Author: David Penn

Start Your Hong Kong Fintech Week with FinovateAsia 2016

Start Your Hong Kong Fintech Week with FinovateAsia 2016
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2016

finovateasia2013_attendees

The Finovate team has arrived in Hong Kong in preparation for FinovateAsia 2016 this Tuesday, 8 Nov. And we’re looking forward to a full day of live demonstrations of some of the most compelling innovations in fintech. Tickets are still available and we hope to see you here at PMQ on Tuesday as our 35 presenting companies demo their technologies live on stage.

This year, we are especially excited to be a part of InvestHK’s Hong Kong Fintech Week, which features discussions and presentations on the blockchain, the rise of regtech, as well as a hackathon and ample opportunities for networking among attendees. It’s a great setting for professionals from every corner of the fintech world, and we hope you’ll be on hand to be a part of it.

FA2016-V1rev

So for everyone who’s making plans to be with us in Hong Kong on Tuesday, here are a few tips and reminders to help you make the most of your FinovateAsia experience:

  • When: Tuesday, 8 November 2016
  • Why: To introduce the latest fintech innovations developed by 35 companies from countries including Singapore, Switzerland, Canada, India, Australia, Spain, Korea, United Kingdom, Taiwan, Japan, and Israel, as well as Hong Kong and the United States.
  • How: With our unique, 7-minute demo-only format and networking opportunities both during and after the conference, FinovateAsia is designed to enable our presenters to show their technologies live before a professional audience. At the same time, our agenda ensures that our attendees have every opportunity to meet, ask questions, and network with our demoing companies.

Whether you will be here in Hong Kong joining us or following all the action from afar, you can catch every demo of the event by following our Live Twitter feed @Finovate. We’ll share pictures from the stage, information on the presenters, and interesting background on the demoing companies. And if you want to take to Twitter to share your own insights and ideas about the technologies on stage, please be sure to add #Finovate to your tweets to make them easier for everyone to see.

We’re happy to answer any questions you might have about FinovateAsia. Check out our responses to some of the most common queries in our FinovateAsia FAQ. For more, feel free to email us your question at asia@finovate.com.

FinovateAsia 2016 is sponsored by: DBS Bank (Hong Kong), InvestHK/Hong Kong Fintech Week, and KPMG.

FinovateAsia 2016 is partners with: Aite Group, The Asian Banker, BankersHub, Banking Technology, BeFast.tv, Big Data Made Simple, Byte Academy, Celent, CoinTelegraph, CrowdFundBeat, Cyberport, FemTechLeaders, Finolab, Fintech Finance, Fintech News Singapore, The Fintech Times, Harrington Starr, Hong Kong Economic Times, The Hong Kong Foreign Financial Institutions Association, IDC Financial Insights, Korea FinTech Forum, Miss FQ, SME Finance Forum, Swiss Finance + Technology Association, and Verdict Financial.

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Entersekt Brings Biometric Authentication to FirstBank’s Mobile App

Entersekt Brings Biometric Authentication to FirstBank’s Mobile App
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Entersekt, Security & Privacy

entersekt_homepage_november2016

When it comes to mobile banking, the only thing more important than providing customers with a first-rate app is making sure that it has first-rate security as well.

To this end, FirstBank—with more than $15 billion in assets and more than 120 locations in Colorado, Arizona, and California—has selected biometric authentication technology from FinDEVr alum Entersekt to provide security for its iOS mobile banking app. In deploying Entersekt’s Transakt solution, FirstBank will give its mobile banking customers the ability to use Touch ID to authenticate as well as Transakt’s unique digital certificate identifier which the company says turns the mobile device “into a trusted second factor of authentication.”

firstbank_homepage_november2016

Launched in 2014, FirstBank’s mobile banking app has been “incredibly well received” by customers, says bank COO Jim Reuter. “Adding one-touch authentication will further enhance what is already one of the most progressive, easy-to-use mobile banking technologies on the market.” FirstBank plans to add biometric authentication functionality to its Android-based mobile app soon.

“The security benefits are obvious to everyone,” Entersekt CIO Gerhard Oosthuizen explained, “but users are justifiably wary of tired authentication technologies like one-time passwords that slow them down and do not necessarily provide the required protection, particularly on mobile.” Oosthuizen sees his company’s technology as a way for “digital-savvier banks” to gain a valuable edge over their competitors “by engineering attractively low-friction mobile interactions that nevertheless inspire confidence and trust.”

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Stellenbosch, South Africa, Entersekt demonstrated its transaction authentication and mobile app security solutions at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2014 as part of its presentation, “Securing Mobile Applications through Transport Layer Diversity.” In September, Entersekt announced a new reseller agreement with Minneapolis-based security firm, Blue Bay Technologies. And in August, Entersekt forged a partnership with Finovate alum Backbase that will make Entersekt’s authentication solutions available via Backbase’s Open Banking Marketplace.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BioCatch, Neustar, Xendpay

Around the web

  • New Xendpay Business services provides SMEs with”pay what you want” option for international money-transfer fees.
  • BioCatch upgrades behavioral biometrics offering to enhance online and mobile performance in the enterprise.
  • Neustar unveils Fraud Detection Solutions product to help integrate multiple identify-verification ecosystems.

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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Live Safe and Prosper: The Themes of FinovateAsia 2016

Live Safe and Prosper: The Themes of FinovateAsia 2016
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2016

fa2016themesnew001-2

Let there be no doubt as to trends driving fintech innovation. Providing greater security and encouraging better financial health—if not prosperity—are among the major organizing principles for fintech innovators around the world. And this is especially true for those CEOs bringing their teams to demo at FinovateAsia 2016 next week.

FA2016-V1revThere’s still time to pick up your ticket. Join us in Hong Kong, on 8 November for our day-long exploration of tomorrow’s financial technology today. See live demonstrations of next-generation biometric authentication solutions, and aggregation tools that bring better data to bear on everything from e-commerce and credit decisioning to investment planning and wealth management. After demos are done, we’ve set aside time to make it easy to meet and network with our presenting companies, your fellow attendees, and other industry professionals.

FinovateAsia 2016 will feature 35 companies on stage at PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central, Hong Kong. Learn more about the demoing companies in our Sneak Peek series, and be sure to visit our FinovateAsia FAQ page for further information about the companies and the event. You can also email us your questions at asia@finovate.com. See you in Hong Kong on November 8th!

FinovateAsia 2016 is sponsored by: DBS Bank (Hong Kong), InvestHK/Hong Kong Fintech Week, and KPMG.

FinovateAsia 2016 is partners with: Aite Group, The Asian Banker, BankersHub, Banking Technology, BeFast.tv, Big Data Made Simple, Byte Academy, Celent, CoinTelegraph, CrowdFundBeat, Cyberport, FemTechLeaders, Finolab, Fintech Finance, Fintech News Singapore, The Fintech Times, Harrington Starr, Hong Kong Economic Times, The Hong Kong Foreign Financial Institutions Association, IDC Financial Insights, Korea FinTech Forum, Miss FQ, SME Finance Forum, Swiss Finance + Technology Association, and Verdict Financial.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Algomi, Avoka, Boku, Fiserv, Overbond, Thomson Reuters, Yoyo

On Finovate.com

  • Live Safe and Prosper: The Themes of FinovateAsia 2016

Around the web

  • Algomi partners with Euronext to develop corporate bond trading network.
  • Fiserv adds SAS endpoint protection from CrowdStrike to its cyber security suite.
  • Top U.K. mobile wallet Yoyo picked by Caffé Nero for its mobile payment and loyalty rewards program.
  • Avoka unveils new analytics module, Transact Insights, to support digital account opening.
  • New partnership with Swisscom enables Boku to provide carrier biting for users of Spotify.
  • Overbond integrates fixed-income market-data from Thomson Reuters.

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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Strategic Insight Buys BrightScope for Reported $35+ Million

Strategic Insight Buys BrightScope for Reported $35+ Million
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BrightScope, Mergers & Acquisitions

brightscope_homepage_november2016

Financial information and technology company BrightScope, one of our earliest alums, has been acquired by data and business intelligence provider, Strategic Insight. Terms of the deal were not immediately available. But RIABiz reports that the acquisition was financed by Genstar Capital and notes “outside sources peg the deal at $35 to $40 million.” Commenting on the news, Strategic Insight CEO Joel Mandelbaum said, “BrightScope is well known for its unique retirement data and its technology innovation. We are excited by the opportunity to add retirement data to our portfolio and accelerate our commitment to the asset-management industry.”

The acquisition comes in the wake of a pair of other recent pickups for Strategic Insight, Market Metrics and Matrix Solutions. Both deals were designed to add to the company’s access to investment data and to be able to get that data to its clients efficiently and quickly. Interestingly, BrightScope’s attempt to acquire Market Metrics earlier this year was thwarted by Strategic Insight’s parent company, Asset International, which picked up the company for $165 million.

In addition to its four divisions—SI Data, SI Research, SI Intelligence, and SI Interactive—Strategic Insight produces a set of investment/asset management-related publications including, PLANSPONSOR, PLANADVISER, Chief Investment Officer, Global Custodian, and The Trade. Strategic Insight was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Boston, San Francisco, Samford, Connecticut, as well as around the world, including the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada. The firm has more than 250 U.S. FIs as clients including Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab, Nomura, TIAA-CREF, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

BrightScope co-founder Mike Alfred noted that the acquisition comes at a time of “tremendous change” in the financial services business, and said working with Strategic Insight “will give us the platform and products to meet the evolving needs of our customers.” This point was echoed by RIABiz, which noted in its reporting that changing investment styles and new regulations are forcing many asset-management-related firms to re-evaluate the way they do business. “We see all the changes coming, like the move to passive investing and the new DOL rules,” Alfred told RIABiz. “We knew we had to get bigger or not be in the business,” he said.

Founded in 2008 by brothers Mike and Ryan Alfred, and headquartered in San Diego, California, BrightScope demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2009. Prior to its acquisition by Strategic Insight, the company had raised $6 million in funding from investors including Steelpoint Capital Partners.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, CardFlight, Fiserv, iSignthis, Ixaris, Thomson Reuters

On Finovate.com

  • FinDEVr Flashbacks: Full Presentation Videos Now Live

Around the web

  • ACI Worldwide teams up with Turkish Bank U.K. to connect to the U.K. Faster Payments system.
  • CardFlight partners with Security Card Services to provide SwipeSimple to SCS merchants.
  • Digital KYC service from iSignthis to automatically verify key controllers with Ixaris.
  • Thomson Reuters unveils cloud-based audit solution, Checkpoint Engage.
  • Jim Grech appointed as new Chief Information Officer at Fiserv.

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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FICO Teams Up with EFL Global as Part of Financial Inclusion Initiative

FICO Teams Up with EFL Global as Part of Financial Inclusion Initiative
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Entrepreneurial Finance Lab, FICO

fico_homepage_november2016

One of the joys of being a part of fintech is watching companies with long and distinguished pedigrees find new ways to put their tried and true solutions to use. The recently announced partnership of 50-year old FICO partnering with 10-year old psychometric scoring specialist EFL Global—to promote financial inclusion outside the United States—is another example of this trend.

Specifically, the partnership will enable FICO clients to use the analytic credit-scoring technology developed by EFL Global. Added to FICO’s own credit-scoring products, the solutions—available initially in three countries: Turkey, Mexico, and Russia—will provide another way for lenders to reach members of underbanked communities.

EVP of Scores at FICO Jim Wehmann praised EFL’s years of experience working with thin-file consumers and SMEs with little or no credit histories in 30 countries. “Combining this with FICO’s credit-scoring expertise and market reach takes us another step closer to helping people [live] better lives,” Lehmann said, “which also can have a positive impact on the economy.”

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Shalini Raghavan, FICO’s senior director, product management, during her FinDEVr New York 2016 presentation entitled:”Rapidly Deliver Contextually Powered Stream Processing.”

Psychometric technology uses the “validated consumer-contributed data” provided by surveys to assess a consumer’s ability and willingness to repay loans. Developed initially at Harvard University, psychometrics has validated more than a billion dollars in lending according to EFL, and helped encourage the use of alternative data in credit and risk scoring. DJ DiDonna, EFL chief strategy officer and co-founder, called both companies’ technologies and visions “complementary” and looked forward to FICO and EFL “working together to help information-scarce households and entrepreneurs gain access to affordable credit.”

The partnership between FICO and EFL is part of the pair’s commitment to global financial inclusion. “We estimate that more than 3 billion consumers globally could gain access to credit at affordable rates if there were an effective way to assess their ability and willingness to repay loans,” Wehmann said. In addition to EFL, FICO is partnered with Equifax and LexisNexis in the U.S. and with Lenddo internationally to create “new scoring products, partnerships, services, and platforms” designed to “empower a lender’s optimized decision making.”

EFL demoed its technology at the very first FinovateAsia conference in 2012. The Bermuda-based company presented its EFL Credit Scoring Tool which integrates readily into existing bank systems and scores a potential borrower’s ability and willingness to pay based on behavioral and character-based predictive analytics. Founded in 1956 and headquartered in Silicon Valley, FICO made its FinDEVr debut at FinDEVr New York 2016 this spring with a presentation titled “Rapidly Deliver Contextually Powered Stream Processing.” The company is publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker “FICO,” and has a market valuation of more than $3 billion. With the most widely used credit score in the world and a number of Fortune 500 firms among its clients, FICO says that $90 billion are saved each year by its products and solutions. Will Lansing is CEO.

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Fintech Trending: Australia and the Road to Fintech in Asia

Fintech Trending: Australia and the Road to Fintech in Asia
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avoka, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Fintech Trending, Full Profile, identitii, iSignthis, KlickEx, Sandstone, SocietyOne, SuiteBox, VIX Verify, Welcomer, White Label Personal Clouds, Xero

australia_newzealand_flagsFinovateAsia 2016 is right around the corner. Be sure to visit our registration page and pick up your tickets today. We look forward to seeing you next week, 8 November, as Finovate returns to Asia.

When we talk about financial technology in Asia, we typically turn to places like Singapore, widely regarded to be the fintech “hub” of the region, or to Japan, with its advanced consumer economy (and increased participation in fintech events in the West, like Finovate and FinDEVr, or to China which was recognized by H2 Ventures and KPMG in their 2016 Fintech 100 report as follows:

China now tops the global ranks—swithin three years, China’s fintech ventures have gone from only one company included in the top Established 50 rankings in 2014, to this year China featuring four of the top five companies and eight of the top 50.

This includes Ant Financial, formerly known as Alipay, which as the world’s largest third-party payment platform, is the #1 company in the report, as well as Qudian, a Beijing-based student micro lender, ranked #2.

But there’s a reason why analysts refer to the area as the Asia-Pacific region, and part of that reason is the presence of countries like Australia and New Zealand which, while very much a part of the Asian financial ecosystem, are often overlooked in discussions about the growth of fintech in the area.

Turning back to the H2 Ventures/KPMG report, we see that of the top 100 companies highlighted, while 14 are from Asia, 1o are from Australia and New Zealand. This compares well with the U.K., a long-standing global fintech center, that landed 12 companies in the top 100. These companies include:

  • #14 Xero (F11; FD14) – New Zealand
  • #31 Prospa – Australia
  • #43 Tyro – Australia
  • #50 SocietyOne (F12) – Australia

As well as emerging stars:

  • AfterPay – Australia
  • Bright – Australia
  • Data Republic – Australia
  • HashChing – Australia
  • Identitii (F16) – Australia
  • springy – Australia

Australian and New Zealand fintech companies are clearly punching above their weight. As one illustration noted by Let’s Talk Payments, in December 2015, 5% of Australian fintech startups raised capital. Yet that 5% represented 14% of all capital raised by fintechs in December. Compare this to the United Kingdom where 15% of fintechs received investment dollars in December 2015, yet the amount raised was 11% of the total for that month. It is no surprise that China stands out as the true overachiever, with only 2% of Chinese companies raising capital in last December, but those companies represented 17% of all financing raised.

The takeaway here is more than a call for FinovateDownUnder—although that’s an intriguing idea. It suggests that more attention paid to Australia—as both a developing fintech nation in its own right, as well as a way for Western companies, technical talent, and capital to begin making its way eastward—could be well-rewarded.

See also:

  • 9 Australian companies have made it to the latest global Fintech 100 – Business Insider Australia
  • Australian FinTech Firms Recognized as World Leaders in FinTech – Cryptocoins News
  • Australian fintech founders recognized as world leaders next to tech giants Stripe, Xero and Square – Startup Smart
  • CBA takes pop-up innovation lab on a tour of Australia – Finextra

Our friends from Down Under

This discussion of Australia and New Zealand merits a reminder of how many innovators from Down Under are alums of our Finovate and FinDEVr conferences. In addition to those mentioned above, here’s a quick look at some of our more recent Australian and New Zealander alums:

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Actiance, Compass Plus, Entrepreneurial Finance Lab, FICO, Kasasa, MasterCard, Neustar, Ripple, Socure, Turnkey Lender, Tyfone

On Finovate.com

  • From Advisers to VPs: A Profile of FinovateAsia Attendees
  • FICO Teams Up with EFL Global as Part of Financial Inclusion Initiative
  • Fintech Trending: Australia and the Road to Fintech in Asia

Around the web

  • Socure unveils new dashboard for its digital ID verification technology.
  • Compass Plus announces successful stress test of TranzAxis on Oracle Exadata.
  • Neustar CEO Lisa Hook named to Advertising Ages’s 10 Digital Marketing Innovators You Should Know.
  • Singapore Fintech Awards 2016 lists Turnkey Lender as finalist. Check out their live demo next week at FinovateAsia.
  • Mastercard launches blockchain APIs for developers.
  • Portland Business Journal: Tyfone looks to open-source to solve IoT security issues.
  • Forrester Wave: Information Archiving Cloud Providers cites Actiance as an information archiving cloud leader.
  • Kasasa Wins 12th MarCom Award.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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NCR Inks $50 Million Deal with State Bank of India

NCR Inks $50 Million Deal with State Bank of India
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: NCR Corporation

ncr_homepage_october2016

With FinovateAsia just over a week away (and tickets still available!), you’ll forgive us for having fintech-in-Asia on our minds. But the news that NCR has signed a deal with the largest financial institution in India to deploy more than 7,000 ATMs throughout the country over the next seven years is a great reminder of India’s role in the growth of Asian fintech.

The $50 million agreement will help State Bank of India (SBI) expand its ATM network of more than 57,000 machines in more than 4,500 locations throughout the country. In their announcement, NCR emphasized that the SelfServ 22e ATMs were “conceptualized and ‘Made in India’ specifically for the Indian market” with high transaction-volume capacity and space-saving design geared toward use in underbanked communities in rural areas. To this end, the machines minimize power use and paper waste through low-energy LED lighting and fixed receipt lengths, as well.

The ATMs also feature NCR’s proprietary anti-skimming technology. “The ATM is increasingly becoming a global target for crime,” says Navroze Dastur, managing director of NCR India. He noted that the ability to defend against card data breaches and provide real-time notifications “will help SBI protect its brand reputation and strengthen consumer loyalty.”

sbi_homepage_october2016

With 2016 revenues of $41 billion and assets of $300 billion (2015), State Bank of India is a government-owned FI, founded in 1955, and based in Mumbai, Maharajahtra. SBI has more than 18,000 branches in India, and is one of the country’s largest employers with more than 290,000 workers on staff.

Founded in 1884 and headquartered in Duluth, Georgia, NCR demonstrated its Transaction Data Manager at FinovateSpring 2016. Last month, the company introduced its cloud-based developer portal, and unveiled its new business banking app. Also in October, NCR partnered with MX to launch a new data-driven money-management platform for FIs, NCR Money Management.

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$500 Million Raised by 30 Alums in Q3 2016

$500 Million Raised by 30 Alums in Q3 2016
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings

moneybag_goldcoinsFinovate/FinDEVr alums raised more than $490 million in the third quarter of 2016, essentially matching the investment haul from the previous quarter. The Q3 performance in 2016 fell short of the eye-popping third quarter from 2015, during which more than one billion was invested in our alums. But 2016’s third quarter still dwarfed previous third quarters in 2014 and 2013 by a large margin.

Previous quarterly comparisons

  • Q3 2016: More than $500 million raised by 29 alums
  • Q3 2015: More than $1 billion raised by 40 alums
  • Q3 2014: More than $194 million raised by 17 alums
  • Q3 2013: More than $171 million raised by 23 alums

The biggest equity deal of the third quarter was the $72 million raised by OurCrowd in September. Also notable were the $50+ million in funding scored by Interactions, Ripple, and Finova Financial. The top 10 overall investments for the third quarter of 2016 totaled $380 million or more than 76% of the quarter’s total alum funding.

Top 10 overall investments (equity only)

  1. OurCrowd: $72 million
  2. Interactions: $56 million
  3. Ripple: $55 million
  4. Finova Financial: 52.5 million
  5. LendUp: $47 million
  6. Behalf: $27 million
  7. Capriza: $23 million
  8. Signifyd: $19 million
  9. Jumio: $15 million
  10. Juvo: $14 million

Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q3 2016.

July 2016: More than $55 million raised by eight alums

August 2016: More than $256 million raised by twelve alums

September 2016: More than $182 million raised by nine alums

If you are a Finovate/FinDEVr alum that raised money in the third quarter of 2016, 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.

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