Author: David Penn

Cryptocurrency Firm Circle to Acquire SeedInvest

Cryptocurrency Firm Circle to Acquire SeedInvest
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Mergers & Acquisitions, SeedInvest

Goldman Sachs-backed cryptocurrency start-up Circle will acquire SeedInvest, an equity crowdfunding platform and broker-dealer, reports Antony Peyton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

The firm said this acquisition will accelerate its plans for a token marketplace that enables businesses and individuals to raise capital and interact with investors using open crypto rails and infrastructure.

This acquisition and planned new offerings are subject to the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) approval. Financial details have not been disclosed.

Headquartered in New York City, SeedInvest has the “largest” equity crowdfunding platform in the country. To date, SeedInvest has helped hundreds of start-ups raise capital online and has a network of over 200,000 investors.

In addition, the company has generated triple-digit annual revenue growth while reaching profitability.

Circle said the SeedInvest product includes capabilities needed for executing regulated crowdfunding, such as start-up due diligence, securities issuance, investor accreditation, payments, and securities custody.

With the merger and approval from regulators, these capabilities will be expanded to support crypto-denominated investments including using fiat stablecoins such as USDC, as well as issuing and offering tokenised securities.

SeedInvest will add 30 team members to Circle’s New York location.

Founded in 2012 by Ryan Feit and James Han, SeedInvest demonstrated its equity-based, crowdfunding platform at FinovateSpring 2013. During the demo, Feit and Han highlighted a number of key features of the platform, including its due diligence dashboard, virtual boardroom, and its Simple Invest technology which provides an instant identity check, legal document execution, and streamlined funds transfer.

Prior to the company’s acquisition, SeedInvest had raised $11.4 million in capital. Avenue A Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Scout Ventures, and Jumpstart New Jersey Angel Network are among the firm’s previous investors.

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Lights! Camera! Demo! Check Out the Action from FinovateFall!

Lights! Camera! Demo! Check Out the Action from FinovateFall!
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2018

 

We understand completely. As the nights start to get longer and the coolness of autumn takes hold, that “curl up by the fire and watch demo videos from FinovateFall” feeling becomes almost irresistible.

That makes us all the more thrilled to announce that every minute of every demo from FinovateFall is now available for viewing – free of charge – in the Finovate Video Archives. Rewatch your favorite moments or check out some of the demos you might have missed!

By way of a sampler, here are the demo videos of the five companies that won Best of Show (as voted by the audience).

Banzai!

https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/smvpw5bl0y

Bond.AI

https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/l1annlgdi1

Bumped

https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/w1w7yxq8xt

Golden 

https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/92i7gyomzm

Meniga

https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/0oblrajkhg

 

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Fighting for Customers: Will Tech Giants or Big Banks Win the Data War?

Fighting for Customers: Will Tech Giants or Big Banks Win the Data War?
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2018

For years, Chris Skinner, Chairman, Financial Services Club and publisher of the Finanser blog, sounded the alarm that financial institutions need to do more when it comes to winning “the data war.” This summer he wrote:

A big bank with legacy architecture can only tell customers what they’ve spent. Their back office systems are purely transactional ledgers of past payments. There is no intelligence, forecasting, predictive analytics or machine learning about customer behaviours, because the data is all fragmented across multiple, legacy, product-focused, silo-structured systems.

Skinner warned that this issue represented ” the big banks soft underbelly and a weakness that the young start-ups are clearly focused upon exploiting.”

In his keynote address at FinovateAsia later this month – If the Future is a Battle for Customer Data & Insight Will the Tech Giants Be the Victors? – Skinner will share his insights on how the market for customer data is creating opportunities for businesses across finance, technology, and fintech. To join us in Hong Kong, on October 29 and 30 for our upcoming conference, visit our registration page and save your spot.

How important is communication and engagement in winning the “hearts and minds” of customers whose data is key to both better services for consumers and bigger market share for businesses? And what does the rise of TechFin, “technology firms who happen to offer finance,” mean for both traditional banks and fintech innovators alike? We are looking forward to Chris Skinner’s insights on one of the most critical topics in our industry today – the role and power of data.

Chris Skinner is known as an independent commentator on the financial markets and fintech through his blog, the Finanser.com, and as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank and its new sequel, ValueWeb.  He is Chair of the European networking forum, The Financial Services Club, and Nordic Finance Innovation, as well as being a Non-Executive Director of the Fintech consultancy firm 11:FS.

Skinner is on the advisory boards of many companies including iambank, Innovate Finance, Moven, and Meniga, and has been voted one of the most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal’s Financial News.

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Priority Payment Systems to Offer Sezzle’s Shop Now, Pay Later Solution

Priority Payment Systems to Offer Sezzle’s Shop Now, Pay Later Solution
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Sezzle

Fresh of its return to the Finovate stage, alternative payment platform Sezzle announced this week that Priority Payment Systems will offer Sezzle as a payment option for its merchants. This will allow Priority Payment Systems merchants to add the e-commerce financing technology both at the product page and at checkout.

“We’re excited to offer our clients and their merchants a new alternative payment method, providing more choices for consumers and differentiation in the marketplace,” Priority Payment Systems CEO John V. Priore said. Founded in 2005, Priority Payment Systems has 174,000+ SME merchant customers, and processes 39+ billion electronic transactions a year. Sezzle founder and CEO Charlie Youakim praised the company’s “scale and breadth in e-commerce,” and called the Alpharetta, Georgia-based firm “an excellent financial services partner for Sezzle.”

Sezzle provides POS financing that enables consumers to pay for purchases in four interest-free installments over a six-week period. Sezzle pays the merchant directly, assuming all repayment risk, and has helped more than 1,800 e-commerce retailers boost average order values by an average of 20%. Sezzle is also a popular option with younger consumers who are less likely to have a credit card. The company noted that 80% of the 100,000+ shoppers on its platform are less than 35 years old.

Brent Sandor, Marketing Director at 686, a fashionable outerwear and technical apparel retailer, underscored Sezzle’s value in providing payment flexibility. “Our products are very popular with young consumers, but it’s hard for some of them to afford the full purchase price, and Sezzle enables them to budget and spread their purchase over time.”

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Sezzle demonstrated its “Shop Now, Pay Later” alternative payment system for e-commerce checkouts at FinovateFall 2018 last month. Earlier this year, the company announced a partnership with fellow Minneapolis startup, CartStack, to help e-commerce merchants better engage with their customers. In May, Sezzle added former Bluestem Brands VP and U.S. Bank executive Karen Hartje as CFO.

With $10.9 million in funding, Sezzle includes E-Merge and CSC Upshot among its investors.

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The ID Co. Launches NoMo Cashflow Tracking App

The ID Co. Launches NoMo Cashflow Tracking App
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: The ID Co.

The ID Co. announced late this week that its NoMo solution is the first mobile app to leverage Open Banking to give users simple financial cashflow tracking. The solution is currently available on iOS with an Android version expected in December.

“We have been working on building a consumer app that allows customers to answer one very simple, but important question, and we’re confident that this premise means NoMo will be a great success with customers,” James Varga, CEO of The ID Co., said. He noted the new offering, combined with its DirectID solution for FIs, adds a significant dimension to the company and would “broaden (its) appeal within the market.”

“We look forward to the reception NoMo will receive now it has been launched,” Varga said.

NoMo provides cash-flow averaging, spending recommendations, personalized updates, and a financial performance overview that tracks your performance and progress in growing your cash account, specifically. Just in time for the trend toward rising short-term interest rates, view of the user’s account is “read-only,” adding to its security and privacy. NoMo is free to download and only available for U.K. users.

Two years into its rebrand from miiCard, The ID Co. continues to help banks and financial services companies onboard customers faster and more efficiently while meeting compliance standards and requirements. In August, The ID Co. partnered with CYBG (Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank), integrating its DirectID user verification technology into CYBG’s mobile banking app. The previous month, the company launched its Open Banking API platform, making it easier for businesses to use DirectID to access open banking services with major U.K. banks.

With customers including OakNorth Bank, Navient, and fellow Finovate alum, Prosper, The ID Co. has raised more than $9 million in funding. The company is headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Anorak, HackerOne, Meniga, Sezzle, The ID Co.

On Finovate.com

  • Priority Payment Systems to Offer Sezzle’s Shop Now, Pay Later Solution.
  • The ID Co. Launches NoMo Cashflow Tracking App.

Around the web

  • IDG’s Techworld features U.K.-based insurtech innovator, Anorak. The company was also selected to participate in the Plug and Play Insurtech innovation platform in November.
  • Silicon Republic highlights Meniga in its roundup of “cool start-ups from Reykjavik.”
  • In partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense, HackerOne uncovers 150 cybersecurity vulnerabilities during Hack the Marine Corps challenge.

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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Daon Inks Deal with South Africa’s Capitec Bank

Daon Inks Deal with South Africa’s Capitec Bank
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daon

Finovate is not the only company looking forward to doing more business in South Africa. Biometric identity technology solutions provider Daon has partnered with Stellenbosch South Africa’s Capitec Bank in a multi-year agreement that will leverage Daon’s IdentityX platform to develop new authentication solutions. Capitec initially will use the technology to enhance its onboarding process.

“Daon is excited to partner with Capitec to deliver digital onboarding and authentication to its clients,” Daon CEO Tom Grissen said. “We share in Capitec’s mission for simplicity and client empowerment through convenient and secure choices for mobile banking.”

With more than 10 million active clients, Capitec Bank is the fastest growing full service retail bank in South Africa. The bank has more than 820 branches and 4,600 ATMs across the country, and has more than three million customers using its banking app to access account information, as well as make payments, transfers, and pre-paid purchases.

“Capitec remains committed to providing an all-inclusive banking solution and harnessing the power of technology to make interactions easier and simpler,” Wim de Bruyn, Executive Information Technology at Capitec said. “We are eager to work with Daon to bring new and innovative solutions to our clients so we can continue to keep their banking experience affordable and secure.”

Daon demonstrated its universal mobile biometric authentication platform, IdentityX, at FinovateFall 2016. The platform leverages multiple authentication methodologies – from biometrics to geolocation and device binding – to enable firms to build the most appropriate authentication experience for their customers. This approach also future-proofs the platform, making it easy for companies to integrate new technologies and biometric modalities as they come to market.

Founded in 2002, the Reston, Virginia-based company has deployed its technology in a wide variety of verticals including digital banking, payments verification, employee credentialing, and cloud authentication. An authentication innovator with a broad, global reach, Daon teamed up with Tradelink to bring biometric authentication technology to Hong Kong’s Dah Sing Bank this summer, and began the year announcing a strategic partnership with North African security and document dematerialization specialist, GEMADEC.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Arxan Technologies, Daon, Lighter Capital, Outsystems, Ping Identity, Plaid, RightCapital, Ripple, Sberbank, Student Loan Genius, Temenos, Vault

On Finovate.com

  • Daon Inks Deal with South Africa’s Capitec Bank.
  • Lighter Capital Launches Capital Client Perks Program.

Around the web

  • Ping Identity integrates its multi-factor authentication solution, PingID, with Microsoft Azure Active Directory.
  • MoneyTap, DLT-based payment app developed by SBI and Ripple goes live in Japan.
  • OutSystems appoints Tim MacCarrick as new Chief Financial Officer.
  • Baltic International Bank finishes upgrade of its private, corporate, and retail banking offerings courtesy of a partnership with Temenos.
  • Sberbank customers can now add “cash postcards” – automated images with sound – to their money transfers.
  • CNBC features Plaid: the startup you’ve never heard of.
  • Arxan begins a month-long initiative to raise awareness for improved application security and threat intelligence.
  • RightCapital launches white-labeled, native mobile app.

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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Fiserv and DadeSystems Help Banks Bring Automated A/R to Business Clients

Fiserv and DadeSystems Help Banks Bring Automated A/R to Business Clients
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Fiserv, Samsung

Courtesy of a new partnership between financial services technology solution provider Fiserv and DadeSystems, more banks will be able to access automated account receivables (A/R) technology which they can offer to their commercial clients as either a SaaS or standalone solution.

“Businesses spend too much time manually posting payments to invoices – a process prone to error and costly in terms of time and resources,” VP of Product Management for Fiserv’s Payments Management Solutions division, John Dangoia said. “By offering DadePay AR Automation, we empower financial institutions to further enrich customer relationships by reducing the need for businesses to manually enter payments into their accounts receivable systems.”

Miami, Florida-based DadeSystems leverages machine learning, advanced optical character recognition technology, and its own patented, AI-based algorithms to automate the invoice-to-cash application process. The company’s DadePay AR Automation solution captures both paper and electronic incoming payments automatically, matches them to open invoices and updates the companies’ ERP systems. DadePay also features a mobile AR app and an ePayment portal. Combined, the suite provides faster payment processing with greater efficiency and cash collection, and lower fees.

“Many businesses are demanding new types of electronic payment and data analytics services,” President and CEO of DadeSystems, Bill Zayas, said, “yet their treasury and finance departments are slowed down by manual and outdated processes. Through this relationship with Fiserv, banks can help their business customers overcome these obstacles with technology from a provider they know and trust.”

In its most recent Finovate appearance, Fiserv demonstrated an integration of Samsung SDS biometric authentication and collaboration technology into its Commercial Center: Security solution. The authentication methodology leverages non-duplicative biometric data – fingerprint, voice, and facial scan – to make the user experience more seamless and secure. Real-time video chat, e-signatures, and annotated screen sharing are among the features available via Samsung’s digital collaboration features.

Headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin, Fiserv was founded in 1984, and had global revenues of $5.7 billion in 2017. Trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol “FISV,” the firm has a market capitalization of $33 billion.

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Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Compass Plus, FICO, Finovate Global, Ripple, Sberbank, Temenos

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.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Banco Fassil is the first Bolivian company to migrate its ATM network to TranzAxis from Compass Plus.
  • Legal Tech News reviews the improved opportunity for investment in the Mexican fintech market.
  • Can blockchain technology fix Argentina’s financial crisis? VentureBeat considers the challenge.

Asia-Pacific

  • Siam Commercial Bank is the first bank on Ripple’s RippleNet to pioneer multi-hop, a feature that allows payment settlement on behalf of other financial institutions on the network.
  • Singapore and Hong Kong-based digital private banking clients of Credit Suisse now can communicate with their bank via Apple Business chat.
  • Singtel launches electronics payments alliance with a pair of Thailand-based partners.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • South African fintech Centbee announces beta launch of its bitcoin cash wallet.
  • BitCoinke looks at funding for African fintech startups in 2018.
  • Fintech Association of Nigeria begins fintech learning series in partnership with the SEC.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Sberbank to offer loans of up to RUB 300,000 without proof of income as part of new pilot program.
  • FICO to provide KYC and onboarding solutions for Belarus-based lender, Belgazprombank.
  • Alfa Group of Russia plans to launch online insurance company, Mango.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Cameroon’s biggest bank, Afriland First Bank, to deploy Temenos’ T24 core banking platform.
  • Qatar Islamic Bank to leverage solutions from Volante Technologies to help meet PSD2 and open banking standards.
  • ICS Financial Systems completes blockchain proof of concept for Arab Jordan Investment Bank (AJIB).
  • Tunisia’s Banque de l’Habitat (BH) selects Temenos’ T24 core banking system.

Central and South Asia

  • KPMG releases its latest report: Fintech in India: Powering a Digital Economy.
  • Paytm secures 33% market share of UPI payments in India.
  • Medici looks at the state of financial inclusion in India.

Top image designed by Freepik

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Larky Lands Three: Mobile Engagement Platform Adds New CU Partners

Larky Lands Three: Mobile Engagement Platform Adds New CU Partners
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Larky

Loyalty and engagement platform provider Larky is starting off the fall with a trio of new partnerships. The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company announced this week that it has launched three new client programs, teaming up with Canada’s Encompass Credit Union, BayCoast Bank of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and Tulsa-based Oklahoma Central Credit Union.

“With our location-based platform, the audience of a financial institution can receive mobile notifications when they are near a specific location where there is a special offer or the FI wants to promote a specific product or service,” explained Larky CEO Gregg Hammerman. “This encourages local purchasing at the most convenient time for the user, while increasing cross-selling opportunities for the FI.”

Founded in 2012, Larky helps community-based financial institutions engage with their customers in the digital and mobile worlds that are increasingly the channels of choice in both financial services and ecommerce. The company’s engagement platform enables FIs to provide highly-contextual, digital rewards and offers to their members and customers, including community-building discounts to local merchants. The solution also helps firms boost non-interest income, with Larky clients reporting an increase of 4% to 8% in interchange revenue due to increased use of their credit and debit cards.

Larky demonstrated its Android app and white-label mobile and web solutions at FinovateFall 2014. In a busy year of making friends and forging partnerships, Larky teamed up with Fort Dodge Family CU in March, and CFE FCU of Florida in July, helping both credit unions generate more cross-selling opportunities and offer location-based rewards to members. Larky began the year expanding its relationship with core processing solutions provider Sharetec, extending its technology through the latter’s network of credit union customers.

Larky has raised $2.4 million in funding, and includes North Coast Technology Investors, Ann Arbor SPARK, the First Step Fund, and the Michigan Angel Fund among its investors.

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Salt Edge Serves Up Open Banking Payment Infrastructure for Testing

Salt Edge Serves Up Open Banking Payment Infrastructure for Testing
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Salt Edge

Just weeks after announcing a collaboration with smart money app, Yolt, Salt Edge is back with news of another new partnership. Today, the company reported its Open Banking payment infrastructure is now available for testing by third party providers.

The complete payment process can be simulated by TPPs who log into the Salt Edge system, which facilitates one-time payments, scheduled and future-dated payments, and bulk payments. The Open Banking hub is equipped with all four of PSD2-required authorization types: redirect/OAuth, embedded, decoupled, and app2app. PISP (Payment Initiation Service Provider) licensed-TPPs that elect to go live with the technology can begin the integration immediately.

Lisa Terziman-Gutu (Business Development EMEA) and CEO Dmitrii Barbasura (not pictured) during their live demo at FinovateEurope 2018.

Salt Edge provides financial data aggregation APIs, open banking and PSD2 solutions, as well as white label retail banking, and data enrichment services. The company demonstrated its Priora PSD2 and Open Banking solution at FinovateEurope earlier this year. The technology enables small and medium-sized banks to become fully PSD2 and Open Banking compliant in months. It provides a number of key features such as its Connector API and SCA Authenticator, and Salt Edge handles cumbersome TPP management – including communication, verification, and onboarding – for the bank.

“Our primary goal at Finovate was to demonstrate a complete user journey in the PSD2 and Open Banking world,” Salt Edge CEO Dmitrii Barbasura said. Calling the technology “secure, customer friendly, and reliable,” he added: “We believe that our solution covers all the needs and concerns that banks have in the wake of PSD2’s deadline, and goes beyond them by delivering the possibility of added-value services.”

Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Salt Edge was founded in 2013. The ISO 27001 certified company is connected to more than 3,100 banks in 60+ countries. Salt Edge has processed more than one million transactions, and has raised $3 million in funding as of this spring.

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