these companies check out their demos:

FinovateSpring 2012 Sneak Peek: Part 2

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Here’s part 2 of the sneak peek of the companies that will demoing at FinovateSpring May 8 and 9 in San Francisco. Each company provided a short summary of the innovation they will debut on stage. We published 23 last week and we will complete the preview next week.
Don’t miss the opportunity to experience the hottest innovations in financial technology. Get your FinovateSpring ticket here.
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InvestorBee puts data at consumers’ fingertips so they can make smart, confident investments.
  • It’s fact, not opinion. Users can tap into the database to learn from the experiences of nearly 1.5 million investors.
  • It’s an investment health check. Users can compare their portfolios and multi-asset products with fact-based, relevant benchmarks to understand whether they receive fair value.
  • It’s simple investing without guesswork. Users can choose an objective risk-based strategy to track that’s right for them in a few easy steps.
Users extract wisdom from the crowd to make better, simpler investment decisions – all for free at InvestorBee.
Innovation type: Investing, marketing, PFM

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iQuantifi takes you way beyond budgeting! It helps you reach all your financial goals and tells you exactly how you can do it. No estimates. No calculators. Just solid advice and the power to do it all online.
Innovation type: Banking products, investing, PFM
Historically, investing in securities has been 
a difficult proposition for retail investors, 

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mainly due to the lack of access to competitive products and the absence of user-friendly financial education tools.
This problem is exacerbated in emerging markets, where financial markets tend to be less developed.
Kuspit offers retail investors an online platform to learn about investing, apply what they’ve learned, and invest in the same platform. All of this is available in an easy and progressive manner, while sharing ideas with the community.
Innovation type: Investing, online, PFM

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The current infrastructure to deliver capital to Main Street businesses is broken. It’s simply too expensive for banks to manually analyze and underwrite a small loan – whether it is $10,000 or $100,000. As a result, banks make fewer loans, and creditworthy small businesses are denied the capital they need to grow. 
On Deck has created an efficient, effective and proven solution to this fundamental problem. By leveraging new digital sources of data, any institution can increase its small business lending through the On Deck platform, delivering funding decisions in minutes rather than weeks.
Innovation type: Lending, payments, small business

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PaySimple is launching an innovative platform for banks to set up their own private-labeled version of cloud-based receivables automation. With this platform, banks of all sizes can easily bring to market a sticky value-added offering to attract and retain small business members, while adding a new revenue stream. 
PaySimple will demonstrate how banks can set up custom-branded software in a few simple steps and how small businesses can immediately benefit from a system that combines payment acceptance across channels integrated with customer management.
Innovation type: Online, payments, small business

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Portfolio Football is a first-of-a-kind application that addresses the need for financial planning and literacy through gamification. Portfolio Football plays on the popularity of American Football and the adoption of fantasy sports into the lives millions. It makes financial management competitive, fun and easy to understand, while providing users with a powerful tool for personal finance and portfolio management. It’s a true “game changer.”
Innovation type: Investing, Online, PFM

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With 80% of Americans between the ages 20-40 now using social media and playing social games, how can financial institutions reach their customers in new ways?
Introducing SaveUp – an innovative program that uses game mechanics to reward good financial behavior. When users save money and reduce debt, they earn credits to play for prizes like cars, travel, and cash up to $2 million.
Financial institutions can use a customized SaveUp experience to help their customers make better financial decisions, increase engagement, and cross-sell products. Current FI partner campaigns have conversion rates of up to 44%.
Build a deeper relationship with your customers while helping them succeed.
Innovation type: Marketing, rewards

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SoMoLend makes investing in your online community simple, affordable, and social. SoMo is an online platform that uses patent-pending lending technology executed within a hyper-localized geographic scope to connect small business borrowers with individual and organizational investors.  
SoMo’s user-friendly technology allows business borrowers to raise capital from friends and family, customers and community supporters as well as from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn connections. Investors lend money directly to borrowers through the SoMo platform, which then packages the loans and sells them as notes, bypassing banks and credit-card issuers.
Innovation type: Investing, lending, small business

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Thomson Reuters is pleased to introduce their new App Store solution that enables access to the latest innovative capabilities and tools for use across the digital enterprise. Thomson Reuters’ solution makes it easy for financial institutions and third-party developers to create and integrate pioneering market monitoring and investing apps. 
By seamlessly enabling the combination of Thomson Reuters content, firm’s customer account data and firm’s internal and other data sources, Thompson Reuters is helping institutions leverage the providers of financial content. This delivers a differentiated experience for their customers while lowering both development costs and time to market.
Innovation type: Investing, marketing, mobile, online, PFM

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Approximately half of the world’s population are cash-preferred consumers (unbanked, underbanked, teens or privacy-concerned) and have no bank account or limited access to traditional financial services. eCommerce merchants have not had a way, until now, to monetize this segment of consumers simply missing out on the substantial revenues they represent.
ZipZap will unveil the latest innovations in global cash transaction solutions for eCommerce merchants. CashCade ensures no more lost revenue from card-based transactions being declined, while CashPayment enables consumers worldwide to make payments for online purchases at offline locations using cash.
Innovation type: Back office, payments

Finovate Alumni News– April 16, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgDes Moines Register reports Dwolla to establish small New York City satellite office.
  • Armada Data Solutions adds Check Point Software Technologies’ firewall services to security practice.
  • TSYS signs payment services agreement with Pivotal Payments.
  • AOL UK lists CurrencyFair as 1 of 5 ways to transfer money abroad.
  • The Washington Post lists Expensify as an app that can make life at work a bit easier. Come see their new tech at FinovateSpring.
  • Blaze Mobile awarded another patent for NFC payments. See its live demo at FinovateSpring.
  • Credit Union Times looks at Filene-backed SaveUp. Come see its live demo at FinovateSpring.
  • Chicago Sun-Times highlights Authentify’s technology.
  • The Wall Street Journal discusses P2P lending networks Prosper & Lending Club.
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.

Finovate Alumni News– April 9, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgCashSherpa.com reviews FutureAdvisor.
  • SuccessStories.com features Alexa Von Tobel, LearnVest CEO.
  • MyBankTracker reports TIO Networks gives underbanked a mobile wallet. See TIO Networks demo live at FinovateSpring next month.
  • Wisconsin State Journal features TASCET, who will demo its Financial Iconn technology at FinovateSpring in San Fran, May 8-9.
  • Northwest Credit Union Association reports Oregon Employees FCU is piloting SaveUp’s prize-linked savings alternative. See them at FinovateSpring.
  • Business Insider names Yodlee and Andera as 2 of 5 faceless companies that control your money.
  • MSNBC consults BillGuard to determine the validity of certain questionable charges. See them demo at FinovateSpring.
  • Financial Planning takes a closer look at Balance Financial.
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.

Finovate Alumni News– April 5, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgSocial Lending Network reports Prosper quietly adds 3 new search filters.
  • CUinsight reports Credit Union of the Rockies joins SaveUp.
  • VentureBeat looks at PayPal’s new pricing model and suite of mobile products.
  • Money One FCU of Maryland introduces BancVue’s Kasasa.
  • Yodlee launches MoneyMovement, partners with Zoho.
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.

SaveUp Launches Pilot Program at 20 Credit Unions

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San Francisco-based SaveUp announced today that it will launch a pilot of its rewards platform, a program that incents users to save more by enticing them with prizes and a jackpot, at 20 credit unions in 15 states to gauge how effectively the prizes and rewards motivate users to save.

The 20 credit unions, with 1.2 million combined accounts, will provide their members a tailored version of SaveUp for free to increase deposits and enhance customer relationships.

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The Filene Research Institute has been contracted to monitor usage and feedback, and compile results.

To learn more about SaveUp, come to FinovateSpring 2012 next month and see its live demo.