Switch Speeds Virtual Card Adoption with CardSavr API

Switch Speeds Virtual Card Adoption with CardSavr API

Looking to make the leap from plastic cards to virtual cards? Switch and its CardSavr API are here to help.

“Until now, activating merchant-specific virtual cards required cardholders to laboriously create and update every merchant one-by-one,” Switch CEO Chris Hopen said. “Our CardSavr API automates and simplifies the entire user process and secures the card on file at the merchant with one step.”

Launched earlier this year, Switch’s CardSavr API is a first-of-its-kind technology that supports and enables an often-overlooked aspect of commerce: healthy credit card circulation. The CardSavr API helps card issuers get new and re-issued credit cards into circulation with thousands of ecommerce retailers soon after the cards are activated.

The application of the CardSavr API to the virtual card market is the latest evolution in use cases for the technology. From its origins as an innovative credit card updater, the company’s solution provides further assistance to card issuers looking to leverage the efficiency of virtual cards.

In the company’s press release, Switch said that its technology would help speed virtual card adoption and suggested that CardSavr “conquer(s) the elusive issue” of ensuring a seamless card creation and updating process for virtual cards in the same way it has for physical cards. The core technology behind CardSavr can also be used with reward, private label, and P2P payment schemes, creating what Hopen called “a healthy virtual payment ecosystem for everyone.”

Speaking for CULedger, a leading credit union project that is developing applications based on distributed ledger technology, CEO John Ainsworth praised Switch’s latest offering. “Switch has brought a very innovative technology solution that uniquely allows financial institutions and issuers to capitalize on virtual cards, while increasing security and convenience for our customers.” He added, “Switch continues to impress me with their disruptive and successful approach to vanquishing major foundational industry challenges that have never been solved.”

Switch demonstrated its credit card updating technology at FinovateSpring 2016. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company has raised $1.9 million in funding after picking up a $400,000 angel investment last spring.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Personetics Accommodates Digital-Only and Challenger Banks.
  • Diebold Nixdorf Brings its Bank-Like Kiosk to Emirates NBD Customers.
  • Munnypot Announces Strategic Partnership with Capita.
  • Switch Speeds Virtual Card Adoption with CardSavr API.

Around the web

  • aixigo wins top honors in the Outstanding Front-End Digital Solutions Provider (Vendor) category of the Private Banking Conference & Awards in Germany for its wealth management platform.
  • Trunomi announces partnership with blockchain-based digital ID solution, Shyft.
  • Mambu and Form3 team up to launch cloud-based payments processing service.
  • Fiserv collaborates with Rippleshot to provide early breach detection solution, Card Risk Office Fraud Warning.
  • Mitek adds identity document verification and biometric facial recognition technology to its platform courtesy of a new agreement with Experian.
  • Earnix introduces AcceleRate-it with Direct Deploy technology.
  • Trulioo wins Startup Canada’s Global Entrepreneurship Award.

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.

Finicity Forges New Partnership with Mortgage Cadence

Finicity Forges New Partnership with Mortgage Cadence

Financial data aggregator and insights provider Finicity continues to make moves in mortgagetech by partnering with fellow Finovate alum, Mortgage Cadence. The two have teamed up to integrate Finicity’s Verification of Assets (VoA) solution into Mortgage Cadence’s loan origination platform.

“Our goal as a financial data aggregator is to find best-in-class partners who are also committed to data access, quality, and insights, and ultimately a better experience for borrowers,” Finicity CEO Steve Smith said. “We are excited to work with Mortgage Cadence to accelerate and improve the digital loan process.”

A short online process lets borrowers give consent to have their financial data accessed, enabling lenders using Mortgage Cadence with the VoA integration to generate a verification report with a single click. This, according to Finicity, can cut the traditional closing time by as much as six days.

Finicity’s VoA solution provides bank-validated insight into the borrower’s assets including information on accounts at multiple financial institutions, account types, balances, and detailed transactions, as well as the account owner(s) and address(es). Available via a simple API integration, the technology enables lenders to digitize and streamline asset verification.

“Our agreement with Finicity simplifies yet another important step in the mortgage process for both borrowers and lenders, getting everyone involved in the transaction to the closing table more quickly and with fewer steps,” executive managers of Services Center for Mortgage Cadence Brian Benson said.

Finicity demonstrated its Verification of Income (VoI) and Verification of Assets (VoA) credit decisioning solutions at FinovateFall 2017. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, Finicity has raised more than $50 million in funding and includes fellow Finovate alum Experian among its investors. The company has also been a contributor to our developers conference, FinDEVr, presenting “The Frictionless Aggregation Experience” at FinDEVr New York 2017.

Winning the FinTech Breakthrough Awards’ Best Personal Budgeting Service category earlier this month for its Mvelopes solution, Finicity partnered with digital mortgage marketplace provider BeSmartee in March, integrating its Verification of Assets solution into BeSmartee’s point-of-sale mortgage origination platform. The same month, Finicity announced that its asset verification technology would be integrated with Ellie Mae’s Encompass digital mortgage solution.

Making its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2017 last year, Mortgage Cadence demonstrated its Collaboration Center. The platform provides lenders with a secure, multi-party communications portal that brings all parties, their workflow and information for the loan into a single, secure location.

Mortgage Cadence’s deal with Finicity is the company’s latest initiative to enhance its platform’s asset verification capabilities. In April, Mortgage Cadence integrated FormFree’s AccountCheck asset verification service into its Enterprise Lending Center. In terms of partnerships, the company secured the largest credit union in Oklahoma, Tinker Federal Credit Union with more than $3.6 billion in assets and 360,000+ members, as a technology partner in March.

Founded in 1999 and with offices in Denver, Colorado, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, Mortgage Cadence is a wholly owned subsidiary of Accenture, and serves more than 600 lenders across the U.S.

Intelligent Environments Rebrands as ieDigital

Intelligent Environments Rebrands as ieDigital

Reflecting what the company calls its “core digital capabilities” and desire for international expansion, London, U.K.-based automation technology innovator Intelligent Environments has rebranded as ieDigital.

“As a leading fintech business with global ambitions, it’s important that our brand travels as well as our expertise,” said Jeremy Young, who joined the company as CEO at the beginning of the year. “We feel the new brand brings our visual identity right up to date, is more versatile and altogether more digital. The name is also much better aligned with our core business, and easier for customers and colleagues across all territories to pronounce, which is incredibly important.”

From its origins as one of the leading home automation specialists in the U.K., the company has since grown to become a financial services technology provider to a growing number of major financial institutions. These clients include Bank of Ireland U.K., The Generali Group, Home Retail Group, HSBC, Ikano, and Lloyds Banking Group.

As Intelligent Environments, the company demonstrated its Interact Collect solution at FinovateEurope earlier this year. A component of its Interact digital engagement platform, Collect gives organizations an approach to consumer debt collection that is low stress, non-confrontational, and digital-first. An intuitive interface and omni-channel access combines with a self-service-oriented user experience to raise repayment rates, lower costs, and improve customer relationships. The technology enabled the company to take home Best Collections Technology honors at the 2017 CCS Awards back in November.

In addition to Collect, the Interact platform offers Interact Acquire, a customer acquisition solution with comprehensive data capture and cross-device support to keep costs low and boost completion rates; and Interact Connect, a customer loyalty and engagement solution.

Arxan Brings its App Protection Technology to Android

Arxan Brings its App Protection Technology to Android

Arxan Technologies has launched Arxan for Android, the first cybersecurity solution to leverage Google for Android-supported development language Kotlin to secure Android apps. The technology defends Android apps written in either Kotlin or Java from reverse engineering and tampering, which helps guard businesses against the kind of brand destruction, financial loss, and theft wrought by cybercrime.

VP of Product Management Rusty Carter credited the technology for not only providing full support for Kotlin, but also for the way it manipulated key aspects of Android to maximize security, “This capability minimizes impact on development resources from the first build on through every follow-on release,” Carter said. “As the application threat landscape continues to intensify, we are continuing to expand our capabilities to help protect customer applications for Android, including those developed using Kotlin.”

Developed by the JetBrains programming team out of St. Petersburg, Russia (along with open source contributors), Kotlin first appeared in 2011 and made its stable release late in April 2018. The programming language is an industrial-strength, object-oriented programming language that is designed to be fully interoperable with – and able to facilitate a migration to – Java.

Arxan for Android features:

  • APK-based, post-build protection that does not require source codes changes and minimizes impact on the software development lifecycle.
  • Java and Kotlin support to secure the widest possible range of Android apps
  • Easy-to-use JSON-based configuration for quick implementation and faster time-to-market
  • Enterprise-level platform support and training

Founded in 2001, Arxan Technologies demonstrated its mobile application shielding for financial services technology at FinovateEurope 2014. The company’s solutions defend mobile apps from hacking and malware with its patented “guarding” technology that is embedded directly into the app. This turns ordinary apps into self-defending, tamper-proof apps that can resist cyberattacks that use techniques such as code tampering and reverse engineering.

Arxan’s technology is deployed on more than 250 million devices by Fortune 500 corporations in financial services, retail, healthcare, as well as in other industries. Earlier this year, the company launched a new app security monitoring and analysis service, Arxan Threat Analytics, that enables businesses to learn about cyberattacks while the attacks are underway and to provide countermeasures before the attack is completed or becomes widespread.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Arxan has also participated in our developers conference, presenting Mobile Payments: Protecting Apps and Data from Emerging Risks at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2015. The company had raised more than $28 million in funding before it was acquired by TA Associates in 2013 for $132 million. Joe Sander is CEO.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Arxan Brings its App Protection Technology to Android.
  • BondIT Integrates Bond Portfolio Solution with FIIG Securities.
  • Dwolla Launches Start, a Pay-as-You-Go Payment Solution.
  • Intelligent Environments Rebrands as ieDigital.
  • Finicity Forges New Partnership with Mortgage Cadence.

Around the web

  • Low-code development specialist OutSystems launches OutSystems Sentry, a new proactive security monitoring service for the company’s PaaS clients.
  • PayPal acquires Jetlore, an AI-powered prediction engine for retailers.
  • Halma partners with OurCrowd for life protection technologies.
  • CNP Awards recognizes ThreatMetrix for ThreatMetrix ID.
  • EY names Flywire CEO Entrepreneur of the Year finalist in New England.

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.

Tradeshift Raises $250 Million in Round Led by Goldman Sachs

Tradeshift Raises $250 Million in Round Led by Goldman Sachs

Fintech has a brand new unicorn.

Supply chain financing innovator Tradeshift has locked in $250 million in new capital courtesy of a just-completed Series E round. The investment was led by Goldman Sachs and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, and featured participation from HSBC, H14, Bullhound, and a new venture firm founded by Tradeshift founders called Gray Swan.

“We are very happy with this validation of our vision,” Christian Lanng, Tradeshift founder and CEO said. “We have always believed that the future of supply chains is 100% digital and that connecting trade is the first step to a digitally connected economy. This investment will enable us to continue our rapid growth and consolidate our leadership position. We welcome Goldman Sachs and PSP Investments as our newest investors and look forward to their valuable contributions as we enter our next growth phase.”

The latest round of funding takes Tradeshift’s total capital to more than $400 million and gives the San Francisco-based firm a valuation of $1.1 billion.

Working with more than 1.5 billion businesses in 190 countries around the world, Tradeshift enables supply chain payments and marketplaces, supporting trade finance alternatives, spend and receivables management, lending and payments, as well as private marketplaces. Tradeshift has helped free the $9 trillion in capital locked in online payments and was referred to in the November 2017 Forrester report on the Vendor Landscape: B2B Business Networks as the company whose technology “cause(s) other PO/invoice network vendors to change strategy.”

Tradeshift demonstrated the Instant Payments feature of its platform at FinovateEurope 2012. Instant Payments enables SMEs to receive instant payment for invoices approved through the platform, giving businesses access to lower interest rates compared to other funding opportunities. The solution also helps relieve pressure on cash flow due to late payments and extended payment terms.

Recently recognized with Best B2B Payments Platform honors from the FinTech Breakthrough Awards, Tradeshift launched Tradeshift Pay in May which combines supply chain payments and financing and blockchain-based early payments into a single solution. In March, the company partnered with Canon Business Process Services in a deal that enabled Canon customers to leverage Tradeshift’s platform to improve their supply chain, including source-to-pay processes.

The company began the year with the launch of Tradeshift Frontiers, an innovation lab and incubator geared toward helping bring the benefits of new technologies like AI and distributed ledgers to the world of supply chain management and global trade. Tradeshift was founded in 2010.

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.

Africa

  • Lidya Scores $6.9 Million in Series A Investment.
  • Kenya finance ministry publishes draft of initial regulations its digital lending industry.
  • Fintech Futures profiles Cameroon-based crypto wallet and exchange app, Interstellar.

LATAM

  • Argentine lending platform Moni raises $3 million in funding.
  • Brazil’s central bank launches new fintech sandbox, Laboratório de Inovações Financeiras e Technológicas (LIFT).
  • MarkitSERV extends network of derivatives clearinghouses to include Mexico’s Asigna.

CEE

  • Czech Republic’s Worldcore announces completion of its cryptocurrency exchange.
  • Is fintech an “opportunity or threat” to emerging Europe?
  • Czech utility conmpany, Pražská Plynárenská, to accept payments in bitcoin.

Asia

  • Ant Financial inks deal with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, its third deal with an established Chinese bank in a week.
  • Malaysian fintech Jirnexu raises $11 million in Series B led by Japan’s SBI Group.
  • Philippine government points to northern Philippines as a future blockchain, cryptocurrency, and fintech hub.

MENA

  • Emirates NBD teams up with Diebold Nixdorf to introduce digital kiosk, Emirates NBD EasyHub.
  • ADGM and KPMG Lower Gulf announce FinTech Abu Dhabi Innovation Challenge.
  • Emirates NBD introduces its NBD Accelerator Auto Loans program.

Top image designed by Freepik

Azimo Raises $20 Million in New Funding

Azimo Raises $20 Million in New Funding

International money transfer innovator Azimo has locked in $20 million (£15 million) in new funding. The Series C investment was led by Rakuten Capital, and featured participation from a host of investors including e.ventures, Frog Capital, GR Capital Partners, Greycroft Partners, MCI, Quona Capital, and Silicon Valley Bank. The new funding takes Azimo’s total capital to $66 million.

Founder and CEO Michael Kent said the funding would help the company improve its platform and continue to grow its customer base. He added that Azimo would continue to focus on the European market, which he referred to as “the largest, most diverse and chronically underserved money transfer market in the world.”

Rakuten Capital managing partner Oskar Mielczarek de la Miel credited Azimo’s ability to keep customer acquisition costs low as one of the benefits of its partnership with the London-based fintech. “Customer acquisition costs have dropped by two-third since we first got involved with Azimo,” he said. “This latest funding will comfortably bring the business to sustained profitability within 12 months.”

Japan-based Rakuten Capital has been a consistent investor in fintech companies, including funding for other Finovate alums like CurrencyCloud, BlueVine, and Kreditech. Mielczarek de la Miel told The Financial Times that growth in the international digital money transfer industry has not only attracted investors, but also made firms like Azimo “very coveted assets,” that could be the target of acquirers.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in London, U.K., Azimo demonstrated its international digital money transfer service at FinovateEurope 2013. The company offers safe and secure money transfers, verified by MasterCard and Visa, to more than 195 countries and in more than 60 different currencies. Azimo provides instant cash delivery to more than 50 countries, and most money transfers are processed in less than 24 hours. Azimo’s mobile app, available at Google Play and the Apple App Store, gives users instant updates and real-time currency alerts, as well.

With more than 1.5 million registered customers and more than $1 billion in annualized sending volume, Azimo has made significant additions and enhancements to its coverage in recent months. The company announced new, improved service to China in March and last December, Azimo revamped its service in Nigeria to bring faster transfers and broader cash delivery options. Also that month, Azimo launched its cash pick-up service in the Philippines.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Lidya Scores $6.9 Million in Series A Investment.
  • Azimo Raises $20 Million in New Funding.
  • WorkFusion Closes Add-On Funding Round.

Around the web

  • Baker Hill to provide loan origination technology for Old Point National Bank, a Virginia-based FI with $988 million in assets.
  • Multiple-time Best of Show winner CREALOGIX adds cryptocurrency and blockchain market data to its Digital Banking Hub.
  • EdgeLab honored as MarketPlace Provider of the Year at the Temenos Partner and Customer Awards.
  • MarTechSeries features Persado’s AI platform.
  • CryptoGlobe: Currencies Direct Completes Successful European Pilot of Ripple’s xRapid and Calls XRP ‘A Game Changer.’
  • Payworks teams with Visa to enable omnichannel payments for CyberSource’s merchants.
  • ThetaRay wins Asian Banker Risk Management Award for “Regulatory Technology Implementation of the Year.”
  • Revolut unveils its “App Store for Business Banking” solution, Revolut Connect.

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.

nCino Partners with Tech Qualled to Help Veterans Get into Fintech

nCino Partners with Tech Qualled to Help Veterans Get into Fintech

While many Americans are firing up the grill to prepare for Memorial Day weekend, nCino is celebrating the holiday with a new partnership. The company is teaming up with U.S. military veteran training organization, Tech Qualled, to help qualified veterans land jobs at the Wilmington, North Carolina-based fintech.

“At nCino, we are committed to hiring people who embody our culture and core values, and who bring a unique set of knowledge, skills, and experience to the table,” nCino EVP Josh Glover said. A former Marine and combat veteran himself, Glover added, “We are extremely proud to work with Tech Qualled to ensure we continue to hire the right people, and are honored to expand opportunities and access for those who give so much to our country.”

With 80% of its graduates meeting employer expectations in their first year after being hired, Tech Qualled credits its industry-relevant curriculum for helping veterans succeed. This includes focus on topics ranging from data center solutions and basic networking to cloud computing and software applications. Co-founder and president Justin Ossola noted that the company’s selection process was also instrumental in guiding veterans to opportunities that were ideal fits. “We have selective and specific criteria for making sure we pick candidates with the right blend of soft skills and personality traits,” Ossola said. Since its founding in 2015, the company has helped more than 120 veterans secure jobs in the technology industry.

Founded in 2012, nCino demonstrated its Bank Operating System at FinovateEurope 2017. With more than 275 employees and more than 130 clients, nCino provides a solution that combines CRM, loan originations workflow, ECM, business intelligence and reporting in a single, secure, cloud-based environment. nCino’s client institutions have experienced a 19% increase in loan value, a 34% shortening in loan closing time, and a 54% reduction in policy exceptions thanks to nCino’s platform.

In a busy 2018, nCino has added a Retail Sales and Service solution to its Bank Operating System, and won deployments of its technology with Banesco USA, TD Bank, and Yorkshire Building Society. In March, nCino worked with Enforce to help FIs transition to cloud-based solutions, and in April the company partnered with fellow Finovate alum VASCO to integrate its eSignLive-developed e-signature technology into its platform for banks.

nCino has raised more than $133 million in funding and includes Salesforce Ventures and Insight Venture Partners among its investors. Pierre Naudé is CEO.

BondIT Raises $4 Million in New Funding, Adding to Series B

BondIT Raises $4 Million in New Funding, Adding to Series B

With $4 million in new funding, BondIT has added to the Series B investment it announced last fall and taken the round’s total to $18.2 million. St. Louis Business Journal reported this week that the fixed income portfolio management platform provider plans to use the capital for product development among other initiatives.

The company’s Series B round has been led by major investor Fosun Group, a division of Fosun International Limited, a Hong Kong-based investment holding company. When the investment in BondIT was initially announced last fall, Fosun Chairman Guo Guangchang said that BondIT’s technology “compliments (its) own financial ecosystem” and will enable wealth managers to upgrade their solutions with disruptive technology. The Group also said the investment reflected a commitment to the Israeli market.

BondIT uses machine learning algorithms and data science to enable fixed income advisors to make superior recommendations, improve client engagement, manage risk better, speed trade execution and meet compliance regulations easier. The platform improves productivity by automating portfolio construction, optimizing returns tailored to the individual customer, and enhancing analytics, and risk monitoring.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Herzliya, Israel, BondIT demonstrated its fixed income portfolio management platform at FinovateFall 2016. The company began the year leveraging its strategic partnership with Fosun Group and relationship with Chinese financial data provider Wind to expand its coverage of China’s $7+ trillion interbank bond market.

In January, BondIT partnered with IBM, choosing the company’s ILOG CPLEX Optimization Studio to enhance its fixed income portfolio services. “By harnessing the ILOG CPLEX Optimization Studio tool within our framework, our platform can find the optimal solution within the constraints,” BondIT Chief Scientist Dr. Hillel Raz said. “If a perfect solution is not feasible due to the combination of constraints and market conditions, it can relax constraints to provide the closest fit for any set of portfolio requirements.”

The fact that the technology is cloud-based is also a major plus enabling the company, in the words of BondIT CTO Amit Godel, to scale as required to meet customer needs, as well as to “provide platform enhancements immediately.”

“The main advantage of the IBM technology for us as a startup was fast time-to-market, as well as its ability to handle many different types of variables and objectives, control numerous parameters, and handle infeasible problems,” Godel said.

Etai Ravid is BondIT founder and CEO. Check out our profile of the company featuring a Q&A with Ravid.