Author: David Penn

Baker Hill Forges Partnerships with Allied Solutions, Experian

Baker Hill Forges Partnerships with Allied Solutions, Experian
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Baker Hill, Experian

With a pair of newly-announced deals, Baker Hill continues to deliver what company President and CEO John M. Deignan called “the cutting-edge technology and comprehensive analytical intelligence our clients need to compete and win in today’s lending environment.”

Baker Hill has partnered with Allied Solutions, which will refer Baker Hill’s suite of loan origination, risk management and business intelligence solutions to its FI clients. The partnership will also give Allied Solution’s 4,000 clients access to Baker Hill NextGen, the company’s cloud-based, end-to-end loan origination, portfolio risk management and decision support system. “Baker Hill’s platform is designed to accommodate the growing needs of financial institutions, and their consumers, by providing critical business insight and streamlined service,” Allied Solutions CMO Dave Underdale said. “(This is) something that can only empower financial institutions as they continue to grow and evolve their businesses.”

The company has also teamed up with Experian to give its clients access to Experian’s business credit services. Deignan said the partnership would leverage both companies’ strengths with regards to “mitigat(ing) credit risk while enhancing profitability.” Experian Business Information Services President Hiq Lee highlighted FIs’ growing reliance on data and predictive analysis, praising the agreement as a way to “ensure their clients receive comprehensive, third-party-verified information on 99.9% of all U.S. companies.”

Baker Hill serves nearly 600 FIs, including 20% of the top 100 banks and top 25 credit unions. Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Carmel, Indiana, the company demoed Baker Hill NextGen at FinovateSpring 2017. In September, the company teamed up with BOLTS Technologies to offer a streamlined account opening solution for FIs. The same month, Baker Hill announced that Kentucky-based People’s Bank and Trust would use its NextGen Statement Spreading to enhance its underwriting process.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Safe Spaces: The Best of the Authenticators, Verifiers, and Fraud Fighters

Safe Spaces: The Best of the Authenticators, Verifiers, and Fraud Fighters
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AnchorID, BehavioSec, BillGuard, Dashlane, EyeVerify, IDscan Biometrics, Jumio, SecureKey, Silver Tail Systems, SpeechPro, Toopher, Trusona, Zoloz

Left to right: A representative from Alipay joins Tinna Hung, Director of Marketing for EyeVerify during a demonstration of Eyeprint ID at FinovateAsia 2016.

This month we’re highlighting the issue of security in fintech. Our first installment was our interview with ENVEIL CEO Ellison Anne Williams.

Today we use the lens of our Best of Show awards to take a look at companies innovating in the security space for financial services companies and institutions. Three security companies have won Best of Show awards in more than one conference. Biometric specialists EyeVerify and BehavioSec have both earned Best of Show trophies on three separate occasions. Interestingly, both companies won one of their Best of Show awards at FinovateAsia; BehavioSec in Singapore, EyeVerify in Hong Kong. (Speaking of FinovateAsia, remember that Finovate returns to the Far East November 7 & 8.)

Earning two Best of Show awards was Silver Tail Systems (now a part of RSA, the security division of EMC, which acquired the company in 2012). Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Menlo Park, company was a pioneer in leveraging real-time behavior analysis to spot and stop business logic abuse on financial institution websites.

BehavioSec CEO Neil Costigan demonstrating BehavioWeb and BehavioMobile at FinovateEurope 2014.

EyeVerify, which was acquired by Ant Financial last fall, announced in August that it was rebranding as Zoloz. In a blog post at the company’s website, CEO Toby Rush said the new company would be focused on providing a hosted identity platform geared toward the Asian market. “Underserved and underbanked consumers in this region are moving to mobile so quickly that they have leapfrogged biometrics adoption and identity services in other geographies,” Rush wrote. “The platform is centered around the idea that I am me, my phone should just know me, and my apps and services should know me – automatically, conveniently, and securely,” he explained.

Zoloz is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, and was founded in 2012. The company most recently demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2017.

BehavioSec, the behavioral biometric innovator, forged a partnership with Gemalto earlier this summer, to provide end-user verification and identity solutions as FIs increasingly embrace digital technologies. “Removing bottlenecks to achieve full digitization of a business goes hand-in-hand with conquering online fraud, through a layered an collaborative approach,” Costigan said. In May, BehavioSec teamed up with fellow Finovate alum Kount, integrating its behavioral biometric technology with Kount’s fraud management platform. A partnership with Appdome this spring produced AppFusion for BehavioSec, a solution that makes it easier for app developers to add behavior-based biometric authentication to their mobile apps.

Based in Stockholm, Sweden, BehavioSec was founded in 2009. The three-time Best of Show winner most recently demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2015.

Making it on the Finovate stage as a security solutions provider is one challenge. Taking home a Best of Show trophy as a company dedicated to helping stop fraudulent transactions, prevent unauthorized access, and create truly “safe spaces” in a connected world is quite another. Here is the full list of security companies that have won Best of Show awards at Finovate conferences.

FinovateFall 2017

FinovateSpring 2017

FinovateAsia 2016

FinovateFall 2016

FinovateEurope 2016

FinovateEurope 2015

FinovateFall 2014

FinovateSpring 2014

FinovateEurope 2014

FinovateAsia 2013

FinovateFall 2012

FinovateSpring 2012

FinovateFall 2011

FinovateFall 2010

Finovate 2009

FinovateStartup 2009

  • Silver Tail Systems (demo)

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, additiv, Baker Hill, Bill.com, Call Levels, Experian, Fenergo, nCino, NuData Security, Ondot Systems, Pendo Systems, Ripple, SocietyOne, Thomson Reuters, Xceptor

On Finovate.com

  • Bill.com Discloses September Investment Round, Doubles Total Funding.
  • SocietyOne Tops $350 Million in Loans.
  • Baker Hill Forges Partnerships with Allied Solutions, Experian.
  • Safe Spaces: The Best of the Authenticators, Verifiers, and Fraud Fighters.

Around the web

  • Fenergo announces partnership with four of Australia’s top five banks.
  • ACI Worldwide launches UP Real-Time Payments Solution.
  • Credit Agricole and TransferGo join Ripple’s blockchain network, boosting membership to more than 100 institutions.
  • Thomson Reuters unveils Fixed Income Callouts, a trading app for African bond markets.
  • Ondot Systems to provide two-way fraud alerts for debit cards processed by payments provider, Elan Financial.
  • Pendo Systems adds 25-year banking veteran Bill Woodley as a non-executive director.
  • Megabuyte initiates coverage of Xceptor with “superior” rating.
  • nCino enhances Treasury Management Sales and Onboarding Solution for greater flexibility, configurability and speed.
  • NuData picks up leader award from Javelin Strategy and Research.

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

NYMBUS Launches Digital-First Banking Platform, NYMBUS SmartDigital

NYMBUS Launches Digital-First Banking Platform, NYMBUS SmartDigital
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: NYMBUS

With the release of NYMBUS SmartDigital last week, the core banking innovator has made it that much easier for financial institutions to go digital. “With the addition of SmartDigital,” NYMBUS president David Mitchell said, “financial institutions currently running obsolete technologies now have the ability to add a next-generation digital product suite.”

SmartDigital’s open architecture and flexible APIs enable FIs to readily integrate with third-party applications. With customer expectations increasingly driven by their UX with platforms like Facebook, Google, and Apple, NYMBUS’ digital-first banking solution will help FIs compete with both their rival FIs and fintechs. “The scale of digital disruption is unprecedented and digitalization is no longer an option for the banking industry,” Mitchell said. “It’s inevitable and a matter of survival.”

The launch of SmartDigital could also encourage wider adoption of NYMBUS’ flagship technology, its core banking platform, SmartCore.  Transition to SmartCore from SmartDigital is a seamless “turn(ing) on” of the core platform according to Mitchell, who stressed the importance of banks moving away from outdated systems. “We want all financial institutions that have been held hostage on their legacy technology to be able to upgrade and enhance their digital offerings now,” he said. The platform is live with more than 37 FIs around the world with more than 10 million daily end users.

Founded in 2015, NYMBUS demonstrated its core banking platform at FinovateSpring 2016. The Miami Beach, Florida-based company is also a veteran of our developer’s conference, having presented “NYMBUS: The Next Evolution of Core Processing” at FinDEVr New York 2016. NYBMUS has raised $28 million in total funding, including a $16 million venture round in February led by Home Credit Group.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

ABN Amro’s New10 Chooses Mambu to Power SME Lending

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Mambu

New10, ABN Amro’s newly launched fintech firm, has selected Mambu’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) engine to power a range of SME lending products in the Netherlands, reports Antony Peyton of Banking Technology (Finovate’s sister publication).

Like many start-ups, speed is part of the sales pitch, and New10 said it aims to provide credit decisions for SMEs within 15 minutes and offers a fully digital application process. In fact, ABN Amro pointed out that New10 went from concept to launch within ten months. Perhaps that’s why it’s called New10 and not New15.

Mark Schröder, co-founder and commercial director of New10, said it combines “the best of two worlds – the characteristics of a fintech with ABN Amro’s financial knowledge and resources”.

Jaap Boersma, CTO of New10, added that Mambu was selected as it offers “scalability, flexibility and speed to market at a fraction of the cost of traditional core systems”.

According to Mambu, it took a collaborative approach working with the New10 team in order to complete implementation within four months. In a “highly regulated environment”, Mambu’s partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which has received Dutch regulatory approval, “helped smooth the path to market”.

Mambu was launched in 2011, and says its technology powers over 5,000 loan and deposit products for over four million end customers. It has 180 live operations in 45 countries, ranging from fintech firms to “traditional banks”. The company demonstrated its native, cloud-based, SaaS banking technology at FinovateAsia 2013 in Singapore.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Aviva Acquires Majority Stake in U.K. Online Wealth Management Specialist, Wealthify

Aviva Acquires Majority Stake in U.K. Online Wealth Management Specialist, Wealthify
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Mergers & Acquisitions, Wealthify

U.K.-based insurer Aviva is the latest financial services company to turn to fintech in general and online investment services in specific in order to provide greater value for its customers. The firm announced today that it had acquired a majority stake in robo advisor, Wealthify. And while terms were not disclosed, the company was valued at ÂŁ9.7 million in the wake of recent ÂŁ1 million crowdfunding campaign.

Writing at the Wealthify blog, company CEO and founder Richard Theo called the acquisition “a huge vote of confidence” in both Wealthify’s vision to make investing more democratic, as well as, “the way we have delivered that vision.” Theo said the move affirmed the company’s place as a significant disruptor in the wealth management space, and takes Aviva closer to being a “one-stop-shop for all their customers’ insurance, pension, and investment needs.”

Left to right: Wealthify founder and CEO Richard Theo and Chief Investment Officer Michelle Pearce demonstrating the company’s online investing service.

Theo added that the investment will enable the company to pursue its “ambitious customer acquisition targets” as well as support new products, particularly JISA and SIPPs. Wealthify also plans to add talent to its team, and will take on a trio of non-executive directors from Aviva. The company will remain headquartered in Cardiff, Theo noted with pride, referencing both Wealthify’s Welsh roots and the promise of the growing financial services community in and around Cardiff.

Managing director of Aviva U.K. Digital Blair Turnbull praised Wealthify’s platform, which will be integrated into Aviva’s digital hub, MyAviva. Turnbull called the technology “remarkably easy to use” and underscored its appeal to both traditional cash savers and millennial investors. Aviva is the biggest general insurance provider in the U.K., and a leading life and pensions provider. The firm serves 33 million customers in 16 markets around the world.

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Cardiff, U.K., Wealthify demonstrated its platform at FinovateEurope 2017. With as little as ÂŁ 1, users can use the platform to save for specific financial goals, create a monthly investment installment plan, set an investment time horizon, and articulate a personalize risk profile – all of which guide the way the platform chooses potential investments. The platform gives users a “predicted value” of their portfolio and the ability to see the actual plan summary of asset class allocations, fees, and more. Wealthify has more than 1,800 registered users.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

HooYu to Provide ID Confirmation for UK’s Cars-as-a-Service easyCar Club

HooYu to Provide ID Confirmation for UK’s Cars-as-a-Service easyCar Club
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: HooYu

 

ID confirmation specialist HooYu announced a new partnership this week. The London-based fintech has teamed up with easyCar Club to provide identification verification for the 100,000-member P2P car hire marketplace.

“Our partnership with easyCar Club helps all parties in the equation to transact confidently,” HooYu Director of Marketing David Pope explained in a statement. “Insurers have the comfort that they know who is renting vehicles, easyCar Club are able to grow user numbers confidently and new users can enter the world of peer-to-peer marketplaces secure in the knowledge that they know who they are dealing with,” Pope said.

HooYu Director of Marketing David Pope demonstrating the company’s ID confirmation platform at FinovateEurope 2017.

“HooYu helps us add another layer of trust and safety to our marketplace giving our vehicle owners additional confidence in knowing that we proactively verify the identity of our users,” easyCar Club Product Manager Jin Ng said. easyCar Club leverages the growing popularity of the sharing economy to offer Cars-as-a-Service (CaaS) as a revenue opportunity for car owners and a convenience for people who only need cars on a short-term basis. Car owners earn an average of more than $1,900 (ÂŁ1,500) a year lending their vehicles out and the company says its platform has facilitated “tens of thousands of rentals.”

HooYu cross-references and analyzes data from digital footprints in order to provide identity confirmation. The platform also uses a biometric face check, as well as data extraction and verification of the ID document itself to confirm real-world identity.

Founded in 2016 and based in London, U.K., HooYu demonstrated its platform at FinovateEurope 2017. In August, the company announced a partnership with BCRemit, an online money transfer platform based in the U.K., that will help the firm accelerate its customer onboarding process. Earlier this year, HooYu reported that it would bring its ID confirmation technology to the equity crowdfunding platform, Vestabyte.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

More than $1 Billion Raised by 31 Alums in Q3 2017

More than $1 Billion Raised by 31 Alums in Q3 2017
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings

Designed by Freepik

*Update: 10/10/2017. Bill.com disclosed today the amount of its September funding at $100 million. This takes our September 2017 funding total to more than $187 million, and puts Bill.com in our “top ten” fundings for the quarter, as well. The total raised for Q3 2017 now stands at $1.13 billion.

In reeling in more than $1 billion in funding over the months of July, August, and September, Finovate alums in the third quarter of 2017 raised more than twice as much in equity capital compared to Q3 2016. This happened with the number of alums funded in both Q3 2015 and Q3 2016 – 31 versus 30 – being virtually the same. In this regard, the third quarter of this year was even more impressive than the $1 billion raised by 40 alums in 2015. For all the concerns over the slow start to funding this year, it appears the world’s fintech investors are more than making up for lost time.

Previous Quarterly Comparisons

  • Q3 2016: $500 million raised by 30 alums
  • Q3 2015: $1 billion raised by 40 alums
  • Q3 2014: $194 million raised by 17 alums

The biggest deals of the third quarter this year were the $250 million raised by Kabbage and the $225 million raised by Klarna. Also impressive were the pair of $100 million fundraisings by Blend and Coinbase, as well as the $70 million investment in Betterment that edges the company that much closer to unicorn status. The top 10 equity investments totaled more than $922 million or more than 89% of the quarter’s total alum funding.

Top 10 Equity Investments (equity only)

  1. Kabbage: $250 million
  2. Klarna: $225 million
  3. Blend: $100 million
  4. Coinbase: $100 million
  5. Betterment: $70 million
  6. Prosper: $50 million
  7. Juvo: $40 million
  8. Personal Capital: $40 million
  9. Stockpile: $30 million
  10. Karmic Labs: $17.2 million

Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q3 2017.

July 2017: More than $374 million raised by 15 alums

August 2017: More than $570 million raised by 10 alums

September 2017: More than $187 million raised by six alums

If you are a Finovate/FinDEVr alum that raised money in the third quarter of 2017, and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at [email protected]. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Heckyl Technologies

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Heckyl Technologies
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2017, FinovateAsia 2017 Sneak Peek, Heckyl Technologies

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on November 7 and 8 in Hong Kong. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

Heckyl Technologies is in the space of real-time analytics of structured and unstructured data. Its news and sentiment analysis product helps companies through the reduction of the information arbitrage.

Features

  • Aggregation of data from thousands of sources to cover all asset classes: equities, FX, commodities, etc.
  • Deep-dive news and sentiment analytics
  • Real-time actionable intelligence

Why it’s great
A scalable product with a global appeal that performs the real-time analytics of structured and unstructured data.

Presenters

Mukund Mudras, Co-Founder
Mudras has 18+ years of techno-commercial and techno-functional experience. Responsible for overall strategy, sales and marketing, client relationship, and delivery management.
LinkedIn

Anand Vaidya, VP of Sales
Vaidya is an experienced VP of Sales with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. Vaidya is skilled in sales, business development, capital markets, equity research, and financial modeling.
LinkedIn

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Moven Enterprise

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Moven Enterprise
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2017, FinovateAsia 2017 Sneak Peek, Moven

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on November 7 and 8 in Hong Kong. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

Moven is transforming the financial experience. The company does this by bringing value to your customers in real-time and driving positive measurable business outcomes for your bank: a true win-win situation.

Features
At FinovateAsia 2017, Moven Enterprise is very excited to demonstrate the increased capabilities of its recently launched Wishlist functionality, in addition to unveiling an all-new credit feature.

Why it’s great
The Moven platform offers a range of innovative, behavior-based features that help banks improve their customers’ financial experience and develop deeper, more trusted customer relationships.

Presenters

Andrew Clark, VP APAC
Clark has spent over 20 years in financial services in a variety of leadership positions across all financial services domains. He cannot wait to share the latest from Moven at FinovateAsia 2017.
LinkedIn

 

Taylor May Woolsey, Business Development and Marketing
Woolsey is on a mission to make an impact on financial services and to promote financial wellness around the world. Like Andrew, she is excited to share the Moven story at FinovateAsia 2017.
LinkedIn

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Bambu

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Bambu
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Bambu, FinovateAsia 2017, FinovateAsia 2017 Sneak Peek

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on November 7 and 8 in Hong Kong. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

Bambu is a B2B robo advisory software firm that offers financial and non-financial companies the ability to integrate and benefit from the shift in digital wealth.

Features

  • Statistically augmented data ready for every company size
  • Recommends life goals based on similar spending and saving habits
  • Automated financial planning under 30 seconds

Why it’s great
People Like Me is the perfect plug-in solution for users seeking financial guidance based on their current age and situation.

Presenters

Ned Phillips, Founder & CEO
Former managing director and now an entrepreneur, Phillips has been based in Asia for the past 25 years and started his fintech journey in 1999 with E*TRADE as one of their very first brokers.
LinkedIn

 

Aki Ranin, C0-Founder & CEO
A technology industry veteran and former software developer, Ranin is a recognized authority in fintech and an accomplished technology executive with a highly technical background.
LinkedIn

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Solus

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Solus
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2017, FinovateAsia 2017 Sneak Peek, Solus

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on November 7 and 8 in Hong Kong. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

Solus is an adaptive, next-generation, multi-factor authentication platform that utilizes biometrics and machine-learning behavioral tools to detect and predict fraudulent behavior.

Features

  • Agile platform allowing biometric and behavioral tools to be incorporated easily and cost-effectively at enterprise and individual level.
  • Futuristic machine-learning capabilities
  • No hardware requirements

Why it’s great
Solus is the only adaptive platform in the market today that allows clients to customize their multi-factor authentication requirements at enterprise and individual levels.

Presenters
Matthew Ainscow, CEO
LinkedIn

 

 

Lee Macdonald, Chief Strategy Officer
LinkedIn

 

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook