Author: David Penn

Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Fiserv, FundAmerica, Insuritas, Klarna, Lending Club, Malauzai Software, Moneyhub, PayItSimple, QuantConnect, Realty Mogul, Silanis Technology, Tradier, Zooz

On Finovate.com

  • MoneyHub: From Award-winning Startup to Enterprise-based Solution

Around the Web

  • Lending Club highlighted in FT Journal feature on “trickle-down innovation” in fintech.
  • Columbus Business First talks about Klarna CEO Brian Billingsley’s appearance on Jim Cramer’s Mad Money TV program.
  • Inman features Silanis Technology in a column on the growing use of e-signatures in mortgage lending.
  • Fort Community CU upgrades its Malauzai Software mobile SmartApp to support local rewards program.
  • Cinfed Federal CU hires Insuritas to launch its turnkey insurance agency solution.
  • FundAmerica launches its Invest Now button to provide compliant, friction-free capital-raising for crowdfunding platforms.
  • QuantConnect to offer its algorithmic trading platform via Tradier’s API.
  • Zooz and PayItSimple participate in Visa Europe Collab’s “100-Day Innovation Sprint.”
  • RealEstateTechNews takes a look at Realty Mogul and the launch of its new commercial real estate lending division.
  • Bank of the West redesigns, launches online banking service but on the Corillian Online platform from Fiserv.

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.

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Kantox Picks Up $11 Million in Series B, Doubling Total Capital

Kantox Picks Up $11 Million in Series B, Doubling Total Capital
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Kantox

Kantox_homepage_May2015

 

International currency-transfer specialist Kantox has doubled its total capital, courtesy of an $11 million investment from a set of long-time financial supporters.

Leading the round were Partech Venture and IDinvest Partners, with Cabiedes & Partners and business angel investors also participating. The Series B round takes Kantox’s total capital to more than $21 million. The additional funding will be used to help the company expand outside of Europe.

Kantox CEO Philippe Gelis shared his thoughts on the investment at the company blog, reminding us of one thing we’ve always appreciated about the man: a love of metrics. In a post titled, “How Kantox Raised 11 Million Dollars By Focusing on Real Numbers,” Gelis shared “the numbers that matter” including:

  • 35 currencies available to clients
  • 75 countries in which clients have made payments
  • 1,500 corporate clients served
  • $2 million in total platform trade volume projected by end of 2015
  • $33 million as the largest single trade on the platform
  • $1.5 billion as the total dollar value of the transactions processed on the platform since launch

“Relentless focus on our clients’ needs,” he added. “No fear. No superficial hokum.”

That said, the most interesting number may be 250: the number of bankers and brokers Gelis suggests are on the platform in order to learn how Kantox works from the inside out. “Yes, we know who you are,” Gelis teased, “and we enjoy your snooping around.”

Kantox_FEU2013_stage_Gelis

Kantox founder and CEO Philippe Gelis demonstrated Kantox Peer FX at FinovateEurope 2013.

Gelis also wrote about the potential for growing the company. While admitting “we may never be able to extend in a significant way in markets beyond Europe,” he believes his company’s technology will make the difference.

“If we are able to build the alternative FX market—thanks to sophisticated matching technology—the company valuation will be in the billions in the long run,” Gelis said.

Founded in June 2011 and headquartered in London, Kantox demonstrated its Peer FX technology at FinovateEurope 2013. The company surpassed a billion dollars in foreign exchange volume in February, shortly after raising $9 million in new funding.

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Guide Financial Acquired by John Hancock Financial

Guide Financial Acquired by John Hancock Financial
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Guide Financial

GuideFinancial_homepage_May2015

The convergence between incumbent financial institutions and innovative startups continues as John Hancock Financial announces its acquisition of financial technology startup, Guide Financial. Terms of the deal were not immediately available.

The acquisition combines John Hancock Financial’s long history of working with financial advisory professionals with technology from Guide Financial designed to make it easier to analyze personal finances. Guide Financial’s platform reviews customer accounts with an eye toward both spotting potential savings and providing customers with a guide to realizing those savings. The company notes that customers using the platform saved an average of $7,000 in the first year with the technology.

Introduced as a B2C solution during its FinovateFall 2013 demonstration, Guide Financial’s platform has since taken on a more B2B2C patina, and that is how the technology will be deployed by John Hancock. Tim Ramza, SVP of wealth business development and strategy for John Hancock, talked about how the technology would fuel the “ongoing innovation for advisers” his company is committed to. Guide Financial CEO Uri Pomerantz added, “We look forward to enhancing our support of independent advisers across the country who have responded so favorably to our product.”

Guide Financial will remain intact and will continue to operate out of its San Francisco headquarters.

The acquisition of Guide Financial by John Hancock in some ways echoes the $250 million acquisition of LearnVest by Northwestern Mutual in March. Some were surprised at the “odd couple” of an exciting, female-founded and -led tech startup joining forces with a financial services company founded in 1857 that is known more for quotidian insurance products than financial innovation. But as news of the Guide Financial/John Hancock acquisition suggests, more synergies may emerge between old finance and new finance than meet the eye.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avoka, Gold Bullion International, Guide Financial, Jack Henry, Kantox, Lending Club, Misys, PayPal, Ripple, Silanis Technology, Taulia, True Potential

On Finovate.com

  • Kantox Picks Up $11 Million in Series B, Doubling Total Capital
  • Guide Financial Acquired by John Hancock Financial

Around the Web

  • Misys unveils its in-memory analytics engine, FusionBanking Insight.
  • True Potential launches its Apple Watch app.
  • Commonwealth Bank of Australia begins testing Ripple as intra-bank transfer solution.
  • Michigan-based Isabella Bank to deploy workflow suite from Jack Henry & Associates.
  • Lending Club CEO talks about the brand-building benefits of going public.
  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory partners with eSignLive from Silanis Technology for end-to-end digital e-contracting.
  • Bankless Times features Avoka and its friction-minimizing, customer-onboarding technology.
  • PayPal to provide Touch ID support for its iOS app.
  • Gold Bullion International announces expansion into Asia.
  • eBay partners with Taulia to launch Preferred Supplier Program.

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.

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Unnamed “Leading Global Engineering Firm” Commits More than $1 Million in Kofax Solutions

Unnamed “Leading Global Engineering Firm” Commits More than $1 Million in Kofax Solutions
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Kofax

Kofax_homepage_May2015

Newly acquired image-processing specialist Kofax has a million-dollar secret admirer.

The company this spring agreed to be purchased by printing giant Lexmark for $1 billion and today announced it had picked up more than $1.2 million from a “global engineering, architecture, and environmental firm.” The revenue is tied to licensing of two Kofax solutions: Total Agility and MarkView that the unnamed firm will use to “streamline operations, automate manual processes” and cut costs. The order also comes within days of Kofax’s acquisition officially closing on 21 May.

Onboarding employees is one of the ways Kofax anticipates the investing firm will use the technology, says Howard Dratler, EVP of field operations for Kofax. Drawler says “accelerating this process” can be key to helping companies grow faster and “gain a competitive advantage.”

Total Agility is a smart process application development and deployment platform. The technology connects systems of record (ERP and ECM) with systems of engagement to provide multichannel capture, dynamic case management, business intelligence, analytics, and more. With MarkView, institutions can better enforce corporate policies and procedures by embedding best practices workflows into key business operations such as accounts payable.

An innovator in the field of smart process applications (SPA), Kofax develops technologies that help institutions move away from expensive, error-prone manual processes toward automated, digital, business operations. The goal is to make it easier for institutions and corporations to more effectively engage customers, employees, and the public at large. With more than 1,400 employees and more than 20,000 customers, Kofax has a global network of more than 800 partners in more than 75 countries around the world.

Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Irvine, California, Kofax is a six-time Finovate alum. The company most recently demonstrated its mobile capture platform for onboarding at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Bitbond, Coinbase, DarcMatter, EZBOB, Identity Theft 911, Jemstep, Kabbage, Lending Club, Lendio, Mitek, Oink, On Deck Capital, P2BInvestor, Prosper, Quisk, SayPay, Silanis Technology, SocietyOne, Toshl, TradeHero, TransferWise, TrueAccord, Wealthfront

On Finovate.com

  • Finovate Debuts: SayPay Combines Voice Recognition and Biometric Authentication

Around the web

  • ColoradoBiz talks with Entrepreneur of the Year finalist: Krista Morgan, CEO and co-founder of P2Binvestor.
  • TechCrunch column on bitcoin and the remittance market references Coinbase and TransferWise.
  • PYMNTS.com highlights OnDeck, Lending Club, and Prosper in its look at the changing relationship between banks and alternative lenders.
  • Business Insider: SocietyOne thinks Australia is big enough for a bunch of small players.
  • TradeHero parent partners with the Singapore Exchange (SGX) to launch the SGX StockWhiz 2015 contest.
  • Bitbond, Wealthfront, and TrueAccord listed among six rising fintech startups.
  • Lendio-powered Staples business loans surpasses $1 million in funding for 43 SMBs across the U.S.
  • Quisk short-listed for Red Herring’s Top 100 North America award.
  • Fox Financial Planning Network picks Jemstep’s Advisor Pro as automated investment service platform for its AdvisorTouch Symphony program.
  • The Hanover Insurance Group teams up with Identity Theft 911 to provide businesses with better defense against data breaches.
  • FearlessMen.com reviews small business lender, EZBOB.
  • etcAndroid spotlights Toshl Finance Budget and Expense app 1.7.21.
  • FundSERV to integrate e-SignLive from Silanis into its eDOCS solution.
  • Mitek to acquire IDchecker, a global identity verification solutions provider.
  • Oink featured in USA Today’s list of five financial musts for college grads.
  • Accredited Investor Markets interviews DarcMatter CEO Sang Lee.
  • Kabbage partners with Sage payment solutions to launch Sage small business loan powered by Kabbage.

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.

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DRAFT, Fidor US, Roostify to Present Solutions at Yodlee Ynext Incubator

DRAFT, Fidor US, Roostify to Present Solutions at Yodlee Ynext Incubator
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: DRAFT, Fidor Bank, Roostify

Yodlee_Interactive_homepage_May2015

Out of the eight fintech startups slated to demonstrate their technologies at Yodlee’s Ynext Incubator Demo Day next week, three are Finovate alums.

DRAFT, Fidor US, and Roostify will join five other fintech colleagues at the Ynext Demo Day event on 27 May 2015 at the JCC in Palo Alto, California. As part of their participation in the program, each company gained free access to Yodlee Interactive’s API interfaces for a year, as well as six months’ worth of mentoring, support, and guidance in areas like capital-raising and product development.

DRAFT made its Finovate debut earlier this month at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose. The company’s mobile investment-analysis technology is targeted toward mass affluent millennials, and leverages crowdsourced data to help them make better financial and investment decisions.

Roostify demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2014. The company’s solution helps lenders process loans faster while reducing risk and “demystifying” the home mortgage process for buyers.

Fidor US is a branch of the innovative, tech-savvy German bank, Fidor Bank, and represents the company’s strategy to bring its “branchless banking platform” to the United States. Fidor Bank demoed at FinovateEurope 2011 in London.

Yodlee is a long-time Finovate and FinDEVr alum, and multiple Best of Show award-winner. The company’s last appearance on stage was at FinovateSpring 2015.

Also participating in Demo Day are Accredify, Evolved Bookkeping, OCX, Telito, and VOATZ.

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$680 Million Raised by 29 Alums in Q1 2015

$680 Million Raised by 29 Alums in Q1 2015
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Advanced Merchant Payments, AdviceGames, Aire, App Annie, Ayasdi, Betterment, Bill.com, BlueVine, Bolstr, Coinbase, CoverHound, Finsphere, Funding, Fundings, Global Debt Registry, Kofax, LendingRobot, Lendio, Linkable Networks, Micronotes, Motif Investing, peerTransfer, Pindrop Security, Q2, Ripple, SimplyTapp, Spreedly, Taulia, TransferWise, TrueLink Financial, Xero

cartoonmoneystackThe biggest surprise in our look at first-quarter funding is that the $677 million amassed by 29 Finovate alums was more than 20% of the $3.2 billion invested in the entire worldwide fintech sector.

The $677 million raised was $85 million (+14%) above the same quarter a year ago, and more than triple the first quarter of 2013.

Q1 2015 was also $133 million above the $544 million mark set in the fourth quarter of 2014.

It will be worth watching to see if this record-setting first quarter for Finovate alum fundraising will be a sign of more great things to come for capital-raising in 2015.

Top 10 Overall Investments

  1. Xero: $111 million in February
  2. Coinbase: $75 million in January
  3. Betterment: $60 million in February
  4. TransferWise: $58 million in January
  5. App Annie: $55 million in January
  6. Ayasdi: $55 million in March
  7. Motif Investing: $40 million in January
  8. Ripple Labs: $30 million in January
  9. Bill.com: $50 million in February
  10. Pindrop Security: $35 in February

Previous Quarterly Comparisons

  • Q1 2015: More than $676 million raised by 29 alums
  • Q4 2014: More than $544 million raised by 25 alums
  • Q1 2014: More than $600 million raised by 8 alums
  • Q1 2013: More than $155 million raised by 14 alums

January: More than $275 million raised by 14 alums

February: More than $264 million raised by 8 alums

March: More than $136 million raised by 7 alums

If you are an alum that raised money in the first quarter of 2015, and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at [email protected]. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.

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Edo Interactive Completes $20 Million Series E Round; Names Badran CEO

Edo Interactive Completes $20 Million Series E Round; Names Badran CEO
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: edo Interactive

edointeractive_homepage_May2015

In a round led by Baird Capital, VantagePoint Capital Partners, and Nashville, Tennessee-area investors, edo Interactive has raised $20 million in new funding. The Series E round takes the company’s total capital to more than $93 million.

In addition to the funding, edo Interactive announced a new president and CEO. Souheil Badran will take the helm from Ed Braswell, who founded the company in 2007; Badran remains with edo Interactive as executive vice chairman.

The new funding will be used to speed up development of edo Interactive’ s technology and products, expand sales and marketing, and explore business development and strategic partnerships, such as with Visa Europe, announced October 2014.

Badran previously worked as senior vice president and general manager for World Payments, and SMB of commerce for Digital River. He also served as SVP and general manager at First Data Corporation, VP and GM at VeriSign, and director of commercial banking at Digital Insight. Braswell pointed to this experience in welcoming Badran to the company he founded: ” Souheil has successfully developed global payment solutions and built businesses in the payments and commerce space,” Braswell said. “This expertise, combined with a proven track record of increasing revenues and profits, makes him an ideal match for edo.”

edo Interactive specializes in helping merchants provide personalized offers that are readily available via credit, debit, or mobile device. The company’s card-linked offers platform gives merchants insight into customer behavior and helps make future offers and rewards ever more in line with shopping habits. Edo has more than 200 banks enrolled on its platform, with a total cardholder reach of more than 200 million customers. The company’s more than 500 merchant partners include Whole Foods Market, Crate & Barrel, and The Body Shop.

edo Interactive last appeared on the Finovate stage as part of FinovateSpring 2012 in San Francisco. The company demonstrated its GeoCommerce Offers technology that enables a purchase at one merchant to trigger an offer or reward at another nearby merchant in real-time.

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WePay Closes $40 Million Series D Round Led by FTV Capital

WePay Closes $40 Million Series D Round Led by FTV Capital
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: WePay

WePay_homepage_May2015

Payment-processor WePay has just added $40 million in new funding to its investment total, courtesy of a Series D investment led by FTV Capital. Also participating in the investment was Japanese eCommerce company, Rakuten.

The Series D round takes WePay’s overall capital to more than $75 million. The funding will help WePay expand internationally, “potentially to the U.K. and Australia.”

In a statement from WePay, co-founder and CEO Bill Clerico published in the WePay blog, Clerico calls the funding “a testament to the amazing work of the nearly 100 men and women I have the privilege to work with every day.” To this point, Clerico announced plans to triple the size of his team over the next 18 months, adding another 200 workers.

WePay_FS2014_stage

April Rassa, WePay director of product marketing, and John Canfield, VP of risk management, demonstrated WePay’s Veda Risk Engine and API at FinovateSpring 2014.

WePay provides payment services for crowdfunding and e-commerce platforms, such as GoFundMe and Freshbooks, as well as brand names and public companies, such as Customlink and Constant Contact. The company has 1,000 partners using its API, with more than 500,000 merchants using WePay’s platform. The company has processed more than $1.5 billion in transaction volume since inception, and earlier this year announced a deal with Google Wallet that will put the former’s Instant Buy API in 200,000 e-commerce sites.

FTV Capital partner Chris Kinship will join WePay’s board as part of the deal. He noted the investing in WePay was a matter of the company “finally (getting) to the right size and scale and metrics. He added that his firm had considered investments in other fintech companies in the past, but had held back because the market “didn’t seem quite ready.”

“The reason we didn’t invest in Square and other businesses in the space is that we didn’t see something in their business model that could grow up at scale. WePay can,” Kinship said.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., WePay made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose, Calif., presenting its Veda Risk Engine and Risk API.

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Misys Launches FusionBanking Essence Islamic

Misys Launches FusionBanking Essence Islamic
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Misys

MisysFusionIslamic_homepage_May2015

When you think of the underbanked, the Islamic world may not immediately come to mind. But the launch of Misys FusionBanking Essence Islamic banking solution suggests that the Finovate Best of Show winning banking innovator has been thinking about the sector for awhile.

Calling Islamic banking ripe for disruption, Mahmoud Tallat—product manager, FusionBanking Essence Islamic—pointed to the sector’s growth of more than 17% a year compared to its poor return on equity (12.6%) compared to the rest of the industry (25%). He also highlighted the importance of getting both Sharia-compliance and superior service right: A survey by PricewaterhouseCooper showed only 52% of Islamic banking customers believe their bank to be “truly Islamic.”

With regard to service, this means both providing the unique tools and resources required for Islamic banking, as well as increasing the number and quality of products available to customers. Misys notes that the average products per customer in conventional banking is more than twice that in Islamic banking (4.9 compared to 2.1).

Decades ago, Misys brought online the first Islamic bank in the United Kingdom, Al Rayan Bank, formerly the Islamic Bank of Britain. Misys believes that its platform experience—embrace of technology, 24/7 response, and social aspect—put it in the unique position to help “ambitious Islamic banks … accumulate new customers and increase their share of wallet.”

FusionBanking Essence Islamic features pre-configured, Sharia-compliant products, including Murabaha and Finance Ijara instruments. The platform uses these “pre-defined micro workflows” to give banks more control over individual elements of an Islamic banking product: In other words, it has already streamlined those regulatory elements that traditionally have made Islamic banking more complex and costly.

Founded in 1979 and headquartered in London, Misys has made three appearances on the Finovate stage, most recently in February at FinovateEurope 2015. Nadeem Syed is CEO.

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Planwise Raises $750,000, Nearly Doubling Total Capital

Planwise Raises $750,000, Nearly Doubling Total Capital
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: planwise

Planwise_homepage_May2015

Personal finance management specialist Planwise has raised $750,000 in new seed funding. The round was led by Homeloans Ltd., an Australia-based, listed lender, and featured participation by angel investors from Silicon Valley and Australia,

The investment brings the company’s total funding to $1.6 million.

Planwise provides consumers with a variety of tools to help with major financial milestones, from buying a car and managing personal loans to picking the right mortgage. The funding coincides with the launch of PlanwiseConnect, a home-buying/affordability browser plug-in that integrates with every property website in the United States, according to Planwise founder and CEO Vincent Turner.

PlanwiseConnect is being marketed directly to consumers. But lenders can license the technology and provide it to their potential mortgage customers, making sure to remain a part of the home search process.

Planwise was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Planwise demoed its technology as part of FinovateFall 2011 in New York.

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