Author: David Penn

BeSmartee Integrates with FormFree’s AccountChek Asset Verification Service

BeSmartee Integrates with FormFree’s AccountChek Asset Verification Service
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BeSmartee

BeSmartee’s mortgage point-of-sale platform will now be equipped with automated asset verification courtesy of a new partnership with FormFree. The integration of FormFree’s AccountChek service into BeSmartee’s POS solution will further streamline the company’s already low-friction digital loan process as well as give lenders a clearer, more accurate picture of the borrower’s likelihood to pay back the loan.

“By incorporating AccountChek as a point-of-sale process, BeSmartee helps lenders move loans into initial underwriting very quickly, which can cut days off time-to-close,” explained Arvin Sahakian, BeSmartee co-founder. Sahakian also praised the company’s relationships with “Day 1 Certainty vendors” like FormFree which provide “ready out-of-the-box” solutions that further speed BeSmartee’s onboarding process. “BeSmartee’s onboarding process is weeks shorter than competitors,” he added.

“FormFree makes lending simpler, safer, and faster by streamlining the loan origination process and providing better intelligence on borrowers’ ability to pay,” FormFree founder and CEO Brent Chandler said. “We’re delighted to work with BeSmartee to put AccountChek in borrowers’ hands at the point of sale and give loans the shortest possible path from initial contact to underwriting.” AccountChek is used by companies like Fannie Mae, and is in pilot for single source validation, an enhancement to Fannie’s DU validation service that enables lenders to get asset, income, and employment validation in a single, automated report from AcccountChek.

BeSmartee demonstrated its Smart Mortgage solution last year at FinovateSpring 2017. The company leverages AI to provide lenders with an advanced origination process that takes customers from initial contact to underwriting in 20 minutes – including completed loan application, credit report, income/asset documentation, eSigned and eDelivered disclosures, and a paid appraisal.

This week’s news is the second major headline from BeSmartee in recent weeks. In March, the company announced a full integration with fellow Finovate alum Finicity, incorporating the real-time data aggregation and insights specialist’s Verification of Assets (VoA) solution into BeSmartee’s origination platform. Last year, BeSmartee forged a partnership with automated mortgage technology company DocMagic, teamed up with mortgage technology solutions provider Mortech, and worked with Matic Insurance Services to help consumers find the best homeowners insurance policy for their needs.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Huntington Beach, California, BeSmartee was named one of CIO.com’s Fresh Fintech Companies to Watch in 2017. Tim Nguyen is co-founder and CEO.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: 280 Cap Markets, Baker Hill, BeSmartee, Bpm'online, Covered Security, CUCollaborate, cyberProductivity, Dwolla, Eltropy, PayPal, Project Finance, Q2, Q2 Holdings, Q2ebanking, Quovo, SoFi, SynapseFi, TransferTo

On Finovate.com

  • BeSmartee Integrates with FormFree’s AccountChek Asset Verification Service.
  • 280 CapMarkets Unveils 280 Advisor Services.
  • Quovo Unveils New Solutions for Loan Originators and Servicers.

Around the web

  • cyberProductivity joins DBS Accelerator in Hong Kong.
  • PayPal, Safaricom, and TransferTo team up to make it easier for Kenyans to transfer money between their M-PESA and PayPal accounts.
  • Former Goldman Sachs executive, Michelle Gill, named new SoFi CFO.
  • Bpm’online partners with ChessIT for smart CRM and business processes.
  • Dwolla enhances Transport Layer Security.
  • Baker Hill updates NextGen Omni-Channel Marketing to include P2P normative analysis to identify the most profitable cross-sell opportunities.

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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Kabbage and Ingo Money Team Up to Power Faster Loan Payouts to SMEs

Kabbage and Ingo Money Team Up to Power Faster Loan Payouts to SMEs
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Kabbage

Online alternative lender Kabbage has teamed up with push payments innovator Ingo Money to get commercial loan proceeds to small and medium sized businesses that much faster. Kabbage will use Ingo’s Push Platform, with its push-payments-in-a-box technology, to disburse loan payouts to customer accounts securely and in real time.

The partnership between Kabbage and Ingo Money helps close the gap between business loan approval – which can be completed in minutes – and delivery of funds – which can take a day more more. Kabbage sees faster fund delivery as key to helping SMEs have better cash flow management and a compelling opportunity for small business owners. In its statement, the company pointed to a Visa survey that showed that small business owners, 70% of which own a small business debit card, would get a new card if real-time transfers were available.

Ingo Push Platform provides modular components and customer workflows and rules that enable companies to manage their own payment process (or outsource it). The platform allows users to originate disbursements using an API, batch file, or web interface; send branded email and text notifications; securely capture and manage payment preferences and account details, and monitor payment status and access custom reports. Ingo’s technology can push money to more than 4.5 billion customer accounts, including credit and debit cards, online wallets, as well as cash from distribution locations. Ingo Money’s chief product officer Lisa McFarland told PYMNTS.com that bringing push payments to SME lending makes the payout process as seamless as the rest of the digitized, online loan process pioneered by companies like Kabbage.

Also discussing the partnership with PYMNTS, Kabbage president Kathryn Petralia pointed out that the company, which has made its name as an online alternative lender, is at heart a payments company “since we’re constantly moving money to and from our customers as they use our service.” She added that accelerating delivery of funds was also a positive because it brought transparency to the lending process.

Kabbage began the year by expanding its line of credit offering to $250,000. The new product is the largest credit line offering by an online lender and gives Kabbage the ability to serve larger businesses. Last month, the company announced a strategic alliance with New Media to improve outreach to small and medium-sized businesses. Also in March, Kabbage joined with Citigroup and others to form a cybersecurity consortium for fintech. The company earned a spot on Forbes Fintech 50 for a second time in a row this year,

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Kabbage demonstrated its Kabbage Card at FinovateSpring 2015. With more than $1.6 billion in funding, Kabbage powers small business lending for a number of major FIs including ING, Santander, and Scotia Bank, and includes SoftBank Group Corp., BlueRun Ventures, and Mohr Davidow Ventures among its investors.

We interviewed Kabbage’s Petralia during FinovateFall 2017 last September. Check out her conversation with Senior Research Analyst Julie Muhn on How to Make it as a Small Business in Fintech.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BioCatch, Coinbase, Ephesoft, Fiserv, Kabbage, Kapitall, MasterCard

On Finovate.com

  • Coinbase Launches Coinbase Ventures to Support Early-Stage Crypto Startups.
  • Kabbage and Ingo Money Team Up to Power Faster Loan Payouts to SMBs.

Around the web

  • Carter Bank & Trust ($4.1 billion in assets) partners with Fiserv as part of strategic, digital transformation.
  • Phillips 66 to offer digital payments at the pump courtesy of integration with Mastercard’s Masterpass.
  • Ephesoft unveils latest version of its smart document capture solution, Transact 4.5.
  • BioCatch wins “Best Innovation in Securing Transactions” at Florin 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.

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Coinbase Launches Coinbase Ventures to Support Early-Stage Crypto Startups

Coinbase Launches Coinbase Ventures to Support Early-Stage Crypto Startups
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Coinbase

Volatility in cryptocurrency markets continues to spell opportunity for digital asset trading platform and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. The company announced on Friday that it was launching a new venture fund called Coinbase Ventures to support crypto-based startups.

“We’ll be providing financing to promising early stage companies that have the teams and ideas that can move the space forward in a positive, meaningful way,” wrote Coinbase Head of Corporate and Business Development and Business Operations Emilie Choi at the Coinbase blog. “At least in the beginning, our goal is simply to help the most compelling companies in the space to flourish. This means that we don’t have the strategic requirement of formalizing partner relationships with such companies, as some corporate venture programs do,” Choi explained. “Our focus is on building strong relationships and helping to spur on the development of the ecosystem.”

Interestingly, Choi added that some of Coinbase Ventures’ investments may be “in companies that ostensibly look competitive with Coinbase.” By way of explanation, Choi said Coinbase was “comfortable” investing in potential competitors because “we’re taking a long term view of the space, and we believe that multiple approaches are healthy and good.”

The launch of Coinbase Ventures comes amid a flurry of activity for the cryptocurrency exchange platform. A month ago this week Coinbase unveiled its Coinbase Index and Coinbase Index Fund, a market cap weighted index and related fund that provide investors with exposure to all the digital assets available on its GDAX exchange. More recently, Coinbase made available new tax tools to help cryptocurrency investors and traders comply with IRS guidelines as they relate to reporting gains from digital asset transactions.

Additionally, Coinbase announced support for the withdrawal of Bitcoin forks across its products “in the coming months”. The decision will make it easier for customers to withdraw assets associated with Bitcoin Forks, though Coinbase noted that supporting withdrawal for a bitcoin fork does not mean the asset will be available for trading on the platform. “Assets that are listed for trading will be independently evaluated using the Digital Asset Framework,” according to a post at the Coinbase blog. The company hopes that the simultaneous internal and external announcement would help it avoid the controversy surrounding the trading of Bitcoin cash last December.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Coinbase demonstrated its platform at FinovateSpring 2014. The company, which has raised more than $225 million in funding, launched its crypto eCommerce acceptance platform, Coinbase Commerce in February, and began the year with the acquisition of the engineering team from Memo.AI.  Named to the Forbes Fintech 50 for the second year in a row earlier this year, Coinbase earned unicorn status last August after closing a $100 million Series D round that boosted the company’s valuation to an estimated $1.6 billion. Founder Brian Armstrong is Coinbase’s CEO.

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Finovate Global: Fintech News from the Periphery

Finovate Global: Fintech News from the Periphery
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, nanoPay, Sberbank

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from the Periphery is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

MENA

  • Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG) invests “substantial capital” in U.S. VC firm, 500 Startups.
  • Madfooat.com raises $2.3 million in Series B funding.
  • Saudi Arabia Monetary Authority introduces online payments service via the Saudi Payment Network.

Africa

  • nanopay CEO Laurence Cooke discusses the role of mobile money payment platforms will play in the transformation of Africa’s banking system.
  • South African Reserve Bank establishes division to build proof of concept for distributed ledger technology-based interbank clearing and settlement.
  • South African software company Finteq will collaborate with Zimbabwe’s Zimswitch EFT switch and clearing house to build an automated clearing house.

LATAM

  • Banks in Chile shut down accounts of local cryptocurrency exchanges.
  • Brazil’s leading consumer loan marketplace FinanZero raises $3.6 million in Series A funding.
  • Deutsche Welle looks at Spain’s “under the radar” rise as a digital leader.

CEE

  • Romania’s first factoring fintech platform, Instant Factoring, goes live.
  • Sberbank partners with systems integrator I-Teco to develop joint cloud platform, SberCloud.
  • PKO Bank Polski teams up with blockchain company Coinfirm to log and store client transactions and agreements.

Asia

  • China and Singapore complete first all-blockchain commodity trade.
  • Is it time for a fintech revolution in the Philippines?
  • Bank Indonesia announces 15 fintech companies as official payment system providers.

Top image designed by Freepik

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Lender Price Integrates with Mortgage Management Solution from Ellie Mae

Lender Price Integrates with Mortgage Management Solution from Ellie Mae
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Ellie Mae, Lender Price

Cre8tech Labs’ Lender Price, a digital mortgage platform that provides a product pricing and eligibility engine and competitive, real-time analytics, has partnered with fellow Finovate alum Ellie Mae. The Pasadena, California-based company, which demonstrated its PPE engine at FinovateSpring last year, will integrate its technology with Ellie Mae’s all-in-one mortgage management solution, Encompass. “Our pricing engine coupled with our real-time competitive analytics platform provides actionable insight into competitor pricing,” Cre8tech Labs President and CIO Dawar Alimi said.

Lender Price gives mortgage loan originators an openly accessible marketplace to price mortgage loans with hundreds of lenders in real-time. The company’s PPE engine can handle producing pricing and eligibility across all mortgage products including Conforming, Non-Conforming, Specialty Loans, and Hard Money, making it a more flexible solution compared to pricing engines built over a decade ago that are still commonly used.

“We are delighted to partner with Ellie Mae,” said Jerry Halbrook, who joined Lender Price as CEO in September. “Our secure, seamless integration with Encompass enables our clients to simplify the process of managing Products, Pricing and Eligibility, so they can more efficiently process mortgage loans and grow their business. We look forward to a long, successful relationship with Ellie Mae.”

Lender Price is the second Finovate alum to team up with the cloud-based mortgage finance platform provider this year. In March, Finicity announced that it was integrating its digital verification technology into Ellie Mae’s Encompass solution. Ellie Mae SVP of business development Parvesh Sahi said this underscored Ellie Mae’s commitment to working with technology partners to improve the way it serves customers and “change the way lenders and consumers engage in the loan manufacturing process.”

Founded in 2015, Lender Price demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2017. With more than 85 partners and more than 30,000 registered users, Lender Price also recently partnered with Black Knight to integrate its LoanSphere Empower LOS into Lender Price’s POS solution. Last fall, the company was named a 2017 HW Tech100 Winner by Housing Wire.

Also demoing its technology at FinovateSpring 2017 last year, Ellie Mae showed how its Encompass Connect Solutions, Consumer Connect and Developer Connect, help lenders improve the application process for customers and provide developers with tools to quickly add new features and customizations to the platform. In March, Ellie Mae launched its Encompass Data Connect solution, which provides mortgage lenders with real-time data to help them make better lending decisions.

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$1.32 Billion Raised by 26 Alums in Q1 of 2018

$1.32 Billion Raised by 26 Alums in Q1 of 2018
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings

It seems as if it was only yesterday when we were looking at the first quarter funding numbers for our alums in 2017 and wondering if the slow start was a harbinger of investment stinginess to come.

Fortunately, by the end of 2017, investment in fintech in general and our Finovate alums in specific had rebounded strongly. As the financial world accommodated itself to the incoming Trump administration, so too did fintech investors get back to the business of putting major money behind some of our industry’s most innovative startups. The result was a big year for Finovate alums who raised more than $2.7 billion for 2017, recording their fourth consecutive year of more than $2 billion in funding.

And it looks like the momentum is still going strong. For the first quarter of 2018, 26 Finovate alums have raised more than $1.32 billion in funding combined. This number is not only more than 5x our first quarter funding total from last year, it also rivals any other first quarter in our history – as our quarterly comparison below shows.

Previous Quarterly Comparisons

  • Q1 2017: $230 million raised by 20 alums
  • Q1 2016: $656 million raised by 32 alums
  • Q1 2015: $680 million raised by 29 alums
  • Q1 2014: $600 million raised by 23 alums

What is especially tantalizing about Q1 numbers this year is the high number of undisclosed investments. This quarter, five of the investments were undisclosed. This compares with two undisclosed investments from Q1 2017, five in Q1 2016, one in Q1 2015, and one in Q1 2014. The actual amounts of undisclosed investments can vary widely, of course, but having five such investments in a quarter suggests our real alum funding total for Q1 is actually higher.

Top 10 Equity Investments

  1. Credit Karma: $500 million
  2. NuBank: $150 million
  3. eToro: $100 million
  4. Ledger: $75 million
  5. Wealthfront: $75 million
  6. Alkami: $70 million
  7. defi SOLUTIONS: $55 million
  8. Endor: $45 million
  9. Stash: $37.5 million
  10. Ohpen: $31 million

In terms of the top equity investments in the first quarter, Credit Karma stands out with their secondary investment of $500 million. NuBank’s $150 million comes in second place, with the $100 million raised by eToro being our third largest equity investment of the first quarter of the year. Tied for fourth place are Ledger and Wealthfront, each raising $75 million in funding. The top 10 equity investments in Q1 totaled $1.14 billion or 86% of the quarter’s total funding.

Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q1 2018.

January: More than $338 million raised by ten alums

February: More than $156 million raised by ten alums

March: More than $825 million raised by six alums

If you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the first quarter of 2018, and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at research@finovate.com. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.

Top image designed by Freepik

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Arxan Technologies, Ellie Mae, Geezeo, InComm, Lender Price, Malauzai, Malauzai Software, Mr. Cooper, WorkFusion, YellowDog

On Finovate.com

  • Lender Price Integrates with Mortgage Management Solution from Ellie Mae.
  • WorkFusion’s $50 Million Round to Fuel Robotic Process Automation.
  • $1.32 Billion Raised by 26 Alums in Q1 of 2018.

Around the web

  • Retail chain Speedway names InComm Innovative Business Partner of the Year.
  • Technology from Malauzai and Geezeo contributes to new mobile app for Florida’s Axiom Bank.
  • YellowDog announces new partnership with [RE]DESIGN.
  • Mr. Cooper awarded Top Servicing Performance Rating from Fannie Mae. Come see Mr. Cooper’s demo at FinovateSpring next month.
  • Arxan launches new app security monitoring and analysis service, Arxan Threat Analytics.

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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Symbiont Brings the Blockchain to Mortgagetech in New Partnership with Ranieri Solutions

Symbiont Brings the Blockchain to Mortgagetech in New Partnership with Ranieri Solutions
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Symbiont

Could blockchain technology revitalize mortgagetech?

Blockchain and smart contract technology innovator Symbiont has teamed up with Ranieri Solutions to explore ways to use its smart contract platform to “systematically improve all aspects of the mortgage industry,” according to an announcement today. Ranieri Solutions is a financial services technology investment firm founded by securitized mortgage market pioneer Lewis Ranieri. The firm sees an opportunity to combine its own knowledge and experience in the mortgage market with Symbiont’s innovations in enterprise blockchain networks.

“When Symbiont was founded, it was my dream and vision to develop decentralized technology solutions that could solve the root problems that were at the heart of the financial crisis,” Symbiont CEO Mark Smith said. “Blockchain and smart contract technology is proving to be that solution.” Smith acknowledged Ranieri’s deep history in and beyond mortgage financing, referring to him as “the genius behind modern securitized markets.” He called the partnership a “once in a lifetime opportunity” for himself and a “seminal moment” for Symbiont.

Ranieri said blockchain technology was an opportunity to modernize a region of the financial world that has not kept up with the rest of the industry. “The mortgage market, despite significant efforts, continues to lag behind from a technological standpoint creating inefficiencies that impact mortgage loans throughout their life cycle,” he said. “By partnering with Symbiont, a proven blockchain pioneer, Ranieri Solutions believes that together we can implement this transformative technology to bring necessary efficiencies, transparency, and security to mortgage markets.”

In addition to putting its blockchain-based smart contract technology to work to the improve mortgage market, Symbiont has demonstrated its effectiveness in a variety of use cases. In December, Symbiont partnered with Vanguard and the Center for Research in Security Prices to use blockchain technology to simplify index data sharing between index providers and market participants. Last summer, the company publicly demonstrated how its Symbiont Assembly platform could be used for private equity issuance, and teamed up with PrivateMarket.io to use its SmartSecurities technology to build an alternative investment marketplace for closed-end funds.

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in New York City, Symbiont participated in our developers conference in New York, FinDEVr 2016. The company’s Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Adam Krellenstein discussed the architecture of Symbiont’s Smart Securities technology in a presentation titled “Distributed Ledgers and Smart Contracts.” Symbiont has raised more than $15 million in funding and includes Celeridem Capital Management and SenaHill Partners among its investors.

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Mambu Launches Digital Marketplace for Cloud-Enabled Banking, Lending Apps

Mambu Launches Digital Marketplace for Cloud-Enabled Banking, Lending Apps
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Mambu

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) banking engine provider Mambu has launched its digital marketplace to offer cloud-enabled apps, products and tools for banking and lending, reports Antony Peyton of FinTech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

Mambu Marketplace offers a choice of global and localized solutions which can be integrated with the SaaS engine. Its offerings are based on an API-driven architecture.

Ben Goldin, Mambu’s head of product and technology, said the launch sets the stage for Mambu’s pre-integration strategy and “that no single vendor can provide market leading components for every module of a digital banking architecture.”

Goldin added that for its partners, the marketplace “provides an opportunity to present their offerings to institutions and influencers with the Mambu engine powering a composable architecture.”

Some of these partners named on the marketplace site include fellow Finovate alums Onfido, nCino, Avoka and Experian.

The marketplace was launched as part of Mambu’s “revamped digital identity” which includes a new look website.

Founded in 2011, the German company’s technology powers over 6,000 loan and deposit products which serve over four million end customers. Mambu has more than 250 live operations in over 46 countries, ranging from fintech firms to banks. With more than $13 million in funding, the company demonstrated its technology at FinovateAsia 2013.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Comarch, DriveWealth, Finastra, Insuritas, Kofax, Micronotes, nCino, Symbiont, Temenos

On Finovate.com

  • DriveWealth Closes $21 Million in Funding.
  • Symbiont Brings the Blockchain to Mortgagetech in New Partnership with Raneiri Partners.
  • Micronotes to Scale AI-Enabled Marketing Platform with $3 Million in Funding.

Around the  web

  • nCino appoints James Peverell as General Manager, EMEA, and Hali Kahn as Regional Vice President.
  • Finastra named a Category Leader in the Chartis Hedge Fund Risk Management Quadrant in the Hedge Fund Risk Management Technology 2018 report.
  • Comarch wins award from the Italy Protection Forum for innovation in digital transformation of insurance companies.
  • Insuritas to power digitally powered insurance agency for Priority Bank.
  • Kofax reports that 50% of top U.S. life insurers leveraging TotalAgility.
  • Temenos tables takeover of Fidessa.
  • FierceCEO features DefenseStorm CEO Sean Feeney.

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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