Author: David Penn

Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Bento for Business, CardFlight, Compass Plus, DriveWealth, Kony, NYMBUS, Ping Identity, Tango Card, Temenos, ThetaRay, ThreatMetrix, Zooz

On Finovate.com

  • NYMBUS Raises $12 Million in Round Led by Vensure  Enterprises
  • CardFlight to Power EMV Mobile Processing for BluePay
  • Bento for Business Unveils New Mobile App

Around the web

  • Investopedia features Zooz and ThetaRay in a look at Israeli fintech startups.
  • National Bank of Kuwait goes live with Temenos Treasury Trader.
  • Compass Plus earns Faster Payments accreditation.
  • InformationWeek lists CrowdFlower in its lineup of cool machine learning startups to watch.
  • Ping Identity launches Contextual Access Management capabilities to help companies with digital transformation and cloud and mobile initiatives.
  • GeekWire features Tango Card. Watch the startup’s live demo at FinovateFall next month.
  • Kony enhances support for applications running on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and updates offerings in AWS Marketplace.
  • ThreatMetrix appoints key executives to initiate Asia Pacific expansion.
  • TradingView announces support for DriveWealth.

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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FinDEVr Alum UpGuard Raises $17 Million Series B

FinDEVr Alum UpGuard Raises $17 Million Series B
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, ScriptRock, UpGuard

UpGuard_homepage_August2016

Cybersecurity specialist UpGuard has raised $17 million in new funding from a group of investors that included a “strategic investment” from Australian insurance giant, IAG. The company, which made its FinDEVr debut last fall in San Francisco as ScriptRock, will use the capital to help grow its CSTAR cybersecurity preparedness-assessment solution, as well as double staff to 120 by early next year. UpGuard co-CEO and cofounder Mike Baukes said that “by providing the tools needed to build resilient information systems, make strategic decisions with real data in real time, as well as obtain cyber insurance should the worst case scenario occur, we equip businesses to start fighting fire with fire.”

UpGuard_Scriptrock_stage_FDSF2015

Alan Sharp-Paul, cofounder and co-CEO of UpGuard, during his presentation, “Integrity in the Age of DevOps,” at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015.

The Series B was led by new investor Pelion Venture Partners and existing investor Square Peg Capital. All of UpGuard’s other current investors participated in the round as well, which takes the company’s total capital to $27 million. Speaking about the investment, Pelion Ventures Partner Chris Cooper said, “UpGuard’s ability to assess both external and internal risk factors is a huge step forward in understanding the complete security posture of a business.” He also praised CSTAR’s “technical rigor and simplicity” when it comes to helping companies to better manage data-breach risks.

CSTAR provides enterprises with a comprehensive and actionable cybersecurity preparedness score. FinDEVr2015-AlumniV2Similar to the way financial risk is aggregated into credit scores for consumers, CSTAR gives businesses such as ADP, Citrix, and Rackspace a single, wholistic risk metric that still enables them to drill down to the server or device level to spot and remedy potential vulnerabilities. UpGuard believes CSTAR can serve as the basis for a cyber-risk benchmark for businesses and consumers alike, and will explore new opportunities with insurance companies, such as with IAG, to help them better assess their customer’s cyber risks. The company also provides a free external assessment tool for websites.

Founded in Australia and headquartered in San Francisco, UpGuard presented “Integrity in the Age of DevOps” at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015.

Looking to make your own splash in the world of DevOps? Join us for FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016, on October 18 & 19, as we dedicate two days to the people who put the “tech” in fintech. Visit our registration page and save your spot today.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ayondo, BizEquity, Chain.com, Shoeboxed, UpGuard, vaamo, Xero

On Finovate.com

  • Fintech Trending: Alt Lending Woes, Asia Grows, and Everbank Exits
  • FinDEVr Alum UpGuard Raises $17 Million Series B
  • vaamo Partners with N26 (Formerly Number26)

Around the web

  • ayondo launches simulated trading app, the ayondo academy.
  • Chain announces new partnership with Initiative for Cryptocurrency and Contracts (IC3).
  • Shoeboxed launches Direct Downloads for reports.

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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Braintree, Finicity, and Twilio Take Top Honors at API World Awards

Braintree, Finicity, and Twilio Take Top Honors at API World Awards
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Braintree, Finicity, Twilio

2016API_Awards_homepage

Finovate and FinDEVr alums Braintree, Finicity and Twilio won recognition at the API World Awards sponsored by API World 2016. Braintree earned the top spot in the Payment APIs category for its payments-platform technology, and Finicity won first place in the Finance APIs category for its Financial Data API with TxPUSH. Twilio was the top recipient of votes in the Communication APIs category. The three companies were among 18 startups competing in more than 30 API categories ranging from API Infrastructure and API Security to Enterprise APIs and Internet of Things APIs.

The jury of six featured Michael Ludden, product manager, developer relations for IBM Watson; John Musser, founder and CEO of API Science; Neha Sampat, CEO of Built.io; Michael Stowe, developer relations manager for MuleSoft; Steven Willmott, CEO of 3scale; and Rob Zazueta, director of digital strategy, TIBCO Software.

API_Award_BraintreeBraintree’s payment platform serves both online and mobile merchants, providing a secure payment gateway, merchant account, recurrent billing and credit card storage. The company’s APIs are used around the world, giving businesses in 40 countries in North America, Europe, and Australia the ability to accept payments in more than 130 different currencies. Braintree demonstrated its payment solution Venmo Touch at FinovateSpring 2013, and more recently has been a mainstay of our FinDEVr developer conferences on both East and West Coasts. Braintree, which was acquired by PayPal for $800 million in cash in 2013, announced that its Venmo P2P solution could be used for in-app purchases with selected merchants starting last month.

API_Award_FinicityBased in Salt Lake City, Utah, Finicity demoed its Data Services technology at FinovateSpring 2015, and more recently presented at FinDEVr New York 2016 this spring. At FinDEVr, Finicity unveiled the first TxPUSH-compliant, real-time aggregation service that pushes transaction data to software apps rather than the standard “pull” methodology common to most aggregation services. The company joined forces with fellow FinDEVr alum Intuit when the latter transitioned away from financial data services earlier this year, and acquired fellow Finovate alum Aurora Financial Systems last fall. Nick Thomas is president and co-founder.

API_Award_TwilioTwilio demonstrated its Authy Two-Factor Authentication technology at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 and at FinovateFall 2015. The company went public in June, raising more than $150 million, and now sports a market capitalization of $4 billion. Twilio announced that it would help AWS deliver SMS messages in July, and was named to the 2016 CNBC Disruptor 50 in June.

FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016 goes live 8/9 October. Join us for two days of developer-friendly presentations, demonstrations, case studies, and more. Tickets are on sale now. So visit our registration page today and save your spot!

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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Good Data

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Good Data
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2016, FinovateFall 2016 Sneak Peek, GoodData

GoodData_homepage_Aug2016

FF2016-Logo-wdate-largeA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500+ fintech professionals on 8/9 September 2016. Register today.

GoodData is the leading platform for financial services and technology companies to create and distribute self-service analytics.

Features:

  • Interactive data products targeting B2B partners
  • Benchmarking sales and purchase behavior across locations to improve strategies
  • Cross-merchant analysis to identify co-marketing opportunities

Why it’s great
Financial service and technology companies can distribute analytics across their business networks and embed analytics in their existing solutions to maximize their competitive offering.

GoodData_blaine_mathieu

Presenter: Blaine Mathieu, Chief Marketing and Product Officer
With 25+ years’ executive experience, Mathieu leads GoodData’s global product and marketing strategy, investing in new market penetration and growth, and accelerating an innovative go-to-market model.
LinkedIn

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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: MarketX

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: MarketX
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2016, FinovateFall 2016 Sneak Peek, MarketX

MarketX_homepage_Aug2016

FF2016-Logo-wdate-largeA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500+ fintech professionals on 8/9 September 2016. Register today.

MarketX is a cross-border investment platform connecting pre-IPO shareholders with international, accredited investors to transact seamlessly and to build future business partnerships overseas.

Features:

  • Enabling private companies to raise funds in China
  • Helping pre-IPO shareholders to find liquidity
  • Providing data and research to help individual investors to invest in the best pre-IPO companies

Why it’s great
As a pre-IPO investor and shareholder, you can now find liquidity from the international markets.

Presenters

MarketX_CathrynChen2Cathryn Chen, CEO and Founder
Chen worked at Deutsche Bank, Rothschild, and JP Morgan in Hong Kong and London. She later joined EverString Technology as an early employee, leveraging predictive analytics for marketing automation.
LinkedIn

 

Han Lai, Product Lead
MarketX_Han_LaiLai worked for HSBC and PayPal before becoming an angel investor. At PayPal, he led the merchant product conversion and revenue optimization of 2,500 enterprise, SMB, and distribution partners.
LinkedIn

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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Bitbond

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Bitbond
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Bitbond, FinovateFall 2016, FinovateFall 2016 Sneak Peek

Bitbond_homepage_August2016

FF2016-Logo-wdate-largeA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500+ fintech professionals on 8/9 September 2016. Register today.

Bitbond is the first global marketplace-lending platform for small business loans. The company will showcase its automated and country independent SME scoring.

Features:

  • Instant approval of SME loan applicants
  • Consistent scoring quality across countries for investors
  • High scoring efficiency and scalability

Why it’s great
Bitbond scores SME borrowers consistently and efficiently across different countries.

Bitbond_Radoslav-AlbrechtPresenters

Radoslav Albrecht, CEO and Founder
Albrecht is the founder and CEO of Bitbond; previously, he was a senior consultant at Roland Berger and worked at Deutsche Bank London.
LinkedIn

 

Bitbond_Jaroslaw-NowotkaJaroslaw Nowotka, CTO
Nowotka is the CTO of Bitbond. He is an experienced software developer and previously ran Helloslash, a website builder.
LinkedIn

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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: TokBox

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: TokBox
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2016, FinovateFall 2016 Sneak Peek, TokBox

Tokbox_homepage_August2016

FF2016-Logo-wdate-largeA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500+ fintech professionals on 8/9 September 8 2016. Register today.

TokBox, a Telefonica company, developed and operates OpenTok, a global cloud platform for embedding live video, voice, messaging, and screen sharing into website and mobile applications.

Features:

  • Secure real-time video, voice, and messaging
  • Collaboration features including screen sharing and annotation
  • Easy to embed into your existing interface

Why it’s great
TokBox makes it quick and easy to embed secure real-time communications into financial service applications to offer high-touch customer service to clients online.

TokBox_Badri_RajasekarPresenter: Badri Rajasekar, CTO and SVP of Engineering
Rajasekar is the CTO and SVP of engineering at TokBox, the provider of OpenTok, the leading real-time communications platform. At TokBox, he leads the core engineering and operations teams.
LinkedIn

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BankBazaar, Bitbond, Boku, Braintree, Currency Cloud, DriveWealth, Dwolla, Finicity, GoodData, Kore, MarketX, Markit, Meniga, Qapital, Twilio, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • Finovate Debuts: How the Kore Bots Deliver More than Your Average Chatbot
  • DriveWealth Expands APIs for Wealth Managers
  • Braintree, Finicity, and Twilio Take Top Honors at API World Awards

Around the web

  • BankBazaar wins “Emerging Brand of the Year” and “CEO of the Year” at seventh CMO Asia Awards.
  • Fintech News Switzerland highlights Currency Cloud and Zopa in a look at London’s top rising fintech stars.
  • Boku brings direct carrier billing to Windows 10 phones in the United Kingdom and Italy.
  • Markit enhances WSO software suite to offer new levels of automation for syndicated loan market.

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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Automobile Title Lending Platform Finova Financial Raises $52.5 Million

Automobile Title Lending Platform Finova Financial Raises $52.5 Million
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finova Financial

FinovaFinancial_homepage_August2016

In a round led by a host of Silicon Valley and international investors, auto-title lending-platform developer Finova Financial has raised $52.5 million in combined equity and debt. The investment is one of the largest initial investments in a fintech company and will be used to help grow what Finova calls “the industry’s first all-digital lending platform serving the auto-title loan-marketplace.”

Finova Financial CEO Gregory Keough said that his company and its technology were about more than just helping auto buyers get the funding they need while avoiding the “high interest rates, inconvenient application processes and restrictive terms” he said are all too common in the auto title lending business. “We see Finova Financial as being an advocate for consumer financial well-being through improved access to credit, better repayment terms and lower costs,” Keough said.

FinovaFinancial_stage_FS2016b

Finova Financial CEO Gregory Keough demonstrated the Car Equity Line of Credit (C-LOC) at FinovateSpring 2016 in San Jose, California.

Investors participating in the round included 500 Startups, the UAE-based Al Hamra Group, Metamorphic Venture, MHS Capital, and Refractor Capital. Individual investors included Sam Hodges, co-founder and managing director of Funding Circle, and Jake Gibson, cofounder of NerdWallet. The credit facility was provided by CoVenture.

Finova Financial’s Car Equity Line of Credit enables borrowers to leverage the equity in their car to obtain affordable, same-day, emergency cash funding. Finova provides instant approval decisions with up to 12-month terms, and customers can apply for loans as well as make payments online or via mobile device. In addition, the company has partnered with 32,000 retail outlets in the U.S. to facilitate in-person payments. Finova notes that 70 million underserved Americans spend $138 billion a year in fees and interest on alternative financial products and says that auto title loans in particular charge upwards of 300% in interest. In contrast, Finova Financial’s C-LOC charges a maximum APR of 30%, and all fees, such as DMV lien fees, are rolled into the life of the loan.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, Finova Financial demonstrated its Car Equity Line of Credit (C-LOC) solution at FinovateSpring 2016.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Betterment, eMoney Advisor, Envestnet, EquityZen, Finova Financial, Interactions, Kontomatik, Simple, TradeRiver Finance

On Finovate.com

  • Interactions Garners $56 Million in its Largest Funding Round Yet
  • Automobile Title Lending Platform Finova Financial Raises $52.5 Million
  • Check out this week’s FinDEVr APIntelligence.

Around the web

  • Kontomatik’s Konstantin Rabin shares his thoughts on successful lending in The Paypers.
  • Forbes features Jon Stein, Betterment CEO and cofounder.
  • San Diego Business Journal names eMoney Advisor one of the “Best Places to Work in San Diego.”
  • Envestnet | Yodlee launches Transaction Data Enrichment to offer transparency into transactions.
  • TradeRiver Finance reaches milestone of lending GBP100 million to U.K. businesses.
  • Portland Business Journal takes a look inside Simple’s new office.

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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Holvi and SumUp Join Forces to Serve SMEs and the Self-Employed

Holvi and SumUp Join Forces to Serve SMEs and the Self-Employed
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Holvi, SumUp

Holvi_homepage_August2016

SumUp helps merchants accept card payments, and Holvi provides banking services to small businesses. The just-announced partnership between the two will give small businesses and the self-employed a more complete range of financial services without having to rely on traditional banks.

“The cooperation with SumUp is the next logical step for us, because the payment (market) is moving more and more toward the card payments in Germany,” said Leah Marie Zeppos, Holvi DACH country manager. The opportunity is especially large among the self-employed, which has grown by nearly 40% in the past decade to total more than 1.3 million Germans.

SumUp_Germany_homepage_August2016

“With the Holvi business account, our customers can concentrate on the essentials,” says Maximilian Stella, SumUp’s VP of business development. “Independence has never been so easy.” SumUp and Holvi see the partnership has helping encourage entrepreneurship in way that is more cost-effective and efficient for smaller companies and individual businesses.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in London, SumUp demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2013. The company acquired payleven this spring, creating a €1 billion-a-year payment-processing giant that provides services in 15 countries including Germany and Brazil. Daniel Klein is CEO.

Holvi provides small business customers with an online business banking account, a Business MasterCard, and digital accounting and bookkeeping. Referred to by Wired magazine as one of the “hottest startups in Finland,” the company was acquired by BBVA in March. Johan Lorenzen joined Holvi as CEO in 2013, the same year the Helsinki-based startup made its most recent Finovate appearance.

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