Author: David Penn

M1 Finance to Launch New Current Account Offering

M1 Finance to Launch New Current Account Offering
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: M1 Finance

Chicago-based M1 Finance is another firm taking on the big banks with plans to launch a checking (or current) account and debit card that integrates in its current app, reports Antony Peyton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

Coming in a few months, and called M1 Spend, it will allow users to directly deposit their salary into M1, pay bills, and spend money with an M1 Visa debit card. It’s also launching a premium version with interest and cash back on purchases. In its view, this is “one account that does it all”.

In a swipe at rivals, Brian Barnes, M1’s founder and CEO, said: “Unlike current checking accounts, your money is not confined to sit idle as ‘cash’, earning next to nothing.”

Instead, excess money is automatically put into investments to “capture its full potential.”

Users can choose their own stocks or funds or select from curated options. They can also use money as an asset to back up a line of credit to offer liquidity of those investments.

Barnes explained: “We’ve built and launched two of the three pillars in M1 to make this a reality.”

Namely, M1 Invest for a custom portfolio and M1 Borrow for a line of credit. M1 Spend, when launched, will complete the foundation of its money management account.

All three will be integrated within the app, and money can move instantaneously between all three.

M1 Spend will be Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured as the money in the account will be held with Lincoln Savings Bank.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, M1 Finance demonstrated its platform at FinovateFall 2016. The company has raised $20.2 million in funding and includes Chicago Ventures among its investors.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, DefenseStorm, Dwolla, Featurespace, MaxMyInterest, WeInvest, Yoyo

On Finovate.com

  • New Funding Helps Featurespace Fight Fraud in Financial Services.

Around the web

  • WeInvest announces North Asia expansion with appointment of new Head of Sales, Thomas Tse.
  • Yoyo Wallet partners with artisan coffee chain, SOHO Coffee.
  • TAG includes DefenseStorm and FeatureSpace in its list of the top 40 most innovative companies in Georgia.
  • ACI Worldwide brings its real-time payments solution to 17 Hungarian banks courtesy of partnership with T-Systems and Takarékinfo.
  • Dwolla powers AutoInvest, a new automatic investing feature from OneGold.
  • MaxMyInterest boosts top rate available on its platform to 2.46%, the highest rate in the country.

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.

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Onfido to Accept Bitcoin Payments Courtesy of BitPay Partnership

Onfido to Accept Bitcoin Payments Courtesy of BitPay Partnership
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Onfido

Two of the hottest trends in fintech – blockchain technology and identity management – converge in the latest partnership between identity verification platform Onfido and global digital asset payments specialist BitPay. The companies are working together to enable Onfido customers to pay for identity verification services using Bitcoin. At the same time, BitPay will leverage Onfido’s technology to satisfy its own KYC compliance requirements, as well as to accelerate secure onboarding.

“At Onfido, it’s our mission to build an open world where identity is the key to access,” said company co-founder and CEO Husayn Kassai. “Partnering with Bitpay was the obvious choice for both our businesses. BitPay enables us to securely service more people in a way that is cost-effective and quicker than a bank wire, while we can deliver them the most trusted identity verification service in the crypto space.”

Above: Onfido’s Joel Sacmar (Sales Engineering) and Rob Connors (New Business & Channels) demonstrating Facial Check with Video at FinovateFall 2018.

With more than 1,500 customers globally, Onfido will leverage its partnership with BitPay to further expand worldwide. The company is especially interested in reaching un- and underbanked communities where transactions via mobile device are more common than credit card payments.  BitPay will benefit from Onfido’s antifraud technology, which is currently used by more than 30 of the biggest crypto exchanges and wallets in the world.

“We selected Onfido as our internal identity verification platform as it had the most robust functionality and was easiest to use,” BitPay CEO and President Stephen Pair said. “Allowing crypto companies to pay in Bitcoin shows Onfido’s commitment to the crypto space, and we’re excited to be working together to make crypto more secure, for more people.”

BitPay processes more than $1 billion a year from merchants and B2B customers. Founded in 2011, the company verifies and accepts Bitcoin payments on behalf of its partners, and businesses get their funds settled in fiat currency within one to three business days.

Headquartered in London, U.K., Onfido demonstrated its Facial Check with Video technology at FinovateFall 2018. The feature, available via the company’s SDK, leverages machine learning to validate a user’s identity document, cross-referencing the user’s facial biometrics with international credit and watchlist databases.

Reviewed in the Fintech Times earlier this month after announcing what it called “its strongest year to date,” Onfido earned a spot on the RegTech 100 last fall, and was also featured in Deloitte’s list of the 11 fastest growing tech companies in the United Kingdom.

With investors including Idinvest Partners, Wellington Partners, and Crane Venture Partners, Onfido has raised $60.3 million in funding. The company was founded in 2012.

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Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BBVA, Finovate Global, IBM, Moven, Twisto, UNPay

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Central and South Asia

  • India-based investment app Groww picks up $6.2 million in BBVA-led Series A funding.
  • Uzbekistan’s Digital Trust Fund inks deal with tokenization and securitization service provider BANKEX to bring blockchain technology to government agencies.
  • Entrepreneur.com India interviews Razorpay CTO and co-founder Shashank Kumar.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Jamaica Stock Exchange announces successful digital asset trading pilot with Canadian fintech Blockstation.
  • Bolsa de Valores de Panamá goes live with new trading system from Nasdaq.
  • Private equity firm Advent buys $1.42 billion majority stake in Prisma Medios de Pago, an Argentina-based payments firm.
  • Mexican challenger bank Albo raises $7.4 million Series A.

Asia-Pacific

  • IBM announces $250 million partnership with the Bank of the Philippine Islands.
  • UNPay founder Zhang Zhenghua named as 2018 Golden Shell Award’s inaugural “Payment Industry Pioneer.”
  • Hong Kong’s Atom cryptocurrency exchange, AAX, prepares for Hong Kong launch in the first half of this year.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Absa to deploy AI to help customers in South Africa switch bank accounts.
  • Nigeria’s Nairametrics lists its Fintech companies to watch out for in 2019.
  • The first online insurance distribution solution in Mozambique, Askari Fintech, opens for business.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Bankart wins final approval from Slovenian Central Bank to go live with Net’s instant payment solution.
  • CryptoNews looks at the rise in interest in fintech and blockchain technology in Lithuania.
  • Czech fintech Twisto to launch operations in Romania.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • New partnership helps Moven grow in MENA.
  • Iraq’s Al Mustashar Islamic Bank goes live with ICS Financial Systems’ core banking system, ICS Banks Islamic.
  • Entrepreneur.com talks with Padmini Gupta, co-founder and CEO of UAE-based fintech Rise about democratizing access to financial services.

Top image designed by Freepik

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AlphaPoint, eToro, IBM, Onfido, Outsystems, Ping Identity, Privakey

On Finovate.com

  • Onfido to Accept Bitcoin Payments Courtesy of Partnership with BitPay.

Around the web

  • eToro adds decentralized payments network, ZCash, to its product suite.
  • IBM announces $250 million partnership with the Bank of the Philippine Islands.
  • Ping Identity announces significant updates to its PingIntelligence for APIs cybersecurity solution.
  • OutSystems reports record revenue in 2018, as well as adding hundreds of new customers and nearly 60,000 new developers.
  • Privakey unveils the latest version of its Privakey CX solution.
  • AlphaPoint hires former R3 chief sales officer Scott Grayson as its new SVP and head of enterprise sales.

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.

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Finovate Alums Raise More than $4 Billion in 2018, $802 Million in Q4

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings

Finovate alums raised more than $800 million in the final months of 2018, taking the year’s fundraising total over the four billion mark.

This achievement represents the biggest fundraising year for Finovate alums, and serves as a testament to the enduring commitment to fintech innovation by a broadening community of investors.

Previous Annual Comparisons

  • 2017: $2.7 billion raised
  • 2016: $2.3 billion raised (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4)
  • 2015: $3 billion raised
  • 2014: $2.2 billion raised

The fourth quarter of 2018 was also one of the biggest fourth quarters for our alums in recent years.

Previous Quarterly Comparisons

  • Q4 2017: More than $730 million raised by 23 alums
  • Q4 2016: More than $700 million raised by 26 alums
  • Q4 2015: More than $302 million raised by 28 alums
  • Q4 2014: More than $1.4 billion raised by 26 alums

The quarter’s top equity investments were the $300 million raised by fintech unicorn Coinbase, and the $250 million raised by Plaid, a veteran of our developers conference, FinDEVr. In sum, the top investments of Q4 2018 represented 97% of the quarter’s known total. Note that investments for three alums (and specifically the equity portion of a fourth alum’s combined debt and equity fundraising) were undisclosed.

Top 10 Equity Investments

  • Coinbase: $300 million
  • Plaid: $250 million
  • Pindrop: $90 million
  • Quid: $37.5 million
  • Zopa: $20.7 million
  • Klarna: $20 million
  • PayActiv: $20 million
  • Thought Machine: $14.4 million
  • Modo: $13 million
  • Finn AI: $11 million

Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q4 2018

October 2018: More than $388 million raised by seven alums

  • Coinbase: $300 million – post
  • Finn AI: $11 million – post
  • Klarna: $20 million – post
  • PayActiv: $20 million – post
  • Ondot: undisclosed – post
  • Quid: $37.5 million – post
  • Zenmonics: undisclosed – post

November 2018: More than $58 million raised by six alums

  • Anorak: $6.5 million – post
  • Meniga: $3.4 million – post
  • Modo: $13 million – post
  • Moneyhub: undisclosed – post
  • Thought Machine: $14.4 million – post
  • Zopa: $20.7 million – post

December 2018: More than $356 million raised by six alums

  • FI.SPAN: $4 million – post
  • ISARA: $10 million – post
  • ShopKeep POS: $65 million (combined debt and equity) – post
  • Switch: $2 million – post
  • Pindrop: $90 million – post
  • Plaid: $250 million – post

If you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the fourth quarter of 2018, and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at research@finovate.com. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.

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Symbiont Closes $20 Million Series B in Round Led by Nasdaq Ventures

Symbiont Closes $20 Million Series B in Round Led by Nasdaq Ventures
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Symbiont

Blockchain outfit Symbiont has closed a $20 million Series B funding round led by Nasdaq Ventures with participation from additional new investors including Galaxy Digital, Citi, Raptor Group, and others, reports Henry Vilar of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

Symbiont has developed a platform for institutional applications of blockchain technology.

The firm will use this funding round for deployments across various sectors including data management, mortgages, private equity, and syndicated loans.

“Our investment will also include the integration of Symbiont’s enterprise blockchain and smart contract platform into the Nasdaq Financial Framework,” said Gary Offner, head of Nasdaq Ventures.

Symbiont CEO and co-founder Mark Smith said: “Leveraging our financial markets and blockchain technology experience, our anchor partners like Vanguard, Lewis Ranieri, and Nasdaq will benefit from developing new distributed applications on Assembly, our enterprise blockchain and smart contract platform.”

Assembly enables financial institutions to maintain the peer-to-peer nature of their transactions with no central authority, while also getting a shared database with end-to-end privacy.

Symbiont received a big investment by Medici Ventures back in July 2017.

Founded in 2015, the company participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley, in 2016. At the event, Symbiont CTO and co-founder Adam Krellenstein presented Distributed Ledgers and Smart Contracts, a look at the architecture of the company’s Smart Securities system.

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New Partnership Helps Moven Grow in MENA

New Partnership Helps Moven Grow in MENA
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Moven

Bahrain-based Almoayed Technologies has teamed with banking tech platform provider Moven Enterprise for growth plans in the MENA region, reports Antony Peyton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

Under the terms of the partnership Almoayed will make Moven’s technology available to banks across the region.

“With open banking already mandated by the Central Bank of Bahrain, the Kingdom’s banks have a chance to ‘Advance to Go’ in this space and develop banking services that are the envy of the world,” said Abdulla Almoayed, CEO, Almoayed Technologies.

Brett King, executive chairman and founder, Movencorp, added that Almoayed has created a national open banking account aggregation platform in Bahrain that will enable banks to “deliver unique customer experiences”.

In terms of details, Moven will provide its artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to the payment and account information flows generated by open banking. Banks can then use these insights for personalised and context-based information.

Almoayed has localised Moven’s platform in line with regulation and the requirements of banks in the region.

In mid-December 2018, Almoayed was confirmed by the central bank as the nation’s first AISP/PISP, having graduated from its regulatory sandbox providing account aggregation services.

Bahrain’s banks need an open banking action plan by the regulatory deadline of 30 January 2019. This is needed ahead of the final compliance deadline of 30 June 2019.

Founded in 2011, Moven most recently demonstrated its technology at FinovateAsia 2017, presenting an expansion of its platform’s Wishlist functionality, as well as an all new credit feature. Last November, the company announced a partnership with mobile wallet company, Yandex.Money. In October, Moven Enterprise revealed plans to bring its technology to banks in Latin America, APAC, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe thanks to an investment of $10 million from SBI Group earlier in the year.

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: ITMAGINATION

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: ITMAGINATION
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2019, FinovateEurope 2019 Sneak Peek, ITMAGINATION

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateEurope on February 12 through 14, 2019 in London, U.K. Register today and save your spot.

ITMAGINATION offers a new digital platform, based on real-time analysis of needs (Behaviolytics), that provides a complex offer or next best action, and proposes the most appropriate financing option to fulfill customers’ expectations.

Features

  • Enhances banking services for other aspects of the customer’s life (travels, shopping, home)
  • Leverages Behaviolytics (real-time data analytics)
  • Provides a tool to compete with global platforms (GAFA)

Why it’s great
ITMAGINATION’s new digital platform provides customers with personalized services (NBO/NBA) at the right time in one place.

Presenters

Helen Karaplios, Head of International Markets
Karaplios has worked in an international environment for almost 10 years. She has gained experience in providing IT solutions for international businesses across different industries and geographies.
LinkedIn

Adam Kepa, Head of Growth
Kepa has many years of experience in managing large and complex IT projects, as well as extensive knowledge and practice in the area of multi-business IT solutions that meet customer expectations.
LinkedIn

 

Mateusz Młynarczyk, Software Division Director
Młynarczyk has experience in IT project management for domestic and international clients, leading complex projects for the biggest, technical background, familiarity with IT trends and technologies.
LinkedIn

 

 

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: CybiWealth

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: CybiWealth
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: CybiWealth, FinovateEurope 2019, FinovateEurope 2019 Sneak Peek

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateEurope on February 12 through 14, 2019 in London, U.K. Register today and save your spot.

CybiWealth enables individuals to invest in an international share portfolio – starting with as little as £500 – in a simple, easily accessible and transparent way.

Features

  • Electronic identity verification
  • Managed share portfolio with shares owned directly
  • Highly scalable business model

Why it’s great
CybiWealth makes it easy for individuals to invest in an international share portfolio from just £500.

Presenters

Scott Cooper, CEO
Cooper is a former analyst in the Lloyd’s market with five year’s experience in the investment management industry. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and CEO of CybiWealth since its inception.
LinkedIn

Stewart Bates, Operations Specialist
Bates has a broad range of experience with the financial services industry covering all aspects of administration, client services, IT, and back office operations.
LinkedIn

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: PayKey

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: PayKey
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2019, FinovateEurope 2019 Sneak Peek, PayKey

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateEurope on February 12 through 14, 2019 in London, U.K. Register today and save your spot.

PayKey has developed a unique Social Banking solution that enables users to instantly access key banking services from within ANY app – directly from their keyboard.

Features

  • Create a new mobile banking experience, made for the digital age
  • Turn the keyboard into an effective services and communication channel
  • Increase customer engagement

Why it’s great
Engaging millennials requires tapping into social and messaging apps –  where they spend hours. PayKey streamlines banking services into users’ digital life, offering truly contextual banking.

Presenters

Guy Talmi, CMO
Talmi leads PayKey’s strategy, marketing, and product management, with 20+ years of experience in global marketing, sales, and business development in telecom, financial services, and digital.
LinkedIn

May Michelson, Director of Business Development, Europe
Starting as a software developer at Intel, Michelson has a strong technical background and experience in technology integration. She is leading PayKey’s strategy in Europe.
LinkedIn

 

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: FI.SPAN

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: FI.SPAN
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FI.SPAN, FinovateEurope 2019, FinovateEurope 2019 Sneak Peek

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateEurope on February 12 through 14, 2019 in London, U.K. Register today and save your spot.

FI.SPAN will show how banks can deliver banking services directly into ERP and accounting services to their commercial clients.

Features

  • Provides auditable, secure, and automated two-way connectivity
  • Eliminates SFTP file exchange
  • Enables you to easily sell more services to your commercial clients

Why it’s great
FI.SPAN is the world’s first platform that enables banks to meet their commercial customers where they live.

Presenters

Clayton Weir, Co-Founder, Head of Strategy and Product
Weir oversees product strategy, partnerships, and marketing, and works closely with FI.SPAN’s product and business development department.
LinkedIn

Valery Novikov, Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer
Novikov leads the development team. Throughout his career, he faced multiple situations which proved that the ability to deliver fast is a key competitive advantage.
LinkedIn

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