Recently in Outright.com Category

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

MoneyAisle appears in Kiplinger's Retirement Report -- (Print only) The story appears in the June issue and explains the new "auto loan search" features at MoneyAisle. More from MoneyAisle at http://bit.ly/FINOVATE671

BBVA Compass Bank replaces West Bank as SmartyPig's banking partner -- BBVA Compass is the 15th largest bank in America. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE672

Kapitall unveils "search by brand" feature -- The new search helps investors to identify the parent company of their favorite brands. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE681 or www.kapitall.com

SecondMarket CEO Barry Silbert interviewed by Dan Rather [vid] -- See more about SecondMarket's management of "illiquid assets." http://bit.ly/FINOVATE691

MoneyAisle featured in Wallet Pop -- Read more about shopping for an auto loan from MoneyAisle at http://bit.ly/FINOVATE692.

SmartCredit.com featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show -- See SmartCredit.com at work with Oprah and Jean Chatzky as part of the "Debt Diet" series on the program. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE693

Ebay recognizes Outright.com as most innovative app -- Outright.com received an award for most innovative application at the Ebay developer's conference. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE6101

MPower Ventures in the running for Business Week's "Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs" -- Twenty-five companies are finalists. Read more at http://bit.ly/FINOVATE6102 or www.mpowerlabs.com.

Micronotes raises another $1.6 million in funding -- Yahoo Business reports on the startup's fund raising success. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE6103

TransFS.com helps merchants to shop for better credit-card processing -- TransFS claims that users merchants can save up to 40% by shopping around for merchant services. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE6111

Billeo expands merchant directory -- Billeo users can now pay their bills online with more than 10,000 merchants. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE6112

Peer to Peer lender Prosper.com seeks regulation as a lender to avoid SEC -- Prosper has asked to become regulated as a lender to ease the regulatory burden of being regulated as an investment firm. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE6113

Just six months after the company broke $1 billion in transactions tracked, Outright.com has reached the $2 billion mark. To coincide with this milestone, Outright has launched a directory of bookkeepers and financial professionals along with simple ways to communicate or hire them (see screen shot below).

The company also implemented a free skills certification for bookkeepers seeking to market their services. Bookkeepers and financial professionals can take a free test and earn an Outright.com certification. Small businesses and financial professionals can earn status/credibility points called "capital" to encourage collaboration and community across the platform.

Also, this week, eBay recognized Outright as the most innovative app for sellers and merchants. Paul O'Brien, Outright's VP of Marketing told us that he was especially excited by the award, given that eBay is used by four million self-employed online sellers, a target market for Outright.

Outright cites Facebook as its inspiration for adding the community platform to its small-business bookkeeping system.

The company has eleven employees and has raised $7.5 million dollars since founding in mid-2008. They debuted at Finovate 2009, you can view their demo video here.

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

Acculynk Provides Debit Service to Sun Country Airlines - Sun Country Airlines has partnered with Acculynk to provide its customers PIN debit service. Acculynk's service allows users to make online purchases using their current debit card and PIN numbers without requiring any additional enrollment with the merchant. http://bit.ly/97u9EE

AlphaClone Adds Funds, History-Viewing Features, and Alerts - AlphaClone, which develops investment portfolios by duplicating the patterns of successful investors, has added 18 new funds to its investment options. The company also added a feature that allows members to view a manager's holdings back to 1999. Finally, AlphaClone is now providing email alerts when fund managers file a Form 13G or 13D with the SEC, indicating that the manager has purchased more than 5% of a public company. http://bit.ly/aKCsIE; http://bit.ly/9Pj1As; http://bit.ly/9q9QB2

DebtGoal Gains Board Member and New COO - Ed Ojdana, the founder of FreeCreditReport.com, has joined DebtGoal's board of directors. Igor Vaks, former CIO of Experian Consumer Direct, has joined as the company's chief operating officer. http://bit.ly/93UWux

Fiserv Launches Bill Payment Widget - Fiserv launched a new bill payment widget that enables consumers to pay bills from within their online banking homepage. The widget is available to financial institutions using Fiserv's online banking solutions. http://bit.ly/aYNFb2

mFoundry Provides Platform to Nassau Educators Federal Credit Union - Nassau Educators Federal Credit Union will offer its 140,000 members mobile banking services supported by mFoundry's mobile platform. Services will include bill payments, fund transfers, and balance checking. http://bit.ly/9k4Q9N

moneyStrands Celebrates First Anniversary of PFM launch - moneyStrands is celebrating the first anniversary of launching its PFM. Highlights of the year include acquiring Expensr and partnering with Savings.com and SouthPointe Digital Technologies. The company also passed 100,000 users in its first seven months. http://bit.ly/aVDXCp

Outright.com Opens Blog for Developers - Online bookkeeping service Outright.com has added a new blog for developers. Outright already hosts a support blog for its users. http://community.outright.com/

Prosper Raising Fourth Round of Funding - Prosper is finalizing its fourth round of funding, seeking to raise $13.3 million to $15.8 million. The company signed a letter of intent with new and existing investors to raise the round, which is expected to close by April 15. http://bit.ly/cqiRr6

ThreatMetrix Provides Fraud Protection to iReel.com - ThreatMetrix is providing fraud detection and prevention services to online movie rental company iReel.com. iReel offers digital movies through an automated process. ThreatMetrix adds a layer of credit card authentication to the system. http://bit.ly/9uFTDI

TradeKing Deploys Recognia's Strategy Builder - TradeKing is making Recognia's Strategy Builder stock-research tools available free to its clients. Strategy Builder allows users to compare the performance of various investment strategies. http://bit.ly/bVzF1z

Here are the news headlines we posted recently on our Finovate Twitter feed (follow it here).

AlphaClone Introduces New "Activist Masters" Fund Group - Investment research firm AlphaClone develops "clones" - replications of the investment patterns - of top investors. The company has announced a new clone, which follows the investment performance of 15 renowned activist investors including Carl Icahn and ValueAct Holdings. http://bit.ly/cCHeAw

BancVue Acquires Game Company Skill-Life -- In its first corporate acquisition, BancVue announced on Feb. 9 the purchase of Skill-Life, a software company that develops interactive games designed to teach financial literacy to children between 8 and 12 years old. http://bit.ly/mnqr5

CashEdge Integrates Data Solutions with Neuralus -- Account aggregation service CashEdge and Neuralus, a developer of intelligent financial solutions, have agreed to integrate their technologies to offer automatic updates of banking and credit card transactions for Neuralus clients' Cashflow INSITE accounts. http://bit.ly/aFJLeX

Geezeo to Provide Online Platform to 1^st Mariner Bank -- Geezeo has been selected by 1^st Mariner Bank to provide its online consumer finance platform. Geezeo offers online banking solutions including personal finance management, account access services, and community marketing. 1^st Mariner is a Maryland bank with 24 branches and more than 14,000 ATMs. http://bit.ly/c0ZA6i

iBearSoft Delays Release of Desktop Client iPhone app -- iBearSoft has delayed the release of its previously announced Desktop Client, a support application that will allow users to more easily add data to the company's iBearMoney iPhone app. The delay will allow developers to improve the design and offer simpler functionality. http://bit.ly/aJJ7jY

Jwaala Adds Twitter and Skype Options -- Jwaala has added Twitter and Skype capabilities to its MoneyTracker BOB (Better Online Banking) platform, allowing them to be used to deliver consumer alerts. The alerts allow financial institutions to contact their clients with transaction, credit, and security information. http://bit.ly/b0umqH

Kasasa Adds Atlantic Coast Bank and Security Bank -- Two new banks have agreed to carry Kasasa brand checking account products. Atlantic Coast Bank, which operates in Georgia and Florida, will offer Kasasa Cash and Kasasa Saver accounts. Security Bank will offer all four Kasasa products in Illinois. Atlantic Coast is the first Georgia bank to offer Kasasa branded products. http://bit.ly/daQXk1

Mint.com Offers New Online IRA Center -- Online personal finance service Mint has a new IRA Center website where visitors can compare Roth and traditional IRAs and can link directly to financial institutions that offer retirement accounts. Users of TurboTax software can access the IRA Center from within the application. Mint's new IRA site is located here. http://bit.ly/9eTlD9

Monitise Americas to Launch Android App -- Monitise Americas announced plans to launch a mobile banking app developed for Android phones. The app, which will offer account management, payment, and commerce services, will be available as a free download and will be compatible with all Android phones. http://bit.ly/cCcb3I

Outright.com Adds Editing Feature to its 1099 Tax Filing Service -- Outright.com has added a new feature that allows users to edit the IRS 1099-MISC tax forms generated by its new online 1099 filing service. Users can also edit related company and contractor information. Making changes in the forms does not automatically re-file them with the IRS, but users can do so from the Outright site. http://bit.ly/cPf8i8

Prosper Receives Bridge Financing, Plans Series D Fund Raising -- Prosper has received $2 million in bridge financing from its existing investors: Accel Partners, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Meritech Capital, Omidyar Network, and Volition (formerly Fidelity Ventures). Prosper is preparing its next fund-raising effort and intends to announce its Series D round soon. http://bit.ly/beljVA

SmartyPig to Move Savings Deposits from West Bank -- SmartyPig is a technology company that mixes savings accounts with social networks, allowing users to create an e-savings account for a particular goal. The company is moving its deposits from West Bank, which stated that it would not be able to keep up investing the deposits. Deposits linked to SmartyPig grew $179 million in 2009, and totaled $187 million at the end of the year. SmartyPig expects to transition to a larger bank in 2010. http://bit.ly/9VTC9m

Free online bookkeeping site Outright.com has added its first fee-based service for small business owners.

Outright provides online tools to help small businesses track and manage their finances. The company focuses on single-owner enterprises that require accounting systems that are fast and easy to use. The Outright.com site imports data directly from the user's bank or other financial services provider to populate reports and tax forms. (Finovate 2009 video here.)

The company's new service helps business owners manage 1099 tax forms for contractors. Using data from the W-9 forms that businesses collect from employees, Outright.com automatically fills out the required IRS 1099-MISC forms, electronically files them with the Internal Revenue Service, and sends copies directly to the contractors. (See screenshot #1 below.)

Unlike other services at Outright, the 1099 tax form product isn't free. The company charges $5 per filing. But for each contractor that joins Outright, the company will refund the fee. Outright plans on introducing more fee-based services in the future.

Along with the launch of its 1099 service, Outright also launched a new tax information website, Right Taxes Now. The new site provides tax advice and offers opportunities to sign petitions regarding small-business tax-relief legislation. It also provides links to services offered at Outright.com. (Screenshot #2)

Both the new tax product and the Right Taxes Now website should help bring users to Outright's site. According to traffic data from Compete, Outright.com saw about 54,000 unique visitors in December, down from its 2009 peak of nearly 71,000 in November. The Right Taxes Now site was launched on January 20 and traffic data is not yet available.

Compete.com, January 2010, traffic data here

#1. Outright's 1099 tax service

#2. Links to Outright from Right Taxes Now

#3. Outright.com helps users track income...

#.4 ... and expenses