Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com 

  • Dashlane Achieves New Year’s Resolution: More Organized, Now Speaks 7 Languages.

Around the web

  • eWeek quotes Arxan CMO Patrick Kehoe on the problem of app security on health and finance apps.
  • Diebold introduces mobile, contactless, self-checkout technology.
  • Acculynk CEO Ashish Bahl talks about the growth of direct-to-debit card payments.
  • Pymnts interviews Moven President Alex Sion on what to expect in digital banking 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.

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Avoka

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Avoka

Avoka_homepage_Jan2016

FEU2016_logo_withdateA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today

Founded in Sydney, Australia and headquartered in Denver, Avoka accelerates customer-centric, digital transformation with frictionless sales transactions. The company will demo how to quantify and optimize customer effort to increase customer acquisitions.

Features

  • Measure the customer effort to complete an application
  • Predict the effort for each design change
  • Reduce abandonment and convert more prospects to customers

Why it’s great
Every step in a bank account opening that adds customer effort also increases abandonment. Minimize that effort and you will gain more customers.

Presenter

Avoka_CorcoranDerek Corcoran, Chief Experience Officer

Corcoran is CXO at Avoka, and a world-recognized expert on digital customer acquisition in financial services. He is the developer of Transaction Effort Score (TES) and a frequent industry speaker.
LinkedIn

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Persado

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Persado

Persado_homepage_Jan2016

FEU2016_logo_withdateA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today

Persado’s machine-learning platform generates the most effective language for communications designed to drive action.

Features

  • Emotionally engaging content at every lifecycle touchpoint
  • World’s largest database of scored and tagged marketing language
  • Data-driven technology that eliminates the guesswork from creativity

Why it’s great
Persado customers are seeing, on average, a 75% response lift across web, email, display, and social.

Presenter

Persado_WhittleLawrence Whittle, Chief Revenue Officer

Whittle is the Chief Revenue Officer of Persado. He is responsible for driving the overall sales, the go-to-market strategy and execution, as well as developing its network of eco-system partners.
LinkedIn

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Lendstar

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Lendstar

lendstar_homepage_Jan2016

FEU2016_logo_withdateA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today

Germany’s Lendstar is a mobile app that allows users to source, share, and send money, combined with a link to their existing bank account.

Features

  • Allow immediate money transactions, no hassle to chase your spendings
  • Enable one or many transactions
  • Help to organize all private financial transactions

Why it’s great
Collect money, divide bills, and transfer funds directly from your bank account? Go for Lendstar!

Presenters

Christopher Kampshoff, CEO

Kampshoff is the creative lead behind the Lendstar concept, being responsible for business development, finances and marketing. He has also several years of experience in the finance sector.
LinkedIn

Johannes Schubert, Head of Product Development

Lendstar_Schubert

Schubert is a FinTech solution enthusiast and is keen to change the way we all deal with transferring money. He turns boring transactions into a fun way of exchanging money between friends.
LinkedIn

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Qumram

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Qumram

Qumram_homepage_Jan2016

FEU2016_logo_withdateA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today

Based in Zurich, Switzerland, Qumram provides software to record user sessions on web, social, and mobile to ensure regulatory compliance (i.e., MiFID II) and prevent fraud.

Features

  • Enable communication and transactions via social media for real customer centricity
  • Ensure compliance with Qumram session recording
  • Prevent fraud by identifying erratic behaviors

Why it’s great
The #1 solution for compliant, customer-centric banks, Qumram empowers banks such as UBS to engage and transact on all digital channels in a compliant manner.

Presenters

Qumram_ScheurerSimon Scheurer, Co-Founder & CTO

Scheurer is an experienced CTO, strategic technology advisor, and entrepreneur. As a “magician” with masters degrees in mathematics and physics, he loves solving technical challenges.
LinkedIn

 

Qumram_WegmuellerMathias Wegmueller, Co-Founder & Business Development

Wegmueller is an experience team leader, advisor for digital transformation strategies and projects. He is a seasoned consultant, entrepreneur, and board member.
LinkedIn

 

Patrick Barnert, CEOQumram_Barnert

Barnert is a visionary business leader as global entrepreneur and manager. He was senior vice president at OpenText, responsible for $800m revenue.
LinkedIn

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: CREALOGIX

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: CREALOGIX

CREALOGIX_homepage_Jan2016

FEU2016_logo_withdateA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today

Swiss innovator CREALOGIX presents its Digital Banking Hub, the pivotal point of digital transformation in banking. The basic idea is openness via targeted use of APIs toward third-party applications for seamless offerings.

Features

  • An all-in-one, personalized, seamless, secure banking experience for the client
  • A digital banking delivery platform that lets banks upgrade their digital services quickly and flexibly

Why it’s great
The use of the established and comprehensive API-layer of the Digital Banking Hub by CREALOGIX helps banks quickly transform their digital business to stay future-ready.

Presenters

CREALOGIX_CritchleyGeraldine Critchley, Head of Product Marketing

Following the convergence of the digital business with banking technology for years, Critchley has been shaping product strategy and international branding for CREALOGIX.
LinkedIn

 

CREALOGIX_BreamAntony Bream, U.K. Managing Director

Bream is an internationally experienced U.K. managing and sales director specializing in the marketing, business development, and selling of digital financial services solutions, both in-house and SaaS.
LinkedIn

 

Taulia Raises $46 Millon in Series E; Names New CFO

Taulia Raises $46 Millon in Series E; Names New CFO

Taulia_homepage_Jan2016

In a round led by Zouk Capital, financial supply-chain specialist Taulia has raised $46 million in new funding.

A number of unnamed, new strategic and institutional investors participated in the round, as well as all of Taulia’s existing institutional investors. The new infusion of capital takes the company’s total to more than $130 million.

Taulia CEO Cedric Bru said the investment would help “further accelerate (Taulia’s) rapid expansion,” and praised the “global experience” of his company’s investors. “We are in the best position to fuel the next stage of Taulia’s explosive growth,” he said.

Taulia_stage_FEU2015

Pictured (left to right): Taulia Director of European Marketing Matthew Stammers and Director of European Solutions Consulting Christophe Juvanon demonstrating Taulia Enhanced Discounting at FinovateEurope 2015.

Zouk Capital CEO Samer Salty praised Taulia’s ability to “streamline and strengthen” the financial supply chain. Salty called the company a “clear match” with his firm’s strategy of “backing high-growth companies that use technology to create efficiency.”

Taulia uses advanced e-invoicing, supplier management, and supplier financing to help connect companies like Coca-Cola Bottling, Hallmark, John Deere, and other Fortune 500 firms to their suppliers. Since inception, Taulia has processed more than $150 billion in transactions for 700,000 suppliers in more than 100 countries.

Recent headlines for the company include its partnership with KPMG, announced in December, and joining the OFS Portal community in November. In July, Taulia earned a spot in CIO Review’s 20 Most Promising Procurement Solution Providers for 2015.

Taulia also announced today that John Varughese had joined the company as its new Chief Financial Officer. Formerly of Perella Weinberg Partners, Varughese will be responsible for all finance, legal, and human resource operations at Taulia. Bru, who joined Taulia as CEO last April, praised Varughese’s “strategic leadership and significant entrepreneurial experience.”

“(Varughese) helped some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley succeed,” Bru added, “and we can’t wait to put his skills to work as an integral part of our leadership team.”

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Francisco, Taulia demonstrated Taulia Enhanced Discounting (TED) at FinovateEurope 2015. The company also has offices in London, Dusseldorf, and Sofia.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • PayPal Taps into Bitcoin by Adding Wences Casares to Board”
  • Taulia Raises $46 Million in Series E; Names New CFO”
  • Check out “Finovate Debuts: Authy’s Password Alternative”

Around the web

  • DriveWealth teams up with StockRadar to provide investors in China with access to U.S. stocks.
  • DNB Luxembourg goes live with Temenos core banking system.
  • Three credit unions in British Columbia—Bulkley Valley Credit Union, North Peace Savings and Credit Union, and Spruce Credit Union— choose DNA account processing technology from Fiserv.
  • Wealthfront launches new, free portfolio review service.
  • Insuritas to power insurance agency solution for Greater New Orleans Federal Credit Union.

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.

Union Bank & Trust Picks Prairie Cloudware’s Digital Payments Guardian to Power its Mobile Wallet

Union Bank & Trust Picks Prairie Cloudware’s Digital Payments Guardian to Power its Mobile Wallet

PrairieCloudware_homepage_Jan2016

Union Bank & Trust (UBT), a $3.2 billion dollar bank, has chosen Digital Payments Guardian from fellow Nebraskan Prairie Cloudware to power UBT’s branded mobile wallet.

Alan Fosler, SVP at UBT, explained that using Digital Payments Guardian from Prairie Cloudware “will facilitate tokenization of payment and personal data” for customers using their debit cards via Android devices.

“As digital devices increasingly become the tool of choice for simplifying the complexities of life, we want to give our customers an easier, safer way to pay,” Fosler said.

PrairieCloudware_stage_FS2015

From left: Chief Revenue Officer Doug Parr and Chief Marketing Officer Mike Carter demonstrated Prairie Cloudware’s Digital Payments Guardian at FinovateSpring 2015.

Prairie Cloudware’s Chief Revenue Officer Doug Parr pointed to two factors that make his company’s technology a strong choice for FIs. First, Parr noted that “consumers have repeatedly indicated that they prefer to consume mobile payments via the existing relationships they have with their banks.” And second, the technology that delivers mobile payments cannot be a burden to either the user or the bank offering it. “Our Digital Payments Guardian allows regional organizations to deploy mobile payment services without needing a staff of thousands and an eight-figure technology budget,” Parr said.

UBT is not the only company that has adopted the technology in recent months. INTECH announced in October that it was licensing Digital Payments Guardian to provide to its credit union clients. In June, Prairie Cloudware announced a new round of funding.

Union Bank & Trust was founded in 1917 as the Farmer’s State Bank, changed its name to Union Bank in 1935, and added trust powers in 1959, becoming Union Bank & Trust Company. UBT is the third-largest, privately owned bank in Nebraska with assets of $3.2 billion.

Founded in December 2012 and headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Prairie Cloudware demonstrated its Digital Payments Guardian at FinovateSpring 2015.

Finovate Debuts: Finanteq Helps Innovative Banks Succeed in Mobile with SuperWallet

Finovate Debuts: Finanteq Helps Innovative Banks Succeed in Mobile with SuperWallet

most Finanteq_homepage_Nov2015

Can you imagine spending as much time with your banking app as you do with Facebook or Twitter?

Not only can FINANTEQ imagine it, but with its new banking app, SuperWallet, the Polish spinoff from eLeader is doing everything it can to make it happen across Europe and, soon, across America.

FINANTEQ’s goal is to move banks from the end of the value chain to the front. “Right now the bank is just an icon on a credit slip,” said FINANTEQ customer adviser, Kate Miroslaw. FINANTEQ’s SuperWallet reverses this deficiency by combining mobile banking, payments, and m-commerce all in one mobile banking app. Rather than being an afterthought, the mobile banking app suddenly is at the center of attention when it comes to paying bills, booking a flight, or ordering concert tickets.

Finanteq_stage_FF2015

From left: Finanteq m-Commerce Operations Manager Tomasz Perski; Customer Adviser Kate Miroslaw; and Marketing Manager Artur Malek demonstrated SuperWallet at FinovateFall 2015.

“Would people love the Starbucks app so much if it were just about payments?” asks Artur Malek, marketing manager for FINANTEQ. His point is that by allowing customers to do things like order ahead, the app transforms the consumer experience for the better. “This is the added value beyond payments,” Malek says. “And this is exactly what we do.”

Company facts:

  • Founded in September 2014 as a spinoff from eLeader
  • Headquartered in Lublin, Poland
  • Employs 100 professionals in Poland and the United States.

Finanteq_screen_1How it works

The way FINANTEQ sees it, banks theoretically have many ways to build relationships with their customers. But the actual interactions between banks and customers often don’t live up to these opportunities. “Selling to customers doesn’t happen very often,” Malek points out. And while payments are frequent, banks are often bystanders to the transaction, and besides, the payment space is increasingly being infiltrated by non-bank actors such as Apple and Samsung.

FINANTEQ’s solution is simple: combine e-commerce, banking, and payments in one app provided by the bank. In their demonstration of SuperWallet, the team from FINANTEQ walked through a wide variety of scenarios: checking account balance, booking a hotel, paying for parking remotely, buying concert tickets, hiring an Uber car, ordering groceries or takeout … all without leaving the app.

This means consumers don’t have to install numerous apps and, more importantly, don’t have to share data with scores of merchants. The bank safeguards the sensitive data transmitting only what is required for a transaction.

Finanteq_art_4“Payment is made using data in the app, delivery address and other details of the transaction,” says Tomasz Perski, e-commerce operations manager. “There are many shops inside the app, but once authorized, there is no need for login or password. The services and shops available are chosen by the bank (bank partners) or by Finanteq, and the app can also feature offers and discounts.”

The future

Superwallet has been available in Eastern Europe since 2014 courtesy of early client Santander Group. And two new banks in Poland are expected to come online with the technology in early 2016. FINANTEQ is currently building out its U.S. team in anticipation of entering the U.S. market. Malek says the company is building relationships with merchants, especially aggregators. He mentioned that FINANTEQ now offers bus-ticket purchases in more than 130 cities.

Called one of the most innovative mobile banking apps by Forrester Research, Superwallet also won the Citi Mobile Challenge in April 2015 in Warsaw by taking top honors in the digital wallet category.

Currently, FINANTEQ has good traction in the CEE region. Its clients are some of the biggest and most innovative banks in countries like Poland, including Finovate alum, mBank, which is also a client.


Check out this video of FINANTEQ’s FinovateFall 2015 demonstration.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate Debuts: FINANTEQ Helps Innovative Banks Succeed in Mobile with SuperWallet”
  • Check out this week’s “FinDEVr APIntelligence”
  • “Union Bank & Trust Picks Prairie Cloudware’s Digital Payments Guardian to Power its Mobile Wallet”

Around the web

  • Iberiabank to deploy retail and SME platform from D3 Banking.
  • New savings app, Hip Money, featured in new video.
  • Fiserv and Alpha Payments Cloud team up to bring easier, faster payment processing to Australia.
  • Markit to begin using Amazon web services.
  • Earthport launches distributed ledger hub with single API access to Ripple.
  • Network International plans UAE deployment of cashless, cardless payment technology developed by Quisk.
  • TechCrunch: “App Annie Adds Support for Apple TV Apps, Including a ‘Top Charts’ Section”

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.

 

Invesco Acquires Jemstep for Undisclosed Sum

Invesco Acquires Jemstep for Undisclosed Sum

Jemstep_homepage_Jan2016

Global investment management firm, Invesco, has acquired Jemstep, a startup that provides digital financial planning resources for professional advisers. Terms of the purchase were not immediately available.

“We believe investors are best served by partnering with a financial adviser to reach their unique investment goals,” says Martin L. Flanagan, Invessco CEO and president. “Jemstep’s proven platform enhances our ability to help advisers grow their business and … deliver superior client experiences in a rapidly evolving market environment.”

Jemstep_FS2013_stage

From left: Jemstep CEO Kevin Cimring and CTO Matthew Rennie demonstrated Jemstep Portfolio Manager at FinovateSpring 2013.

Jemstep is an online investment adviser that specializes in providing personalized advice to help people meet their financial and retirement goals. The company’s Portfolio Manager solution predicts how much money a given investment portfolio is likely to provide in retirement, and suggests alternative investment strategies that may yield even greater returns, including an action plan that specifies exactly what to buy and what to sell in all of their accounts, including 401(k) accounts. Lastly, the platform provides continuous monitoring and alerts to help investors, financial planners, and advisers stay on track.

Jemstep was highlighted in June 2015 by Let’s Talk Payments as one of those companies “pushing the envelope” in payment analytics. The same month, ThinkAdvisor looked at Jemstep in a column on the evolution of financial advisers. In May, Fox Financial Planning Network announced that it would use Jemstep’s Advisor Pro as the automated service platform for its AdvisorTouch Symphony program. And in April 2015, Jemstep partnered with Orion Advisor Services to bring automation to independent advisers on Orion’s platform.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Palo Alto, Jemstep demonstrated its Portfolio Manager at FinovateSpring 2013. Kevin Cimring and Michael Blumenthal are joint CEOs.