Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Credit Karma Acquires Noddle to Launch in the U.K.

Around the web

  • Moneyhub announces integration with PensionBee API.
  • Outsystems unveils new program, outsystems.ai, to leverage AI and machine learning to improve software development.
  • Finastra introduces Open Banking Readiness Index for Asia Pacific region.
  • Trulioo reports ability to verify five billion people via its identity verification platform, Global Gateway.
  • Wipro collaborates with Check Point Software to offer cloud security services.
  • Unison expands with Goldwater Bank Partnership.
  • Flywire partners with the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council to offer members payment solutions.
  • How I Built This podcast features Betterment founder Jon Stein.
  • Roostify names Courtney Keating Chakarun as new Chief Marketing Officer.

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.

FinovateAsia Best of Show Winners Announced

FinovateAsia Best of Show Winners Announced

Congratulations to the trio of companies that earned Best of Show honors from our FinovateAsia 2018 audience. This year’s selections reflect two key themes in fintech: the importance of enabling banks with the resources they need to empower SMEs to better serve their customers, and the rise of intelligent virtual assistants to improve efficiency and enhance the customer experience.

Arival Bank for its ArivalOS digital banking platform that integrates a full suite of third party fintech products tailored for SMEs, including bank accounts, money transfers, debit cards, mPOS, factoring, and lending. Video.

 

Avaloq for its platform that provides seamless access to fintech solutions via a “double marketplace” that brings the app store concept to banking. Video.

Voca.ai for its human-friendly, virtual intelligent agent for financial services call centers that helps drive lead generation, cross-sales, notifications, scheduling, and more. Video.

To see all the demo videos from FinovateAsia 2018, visit our video archives.


Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three favorites.
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”
4. The three companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named “Best of Show.”
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2018 conferences are below:
FinovateEurope 2015
FinovateSpring 2015
FinovateFall 2015
FinovateEurope 2016
FinovateSpring 2016
FinovateFall 2016
FinovateAsia 2016
FinovateEurope 2017
FinovateSpring 2017
FinovateFall 2017
FinovateAsia 2017
FinovateMiddleEast 2018
FinovateEurope 2018
FinovateSpring 2018
FinovateFall 2018

Welcome to Wan Chai: FinovateAsia Kicks Off Hong Kong FinTech Week

Welcome to Wan Chai: FinovateAsia Kicks Off Hong Kong FinTech Week

Rehearsal day is underway here at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in Wan Chai. With FinovateAsia 2018 starting Monday morning, our demoing companies are busy practicing their pitches in preparation for two days of live fintech demonstrations.

That said, FinovateAsia is more than just fintech demos. As part of Hong Kong FinTech Week, FinovateAsia will also host a variety of in-depth presentations – from keynote addresses and expert briefings to breakout tracks on topics such as AI and blockchain technology, open banking, insurtech, payments, digital transformation, lending, and more.

And in addition to Analyst All-Star panels and our Accelerator/Incubator Showcase, FinovateAsia will also feature an “off the record” session with global regulators, a conversation among VCs on where the smart money is investing in fintech, and a special breakout track focusing on fintech opportunities on mainland China.

More detailed information about our agenda is available on our FinovateAsia event page.

We’re looking forward to seeing you this week. The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center is located at 1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Once you arrive at the venue, please follow the signs to rooms S221s on Level 2. The Center is readily accessible by Mass Transit Railway (MTR), bus, train, tram, ferry, and taxi.

The conference begins Monday, October 29th, and continues through Tuesday, October 30th. Registration opens at 8am, with continental breakfast and networking, and our program begins with Welcoming Remarks at 8:45am and our Keynote Address at 8:50am. Live demos on Monday will take place between 9:35am and 10:25am, and between 11:15am and 12:05pm. Monday will also feature two Analyst All-Star panels – one in the morning and one in the afternoon – as well as breakout tracks on AI and blockchain technology, open banking and the API economy, and insurance and payments.

Tuesday will run similarly to Monday, with registration at 8am, Welcoming Remarks at 8:45am, and our Keynote at 8:50am. Tuesday will also feature morning and afternoon Analyst All-Star panels, and our two live demo sessions are scheduled to start at 9:25am and 11:10am, respectively. As on Monday, our breakout tracks on Tuesday will begin after lunch and will focus on digital transformation, lending, and fintech innovation on mainland China. Tuesday will also feature our investors debate, our Best of Show awards, and our accelerator/incubator showcase.

As you can see, this year’s FinovateAsia is an action-packed affair. Be sure to check out our agenda for more details on our demoing companies, our speakers and panelists, and our breakout tracks, summits, and expert briefings.

And once you’re here, be sure to join the FinovateAsia community on our Knect365 event app. Search for “FinovateAsia 2018” once you are in the app to access Sli.do, Best of Show voting, our networking platform Brella, our attendee list, agenda, floorplan, and more. If you have any difficulty with the app, please contact us at [email protected] for assistance.

Remember that tickets to FinovateAsia are still available. If you are interested in attending, please visit our FinovateAsia registration page and save your spot. We’ll see you in Wan Chai!

OnDeck Partners with PNC Bank to Streamline SME Financing

OnDeck Partners with PNC Bank to Streamline SME Financing

Starting in 2019, PNC Bank will offer digital business lines of credit up to $100,000 within one to three business days. This expansion of its current online lending business comes courtesy of a partnership with OnDeck, whose OnDeck Platform-as-a-Service (ODX) solution – launched earlier this month – will simplify and speed up the loan origination process for PNC Bank’s SME customers.

“Small and medium-sized business owners are continually searching for simpler, easier and quicker means to apply for and receive funding and to that end, PNC is investing in this new avenue to find solutions that work for them,” Head of Retail Lending at PNC Bank Lakhbir Lamba said. “Our relationship with OnDeck is PNC’s first opportunity to leverage the services of a fintech company in a platform-as-a-service model that will make it easier for businesses to borrow from us in order to support their growth.”

PNC Bank, National Association, is a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the U.S. PNC Bank has more than eight million retail and small business customers who use its deposit, lending, credit card, cash management, and investment services. With branches and ATMs in 19 states plus the District of Columbia, PNC Bank provides a variety of asset management and corporate/institutional banking services, and is a minority owner in investment management firm, BlackRock.

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and founded more than 160 years ago, PNC Bank has $293 billion of assets under administration.

Since inception in 2006, OnDeck has delivered more than $10 billion in loans to small business borrowers in 700 different industries throughout the U.S., Canada, and Australia. The company leverages its advanced technology and underwriting platform to help SMEs get the “responsibly-priced and right-sized” short-term financing they need to grow. OnDeck estimates that its support of small businesses has helped create 74,000 jobs across the U.S. And via its newly-launched subsidiary, ODX, OnDeck offers banks a new way to better service their SME customers and encourage even more economic activity

“ODX is the next generation service provider for the digital lending era,” OnDeck chairman and CEO Noah Breslow said earlier this month when ODX launched. He added, “(ODX offers) a bank-ready origination platform, analytic support, and implementation services that speed product and process transformation to help banks better meet the evolving needs of their customers.”

One of Finovate’s earliest alums, OnDeck most recently participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr New York 2016. At the event, OnDeck SVP for Technology Pamela Rice discussed how the company’s engineering team and engineering-driven culture were “key differentiators” in OnDeck’s ability to innovate.

This summer, OnDeck announced closing two revolving credit facilities totaling $93 million to help fund small businesses in both Australia and Canada. This spring, the company appointed Kenneth Brause as its new CFO, replacing long-time financial chief Howard Katzenberg. Brause was previously EVP and treasurer at CIT Group.

OnDeck is a publicly-traded company on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “ONDK.” The company has a market capitalization of $500 million. Noah Breslow is CEO.

Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

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.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian online accounting services specialist Accounteer announces plans to open new office in Nairobi, Kenya.
  • First Bank of Nigeria awards more than $14,000 in cash prizes to winners of its hackathon competition.
  • Absa Group of South Africa adds new functionality to its mobile app.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Tinkoff Bank launches Tinkoff Junior mobile app for children and teenagers.
  • Sberbank unveils its new Payment Schedules solution, enabling users to configure the interface of Sberbank Business Online into an event feed format.
  • Top ten Ukrainian bank, First Ukrainian International Bank (FUIB) to offer banking services via messaging apps Viber and Telegram – with Facebook Messenger to be added by the end of the year.
  • Emerging Europe features Lithuania as “China’s fintech gateway to Europe.”
  • Polish vendor finance specialist LeaseLink joins loan syndication platform, Mintos.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • The UAE’s Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank, a digitally-enabled trade bank, is announced, with operations to begin in early 2019.
  • TradeArabia looks at how fintech can help enhance trade in the Middle East.
  • Bahrain Fintech Bay launches Global Islamic & Sustainable Fintech Center (GISFC).

Central and South Asia

  • Bengaluru-based ClearTax India raises $54.6 million ($4 billion INR) in new funding.
  • Tez Financial Services, Pakistan’s first fully digital non-bank microfinance company, announces picking up $1.1 million in seed funding in a round led by Omidyar Network.
  • India’s Utkarsh Small Finance Bank (USFB) goes live with UP Retail Payments from ACI Worldwide.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • PayStand expands operations to Mexico, forms regional partnership with StartupGDL.
  • Fidor and GFT extend partnership to the Americas markets.
  • Argentine fintech Ualá picks up $34 million investment from Goldman Sachs.

Asia-Pacific

  • Hong Kong-based mobile current account solution for the underbanked, Neat, raises $3 million in funding.
  • Accenture partners with Siam Commercial Bank’s fintech subsidiary, Digital Ventures, to co-launch blockchain trade solution. See Siam Commercial Bank at FinovateAsia in Hong Kong next week.
  • Indonesia’s OnlinePajak, a tax app provider, announced a $25 million investment in a round led by Warburg Pincus.
  • Fintech Futures takes a look at the “fintech battle” between China and the West.

Top image designed by Freepik

Moven Enterprise Goes Global

Moven Enterprise Goes Global

Smart banking solutions provider Moven Enterprise, a division of Movencorp, is leveraging its success with banks in Canada and New Zealand to help more FIs globally improve customer engagement and build new revenue streams. The company announced this week that it will be bringing its AI-powered digital banking platform to banks in Latin America, APAC, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe – buoyed by a $10 million investment from SBI Group and the establishment of SBI Moven Asia earlier this year.

“Moven has a proven model for success. Several of our client banks’ results tell the story – from significantly reduced attrition rates, positive customer engagement and increased savings behaviors and reduction in spending, Moven is well-positioned to roll-out our enterprise offering to banks around the world,” Moven CEO Marek Forysiak said.

Moven founder Brett King underscored SBI Group’s role in accelerating the company’s opportunities overseas. “SBI’s partnerships with more than 60 banks across Asia give us the opportunity to deploy our solutions quickly and efficiently, offering our Asian customers tailored and localized support and attention,” King said.

Moven Enterprise offers a customizable digital banking platform that enables FIs to boost engagement with solutions to better help their customers manage their spending and savings.  Available as a white-label, software-as-a-service offering, the technology supports instant mobile signup to make new customer acquisition less costly and more efficient, as well as a customer engagement engine that provides real-time spending and savings insights. Moven Enterprise demonstrated new capabilities of the platform – including a wishlist that uses behavioral gamification, a chatbot feature called ChatUI, and a new credit feature – at FinovateAsia 2017.

Founded in 2011, Moven is headquartered in New York City. The company has raised more than $35 million in capital over time, and includes TD Bank and Westpac among its partners.

Finn AI Closes $11 Million Series A

Finn AI Closes $11 Million Series A

One of the big stars of last year’s FinovateAsia, Finn AI, continues to make big headlines. The company, whose AI-powered virtual assistant technology has earned it two Finovate Best of Show awards, has picked up $11 million in new funding (CAD $14 million). The Series A round was led by Yaletown Partners and Flying Fish Partners, and featured participation from BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Fund, 1843 Capital, and angel investors.

“We’ve seen great progress in our business over the last twelve months, doubling our team to over 50 across North America and acquiring a number of major new customers and partners,” co-founder and CEO of Finn AI Jake Tyler said. “As the market moves beyond early experiments into scale production deployments we are seeing greater demand for our proven enterprise-grade Conversational AI platform.”

Tyler added that the funding would support the company’s growth in North America and Europe. The investment will also enable Finn AI to innovate on its enterprise technology and extend its core solution to support additional banking and personal finance capabilities for its current customers.

As part of the investment, Eric Bukovinsky of Yaletown Partners and Frank Chang of Flying Fish Partners will join Finn AI’s board of directors.

At FinovateFall 2017 last September, Finn AI demonstrated how its virtual banking assistant, integrated with Facebook Messenger and Google Assistant, could be used to complete everyday banking and personal finance tasks. Leveraging bot technology and artificial intelligence, Finn AI’s solution supports payments, budgeting, and savings. And while the virtual assistant is capable of answering a wide range of support queries without any human intervention, the technology is also able to bring in human agents to respond to more complex requests.

“Banks around the world are rapidly adopting Conversational AI to deepen relationships with customers, drive sales, and migrate routine, high volume tasks and queries to digital self-serve channels,” Bukovinsky said. “Finn AI has proven it can deliver with major banks across North America, Europe, Africa, and Latin America. We’re excited to support them in this next stage of their growth.”

Finn AI was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Earlier this year, the company announced a partnership with Visa Canada, leveraging the Visa Development Platform APIs to enhance its conversational AI technology. This spring, Finn AI teamed up with Bank of Montreal (BMO) to power the bank’s personal banking chatbot, BMO Bolt. The company also collaborated with Nicaragua’s biggest bank, Banpro, in March, to offer the company’s first Spanish-speaking virtual banking assistant.

Ondot Lands Strategic Investment from Citi Ventures

Ondot Lands Strategic Investment from Citi Ventures

A strategic investment from Citi Ventures announced today will help power international growth for mobile payment services specialist Ondot.

“As we steadily march toward high-frequency, invisible and autonomous payments, consumers increasingly expect detailed information about their transactions,” Ondot CEO Vaduvur Bharghavan said. “Bringing together details such as real-time transaction authorizations, proximity controls, merchant specifications, and applying machine learning on historical data helps consumers have more control over their cards and delivers a premium cardholder experience.”

The amount of the funding was not disclosed. Prior to today’s news, the company reportedly had raised $51 million in equity financing.

Ondot offers banks and credit unions technology that enables them to provide their customers with solutions to better manage and control their card payments. The company’s real-time, API-based platform and mobile app provide an end-to-end digital payment card services experience that ranges from bot-assisted digital acquisition and instant activation to geolocation-based contextual alerts and messaging. Ondot’s technology gives payment cards a “digital voice,” supported by a three-way interaction between the card issuer, the card holder, and the merchant.

“Consumers want to be able to manage their financial lives anywhere and at any time, and their expectations for a seamless experience will continue to evolve,” Citi Ventures’ co-head of venture investing Ramneek Gupta said. “Ondot meets this demand by providing innovative solutions that enable increased access and control of financial information, so we are thrilled to invest.”

Ondot’s strategic investment comes as the company announced a partnership with Mexico’s INVEX. The collaboration will enable INVEX to leverage Ondot’s digital acquisition and instant issuance technology to provide the country’s first “Instant Card.” Integrated with Ondot’s technology, INVEX’s Digital Card Services solution will also feature mobile product presentment and selection, as well as built-in card controls and alerts.

“Nowadays, credit card customers and digitally savvy generations, seek simplicity and immediate financial solutions through 100% digital channels,” Jean Marc Mercier, INVEX’s Managing Director for Consumer Banking and Payments, said. He added that INVEX was “committed to consolidate our position as a player at the forefront of the Mexican consumer and payments market, providing solutions that meet these expectations.”

Santa Clara, California-based Ondot Systems demonstrated its Digital Card mobile app at FinovateSpring 2018. The company also participated in our inaugural FinovateMiddleEast conference earlier this year, winning Best of Show honors for a live demo of its card control technology. More than 3,000 banks and credit unions around the world use Ondot’s white label apps, including the premier credit union services organization in the U.S., PSCU, which announced a partnership with Ondot in August.

Fiserv Partners with UK-Based Co-operative Bank

Fiserv Partners with UK-Based Co-operative Bank

Fiserv announced that UK-based Co-operative Bank will implement its FinKit for Open Banking, “to provide more flexibility for customers to choose how they conduct their everyday banking in relation to the European Union’s Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2)”, reports Tanya Andreasyan of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

The two parties have a long-standing relationship.

The cloud-based managed service delivery model of FinKit for Open Banking appealed to the bank, Fiserv explained, because it will help facilitate the many aspects of open banking compliance, from secure customer authentication to management of trusted third parties (TPPs).

FinKit for Open Banking includes access to pre-built APIs and facilitates ongoing compliance through API version control and publishing. This positions the bank to respond efficiently and effectively to the rapid pace of regulatory and industry change, the vendor explains.

FinKit originates from a UK-based mobile paytech provider, Monitise, which was acquired by Fiserv last year.

“Open banking is an area of continual change, and Co-operative Bank is positioned to move ahead of the curve,” noted Lee Cameron, managing director, EMEA, Fiserv (and formerly CEO of Monitise).

Fiserv was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin. The company most recently demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2018, partnering with Samsung SDS America to show new biometric authentication features for its digital banking experience, Fiserv Commercial Center.

With more than 12,000 clients and more than 24,000 associates around the world, Fiserv trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker “FISV”. The firm has a market capitalization of $32 billion. Jeffery Yabuki is president and CEO.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Open Bank Project Collaborates with Open Source Software Company Red Hat.
  • Ondot Lands Strategic Investment from Citi Ventures.
  • Experian, FICO, and Finicity Launch the UltraFICO Score.

Around the web

  • Bloomberg TV features Best of Show winner Bumped.
  • Envestnet | Yodlee launches new suite of developer tools.
  • ThreatMetrix partners with SAS, bringing digital identity intelligence to machine learning to help creditors fight identity fraud.
  • Finastra introduces its cloud-based instant payments offering for SMEs.
  • Sberbank inks Memorandum of Understanding with SWIFT.
  • Artivest appoints new Chief Compliance Officer, Kamal Jafarnia.
  • Featurespace unveils its ARIC White Label solution for advanced fraud and risk prevention.
  • Finextra: Fidor and GFT extend partnership to the Americas markets.
  • Kony acquires innovation subsidiary of Umpqua Bank.
  • Finextra: NTT Data plans pan-Asian federated trade information platform based on blockchain.
  • SuperMoney surpasses $1 billion in financing requests
  • Bluefin and TokenEx partner to strengthen payment security with PCI-validated P2PE and omni-channel tokenization.
  • ID.me launches KYC / AML identity verification solution and ID document verification solution.

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.

Identity Risk Scoring from Socure Helps Radius Bank Reduce Online Fraud

Identity Risk Scoring from Socure Helps Radius Bank Reduce Online Fraud

A partnership between AI-powered identity risk scoring innovator Socure and workflow management specialist Alloy has enabled Radius Bank to decrease online fraud by 50%, increase new account conversions by 30%, and make manual review nearly a process of the past – reducing it by 95%.

The joint solution marries Socure’s predictive analytics with Alloy’s decisioning engine, and adds a variety of on- and offline data sources, predictive fraud tools, and a flexible rules engine to enable real-time decisioning and onboarding for new account openings.

Socure co-founder and SVP Johnny Ayers explained: “Given the extreme difficulty in fighting fraud while onboarding consumers digitally at scale, providing our customers with an end-to-end suite of predictive analytics, decisioning and case management capabilities means speed to market, unparalleled accuracy and technical flexibility that can’t be found when trying (to) work with legacy ‘identity proofing’ platforms.”

“Balancing fraud risk and customer friction are the two leading challenges facing financial institutions when it comes to digital account opening,” co-founder and CEO of Alloy Tommy Nicholas added. “The data and intelligence provided by Socure combined with Alloy’s decision engine and reporting tools make digital onboarding infinitely scalable for the first time.”

Radius Bank is a digitally-focused, community bank based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1987, Radius Bank offers check deposit, billpay, P2P payments, and card management for its personal clients, and provides advanced treasury management and loan payment solutions for business customers. In addition to Socure and Alloy, the bank has partnered with fintechs like LevelUp and Prosper to provide additional innovative services to its customers. Radius Bank has assets of more than $1 billion.

Headquartered in New York City, Socure demonstrated its Socure ID+ solution at FinovateFall 2017. The company’s digital-to-physical identity verification technology features an integrated document authentication service to determine the authenticity of government-issued identification and ensure a match with the PII provided. Socure’s platform provides best-of-breed email, phone, and address risk scores, overall identity risk prediction, KYC and physical document verification on a single, integrated solution.

Socure has raised $31.9 million in funding, and includes ff Venture Capital, Commerce Venture Partners, and Flint Capital among its investors. Sunil Madhu is CEO and President of the company, which was founded in 2012.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Identity Risk Scoring from Socure Helps Radius Bank Reduce Online Fraud.
  • Lending Club and Wealthfront Score Intuit Consumer Data.

Around the web

  • American Express and PayPal announced expanded strategic partnership to enhanced experience for U.S. Amex card members using PayPal and Venmo.
  • NCR to test age detection technology to improve efficiency in self-service checkouts.
  • Sberbank unveils its new Payment Schedules solution, enabling users to configure the interface of Sberbank Business Online into an event feed format.
  • Tinkoff Bank launches Tinkoff Junior mobile app for children and teenagers.

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.