Dream Payments Closes $10 Million Series A

Dream Payments Closes $10 Million Series A

DreamPayments_homepage_March2017

Canadian payments innovator Dream Payments raised $10 million in new funding this week. The Series A round was led by the investing division of Fairfax Financial Holdings, FairVentures, and takes the company’s total capital to more than $17 million. In addition to FairVentures, Connecticut Innovations, Real Ventures, and angel investors also participated.

Citing the timing of the investment, Dream Payments CEO Brent Ho-Young said the funding “propels Dream into the American market at a perfect time to serve the critical needs of businesses that are struggling to support emerging payment technologies like mobile wallets.” The company plans to use the new capital to fuel expansion in the U.S., increase its presence in its native Canada, and drive development of its third party app ecosystem. Connecticut Innovations CEO Matt McCooe praised its “unique go-to-market strategy and product offering” while Janet Bannister, General Partner of Real Ventures, spoke from the position as an “early investor,” saying “(Dream Payments is) experiencing exceptional growth as the only payments cloud powering mobile commerce for the leading North American financial institutions.”

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Pictured: Chief Marketing Officer Christian Ali demonstrating the Dream Mobile Point of Sale solution.

Dream Payments Cloud enables businesses across Canada to accept mobile payments by accessing a cloud-based, mobile point of sale (mPOS) solution. The company partners with financial institutions, who can then offer the PaaS solution to their business customers. In this way, Dream Payments helps consumers and businesses take advantage of both the latest and their preferred payment methods anytime, wherever they are.

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Dream Payments demonstrated its mPOS solution at FinovateSpring 2015. Last month the company announced a partnership with Intuit QuickBooks to enables small business owners and entrepreneurs to accept a wider variety of payments including chip and PIN, cash, and mobile wallet. And, last fall, the company won the Global Fintech Challenge, taking home a $1.5 million investment award. In addition to Intuit QuickBooks, Dream Payments includes TD Merchant Solutions and TruShield Insurance among its partners and, later this month, expects to announce a new partnership with JP Morgan Chase.

FinDEVr Preview: Simility

FinDEVr Preview: Simility

FDNY17-Logo-RevFinDEVr Previews highlight companies presenting new developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr New York 2017, March 21 & 22. Tickets are on sale now. Visit our registration page and save your spot today.

“Fraud Mutates – Detect, Understand, and Block It.” Simility will demonstrate how a combination of flexible data ingestion and signal analysis, bolstered by advanced machine learning models in combination of human analysis can provide you an adaptive fraud prevention solution.

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Why it’s a must-see:

Fraudsters are conjuring up new techniques to compromise systems and today’s digital businesses are constantly evolving. Simility’s fraud prevention solution can effectively adapt to both the changing and evolving threat vectors, as well as take into account the evolving business scenarios.


Check out more previews of upcoming FinDEVr New York 2017 presentations and don’t forget to register before it’s too late.

FinDEVr Preview: OutSystems

FinDEVr Preview: OutSystems

FDNY17-Logo-RevFinDEVr Previews highlight companies presenting new developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr New York 2017, March 21 & 22. Tickets are on sale now. Visit our registration page and save your spot today.

BPI (Portuguese Investment Bank) is currently redesigning their digital channels using an omni-channel approach, including mobile banking, internet banking, branch, and contact center applications. To implement this, BPI has set up a development factory using agile methodologies and OutSystems as a low-code, development platform.

Outsystems_homepage_March2017

Why it’s a must-see:

Learn how real FinServ companies are accelerating their digital transformations with low-code application platforms, as well as how to be a hero in mobile application delivery and meet those ever-shortening app delivery deadlines.

Also learn why Low-Code is the next evolution in app dev platforms (and how it’s 5x faster).


Check out more previews of upcoming FinDEVr New York 2017 presentations and don’t forget to register before it’s too late.

FinDEVr Preview: Softjourn

FinDEVr Preview: Softjourn

FDNY17-Logo-RevFinDEVr Previews highlight companies presenting new developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr New York 2017, March 21 & 22. Tickets are on sale now. Visit our registration page and save your spot today.

The presentation will highlight the main reasons Softjourn decided to implement an in-house loyalty program and why the company chose Monax blockchain cryptocurrency over other platforms. The presentation feature a combination of hardware, blockchain, and smart contracts, and how actually these work together in Softjourn’s project.

Softjourn_homepage_March2017

Why it’s a must-see:

Softjourn will show how to use smart contracts to develop your in-house loyalty program and engage employees in CSR. The company will also show how to use smart contracts to donate to social projects as part of your CSR development strategy.


Check out more previews of upcoming FinDEVr New York 2017 presentations and don’t forget to register before it’s too late.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Women on the Finovate Stage.

On FinDEVr.com

  • Check out this week’s FinDEVr APIntelligence.

Around the web

  • mBank partners with Cloudera to handle its big data processing.
  • Careington Health Products leverages SmartCART platform from Insuritas to deploy advisor services and discount programs.
  • BBVA Compass adds cash-back incentive to stimulate interest in mobile banking app.
  • Fiserv launches Credit Sense, combining credit monitoring with digital banking.
  • Kontomatik nominated at the Dutch FinTech Awards 2017.
  • PayPal partners with Oro ecommerce platform.
  • Arxan Application Protection named Best IoT product at the 2017 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards.
  • Zopa wins Top Consumer Lending Platform at LendIt awards.
  • Pindrop to mitigate call center fraud for Credit union service organization PSCU.
  • Motif jumps on the robo advisor bandwagon.
  • Tradeshift to acquire Capgemini’s IBX Business Network.
  • Linqto and Western Independent Bankers Launch New Apps Store for Banks.

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.

FundAmerica Unveils New RegTech Tools

FundAmerica Unveils New RegTech Tools

FundAmerica_homepage_March2017

Regtech may be hot in the U.K. But the flame of regtech innovation is burning brightly in the U.S., as well. FundAmerica, builder of compliance solutions for crowdfunding platforms, rolled out a series of “new tools and upgrades” this month. “Technology (and our engineers) never sleeps,” FundAmerica CEO Scott Purcell announced in an email to subscribers. The enhancements enable users to:

  • Allow potential investors to “test the waters” with plug ‘n’ play buttons and at-launch support
  • Quick-launch escrows
  • Issue investor statements using FundAmerica’s registered transfer agent
  • Levy fees and commissions as part of the transaction
  • Record partial funds received for more accurate reporting

The upgrades also include new APIs and Invest Now dashboards, as well as administrator integration “so traditional fund admins can still perform services to direct-to-crowd funds but offload the ‘crowd’ reporting and statement stuff to us,” Purcell wrote. Another major addition to the platform is the ability to customize the automated emails sent to investors during the streamlined Invest Now process. This flexibility, the result of “countless requests and man-hours in engineering,” enables issuers to add legal disclaimers, modify the language to better align with marketing copy, or simply provide additional information about a deal.

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Pictured: FundAmerica founder and CEO Scott Purcell during the demonstration of his company’s platform at FinovateSpring 2015.

Founded in 2011, FundAmerica demonstrated its API for crowdfunding platform compliance at FinovateSpring 2015. The company’s backend solutions cover AML, escrow, and payment processing, enabling broker-dealers, listing services, and platforms to remain compliant to relevant laws and regulations, such as Reg A+ and rule 4(a)(6), when operating their crowdfunding business. FundAmerica’s Invest Now transaction engine keeps capital raising smooth and efficient for the investor, as well, leveraging APIs and copy ‘n’ paste functionality to make it possible for investors to complete the process in a single sitting.

Since inception, FundAmerica has processed more than $400 million in investments from more than 75,000 investors in more than 300 offerings. Having managed the back office work for the industry’s first successful Reg A+ offering, Elio Motors, last year – en route to handling the back office for more than a dozen additional Reg A offerings in 2016 – FundAmerica anticipates both more hiring and more solution-building in 2017. “2016 was a great start, as we finally have Reg’s D, A & CF, and 2017 will see an acceleration of capital rising using those new tools,” Purcell noted in a year-ending post on the company blog.

FundAmerica was featured in our “RegTech Reality Check” post last fall, and profiled in our Finovate Debuts series of new Finovate alums. The company has raised more than $2 million in funding courtesy of a seed round in 2013.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • FundAmerica Unveils New RegTech Tools.
  • Qapital Raises $12 Million, Adds Debit Card Functionality

On FinDEVr.com

  • Check out these previews from upcoming FinDEVr New York presentations:

Around the web

  • OutsideIQ teams up with Genpact to bring better risk management, KYC, and AML compliance solutions to banks.
  • Ixaris Technologies unveils its Open Payments Cloud platform for developers at upcoming hackathon.
  • Top 10 global bank deploys mobile capture technology from Kofax.
  • IBM forges strategic partnership with Salesforce, connecting AI platforms IBM Watson and Salesforce Einstein.
  • Bluefin Payment Systems joins forces with The Pinnacle Corporation, bringing point-to-point encryption (P2PE to the latter’s Palm POS platform.
  • CB Insights lists NetGuardians on the regtech map.
  • WeInvest piloting roboadvisory service with OCBC Bank.
  • eWise to power customer loyalty app for Gini.

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.

Patch of Land Picks Matthew Zall for Chief Investment Product Officer

Patch of Land Picks Matthew Zall for Chief Investment Product Officer

PatchofLand_homepage_March2017

Online real estate marketplace lender Patch of Land added commercial real estate specialist Matthew Zall as Chief Investment Product Officer. In his new role, Zall will focus on supporting Patch of Land’s expansion into the single-family rental market, developing longer term, permanent financing products. “The addition of Matt enables us to continue the expansion of our marketplace to fully serve the lending needs of more than 10 million Americans who directly invest in single-family residential properties and need consistent, reliable access to capital to fuel their businesses,” Patch of Land CEO Paul Deitch said.

PatchofLand_MatthewZall_1Before being picked as CIPO for Patch of Land, Zall was Director at B2R Finance, where he was the head trader and architect of fixed and floating rate mortgage products. While at B2R Finance, Zall led the team that developed the first, multi-borrower single family rental (SFR) securitization, winning the 2015 CMBS Deal of the Year award from Global Capital. Previous to B2R Finance, Zall was a commercial real estate trader at JP Morgan, specializing in new origination, securitization and marketing of new deals. He has a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Bachelor of Arts in Film/Video from Penn State University, and an MBA in Finance and Communications from Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business Administration.

Patch of Land provides a marketplace and platform for accredited and institutional investors looking for high-yielding, short-term asset-backed investments, and borrowers looking for alternative sources of funding. The company’s technology retrieves data from a diverse set of sources to build proprietary models and risk analysis summaries. This information enables the platform to provide more loan preapprovals as well as give existing borrowers automatic term extensions. As of the fourth quarter of 2016, the company has funded 400 loans with an average size of more than $545,000 and a realized rate of return of 11%.  The majority of the real estate on the platform is residential (71% single-family; 16% multi-family), with commercial real estate – added in August 2015 – making up 13%.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Patch of Land demonstrated its Peer-to-Real-Estate (P2RE) lending marketplace at FinovateFall 2014. A player in the “real estate investment tech” scene of the growing Proptech/Mortgagetech industry within fintech, Patch of Land has raised more than $24 million in funding, including a Series A completed in the spring of 2015. Last August, the company announced a “forward flow arrangement” with an “East Coast credit fund” that would invest $250 million across its platform.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Patch of Land Picks Matthew Zall for Chief Investment Product Officer.
  • Dwolla Launches Same-Day Bank Transfers.

On FinDEVr.com

  • Envestnet | Yodlee Launches Suite of Risk Reporting Tools.

Around the web

  • UK food retailer, The Co-operative Group chooses ACI Worldwide to run wallet service.
  • Palestine’s The National Bank deploys core banking technology from Temenos.
  • Experian joins Marketplace Lending Association as an associate member.
  • Maine Startups Insider features David Joseph, co-founder of Davo Technologies.
  • Dallas News founder features Bruce Parker, founder and CEO of ModoPayments.

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.

Euronext Invests $10 Million in Algomi; Expands Joint Venture Agreement

Euronext Invests $10 Million in Algomi; Expands Joint Venture Agreement

Algomi_homepage_March2017

Fixed income technology innovator and FinovateFall alum Algomi raised $10 million in funding today. The capital from Euronext is the company’s most recent investment since a 2016 infusion of an undisclosed amount from former Thomson Reuters CEO and current Algomi strategic advisor, Tom Glocer. Euronext’s minority stake in the company comes with governance rights and a included a decision to globally expand a 10-year joint venture agreement between the two companies announced back in November.

“This long term commitment to Algomi by Euronext cements our position in the market,” Algomi CEO and co-founder Stu Taylor said. “We are particularly excited by the access to the Euronext network of global regulated exchange and the liquidity opportunities this will provide our clients.” Underscoring the crucial challenge of liquidity when it comes to the fixed income markets, Taylor added, “(this) will allow us to bring Algomi’s unique bond information network to new parts of the credit market, something which has been very positively received by our existing bank clients.”

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Pictured: Algomi CEO Stu Taylor demonstrating Honeycomb at FinovateFall 2014.

Algomi specializes in technologies that optimize fixed income trading between sales professionals, traders, and clients. The company’s solutions collect and organize data points inside the FIs credit trading system and uses custom algorithms to drive the most appropriate fixed income trading opportunities to the most appropriate sales professional in order to facilitate the optimal, risk-free transaction. The company calls its buyside interface, Honeycomb, “smart marketing” that raises client marketing to the level of the highest quality online retailing.

Euronext sees the combination of Algomi’s technology and its own position as a leading exchange as a boon for both companies. Stephane Boujnah, Euronext CEO, cited the diversification of revenues and expansion into markets outside of Europe as upsides of a partnership he called “central to our fixed income ambitions and our wider FICC diversification plans as part of our ‘Agility for Growth’ plan.” Euronext’s Head of Fixed Income, Rates and FX, Paul Humphrey will join Algomi’s board of directors as part of the investment.

Founded in 2012 and based in London, Algomi demonstrated its technology, Honeycomb, at FinovateFall 2014. The company’s buyside GUI, Honeycomb promotes market efficiency by giving investors visibility into the ability of different dealers to move illiquid block trades without roiling the markets. The company’s co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Usman Khan was listed as one of the “40 most exciting people in fintech in the U.K.” by Business Insider magazine last August, the same month the company introduced its SaaS, sell-side engine, Synchronicity. Last spring, Algomi teamed up with IPC Systems to support users of its Honeycomb technology. Algomi was named to FinTechCity’s FinTech50 for 2016 and was featured by Tech Tour in its 2016 Growth 50 of the fastest-growing technology companies in Europe.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • LendUp Lands $100 Million Credit Facility.
  • LikeFolio Begins Licensing Brand-Mapping Database.
  • Euronext Invests $10 Million in Algomi; Expands Joint Venture Agreement.

Around the web

  • Yoyo hires former PayPal GM Simon Moran as first VP of Commercial.
  • Fiserv expands its Florida contact and servicing center by 22%.
  • Trustly partners with UATP to enable online bank payments for airfare.
  • NICE extends real-time authentication across all voice channels.
  • The Asian Review covers Ayondo’s upcoming listing on the Singapore Exchange.
  • Signifyd wins Finance Monthly’s 2017 Fintech Award for Fraud.

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.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Lendio Brings the Franchising Model to Small Business Lending.
  • Excited to see Symphony Software Foundation at FinDEVr NY March 21 & 22. Check out our interview with Executive Director, Gabriele Columbro.
  • Scotiabank and AlphaPoint Wrap Up Blockchain Trial.

On FinDEVr.com

  • RSVP for FinDEVr’s International Debut.
  • PwC Brings Blockchain PoC to London’s Specialty Insurers.
  • Shwayhat Steps Up: Greenkey Technologies Announces New CEO.

Around the web

  • Vantiv to provide payment processing for Tyndall FCU ($1.3 billion in assets). See Vantiv at FinDEVr New York this month.
  • Scalable Capital recognized as only European startup on CNBC Upstart 25 roster.
  • Wealthify lowers minimum investment to £1.
  • Mambu goes live in the Americas with new offices in Miami and new regional managing director.
  • Trustly processes more than €3 billion in payments in 2016, announces UK expansion.
  • Fiserv Expands Contact and Servicing Center into Florida.
  • Yandex Money brings bankers onboard.
  • D+H Mortgagebot named HW Tech100 winner.

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.