Hydrogen Takes Top Honors at Fintech Awards Luxembourg 2018

Hydrogen Takes Top Honors at Fintech Awards Luxembourg 2018

Financial development platform Hydrogen won the grand prize at the Luxembourg Fintech Awards last week. The awards, sponsored by KPMG Luxembourg and Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT), were contested by nearly 200 applicants from 46 countries. As the Grand Prize winner, Hydrogen picked up €50,000 in prize money and will receive four months of hosting at Luxembourg’s co-working space, Technoport; 10 free consulting hours from KPMG; and a free membership to LHoFT, including six months of hosting at the LHoFT fintech hub.

“We are building the global financial platform of the Web 3.0 and Luxembourg is a natural place for us to offer our platform given their leading financial standing in Europe and globally,” Michael Kane, Hydrogen co-founder and CEO explained in an e-mail. “We are very excited to be honored with this prestigious award; it shows how tremendous our team is and how big the problem is we are solving.”

Hydrogen offers a suite of APIs that enable developers at financial services companies to build and deploy their financial apps anywhere globally. The firm provides the core infrastructure and connectors that companies require when building and managing fintech apps, including robo advisory and wealth management, savings, insurance, and PFM-based solutions. Hydrogen’s platform also gives developers the ability to leverage blockchain technology to better secure client information and to apply automated machine learning to cloud-based datasets.

Applicants to the awards were evaluated based on the quality of the idea behind the innovation, the technology/solution involved, business model, market potential, team, and more. Looking at the 15 semi-finalists who competed for the Grand Prize, Luxembourg House of Financial Technology CEO Nasir Zubairi said, “the diversity of the activity sectors represented as well as the geographical diversity demonstrate the international dimension of the Fintech awards and the indisputable appeal of Luxembourg as a FinTech hub.”

This year’s awards featured a strong showing by regtech firms, added Head of Advisory at KPMG Pascal Denis, which he attributed to Luxembourg’s “unique landscape of cross-border expertise.” Denis pointed out that artificial intelligence and blockchain-based technologies also made a strong showing. “We are able to attract the next generation of disrupters,” he said.

Also making it to the finals was fellow Finovate alum ThetaRay, a cybersecurity firm based in Israel. Lingua Custodia, a French translation company that specializes in financial documents won first runner up, with Swiss regtech firm, Apiax, picking up the second runner-up prize. BitValley was granted the Financial Inclusion Award for its work in leveraging blockchain technology to provide micro-insurance for farmers.

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in New York City, Hydrogen demonstrated how its technology can be leveraged to build sophisticated financial services platforms at FinovateEurope earlier this year. The company’s co-founders, Michael and Matthew Kane, showed how Hydrogen could build a savings platform, based in Europe, complete with UI/UX, onboarding simulations, back end connectivity, and business intelligence. The Kane brothers also demoed how the platform could be further enhanced by using blockchain technology for security and leveraging a proprietary AI to support an interactive digital assistant.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • TransferWise Helps Monzo Clients Send Money Abroad.
  • Hydrogen Takes Top Honors at Fintech Awards Luxembourg 2018.
  • Gusto Launches Flexible Pay, Turning Payday into Any Day.

Around the web

  • The Paypers interviews Comarch product development manager Bartłomiej Wójtowicz.
  • ACI Worldwide VP of Merchant Payments for Europe Andy McDonald discusses the future of real-time payments.
  • PYMNTS.com takes a look at PayPal’s acquisition of Hyperwallet.
  • Quadient announces availability of Quadient Inspire R12.
  • Passport powers mobile parking app for University of Illinois.
  • Finastra to sell its Collateral Management Corporation (CMS) business to Teranet.

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.

Touché, OCBC Bank Bring Fingerprint Authentication to In-Person Commerce

Touché, OCBC Bank Bring Fingerprint Authentication to In-Person Commerce

Singapore-based authentication specialist Touché has signed a deal with OCBC Bank. The agreement will bring fingerprint-based biometric payment and loyalty management technology to the bank’s credit card acceptance merchants that maintain a brick and mortar presence. Medium to high end F&B (food and beverage) establishments are among the initial target customers.

Quoted in the Global Banking and Finance Review, Touché CEO and co-founder Sahba Saint-Claire explained that while his company’s technology provided a safe and easy way for consumers to transact in person without needing multiple payment cards, there was more to Touché than just payments and biometrics.

“We are a solution that enables merchants to provide their customers with personalized experiences to deepen their relationships,” Saint-Claire said. “Touché is a key point of differentiation for banks and merchants, helping them grow their business by delighting customers and offering the next level in people engagement.”

Touché co-founder and CEO Sahba Saint-Claire demonstrating the company’s fingerprint biometric solution for in-person transactions at FinovateEurope 2018.

Touché works by linking fingerprint biometrics with card data – eliminating the need for both passwords and physical payment cards. Focused on in-person transactions rather than online commerce, Touché provides merchants with a device that features a chip reader, magnetic stripe reader and a two-finger fingerprint scanner that enables biometric authentication.

Once verified, customers can choose their preferred payment method from the available options. Any discounts, loyalty or rewards are applied automatically. The platform also sends the consumer an email receipt with billing, rewards, and other transaction-related information itemized. Customers register once and can use the service globally.

“Gone are the days of carrying cards and phones and vouchers and coupons,” Saint-Claire said from the Finovate stage earlier this year. “All you need are two fingers.”

Touché works with a wide variety of payment options including credit cards, debit cards, QR code, and proximity payments (GooglePay, ApplePay, AliPay, etc.). The company expects to add cryptocurrency payments soon. Merchants also benefit from historic and predictive customer transaction behavior analysis and insights, which can help them design and execute targeted marketing campaigns to their customers.

Head of Group Lifestyle Financing for OCBC Desmond Tan suggested the partnership was a positive step for both the bank’s customers and the future of in-person digital commerce in the country. “It will make digital e-payments simpler and more accessible than using cash,” Tan said, “and will help to drive Singapore’s push towards becoming an e-payments society.”

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Singapore, Touché demonstrated its platform at FinovateEurope 2018. Currently with offices in Barcelona, Spain, and in Tokyo, Touché is looking to expand to Australia, UAE, and Europe, with plans for a U.S. launch in 2019.

PayPal Acquires Simility for $120 Million

PayPal Acquires Simility for $120 Million

Just days after announcing its decision to purchase Hyperwallet, PayPal is back – purse in hand – for another big buy. The company will acquire fraud prevention and risk management specialist Simility for $120 million.

“This acquisition, like the acquisitions of Swift Financial, iZettle, Jetlore, and Hyperwallet that we’ve announced in the last twelve months, is part of a concerted effort to strengthen the suite of services we can provide to merchants in order to become the one-stop solution for global commerce,” Bill Ready, PayPal COO and EVP, wrote at the company blog.

Ready noted that PayPal has long been interested in the company, having invested in them in 2017, and currently owns 3% of the firm. He complemented the Palo Alto, California-based anti-fraud company’s technology and the way it “allow(ed) merchants to adjust individual risk rules to reduce fraudulent payment activity and, in some cases, verify transactions that may have otherwise failed.”

The acquisition is anticipated to close in Q3 of this year. Simility CEO Rahul Pangam, along with his team, will report to VP of Enterprise Services, Platforms Tushar Shah. PayPal will also pick up an office in Hyderabad, India, which Ready said “enhanc(ed) our presence in a key strategic market.”

A veteran of our developers conference FinDEVr, Simility showed how its advanced machine learning technology provides businesses with an adaptive anti-fraud solution. The company’s presentation, Fraud Mutates – Detect, Understand, and Block It, showed how a combination of flexible data ingestion and signal analysis – supported by advanced ML modeling and human analysis can help secure new account originations and wire transfers, support AML efforts, prevent account takeover, and more.

“Our vision for Simility was to create an adaptive risk management platform that empowers organizations operating in a digital world to manage an evolving fraud and risk landscape where data breaches are the new normal,” Simility’s Pangam said. “We are excited to enter the nest phase of our growth with PayPal and are thrilled to join them to help drive the next generation of payment and commerce solutions while scaling our business together.”

Founded in 2014, Simility had raised more than $24 million in funding prior to today’s announcement. The company has spent the summer adding executive talent: hiring Anupam Bagri as Director of Sales and Business Development for India and Asia-Pacific in the first half of June, and appointing Vanita Pandey as Vice President of Marketing and Product Strategy just last week.

Finovate Favorites: A Baker’s Dozen of Best of Show Winners

Finovate Favorites: A Baker’s Dozen of Best of Show Winners

Which fintech companies have continued to impress Finovate audiences over the years? The return of Kasasa to FinovateSpring last month, winning its fourth Best of Show award in the process, got a few of us thinking that it was a good time to take a look at which companies have been selected as fan favorites most frequently after demoing their latest technologies live on stage.

We’ve highlighted companies that have been especially popular at certain conferences, such as FinovateAsia and FinovateSpring before. Here is our compendium of the top Best of Show vote-getters to date for all shows combined (minimum of three wins).

The Big Three

The three companies that have won the most Best of Show awards from Finovate audiences reflect three different themes in fintech over the years: the allure of social investing (eToro), the rise of data analytics in banking (MX, formerly Money Desktop), and the persistence of the payment card (Dynamics). What is especially impressive about all three companies in our Best of Show Big Three is their ability to innovate over time. Each alum won their first Best of Show award between 2010 and 2012 and won their most recent Best of Show award between 2016 and 2018.

Dynamics (8) Founded in 2007. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jeff Mullen is CEO.

MX / Money Desktop (6) Founded in 2010. Headquartered in Lehi, Utah. Ryan Caldwell is CEO.

eToro (6) Founded in 2007. Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel and London, U.K. Yoni Assia is CEO.

The Super Six

Of our Super Six – the six companies to have won Best of Show awards four times – what is most interesting is also the way many of them have been proven innovators over a time of major change in fintech. Companies like Kasasa (formerly BancVue) and Yodlee (now Envestnet | Yodlee) made their big splash back in the earliest days of Finovate and, with recent Best of Show wins in 2018 and 2017, respectively, shown that they are still among fintech’s most inspiring solution providers.

Backbase – 4

Kasasa / BancVue – 4

Meniga – 4

oFlows – 4

SaleMove – 4

Yodlee (including Envestnet | Yodlee) – 4

The Fantastic Four

Two of the companies in our Fantastic Four companies that have won Best of Show awards three times have since been acquired. LearnVest, a three-time Best of Show winner from 2011-2013, was acquired by Northwestern Mutual for more than $250 million in 2015. EyeVerify, which won Best of Show awards on three different continents, was acquired by Ant Financial in 2016. The company now operates as ZOLOZ, and is focused on providing digital identity solutions for the underbanked in Asia.

BehavioSec – 3

EyeVerify (now “ZOLOZ”) – 3

LearnVest – 3

mBank – 3

Note: FA: FinovateAsia, FE: FinovateEurope, FF: FinovateFall, FS: FinovateSpring. Audience favorite awards from FinDEVr not included.

KeyBank Acquires Small Business Lending Platform Bolstr

KeyBank Acquires Small Business Lending Platform Bolstr

Digital lending platform for small businesses Bolstr has been acquired by KeyBank. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Chicago-based fintech, which takes a crowdfunding approach to helping communities support their local businesses, will help KeyBank provide SMEs with better access to both Small Business Administration (SBA) loans as well as traditional financing. Bolstr’s technology, to be implemented this year, will enable KeyBank to digitally process loan applications faster, saving time and money while providing business borrowers with a better lending experience.

“We are excited to work with an organization that is dedicated to helping communities and small businesses prosper,” Bolstr co-founder Charlie Tribbett said. “By combining our digital expertise and KeyBank’s industry knowledge, business owners will receive exceptional service and the efficient lending experience they need to be successful.”

The move from KeyBank comes as the company continues to execute on its $16.5 billion National Community Benefits Plan, which features a $2.5 billion commitment to small business lending over the next five years. One of the country’s leading lenders to small businesses, KeyBank issued 739 small business loans in 2017 totaling $318 million.

“KeyBank is deeply committed to helping small businesses thrive and to providing them with the funding they need to grow,” Head of KeyBank Business Banking, Jamie Warder said. “Bolstr’s technology transforms the small business lending process and allows us to more efficiently serve small businesses for their SBA and traditional lending needs,” Warder added.

Bolstr demonstrated its crowdfunding platform that enables individuals to invest in small businesses in their communities at FinovateFall 2012. Among the company’s innovations was a deal structure that allowed small business borrowers to repay funders with near-term payouts based on the sales success of the business. This allows small business owners to keep their equity and avoid going into significant debt.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Bolstr’s solution was the first crowdfunding platform designed to provide liquidity to local small businesses in the pre-JOBS Act era. Prior to this week’s announcement, the company had raised $2.3 million in funding from investors including Fusion Fund, DRW Venture Capital, and Montage Ventures.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • KeyBank Acquires Small Business Lending Platform Bolstr.

Around the web

  • Threat detection specialist Zighra announces support for FIDO authentication.
  • BBVA and energy company Repsol collaborate to develop blockchain-based financial products.
  • Etsy partners with Klarna, bringing new payment options to its German website and app.
  • IdentityMind Global inks licensing agreement with KYC2020.
  • Insuritas to launch member-owned insurance agency for Financial Resources FCU.
  • Streamdata.io unveils its API Gallery featuring more than 360 different entities with 14,400+ API paths spanning 420 topics.
  • Interactions wins Customer Contact Week ‘Omnichannel Provider of the Year’ award.
  • Dashlane reaches 10 million users around the globe.
  • WorkFusion wins Awards for Best Application of AI in Financial Services.
  • Lendio’s employee contribution program has funded 2,800 loans in 78 countries through Kiva.
  • Gusto’s Flexible Pay lets employees choose their own payday.

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.

SmartAsset Scoops Up $28 Million in New Funding

SmartAsset Scoops Up $28 Million in New Funding

New York-based fintech SmartAsset, which provides personalized, automated financial solutions, has raised $28 million in new funding. The Series C round takes the company’s total equity capital to more than $51 million and featured the participation of Focus Financial Partners, Javeline Venture Partners, TTV Capital, IA Capital, and Citi Ventures, as well as other investors.

The company will use the investment to build its audience as well as expand its platform to help more people improve their finances and connect with qualified personal financial advisors.

“This investment will accelerate our mission of becoming the web’s premier resource for personal finance tools and content,” SmartAsset CEO and co-founder Michael Carvin said. “In doing so, SmartAsset will become the largest marketplace for investors trying to find financial advisors and advisors trying to meet new prospective clients.”

More than 45 million people use SmartAsset’s personal finance information and online resources every month. The company’s automated financial modeling software, demonstrated live at FinovateSpring, powers SmartAsset’s tools, financial calculators, and data-driven research and content to give consumers information on personal finance topics ranging from planning for a first-time home purchase or saving for retirement.

SmartAsset also helps individuals find the right financial advisor based on their specific needs. By answering a series of questions – your location, your preferred retirement timeline, how you currently manage your money, and so on – SmartAsset can assess the individual’s general investment preferences and goals and provide up to three recommendations for financial advisors. All of SmartAssets’ recommended advisors are carefully vetted and registered with the SEC or appropriate state regulator.

A finalist for the 2018 Benzinga Fintech Awards, SmartAsset announced a partnership with CRM software provider Wealthbox in April to integrate its SmartAdvisor lead generation solution into the Wealthbox platform. In February, SmartAsset teamed up with America Saves and the American Savings Education Council to promote positive savings behavior during America Saves Week.

BILLSHARK and Payrailz Team Up to Help Consumers Save on Monthly Bills

BILLSHARK and Payrailz Team Up to Help Consumers Save on Monthly Bills

Bill reduction specialist BILLSHARK is partnering with digital payments company Payrailz to give banks and credit unions a new money-saving offering for their customers and members. Via the agreement, Payrailz will integrate BILLSHARK’s bill negotiation, subscription cancellation, and curated shopping functionality into its platform, giving small businesses and individuals new tools to lower their monthly bill costs.

“BILLSHARK is excited to partner with Payrailz to bring our convenient, no-hassle approach to lowering monthly bills to their growing network of bank and credit union clients,” BILLSHARK co-founder and CEO Steve McKean said. “We look forward to helping Payrailz deliver on their vision of reinventing the way the banking and financial services industry approaches the payment experience.”

BILLSHARK works by negotiating with service providers to find the best possible terms for your monthly bills. Bill payers send copies of their bills to BILLSHARK through its website, app, or email. The company then investigates to see if there are options to lower the amounts that customers pay and updates the customer on how the bill reduction process is going. And for using the service, BILLSHARK provides customers with a $25 dining or shopping reward as a thank you.

BILLSHARK has an 85% success rate in negotiating and winning reductions in bills for cable and satellite TV subscriptions, internet access, satellite radio, and home security. Through a combination of bargaining and cancellations of unwanted subscriptions on behalf of customers, BILLSHARK has saved consumers more than $3.5 million. The company’s service is risk-free; if BILLSHARK does not save the customer money on bills, no fee is paid. For successful bill reductions, BILLSHARK charges 40% of the realized savings. For example, if BILLSHARK saves a customer $500, the fee is $200.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, BILLSHARK demonstrated its Shark Connect bill reduction API at FinovateFall 2017. The API makes it easy for FIs and fintechs to integrate BILLSHARK’s bill reduction features into their applications. This week’s integration with Payrailz is the second such partnership in 2018 for the company; digital banking platform Narmi integrated BILLSHARK’s API at the beginning of the year.

BILLSHARK also made headlines earlier this year when it reported that investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team Mark Cuban would be joining as an advisor and financial backer of the company. Also this spring, BILLSHARK unveiled its One Bill, One Child program, in which the company will pay for middle-school aged kids to receive an hour of financial education from Ramsey Solutions for every bill submitted to BILLSHARK for negotiation.

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.

Asia

  • Flywire and UnionPay International partner to provide Chinese customers with better rates on cross-border payments.
  • Leading southeast Asian digital cross border money transfer firm InstaReM goes live in Europe with new London office.
  • South Korean payments app Toss raises $40 million in funding.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) teams up with Startupbootcamp as part of an effort to boost Dubai’s status as a regional fintech hub.
  • AME Info asks if Saudi women and UAE crypto can alleviate Bahrain’s debt crisis.
  • VentureBurn features Egyptian savings startup Money Fellows.

Africa

  • Elizabeth Rossiello, CEO and founder of Nairobi, Kenya-based BitPesa, talks about leveraging cryptocurrencies to improve global payments in Africa.
  • South Africa’s ITWeb features features Richard Marsden, co-founder of Johannesburg-based FinChatBot on the rise of chatbot technology in the insurance industry.
  • Branch International reports N1 billion ($2.78 million) in loans facilitated to users in Nigeria.

Latin America

  • Brazil’s Nubank reaches milestone of 1.5 million digital account openings in six months.
  • Latin American Regional Conference sponsored by Swift sees collaboration as fundamental for growth of financial services in Latin America.
  • Brazilian insurtech startup Kakau partners with insurance companies American Life and Generali.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Kontomatik appoints CEO Piotr Warsicki as its new CEO.
  • Poland’s Alior Bank partners with solarisBank, Raisin, and Mastercard to launch pan-EU digital bank later this year.
  • The largest bank in the Czech Republic, Česká spořitelna introduces voice biometrics courtesy of partnership with Nuance Communications.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • BILLSHARK and Payrailz Team Up to Help Consumers Save on Monthly Bills.
  • Hyperwallet Sells to PayPal for $400 Million.
  • SmartAsset Scoops Up $28 Million in New Funding.

Around the web

  • Pindrop launches new risk-based authentication solution for call centers, Pindrop Express.
  • NCR and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announce strategic alliance.
  • PayPal acquires Hyperwallet for $400 million in cash.
  • Hancock Whitney Bank picks Envestnet platform to support its broker-deal and trust businesses.
  • U.S. Bank partners with FutureAdvisor to develop Automated Investor, a digital wealth management tool.
  • doxo honored as Gold Stevie Award Winner in 2018 American Business Awards.

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.

SigFig Raises $50 Million in Series E

SigFig Raises $50 Million in Series E

Automated wealth management advisory specialist SigFig has raised $50 million in new funding in a round led by General Atlantic. The Series E round also featured the participation of existing investors UBS, Eaton Vance Corporation, DCM Ventures, New York Life, Nyca Partners, and Bain Capital Ventures.

“For over a decade, SigFig has provided access to premium, tech-enabled financial services for customers, banks, and wealth advisors,” CEO and co-founder of SigFig, Mike Sha said. “We are now aggressively expanding our services and reach to improve how banks utilize technology with their clients and increase the number of everyday people using technology to manage their finances.”

The company said it will use the additional capital to invest in new technology and to expand its service to larger FIs like current partners UBS and Wells Fargo. This week’s investment takes SigFig’s total capital to $117 million.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, SigFig demonstrated its portfolio management service at FinovateFall 2011. The company enables financial service providers to offer their customers a way to build tax efficient, diversified investment portfolios that are personalized, mobile-accessible, and less expensive than using traditional financial advisors. SigFig’s platform provides tax reduction strategies, reinvests dividends, and monitors the portfolio, rebalancing when allocations get out of balance.

SigFig clients get their first $10,000 managed free and accounts can be opened with as little as $2,000. Accounts above $10,000 are charged a 0.25% annual fee. All clients get free portfolio monitoring and analysis, unlimited access to professional investment advisors, and minimized brokerage commissions.  SigFig supports individual and joint accounts, as well as all IRA types.

General Atlantic Managing Partner Paul Stamas, who will join SigFig’s board of directors as part of the investment, praised the company’s B2B2C business model, which he said could help SigFig take advantage of the growing market for “digitally-native investment advisors.” Stamas added that the company “leverages its industry-leading technology alongside its partners’ existing physical infrastructure and human capital to create a best-in-class advice solution.”

The funding for SigFig comes in the wake of a pair of major deployments of its platform. Earlier this year, UBS Wealth Management USA went live with SigFig-powered, robo advisory solution, UBS Advice Advantage. The UBS solution is geared toward clients with $10,000 to $250,000 in investable assets, and follows just a few months after Wells Fargo unveiled its own SigFig-developed robo advisor.