FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Novabase

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Novabase

Novabase_homepage_FF2015

The Sneak Peek series looks at the innovators demoing live on stage at FinovateFall 2015. Be sure to pick up your tickets to our annual autumn conference, and we’ll see you in New York!

Novabase_logo_FF2015Novabase is presenting Wizzio and MyWizzio powered by IBM Watson which empowers financial advisers to drive sales and productivity, while creating a more fluid and lasting conversation with clients.

Features:

  • Intelligent ecosystem of apps and widgets
  • IBM Watson to extend financial advisers’ abilities
  • Mix of client self-service and direct-to-adviser engagement

Why it’s great
It’s not about replacing the financial adviser, it’s about leveraging cognition and IBM Watson to radically empower her and her clients for more meaningful and efficient engagement.

PNovabase_P_Gaspar_FF2015resenters

Pedro Gaspar, Director of Innovation
Gaspar quote: “Only dead fish follow the stream”
LinkedIn

 

Novabase_J_Wong_FF2015

Jay Wong, Senior Business Developer
Wong quote: “Be like water”
LinkedIn

 

 

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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Auvenir

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Auvenir

Auvenir_homepage_FF2015

The Sneak Peek series looks at the innovators demoing live on stage at FinovateFall 2015. Be sure to pick up your tickets to our annual autumn conference, and we’ll see you in New York!

Auvenir_logo_FF2015Auvenir uses advanced technology to transform how financial audits are performed, empowering auditors, enhancing quality/efficiency, and raising the trust and confidence in our financial markets.

Features of Auvenir:

  • Intuitive design for audit clients to easily prepare for financial audits
  • Powerful technology automatically confirms audit documentation
  • Auditors are enabled to focus more on professional judgement and deeper insights

Why it’s great
Auvenir will empower the auditor by augmenting 90% of the mundane tasks in a financial audit, significantly improving both efficiency and quality.

Auvenir_P_Meyers_FF2015Presenters

Pete Myers, CEO
A seasoned entrepreneur with more than 18 years’ experience building and growing diverse, small- to medium-sized businesses across the globe, Myers brings strategic leadership to Bay Street Labs.
LinkedIn

Auvenir_J_Felske_FF2015Jon Felske, CTO
Felske has over a dozen years of experience in developing technology, and working in R&D. A lifetime entrepreneur, he started his first company at age 14 and has been on the founding team of 6+ startups.
LinkedIn

 

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Finovate Debuts: Hip Pocket Generates Qualified Mortgage Leads While Boosting Engagement

Finovate Debuts: Hip Pocket Generates Qualified Mortgage Leads While Boosting Engagement

Hip_Pocket_homepage_Aug2015

Hip Pocket is a web-based app that helps consumers compare their mortgage rate with that of their peers and the bank’s current rate. The white-label solution leverages the popularity of financial calculators and other interactive financial tools to give potential borrowers the best chance at securing a mortgage that is right for them.

For Mark Zmarzly, CEO and founder, the average person’s spirit of competition and sense of fairness are powerful tools to encourage people to look for better financial opportunities. And Zmarzly believes that banks and credit unions that provide these tools will build trust with new and existing customers alike over the long run.

Hip_Pocket_stage_FS2015

From left: Todd Cramer, Hip Pocket’s head of design, and Mark Zmarzly, CEO, founder, demonstrated their Mortgage Comparison Software at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose.

“Of the hundreds of banks we talked to,” Zmarzly said, “all said they want more online engagement, they want lead gen, and that their online calculators were one of their most powerful and most-visited tools on their website.” The problem? All of the calculators were self-service.

Hip Pocket eliminates that pain-point, he explained, automating the self-service calculators and providing the user with personalized, custom savings “without making them work for it.” And with version 1.0 launched in July 2014, Hip Pocket came to San Jose this spring to debut Version 2.o of this mortgage-comparison solution.

Hip_Pocket_Art0Company facts:

  • Founded in June 2013
  • Headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska
  • Raised $110,000
  • Has three employees

How Hip Pocket works

Zmarzly says his experience years ago in auto financing helped tip him off to the idea that educating borrowers on their rate options is not only a good service, but also can be part of an effective customer-engagement strategy. “I used to look for people who were overpaying,” he explained. “But there was no practical way to provide rate-comparisons for thousands of borrowers via direct mail.” It was something, however, that could be done digitally, and that was where the idea of Hip Pocket was born.

Hip Pocket lets users compare their current mortgage with both the mortgage products offered by the hosting bank or credit union, as well as with “a unique, unbiased, peer group” based on age, location, marital status, and credit rating.

Hip_Pocket_Art2After entering that demographic information, users add their current rate, value of their home, loan balance, and number of years left on the mortgage. Zmarzly says that with these eight data points, Hip Pocket is able to provide peer and product comparisons, as well as overall market intelligence when the anonymous data is aggregated.

Hip Pocket also achieves low abandonment rates. “Keeping the process simple at just eight data points, yields a nice 84% completion ratio once someone starts the engagement,” Zmarzly said.

Hip Pocket uses natural conversational language and social comparisons to encourage users to action. Messages such as “More than 7 out of 10 people have a better deal than you” and “You pay $10,629 more interest than your peers” are designed to appeal to the user’s sense of both competition and fairness. Zmarzly says this combination allows people to “apply an emotional reason (to) back up a logical reason.”

Hip_Pocket_Art3“Fairness is a big emotion,” he said. “It’s a reason why people make decisions, especially financial decisions.”

Hip Pocket then lets the user see how much he or she could save per month, per year, and over the life of the loan if they refinance with the hosting bank or credit union. This is followed by a specific offer with the rate, a call to action, and preferred contact method.

Users who learn that their rates are better than their peers, are encouraged to share their good fortune with their peers via social media. Zmarzly said that even if this does not result in a new refinancing, it helps build the kind of trust he fears banks and other FI’s have lost in recent years.

The technology is relatively straightforward. The calculator, Zmarzly said, is a “super-simple java script that goes right on the website.” He says the simplicity is all by design: “We wanted easy and fluid so they can make changes later.” The data is available instantly via API. “No uninstall process if they want out,” Zmarzly said.

Hip_Pocket_Art4The future

As one FinovateSpring observer suggested, the challenge for Hip Pocket may be the willingness of lenders to actively compete on rates. To this end, Zmarzly intends to keep the app both diversified and FI-plentiful. “The more data we get, the more we’ll be able to maximize the flow of what goes through,” he said. “More institutions (means) more data.” Currently targeting community banks, especially at the $5 billion-and-above mark, Zmarzly is also keen to partner with credit unions and even PFM partners. “Distribution is our focus,” he said.

Looking forward, Zmarzly envisions companion products such as the retirement-comparison solution the company launched shortly after Hip Pocket’s Finovate debut. The key is a relationship in which both the consumer and the bank gain. “Consumers need context for (banks) to establish value and trust,” he said. He cited a recent survey in which 69% of respondents said that when banks asked for personal data, it was for the bank’s benefit, and never delivers value to the consumer.

Zmarzly said, “That is where Hip Pocket can help.”


Check out the FinovateSpring 2015 demo video for Hip Pocket below.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Trunomi Raises $3 Million to Solve KYC Challenges”
  • Finovate Debuts: “Hip Pocket Generates Qualified Mortgage Leads While Boosting Engagement”

Around the web

  • Financial Times quotes Giles Andrews, Zopa executive chairman, in discussion on P2P providers and fee transparency.
  • Let’s Talk Payments talks with Stephane Dubois, CEO and founder of Xignite, on the importance of APIs in fintech. See Xignite at FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco in October.
  • iSignthis to provide KYC services to Crownbet Pty starting in 2016.
  • TickSmith’s TickVault earns certification on Cloudera Enterprise.
  • KPMG and Matchi form alliance to enhance access to financial service innovation.

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.

FinDEVr Preview: SnoopWall

FinDEVr Preview: SnoopWall

FinDEVr2015LogoV2Date

FinDEVr Previews highlight the companies that will present their latest developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr 2015 San Francisco on 6/7 October.

FinDEVr is the premier event for fintech developers. To save your spot, visit our registration page today and take advantage of early-bird savings!

It’s the year of mCrime (mobile crime) and all banking apps can easily be eavesdropped by ‘trusted apps’ that are actually malware allowed on iTunes, Google Play, and Microsoft App store. SnoopWall will present a live demo of this ‘breaking into my own bank account’ on mobile using a malicious Flashlight App. Then, you’ll learn about AppSHIELD SDK.

SnoopWall_homepage_Sep2015

Why it’s a must-see
AppSHIELD SDK is the only solution to this problem that works. We’ll show how IBM Trusteer SDK; InAuth SDK; and Arxan are easily circumvented by cyber-criminals to steal consumer PII. If you see AppSHIELD SDK in action—now in 95+ financial institutions—you’ll want it in your banking app to protect your consumers and your brand.


Check out more of today’s FinDEVr previews:

FinDEVr Preview: Spreedly

FinDEVr Preview: Spreedly

FinDEVr2015LogoV2Date

FinDEVr Previews highlight the companies that will present their latest developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr 2015 San Francisco on 6/7 October.

FinDEVr is the premier event for fintech developers. To save your spot, visit our registration page today and take advantage of early-bird savings!

Spreedly provides APIs that minimize the complexity, cost, and risk of PCI compliance and payment integration. With “The Uberization of Mobile,” customers want discovery, purchase, and delivery all handled within an app. It’s no longer necessary to redirect end-users to affiliate sites to complete a purchase with Spreedly’s universal vault product.

Spreedly_homepage_Sep2015

Why it’s a must-see
Tokenizing with one gateway removes the burden of PCI compliance, but locks that card into a single gateway. Building your own PCI-compliant vault is a huge undertaking. A card tokenized with Spreedly can be used multiple times against different gateways or API endpoints.


Check out more of today’s FinDEVr previews:

 

FinDEVr Preview: Wallaby

FinDEVr Preview: Wallaby

FinDEVr2015LogoV2Date

FinDEVr Previews highlight the companies that will present their latest developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr 2015 San Francisco on 6/7 October.

Wallaby’s Wallet-as-a-Service and CardBase APIs enable any developer to bring rich contextual information about credit cards and their attributes to life in their apps. You can see images, understand rewards, fees, features, and more. Integrate the APIs to provide smart-payment recommends in any checkout or financial process.

Wallaby_homepage_Sep2015new

Why it’s a must-see
Wallaby has the nation’s leading credit card information database with more than 2,700 credit cards profiled and classified in an intelligent, structured manner across more than 100 attributes. Simply put, there is no other way to get this data and bring your user’s wallet to life in your app.


Check out more of today’s FinDEVr previews:

FinDEVr Preview: The Beast Apps

FinDEVr Preview: The Beast Apps

FinDEVr2015LogoV2Date

FinDEVr Previews highlight the companies that will present their latest developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr 2015 San Francisco on 6/7 October.

FinDEVr is the premier event for fintech developers. To save your spot, visit our registration page today and take advantage of early-bird savings!

Using BeastSDK and AWS from The Beast Apps, you can build, test, and deploy complex—pre-trade, trade, or post-trade—financial applications in the cloud within minutes that can be immediately accessed by anybody anywhere in the world using any desktop, browser, phone, or tablet. Anybody, anywhere can collaborate on the app with others—fully audit-trailed—using any device.

TheBeastApps_homepage_Sep2015new

Why it’s a must-see
Software teams spend 20% of their time building their ‘secret sauce’ and 80% in distributing that secret sauce. In the financial industry, a real-time, interactive, secure and permissioned distribution of apps is a major challenge. The Beast’s Application Distribution as a Service (ADaaS) reduces the distribution challenges significantly.


Check out more of today’s FinDEVr previews:

FinDEVr Preview: Avalara

FinDEVr Preview: Avalara

FinDEVr2015LogoV2DateFinDEVr Previews highlight the companies that will present their latest developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr 2015 San Francisco on 6/7 October.

FinDEVr is the premier event for fintech developers. To save your spot, visit our registration page today and take advantage of early-bird savings!

Avalara helps businesses negotiate the “weird and wacky world of sales tax.”

Did you know that sales-tax in the U.S. is handled unlike any other place on the planet? There are over 12,000 taxing jurisdictions covering millions of tax-ability rule-combinations. This makes it hard for businesses to ensure compliance and thereby avoid the assessor’s wrath.

Avalara_homepage_Sep2015

Why it’s a must-see
This presentation will highlight the complexity, showcase some of the bizarre taxing cases, and demonstrate how this difficult problem can be solved through a robust technology stack.

Developers will learn how they can resolve their customer’s pain-points with a simple-to-use REST API.


Check out more of today’s FinDEVr Previews:

 

FinDEVr Preview: Clarify

FinDEVr Preview: Clarify

FinDEVr2015LogoV2Date

FinDEVr Previews highlights companies that will present their latest developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr 2015 San Francisco on 6/7 October.

FinDEVr is the premier event for fintech developers. To save your spot, visit our registration page today and take advantage of early-bird savings!

Clarify’s API turns media into actionable data. We auto-detect language, make audio and video searchable, allow you to extract keywords, determine the topics, and a variety of other things. Clarify allows you to create systems to make decisions based on information you gather.

Clarify_homepage_Sep2015

Why it’s a must-see
Too often we collect data like presentations, support calls, etc. and rarely do anything with the results. Clarify.io gives you the ability to extract actionable information from your audio and video to make better decisions, confirm and validate compliance, and understand your media.


Check out more of today’s FinDEVr previews:

Fall In! FinovateFall 2015 Presenting Companies Revealed

Fall In! FinovateFall 2015 Presenting Companies Revealed

FF2015_PresentingCompanies_FinalThis week’s touch of autumn rain here in the Pacific Northwest is a welcome reminder that—when fall is just around the corner—our annual NYC conference is just a couple weeks away. FinovateFall tickets are on sale now, so pick up yours while you still can and join the 1,500-person gathering in Manhattan, 16/17 September.

To whet your appetite for two days of fintech innovation, we’re releasing the full and final lineup of presenting companies for FinovateFall 2015. Here are a few brief introductions, but be sure to check our our Sneak Peek series to learn more about the innovators and entrepreneurs who will take the stage at the New York Hilton Midtown in just a few weeks.


  • AcceptEmail serves today’s consumers with online, real-time email payments. Market segments include insurance, banks, telecom, utilities, and property management.
  • additiv develops and implements digital innovations and business models for financial services providers.
  • Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. Content built and optimized with Adobe products is everywhere you look.
  • Advisor Software is a cloud provider of sophisticated wealth-management and digital investment advice APIs and apps for financial services enterprises.
  • Alfa-Bank offers a wide range of products and operates in all sectors of the financial market, including corporate and retail lending.
  • Alpine Data Labs is a predictive analytics company focused on making analytical insights more accessible to the business.
  • ArcBit aims to lever bitcoin and blockchain technology to connect you to the global Internet economy.
  • Authy delivers proven fast-to-implement, highly scalable and reliable 2FA with an intuitive user experience and a powerful API.
  • Auvenir is a smarter way to audit financial statements. Using cutting-edge technology, Auvenir is setting the new standard in compliance and assurance.
  • Avoka’s digital business platform for frictionless sales-and-service solves the “buy” problem for financial institutions, government, and education.
  • BehavioSec enhances security without affecting user experience. It is currently deployed at 20+ retail banks with 500+ million transactions a year.
  • Big Data Scoring helps lenders harness big data to make better credit decisions.
  • Bizfi consists of three synergistic product silos comprising aggregation, funding, and a participation-market for institutional investors.
  • Bleu’s vision is to change the payment experience and create new platforms for mobile transactions.
  • Blockstack.io is an enterprise-software company selling private, enterprise blockchains for financial services and other enterprises.
  • Buzz Points partners with community banks and credit unions to reward consumers for buying and banking locally.
  • Capriza modernizes businesses by simplifying and mobilizing the most critical business workflows and disrupts the speed and economics of going mobile.
  • CellTrust provides mobile solutions that deliver seamless, secure mobile workflows to support enterprise collaboration, productivity and compliance.
  • Crowdability is the world’s first independent provider of education, research, and data on the emerging equity crowdfunding market for retail investors.
  • D3 Banking provides innovative banking services from a single digital platform, lowering the cost and complexity of IT infrastructure.
  • DAVO Technologies solves pain-points in the payor/payee relationship by optimizing any recurrent payment cycle, compressing time.
  • Dealflow is building the largest channel for online capital formation.
  • Dyme turns spenders into savers using the power of text messaging.
  • Dynamics Inc. designs, manufactures, and personalizes intelligent battery-powered payment devices and advanced payment platforms.
  • ebankIT is an omnichannel banking software company that delivers the latest innovative solutions in financial technology.
  • Eco-Mail helps businesses solve the digital mail dilemma for both outbound and inbound mail with our patented, exchange-based platform.
  • Empyr’s online-to-offline ad platform generates revenue for online publishers, including banks and fintech companies, from offline advertisers.
  • Encap Security makes the world’s only authentication solution purpose-built for enabling omnichannel financial services.
  • Ephesoft Smart Capture solutions classify documents and extract meaning from their content. Make better financial decisions with better data.
  • Ethoca provides collaboration-based technology solutions that close the information gap between card issuers and commerce merchants.
  • Euronovate is a leading company in digital transformation and biometric identity-management solutions.
  • Fern Software provides social savings and loans software to FIs in more than 30 countries. Serviced out of offices in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
  • FINANTEQ began transforming mobile trends into financial technology prior to ‘era of iPhone’ and continually provides innovations in mobile space.
  • Fiserv is a leading global provider of information management and electronic commerce systems for the financial services industry.
  • Flybits is the context-as-a-service software platform in the cloud. Flybits provides better mobile apps, sooner, and for less: Get agile as you tailor your app strategy.
  • Gro Solutions is dedicated to helping banks and credit unions grow by providing innovative digital customer-acquisition solutions.
  • Hedgeable is the first private banking platform for millennials.
  • HelloWallet works with employers to provide independent, personalized financial guidance to employees through web and mobile-based software.
  • Hypori provides mobility solutions with Virtual Mobile Infrastructure. We can remote Android onto any mobile device and allow access to any unmodified app.
  • ID Analytics is a leader in consumer risk management with patented analytics, proven expertise, and real-time insight into consumer behavior.
  • IDmission provides a cloud-based platform enabling identity-initiated customer onboarding and engagement for financial services companies.
  • InforcePRO is the only end-to-end post-sale life insurance policy software solution.
  • Jack Henry & Associates is a leading provider of technology solutions and payment processing services primarily for the financial services industry.
  • Knox Payments offers account verification and fraud guarantee to online merchants, and a single sign-on solution for consumers paying online.
  • Ldger offers a user-driven marketplace credit-structured finance platform to power data-rich modeling, automated transaction execution, inventory discovery and aggregation.
  • Lexmark creates enterprise software, hardware and services that remove the inefficiencies of information silos and disconnected processes.
  • LiftForward operates white-labeled marketplace loan platforms which provide loans to small businesses and high-yielding debt products to investors.
  • LiquidLandscape is a San Francisco based fintech startup with operations in London and New York. We recently graduated from the Barclays/Techstars Fintech Accelerator Program.
  • MX
  • New Kapitall Holdings provides millennials and the like-minded with the financial tools they need to live life to the fullest.
  • North Side enables customers to speak or type to access your existing applications and databases, and clarify intent through conversation.
  • Novabase has been making people’s lives simpler and happier through technology for 25+ years.
  • Ormsby Street is an award-winning Shoreditch-based digital SaaS company helping small businesses make great decisions about who they trade with.
  • PaySwag by Customer Engagement Technologies was founded to create solutions that revolutionize the payment experience for the underbanked.
  • Quisk is a Silicon Valley-based startup that partners with banks and others to enable anyone to use their money without needing cash or cards.
  • RedCloud Technology is changing the future of fintech. We were responsible for the successful conception and launch of M-PESA.
  • RMS is an engagement-solution provider focused on acquisition, cross-sell, rewards, and referral marketing solutions for financial institutions.
  • SaleMove’s vision is to meet and exceed the in-person customer experience online.
  • Sliced Investing is democratizing access to elite investments including hedge funds and private equity for as little as $10,000.
  • Socure utilizes online/social data, facial recognition, and AI for real-time consumer verification. Improving conversion and reducing costs/fraud.
  • Soundpays is a universal mobile wallet using sound wave technology. We work with any technology whether online, in store, over TV, YouTube, or digital signage.
  • ThetaRay is a leading provider of big data analytics and solutions for operational efficiency and risk detection.
  • TradingTicket enables retail investors to place orders anywhere online or in-app with their existing brokerage accounts.
  • TransferTo provides a global mobile remittance hub that helps businesses offer mobile money, goods and services, and airtime in real-time.
  • Tranwall offers payment solutions which bring control, fraud prevention and flexibility to cardholders and card issuers.
  • Travel Notes helps financial institutions improve their cardholders’ experience when traveling by offering powerful, yet simple solutions.
  • Trulioo aims to cover the entire global population with verified IDs in an effort to increase trust and safety online and help fuel financial inclusion.
  • Urban FT delivers a platform to both financial and non-financial issuers to give their customers industry-leading digital banking products.
  • Voitrax provides a comprehensive automated-trade reconstruction solution, designed and built by seasoned Wall Street technologists.
  • Walletron automates a brand’s presence in mobile wallets, opening a new communication channel for loyalty and billing.
  • Xignite delivers in real-time reference market-data APIs that power fintech digital assets, such as websites and apps.
  • Yseop is a global artificial intelligence enterprise software company that works in business intelligence and business process outsourcing.

FinovateFall 2015 is sponsored by The Bancorp, Capital Source, Envestnet, FT Partners, Hudson Cook, KPMG, and Zions SBIC.

Our partners include Aite, American Bankers Association, Bank Innovators Council, BankersHub, bobsguide, Breaking Banks, California Bankers Association, Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, Celent, CoinTelegraph, CrowdFund Beat, ebanking News, Hotwire, IDC Financial Insights, Javelin Strategy & Research, Let’s Talk Payments, Mapa Research, Mercator Advisory Group, Mergermarket, The New Economy, NYPay, The Paypers, SME Finance Forum, and World Finance.

Klarna Makes U.S. Debut with New Overstock.com Partnership

Klarna Makes U.S. Debut with New Overstock.com Partnership

Klarna_homepage_Sep2015

Thanks to a new partnership with Overstock.com, Klarna has come to America.

Starting today, customers at Overstock.com will be able to use Klarna Checkout for mobile online purchases. Klarna’s one-tap technology helps remove friction at checkout. Overstock.com CEO Patrick M. Byrne said that the solution has increased conversion rates during testing. CEO of Klarna North America Brian Billingsley called the partnership with Overstock “a massive opportunity to turn more browsers into buyers.”

Klarna_stage_FS2012

From left: Klarna Chief Risk Officer Ohad Samet and SVP of Sales Jakob Söderbaum demonstrated their company’s technology at FinovateSpring 2012.

Klarna’s technology allows online consumers to buy now and pay later. By partnering with more than 50,000 merchants and 35 million total end-customers, Klarna has become a leader in after-delivery payments in Europe. The company’s solution assumes both credit and fraud risk, speeding up checkout, making it safer and guaranteeing payment for the merchant.

Klarna has had an active 2015. The company hired a former American Express executive as its new chief commercial officer in June, and just a few months later, Klarna’s CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski was named to Hot Topics’ top 100 fintech influencers in August. Klarna earned profiles from The Financial Times and Business Insider this summer, and spent the spring “experimenting” with bitcoin and winning bronze in the “Most Disruptive” category at the PYMNTS Innovation Awards. The company began the year joining 21 of its fellow Finovate alums in the FinTech50.

Founded 2005 in Stockholm, Sweden, Klarna made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2012 in San Francisco.