• RIA Biz takes a look at BrightScope's plan to make advisory fees public.

• DietBet.com crowdfunds more than $300,000 via SeedInvest. Join SeedInvest in San Francisco for FinovateSpring in May.

• Finovate alumni make a strong showing in GoodApril co-founder's list of tax preparation innovation. Meet GoodApril at FinovateSpring.

• VentureBeat features Ripple developer OpenCoin. See OpenCoin in action at FinovateSpring in May.

• DroidBeans reviews Pageonce for Android.

• Puget Sound Business Journal highlights the role of Realty Mogul in a local real estate deal. Join Realty Mogul at FinovateSpring.

• PayPal buys Iron Pearl, a startup that helps companies make their products more attractive to customers.

• Reuters looks at a case study of how FutureAdvisor is used to save for retirement.

• PYMNTS looks at Kabbage's "secret weapon"

• New York Times Business Day interviews Sabrina Parsons, Palo Alto Software CEO. Come to FinovateSpring to watch it demo LivePlan.

• Channelnomics reports: Check Point Launch Makes Small Branch Foray.

• Dwolla takes top honors at Prometheus Awards in Des Moines.

• Massolution's Crowdfunding Industry Report places Lending Club and Prosper as leaders in the industry.

• Daily Finance features Simple.

• American Banker considers On Deck Capital's growth.

March -- $42 million raised by 4 companies

___________________________________________________________________

*While the funding over last year has increased, so has the number of Finovate alums. We're tracking more than 100 additional companies this year compared to last year.

Note: Funding that companies received before they demonstrated at Finovate was not counted. Questions? Comments? Email us at julie@finovate.com or david@finovate.com.

• Yodlee launches first phase of new Developer Portal.

• VentureBeat looks at how PayPal's new credit alternative for merchants simplifies financing.

• TechCrunch reviews Braintree's Venmo Touch. Come see its live demo at FinovateSpring.

• Yandex announces redesign of homepage that's 50% faster than the previous one. Check out Yandex and FinovateSpring.

• Prosper works with the Securities Division of WA's Dept of Finance to allow Washington residents to lend once again.

• Seattle Business Journal takes a look at Realty Mogul.

• Life360 deploys Locaid to provide customers with free location lookups via smartphone.

• Dignity Folklorist reviews Pageonce for iPhone.

• Business2Community features Wallaby 2.0 for Android.

• TransferWise featured in HuffPost Students United Kingdom.

• EZBOB investor John Garfield profiled in The Telegraph.

• Money.co.uk compares money transfers through Azimo.

• Fiserv partners with Romania-based Eutron Invest to provide Cash and Logistics solution portfolio to the Romanian market.

• Forbes looks at the "best of the best" debt crowdfunders including Lending Club, Prosper, Zopa, SoMoLend, Rebirth Financial.

• SecureKey announced availability of its cloud-based briidge.net identity and authentication platform.

• ID Analytics introduces fraud detection solutions for online retailers.

• The Globe and Mail lists Expensify as 1 of 5 apps that take the bumps out of business travel.

• Petter Made, co-founder and COO of SumUp, talks about the advantages of Dublin as a base for business.

• Credit Union Times reports: Fiserv launches SpotPay.

• Finextra reports G&D and PayPal team on pre-paid mobile top-ups in Brazil.

• Practical eCommerce takes a look at Klarna Invoice for OSC programs.

• CSI's globalVCard wins top entrepreneurial prize at 2013 Innovation Project.

• Newfination interviews CurrencyFair's Brett Meyers.

• Prosper announces new API for lenders.

• American Banker reports: Union Bank signs up for Fiserv's Bill Pay.

• Bolstr featured on MSNBC's Your Business.

• Backbase gives a glimpse of the Digital Marketing Module it showed at FinovateEurope.

• Triple Pundit looks at how the SEC is holding SoMoLend and other debt/equity crowdfunding platforms hostage.

• USA Today considers Lending Club's success.

• CIO lists Expensify as 1 of 3 apps to help at tax time.

• BellaDati releases updates to its platform.

• Credit Karma launches app for Android.

• Med Gadget interviews Diversinet CEO, Dr. Hon Pak.

• Finextra reports Geezeo signs 1st United Services Credit Union.

• CashStar announces availability of tablet gifting.

• Android, iOS updates now provide card-to-card payments with Pageonce.

• Dough Roller blog names PocketSmith one of the best calendar-based personal finance apps.

• Continuity Control to partner with cbanc Network to provide regulatory briefing via RegAdvisor.

• Koolspan and DeviceFidelity team up to build TrustSleeve, bringing microSD-based voice encryption to the iPhone.

• Locaid and Life360 join forces to help parents stay in touch with their kids.

• The Financial Brand highlights 50 of the most spectacular website designs in banking: Simple (formerly BankSimple), Standard Chartered, Mint, & Moven. See Netbanker's take on the list here.

• VoiceTrust and Finantix partner to provide voice-driven, secure mobile solutions.

• Upstart Business Journal reports ShopKeep and LevelUp partner to keep up with the competition.

• FamZoo introduces Family Pack of prepaid cards through partnership with TransCard.

• Monitise collaborates with Blackberry & Permatabank to launch mobile payments service on Blackberry Messenger in Indonesia.

• Lend Academy features Interview with New Prosper CEO Stephan Vermut.

• SafetyPay partners with Computop to offer SafetyPay as part of its Paygate payment platform.

• EnStream to enable the support of SecureKey's authentication, identity & online payment solutions on mobile phones in Canada.

• Virtual Piggy & WorldPay integrate to deliver youth payment solution internationally.

• Luminous partners with Nihilent Technologies to sell Luminous' solutions in India.

• Tuition.io featured in this week's Venture Capital program.

• Mortgagebot expands space in Mequon with lease for new building.

• PayPal to stop personal payments in Singapore on February 20 due to regulatory instructions.

• iMore.com interviews Kashoo CEO Jim Secord at MacWorld|iWorld 2013.

• TSYS announces acquisition of NetSpend in deal worth more than $1 billion.

• ProfitStars announces year-over-year growth in P2P users, payments for its iPay Solutions service.

• Metaforic's product line now available for mobile apps written in Objective-C, the most commonly used language on iOS platform.

• Delaware Online hails eDeposit as a boon for small businesses.

• ACI Worldwide launches ACI Proactive Risk Manager to help FIs detect payment fraud.

• Bazaarvoice builds new research and development unit, Bazaarvoice Media Labs.

• Jack Henry & Associates add remote deposit capture to Android and iPhone versions of goDough app.

• Opencart announces full integration of Klarna invoice and partial payment system.

• Rescuecom highlights TransferWise as low cost, currency conversion option.

• Acculynk's Payzur brings person-to-person payments to consumers on PULSE debit/ATM network.

• Compass Plus helps Russian-based FI SwitchMaster reach processing benchmark.

• ekmPowershop announces partnership with EZBOB.

• American Banker reports: Planwise to Participate in Yodlee's Incubator Program.

• BillHighway hires new CFO.

• Arroweye Solutions reports 40% growth due to 175% uptick in open loop card production, added 27 new clients in 2012.

• Fuze Network now guarantees no late fees.

• Bill.com to provide Frantopia with accounting services.

• Prosper unveils new protection for lenders.

• The Next Web reports: Tradeshift adds support for accounting services Sage and Kashflow, helping businesses get paid.

• Forbes considers how SoMoLend provides capital to small businesses.

• VentureBeat reports SecondMarket is partnering with CircleUp to allow investors to invest in up-and-coming consumer product businesses.

• Thomaston Savings Bank selects Q2ebanking's full suite of ebanking solutions.

• HiddenLevers launches portfolio stress testing app to help advisors generate leads.

• Fiserv awarded Best-in-Class rating in 2012 Anti-Money Laundering Technology Review.

• Gifting app Wrapp selects Braintree to power payments.

• Social Commerce Today features Azimo.

• FIS launches new P2P platform.

• Pageonce adds person-to-person payment functionality to mobile app.

Major new executive-level changes and a big financing round have U.S. peer-to-peer lending pioneer Prosper starting off 2013 with a bang.

Stephan Vermut will be taking over as chief executive officer. The company will also separate the president and CEO roles, and appoint Aaron Vermut to the former position.

Both Stephan and Aaron, as well as new addition Ron Suber who will serve as Head of Global Institutional Sales, previously worked together at Merlin Securities, a brokerage firm acquired by Wells Fargo last summer. Stephan was founder and managing partner of the firm.

The funding comes courtesy of venture capital heavyweight Sequoia Capital. The VC firm led the $20 million round, along with all Prosper's current crop of investors. More information on the P2P lender's investors is here.

This latest round of funding brings the company's total to $95 in venture capital raised.

Prosper has more than 1.5 million members and more than $400 million in funded loans.  The company demoed with Finovate as part of Finovate Startup 2009

• Bazaarvoice featured in Salon.com.

• iOSnoops reviews TradeHero Mobile.

• Netbanker considers how Prosper, Zopa, and Lending Club have disrupted lending.

• American Banker reports on NICE Systems' launch of voice authentication technology. Watch its live demo at FinovateEurope Feb. 12 and 13.

• P2P Lending News: Zopa CEO talks to BBC Radio.

• BostInno talks with ImpulseSave CEO on how it can help with all kinds of New Year's resolutions.

• Equifax partners with DocuSign for easy e-sign and submission of Transcript of Tax Return form.

• Fiserv enhances TradeFlow, its post-trade processing solution. Come to FinovateEurope in London to see the live demo of its new technology.

• ZDNet looks at how miiCard is solving identity verification headaches.

• Digital Journal reports on EZBOB's battle with Amazon in the small business financing space.  See them at FinovateEurope in February.

• Leadfusion collaborates with McCulluy Design Lab to get a new look.

• Happy birthday, TSYS!  Company celebrates 30th anniversary on Friday.

• American Banker looks at how UMB is implementing Dynamics' ePlate card technology.

• peerTransfer rolls out international payment solution to the K-12 (kindergarten through twelfth grade) education market.

• InComm Canada launches No-Fee Vanilla Prepaid Product Line.

• The CUNA Technology Council presents MoneyDesktop with Best of Show Award at the 17th Annual CUNA Technology Council Conference.

• Cachet Financial Solutions powers Simple's Remote Deposit Capture.

• STL Beacon reports SoMoLend blazes new funding path in St. Louis through loans.

• Expensify launches new feature: Commercial Card Reconciliation.

• Desert News reports Virtual Piggy helps parents control children's online spending.

• Prosper launches new data enhancements.

• VentureBeat reports Equifax buying CSC's credit-services biz for $1B in cash.

• Banno partners with ProfitStars to offer remote deposit, integrated bill pay.

• International Adviser features The Currency Cloud.

• Time Magazine looks at P2P lending strategies with Prosper and Lending Club.

• ThreatMetrix Wins Bronze for the Enterprise Product of the Year in Best in Biz Awards 2012.

• Blackhawk Network reaches multiyear agreement with Facebook gifting app, Wrapp.

• Vestas Wind Systems signs with Tradeshift.

• Bazaarvoice appoints CFO Steven Collins to CEO.

Last week, Prosper began testing Prosper Premier, a new service positioned to compete with Lending Club's PRIME.

The new service is aimed at investors who are interested in P2P investing but do not want to spend time researching which loans to invest in. These passive investors are invited to fill out a form (see image below) to gauge their risk level and desired asset allocation.

Investors who take part in Premier will benefit from having their funds invested automatically based on risk and reinvestment preferences and will have priority access to a dedicated Investor Services Manager.

The service requires a minimum investment of $25,000 and a 0.8% one-time fee for the account set up. These requirements are exactly the same for Lending Club's PRIME service.

Prosper and Lending Club both presented at FinovateStartup 2009.

Recently, Prosper added 13 new loan categories:

• Baby & Adoption Loans
• Boat
• Cosmetic Procedures
• Engagement Ring Financing*
• Green Loans*
• Household Expenses*
• Large Purchases*
• Medical/Dental*
• Motorcycle
• RV
• Taxes
• Vacation*
• Wedding Loans*

Nickel Steamroller blog reports some of these categories overlap with existing Lending Club categories. These commonalities are marked with an asterisk.

To learn more about Prosper, watch its FinovateStartup 2009 demo.

We recently looked back at Finovate's Best of Show Awards archives and wanted to share the list of the 41 award-winning companies.

Here's the Best of Show history that stretches back to 2007, the inception of Finovate:

Information services company Lead411 published its list of 80 Hottest San Francisco companies yesterday. The companies were selected from a list of 2600 fast growing, privately held companies in the San Francisco area. 

Three out of 80 companies listed are Finovate alumni:

• Expensify
  FinovateSpring 2011 demo

• mFoundry
  FinovateFall 2010 demo

• Prosper
  FinovateStartup 09 demo

To be selected, companies needed a 100% increase in revenues over the past two years or $5 million+ in funding in the past two years.

Yesterday, P2P marketplace Prosper unveiled a web app that enables borrowers and lenders to access their accounts on-the-go in an easy-to-read format. 

The mobile platform will allow users to:

• View their account balance, annualized return, and portfolio allocation

• Browse individual listings and invest in the ones they choose

• Transfer funds to their Prosper account

The app is browser-based so it cannot be purchased from the App Store or the Android Marketplace. To access the mobile app, type prosper.com into the browser on your mobile device (the address will automatically be changed to m.prosper.com).

To learn more about Prosper, watch its FinovateStartup09 demo.