Finovate Alumni News– January 4, 2013

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgBremer Bank to implement Fiserv’s mobile banking and payment technology.
  • Boeing Helicopters Credit Union moves to Andera’s oFlows for online account opening.
  • SaveUp launches a no spend challenge: a financial detox.
  • Pageonce featured in Gentle9.com’s Top 10 Apps of the week.
  • Jwaala helps Michigan First Credit Union improve remote deposit capture services.
  • The Swedish Wire lists Klarna as one of Sweden’s more popular employers among young professionals. 
  • Nomis Solutions announces Global Pricing Forum in April.
  • Monitise appoints Brad Petzer as new CFO, Executive Director.
  • Alior Bank to deploy Comarch Smart Finance.
  • AllAfrica.com interviews CR2 CEO, Martin Dolan about Nigeria’s Cashless Lagos Project.
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.

New “Paperless Coalition” Includes 3 Finovate Alums

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With a battle cry of “save time, money and trees” the Paperless Coalition has launched its campaign to promote a paper-free workplace.

Among the members of the Paperless Coalition are three Finovate Alumni: Xero, Manilla and Expensify. The Coalition is led by HelloFax, and has set-up a website, paperless2013.org where businesses can “take the pledge” to work toward using less paper – and sign up for the coalition’s monthly newsletter.

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According to Reduce.org, the average office worker consumes more than 10,000 sheets of paper every day. More than three million tons of office paper are used in the United States alone every year.

Also participating in the Coalition is Google via Google Drive.

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To see Xero’s most recent Finovate demonstration, click here. Manilla’s last Finovate demo is here.  Expensify can be seen in action here.

Finovate Alumni News– January 3, 2013

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  • Internet Marketing For Small Business likes how Flint leverages the camera for mobile payments.
  • Lithium Knowledge Center shares tips on configuring Klarna.
  • Entrepreneur interviews Jason Richelson, founder of New York-based ShopKeep POS, a cloud-based system.
  • Clover raises $3.3 million from undisclosed investors.
  • Tuition.io exits private beta, aims to make student loan management easier.
  • The Boston Globe takes a look at Tom Leighton, the new CEO at Akamai.
  • Techie Insider looks at how PayPal mobile payments can benefit your church.

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.

Zions Bank Supports its Brand with Holiday Graphics

image Before we move on to more weighty matters, here’s one last example from Holiday 2012.  Zions Bank had the most decked out website we’ve observed in the past two weeks. Because it ranks just outside the 20 largest U.S. banks, it didn’t make last week’s holiday roundup. But since it was so decked out, I thought it was worth a followup.

On New Years Day, Zions had holiday-related messages playing on three of its six rotating homepage themes.

  • EZ Budget, its budgeting tool that helps track and manage spending for an event (previous coverage of the tool)
  • General mobile banking pitch with a “tracking holiday spending” use case
  • Happy New Year greeting

Bottom line: Without breaking the bank, Zions projects a timely, modern look that supports its brand.

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Zions Bank hompage featuring EZ Budget spending tracker (1 Jan 2012)

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Zions Bank homepage featuring mobile banking wrapped in holiday theme

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Zions Bank homepage with “Happy New Year” greeting

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2012 Funding for Finovate Alumni– More than $450 Million Raised

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgHere is a list of all the funding Finovate alumni received over the course of 2012.  

After an impressive 2011, where more than $423 million was raised, 2012 was even better, with more than $450 raised.
A few stand-out metrics for the year:
  • A total of 44 companies received funding, some more than once in 2012
  • Combined, more than $450 million was raised
  • The best quarter for raising capital was the first quarter when more than $150 was raised
  • The biggest funding month this year was March, with more than $68 million raised by three companies
Here is a month-by-month breakdown of funding received.
January — $25 million raised by 3 companies
Currensee: $2 million — blog post
Finsphere: $11.3 million — blog post
HelloWallet: $12 million — blog post
February — $57 million raised by 5 companies
Capital Access Network: $30 million — blog post
Dwolla: $5 million — blog post
Jemstep: $6 million — blog post
Kabbage: undisclosed — blog post
Xero: $16.6 million — blog post
March — $68 million raised by 3 companies
Boku: $35 million — blog post
eToro: $15 million — blog post
ThreatMetrix: $18 million — blog post
April — $2.5 million raised by 1 company
miiCard: $2.5 million — blog post
May — $55.5 million raised by 5 companies
Kony: $15 million – blog post
Pindrop Security: $1 million — blog post
SecureKey: $30 million — blog post
SoMoLend: $1.17 million — blog post
Yodlee: $8.3 million — blog post
June — More than $62 million raised by 8 companies
Affinity Solutions: $14.5 million — blog post
Arroweye Solutions: $3 million — blog post
Cartera Commerce: $12.2 million — blog post
Credit Sesame: $12 million — blog post
Doughmain: undisclosed — blog post
Lending Club: $15 million — blog post
Nutmeg: $5.3 million — blog post
Planwise: $200,000 — blog post
July — $6 million raised by 2 companies
Continuity Control: $1 million — press release
SaveUp: $5 million — blog post
August — More than $49 million raised by 6 companies*
DemystData: undisclosed — blog post
FutureAdvisor: $5 million — blog post
FreeMonee: $34 million — blog post
The Currency Cloud: $3.1 million — blog post
CashStar: $5 million — blog post
Continuity Control: $2.25 million — blog post
September — More than $59 million raised by 5 companies
Banno: $2 million — press release
Betterment: $10 million — press release
Edo Interactive: $15 million — press release
Fuze Network: $2.5 million — press release
Kabbage: $30 million — blog post
October — $37 million raised by 2 companies
The Currency Cloud: $1.9 million — blog post
Braintree: $35 million — blog post
November — More than $23 raised by 4 com
panies
ActivePath: $10 million — blog post
Jingit: $7 million — blog post
Bazaarvoice: $6.7 million — blog post
Xero: $49 million — blog post
December — More than $16 million raised by 4 companies
Waspit: $3 million — blog post
Controlabill: $570,000 (A$600,000) — blog post
Zopa: undisclosed — blog post
ShopKeep POS: $10 million – blog post
Clover Networks: $3.3 million – blog post
*In addition to the companies listed for August, On Deck Capital raised $100 million in credit facility commitments.
Note: Funding that companies received before they demonstrated at Finovate was not counted. Questions? Comments? E-mail us at [email protected] or [email protected].

Clover Raises $3.3 Million From Undisclosed Investors

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Last month, point of sale payment system, Clover, filed an SEC form indicating it raised $3.3 million for its cloud-based POS system. VentureBeat first picked up the story on Thursday.

The investors in this round have not yet been disclosed.

This new round, combined with last March’s installment of $5.8 million from Andreessen Horowitz and Sutter Hill Ventures, brings the California-based company’s total funding up to almost $10 million.

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

Tuition.io Exits Private Beta, Aims to Make Student Loan Management Easier

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Student loan repayment platform, Tuition.io, launched to the public today.

During a four month private beta period, the 

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SantaMonica-based startup helped 1,500 users from more than 130 different universities manage a combined $100 million in debt from 10,000 student loans.

Along with the public beta, Tuition.io introduced EasyOptimize, a feature that suggests products to help users pay off their loans faster.

It also announced two partners to help build an audience for the platform:

    • Student Veterans of America
    • OurTime.org

According to PandoDaily, additional high-profile partnerships are in the works.

To learn more about Tuition.io, watch its FinovateFall 2012 demo.

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Finovate Alumni News– January 2, 2013

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgAmerican Banker features Banno CEO Wade Arnold, calling him a “coder in the cornfields.”
  • American Banker names PayPal and Wonga 2 of 8 non-banks to watch in 2013.
  • Mint.com encourages users to add goals by holding $500 sweepstakes.
  • Deccan Herlad examines Yodlee’s plan to move into India.
  • Forbes considers the best job titles of 2012: Min Xuan Lee, PlayMoolah’s Princess of Possibility named #1.
  • MoneyDesktop to power Cubus Solutions’ online banking services.
  • Geezeo to power Wings Financial PFM.
  • Billion Success blog interviews David Barrett, Expensify CEO.
  • OneDayGlobal blog profiles Entrepreneurial Finance Lab.
  • Silicon Prairie reports: Dwolla-powered Koala Pay aims to help merchants, customers connect.
  • Andera adds Gesa CU & Central Star CU for online account opening, loan applications.
  • Marketing Technology Blog highlights Flint Mobile and its camera-based payment processing system.
  • Ixaris completes move to new offices in San Gwann.
  • TSYS announces ProPay acquisition now complete.
  • Experian is offering a searchable consumer credit database.
  • Locaid Technologies wins FastPitch competition at Locations & Beyond Summit 2012.
  • Billhighway provides mobile donation services for Make A Difference animal rescue event.
  • Huffington Post features WattzOn among its best apps for tracking home energy use.
  • The Tennessean takes a look at the rebranding of Portfolio Football as Sports Lever.
  • LifeHacker quotes SmartCredit.com president of consumer education on credit and credit scores.
  • Betterment and PageOnce earn spots in TechCrunch’s feature: “7 Apps That Will Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions Alive”.
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.

Happy New Year: Stanford Federal Credit Union Offers Refi Auto Loans to Start the Year Right

image Besides losing weight and hitting the gym more often, financial matters dominate the New Year’s resolution list. Spend less. Save more. And in general, just be smarter about your money. During this brief window of rational thinking, financial institutions would be wise to promote these smart products and services.

But in a fairly exhaustive search today (31 Dec 2012), looking at the 40 largest U.S. banks and at least that many credit unions (note 1), we found only  one New Year-themed promotion (note 2), a 1.49% auto-refi offer from Stanford Federal Credit Union (see below).

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Stanford FCU homepage (31 Dec 2012)

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Landing page for New Year promo

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Notes:
1. The first 40 to 50 credit unions listed in the Google results when searching “credit union” from a Seattle IP address.
2. Several credit unions posted well wishes and holiday hours on their homepages. Also, Fifth Third has a “celebrate 2013” message on its homepage as we reported last week.
3. Picture from New Year email and infographic by Finovate alum, Kiboo