Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Bright Funds Closes Seed Round with $1.8 Million Investment
  • Zooz Launches Insights to Give Merchants Actionable Intelligence on Customer Behavior

Around the web

  • APCI Federal Credit Union to deploy core processing technology from Jack Henry & Associates’ Symitar division.
  • EU Startups interviews Sebastian Diemer, Kreditech CEO.
  • New COO David Obrand leads team of new executive hires at Radius.
  • Shell Geismar Federal Credit Union chooses account processing platform from Fiserv.
  • Mambu enhances platform to help smaller FIs manage the requirements of lending to SMEs.
  • Techli St. Louis features Hip Pocket as 1 of 3 finalists for its most promising startups award.
  • Glassdoor ranks Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche as one of the highest-rated CEOs for 2015.
  • Hedge funds can run but not hide from disruptors like HedgeCoVest and DarcMatter, according to Daily Fintech.

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.

HedgeCoVest Adds Two New Models to its Platform

HedgeCoVest Adds Two New Models to its Platform

Hedgecovest_homepage_June2015

HedgeCoVest, the startup that makes it possible for average investors to take advantage of the same market-beating and -hedging strategies used by hedge funds, has added two new investing models to its platform.

The models, HedgeCoVestTechnology Short-Only and Ashbury Behavioral Long Short, are examples of the way HedgeCoVest gives average investors access to strategies historically available only to the wealthiest or most well-connected investors. HedgeCoVest Technology Short-Only gives investors the opportunity to hedge or take a position against technology stocks. Ashbury Behavioral Long Short looks to take advantage of “long-term behavioral biases in forecasting, fundamental valuation, and trend following.” The model is managed by Ashbury Heights Capital.

HedgeCoVest_TechShort_new

While the Ashbury Behavioral Long Short model is a single-strategy model, the HedgeCoVest Technology Short-Only model is a composite model. Here, the model takes the “highest-conviction” short positions in technology stocks from the platform’s single-strategy models and combines them into a single model.

HedgeCoVest’s platform works by plugging directly into the hedge fund’s trading operation. As soon as the fund executes a trade for a given strategy, the platform’s “Replicazor” technology picks up the execution report and makes a “best effort” to duplicate that trade in real-time in the client’s account pursuant to that strategy. There are more than 30 different models on the platform for investors to choose from, both single-strategy and composite, and both accredited and nonaccredited investors can use the technology. The minimum investment is $30,000, and HedgeCoVest charges a flat, annual fee of 2.5% of the assets in the client’s account.

HedgeCoVestLongShort_new

The platform went live at the beginning of the month, with more than 1,500 beta users and 45 alternative investment firms participating. Investors appreciate the access to a diverse range of investment strategies typically not available to them. Fund managers and participating firms benefit from access to a cohort of investors who are typically—and in the case of Regulation D, legally—unavailable through the usual channels.

Founded in April 2013 and headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, HedgeCoVest made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014 in New York. Evan Rapoport is CEO.

Finovate Debuts: TrueAccord Provides Kinder, Gentler, Automated Debt Collection

Finovate Debuts: TrueAccord Provides Kinder, Gentler, Automated Debt Collection

TrueAccord_homepage_June2015

TrueAccord uses machine learning and behavioral analytics to automate the debt-collection process. The result is an all-in-one, debt portfolio management platform with a multichannel, “humanistic” approach to engage the debt-account holder.

At FinovateSpring 2015, the company demoed the white-label version of its platform. TrueAccord says they have seen recovery improvements of 20% or more in the companies using the technology, and individual agent productivity gains of 10x. The goal at Finovate was to introduce the platform to larger institutions that could use the technology under their own brands to better manage debt accounts.

TrueAccord_FS2015_stage

TrueAccord co-founders: CTO Nadav Samet and CEO Ohad Samet demonstrated their white-label, automated debt-recovery platform at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose.

Company facts:

  • Founded in 2014
  • Headquartered in San Francisco, California
  • Services more than $60 million in debt from more than 400,000 debtors
  • Ohad Samet is co-founder and CEO

The story

Ohad Samet left his job as chief risk officer at Klarna to launch TrueAccord. Inspired in part by his own experience with a debt collector, Samet enlisted his brother, Nadav Samet, a veteran of the Israeli intelligence services and a former Google engineer. Together they began to tackle some of the key problems involved in debt collection:

  • Make it easier for lenders to track and manage their debt portfolios. TrueAccord provides institutions with a visually engaging, online dashboard where all debt accounts can be reviewed and monitored.
  • Automate as much of the process as possible. TrueAccord’s platform provides automated repayment plans that can be accepted as-is by borrowers or modified, and creatively engages with the debtor automatically to suggest alternative plans—even if the debtor abandons the process by closing the window.
  • Add the right kind of “human touch.” In building TrueAccord, Samet and his team knew that different debtors would respond differently to requests to repay debt. One debtor may respond better to a lighthearted text with emoticons. Another debtor may be more encouraged to pay off his debt with a more overtly motivational approach. Yet another debtor may just need to “see the math” in order to realize the importance of prioritizing debt repayment.

What’s important is meeting the debtor where he or she is, in the channel of his or her preference, in a voice (or tone or image) that is likely to produce the positive result of turning non- or under-performing loans into performing ones.

How it works

When a company initially logs onto the TrueAccord platform, the first thing to do is add loan accounts, a task easily done either by uploading files via CSV, or by using TrueAccord’s API to set up a two-way integration. Once the loan accounts are uploaded, TrueAccord goes to work classifying the loans and displaying the information graphically in the dashboard (see below).

The dashboard makes it easy to track the kind and quality of loans in the portfolio: working and non-working loans, loans in dispute, loans under a revised payment plan and more. The dashboard also tracks inbound and outbound communication volume; recoveries (with week-to-week and month-to-month comparisons); and disbursements.

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Above: TrueAccord’s dashboard gives the lender all the relevant information in an easy-to-digest graphical format.

The settings control (below) lets the company establish parameters to guide the automated debt-recovery process. Select minimum payments, maximum discounts to be offered, and maximum payment-plan length, and the system does the rest. Administrators can use the settings tab from the dashboard to see what other features TrueAccord’s engineers are developing. Those features are tested for stability before being offered for use on the platform.

trueaccord_settings_2

Above: The settings tab in the dashboard gives the lender the opportunity to customize and adjust the parameters of the loan-repayment terms TrueAccord will offer on its behalf.

Below is an example of the view of the platform from the perspective of an individual agent reviewing accounts. The account view gives the agent all the information he or she needs in order to see exactly what condition any given loan is in. Here, the agent can see the name, outstanding balance, initial loan amount, and contact information. To the right of the Home tab, the history tab displays all of the contact between the company and the debtor. The time and date when the contact was made is noted, as are the channel (email, voicemail, SMS, etc.), and any other substantive details. Interestingly, the platform also lets the agent know if the contacted debtor has tried to access any of the messages (whether or not the debtor actually returned them), including attempts that are abandoned. TrueAccord also lets the agent know if the debtor has visited the web site and which pages have been viewed.

All of this is geared toward increasing engagement with a debtor who probably is at least a little reluctant to be engaged. By studying which channels and which messages have received the most positive responses, TrueAccord is able to provide better outcomes from debt collectors and debtors.

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Above: The TrueAccord platform gives collection agents the details on individual accounts, including a contact history.

Easily one of the most clever features of TrueAccord from this perspective is the way the technology remains engaged with the debtor, even if the debtor abandons the process. For example, if the debtor closes the tab or window in the middle of a repayment “negotiation,” the platform will send the debtor a text or email with a subject line, such as “Let’s Try Again,” a phrase with a more conciliatory tone (or more “encouraging” or more “motivating,” depending on the debtor’s personal characteristics), and a new repayment-plan offer for the debtor to consider.

trueaccord_paymentplan_4

Above: TrueAccord automatically recontacts when debtors abandon the process with an email or text offering a repayment plan that may better suit the debtors needs.

The future

Since its Finovate debut in San Jose this spring, TrueAccord has found itself in the headlines. COO Sofya Pogreb was interviewed as part of Huffington Post Business’ Women In Business series earlier this month, and the company was recently highlighted by Fox Business as one of “30 Hot Fintech Startups to Watch” and by Coin Telegraph as one of “6 Rising FinTech Startups.” The company has raised more than $5 million, with its last funding being a $250,000 Series A round completed in October 2014.

TrueAccord’s primary goal now is to encourage more large financial institutions to adopt their technology. And if the company’s desire to add data analysts is any indication, TrueAccord is optimistic about its prospects of getting FIs to put the platform to work. Writing about the company in the fall of 2014 when it included TrueAccord in a list of “Top 10 Tech Companies to Watch,” the editors of American Banker put it simply: “Debt collection is in dire need of an overhaul. TrueAccord is trying to offer an enlightened approach.”

Often we find companies trying to put a “human face” on technology to make it more palatable. In TrueAccord, we have a company knowledgeable enough about the world of debt collection to do the exact opposite.

EyeVerify’s Partnership with Turkish Reseller Yields Vodafone Contract

EyeVerify’s Partnership with Turkish Reseller Yields Vodafone Contract

EyeVerify_homepage_June2015

The first dividend from EyeVerify’s just-announced reseller deal with Turkey’s Olcsan CAD Technology has arrived: The biometric authentication specialist will bring its Eyeprint ID to Vodafone’s Cep Cüzdan mobile wallet.

“Together with EyeVerify, we plan to expand our biometric offerings into the mobile space and continue to offer innovative solutions for our clients,” says Burak Sondal, Olcsan CEO.

With just the camera on the average smartphone or mobile device, EyeVerify’s technology scans the patterns of blood vessels in the eye to create a digital identifier, an “eyeprint,” that EyeVerify says is as unique as a fingerprint. The company’s Eyeprint technology has been deployed by financial institutions, most recently at Mountain America Credit Union, looking to secure their mobile apps. And smartphone manufacturer Alcatel announced this spring that it was launching a new phone with EyeVerify’s Eyeprint technology included.

The technology, less expensive than other biometric methods such as iris-scanning, is more “spoof-proof” than facial recognition and more discrete than voice recognition.

Olcsan and EyeVerify had been cooperating on product development for several months and agreed to the reseller deal earlier this year. Founded in 1992, Olcsan CAD Technology is a systems integrator and app developer specializing in smart card, security and biometric authentication technologies for the enterprise. EyeVerify CEO and founder Toby Rush cited Olcsan’s more than 30 years’ experience in providing biometric authentication solutions to its customers as a major reason for forging the partnership. According to Rush, “Their expertise in implementation across numerous vertical markets will be invaluable in generating marketing adoption for Eyeprint ID.”

Vodafone Turkey is the number-two mobile communications company in Turkey. The telecom operates in more than 80 cities in the country, and has more than 20 million users. Vodafone Turkey has more than 1,200 stores and 23,000 points of sale.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas, EyeVerify demoed its biometric authentication technology at FinovateSpring 2014, winning Best of Show honors.

DriveWealth Hires Harry Temkin as New CIO

DriveWealth Hires Harry Temkin as New CIO

DriveWealth_homepage_June2015

Brokerage-as-a-service specialist DriveWealth has added to its management team, hiring Harry Temkin as Chief Information Officer.

Timken (pictured at right) has a diverse background in financial services. He is currently CEO and partner at financial software startup, KnowVera, where he is building a pair of stock market trading simulations through KnowVera’s subsidiary, Ronin Game Studios. Before KnowVera, Temkin was EVP and head of exchange traded instruments, Americas, for Thomson Reuters. Previous to Thomson Reuters, he was EVP at Bridge Information Services.

HarryTemkin_DriveWealth_CIOTemkin pointed to DriveWealth’s key value to consumers: its focus on education and its ability to bring trading and investment access to popular U.S. stocks. He says the technology “has the potential to change the way in which individuals around the world invest their money.” In return, Robert Cortright, founder and CEO of DriveWealth, pointed to Temkin’s platform-building experience, saying this experience will be key as the company seeks to develop new solutions for its international business partners and their retail clients.

DriveWealth, which made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose last month, makes it possible for international investors and traders to buy and sell securities listed in the United States. For most investors around the world, access to U.S. markets is restricted to the wealthy and well-connected. DriveWealth’s brokerage-as-a-service platform allows brokers, developers, and content providers outside the United States to offer U.S. stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and ADRs (American Depository Receipts) to their clients. DriveWealth provides a “full-stack” platform—meaning everything from customer onboarding and account funding to trade execution and clearing takes place via DriveWealth’s platform.

Founded in May 2012 and headquartered in Chatham, New Jersey, DriveWealth has raised more than $10 million in funding, and serves clients in more than 135 countries since launching in August 2014.

Ask Finovate: Who’s Who in Voice-banking Technology?

Ask Finovate: Who’s Who in Voice-banking Technology?

Telephone with piggy bank – call for help

A few days ago, we received a query from a Finovate follower:

“Can you please provide a list of companies that have demoed their voice-banking technology over the last few years?”

Interesting question! We trolled through our archives and here’s what we found.

When it comes to voice banking, ebankIT (FinovateEurope 2015); Interactions (FinovateEurope 2014); and ETRONIKA (FinovateEurope 2014) have all demonstrated innovative voice-banking technologies on the Finovate stage in recent years. It may not be a coincidence that all three companies won Best of Show awards for those demonstrations, as well.

ebankIT_FEU2015_stage

ebankIT Director Joao Lima Pinto and Omnichannel Specialist Paulo Oliviera demonstrated omnichannel social banking at FinovateEurope 2015 in London.

Another company worth mentioning is Finantix. The three-time Finovate veteran demoed its Smart Banking Assistant which responds to commands and queries posed in natural language, and is a part of the company’s Finantix Sharp multichannel platform.

Larger alums also have made inroads into voice banking. This cohort includes Fiserv, whose Voice Response for DNA solution is providing voice-banking services to a growing number of FIs, including credit unions, and ACI Worldwide, specializing in providing voice banking technology to community FIs via its Voice Banking suite within the ACI Self-service Banking platform.

Interactions_FS2014_stage

Interactions Marketing Manager Dan Fox demoed conversational solutions for banks and FIs at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose.

A number of Finovate alums have built and deployed voice-banking technologies, while emphasizing on stage only a small component of that technology, such as real-time authentication. These companies include NICE Systems (most recently at FinovateEurope 2015 and a Best of Show winner at FinovateFall 2014) and Q2ebanking (FinovateSpring 2011).

Also, many alums have focused on voice biometrics as an authentication solution without being a full voice-banking-platform provider. These companies include Canada’s VoiceTrust (FinovateEurope 2013); Great Britain’s ValidSoft (FinovateSpring 2013); Best of Show winners AnchorID (FinovateFall 2014) and BehavioSec (most recently at FinDEVr 2014) from New York and Sweden, respectively.

ETRONIKA_FEU15_stage

ETRONIKA CEO Kęstutis Gardžiulis and Head of Marketing Asta Sabaite demonstrated BANKTRON at FinovateEurope 2014.

Additionally, a handful of alums have developed technologies that complement voice banking. SayPay Technologies made its Finovate debut in London this year with a voice-driven bill-pay solution. IntelliResponse, which was recently acquired by [24]7 for its customer service chat resources, last deployed its virtual agent technology at Bank of Internet USA, adding the oldest internet bank in America to its roster of more than 450 deployments across more than 150 brands and institutions.

There is an even broader field of companies that leverage voice technologies to help consumers make payments and transfer money, manage their finances, and even direct investments. Some of these companies, e.g., Credit Sesame, are using Siri-like functionality to improve the customer experience, while others such as mBank are combining voice and video to bring customers real-time assistance from live agents as opposed to virtual ones.

Is there a Finovate alum we left out? If you’re an alum with interesting innovations in the field of voice banking, send us an email at [email protected], and tell us all about it.

Oink Launches New App with Peer to Peer Functionality

Oink Launches New App with Peer to Peer Functionality

Oink_homepage_June2015

For fans of “virtual piggy bank” Oink, your award-winning app just got a little bit better.

Virtual Piggy, makers of Oink, have just launched version 2.0, which features a P2P capability that allows family and friends to deposit funds in an Oink account. The Oink account can then be used to automatically or manually load the Oink card, providing a parent or guardian-supervised mobile-payment and/or mobile-gift system for Virtual Piggy’s 11- to 21-year-old consumers.

Dr. Jo Webber, CEO and founder of Oink, cited “real-time access and control” as key to the kind of banking solutions that appeal to teens. Oink is wagering that it will also appeal to parents, as the technology makes it easier for teenagers to see and understand their own spending and savings patterns before they become potentially bad habits.

Oink_version_3

Writing in PaymentsSource last month, Webber made the case for relying on mobile technologies when it came to helping young people learn about personal finance. “For the most mobile generation to date,” she wrote, “it makes much more sense to use payment technologies reliant on mobile devices to spend and manage funds. Considering Generation Z has more spending power than any previous generation, their spending priorities are bound to guide the industry.”

The new Oink app is currently available on iOS. More than 1.3 million consumers are using the technology, which can be used to make online and in-store payments anywhere Discover card is accepted.

A four-time Finovate alum, Virtual Piggy won Best of Show honors at FinovateEurope 2013. The company, founded in February 2008, is headquartered in Hermosa Beach, California.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Oink Launches New App with Peer to Peer Functionality”

Around the web

  • Peter Day’s World of Business talks about machine learning technology with Jay Wilpon and Michael Johnston of Interactions.
  • Forbes.com column on innovations in lending features On Deck, Lending Club, Cloud Lending Solutions, and Vouch.
  • As Lighter Capital ramps up to closing six deals per month and nears its 100th investment, Jeff Seely is named chairman.
  • Lending Club leads investment in Propel(x), an online investment platform.
  • BBVA Compass launches online financial advice portals, MoneyFit and Great Ideas for Small Business.
  • As Lighter Capital ramps up to closing six deals per month and nears its 100th investment, it names Jeff Seely Chairman.
  • Lending Club leads investment in Propel(x), an online investment platform.
  • American Banker: “Temenos Is Ready to Make Waves in U.S. Core Processing”
  • CNBC discusses the future of fintech with Bill Harris, Personal Capital CEO.
  • Braintree partners with Pinterest to launch Buyable Pins.
  • Bluefin releases Version 2.0 of its proprietary P2PE manager.
  • Inc.: “Lending Club Jumps as Online Lending Continues to Grow”
  • Let’s Talk Payments names many alums in list of 50 fintech startups to watch out for.
  • British Bank Association undertakes a campaign to recommend that U.K. businesses deploy solutions such as TIS’ eFLOW INVOICE.

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.

Finovate Debuts: LoanNow Helps Borrowers “Outperform their FICO Score”

Finovate Debuts: LoanNow Helps Borrowers “Outperform their FICO Score”

LoanNow_homepage_May2015

Years after the financial crisis, lenders remain reluctant to fund borrowers with less than perfect credit. LoanNow combines more than a decade of experience in lending; top engineering talent (“most of our team is ex-Amazon” the LoanNow team tells me); and a fresh approach to managing risk to provide better loan programs to the subprime borrowing population.

Company facts:

  • Founded June 2013
  • Headquartered in Santa Ana, California
  • More than $5 million in funding raised
  • More than $3 million in loans issued
  • 25 employees

“Everybody has friends with bad credit,” says LoanNow CEO Harry Langenberg in a conversation during Finovate week. “But you’d still loan them your car. We’re trying to help people outperform their FICO scores. [In doing so] we are producing a lower-cost loan during the lifetime of the loan.”

LoanNow_FS2015_stage_800

From left: LoanNow co-founders Harry Langenberg, CEO, and Miron Lulic, COO, demonstrated LoanNow Group Signing at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose.

The story

What makes LoanNow possible is a combination of technological and regulatory opportunities and a group of individuals eager to take advantage of them. Company founder and CEO Harry Langenberg and COO Miron Lulic have more than 12 years of experience building a variety of companies that addressed different consumer needs. After the financial crisis, with banks shunning borrowers with less than sterling credit, Langenberg and Lulic saw an opportunity to work with subprime lenders.

“We saw ourselves as a team of A players in a C-level industry,” they explained. “We could succeed where others were afraid to go.”

What Langenberg and Lulic brought to subprime lending was a belief that a closer focus on individual borrower behavior can bring default rates down. They use algorithms and a variety of technical tools to look at far more factors than the FICO score. “FICO is a bad way to judge people in subprime categories,” Langenberg says. “We don’t just look at past data. We also look at the real-time performance while the borrower is in the loan, as (the borrower) pays it down.”

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LoanNow’s Group Signing feature, demonstrated at FinovateSpring 2015, is another example of leveraging technology with an understanding of the borrower to make better loans to those unable to rely on traditional lenders. Group Signing lets borrowers leverage their social networks, encouraging friends and family members to pledge to help retire some fraction of the loan if the borrower defaults. Based on the number of group signers and the amounts vouched for, borrowers earn credits to lower the loan rate.

Since lending is risk-based, the core problem of subprime must be solved: reduce the risk of defaults. Langenburg says the goal becomes how to manage and drive down risk when interest rates are high and pricing is up because of defaults.

There’s more to the LoanNow platform than the Group Signing feature. But the feature, demoed at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose, is both new and a great example of LoanNow’s concept of “social credit” in action.

How it works

Group Signing takes the traditional concept of co-signing and brings in into the 21st century. Borrowers taking advantage of the Group Signing option use the LoanNow platform to send a note to friends and family members who might be willing to vouch for the LoanNow loan. By vouching, Group Signees agree to pay a fraction of the borrower’s loan in the event of default.

LoanNow_Borrower_Request_Compose_Message_1

Having a large number of Group Signees (and/or having a significant amount of the loan “group-signed”) gives the borrower credits used to lower the interest rate on the loan. By making debt less expensive and easier to retire, borrowers are better able to improve their credit score. LoanNow’s ultimate goal is to help subprime borrowers move out of the category altogether.

LoanNow_GroupSigning_RequestView3

After accepting a Group Signing invitation, the platform thanks the Group Signee for participating and asks for a pledge amount ($25 minimum). Pledges are made with credit/debit cards from Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Maestro, or Visa Electron. Cards are not charged unless the borrower defaults.

LoanNow_Group_Signing_Amount3

The LoanNow platform provides the borrower with a dashboard to track loan obligations. Friends and family members who have agreed to group-sign or “vouch” loans not only can be tracked, but also any loans the borrower has vouched for. The dashboard also gives a “Score Feed.” The Score Feed reminds the borrower of those who have group-signed for the loan, and also shows the vouch amount and how that vouching contributes to the borrower’s overall group-signing credit total.

LoanNow_Borrower_Dashboard-Group-Sign2

LoanNow currently operates in its home state of California as well as in Utah and Missouri. Loan amounts range from $2,500 to $5,000 in California, and $1,000 to $5,000 in Utah and Missouri. Terms range from 9 months to 24 months. Application is a quick, five-minute process and, as a direct lender, LoanNow can guarantee a rapid response. Loans are deposited directly into the borrower’s account.

The future

Going forward, LoanNow’s biggest focus is to expand operations. Currently in three states, and with 20 employees, the company is looking to double or triple its headcount by the end of the year. While currently lending half-a-million a month, LoanNow would like to triple or quadruple that number in the same time frame. The company is finalizing talks with a financial partner, with a potential announcement coming by the end of June 2015.

“We came to Finovate to meet banks and credit unions and are looking to partner with them,” said Langenberg. “Our platform for subprime borrowers is also a place to monetize leads and [pick up] a mismatch in their loan programs that we can help them fix and monetize.”

LoanNow_Group_Sign_Dashboard_5

“We are investing heavily in the platform, more so than before,” said Langenberg. And that represents a commitment of not only financial capital, but also human capital. “Our platform is an entire banking infrastructure built from scratch,” he said. “We are always looking for great engineers.” LoanNow also boasts of a strong legal team to make sure they remain compliant; the company is also looking for legal talent, with plans to double the size of their legal team by January 2016.

“We are specialists on the behavioral data in this space,” said Langenberg. “We are looking to extend beyond consumer loans to work with less than perfect credit in other categories such as auto loans. We want to be the white-hat leader in this space.”

LoanNow demoed its LoanNow Group Signing technology at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate Debuts: LoanNow Helps Borrowers ‘Outperform their FICO Score'”

Around the web

  • HedgeCoVest launches its real-time, hedge fund replication platform.
  • First Republic Bank to deploy virtual banking solutions from Q2 Holdings.
  • The Independent takes a look at Klarna and the power of micropayment.
  • oneID featured in MacWorld as a two-factor authentication app for the Apple Watch.
  • Allied Wallet now a supported online payment provider of Spreedly.
  • emX Select from eMoney Advisor now integrated with Dropbox.
  • Süddeutsche Zeitung features Trustly and Klarna (in German).
  • Bank Innovation profile on alternative fintech capitals looks at Iceland and highlights Meniga.
  • Ripple Labs adds former Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) CEO Donald Donahue as advisor.
  • A review of local fintech startups in the Boston Globe features Kensho and Quantopian.
  • Temenos wins “Best Core Banking System” honors from Banker Africa East Africa Awards 2015.
  • American Banker considers how Namu covers the emotional side of banking.
  • Entrepreneur lists Patch of Land as 1 of 100 brilliant companies to watch in 2015.
  • Pendo Systems wins awards from international financial technology publications, the New Jersey Technology Council, and SWIFT.
  • Asian Wealth Times: “Singapore’s MoneySmart to Launch PFM tools with Ewise”
  • Finaeos teams up with TATA Consulting Services to help SMBs take advantage of Regulation A+ of the JOBS Act.

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.

Actiance Picks Up $28 Million from New and Existing Investors

Actiance Picks Up $28 Million from New and Existing Investors

Actiance_homepage_May2015

Cloud-based enterprise platform Actiance has raised $28 million in funding from new and existing investors. The additional capital takes the company’s total to more than $43 million.

Participating in the funding round were new investor, Golub Capital, alongside existing investors Credit Suisse NEXT Investors; JK&B Capital; Scale Venture Partners; and Sutter Hill Ventures. The new capital will be used to scale globally by opening new data centers in Frankfort and Amsterdam, and to accelerate product innovation, especially with its Alcatraz solution. Alcatraz is Actiance’s cloud-based archive for email and social media communications, and will be unveiled with new features at the company’s user conference in June 2015.

Golub Capital Managing Director Peter Fair pointed to Actiance’s “strong growth trajectory” in explaining his firm’s investment. “As companies struggle to manage new communication and collaboration channels, they need a solution like Actiance that enables them to fully utilize the channels needed to keep in touch and stay ahead,” Fair said.

Actiance has been busy in recent weeks. The company announced an integration with CellTrust, bringing its secure archiving technology to mobile voice and text. And earlier this month, Actiance announced support for Skype for Business and Yammer.

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Redwood City, California, Actiance demoed its Socialite technology at FinovateFall 2012 in New York. Kailash Ambani is president and CEO.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Actiance Picks Up $28 Million from New and Existing Investors
  • LendKey Adds $8 Million in Venture Debt; Reaches $800 Million in Loans

Around the Web

  • SimplyTapp and Top Image Systems team up to bring HCE mobile payment technology to FIs in the Asia Pacific region.
  • Braintree integrates Android Pay into its v.zero SDK to ease merchant adoption.
  • Global Debt Registry unveils new API service to speed access to consumer-debt data and documents.
  • Avoka and NAMU earn “most innovative customer engagement” and “best customer experience” honors respectively at Citi Mobile Challenge.
  • Bible Money Matters reviews the new Betterment RetireGuide.
  • Placecast introduces its mobile data-management platform (DMP) as a stand-alone solution.
  • Nomis Solutions joins Center for Pricing and Revenue Management at Columbia University.

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.