Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • MaxMyInterest Celebrates Third Anniversary with Support for TD Bank
  • Twilio to Help Amazon Web Services Deliver SMS Messages

Around the web

  • Trustly processed 14 million transactions in 2015 worth €1.7 billion.
  • efinancialcareers profiles Jonathan Larkin, Quantopian‘s new CIO.
  • Forbes looks at how Intuit QuickBooks is hiring app developers to help it improve the user experience.
  • Tinkoff Bank joins Russian payment-processing companies to form blockchain consortium.
  • Swiss Finance Startups features Qumram as its startup of the month.

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.

CREALOGIX Adds Authentication Technology from South African FinDEVr Alum, Entersekt

CREALOGIX Adds Authentication Technology from South African FinDEVr Alum, Entersekt

CREALOGIX_homepage_July2016

CREALOGIX will deploy an authentication solution based on Entersekt’s Transakt. The technology creates an end-to-end, out-of-band channel between the users’ mobile device and the financial institution’s back-end systems to enable transmission of digital signature certificates and other communication between FIs and their customers.

Speaking to the concerns over the authentication challenges with mobile payments, CREALOGIX CEO Thomas Avedik emphasized how important it is for banks to find “a method that is extremely safe, cost-efficient and that is also helping them to offer unrivalled customer experience.” He said Entersekt’s technology would play a role in helping build the “bank of the future.”

Entersekt_homepage_June2016

Entersekt CEO Schalk Nolte pointed to interest in his company’s technology from FIs in regions ranging from Africa to Europe. He called CREALOGIX, which is headquartered in Switzerland and has offices in Germany, the U.K., and Singapore, “a strong business partner that understands how strong two-factor authentication helps the industry to protect digital transactions.” Entersekt’s Transakt SDK enables FIs to integrate the company’s multifactor-authentication technology into their mobile apps. (FIs can use an off-the shelf Transaskt mobile app for faster rollout, if needed.) The technology generates a unique device ID, which provides a nonrepudiable record of customer responses, protects against “man in the middle” attacks with public key-pinning, and uses an encrypted channel to enable both out-of-band authentication, as well as to better defend against brute force and malware attacks.

CREALOGIX was founded in 1996 and is based in Zurich, Switzerland. The company demonstrated its digital banking/ API layer at FinovateEurope 2016, shortly after announcing a new digital banking partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise. CREALOGIX raised $25.4 million in new funding last fall (CHF 25 million) in a convertible bond offering, the largest fintech fundraising in Switzerland in 2015.

Interviewed in April by CNBC Africa, and featured this June in Disrupt Africa, Entersekt presented its technology at the inaugural FinDEVr developers conference in San Francisco in 2014. The South Africa-based company discussed “Securing Mobile Applications through Transport Layer Diversity” in a presentation from Entersekt CTO Christiaan Brand. Brand explained the problem of some of the more common authentication strategies, such as SMP one-time passwords, showing how multifactor, out-of-band authentication processes—such as Transakt—are superior. Among other FIs that have adopted the technology are FirstBank, which announced in February that it would deploy Entersekt’s Transakt multifactor-authentication technology, and Equity Bank, which reported in January that it had chosen both Transakt and Interakt to improve the security of its online banking, mobile banking, and payments products.

Get Your VAT Back: Xpenditure to Help Reclaim International VAT Refunds

Get Your VAT Back: Xpenditure to Help Reclaim International VAT Refunds

Xpenditure_homepage_June2016

Near the top of the list of expense reporting and reimbursement headaches for international travelers is the value-added tax, or VAT. And courtesy of a new partnership with Luxembourg’s VAT IT, Belgian expense-management solution-provider Xpenditure is here to help.

“Our mission is still to kill the monthly expense report,” says Xpenditure CEO Boris Bogaert, “and this partnership is an important next step in achieving that.”

Xpenditure_stage_FEU2016

(Left to right): Chief Product Officer Koen Christiaens and CCO Wim Derkinderen demoed the Xpenditure platform at FinovateEurope 2016 in London.

The new partnership with VAT IT will make it easier for Xpenditure users to reclaim VAT on international and domestic travel expenses, as well as services from international suppliers. For businesses with employees who work and spend internationally, the automated process helps reduce costs and errors. Users scan their receipts with their mobile device and get their expenses approved in real time. VAT IT’s proprietary, cloud-based technology extracts the necessary data from your accounting system and calculates VAT savings, minus a small-percentage transaction-fee. A specialist in cross-border VAT and tax recovery, VAT IT has more than 8,000 clients in 100 countries. In addition to Xpenditure, VAT IT has partnerships with Finovate alums Concur and Mastercard.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Mechelen, Belgium, Xpenditure demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2016. The company has raised more than $9 million in funding, with its most recent investment a $5.7 million Series A in the fall of 2015. Xpenditure board member Jonas Dhaenens was named ICT Personality of the Year by Data News in May and, in April, the company was honored at the 2016 European Fintech Awards.

Check out our FinovateEurope Sneak Peek on Xpenditure for more.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Finovate Debuts: BaseVenture’s Command Center for Fund Managers & Administrators
  • Temenos to Power Wealth Management Solution for Standard Chartered
  • CREALOGIX Adds Authentication Technology from South African FinDEVr alum, Entersekt
  • Get Your VAT Back: Xpenditure to Help Reclaim International VAT Refunds

Around the web

  • Swiss financial services firm bob Finance to deploy Netverify from Jumio.
  • IBM partners with Credit Mutuel Arkea on blockchain KYC project.
  • Urban FT joins the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI).

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

  • BizFi Lands $20 Million from Metropolitan Equity

On FinDEVr.com

  • Quovo Teams Up with Totum Wealth to Improve Client Account Aggregation for Wealth Managers

Around the web

  • Markit chooses corporate events data from Wall Street Horizon for its research, analysis, and news interface, Markit Hub.
  • IBM joins The Chamber of Digital Commerce, the world’s leading trade association for the digital asset and blockchain industry.
  • Jack Henry & Associates introduces the ProfitStars Financial Performance suite.
  • Mid-sized European medical device maker agrees to deploy eFLOW AP from Top Image Systems.
  • Digital Insight teams up with PSCU to launch Card Management Services for Digital Banking.
  • Alliance Credit Union ($395 million ) selects Insuritas to open and manage its turnkey insurance agency.

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.

From CEO to Deputy Mayor, Xendpay’s Rajesh Agrawal Heads to City Hall

From CEO to Deputy Mayor, Xendpay’s Rajesh Agrawal Heads to City Hall

Xendpay_homepage_June2016

The new mayor of London isn’t just pro-business. He’s pro-fintech, as well.

To help his city manage the financial ramifications of the vote this week for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, London’s new mayor, Sadiq Khan, has appointed Xendpay founder and CEO Rajesh Agrawal as deputy mayor.

“I know that Rajesh is the best person for the job of protecting jobs and growth in London as we deal with the fallout of the referendum,” Khan said. The mayor credited Agrawal’s experience in creating “multi-million pound businesses from scratch” as giving the fintech entrepreneur insight into the challenges businesses face in the United Kingdom.

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Xendpay founder and CEO Rajesh Agrawal demonstrated his online money-transfer technology at FinovateEurope 2013 in London.

Agrawal, who in 2012 founded international money-transfer specialist Xendpay and served as Khan’s business adviser during the mayoral campaign, added that the sense of welcome he experienced as an immigrant to the UK must be maintained even as the country’s relationship with Europe changes. “(I) found a city that welcomed me with open arms and didn’t make me feel like a stranger,” Agrawal said. “This openness to talent and enterprise must not change as a result of the referendum.”

Xendpay’s online money-transfer service allows people to send money either to bank accounts, or to the company’s partnering network of cash-collection points. Geared toward international travelers of all kinds—from tourists to students to migrant workers, and available in English, Spanish, German, French, and Polish—Xendpay offers both cash-to-cash as well as more traditional card-to-bank transfers. All payments are covered by the FSA authorization of RationalFX, the foreign-exchange services firm Agrawal founded in 2005.

Agrawal demonstrated the Xendpay platform at FinovateEurope 2013. Earlier this year, the company announced that its money-transfer service was available in Tanzania and Burkina Faso.

 

 

 

Fenergo Adds Enhanced Rules, Remediation to its CRS Compliance Solution

Fenergo Adds Enhanced Rules, Remediation to its CRS Compliance Solution

Fenergo_homepage_June2016

Client Lifecycle Management solution provider Fenergo is boosting the capabilities of its Tax Compliance suite. The enhanced version of the company’s CRS Compliance Solution is geared toward improving tax-regulation compliance through improvements to the Three Rs: Rules, Remediation, and Reporting.

“Where FATCA was the game changer in tax compliance, the Common Reporting Standard promises to go way beyond FATCA’s remit to ensure global-wide tax compliance,” said Laura Glynn, Fenergo’s global manager for regulatory affairs. This challenge has guided the improvements made to Fenergo’s technology, providing a rules-based process to identify and conduct due diligence on reportable clients and accounts. This process also includes the data-capture and -classification requirements for both CRS and FATCA.

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Fenergo CEO Marc Murphy demonstrated Deal Manager at FinovateEurope 2012 in London.

Glynn highlighted the complexity of the issue for financial institutions in areas such as Asia in particular, which often have to meet the compliance standards of more than 40 different regional regulators. It is also especially relevant for Fenergo, which announced an expansion to Singapore in February. “This is a huge operational undertaking forcing financial institutions to be able to manage each of the rules from every jurisdiction,” Glynn said. Fenergo has not only upgraded its Regulatory Rules Engine, but also enhanced the functionality of its Remediation Master Case Management and Workflow. The streamlined simplification and improved visibility will make it easier for financial professionals to track remediation cases and subcases. The company says that the platform is already being implemented with clients.

Read more about Fenergo’s work on remediation and reporting in the company’s white paper.

Recent headlines for Fenergo include the company’s move into the Middle East market in May, opening an office in Abu Dhabi. ICBC Standard Bank choose Fenergo’s client lifecycle management platform in April. And Kikko Securities America announced in March that it would deploy the company’s AML, KYC, FATCA technology.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Fenergo demonstrated its Deal Manager solution at FinovateSpring 2012. Fenergo has raised more than $80 million in funding; its most recent is a $75 million private equity infusion in July 2015 from Insight Venture Partners. The company was recognized in the European Fintech 100 in April 2016, the same month that FinTechCity featured Fenergo in its FinTech50 2016 list of the hottest fintechs in Europe.

 

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • GBG Group Agrees to Acquire IDScan Biometrics
  • Check out this week’s FinDEVr APIntelligence.
  • Kreditech Launches Online POS Financing Solution
  • Fenergo Adds Enhanced Rules, Remediation to its CRS Compliance Solution
  • From CEO to Deputy Mayor, Xendpay’s Rajesh Agrawal Heads to City Hall

Around the web

  • The Paypers interviews ACI Worldwide’s Craig Saks, group president of strategic products.
  • The Media Line’s column on CyberWeek 2016 at Tel Aviv University features ThetaRay.
  • PYMNTS.com chats with Jeff Hampton, TSYS director of product marketing.
  • Greg Smith, Blooom president; Aaron David Bauer, Envestnet Executive MD; and Andy Swan of LikeFolio earn spots on Investment News’ 40 Under 40 list.
  • Matt Fellowes resigns as chief innovation officer at Morningstar—which bought HelloWallet in 2014—to build retirement software.
  • ID Analytics secures patent for systematic detection of fraud rings.
  • Fenergo enhances CRS compliance solution with enhanced rules and remediation.

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.

IBM Opens Bluemix Garage in New York City

IBM Opens Bluemix Garage in New York City

IBM_Bluemix_homepage_June2016

In opening its latest Bluemix Garage in New York City, IBM continues to put money where developers, software designers and others are. The New York City location will be IBM’s sixth, with garages currently in operation in San Francisco, Toronto, London, Nice, and Tokyo. IBM is partnering with Galvanize, who will host the New York garage on its new New York campus. Other locations are said to be in the works for the second half of 2016.

Galvanize co-founder and CEO Jim Deters said that locating the Bluemix Garage in New York City, within the Galvanize community, “allows our strong network of developers and startups to leverage the power of the cloud and the expertise of IBM to competitively innovate products and apps in the growing fintech and blockchain spaces.” Galvanize runs a network for developers, coders, and technology entrepreneurs, and has more than 1,800 members across seven campuses.

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Pictured (left to right): IBM’s Alex Baghdjian, senior offering associate, financial markets & wealth management, and Rob Stanich, global wealth management offering manager, demonstrated Client Insight for Wealth Management.

IBM’s cloud-development platform, Bluemix, has more than 140 tools and technologies for developing solutions leveraging big data, mobile, analytics, Watson, IoT, and more. With more than 120,000 applications launched from the platform every month, the open standards-based platform  is one of largest public cloud deployments in the world. Within its Bluemix Garages, IBM is especially interested in blockchain-related projects such as those pursued by the Mizuho Financial Group, which is working with the IBM Bluemix Garage in Tokyo to develop settlement technology using the blockchain. Prashant Bhuyan, CEO of Alpha Modus, an investment technology firm, credited Bluemix for helping his company launch “transformational apps that leverage cognitive analytics with unbelievable time and efficiency.”

Founded in 1911, IBM made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016, demonstrating its Client Insight for Wealth Management technology. IBM’s cloud technologies have been in New York since 2014, when IBM Cloud was deployed to power Digital.NYC—an online hub that connects more than 8,000 startups within New York City’s startup and technology community.


If you’re into fintech development, then be sure to put our upcoming developer’s conference, FinDEVr 2016 Silicon Valley, on your calendar. Join us October 18 and 19 for two days of the latest in fintech APIs, case studies, integrations, and more.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • IBM Opens Bluemix Garage in New York City
  • Lending Club Appoints Scott Sanborn as CEO
  • Canadian Government Selects OutsideIQ to Bring DDIQ to Brazil and London

On FinDEVr.com

  • Avalara Adds New Stripe Integration, Earns Dual Honors at American Business Awards

Around the web

  • Jack Henry & Associates launches new app collaboration platform, JHA Marketplace.
  • Digital Insight gives customers pre-login look at bank balances via their mobile banking app.
  • Absa Stockbrokers and Portfolio Management has implemented the Secure Document Repository solution from Striata.
  • TSYS Named to The Civic 50 in 2016

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.

Avoka Locks in $12 Million in New Investment

Avoka Locks in $12 Million in New Investment

Avoka_homepage_June2016

Digital customer acquisition specialist and multiple Best of Show winner Avoka has picked up $12 million in new investment. The venture round featured participation from a variety of institutions and professional fintech investors in Australia and is the first major funding for the company since 2013. Avoka CEO Phil Copeland said the new investment will be used to “accelerate our already strong organic growth prospects, expand our product capabilities … and explore new markets.”

With regard to products, Copeland highlighted Avoka Transact, saying that the investment will help the company continue to build and develop the technology, which he called “the leading single platform for driving customer-centric digital transformation.” He added that part of further developing his company’s solutions will be to integrate fraud, identity management, fund transfer, and core banking functionality into the platform.

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Avoka’s Kevin Mortimer, technical director, and Derek Corcoran, chief experience officer, demonstrated Avoka Transaction Effort Score at FinovateEurope 2016 in London.

Underscoring the importance of growth and expansion to the company’s past and future, Copeland noted that not only did 65% of Avoka’s revenue come from North American and European markets, but also that the percentage “is expected to grow substantially” in the wake of this latest funding round. Advising on the deal was Moelis & Company whose managing director, Ben Wong, called the company “a great example of an Australian technology company with a global footprint based on best-of-breed technology being adopted by global corporate customers.”

Recent headlines for Avoka include a new partnership with fellow Finovate alum Mitek to build a new mobile onboarding solution in May. In April, Beyond Bank won the Celent model bank award with a customer-engagement platform from Avoka, the same month Avoka partnered with Finovate alum eSignLive to enable 100% digital customer acquisition. Avoka was named to the Top Ten FinTech Worldwide by KPMG in March.

Founded in 2002 in Sydney, Australia, and co-headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Avoka demonstrated its Transaction Effort Score (TES) at FinovateEurope 2016. The company has more than 95 working in offices in Sydney, Denver, and London and includes 2 global banks; 5 of the top-50 banks in the U.S.; and 4 of the top-10 banks in Australia among its more than 80 customers.

Klarna Raises $35 Million in “First Small Step” into Debt Financing

Klarna Raises $35 Million in “First Small Step” into Debt Financing

Klarna_homepage_June2016

One small step for Klarna. One giant leap for fintechs considering financing beyond equity investment.

The Swedish payments innovator is raising $32.2 million (300 million crowns) via a subordinated-note sale to “a limited number of large Nordic investors.” The 10-year, floating-rate notes come with an initial 4% coupon, which is based on the 3-month STIBOR plus 4.5%.

Speaking about the financing, Klarna’s Erik Engellau-Nilsson said that the funding was the company’s “first small step to a wider presence in debt capital markets.” The goal of the financing was first to fund Klarna’s accelerated growth, which Engellau-Nilsson credited to expansion into U.S. and U.K. markets. He said the second goal was to “test the debt capital markets, and see what the appetite was like.”

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Jakob Söderbaum, SVP sales, demonstrated Klarna at FinovateSpring 2012 in San Francisco.

Testing the debt capital market will help Klarna diversify its funding sources. The company has raised more than $285 million in equity including £90 million in private equity to finance the acquisition of Sofort in 2014.

While much of the growing use of debt financing in fintech can be attributed to the rise of alternative lenders who may be institutionally more comfortable with debt, Klarna’s latest financing is a reminder that the debt capital markets are an option for a wide variety of fintechs. Consider the $60 million debt financing deal for Finovate alum Yapstone (payments); the $2.5 million debt financing for Socure; and $3 million in venture debt for ID.me (authentication); and the $1 million in debt financing for DeviceFidelity (hardware). Ahead of this latest financing, Klarna was believed to have a valuation of more than $2 billion.

Available at 65,000 online stores and with 45 million consumers using the technology, Klarna enables more efficient e-commerce by allowing shoppers to receive goods first and then pay for them within 14 days of delivery. Klarna assumes all credit and fraud risk, making the process safer for online merchants, and requires only minimal, top-of-mind information from consumers (i.e., name and address). The company says its revenues grew by 27% year-over-year (2.2 billion crowns in 2014 versus 2.8 billion crowns in 2015) and expects revenue gains of 40% in 2016 due in large part to Klarna’s U.S. expansion last fall.

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Klarna demonstrated its payment technology at FinovateSpring 2012. In June, the company was named to the CNBC Disruptor 50 list for a second year in a row and in May, Klarna announced that its payment-processing technology would be made available to brick-and-mortar merchants. The company announced a partnership with UK e-commerce host, EKM in April, the same month Klarna earned a spot on FinTechCity’s inaugural FinTech50 Hall of Fame.