Alkami Technology Brings its Digital Banking Platform to Patelco CU

Alkami_logo.jpgThe last many of us had heard about Alkami Technology was its appearance as part of Gonzobanker’s five-part, all-star dream banking app:

So which vendor’s functionality would make it into my product? I would take the marketing functionality from Alkami’s ORB (Online Relationship Builder)…”
Flash forward several months later and the Alkami is making headlines with news that it is bringing its digital banking platform to Patelco Credit Union. Patella is described in Bank Innovation’s coverage of the news as a “top 30 credit union” with more than $4 billion in assets and more than 280,000 members.
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Alkami Technology develops online banking solutions for companies and institutions in the financial services industry. The company’s Online Relationship Builder will provide what Patelco CU president and CEO Erin Mendez called “a modern, sophisticated digital banking platform to achieve a unified banking experience.” The credit union will also be upgrading its mobile app and working to encourage its processors to support Apple Pay as part of the overall enhancement to its digital banking options.
Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Alkami Technology has raised more than $50 million, with its most recent fundraising bringing in more than $23 million of that amount in December. The company is an alum of Finovate Startup 2009, where Alkami Technology demoed as “iThryv.”

Catching Up with the Innovators of FinovateSpring

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With our first conference of the year wrapped up in London, we’re gearing up to bring the show stateside in May for FinovateSpring 2015.

Last year, we had an all-star cast on stage. Just look at what they have been up to in the last nine months.

  • Raised more than $350 million 
  • Partnered with more than a dozen major financial services and technology companies including:
    • MoneyGram
    • Visa
    • Digital Insight
    • Ellie Mae
    • AT&T
    • Google
    • Blackstone Technology
    • Overstock.com
    • Meniga
    • Feedzai
Accelerator/incubator programs:
    • Wells Fargo Accelerator
    • SWIFT Innotribe Startup Challenge
Awards, honors, and recognitions:
    • KPMB’s Fintech Innovators for 2014
    • CNBC’s Disruptor 50
    • FSTech Awards
    • Forbes 30 Under 30 (up and coming CEOs)
    • Confirmit Ace Award
    • Future of Money Summit Startup Showcase Award
    • Bob’s Guide Fintech Startups to Watch in 2015
    • Star Performer Award from Speech Technology
    • Fast Company Top 10 Most Innovative in Finance
    • Dallas Business Journal 40 Under 40 (up and coming CEOs)
    • Mobile Innovations Awards
    • Mobile Excellence Award
    • Fintech 50
    • Paybefore Awards
Acquisitions:
    • IntelliResponse acquired by [24]7
    • LoopPay acquired by Samsung
Here’s a closer look at the highlights:
    • Won Best of Show at FinovateEurope 2015
    • Won Award at FinDEVr San Francisco 2014
    • Raised $2 million
    • Raised $75 million
    • Earned spot on KPMG’s 50 Best Fintech Innovators report
    • Named to CNBC’s Disruptor 50
    • Partnered with Time.com
    • Partnered with Meniga
    • Named “One to Watch” in KPMB’s Fintech Innovators for 2014
    • Won at Future of Money & Technology Summit Startup Showcase
    • Partnered with ProfitStars, Blackstone Technology, and SHAZAM Network
    • Raised $7 million
    • Named to Dallas Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 (CEO)
    • Won 2014 Confirmit ACE Award
    • Raised $5.4 million
    • Partnered with Feedzai
    • Won Best of Show at FinovateSpring 2014
    • Raised $6 million
    • Participated in Wells Fargo Accelerator
    • Partnered with Overstock.com
    • Partnered with several small and medium sized community banks and credit unions
    • Acquired by [24]7
    • Won Best of Show at FinovateSpring 2014
    • Closed strategic deal to acquire AT&T Watson speech recognition and natural language platform
    • Won Best of Show at FinovateEurope 2015
    • Partnered with IDology, The Rock Trading Ltd
    • Won Most Innovative App for Payments at Mobile Innovations Awards
    • Named to FinTech 50
    • Raised $200 million in debt financing
    • Named Germany’s leading digital innovator of the year by Focus Magazine
    • Earned spot in KPMG’s 50 Best Fintech Innovators Report
    • Raised $40 million
    • Raised $3 million
    • Earned finalist spot at SWIFT Innotribe Startup Challenge
    • Partnered with MoneyGram
    • Raised $50 million credit debt facility
    • Raised undisclosed sum from Visa
    • Raised undisclosed sum from Synchrony Financial
    • Acquired by Samsung
    • Won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2014
    • Won Best of Show at FinovateSpring 2014
    • Raised $75 million
    • Named to KPMB’s Fintech Innovators for 2014
    • Named to CNBC’s Disruptor 50
    • Won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2014
    • Earned 2014 Star Performer award from Speech Technology magazine
    • Earned #1 spot in Fast Company’s Top 10 Most Innovative in Finance
    • Raised $18 million
    • Raised $50 million
    • Named to KPMG’s Fintech Innovators for 2014
    • Named to CNBC’s Disruptor 50
    • Partnered with MoneyGram
    • Raised $1.3 million
    • Raised $54.7 million
    • Featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 Rising Stars of Enterprise Technology (CEO)
    • Named Most Disruptive Financial Sector Technology Finalist in FSTech Awards
    • Partnered with Ellie Mae
    • Raised $900,000
    • Won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2014
    • Named “One to Watch” in KPMG’s Fintech Innovators for 2014
    • Raised $3.4 million
    • Partnered with Google Wallet
    • Named to Bob’s Guide: “Fintech Startups to Watch in 2015”
    • Named winner in Ninth Annual Paybefore Awards
    • Raised $6 million
    • Named finalist in Mobile Excellence Awards for Best Mobile Retail/Commerce Solution
    • Earned spot in Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator

Updated: Pindrop Security Raises $35 Million

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A major infusion of capital has put the total funding for Pindrop Security at more than $42 million.

The leader of the $35 million Series B round was described in the Atlanta Business Chronicle as a “new West Coast investor.” The Chronicle adds that the new investor has valued Pindrop at more than $200 million.

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The new capital will help Pindrop expand its operations. The Atlanta-based company says it will add 100 jobs in engineering, software development, and sales and marketing—as well as look for a new, larger workspace.
Pindrop Security specializes in combating phone fraud for enterprise call centers. Using acoustic fingerprinting, Pindrop’s technology isable to tell the difference between fraudulent and authentic callers. The company’s services include a database of more than 300,000 phone numbers associated with 40,000 phone-fraud “fingerprints,” a fraud-detection system to prevent call spoofing, and real-time call forwarding protection.
And because of the growing use of phones as part of a multifactor authentication process that requires an out-of-band component, Pindrop also sees its technology as a way to make sure that the phone is the strongest link.
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Presenter: Pindrop Security CEO Vijay Balasubramaniyan at FinovateFall 2012
Pindrop Security partnered in AGNOTiO in May to help call centers adapt to safety concerns from mobile customers. And in December, the company teamed up with Contact Solutions and IDology to develop technology to defend against IVR (interactive voice response) fraud.  Pindrop Security launched its combined voice biometric/phoneprinting fraud detection system last year, as well as its NCE mobile NFC payments solution.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and founded in 2011, Pindrop Security demoed at FinovateFall 2012 in New York. Vijay Balasubramaniyan is CEO.

Alumni News—February 18, 2015

  • Mitek launches Commercial Mobile Deposit Capture, bringing MDC technology to the enterprise.
  • Malauzai reports doubling revenues, growth of customer base to more than 300 community banks and credit unions.
  • D3Banking adds to leadership team with four new appointments.
  • Check out FinovateEurope 2015 in the press.
  • Bluefin Payment Systems to provide Decryptx point-to-point encryption (P2PE) solution to Heartland Payment Systems’ clients.
  • Temenos purchases Akcelerant to accelerate growth in North America.
  • Lending Club partners with BancAlliance, a national consortium of 200 community banks.
  • Fast Company lists BehavioSec, Ripple, Braintree, Expensify, NICE and BlueVine as top innovative companies in the money category
  • PYMNTS discusses retail’s adoption of mPOS with Bluefin Payment systems.
  • ayondo clients now receive free access to real time analysis tools from StockPulse.
  • Kantox uses Apply Financial’s API to enhance customer service and enable more integrated international payments.
  • TechFlash interviews Payfone CEO and co-founder Rodger Desai.
  • Stockhouse: TIO Networks poises to capture major portion of mobile payment market.
  • USA Today highlights Tuition.io for student debt management.
  • TransferWise launches in United States.
  • Code CU to use Insuritas for insurance agency solution.
  • Coinbase Android and iOS apps now available in 11 new languages.
  • Global Financial Private Capital selects HiddenLevers to help advisors grow their practice.
  • Tradier’s API takes 15 million production calls in Jan., a 33% increase in a single month.
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.

Bill.com Raises $50 Million, Doubling Total Funding

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In a round led by Silicon Valley Bank and featuring participation from current investors, Bill.com has added $50 million in new capital.

The investment takes the company’s total funding to more than $120 million.

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Because most businesses still rely on manual processes for accounts payable and accounts receivable, Bill.com CEO and founder René Lacerte believes there is a “significant market opportunity” for Bill.com and its banking partners. Jacob Moseley, senior market manager for Silicon Valley Bank, praised Bill.com’s growth and put the company “at the center of the digital payments space.”

“Bill.com tackles a problem that plagues small business,” Moseley says, “and distills it down to a simple solution for paying bills and getting paid.”

Existing investors also participating in the round were:

  • American Express Ventures
  • August Capital
  • Commerce Ventures
  • DCM Ventures
  • Napier Park Global Capital
  • Scale Venture Partners

Lacerte said the funding will help the company grow its core technology and offer its services across the United States.

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Presenter: Bill.com CEO and founder, René Lacerte, at FinovateSpring 2012

Forbes.com contributor, Ben Kepes writes “that’s a lot of cash for something as unsexy as bills.” But the investment strongly suggests that sexy is as sexy does. According to the company, Bill.com is used by three of the top-10 U.S. banks and 35 of the top-100 accounting firms, and is seated “at the intersection point between banks, the accounting software providers, and businesses.” More than 600,000 network members use the technology to process more than $19 billion in payments a year.

CNBC’s coverage of the funding includes a breakdown of Bill.com’s previous funding rounds, as well as a peek into the company’s growth plans (190 employees by the end of 2015, up from the current 140), and potential IPO (“two to three years” away). The CNBC column quotes Mozilla CFO Jim Cook, whose company spends “thousands of dollars a month” on the technology, citing both cost-savings and a superior audit trail as reasons why he finds the technology “easier and more robust.”

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Bill.com demoed its technology as part of FinovateSpring 2012.

FinovateEurope 2015: Tweets by the Thames

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Our biggest FinovateEurope to date is in the books. Thanks to all our presenters, sponsors, partners, and, of course, our record-setting attendees.

A special thanks to our scribes in social media. Our Twitter feed (#Finovate) continues to be a great way to hear and be heard—from the first demo on Tuesday through the naming of the Best of Show winners Wednesday afternoon. Here’s a sampler of some of the more colorful commentary and insightful observations from FinovateEurope 2015.

Thanks to everyone who participated and we’ll see you in San Jose for FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose!

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Alumni News—February 17, 2015

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgTop Image Systems partners with Hanse Orga to offer capture-enabled accounts receivable payment processing for SAP & ERP.
  • QuantConnect LEAN Engine now 100% open source.
  • JetPay to support WePay’s launch in Canada.
  • LifePay acquires iboxPro, expands into Asian markets.
  • Fast Company names Motif, Likefolio, Fidor Bank, LendUp, Blooom, and LearnVest in the top innovative companies of 2015 in personal finance.
  • PluraVida selects Dwolla to process transactions between media suppliers and buyers.
  • CNBC interviews CEO Michael Carter, BizEquity, on its business-valuation service.
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.

Alumni News, February 13, 2015

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgDigital Insight to offer its customers EyePrint ID, courtesy of new agreement with EyeVerify.
  • Global Debt Registry unveils new asset classes, new resources, and new UI in brand refresh.
  • Azimo extends its money-transfer service to Thailand.
  • FinovateEurope 2015 Best of Show Winners announced.
  • Fast Company features Ayasdi in its list of the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2015 in Big Data.
  • 22 Finovate alums nominated for 2015 Pymnts innovator awards. Cast your vote here.
  • Lincoln Savings Bank hires Insuritas to launch insurance agency for its customers.
  • FreeAgent partners with Appointedd to simplify small business bookings.
  • Bank Innovation takes a look at the widespread use of Xignite APIs among fintech startups.
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 2015 Best of Show Winners Announced

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If there is anything more exciting than the first Finovate conference of the year, it’s seeing who will be the year’s first Best of Show award-winning companies.

After two days of fintech presentations and demonstrations, our audience of more than 1,100 has shared its opinion on which technologies at FinovateEurope 2015 stood out from the rest of a truly impressive pack.

Here are this year’s winners, in alphabetical order:

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Avoka for its three-minute loan application that promises to deliver the fastest onboarding experience in the world.

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CoinJar for its technology that enables consumers to buy, sell, and use digital and traditional forms of currency any way they choose—from dollars to bitcoins.

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ebankIT for its omnichannel and social banking solution that maximizes interaction between FIs and their clients.

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eToro for its innovations in social trading and investing for Generation Y.

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Jumio for its credentials-management technology, Netverify, that turns mobile devices into ID document-scanning terminals.

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mBank and i3D for their interactive, digital retail-branch concept.

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Meniga for Market Match, its transaction-data analytics and enrichment engine.
As always, thanks to everyone who attended and participated in FinovateEurope 2015. We’ll see you next year!

Notes on methodology:  

1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three favorites.    
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”  
4. The seven companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named Best of Show.  
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners. 

LifePay Presents its mPOS, EMV, Chip and Pin Technology for SMEs

LifePay_logo_high-res2.jpgThis post is part of our live coverage of FinovateEurope 2015.

LifePay is the largest mPOS EMV chip-and-pin company in Russia specializing in payments technology for SMEs.

We created LifePay to merge all of our products into one ecosystem that will support B2B and B2C financial services through the entire customer journey for both merchants and individuals.

LifePay is rolling out business solutions to new markets in Asia and Europe, including:

  • mPOS
  • Cash Register with LifePad and MDM system
  • Merchant portal with CRM and sales analytics
  • Online acquiring
  • Credits for merchants
  • POS credits for individuals

 

Presenters: CMO Anna Yanchevskaya; Vlad Pyatak, manager of special events; Anna Filatova, marketing specialist

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Product launch: January 2015
Product distribution strategy: Direct to Consumer (B2C), Direct to Business (B2B) through financial institutions
HQ: Moscow, Russia
Metrics: 15,000 merchants; 1,500+ active merchants; 500,000+ end users; $2+ million monthly payment volume

KPAX Provides Strategic Automated Regression Testing and Reconciliation for Financial Services Businesses

KPAX_logo_high-res.jpgThis post is part of our live coverage of FinovateEurope 2015.

Developed over a period of seven years, KPAX helps data users in financial services better manage and process data.

KPAX is a powerful tool developed for strategic automated regression testing and reconciliations for financial services as well as data users in other sectors. KPAX automatically runs comparisons between data sets, thereby removing manual processing and providing an advance in the speed and quality of data.

KPAX can be installed as a virtual machine, on servers, or via the cloud.

Presenters: CEO Jean-Luc Nicoue, and Aurelie Ahade, business development consultant
 
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Product launch: February 2015
Product distribution strategy: Direct to Business (B2B), through financial institutions, through other fintech companies and platforms
HQ: Brussels, Belgium
Metrics: Self-funded; 10 employees; clients include some of the largest financial services institutions around the world
Website: kpaxweb.com

Smart eMoney Presents LockByMobile to Stop Credit Card and ATM Security Breaches

Smart_eMoney_logo_high-res.jpgThis post is part of our live coverage of FinvoateEurope 2015.

The team from Smart eMoney is on its way to the stage with its anti-fraud security solution, LockbyMobile.

To address the potential breach in credit card or ATM security, LockByMobile provides an additional security layer for cardholder accounts such as credit, debit, ATM and prepaid card, or even electronic wallets. It empowers cardholders to take control by “locking and unlocking” their accounts in real time using their mobile phone.

The service offers granual settings such as locking specific channels (point of sale, online, mobile, or ATM), or transaction settings (amount and merchant types), as well as limiting the transactions to certain countries and currencies.

LockByMobile’s concept comes from the Lock/Unlock feature of Smart Money, winner of the ‘Best Mobile Security Feature’ award, November 2009, GSMA in Barcelona.

Presenters: Angelito Villanueva, VP & head of innovation, and Guillaume Danielou, senior product manager 

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Product launch: October 2014
Product distribution strategy: Direct to Business (B2B), through financial institutions
HQ: Manila, Philippines
Metrics: 217 employees
Twitter: @LockbyMobile