Author: David Penn

RightCapital Adds Student Loan Functionality to its Advisory Platform

RightCapital Adds Student Loan Functionality to its Advisory Platform
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: RightCapital

Back to school season is getting started a little early at RightCapital. The company, which demonstrated its financial planning platform for advisors at FinovateFall 2016, announced this week that its platform will now enable advisors to see the impact of different student loan repayment strategies on their client’s finances. This is designed to both provide clients with a more holistic view of their finances, as well as to help them choose the most appropriate way to retire the debt.

The solution helps advisors and clients to work together to determine the best way to repay student loans by leveraging insights into the client’s income, loan timing, and options for loan consolidation. Repayment options ranging from IBR, PAYE, REPAY, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness are among those included.

“With more than 44 million Americans owing close to $1.5 trillion dollars in Student Loan debt, those dealing with Student Loan repayment is currently an underserved market,” RightCapital CEO and co-founder Shuang Chen said. “Our new capabilities will help fill the void in the planning space, allowing advisors to easily assist their clients with their debt issues.”

RightCapital provides financial advisors with an integrated financial and tax planning solution including tax projections and tax-efficient distribution strategies. The technology features tools for social security optimization, sequencing of return risk, stress testing, budgeting, managing cash flows, insurance, and more. With interactive and intuitive modules, the RightCapital platform helps advisors more deeply engage with their clients, providing actionable financial plans that are easy to understand.

“We are extremely excited to be a disrupter in the financial planning industry,” Chen said. “Our goal is to help financial advisors do more planning in less time with our innovative features, which means we will continue to develop technology that meets the evolving needs of our advisors while looking for new ways to improve the financial planning process.”

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in New York City, RightCapital has raised $2.6 million in funding, and includes Camellia Venture Capital among  its investors. MorningStar featured RightCapital in its list of the Best Advisor Technology Tools for 2018. The company had a successful and busy 2017, forging partnerships with Shareholders Service Group in December, Envestnet Tamarac in November, Trust Company of America in July, and Interactive Brokers in March.

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Wonga Raises $13 Million in New Funding

Wonga Raises $13 Million in New Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Wonga

 

Accel Partners and Balderton Capital have pitched in to help U.K.-based payday lender Wonga with a cash infusion of nearly $13 million (£10 million). The capital will be used to help Wonga satisfy what the company’s spokesperson called a “marked increase” in compensation claims for legacy loans from claims management companies.

“Wonga continues to make progress against the transformation plan set out for the business,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement to Sky News. However, a rise in the number of claims on old loans, those taken out before the current management team took over in 2014, encouraged the company to seek additional financing.

“As a result,” the Wonga spokesperson explained, “the team has raised £10m of new capital from existing shareholders, who remain fully supportive of management’s plans for the business.”

Before the new capital, Wonga had an estimated valuation of $30 million (£23 million). In 2014, Wonga wrote off £220 million in debt for 330,000 customers as part of a review of its lending practices and the implementation of new affordability checks. The company has since attempted to diversify its business to include more flexible loan solutions such as its three- and six-month Flexi Loans. Rates remain high for Wonga products, with published representative rates north of 1,286% APR. Last year, Wonga also launched its Cash Smart personal finance education portal, which provides free information on debt and borrowing, savings, and budgeting.

To help shore up its balance sheet, Wonga has sold assets like its Everline business to small business lender Ezbob. Last year, the company sold Billpay, the German online payment provider it acquired in 2013, to Klarna for $75 million.

Founded in 2006, Wonga demonstrated its iPhone app at FinovateFall 2010. Tara Kneafsey is CEO.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Blend, Gusto, MicroStrategy, PasswordPing, RightCapital, TransUnion, Wonga, Xero, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • Wonga Raises $13 Million in New Funding.
  • TransUnion Teams Up with EXL for CECL Compliance.
  • RightCapital Adds Student Loan Functionality to its Platform.

Around the web

  • PasswordPing wins Startup of the Year at 13th Annual 2018 IT World Awards. See PasswordPing at FinovateFall in New York next month.
  • Zopa to finance loans for CommuterClub season tickets, courtesy of a new partnership.
  • Xero announces integration with GoCardless.
  • PYMNTS.com profiles payroll, benefits, and HR platform, Gusto.
  • MicroStrategy appoints Marge Breya as 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.

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Zopa Raises More than $57 Million to Support Next Generation Bank

Zopa Raises More than $57 Million to Support Next Generation Bank
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Zopa

P2P lending pioneer Zopa has raised more than $57 million in funding (£44 million) to support the launch of its challenger bank. The financing represents the first part of its current fundraising round, according to a post at the company blog, and comes amid reported strong growth for the sector and the company – including full-year profitability in Zopa’s P2P business in 2017.

The company’s intention to join the challenger bank revolution was signaled when it applied for a banking license in 2016. With growing concern from regulatory authorities such as the Financial Conduct Authority over the appropriateness of loan-based crowdfunding and P2P lending as an investment for average investors, adding retail deposits via a challenger bank would provide additional funding support for Zopa’s operations.

And while the bank would be initially limited to savings products like deposit accounts, Zopa expects credit and unsecured debt products to follow soon thereafter. “We aim to be the best place for money in the U.K. and we believe that launching our bank is a key next step,” Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana said. “It allows us to offer a wider choice of products and to help our customers make smarter choices with their money.”

Named to the Financial Times’ FT 1000 list of Europe’s fastest growing companies, Zopa announced a major milestone in February, when its investor community lent its three billionth pound to U.K. customers. Re-opening to new investors at the beginning of the year, Zopa also started 2018 by beefing up its executive ranks. The company added new Chief Financial Officer, Steve Hulme; Chief Risk Officer, Phillip Dransfield; and Chief Customer Officer, Clare Gambardella.

London, U.K.-based Zopa has now raised a total of more than $169 million in funding. The company’s investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Northzone, Augmentum Capital, and Wadhawan Global Capital. Zopa is one of Finovate’s earliest alums, having demonstrated its platform at FinovateSpring 2008.

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Mitek Helps Bring Mobile Deposit to Credit Unions

Mitek Helps Bring Mobile Deposit to Credit Unions
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Mitek

In a bid to help credit unions better fight check fraud, mobile enterprise digital transaction management solutions provider eDOC Innovations is leveraging technology from Mitek. eDOC will add Mitek’s Mobile Deposit technology and its advanced risk mitigation features to its eDOC Mobile RDC.

eDOC Innovations COO Mark Fierro credited the growth of the company’s RDC processing business and innovations in check imaging technology for the decision to work with Mitek. Fierro also hinted at near-term dividends of the new partnership. “In the coming months, we will be releasing new features that will help credit unions mitigate risk of check fraud with restrictive endorsement detection and support for Harland Clarke PhotoSafe Checks,” Fierro said.

Serving credit unions for more than 25 years, eDOC Innovations provides a range of solutions to support mobile e-signature processing, digital asset lifecycle management, intelligent and interactive form automation, as well as mobile RDC and electronic statements. The company noted that credit union demand for mobile deposit capabilities in their banking apps had “nearly tripled” over the past year alone.

This would come as no surprise to Michael Diamond, GM and SVP for Payments at Mitek, who said, “Mobile Deposit is the feature that has helped grow mobile banking into the industry it is today, and we continue to drive innovation for both financial institutions and consumers.” Diamond praised eDOC Innovations as a company with a track record of “bringing powerful new technology to credit unions.”

Founded in 1985, Mitek demonstrated its Mobile Verify solution at FinovateFall 2017. Mobile Verify provides worldwide, omnichannel identity verification, making it easy for FIs to onboard foreign customers as readily as local customers. The technology features algorithm-based checks on thousands of global ID documents, and is able to detect security features installed on them. With use cases ranging from account opening and loan origination to payments and card-not-present transactions, Mitek’s Mobile Verify can be integrated into mobile apps, websites, and desktop solutions.

Last month, cryptocurrency trading platform DXE announced that it would use Mobile Verify for automated ID verification. In June, Mitek teamed up with fellow Finovate alum Signicat to build a solution to help European-based financial services improve their onboarding technologies while remaining compliant with new regulations. Also in June, Mitek added identity document verification and biometric facial recognition technology to its platform thanks to an agreement with Experian, also a Finovate alum.

Mitek’s technology is embedded into the apps of more than 6,100 institutions and is used by more than 80 million consumers. Traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker, MITK, Mitek has a market capitalization of $294 million. The company is headquartered in San Diego, California. Mitek’s Sarah Clarke, SVP for Global Product Development, was named to One World Identity’s Top 100 Influencers list in February.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Ayasdi, Bankjoy, BehavioSec, BLUERUSH, Crypterium, Feedzai, FixNix, identitii, IdentityMind Global, Mitek, Sberbank, Thomson Reuters, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • Zopa Raises More than $57 Million to Support Next Generation Bank.
  • Mitek Helps Bring Mobile Deposit to Credit Unions.
  • Crypterium Releases Crypto-Fiat Solution.

Around the web

  • Sberbank Group CTO David Rafalovsky selected to lead Sberbank’s Technology Block.
  • BlueRush announces new Chief Financial Officer, Dave Badun.
  • Thomson Reuters adds Dealerweb and Icap pricing to its Reuters Capital Markets 19901 service.
  • MEDICI features Ayasdi, Feedzai, FixNix, IdentityMind Global, BehavioSec, and identitii in its roster of top RegTech startups.
  • Bankjoy to power mobile and online banking for Marshland Federal Credit Union.

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 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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