Deadline for Queen City Fintech Spring 2016 Accelerator is This Week

Deadline for Queen City Fintech Spring 2016 Accelerator is This Week

QCFinTech_homepage_Jan2016

The deadline for applications to join the Spring 2016 cohort of the Queen City FinTech Accelerator Program is this Wednesday, 6 January.

QCFinTech is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, a major U.S. financial services hub that provides access to professional mentors from institutions ranging from Bank of America to Wells Fargo. The accelerator program runs for 12 months with 12 weeks of on-site “intensive acceleration” beginning in March and ending with a Demo Day event on 1 June 2016. Finovate Best of Show award winner Dyme is among the program’s alums.

In a statement, QCFinTech said their accelerator program was an opportunity to help different kinds of fintech companies bring their innovations to market. “While our program does not focus on one aspect of FinTech,” the statement noted, “our mentors and expertise tend to have core expertise in payments, cyber security, retail and consumer banking.”

 

Finovate Alumni News

Around the web

  • Wipro appoints Abidali Neemuchwala, CEO and member of the board, and names TK Kurien as executive VP.
  • Top Image Systems announces quarter-million-dollar eFLOW5 upgrade project of Hong Kong subsidiary of a top-ten Chinese bank.
  • Let’s Talk Payments interviews Peter Burridge, Hyperwallet CRO and president.
  • PYMNTS interviews WePay’s Global Vice President of Sales and Success Kurt Bilafer about customer intimacy in online commerce.
  • Fortune: How Venmo plans to make money.
  • PayPal and Aramex partner to create www.ishoptheworld.com, a one-stop cross-border marketplace.

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.

Credit Karma Thinks Mobile with Snowball Acquisition

Credit Karma Thinks Mobile with Snowball Acquisition

CreditKarma_homepage_Jan2016

“Snowball” isn’t just a strategy for repaying debt. It’s also the name of the first acquisition by personal finance and credit management platform, Credit Karma.

“We have tens of thousands of data points on a particular customer at any time,” Credit Karma CTO Ryan Graciano told TechCrunch last week. “But sorting through all that … is a very tricky thing to do, especially in a way where you’re not overwhelming the user with spurious notifications.”

And that’s where Snowball comes in. The app was developed in 2014 to aggregate multiple Android-based messaging apps. Credit Karma plans to use the technology to deliver actionable mobile notifications, and they like the fact that the platform is native to Android. “Android is a key platform for us,” Graciano said. “And these guys have a really amazing experience on Android.”

CreditKarma_stage_FS2009

From left: Credit Karma CEO Ken Lin, founder, and VP Nichole Mustard, business development, demonstrated Credit Karma’s Debt Manager platform at FinovateSpring 2009.

Five members of Snowball’s six-person team will join Credit Karma, including Snowball CEO Anish Acharya who will serve as senior director for product management. Snowball had raised $2.3 million in funding from investors including Felicis Ventures, First Round Capital and Greylock Partners.

Founded in July 2007 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Credit Karma specializes in providing credit management information, including free credit monitoring, credit scores, reports, and email alerts. The company has raised more than $368 million in financing, including its most recent $175 million Series D round in June 2015 . Credit Karma was named to Fast Company’s 2015 Silicon Valley “Nice” list, and was recognized by Glassdoor as one of the “Best Places to Work in 2016” in December, the same month the company joined 19 fellow Finovate alums on the first Forbes Fintech 50. In November 2015, Credit Karma celebrated giving away its billionth free credit score since launching in 2008.

Credit Karma demonstrated its Debt Manager platform at FinovateSpring 2009.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Credit Karma Thinks Mobile with Snowball Acquisition
  • “Finovate Debuts: Urban FT Brings a Social PFM to Prepaid Cardholders”

Around the web

  • Let’s Talk Payments features several Finovate alums in its look at fintech in Europe. Remember FinovateEurope 2016 is just over one month away.
  • American Banker highlights Global Debt Registry in a review of companies tackling the problem of debt collection.
  • WealthForge publishes its 2015 Year in Review in infographic form.
  • American Banker recognizes CBW Bank’s Suresh Ramamurthi as Innovator of the Year.
  • Suffolk Bancorp in N.Y. Names Fiserv Core Processor (paywall).
  • Zopa reviews 2015 stats and discloses 2016 plans.

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.

Wipro Inks Agreement to Acquire Viteos Group

Wipro Inks Agreement to Acquire Viteos Group

Wipro_homepage_Dec2015

In a bid to grow its fund accounting and business process services and capabilities, Bangalore-based IT consultancy Wipro has agreed to acquire Viteos Group. The Times of India reports a purchase price of $130 million.

Viteos Group provides a proprietary platform built for cross-border, any asset class, any currency, post-trade operations for the U.S. alternative investment-management industry. The company has offices in New York, New Jersey, London, and the Cayman Islands.

Nagendra Bandaru, SVP and head of business process services for Wipro, says Viteos “brings with it experienced leadership, domain expertise, and unique BPaaS capability.” Speaking for Viteos, company founder and CEO Shankar Iyer referred to the acquisition as the “culmination” of his company’s “search for a global partner.”

Wipro_stage_FEU2015

From left: Wipro General Manager Mukund Kalmanker, Wipro general manager, and Sudhakar Babu Tamminedi, Wipro practice head, demonstrated ngGenie myAdvisor at FinovateEurope 2015 in London.

Terms of the acquisition were not immediately available, and the deal is still subject to regulatory review. The acquisition is scheduled to be complete by the end of March 2016.

The deal combines Viteos Group’s buy-side expertise with Wipro’s sell-side credentials in areas such as reconciliation, settlements, and KYC, among others. President of Wipro, CEO Shaji Farooq explained that the trend of IT services moving toward the “as-a-service” model made a deal like this one with Viteos a priority. “Our strategy is to invest in industry vertical platforms which will provide platform-based services to our clients in a transaction/outcome-based pricing model,” Farooq explained. “Viteos will further our strategy in the capital markets domain.”

Viteos Group is Wipro’s second acquisition of the month. The company announced plans to acquire IT consultancy Cellent AG for €73.5 million early in December and, in June, Wipro launched its e-KYC solution which leverages its AI platform, Wipro HOLMES. The company began the year with a major, multiyear, IT outsourcing contract with Allied Irish Banks (AIB).

Founded in 1945 as Western India Palm Refined Oils Limited, Wipro is headquartered in Bangalore, India. A multinational IT consulting and systems-integration firm, Wipro demonstrated its Wipro ngGenie myAdvisor technology at FinovateEurope 2015.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Lending Club Raises Average Rate 0.25%”
  • “Wipro Inks Agreement to Acquire Viteos Group”

Around the web

  • VentureBeat takes a look at the latest update to Toshl’s PFM app.
  • Insurance NewsNet features Wealthfront, Personal Capital, Hedgeable, and Betterment in a survey of robo-advisers.
  • WooTrader enables direct trading from its platform courtesy of a new integration with Tradier and its brokerage API.
  • GeekWire interviews CEO BJ Lackland of Lighter Capital.
  • Fidelity Clearing & Custody to offer clients protection from EverSafe at a reduced rate.

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.

2015: A Year in Finovate Alumni Mergers and Acquisitions

2015: A Year in Finovate Alumni Mergers and Acquisitions

Handshake_graphic

2015 was another big year for mergers and acquisitions in the fintech industry. And whether they were the acquirer or the acquired, Finovate alums were very much a part of the M&A action.

Because terms of many deals were undisclosed, it is difficult to get a precise number on how much money was spent acquiring some of fintech’s most promising startups this year. But looking just at those acquisitions for which figures were available, we can see that 2015 was a banner year in M&A (more than $7 billion) — and that’s just counting alums.

So from the $5 billion deal between FIS and Sungard to the “alum-acquires-alum” mergers of September 2015, let’s take a closer look at some of the major unions of the year that featured Finovate alums.


December


October


September


August


July


May


April


March


February


January


If you’re a Finovate alum whose merger we’ve missed or acquisition we’ve overlooked, let us know. Send us an email at research@finovate.com.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “2015: A Year in Finovate Alumni Mergers and Acquisitions”

Around the web

  • TechTarget interviews Vantiv CSO Kim Jones on “creating a culture of security.”
  • Moneystream announces plans to close its doors in February 2016.
  • Nostrum Group earns a spot in Deloitte 2015 Technology Fast 500 for the EMEA region.
  • Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana explains why 2016 will be the year P2P lending hits the mainstream.
  • Holvi is featured in this look at the top 10 startups in Finland.
  • TopFunded interviews BankersLab CEO Michelle Katics. See BankersLab at FinovateEurope 2016 in London in February 2016.
  • Credit Karma wins a spot on Fast Company’s 2015 Silicon Valley “Nice” list.
  • Emerging Prairie looks at how a local RIA is integrating Motif Investing into his business.
  • SwipeStox launches new features. Check out SwipeStox at FinovateEurope 2016.
  • Personal Capital Debuts First eBook: A Better Financial Life.
  • Backbase awarded accolades in Gartner report, Critical Capabilities for Horizontal Portals. Backbase will demo at FinovateEurope 2016.

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

  • “Gusto, Formerly ZenPayroll, Closes on $50 Million Funding”
  • “U.K.-Based Yoyo Rolls Out Mobile Wallet in U.S.”

Around the web

  • B2B commerce technology company Handshake teams up with Xero.
  • Braintree launches new extension of its v.zero SDK in partnership with Magento Commerce.
  • CRIF Credit Solutions unveils new, fully responsive website geared toward international audiences.
  • Business Insider names Kabbage, Twilio, and Prosper as 3 of 42 startups that grew to be worth billions in 2015.
  • Top Image Systems to deploy eFLOW Digital Mailroom at GED Bulgaria.
  • NerdWallet’s five financial tips from robo-adviser CEOs feature insights from leaders of Betterment, Wealthfront, TradeKing Advisors, FutureAdvisor, and Personal Capital.
  • Nine months after launching, One Touch from PayPal reaches 10 million users in 23 countries.

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.

Ripple Technology Drives Invoice Trading Platform

Ripple Technology Drives Invoice Trading Platform

Ripple_homepage_technology_Dec2015

Remember this spring when Ripple’s $28 million series A round overshadowed same-day news of the company’s expansion to Asia?

This week we learned that distributed-ledger technology from Ripple is driving a blockchain-based invoice trading platform built by Standard Chartered Bank, DBS Bank, and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore.

Ripple_stage_FS2013

Ripple CEO Chris Larsen demonstrated the Ripple protocol at FinovateSpring 2013.

“This custom solution was the result of a collaborative effort by many industry players with a wealth of experience in trade finance,” Chris Larsen, Ripple CEO said. “It is also on the forefront of the trending use of distributed financial technologies in the Asia-Pacific region.”

The platform, currently in proof-of-concept stage, converts invoices into digital assets on a distributed ledger. Parties involved get cryptographic identities, which enables the invoice information to be shared by banks (for example, to avoid duplicate financing) without revealing identifiable information.

This last issue is significant enough for FIs. But other potential applications of distributed-ledger technology like Ripple are already being considered. Talking with GTReview, Standard Chartered’s Gautam Jain, global head of digitization and client access for transaction banking, says the technology can also be extended to other trade instruments, such as bills of lading. “We believe that the assembly of all the various documentation and processing stages involved in a trade transaction can happen on a distributed ledger,” Jain told GTR. He added that he thinks the platform, which took six months to develop, can be commercialized in 2016.

Founded as Open Coin in 2012 and rebranded as Ripple in October, the company demonstrated the Ripple network at FinovateSpring 2013. Ripple is headquartered in San Francisco.

Take Two: Toshl Launches Version 2.0 for iOS and Web

Take Two: Toshl Launches Version 2.0 for iOS and Web

ToshlFinance_homepage_Dec2016

Toshl Finance is calling version 2.0 of its popular personal finance management app a “major upgrade” as well as a “rethink and rebuild” of its previous offerings.

The company says the new features of the upgrade are too numerous to mention. But Toshl is highlighting enhancements like the ability to manage multiple financial accounts, new data visualizations, and a better system of organizing categories, tags, and accounts.

Talking about the changes in a post at the Toshl blog, the company notes that the majority of enhancements came from suggestions from Toshl users. And while the company recognizes that some users will be happier with the changes than others, Toshl plans a full suite of tutorials to help users get acquainted with Toshl 2.0.

Toshl_stage_FEU2014

From left: Toshl Finance CTO Miha Hribar and CEO Matic Bitenc demonstrated their platform at FinovateEurope 2014.

“We are thrilled to have the new apps finally released,” the company announced on its blog. “This is a new solid foundation we can build on to bring improvements at a much greater speed and quality than before.” Currently available only on iOS and the web, Toshl plans to provide Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry 10 versions of the platform in the first half of 2016.

Download Toshl Finance 2.0 for iOS.

Toshl_screenshot_version2

Toshl was listed in Benzinga’s list of top 10 PFM apps for teens and young adults in July, and in June was highlighted in Money Under 30’s look at top personal finance apps. Liverpool Echo added Toshl Finance to its list of “must-have apps” for busy moms in January.

Founded in April 2012, Toshl Finance has offices in both Kranj, Slovenia, and Mountain View, California. The company made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2014, winning Best of Show honors. Matic Bitenc is CEO.


Join us in London 9/10 February 2016 for FinovateEurope 2016! Stop by our registration page today and pick up your tickets to our first fintech event of the new year.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Take Two: Toshl Launches Version 2.0 for iOS and Web”
  • “Ripple Technology Drives Invoice Trading Platform”
  • “Moven to Forgo Username, Password for 80% of Mobile Account Interactions”

Around the web

  • FIS launches new fintech accelerator in collaboration with Arkansas-based Venture Center.
  • Prosper Marketplace taps Kunal Kaul as its new EVP of Operations.
  • Newsfactor Business Report looks at prepaid debit cards for businesses offered by Green Dot, Karmic Labs, and Bento for Business.
  • eSignLive from Silanis Technology named a leader in digital transaction management by Aragon Research.
  • Azimo and TransferWise featured in The Telegraph as safe ways to give money during the holidays.
  • The Asset highlights Fastacash in a review of how fintech is changing finance in Asia.
  • Twilio Video now available to everyone in public beta.
  • PayPal’s Braintree now powers Facebook payments.
  • Dwolla introduces Dwolla.js javascript library that allows platforms to verify bank accounts and transfer funds without storing sensitive information.

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.