Author: David Penn

Coinbase Makes Buying Crypto Easier, Faster for U.K. Customers

Coinbase Makes Buying Crypto Easier, Faster for U.K. Customers
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Coinbase

U.K.-based customers of Coinbase will be able to make same day deposits and withdrawals from their crypto accounts to their British bank accounts. The company has begun rolling out this support to Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, and Coinbase Prime customers, and plans to extend the service to all customers in the U.K. over the next few weeks.

“Until now, the process of converting bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum and Litecoin into euros and then into pound sterling, via international bank transfer, took several days,” Coinbase U.K. CEO Zeeshan Feroz wrote at the Coinbase blog. “Customers will now be able to transfer pound sterling and use it to directly buy and sell these cryptocurrencies.”

Feroz put the new opportunity in the context of other recent initiatives to make the company “the most trusted and compliant brand in the space.” He highlighted the securing of an e-money license from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), support for the Faster Payment Scheme, and becoming the first digital currency trading platform to obtain a bank account with a major U.K. bank.

“Faster payments will benefit all U.K. customers, enabling almost immediate high-limit transfers” Feroz added. “This is essential for Coinbase Pro and Coinbase Prime customers in particular who will now be able to enter and exit their positions quickly.”

Last month Coinbase announced that it would enable its customers in Europe and Australia to buy virtual gift cards from more than 120 retailers using funds from their cryptocurrency accounts. In a busy spring for the San Francisco, California-based fintech, Coinbase launched a set of institutional grade solutions for digital currency trading in May; acquired digital payments for microtasks innovator Earn.com and added its first Chief Technology Officer in April; and acquired Memo.AI in January, bringing the chatbot builder’s engineering talent to the Coinbase team.

Coinbase demonstrated the Instant Exchange feature of its platform at FinovateSpring 2014. Instant Exchange enables merchants to accept bitcoin payments while avoiding exchange rate risk. Founded in 2012, the company has an estimated valuation of more than $1.6 billion.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Coinbase, Entersekt, MasterCard, Roostify, Segmint, Stocktwits, Swych

On Finovate.com

  • Coinbase Makes Buying Crypto Easier, Faster for U.K. Customers.

Around the web

  • NuData Security embraces EMV 3-D Secure authentication.
  • Entersekt partners with Mastercard to enhance payment options for users of the Nedbank Money app.
  • StockTwits launches Rooms, a chat platform where users create new communities based on shared interests, specific stocks, or market trends
  • COCC leverages Segmint to offer data-driven marketing solutions for bank clients.
  • Roostify announces new Chief Financial Officer Eric Amblard, formerly of EverString Technologies.

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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PayActiv Partners with ADP Marketplace

PayActiv Partners with ADP Marketplace
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: PayActiv

Courtesy of a new partnership, clients of ADP will get access to PayActiv’s Financial Wellness Platform. PayActiv announced last week that the workplace holistic financial wellness services provider will join the ADP Marketplace. This ecosystem of business apps will expose more than 600,000 employers representing 26 million workers to PayActiv’s technology.

“Companies leveraging ADP Marketplace can save as much as $50,000 annually for as few as 100 employees enrolled in PayActiv,” company CEO and founder Safwan Shah said. “Our holistic approach towards financial wellness is a win for both employers and employees.”

PayActiv provides a way for employers to help their employees better manage their financial lives. The company enables workers to get financial relief between paychecks – for example 50% of their already earned income – rather than relying on expensive payday loans or credit cards. PayActiv calls its strategy “timely earned wage access” or EWA and says the platform can be leveraged by both small businesses and larger companies to support not just timely EWA, but intelligent savings and budgeting, financial literacy, and counseling, and more. The platform is voluntary for workers, intuitive, and on-demand.

“Having timely access to earned income alleviates additional debt on already financially stressed individuals,” ADP Marketplace General Manager Craig Cohen said. “By offering PayActiv’s services via the ADP Marketplace, our customers’ employees now have on-demand access to money they’ve earned and can avoid costly alternatives.

PayActiv demonstrated its financial wellness mobile app at FinovateSpring 2016, winning Best of Show. Designed to help the underserved and working poor access quality banking services, PayActiv provides instant cash access, bill pay, bank transfer, savings and budgeting tools, and more.

Headquartered in San Jose, California, PayActiv has raised more than $17 million in funding. The company includes SoftBank Capital, Plug and Play Ventures, and RTA Capital among its investors.

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IdentityMind Global to Help ZED Network MTOs Meet KYC, AML Compliance 

IdentityMind Global to Help ZED Network MTOs Meet KYC, AML Compliance 
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: IdentityMind Global

Just weeks after announcing that it would provide KYC/AML compliance solutions for Ontology Trust Ecosystem, IdentityMind Global is back in the news. ZED Network, an international payments platform, will deploy the newly-released version 2.0 of IdentityMind Global’s solution to ensure KYC and AML compliance for its money transfer operators (MTOs) around the world.

“We are pleased to work with an innovative company like ZED Network that has created a comprehensive money transfer platform for global, small-to-medium-sized MTOs so that they can effectively compete against larger MTOs,” IdentityMind Global CEO Garrett Gafke said. “We have a successful track record of working with ‘breakthrough’ companies like ZED Network to help them grow rapidly and scale while remaining compliant.”

ZED Network specializes in small to medium sized MTOS, providing them with a distributed ledger-based platform-as-a-service solution including state of the art online and mobile apps, back office administration, and built-in compliance tools. The company calls its solution a “comprehensive remittance in a box” that enables smaller MTOs to participate in a faster, more transparent, less expensive money transfer network that does not rely on banks.

“Partnering with IdentityMind helps streamline the KYC and AML process for MTOs,” regardless of their jurisdiction, ZED Network founder and CEO Alan Safahi said.

IdentityMind Global demonstrated its platform earlier this year at FinovateSpring 2018. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, the company launched version 2.0 of its technology last month. The enhanced platform leverages dynamic modeling, a transparent access framework, and contextual identity analysis to provide accurate AML compliance with fewer false positives.

The company has been making friends at a fast pace in 2018, helping companies like decentralized private social media platform ONe Network, Canadian blockchain technology firm, Etherparty Smart Contracts; and Mexican currency value management innovator AirTM meet KYC and AML compliance requirements, as well as conduct PEP screening and transaction monitoring.

IdentityMind Global has raised more than $20 million in funding. The company includes Benhamou Global Ventures, Lakewood & Company, and Eastern Link Capital among its investors.

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Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Experian, Finovate Global, IBM, MasterCard

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 Eastern Europe

  • Poland’s Horum Bank, a mobile bank based on blockchain technology, prepares for launch, most likely in the Baltics.
  • VTB Bank in Armenia goes live mobile banking and enhances internet banking services.
  • Emerging Europe examines the fintech industry in Romania “and beyond.”

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Turkey’s İşbank opens API portal with 14 APIs including payments plans, credit scores, and customer accounts.
  • UAE’s Trriple announces upgrades to its mobile wallet app, making top-ups easier and adding a loyalty program.
  • Growth Business UK features Dubai-based crowdfunding platform, Eurecca.

Central and South Asia

  • Mastercard launches its Simplify Commerce platform in Sri Lanka.
  • Forbes looks at how the election of Imran Khan as Pakistan’s new prime minister could impact the country’s fintech industry.
  • Paysense, a fintech based in Mumbai, India, raised $18 million in funding in a round led by PayU.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Worldline and Brazilian fintech EBANX produce new payment method for Brazilian users of Spotify.
  • Bradesco and Banco do Brasil launch urban mobility payment company, Veloe.
  • International Tax Review looks at the tax policy and the crowdfunding industry in Mexico.

Asia-Pacific

  • Experian leads $28 million investment in C88 Financial Technologies Group as part of effort to boost financial inclusion in Southeast Asia.
  • U.K.-based Online Blockchain introduces ManilaCoin, a cryptocurrency designed to promote financial inclusion in the Philippines.
  • IBM lands managed services deal with Thailand’s Krungsri (Bank of Ayudhya) valued at $140 million.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Kenyan fintech Tulaa raises $627k in seed funding. The Nairobi-based company helps small farmers access credit and markets.
  • Alpha Code, an accelerator and incubator headquartered in South Africa, begins accepting applications for its AlphaCode Incubate Programme.
  • Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission encourages private and public sector IT leaders to focus on digital inclusion.

Top image designed by Freepik

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Arxan Technologies, Averon, Bluescape, CRMNEXT, Dwolla, Fenergo, IdentityMind Global, NestReady, Neustar, PayActiv, ProfitStars, Xero

On Finovate.com

  • Xero Buys Paperless Accounting Firm Hubdoc
  • NestReady Collaborates with Alterna Savings on Home Buying Solution.
  • PayActiv Partners with ADP Marketplace.
  • IdentityMind Global to Help ZED Network MTOs Meet KYC, AML Compliance.

Around the web

  • ProfitStars to automate commercial lending for Ion Bank.
  • Fenergo earns Top Performer status in the Overall Rankings of the RegTech 2018 Report.
  • One World Identity highlights Averon as a Company to Watch in its annual report on innovations in identity and authentication. See Averon at FinovateFall 2018 in September.
  • Arxan experiences double-digit revenue growth, expands global reach.
  • Flashtalking and Neustar partner to fill the void created by the removal of DoubleClick ID.
  • Insight on Business interviews Dwolla’s Stephanie Atkin.
  • Immervox features Bluescape and CRMNext in its list of Five Companies Leading the Charge in the Changing Workplace.

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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Tavant Technologies Powers New Personalized Mortgage POS System from Ditech

Tavant Technologies Powers New Personalized Mortgage POS System from Ditech
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Tavant

Technology from Tavant is playing a role in the comeback of mortgage lender Ditech.

Having completed a financial restructuring that helped bring it out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February, Ditech has unveiled a mortgage point of sale solution geared toward Millennial and Generation Z borrowers. The new technology was developed as part of a joint effort between Ditech’s own in-house team and Tavant Technologies, with its digital lending platform, VELOX.

“Tavant is excited to partner with Ditech in an effort to provide a game-changing experience to customers and partners,” Tavant Chief Revenue Officer Hassan Rashid said. “The collaboration brought to life a system that is powered by VELOX and customized for Ditech’s needs based on customer journeys and workflows created by its Innovation Lab.”

Founded in 1958, Ditech Holdings is a Fort Washington, Pennsylvania-based independent servicer and originator of mortgage loans, as well as a reverse mortgage loan servicer. With 3,700 employees, the company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “DHCP” and has a market capitalization of $27 million.

“We have been extremely focused on transforming our organization’s customer experience through the adaption of digital solutions that entice the next generation of borrowers, including Millennials and Generation Z.” Ditech Chief Operating Officer Ritesh Chaturbedi said. “Our new system, built on the Tavant VELO platform, is expected to allow for a harmonious, omni-channel experience that will drive trust with customers.”

Tavant’s partnership news comes just days after the company announced another collaboration, this time working with ComplianceEase, an automated compliance solutions provider. The company will integrate with Tavant’s VELOX technology to improve the digital experience for borrowers and make it easier for lenders to close loans. Tavant teamed up with Freddie Mac in May to enable one-click submission of loan data to Freddie Mac’s automated underwriting system. That same month, Factual Data, a major U.S. credit and data validation services provider to the mortgage industry, announced credit integration with Tavant’s VELOX solution.

Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Tavant Technologies demonstrated its VELOX at FinovateSpring 2017. The VELOX product suite consists of four elements: FinXperience, a suite of portals and companion mobile apps; FinCapture, an autonomous document ingestion platform; FinConnect, a modern mortgage data and services hub; and FinSight, an analytics engine for predictive insights.

Tavant Technologies was founded in 2000. Sarvesh Mahesh is CEO.

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Microsoft, Nationwide Invest $12 Million in SME Lender BlueVine

Microsoft, Nationwide Invest $12 Million in SME Lender BlueVine
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BlueVine, Funding

Small business financing specialist BlueVine has raised $12 million in new funding. Combined with the $60 million investment the company picked up last month, BlueVine’s Series E amounts to $72 million, and takes the company’s total funding to $590 million. Of this amount, $185 million represents equity financing.

This week’s investment comes from Microsoft’s venture fund, M12, and the venture arm of insurance and financial services company, Nationwide. M12 partner Elliott Robinson praised BlueVine’s “market traction to date,” while Nationwide Ventures’ Erik Ross highlighted the funding as emblematic of Nationwide’s commitment to serving SMEs. “This investment aligns with our strategy to co-create value for our members to help them protect what’s most important and to plan for a secure financial future,” Ross said.

BlueVine provides working capital to small and medium-sized businesses, offering lines of credit up to $250,000 and invoice factoring up to $5 million. With rates as low as 4.8% and approvals as quick as 20 minutes, the company recently surpassed $1 billion in total funding volume.

“We had very limited resources when we began and we were up against bigger and more established competitors,” said BlueVine CEO and founder Eyal Lifshitz, who reflected on the company’s fifth anniversary as well as this week’s funding. He credited the company’s “cutting edge technology and product innovation” for its success and added, “these new investments will help us offer more financing to even more entrepreneurs.”

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, BlueVine demonstrated its SME online lending platform at FinovateFall 2014. This spring, BlueVine partnered with cross-border payments specialist, Veem, to make the process easier and less expensive for SMEs. Named one of the top 360 entrepreneurial companies in the U.S. by Entrepreneur, BlueVine added Women in Fintech Powerlist member Ana Sirbu as its new Chief Financial Officer at the beginning of the year.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BlueVine, Coinbase, CurrencyFair, FIS, Gusto, Kofax, Prosper, Tavant, Thomson Reuters

On Finovate.com

  • Microsoft, Nationwide Invest $12 Million in SME Lender BlueVine.
  • Gusto Brings in $140 Million, Doubling Valuation to $2 Billion.
  • Tavant Technologies Powers New Personalized Mortgage POS System from Ditech.

Around the web

  • Coinbase taps Jeff Horowitz as its next Chief Compliance Officer.
  • Thomson Reuters announces strategic partnership with global cryptocurrency market data aggregator, CryptoCompare.
  • FIS and blockchain platform Billon sign letter of intent to pursue joint product development.
  • Prosper surpasses 1 million loans have been originated, totaling about $13 billion.
  • Kofax enters sales agreement with JIEC to deliver RPA and digital transformation solutions.
  • CurrencyFair surpasses milestone: €7 billion traded.

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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ebankIT to Power Digital Banking for Coast Capital

ebankIT to Power Digital Banking for Coast Capital
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ebankIT

Canada’s largest credit union by membership has partnered with ebankIT to overhaul its digital banking offerings. Coast Capital Savings, with $13 billion ($17 billion CAD) in assets, will leverage ebankIT’s omni-channel digital banking platform to power both the credit union’s online and mobile banking channels, as well as its website.

“With ebankIT’s versatile platform and award-winning digital banking experience, we will be able to offer a wide range of exciting new features to Coast Capital members in the future, along with rich security and personalization features,” Chief Transformation Officer for Coast Capital Savings Jeff Wong said. He also praised the way the platform supports integration with third-party technologies, “which will enable Coast Capital to drive ongoing digital channel innovation.”

ebankIT’s omni-channel banking solutions empower FIs to deliver a cutting edge, technology-enabled solutions to their customers. The company is an innovator applying many of the latest technologies – including augmented reality, beacons, and voice – to both traditional and emerging banking channels like mobile and wearables.

ebankIT’s Diana Winstanley (Business Solutions Manager) and Pete Atkinson (VP Sales U.K. & Ireland) demonstrating the company’s digital banking platform at FinovateEurope 2018.

“Our vision at ebankIT is to help organizations like Coast Capital tap the full potential of all the fast-paced innovations available in the quickly shifting technological landscape of banking,” Renato Oliveira, a member of ebankIT’s board of directors, explained. “As we embark on our North American expansion, the ebankIT team is thrilled to support Coast Capital with a robust and scalable platform, featuring our award-winning next generation solutions, coupled with an engaging user experience.”

Founded in 1940, British Columbia-based Coast Capital now has 52 branches and 555,000 members. Named one of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures, the credit union invested $5.6 million in local communities last year to help empower and engage youth. This month, Coast Capital earned “B Corporation” certification from nonprofit B Lab, an acknowledgement that it has met the standard for social performance, transparency, and accountability.

The partnership news from ebankIT comes just a few weeks after the company announced that it was teaming up with fellow Finovate alum unblu. The joint venture will integrate unblu’s co-browsing, live chat, and video technology into ebankIT’s digital banking platform. “Joining forces with unblu was a natural fit for us,” ebankIT CEO Joaquin Santos said in a statement, “because both companies are aligned in how they want to transform the future of banking.”

ebankIT demonstrated its digital banking platform, including new applications of voice technology, at FinovateEurope 2018 in March. The company also participated in our inaugural FinovateMiddleEast conference in February. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Porto, Portugal, ebankIT was featured in Accord Market’s Global Digital Banking Multichannel Integration Solutions Market Status Report earlier this month. This spring, ebankIT celebrated the launch of Kuwait International Bank’s retail banking app, which was implemented using ebankIT’s digital banking platform. Also this year, ebankIT announced a partnership with Cyprus-based GCC Computers.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AlphaPoint, CoverHound, ebankIT, Fiserv, i-exceed, Insuritas, Kasasa, Ledger, LenddoEFL, mBank, NIIT Technologies

On Finovate.com

  • CoverHound to Help Intelligent Customers to Shop Around for Renter’s Insurance.
  • AlphaPoint to Power DCEX, an XRP-Based Currency Exchange.
  • ebankIT to Power Digital Banking for Coast Capital.

Around the web

  • Fiserv forges strategic alliance with cybersecurity firm, BlueVoyant.
  • mBank and Commerzbank to launch pan-European challenger bank.
  • Gartner recognizes i-exceed as a “Niche Player” in its Magic Quadrant for Mobile Application Development Platforms (MADP).
  • Finance Magnates features a profile on the Ledger Nano S hardware wallet.
  • Caja Sullana leverages credit scoring from LenddoEFL to provide young entrepreneurs access to credit.
  • Insuritas to launch a member owned insurance agency for America’s Credit Union and its 47,000 members.
  • NIIT Technologies recognized as ‘Star Performer’ on the 2018 Everest Group PEAK Matrix Insurance Application Services.
  • Glassdoor ranks Kasasa CEO Gabe Krajicek 45th in the Top 50 CEOs at Small and Medium Companies in the United States.

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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Coinbase Enables European Customers to Buy Virtual Gift Cards with Crypto

Coinbase Enables European Customers to Buy Virtual Gift Cards with Crypto
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Coinbase

Coinbase has enabled its European and Australian customers to use their hard-minted cryptocurrencies to buy virtual gift cards from more than 120 retailers.

“Making crypto easier to use, trade and spend is a core part of our efforts to improve the customer experience,” Coinbase U.K. CEO Zeeshan Feroz wrote at the company blog. “With the launch of e-gift cards, customers now have the option to spend their crypto balances, realizing its value to buy tangible things or experiences.”

The new offering comes courtesy of a partnership with U.K.-based WeGift, and lets Coinbase customers to use their cryptocurrencies to buy e-gift cards from retailers including Google Play, Nike, Uber, Tesco, Ticketmaster, and more. Customers in the U.K., Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Australia can take advantage of the feature now. Feroz indicated that additional retailers and markets will be added over the next three months. The company hopes to expand the service to customers in other countries “soon after.”

Coinbase is a digital asset wallet and platform that enables consumers and merchants to transact in cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. With more than 20 million users and $150 billion transacted to date, Coinbase’s solutions include Coinbase Pro, a cryptocurrency trading platform for individual investors (formerly GDAX); Coinbase Prime, the company’s professional treading platform for institutional customers; and Coinbase Commerce, a solution to enable businesses to easily and securely accept cryptocurrency payments.  In addition to offering a digital API for developers, Coinbase maintains a venture fund, Coinbase Ventures, to support crypto-based startups.

Founded in 2012, Coinbase demonstrated the Instant Exchange feature of its cryptocurrency platform at FinovateSpring 2014.  Instant Exchange enables merchants to accept Bitcoin payments with zero exchange rate risk. Merchants instantly sell the Bitcoins they receive as payment throughout the day to Coinbase at the market exchange rate at the time of the transaction. Less a 1% exchange fee, Coinbase clears the dollar sum total for all sales by ACH transfer at the end of the day.

Earlier this month, Coinbase announced general availability for its Coinbase Custody solution, which combines a cold storage for crypto assets, an institutional-grade broker-dealer and reporting services, and a client coverage program. In June, the company opened its crypto index fund to accredited investors in the U.S., unveiled a new office in Portland, Oregon, and announced a new Japan CEO as part of an expansion into Asia. This spring, Coinbase introduced a variety of solutions geared toward helping institutional investors take advantage of digital assets, and hired its first Chief Technology Officer, Balaji Srinivasan.

With more than $225 million in funding and a valuation north of $1.6 billion, Coinbase is one of fintech’s more recent unicorns (companies with a valuation of more than $1 billion). Its U.K. office serves the hub for its Coinbase’s European operations, and is one of the company’s main engineering facilities outside of San Francisco. Brian Armstrong is CEO and co-founder.

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