Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Microsoft Marketing Vet Jeremy Korst Joins Avalara as New CMO.

Around the web

  • New York-based BizFi reaches $2 billion in originations.
  • LTP: Trulioo CEO Stephen Ufford writes about the problem of gift card fraud.
  • Boku extends partnership with Microsoft to support carrier billing to France.
  • Exostar teams up with Taulia to bring supply chain finance to the aerospace and defense industry.
  • Avoka, SocietyOne, and SuiteBox named finalists for Fintech Business Awards.
  • HBR: Narrative Science CEO Stuart Frankel writes about talking chatbots.
  • Quantopian recognized by Boston Globe as a “Company to Watch in 2017.”
  • Let’s Talk Payments features Kontomatik’s successful 2016.
  • Dashlane to support Intel Software Guard Extensions to help protect your passwords with hardware-enhanced security.
  • OurCrowd marks 4 years, $320m raised, 100 startups, 9 exits.

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.

BBVA Compass Announces New CEO, Onur Genc

BBVA Compass Announces New CEO, Onur Genc

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One of the world’s most innovative, fintech-friendly banks just onboarded a new boss.

BBVA announced this week that U.S. subsidiary BBVA Compass has named former Garanti Bank deputy CEO, Onur Genç, as its new CEO. At Garanti, Turkey’s largest bank by market cap at $9 billion, Genç (pictured) was in charge of retail banking, private banking, and asset management. He was promoted to deputy CEO at Garanti in 2015. “I am thrilled to have this opportunity,” Genç said in a press release. “I onurgenccan’t wait to join the team and to work with Manolo to extend the success story of BBVA Compass.” Genç will replace Manolo Sanchez, who became CEO of BBVA Compass in 2008 and will transition into a new role of non-executive chairman.

“BBVA is a global financial group that can tap the world’s best talent, and Onur is a clear example of that. I am looking forward to helping him take BBVA Compass to the next level,” Sanchez said.

Prior to his tenure at BBVA Compass, Onur Genç was a senior partner and Turkey office manager at McKinsey & Company. Before McKinsey & Company, Genç was a financial controller at American Airlines. He has a bachelor of science degree in electrical and electronic engineering from Bogaziçi University in Istanbul, and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Founded in 1857 and headquartered in Madrid, Spain, BBVA—Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria—demonstrated its stock market sentiment solution, Stockbuzz, at FinovateEurope 2013. The second largest bank in Spain and a member of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index, BBVA held assets of more than €750 billion in 2015. Carlos Torres Vila is CEO.

BBVA Compass was founded in 1964 and has been a BBVA subsidiary since 2007. With assets of $85 billion, the firm is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and is active in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, and Texas.

Polly Portfolio Unveils Bespoke Custom Investing Platform for Financial Advisers

Polly Portfolio Unveils Bespoke Custom Investing Platform for Financial Advisers

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With Bespoke Custom Investing (BCI), Polly Portfolio offers financial advisers a platform that makes it easier to provide personalized financial management and investment plans. The technology gives advisers the tools for better engagement by using natural language processing to transform client concerns—on issues like investment philosophy and economic outlook—into customized investment advice.

Advisers can either use their own model portfolios as a base investment strategy or select one of Polly Portfolio’s models. They engage with their clients to determine tax planning, investment preferences and risk tolerance, economic outlook, and the status of any held-away assets (assets not actively managed nor affiliated with the adviser’s firm). After any additional adviser or client customizations are factored in, the BCI investment engine builds a personalized investment strategy with natural language explanations.

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The release of Bespoke Custom Investing comes as the company transitions toward a B2B model. As Polly Portfolio began working with wealth managers, it became increasingly clear that the path of least resistance for its technologies was to “decouple” its signature solutions—Bespoke Custom Investing and Sophograph (demonstrated at FinovateSpring 2016)—to better target the markets that would most benefit from each technology.

The initial challenge for Polly Portfolio was figuring out how to maintain the customization, natural language processing, and portfolio-building of BCI without plugging in to Sophograph. The answer was to pollyportfoliobci_image3leverage the model portfolios offered by the financial adviser. “Many advisers use very basic model portfolios,” says Tom McCosker, Polly Portfolio’s COO and CFO. “We built BCI to plug into model portfolios. Then customize around (their) model, using basic risk exposure, and then customize for taxes, headway assets, views on the economy, and so on.” The integration is API-driven, so there is no need for full stack integration.

BCI’s ability to increase and deepen customer engagement is another worthwhile feature of the platform. “Engagement calls are a trick for advisers,” McCosker points out. “What do you talk about on the investment side? You’re in a model portfolio, so that’s it.” By making it easy to translate client preferences into customized investing ideas that are explained in natural language, the platform can be a significant engagement solution for advisers, as well.

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in New York, Polly Portfolio demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2016. This summer, the company launched a free, investment chatbot for Facebook Messenger, Polly Chat, that develops personalized trading and investment ideas through interaction with the user. Jasen Yang is founder and CEO.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Polly Portfolio Unveils Bespoke Custom Investing Platform for Financial Advisers”
  • “Top Direct-to-Consumer Wealth Tech Plays”

Around the web

  • CashStar announces digital gift card agreements with online marketplace OpenSky and Marcus Theatres.
  • Nasdaq.com profiles Moven, “the future of banking.”
  • Charlotte Business Journal names Passport among its Fast 50 award winners for its more than 475% revenue growth from 2013 to 2015.
  • Inc. lists Xero, Gusto, and PayPal among 8 business apps that will crush it in 2017.

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

Roots Rock: eMoney Advisor Reports Breakout Revenue Metrics for 2016

Roots Rock: eMoney Advisor Reports Breakout Revenue Metrics for 2016

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How did 2016 become the “most successful year to date” for wealth management platform developer, eMoney Advisor? According to CEO Ed O’Brien, it was all about getting back to basics.

“This year we returned to our roots with an innovative product strategy that broadens the availability and quality of advice delivered through advisors,” O’Brien explained. This week O’Brien’s company announced record growth in 2016 including a more than 30% increase in revenue since the end of 2015, and a nearly 59% gain in revenue since eMoney Advisor was acquired by Fidelity Investments in early 2015.

Some of the 2016 highlights for eMoney Advisor include:

  • Released more than 80 updates and enhancements to its emX Suite
  • Unveiled a new advanced analytics product
  • Launched the Fiduciary Framework initiative

“For this past year in particular, we worked hard to implement a strategy that creates more opportunity for advisers to experience the value of eMoney and benefit from the unique and varied ways our technology can set them apart,” said O’Brien.

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From left: Chad Porche, SVP, head of design, and Kyle Wharton, SVP, business development, demonstrated EMX, the eMoney Advisor platform, at FinovateFall 2014.

Recently featured in our look at top trends in Wealth Tech, eMoney Advisor serves wealth management firms who have concluded that it is easier and more efficient to partner with an established specialist rather than “go it alone” when it comes to providing their wealth managers with the technology they need to best serve their clients. “Firms are realizing the cost to build and maintain the type of streamlined, technology-enabled experience required to compete today is prohibitively high,” O’Brien said. Adding that companies must be mindful of technology expenses as well, he points out that the solution “in the long-term” is a balancing act. “It’s about a technology partner, not a technology provider,” he said.

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, eMoney Advisor demonstrated its platform at FinovateFall 2014. Earlier this year, the company announced a partnership with Waddell & Reed Advisors that will make emX Pro platform available to the firm’s network of more than 1,800 financial advisers. A winner at the 2016 Wealth Management Awards this fall, and one of the best places to work in Philadelphia according to the Philadelphia Business Journal, eMoney Advisor also shared a preview of what it has in store for 2017. New products and services from the company include a digital advice platform, developed in partnership with Fidelity, a new lead-generation solution, a “robust API strategy,” and a service for 401(k) plan participants. The company says it plans to add 100 new workers by the end of 2017 to help accommodate growth.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Roots Rock: eMoney Advisor Reports Breakout Revenue Metrics for 2016″
  • Check out this week’s “FinDEVr APIntelligence”
  • Nubank Raises $80 Million in Series D Funding”
  • “Finovate Debuts: Agreement Express Helps Advisers Offer Non-Intrusive Onboarding”

Around the web

  • Nostrum CFO Neil Warman re-elected to Confederation of British Industry (CBI) regional board.
  • Qumram wins 2016 Private Banking International (PBI) award for Outstanding Front-End Digital Solutions Provider.
  • Ovum recognizes Backbase as digital banking platform market leader.
  • Comarch partners with TrustWeaver to make e-invoicing cross-border compliant.
  • True Potential listed in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA for the fourth consecutive year.
  • Fundable profiles DAVO’s funding since its 2011 launch and its milestone of 800 clients.
  • Orca Money interviews Scalable Capital CEO Adam French.
  • Luxoft wins Best Enterprise Systems Integrator in Constellation Research’s 2016 Enterprise Awards.
  • Zopa takes home two awards at the AltFi Awards and wins Best P2P Lending Platform at the F5 Awards.
  • InComm partners with MOL Global to launch PlayStation Network prepaid products to be distributed through 7-Eleven stores in Indonesia.

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

NuData Security Brings Behavioral Biometrics to Arvato Financial Solutions

NuData Security Brings Behavioral Biometrics to Arvato Financial Solutions

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At its FinDEVr Silicon Valley debut this fall, digital authentication specialist NuData demonstrated how its technology, NuDetect, enabled verification using a combination of behavioral biometrics identification and analytics, device location, and entity linking. “[NuDetect] continuously verifies a user’s online identity based upon analyzing the user’s natural interactions,” Robert Capps, VP of business development of NuData, explained from the FinDEVr stage. “These are behaviors that can’t be stolen, replayed, or reused, and so aren’t subject to data breach.”

The technology enables FIs to separate good users from bad with a high degree of accuracy, while still providing “actionable intelligence on interaction risk.” And once a company is able to tell good users from bad, Capps says all the other technological attacks, such as identity theft, account takeover, new account fraud, become “very easy to deal with in this framework.”

It turns out Arvato Financial Solutions (AFS) sought precisely this kind of solution when it announced a partnership with NuData this week. With 7,000 employees working in 22 countries—throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas—Arvato Financial Solutions will leverage NuData’s technology to “stop fraud, prevent attacks, and continuously verify good users,” said Frank Schlein, AFS president of risk management. NuData’s integration of authentication technologies, such as passive biometrics and device fingerprinting, was praised by Schlein, along with the Canadian company’s “specific European market insight, as well as local data protection known-how.” Arvato Financial Solutions is part of the German multinational media giant, Bertelsmann SE & Co, as a subsidiary of Arvato.

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Robert Capps, VP of business development for NuData, during his presentation, “NuDetect: It’s All About Trust” at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016.

NuData Security CEO Michel Giasson referred to Arvato as a “best-in-class partner” and highlighted the ability of technology like NuDetect to help companies defend themselves and their customers against cybercrime. Giasson says fraudulent online behavior can send “ripples through organizations, [and it] directly impacts the bottom line, [as] disgruntled customers could damage the brand image,” Giasson said.

NuData presented “It’s All About Trust,” a demonstration of the company’s behavioral biometric technology and a look at the science behind the solution, at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016. In October, NuData announced a strategic alliance with Early Warning to provide security for real-time, P2P money transfers, and in August, the company was noted for its fraud detection technology in Gartner’s Industry Analyst Reports.

NuData, a 2016 MRC METAwards winner, reported this summer that it had more than doubled behavioral transaction volume to 38 billion in 2015 from 18 billion in 2014, adding it was on pace to process 80 billion in 2016. Nudata is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and was founded in 2008.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • NuData Security Brings Behavioral Biometrics to Arvato Financial Services”

On FinDEVr.com

Around the web

  • Token signs memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Fidor Bank for digital payments.
  • PYMNTS.com interviews Nick Thomas, cofounder of Finicity, in the wake of his company’s latest funding round.
  • Aerospike announces 100% year-over-year bookings growth.
  • Touch Bank to deploy FraudNet, online fraud prevention technology from Experian.
  • More than 100,000 customers of Avanza Bank have used Trustly’s real-time deposit service since the two companies forged a partnership last year.
  • Dashlane joins two-factor authentication awareness campaign, #TurnOn2FA.
  • Cortera Decisions‘ credit scorecard capability is now available through Boost, its self-service tool that gives businesses insights on their customers and prospects.
  • TickSmith’s TickVault Big Data management platform is compatible with Thomson Reuters Tick History.
  • NIIT Technologies partners with a top-ranked retirement plan provider to manage their legacy systems.
  • Arxan Technologies wins six industry IoT security awards.

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

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Behavioral Biometrics Startup Zighra Lands $1 Million in Seed Funding
  • Tuition.io Appoints Former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson as New CEO

Around the web

  • Commerce Bank chooses Temenos to upgrade core deposit banking system.
  • ThetaRay earns recognition from CIO Review as a top 20 financial services provider for 2016.
  • Financeit reports a doubling of its business since acquiring the home improvement financing assets of TD Bank.
  • Green Dot teams with WalMart to encourage Americans to build savings.
  • Bizfi expands its business lending capabilities through a new partnership with InterNex Capital.
  • OnWallStreet recommends advisers keep their eyes on Wealthfront’s Andy Rachleff; SigFig’s Mike Sha; and Betterment’s Jon Stein.
  • Passport acquires Arizona-based mobile parking payment startup ParkX.
  • P2P lender SocietyOne facilitates $126 million in loans in 2016, finishing a record-breaking year.
  • InComm expands partnership with Target Australia to offer gift cards in stores and online.

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

Investment from Rakuten Boosts Kreditech’s Total Capital By More than $10 Million

Investment from Rakuten Boosts Kreditech’s Total Capital By More than $10 Million

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Germany consumer finance innovator Kreditech has just picked up a $10.4 million (€10 million) investment from Japan’s Rakuten. The new funds, which will be used to develop Kreditech’s partnership business, take the company’s total capital to more than $160 million. According to TechCrunch, the investment gives Kreditech a valuation of $313 million (€300 million).

In a statement accompanying the announcement, Kreditech founder and CEO Alexander Grabner-Müller emphasized how the capital will help drive the company’s partnership business. He also praised Rakuten’s investment in his company’s “mission to improve financial freedom for the underbanked through technology.” Kreditech CFO Rene Griemens added that Rakuten’s “strong market position in Asia” could be a “door opener” for the company which already has a presence in Russia, Poland, Romania, Spain, and Mexico, as well as its home country of Germany.

Kreditech is not the only fintech, nor the only Finovate alum, that Rakuten has invested in. The firm invested $15 million in Azimo this spring, and contributed to Currency Cloud’s $18 million Series C round last summer. Speaking of Kreditech, Rakuten Fintech Fund managing partner Oskar Mielczarek de la Miel highlighted the company’s “distinctive big-data-driven credit model and tech expertise” and complimented Kreditech’s “unique model of individual empowerment through access to credit.”

Founded in 2012, Kreditech demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2014. The company’s solutions leverage non-traditional data and machine learning to provide financing options such as loans, PFM, and digital wallets to underbanked communities. In October, Kreditech was named to the 2016 Fintech 100 sponsored by H2 Ventures and KPMG—the same month the company announced that former mBank veteran Michal Panowicz was joining it as chief product and information officer. Kreditech launched its online POS financing solution, Monedo Now, in June, providing online consumers with instant financing of as much as $5,500.

Socure Raises $13 Million In New Capital

Socure Raises $13 Million In New Capital

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In a round led by Flint Capital, digital identity verification technology specialist Socure has raised $13 million in funding. Featuring participation from ff Venture Capital, Santander InnoVentures, and Two Sigma Ventures, this week’s investment takes Socure’s total financing to more than $17 million.

“Security, compliance, and fraud prevention are key issues for investors, consumers, regulators, and employees in the financial services industry,” Socure CEO and co-founder Sunil Madhu said. “As a year when major breaches made headline news now draws to a close, we are thrilled to be able to provide them with a technologically advanced and proven solution.” The company says it will use the funding to fuel innovation on its platform and scale operations—including Socure’s 300% growth in 2016.

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Sunil Madhu, Socure CEO and co-founder, demonstrated Perceive at FinovateFall 2015 in New York.

Socure specializes in providing identity verification for unbanked/underbanked, thin-file customers, making the solution ideal for younger populations as well as for those in developing regions. Sergey Gribov, a partner at Flint Capital, in his praise of Socure, says the firm “supplements market deficiencies in which current identity verification solutions fall short—including millennials, who largely avoid the use of credit, or [for those] abroad, where credit systems don’t exist at all.” Socure provides a suite of RESTful APIs delivering over a secure, scalable cloud-based system that operates in real-time. Stash CEO and co-founder Brandon Krieg called the technology “a key element in our identity verification stack.” He added, “Socure … has enabled us to substantially increase acceptance of new customers.”

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in New York City, Socure develops online identity-verification solutions. The company’s Social Biometrics Platform is designed to provide ID verification and increased acceptance rates by leveraging both social behavior data from major social networks as well as online and offline GLB and DLPA data. Socure demonstrated Perceive, its remote facial biometrics solution at FinovateFall 2015. Last month, Socure unveiled a “momentous redesign” of its digital ID verification solution, and in May, the company announced expanded coverage for KYC, CDD, CIP, and AML compliance.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Socure Raises $13 Million in New Capital”
  • “Investment from Rakuten Boosts Kreditech’s Total Capital More Than $10 Million”
  • “Personal Capital’s Growth Leads to Additional $25 Million in Funding”

Around the web

  • eToro forges strategic partnership with Lufax Holding, China’s largest internet financing company.
  • PayPal teams up with Citibank, FIS to expand cross-channel presence.
  • NICE Systems celebrates record year in customer acquisitions.
  • SocietyOne appoints Maria Loyez as chief marketing officer.
  • NuData Security partners with Arvato Financial Solutions to combat fraud and enable a smoother customer experience.
  • Quantopian hires Marc Volpe as chief financial officer.

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