Author: David Penn

Mortgagetech on the Move as Roostify Closes Series A Round Led by USAA

Mortgagetech on the Move as Roostify Closes Series A Round Led by USAA
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Roostify

Roostify_homepage_Oct2015

While deal-terms were not disclosed, we learned late Wednesday that mortgage-transaction technology innovator Roostify has wrapped up a Series A investment round led by USAA.

“Roostify is innovating the home-buying process for consumers and lenders through a platform that brings simplicity and efficiency to something that sorely needs it,” said Michael Smith, USAA executive director for corporate development.

Roostify CEO Rajesh Bhat asserts the solution “brings a user friendliness to the process that benefits lenders and applicants by streamlining the process. (It cuts) the time to close loans and lessens errors in the applications.”

Roostify_stage_FS2014

From left: Roostify Lead Engineer Jonathan Kirst and CEO Rajesh Bhat demonstrated at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose, California.

Also participating in the funding were Colchis Capital and “two tier-1 banks.” Bhat said the funding will help grow the technology and bring more lenders to the platform.

Roostify simplifies the challenging process of buying a home for all parties involved. Home-buyers using the platform benefit from 100% transparency and greater control over the process, resulting in greater accountability and lower costs. Lenders can approve and process more loans faster using Roostify, having processed thousands of applications through the platform since its launch in early 2014.

Founded in March 2013 and headquartered in Burlingame, California, Roostify made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Arxan Technologies, Avalara, BizEquity, blooom, eMoney Advisor, Kontomatik, LOYAL3, Misys, MX, Roostify, Tradeshift, Tradier

On Finovate.com

  • “Mortgagetech on the Move as Roostify Closes Series A Round Led by USAA”
  • “Blooom Announces $4 Million Series A Round Led by QED Investors”

Around the web

  • BizEquity announces strategic partnership with eMoney Advisor.
  • Vietnam Public Joint Stock Commercial Bank (PVcomBank) deploys digital banking platform from Misys.
  • Let’s Talk Payments interviews Konstantin Rabin, Kontomatik CMO.
  • BAI Retail Delivery conference attendees select MX as the Innovation Showcase Award winner.
  • Global AutoTrading integrates with Tradier to extend brokerage services.
  • Avalara announces sales-tax accuracy guarantee.
  • LOYAL3 Securities will act as co-manager for Square’s IPO.
  • Customers of the Microsoft Dynamics NAV rollout will automatically have free access to Tradeshift’s e-invoicing solution.
  • Arxan now secures applications running on 500+ million devices.

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.

 

 

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Hoyos Labs Unveils 4F Smartphone Authentication Technology

Hoyos Labs Unveils 4F Smartphone Authentication Technology
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Hoyos Labs

HoyosLabs_homepage_Oct2015

When it comes to biometric touch-based authentication, Hoyos Labs believes four points are better than one.

The authentication infrastructure specialist unveiled its 4F biometric technology at the Biometrics 2015 show in London this week. The smartphone technology simultaneously captures four fingerprints and works in any environment, leveraging the mobile device’s photo flash as a light source. Company founder and CEO, Hector Hoyos says the technology is “touch-less, four-finger acquisition with 150 degrees of freedom.”

HoyosLabs_stage_FF2014

Hoyos Labs CEO Hector Hoyos demonstratied the mobile app of the Hoyos ID Identity Assertion platform at FinovateFall 2014 in New York.

Using facial, voice, and fingerprint technologies such as 4F, Hoyos specializes in mobile biometric authentication solutions, seeking to move digital asset security beyond the world of passcodes, PINs, and tokens. The company’s open protocol standard was approved by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in September, certifying the technology as an internet and mobile device-authentication global standard. Hoyos Labs joined the FIDO Alliance in March 2015.

Hoyos Labs was founded in December 2013 and is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Boston, San Juan (Puerto Rico), Bucharest, Beijing, and Oxford (U.K.). The company demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2014.

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American Banker’s “20 Fintech Companies to Watch” Features 11 Finovate Alums

American Banker’s “20 Fintech Companies to Watch” Features 11 Finovate Alums
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AcceptEmail, Avoka, BioCatch, Feedzai, Fenergo, Gro Solutions, Intellaegis, Ripple, Trunomi

FintechForward_AmericanBanker_BAIIn the same way that celebrities examine the memoirs of other celebrities to see if and how frequently their names are mentioned, I admit my first thought upon seeing American Banker’s roster of “20 Fintech Companies to Watch” was: “How many Finovate/FinDEVr alums?!”

American Banker’s “20 Fintech Companies to Watch” feature is a part of Fintech Forward, its collaboration with BAI. The goal of the partnership is to “identify the forces and trends that are motivating banks’ technology investment.”

Companies for the list were selected by a panel of judges from American Banker, BAI, Citi, Santander, and Rockland Trust, who focused on three criteria:

  • Does a company offer innovative technology?
  • Does it solve a real business problem?
  • Is it ready for prime time?

So with the bar set, here are the Finovate alums that made the cut.

Rounding out the top 20 were Untapt, Gigaspaces Technologies, IdentityMind Global, Addepar, Zenbanx, nCino, Moneythink, InAuth, and Iovation.

In addition to its “20 Fintech Companies to Watch,” Fintech Forward has produced its “Top 100 Companies in Fintech” and “Top 25 Enterprise Companies” rankings. Both rosters feature numerous Finovate and FinDEVr alums, as well.

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Moven Rounds Up $12 Million in Funding for International Expansion

Moven Rounds Up $12 Million in Funding for International Expansion
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Moven

Moven_homepage_Oct2015

Mobile banking innovator Moven has picked up $12 million in new funding. The investment round was led by Route 66 Ventures, and takes Moven’s total capital to more than $24 million. Anthemis Group, Atlas Asset Management, NY Angels, and Raptor Group’s Jim Palotta also participated in the series B round.

The new capital will help Moven expand internationally, particularly into Canada and New Zealand. Moven announced a partnership with TD Canada last December, and has been working with New Zealand’s Westpac since August 2014.

Moven_stage_FS2015

Moven CEO and founder Brett King demonstrated Moven Financial Health Platform at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose.

In addition to deals with TD Canada and Westpac, Moven inked a deal with Accenture in May, in which the two would “jointly develop next-generation digital banking solutions.” The agreement also called for building solutions that will help banks worldwide adopt digital technology faster, more efficiently, and less expensively.

Winner of a Best of Show award at FinovateSpring 2015 for its Financial Health Platform, Moven was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in New York City. The company launched its mobile-first bank to the public in March 2014, and has since partnered with MoneyDesktop (now MX), and taken its mobile technology to wearables via Motorola’s Moto 360 and Samsung Gear smartwatches. Moven’s CEO and founder Brett King is the host of Breaking Banks, a weekly radio program on disruption in banking.

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Stockpile Hauls in $15 Million in New Investment

Stockpile Hauls in $15 Million in New Investment
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Stockpile

Stockpile_homepage_Oct2015

 

Stockpile, the company that provides gift cards for stock, has raised $15 million in funding. The major investment in Stockpile comes courtesy of Sequoia Capital, Mayfield, and individual investor, Ashton Kutcher, who praised Stockpile’s “drop-dead-easy user experience and affordability to all.”

Rajeev Batra, partner at Mayfield, was equally enthusiastic, referring to Stockpile’s combination of gift card technology and fractional share ownership as a “massive paradigm shift.”

“Stockpile is bringing the stock market to where you shop, bank, and do other things in your daily life,” Batra said. “You need a seasoned team to pull this off, and these guys know how to execute.”

Stockpile_stage_FS2014

Stockpile CEO Avi Lele and CCO Dan Schatt demonstrated Stockpile Gift Cards at FinovateSpring 2014.

Added Don Kingsborough, founder and former CEO of fellow Finovate alum Blackhawk Network, “Every retailer CEO I’ve spoken with thinks Stockpile is going to be the next, multibillion-dollar gift card category.”

Setting up a Stockpile Gift Card is as easy as choosing the stock (such as Tesla), deciding on a dollar amount to spend (any whole number between $1 and $1,000), and then purchasing the gift card with a credit card. The gift recipient then logs in to their Stockpile account using a special access code in order to get their stock. Stockpile Gift Cards are available at a variety of retailers including Lowe’s, Supervalu, and Wegman’s, as well as via iOS app. Gift cards include a “gifting fee” of $2.99 per card plus 3% of the face value of the card.

“Most people have never had an opportunity to own stock in their favorite companies because it’s too expensive and complicated to get started,” Stockpile CEO and founder Avi Lele explained in a statement. “For the first time ever, you’ll be able to walk into the supermarket and buy a gift card for, say, $25 of Apple stock right off the rack.”

Founded December 2010 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Stockpile made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Currency Cloud, Emailage, Feedzai, Malauzai Software, Misys, Moven, Ormsby Street, Stockpile, Trustly, WorldPay

On Finovate.com

  • “A View From Backstage at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015″
  • “Stockpile Hauls in $15 Million in New Investment”
  • “Emailage, Feedzai Partner to Combine Machine Learning with Email Risk Assessment”
  • “Moven Rounds Up $12 Million in Funding for International Expansion”

Around the web

  • Somerset Trust Company to deploy Retail+ for Small Business Banking solution from Malauzai Software.
  • Trustly expands into 21 new markets, now reaching 29 countries.
  • PYMNTS.com takes a look at Currency Cloud and the latest update to its API, Payment Engine Two.
  • Misys launches its dedicated-payment risk-management solution, FusionBanking Payment Insulator.
  • American Banker names 11 Finovate and FinDEVr alums in its list of 21 companies to watch.
  • Worldpay’s IPO on London Stock Exchange is the U.K.’s largest IPO of the year, at a market cap of £4.8 billion ($7.3 billion).
  • New enhancements to CreditHQ from Ormsby Street feature letter templates, new dashboard metrics.

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.

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Hip Pocket Introduces its New PFM Solution, Hip Money

Hip Pocket Introduces its New PFM Solution, Hip Money
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Hip Money, Hip Pocket

HipMoney_homepage_Oct2015

What do you put in a Hip Pocket?

Hip Money, of course!

Hip Money is the new PFM solution designed by the company that brought us Hip Pocket, the mortgage-rate-comparison calculator. We wrote a few weeks ago in our Finovate Debut conversation with Hip Pocket founder and CEO Mark Zmarzly that the company would be looking to expand into other related markets. With the introduction of Hip Money, that expansion has begun.

Hip Pocket debuted its new solution at the inaugural Fincon Fintech Startup Competition in Charlotte, North Carolina, last month, picking up a runners-up award of $1,500 in cash. (Note that the first prize was a tie between two other Finovate alums: FamZoo and TickerTags!)

HipPocket_stage_FS2015

From left: Todd Cramer, head of digital experience/design, and CEO Mark Zmarzly, founder, presented Version 2.0 of Hip Pocket at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose.

Hip Money is a personal finance-management app that seeks to complement human behavior in pursuit of higher savings rates rather than change it. According to reporting in Bank Innovation, Hip Money’s signature feature, Swipe to Save, enables users to set aside a certain amount for saving with a simple swipe when prompted. Savings goals can be personalized by target amount and date. According to Zmarzly, it works because it requires minimal user action and leaves “the math” to the app.

Those interested in Hip Money can leave their email address at the website in order to be notified when the app is ready. The solution will be available on a white-label basis, and can be included as part of a bank’s existing mobile app.

Hip Pocket, developer of Hip Money, was founded in June 2013 by Mark Zmarzly and is headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. The company made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose.

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FinDEVr Newcomer Praesidio Rakes in $3 Million Investment

FinDEVr Newcomer Praesidio Rakes in $3 Million Investment
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Praesidio

Praesidio_homepage_Oct2015

If you were a cybersecurity startup making your first appearance at a FinDEVr event, what would you bring to your debut?

How about more than $3 million in new funding?

Seattle-based Praesidio now has total capital of more than $5 million, courtesy of a new investment of $3.1 million led by Praesidio Chairman Jeff Lunsford and Vice Chairman Harold Brewer. Also participating in the round were Citizens National Bank, Live Oak Bank, and Washington Trust, which are customers of Praesidio as well as investors.

IMG_1049

Praesidio Chief Technology Officer Sean Cassidy presented at FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco.

Praesidio’s solution provides banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions with the ability to turn security-related Big Data into actionable intelligence. The technology uses machine learning to aggregate information from all of the institution’s security tools into a single, real-time management and reporting platform. This helps bridge the gap between IT and management, giving decision-makers the ability to clearly monitor and respond to potential security events wherever they appear on the network.

Talking about the company’s technology, Live Oak Bank president Neil Underwood said that deployment of Praesidio’s platform turned his bank’s security response from “reactive to proactive.” The deployment saved the bank “tens of thousands in hard expenditures instantly, averting fraud that could have had massive systemic and enterprise impact, with losses in the millions,” Underwood said.

Founded in May 2014 by CEO Edgardo Nazario, Praesidio made its FinDEVr debut last week in San Francisco. The company has 21 employees.

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Updated: IBSSMail Brings Multifactor, Biometric Authentication to Email

Updated: IBSSMail Brings Multifactor, Biometric Authentication to Email
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Internet Biometric Security System

IBSSMail_homepage_Sept2015

Updated with New Code (see below)

Internet Biometric Security Systems (IBSS) is offering a 30-day free trial of its biometric email communication technology, IBSSMail. The service manages both legal and biometric identification of all email account holders, and uses multifactor authentication to ensure that only the intended recipient can read the email as well as any attachments.

IBSS President David Ackerman said, “We are extremely excited about this new base product, which is a significant advancement in e-mail technology privacy protection.”

To take advantage of the free trial, use the promo code: [email protected].

IBSSMail prevents unauthorized access to, and forwarding of, confidential and proprietary e-mail. The service’s multifactor authentication includes human-voice identity, facial recognition, real-time legal identification of all account holders, and other technologies. Email accounts can be set up and secured within minutes, and the service is easy to use. IBSSMail is also offering a feature specifically geared toward the financial services companies: biometric, point-to-point encryption with a click of a button, without any additional setup required.

The company announced that IBSSMail will soon feature new solutions for e-mail printing, conferencing, and multimedia communication, as well. Also in the “coming soon” category is IBSSMail’s patent-pending, real-time online biometric document-signature solution for loan applications, tax returns and other financial services documents. “Our biometric document-signature solution will include content document risk assessment for veracity, resulting in a reduction of human resource costs, and fraud deterrence,” Ackerman said.

Founded in May 2005 and headquartered in San Diego, California, Internet Biometric Security Systems demoed Genesis Enterprise Edition, its biometric identification management system, at FinovateSpring 2013 in San Francisco.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: App Annie, Avalara, Cachet Financial Solutions, Credit Karma, Currency Cloud, Expensify, Hip Money, Hip Pocket, MX, Praesidio, Ripple, Thomson Reuters, Twilio, Wealthfront, WorldPay, Xero

On Finovate.com

  • “Hip Pocket Introduces its New PFM Solution, Hip Money“
  • “FinDEVr Newcomer Praesidio Rakes in $3 Million Investment”

Around the web

  • Cachet Financial Solutions to deploy its Select Mobile Money platform with a global payment solutions provider seeking U.S. expansion.
  • Currency Cloud launches its Payment Engine Two API to enable faster payments and greater scalability.
  • D+H Global PayPlus teams up with Ripple, integrating its payment-services hub with Ripple’s distributed-ledger technology.
  • Thomson Reuters announces content update to its Checkpoint Catalyst FASB reporting solution.
  • Ahead of its impending IPO, Worldpay firms up IPO price range.
  • Self Lender names MX as one of three startups “absolutely crushing it” in fintech.
  • Wealthfront lists App Annie, Avalara, Credit Karma, and Twilio on its list of career-launching companies.
  • Expensify launches new integration features for Xero.

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.

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Ripple Labs Makes Waves: Raises $4 Million, Rebrands & Launches Interledger

Ripple Labs Makes Waves: Raises $4 Million, Rebrands & Launches Interledger
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Ripple

Ripple_homepage_Oct2015

I suppose we should not be surprised when a company like Ripple Labs makes big waves.

An innovator in the field of distributed ledgers and alternative currencies, the company has raised $4 million in funding from Santander InnoVentures. Santander InnoVentures is the venture capital arm of the Spanish financial services giant. The investment completes a $32 million series A round, and brings the Ripple Labs’ total capital to more than $41 million.

InnoVentures managing partner Mariano Belinky said, “We think that the distributed ledger is a technology that will significantly disrupt many processes within a bank.”

And by Ripple Labs, I mean Ripple. The company this week announced it was omitting the word “Lab” from its name. The company is now simply “Ripple,” a name representing the technology’s emergence as an enterprise-grade solution and the debut of two new products for banks: Cross-Currency Settlement and FX Market Making.

Ripple_homepage2_Oct2015

Quoted at the Ripple blog, company CEO Chris Larsen referred to both new solutions as part of his team’s effort to modernize payment infrastructure for banks, thereby increasing efficiency and lowering costs.

It is hard to believe, but outmoded payment infrastructure forces banks and their corporate customers to pre-fund foreign accounts for international payments, but then provides few assurances that cross-border transactions will actually settle. With Ripple’s new solutions, banks can now achieve real-time, certain settlement at the lowest total cost possible.

Cross-currency settlement provides for fast, direct, bank-to-bank settlement that is an alternative to correspondent banking. Use-cases for the technology include:

  • Remittance service for retail customers
  • International transaction banking service
  • International corporate payments
  • Cross-border intra-bank currency transfers

FX Market Making enables banks to use Ripple’s global payments market to provide liquidity for cross-currency trading and real-time settlement. The technology enables both in-house and third-party market-making for banks.

In addition to the investment, Ripple also announced a new partnership with Accenture. Ripple will be offered as a payment option for Accenture customers who are expressing increased demand for blockchain-related products, according to Tim Summers, Accenture managing director for connected commerce.

This week also marks the launch of Ripple’s Interledger Protocol (ILP) to help banks take advantage of blockchain technology. The interledger protocol serves as an arbiter, or what Ripple CTO Stefan Thomas told CoinDesk was a “top-level cryptographic escrow system” that would enable funds to be transferred securely from ledger to ledger. The protocol, explained Thomas in an abstract on the technology, “removes the need to trust the connectors.” He wrote:

Removing the need to trust the connector enables anyone with accounts on two or more ledgers to make connections between them. Connectors can be composed to make payments and the financial system more accessible, competitive and resilient.

Ripple currently has 30 banks experimenting with its technology. Fellow Finovate/FinDEVr alum Fidor Bank AG was the first bank to deploy the technology, announcing in May 2014 that it was using Ripple to move money in three different countries. The company was highlighted by Let’s Talk Payments this August as one of “9 Remittance Startups to Watch Out For,” the same month Ripple was named a 2015 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum.

Founded 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, Ripple demonstrated its technology (as OpenCoin) at FinovateSpring 2013 in San Francisco.

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