Author: David Penn

Finovate Alums Larsen, Armstrong, Garlinghouse Among Crypto’s Richest

Finovate Alums Larsen, Armstrong, Garlinghouse Among Crypto’s Richest
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Coinbase, Ripple

Mirror, mirror, on the wall … Who has reeled in the biggest cryptocurrency haul of them all?

Forbes has published its first – and hopefully not last – list of the richest “secretive freaks, geeks, and visionaries” in the world of cryptocurrencies. And on a list that features widely-known tech luminaries like Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (“the Winklevoss Twins”), and Tim Draper, Forbes’ roster of cryptocurrency’s richest also features a handful of Finovate alums including Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse (founder and current CEO of Ripple, respectively), as well as Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase.

Not just that, but by Forbes’ estimation, Chris Larsen is the richest person in cryptocurrency, with an estimated crypto net worth between $7.5 billion and $8 billion. Armstrong comes in at between $900 million and $1 billion in crypto net worth, with Garlinghouse’s crypto net worth estimated between $400 million to $500 million.

Introducing their new roster, Forbes noted that they based their rankings using the “estimated holdings of cryptocurrencies, post-tax profits from trading crypto-assets and stakes in crypto-related businesses” as of January 19, 2018. Additionally, in order to qualify for the list, cryptocurrency investors needed to have holdings valued at at least $350 million.

The publication acknowledges that there may be richer crypto investors out there who were inadvertently overlooked. Additionally, Forbes concedes that its estimated valuations of cryptocurrency investments may be “wide of the mark.” But the editors suggest that the list remains valuable for the same reason its list of the Forbes 400 richest Americans first published in 1982 was of value: by “(making) the world a better place by shining a light on the invisible rich.”

See the full list. In addition to the names and estimated cryptocurrency wealth figures, the Forbes feature shared some additional interesting data on the Kings (and they are all men, by the way) of Crypto. They found, for example, that the average age of cryptocurrency’s richest was 15 years younger than the average age of their Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans (42 years old versus 67). The article also noted the average price change in 2017 of the most common cryptocurrencies (more than 14,000% for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP). The piece also included an interesting comparison of daily price volatility of various assets, with gold at the low end of 0.7%, shares of Apple stock at 1.37%, and XRP topping the list at 16.75%. Whee!

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Doxo, Insuritas, Interactions, NCR Corporation, Revolut, SmartX, TSYS

On Finovate.com

  • TSYS Tech Backs J.P. Morgan’s Commercial Virtual Card Issuance.
  • Finovate Alums Larsen, Garlinghouse, Armstrong Among Crypto’s Richest.
  • NCR Overhauls Self Service Network for Oman’s Bank Dhofar; Expands ATM Access in India.

Around the web

  • Revolut partners with Visa to issue prepaid cards to new customers.
  • Call Centre Helper interviews Mike Iacobucci, Interactions CEO.
  • SMArtX (formerly HedgeCoVest) expands Direct Indexing Platform.
  • doxo surpasses 3 million users and 45,000 payable billers.
  • Army Aviation Center FCU ($1.2 billion in assets) launches member owned full service insurance agency courtesy of Insuritas.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

IdentityMind Global Introduces Anti-Fraud Solution for ICOs

IdentityMind Global Introduces Anti-Fraud Solution for ICOs
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: IdentityMind Global

Trusted digital identities specialist IdentityMind Global is doing its part to make the world better and safer for cryptocurrency and ICO market participants. The company unveiled its KYC Plug-in for ICOs today, a turnkey SaaS product that enables firms to conduct KYC and AML checks on those seeking to invest in ICOs.

“As ICOs become more prevalent, and as money continues to flow into ICOs, regulators globally are starting to take notice,” IdentityMind Global CMO Jose Caldera said. “The regulatory risk, in conjunction with the risk of enabling fraudsters, financing of terrorism, and money launderers should motivate organizations performing ICOs to properly identity the participants in the ICO process. IdentityMind is at the forefront of delivering an easy compliance solution to companies conducting an ICO.”

Left to right: CTO Kieran Sherlock and CMO Jose Caldera during their presentation “Entity Link API” during FinDEVr London 2017.

The plug-in includes a variety of features to ensure companies are able to perform KYC and AML checks. These consist of a web-ready software client to guide the ICO participant through the KYC process, a pre-configured risk-based KYC ruleset based on local regulations, reports for examiners and auditors, a due diligence platform, and the ability to validate the risk of bitcoins used to participate in the ICO.

“By working with IdentityMind, we are assuring that all participants go through KYC and AML processes before partaking in our $500 million Dragon ICO,” founder and CEO of Dragon Corporation, Chris Ahmad said. “This is perhaps the largest ICO to date and by working with IdentityMind we’re able to verify participants on a global basis in a quick and efficient manner.”

IdentityMind Global presented its Entity Link API at FinDEVr London 2017. A component of the company’s RegTech API, Entity Link API provides the analysis and machine intelligence that determines whether the person on the other end of the transaction is a real entity, is authorized to use the data it is presenting, or posses a risk to the corporate brand in some way.

Named to the Global RegTech 100 last fall, IdentityMind Global announced an expansion of its partnership with fellow Finovate/FinDEVr alum Mitek in late January, adding biometric facial comparison technology to its compliance and fraud prevention platform. The company began the year winning a new patent for technology that improves screening for sanctioned individuals making cryptocurrency transactions.

IdentityMind Global has raised more than $10 million in funding, and includes Lakewood & Company, MoneyTime Ventures, and Overstock.com among its investors. Founded in 2013 by Garrett Gafke (President, CEO), IdentityMind Global is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Coupa Software Teams Up with Tuition.io

Coupa Software Teams Up with Tuition.io
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Tuition.io

Tuition.io is on a roll. Less than a week after the company announced a partnership with Estee Lauder to help its employees better manage student loan debt, the Los Angeles, California-based fintech has teamed up with business spend management platform Coupa Software to do the same for its workers.

“Coupa has a long history of championing a people-centered corporate culture, and this is another way to continue their mission of offering best-in-class employee benefits,” Tuition.io CEO Scott Thompson said. “With the student debt crisis continuing to escalate, it is not a matter of if, but when companies will do their share to find solutions. We are excited to work with Coupa as they lead the way.”

The partnership will enable Coupa cmployees who enroll in the program get monthly disbursements to help them pay down the principal in their outstanding student loans. Parents who take out Parent PLUS loans to help fund their children’s higher education can also take advantage of the benefit. All full-time Coupa workers in the U.S. are eligible to participate in the new program.

Pointing to the high number of Americans with student loan debt – estimated at more than 44 million Americans, Coupa VP of People Ray Martinelli praised Tuition.io’s ability to provide “a benefit that helps our employees overcome this burden and start building toward their future sooner rather than later.” Martinelli added that the partnership means that not just employees will get help managing their debt, but also their extended families. “It reinforces our commitment to our employees’ success,” he said.

Trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker “COUP”, Coupa Software’s cloud-based business spend management platform links hundreds of organizations and institutions with millions of suppliers around the world. The company has a market capitalization of $2 billion, and more than 450 customers in more than 40 countries.

Tuition.io demonstrated its platform at FinovateFall 2012. In December, the company announced that it would power a student loan debt reduction benefit for MidWestOne Financial Group’s Educational Assistance Program. Earlier in 2017, the City of Memphis announced that it would use Tuition.io to support student loan debt reduction program for its workers.

In terms of funding, Tuition.io most recently announced a $7 million investment last September led by Wildcat Venture Partners and featuring participation from current investors Mohr Davidow Ventures and MassMutual Ventures. The funding took the company’s total capital to more than $115 million.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Banco Santander to Leverage Ripple Tech to Offer Same Day Mobile International Payments

Banco Santander to Leverage Ripple Tech to Offer Same Day Mobile International Payments
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Ripple

Banco Santander announced that the mobile app it plans to launch in the first quarter of this year will feature instant payments powered by technology from Ripple. The new service will enable customers to make same-day, cross-border payments.  P2P payments, a digital wallet, and PFM functionality will also be part of the app

Using its own internal staff, the Spanish bank has piloted the technology for the past 18 months. The testing involved Apple Pay transactions between £10 and £10,000 and relied on Touch ID to ensure secure logins. Santander said it believes it will be “one of the first global banks to roll out distributed ledger technology based payments for individuals” and expects to initially launch the app in four countries simultaneously (believed to be Spain, Brazil, the U.K., and Poland, see below).

News of the new solution was sleuthed in part by analysts participating in Banco Santander’s 2017 earnings presentation which featured the below slide previewing the firm’s plans for same day mobile international payments in “3 clicks & 40 seconds.”

“The need for finance has evolved from providing a Pound in your pocket or card in your purse, where you pay at a till, to being seamlessly integrated into a new, always on, connected lifestyle,” said a representative of Banco Santander in Coinspeaker last week. “At Santander we work hard to ensure our banking is simple, personal and fair and believe new Blockchain technology will play a transformational role in the way we achieve our goals and better serve our customers, adding value by creating more choice and convenience.”

This news comes just a few months after Santander U.K. announced that it will partner with American Express to use Ripple’s technology for cross-border, B2B payments. Interviewed earlier this year, Head of Technology Innovation at Santander UK, Ed Metzger, praised Ripple’s advantages over SWIFT. “We chose Ripple because of its speed, transparency, and certainty … these three characteristics provide relief to the pain points of international payments.”

Making its Finovate debut as OpenCoin at FinovateSpring 2013, Ripple is based in San Francisco, California and was founded in 2012 by Chris Larsen. Last month, the company launched a trial with MoneyGram that will include leveraging XRP for remittances and the potential integration of Ripple’s xVia, an API that facilitates sending payments across multiple networks using a standard interface.

Ripple introduced its Infrastructure Innovation Initiative in December, an effort to help central banks, regulators, and market infrastructures test and pilot blockchain-based solutions. In October, the company launched a new accelerator program and incentives to encourage banks to become more involved in blockchain technology.

With more than $93 million in funding, Ripple includes Santander Innoventures, SBI Investment, Core Innovation Capital, and IDG Capital Partners among its investors. Brad Garlinghouse was appointed CEO of the company in the fall of 2016.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Ohpen Raises $31 Million to Support Global Expansion

Ohpen Raises $31 Million to Support Global Expansion
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Ohpen

Cloud-based core banking technology innovator Ohpen has just sealed a Series C round led by private equity firm Amerborgh that will bring an additional $31 million (€25 million) in funding to the Amsterdam, Netherlands-based fintech. The company said that the investment will help it prepare for expansion into new markets, including the addition of a third headquarters in Germany, France, Canada, Australia, or the United States. The financing takes Ohpen’s total capital raised to $50 million (€40 million), and adds to a $17 million Series B investment the company secured from Amerborgh in July of last year.

“We’re just scratching the surface,” Ohpen founder and CEO Chris Zadeh said. “Ohpen is changing the core banking software industry, advocating a totally digital solution that is based on one version of the platform for all clients and countries.” He added, “This has never been done before; it requires creativity, commitment and also the necessary capital to implement our vision.”

Calling Ohpen’s core banking technology “the future of the core banking industry,” Amerborgh Nederland MD Michel Vrolijk emphasized the company’s ability to turn ideas into action. Vrolijk said the fintech’s ability to execute was “unparalleled” and added that expansion will be a key next step for the company. “Launching the third country is crucial for Ohpen’s strategy and Amerborgh is thrilled to support them at this decisive point in their growth story.”

Founded in 2009, Ohpen demonstrated its core banking platform at FinovateFall 2012. The company sees itself as part of the solution for financial services companies riddled with outdated legacy banking technology. Its core banking engine provides both BPO services and SaaS solutions to banks, insurance companies, and asset managers.  With more than 150 employees, the company has offices in the Netherlands, the U.K., and Spain.

Last November, Ohpen announced that De Volksbank, a retail and small business bank in the Netherlands had migrated more than 120,000 investment accounts to Ohpen’s platform. This followed a July partnership with multinational financial giant, Aegon through which the two firms will develop a new platform to support “the full scope of Aegon’s services in the Netherlands.”

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

TransferWise to Power Payroll for Crowdfunding Platform Seedrs

TransferWise to Power Payroll for Crowdfunding Platform Seedrs
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: TransferWise

 

One of the challenges of having a global workforce is ensuring that all workers are paid promptly in their local currencies. We learned last week that crowdfunding platform Seedrs has found a solution to this problem in the form of a new partnership with international money transfer innovator and FinovateEurope alum, TransferWise.

TransferWise will process payments for Seedrs at the real exchange rate directly from Reuters using its batch payments tool. This option enables businesses to settle international and domestic payroll with one click, sending up to 1,000 payments at a time directly to payees’ accounts. Businesses benefit from TransferWise’s competitive exchange rates and workers appreciate payments that arrive within 1 to 2 days.

The speed of TransferWise’s international payments was among the reasons why one current client, Travelopo, uses the company’s batch payment tool. Speaking for the company, which formerly transferred millions via a well-known international bank, Travelopo founder and CEO Roger Fenton explained that faster payments and even a small savings in the exchange rate can make a significant difference over time.  “As an international business, we settle invoices in sterling and euro – so the cost can hit us or our supplies,” Fenton said. “With TransferWise, everyone is better off.”

The new partnership with Seedrs comes in the wake of news that TransferWise has opened up its borderless account beyond business users. Launched for business customers in the spring of 2017, TransferWise announced that it would roll out the multi-currency accounts to consumers in the first quarter of this year. As for Seedrs, the crowdfunding firm enters 2018 having recorded what the company called “our most successful year to date” in 2017, earning accolades from the British Small Business Awards as Alternative Finance Platform of the Year, and providing funding to companies like Finovate alum Revolut.

Founded in 2010, London-based TransferWise demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2013. The company raised $280 million in funding back in November in a Series E round led by Old Mutual Global Investors and VC firm IVP. The investment boosted the TransferWise’s total capital to more than $396 million and gave the firm an estimated valuation of $1.6 billion.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Behalf, Blockchain, CapitaWorld ME, Dorsum, Equifax, Personetics, TransferWise, Wealth Migrate

On Finovate.com

  • TransferWise to Power Payroll for Crowdfunding Platform Seedrs.
  • Behalf Lands Equity Funding and Secures $150 Million in Debt Financing.
  • Blockchain Appoints New President and Chief Legal Officer.

Around the web

  • Challenger bank Tandem to leverage Personetics Cognitive Banking Brain to provide personalized financial guidance for customers.
  • Equifax introduces commercial credit data sharing solution for SME lenders.
  • Bluefin Payment Systems partners with EDC Corporation to improve security for credit card transactions.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Xero Announces Partnership with IT Management Solutions Provider Kaseya

Xero Announces Partnership with IT Management Solutions Provider Kaseya
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Xero

Cloud-based accounting platform for small businesses Xero has signed a deal with IT management solutions provider, Kaseya, that will provide direct integration between BMS by Kaseya and Xero. Kaseya’s business management solution supports the back-end operations of managed service providers (MSPs) and mid-market enterprises (MME); the integration will ensure synchronized financial and operational data between both Xero and Kaseya’s platform.

General Manager for Cloud Computing at Kaseya Jim Lippie said, “As the industry’s only next generation PSA (professional services automation), BMS empowers our customers to be more profitable and operationally efficient through easy to access data capture and analysis.” He added that it was critical for PSAs to stay innovative in order to avoid what he called “the problems inherent in first-generation PSA solutions,” and pointed to Kaseya’s new relationship with Xero.

“Our latest partnership with Xero provides an added layer of financial intelligence that can be leveraged within BMS’ single pane of glass,” Lippie said. “This powerful integration saves our MSPs countless hours of admin and back office time.” Specifically, MSPs will be able to see client information such as invoice history, payment status, credit status, and products and services purchased in one location. Accounting departments benefit from seamless synchronization of operational data such as tickets and time tracking.

This week’s partnership news is accompanied by an announcement that Xero has opened its “newest and largest global office” in Wellington, New Zealand. The new HQ now supports more than 650 Xero staffers who were previously working in three separate locations around the city.

Founded in 2006, Xero demonstrated the Business Identification feature of its cloud-based accounting platform at FinovateSpring 2011. The company also participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2014, presenting “Building an API-Driven Ecosystem for Small Business.”

The partnership with Kaseya is Xero’s second of 2018. The company announced an agreement with DBS (the Development Bank of Singapore) in January, which will give the bank’s small business customers the ability to have their transactions automatically imported to their Xero accounts. Last fall, Xero was named to KPMG/H2 Ventures’ Fintech 100, and teamed up with Worldpay to simplify invoicing for small businesses.

With more than 1 million subscribers, Xero’s technology integrates with more than 600 business apps. The publicly-traded company has a market capitalization of $3.4 billion ($4.7 billion NZD) and is currently trading on both the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges under the ticker symbol “XRO.”  Xero is planning to transition to a sole listing on the Australian exchange later this year.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fintech News from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

Fintech News from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateMiddleEast 2018

Designed by Freepik

As Finovate prepares for its first conference in the Middle East, here’s a round up of recent fintech news and need-to-knows from the MENA region. Learn more about how to join us in Dubai in February for FinovateMiddleEast.

  • Cryptocurrency exchange BitOasis to add Ripple to its platform.
  • Gulf Business interviews Dubai Chamber president and CEO Hamad Buamim on the importance of developing a culture of innovation.
  • Saudi Arabia’s mada payment system chooses FIME to develop bespoke cloud-based testing platform and certification process.

MENA Fintech Fact UAE startups received 70% of all investment amounts in 2017, with Saudi Arabia seeing the biggest pick up in investments, a gain of 4%. The two most active VC firms in 2017 were 500 Startups and Middle East Venture Partners.

  • Dubai-based IBC Group-owned Acumen Advertising to now accept payment in digital currency.
  • Tehran Stock Exchange to reduce settlement cycle to T+2 from three business days.
  • Bahrain Fintech Bay (BFB) and Fintech Consortium (FTC) team up with U.S.-based fintech RobustWealth to provide robo advisory services.

Thought Leadership – Challenges, Successes and Opportunities of Financial Inclusion in MENA – A Webinar on Fintech in the Middle East with Hans Henrik Christensen (CEO, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority) and Devie Mohan (CEO, Burnmark). Thursday, February 8.

  • Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research (Baseera) reports value of financial transactions via Fawry electronic payment network in Egypt grew to EGP 25 billion ($1.4 billion USD) in 2017.
  • Luxury retailer Al Tayer Insignia announces acceptance of mobile payment platform, Alipay, at select outlets.
  • Forbes presents its list of the Top 100 Startups in the Arab World for 2017.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Personetics Powers New Intelligent Financial Assistant Didi from Israel Discount Bank

Personetics Powers New Intelligent Financial Assistant Didi from Israel Discount Bank
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Personetics

Israel Discount Bank is jumping on the intelligent assistant bandwagon. This week, the bank launched its new digital financial assistant, Didi –  a solution powered by Personetics‘ Cognitive Banking Brain.

“Utilizing advanced AI capabilities to provide personalized and proactive guidance is quickly becoming a must-have for financial institutions that want to increase customer engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty,” Personetics co-founder and CEO David Sosna said. “While digital banking assistants are gaining popularity, the ones that will stand out will be those that deliver smart interactions based on true understanding of each customer’s financial behavior and needs.”

Digital banking assistants may offer efficient customer service, but the key to higher engagement lies in the ability to offer insight and guidance that is both personalized and proactive. Didi, which will be available for free to all Discount Bank customers via the mobile app, leverages Personetics’ Cognitive Banking Brain, which analyzes specific transactions to spot spending issues or opportunities for greater saving.

“Proactively providing insight and advice, Didi is always one step ahead, empowering customers to be more efficient and effective in managing their money,” Head of Technologies & Operations division at Discount Bank, Levi Halevi, said. In addition to delivering AI-powered personalized insights and guidance, the technology also features “hundreds of pre-built insights” which, in addition to being market-tested by banks around the world, will help Discount Bank roll out the technology that much more quickly.

At FinovateFall 2016, CEO Sosna and Solution Architect Sudharshan Krishnan demonstrated Personetics Anywhere, a chatbot solution for financial services providers that works across most common messaging platforms. Last fall the company launched a new service, Personetics Act, designed to give banks a new way to help customers repay their student loans ahead of schedule. Also last fall, Royal Bank Canada announced that it was leveraging the company’s technology to deliver two new services – AI-powered finance guidance and an automated savings program – through its mobile app.

Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, Personetics was featured in our look at fintech innovation in Israel. The company has raised $18 million in funding and includes Lightspeed Venture Partners, Viola Ventures and Sequoia Capital among its investors.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fenergo Forges Strategic Partnership with Arachnys

Fenergo Forges Strategic Partnership with Arachnys
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Fenergo

Client lifecycle management technology specialist Fenergo announced a strategic partnership with another regtech innovator, Arachnys, this week. The agreement will integrate Arachnys’ due diligence research and management solution within Fenergo’s end-to-end on boarding workflow. The combination of Arachnys search, audit trail, and reporting functionality with Fenergo’s regulatory rules and risk scoring engine will give FIs a comprehensive KYC and CLM solution. Investment, corporate, and private banks alike will benefit from an integrated audit trail, automated periodic review, and accelerated on boarding and compliance for businesses.

Fenergo CEO Marc Murphy called partnerships like this “key” to his company’s ability to expand and better serve its clients. Adding that “our community is seeking to deploy new technologies for automating regulatory compliance,” Murphy praised Arachnys’s use of robotics for investigative processes in particular as “cutting edge.”

“We are delighted to partner with Fenergo to improve the visibility and tracking of due diligence processes across the customer risk lifecycle, eliminating the need to work across multiple systems,” said Arachnys president Ed Sander. “The harmony between Fenergo’s rules engine and Arachnys’s search, audit trail and reporting techniques will convert compliance into an accelerator for top line revenue.”

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Fenergo demonstrated its Deal Manager client on boarding and account opening solution at FinovateEurope 2012. More recently, the company partnered with BNP Paribas to deploy its Client Lifecycle Management solution, and teamed up with compliance and risk management solutions provider Opus to improve integration of risk relevant data in the KYC process. In December, the company was recognized by Chartis RiskTech100 as the only CLM provider in the top 40 of the world’s major risk and compliance technology companies.

Fenergo has raised more than $80 million in funding. The company includes Ulster Bank Diageo Venture Fund, Aquiline Capital Partners, Insight Venture Partners, and Investec among its investors.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook