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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Get Connected: Join the FinovateFall 2014 Community on Bizzabo.
PYMNTS.com talks with TSYS executive Paul Bridgewater on the importance of tokenization in payments.
Nostrum Groupearns spot in Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100.
True PotentiallaunchesInvestor on Android Wear smartwatches. See True Potential demo at FinovateFall 2014.
London Evening Standard profiles wealth management innovator, Nutmeg.
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.
Once again we are partnering with social networking innovator, Bizzabo to make it that much easier for you to find, meet, and network with your fellow attendees at FinovateFall 2014.
FinovateFall 2014 will mark the third time we’ve turned to Bizzabo to help provide conference attendees with every opportunity to get in touch with colleagues and new acquaintances before, during, and even after the event.
Download Bizzabo and get connected today. Search for the app (“Bizzabo”) in the Apple App Store or at Google Play. Once you’ve downloaded the app, search for “Finovate”, sign in, and then press the green “Join the Community” bar and you’re ready to go.
If you’re new to Bizzabo, you can sign up using your LinkedIn information or simply set up an account using your email address (the email address you used when registering for Finovate) and a password. Please email fall@finovate.com if you are asked for a code or have any difficulty signing in.
What is all this Bizzabo business good for?
See, meet, and connect with fellow Finovate attendees
Learn more about the presenting companies and their presentations via the “Partners” and “Agenda” tabs, respectively
Get to know the backgrounds of conference speakers courtesy of LinkedIn profiles.
You can also use Bizzabo on your laptop or PC courtesy of Bizzabo’s web app – available here.
Questions? Send us an email at fall@finovate.com and we’ll be glad to help.
For SMEs looking at the market for fintech productivity apps, the world often seems either anarchically “a la carte” or paralyzingly prix fixe.
And while companies have come to appreciate the flexibility of having a lot of little apps doing a lot of little things, having those apps talk with each other, work with each other, can be another challenge entirely.
I suspect this is part of the thinking behind ZenPayroll’sdecision to open up its API further to make it even easier for developers to ensure that their business productivity apps play well with ZenPayroll.
Writing at the ZenPayroll blog, “Head of Inbound” David Cheng said, “(This) will make it dramatically easier for small businesses to compete with large, established companies.”
“We’re calling this movement Generation-E,” he added, “to celebrate the breed of entrepreneurs that are street smart, tech savvy, and ready to take on the world.”
As pointed out in coverage of the announcement at TechCrunch, ZenPayroll’s stable of partners already includes thoroughbreds like Intuit and Xero (both Finovate alums, by the way). But the opening up of its API for a dozen companies goes a long way toward helping even more small business technology providers bring their useful benefits and HR-related tools to market courtesy of a ZenPayroll integration.
Quoted in the New York Times earlier this week, ZenPayroll CEO and Co-Founder Joshua Reeves spoke to this point, saying, “you have these huge product suites from monolithic business software companies. Companies like Oracle, Workday, and ADP typically serve large companies. They aren’t in it for the little guy.”
Among the companies already taking advantage of the new integration are:
BambooHR and KinHR: human resources information systems
SimplyInsured and Baypoint Benefits: benefits administration
TSheets, WageBase/When I Work, Nimble Schedule, and Deputy: time-tracking
Receipt Bank: expense management
inDinero, Zenefits, and insynctive: back-office management
And for developers looking to integrate with ZenPayroll, the company’s developer page – including documentation of ZenPayroll’s API – is available here.
Founded in 2011 and based in San Francisco, ZenPayroll made its Finovate devout as part of the Spring conference earlier this year. See the company’s live demo here.
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.
With more than 280 companies applying, and 47 companies selected to compete, the Innotribe Startup Challenge is down to the top 15 companies that will move on to the Grand Finale. And six of the companies to advance are Finovate alums.
The Innotribe Startup Challenge is part of Sibos, the conference held by SWIFT each year. The goal of the Challenge is to help what the contest categorizes as “startups” and “innovators” get access and exposure to the broader fintech community. Events are held in London, Singapore, and New York during which competing companies pitch their innovations to industry experts and fintech investors.
The Grand Finale will be held on October 1 at Sibos. The winning companies – one “early stage startup” and one “growth-stage innovator” – will receive a prize of $50,000 USD.
The six Finovate alums among the finalists are below.
Said Fabian Vendenreydt, Head of Markets Management, Innotribe and the SWIFT Institute at SWIFT said “Since it started in 2011, the Innotribe Startup Challenge has provided a huge opportunity to our community to understand and support this innovation.”
For more information about the Innotribe’s Startup Challenge, visit their page here.
You know you’re looking at the biggest FinovateFall ever when you’re six posts deep into our Sneak Peek series and we’re still not done.
Before we introduce you to the next batch demoing in New York later this month, here’s a quick guide to those we’ve already covered. Remember, there’s still plenty of time to get your ticket to FinovateFall 2014 and see all this fintech talent yourself.
This week, our six innovators are MasterCard, Matchi, Misys, Silanis, Sr. Pago, and WingCash. Enjoy!
MasterCard’sPay with Rewards gives MasterCard cardholders the ability to redeem their rewards for purchases at millions of eligible MasterCard locations worldwide.
Features:
Differentiate rewards programs at the Point of Interaction
Accepted at millions of locations with no changes to the POS
Provides cardholder flexibility and choice
Why it’s great:
MasterCard connects consumers, FIs, merchants, governments, and businesses worldwide, enabling them to use electronic forms of payment, and now … rewards points.
Chris Guiney, VP Product Development, MasterCard Loyalty
Guiney leads a team of professionals dedicated to bringing the power of targeted loyalty services to clients and consumers worldwide. He is the platform owner of the MasterCard Rewards System.
Matchi is a global innovation matchmaking platform that enables innovators to showcase market-ready solutions, and for banks to source these innovations from anywhere in the world.
Features:
All logged innovations are market-ready at least at prototype phase
Offers banks a curated shortlist of solutions aligned to their strategies
Sponsor Banks can connect & collaborate
Why it’s great:
It brings innovators and banks together to drive banking forward and increase ROI for both parties.
Presenters:
Warren Bond, Co-founder
Bond is Co-founder of Luminous and has – as its CEO – steered this firebrand to deliver a number of innovations that contributed to FNB winning the title of most innovative bank in the world in 2012.
Milligan has an extensive background in innovation management within banking, as well as strategy consulting. He is passionate about “bringing new ideas to the discipline of the market.”
Businesses choose eSignLive by Silanis when e-signatures matter. With e-SignLive’s Use Your Own Device capability, banks can now use the customer’s smartphone/tablet to capture hand-scripted e-signature.
Features:
Individual and joint remote account opening
No need to visit the branch just to sign – eliminates costly in-branch hardware
Make e-transactions more secure and personal
Why it’s great:
No app, no special hardware. Make on boarding convenient and secure with any smartphone. A remote, personalized digital experience makes your bank easier to work with.
Presenters:
Tommy Petrogiannis, CEO and Co-founder
Petrogiannis co-founded Silanis in 1992. As CEO, he is responsible for strategy, vision, and keeping the company focused on delivering the best possible customer experience.
Witte has been implementing enterprise software for 10+ years. As Senior Technical Consultant, he is involved in many banking deployments, and focused on mobile signing.
Sr. Pago is a payment system providing a debit card, card reader and app, and is revolutionizing the cash-based financial ecosystem upon which 70% of Mexicans rely.
Features:
First time a MasterCard can be replenished with a card reader
Enables payments and spending without a bank account
Processes magnetic strip and chip-based cards
Why it’s great:
Sr. Pago is revolutionizing the informal cash-based financial ecosystem in Mexico.
Presenter:
Pablo Gonzalez Vargas, Co-founder and CEO
Prior to Sr. Pago, Vargas founded a successful marketing agency, IF Marketing Atelier. He also founded EXA Radio and TV, one of the most important media chains for youth in Latin America.
WingCashsays Cash is not weight, it’s wings. Cash securely delivered by WingCash to your wallet in the cloud for your convenience anytime, anywhere.
Features:
Safely and securely stored in the cloud
Conveniently accessible by you anytime, anywhere
Cash you hold, you control, and only you spend
Why it’s great:
Because life is better with cash, WingCash securely delivers cash to your cloud-based wallet anytime, anywhere. Hold on to cash, it is our future.
Presenter:
Bradley Wilkes, Founder & President/CEO
Wilkes is the Founder of WingCash, He also founded ProPay, a subsidiary of Total Systems Services (NYSE: TSS). He’s been awarded
6 payment-related patents. He received both an MBA/TM and BS degrees.
Curtis is an accomplished leader in the mobile payment industry. He is a solutions-driven sales professional with 14+ years of experience successfully delivered a wide array of financial solutions.
OnDeck announced today that Jane J. Thompson, former head of Wal-Mart Financial Services, will join the board of directors of OnDeck.
“I have dedicated my career to driving growth for a variety of companies across the financial services industry, with a particular focus on those underserved by traditional options,” Thompson said.
Noah Breslow, OnDeck CEO, added, “Her expertise and leadership will help guide our growth across our marketing, product innovation, risk management, and customer services efforts.”
Thompson currently serves as the CEO of Jane J. Thompson Financial Services LLC, a management-consultant firm. Before serving as president of Financial Services at Wal-Mart, Thompson led the Sears Credit, Sears Home Services, and Sears Online groups within Sears.
Thompson is also director at Navient Corporation, a loan management, loan servicing, and asset recovery firm, VeriFone Systems, and The Fresh Market. An advisor to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Thompson was named Innovator of the Year, and one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance by American Banker Magazine.
Jane J. Thompson’s joining of the OnDeck board comes as the company moves closer to an initial public offering.
How about real-time credit card recommendations right at your fingertips?
Or at least around your wrist – Wallaby Financial announced today that it is introducing Wallaby for Android Wear. Following on the heels of Wallaby’s deployment for Samsung Gear 2, today’s news further establishes Wallaby as a leader in bringing financial services apps to the wearable devices market.
Matthew Goldman, Wallaby Founder and CEO, said that the emphasis on wearables is designed to help give consumers the information and services they want “in the context of their daily lives.” Goldman said, “each successive wearable device launch allows us to further enhance the capabilities we provide instantaneously and conveniently to our customers.”
Wallaby for Android Wear operates on a number of Android devices, including Moto 360 and LG G. The app is free for anyone with a Wallaby account and, when launched, uses geolocation and its own proprietary database of more than 2,000 credit card profiles to help users see and select the best credit card to use in a given transaction.
Wearable technology remains on the cusp of acceptance. Writing in Wednesday’s The New York Times Fashion & Style section, one author suggested referring to wearables not as “wearable tech” but “ugly tech.” At the same time, the Times feature notes the fact that companies like Apple are moving closer and closer to a potential wearable of its own (an “iWatch” for example) suggests that the field could be “on the precipice of change.”
After al, the author says, “if anyone can change the perception of wearables and ugliness, it’s definitely Apple.”
And it is also a definite that Apple won’t be alone. With the Android user base continuing to grow worldwide, opportunities for collaborations between hardware innovators (like Samsung) as well as software innovators (like Wallaby Financial) are likely to remain robust. One of the most interesting things about wearables is how they encourage innovation when it comes to inputs. For example, Wallaby for Android Wear features the ability to use voice commands for certain key functions – a key attribute given the form factor of many, if not most, wearable devices.
Wallaby was founded in 2011, and is headquartered in Pasadena, California. The company was last on the Finovate stage for FinovateSpring last year in San Francisco.
Over two days at UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco, FinDEVr will provide developers, architects, engineers, and other builders with a unique opportunity to meet and network with some of the biggest names in fintech software development.
Our FinDEVr Preview has already introduced you to some of these companies, innovators like Yodlee Interactive and TD Ameritrade Institutional. Today, we introduce you to one more: Visa and its Developers program.
Like many companies known primarily for their vast experience as a financial services provider, Visa is also a major innovator when it comes to technological innovations for financial institutions and their customers.
Remember, early bird pricing for FinDEVr ends next week. Lock in your savings and get your tickets today.
The Visa Developers program provides a broad array of tools, services, and resources from both Visa and its subsidiary brands to help developers create seamless, multi-channel payment solutions.
Keynote: The Future of Commerce
Learn how Visa is supporting the creation of new, innovative commerce solutions by enabling developers, mobile network operators, device and platform operators to easily connect to Visa’s network through new open payment APIs and SDKs.
Workshops
1) Visa Checkout API-less Web Integration
Implement your own instance of Visa Checkout on a website and get started with the Sandbox, adding requirement elements to a cart page, receiving/decrypting a payload, and updating with a pixel. Learn how simple it is to implement Visa Checkout on a website without making a single API call.
2) Visa Checkout Android SDK Integration
In this session we’ll show you how to add Visa Checkout support to your app using our Android SDK. Learn how easy it is to configure your app for Visa Checkout, as well as get a payload and perform an update via our API.
3) Visa Checkout Provisioning Integration for Financial Institutions
Learn how to implement the Visa Checkout Provisioning interface on your site to streamline the provisioning of Visa Checkout accounts for your customers. We’re discussing light and heavy integration options. See how simple it is to help your customers create Visa Checkout accounts on your site.
Presenters
Raj Sundaresan, SVP, Digital & Mobile Products
Michael Blanton, Senior Director, Visa Digital Integration
Alan Johnson, Senior Director, Digital Developed Markets
Mark Legere, Senior Integration Architect, Visa Digital
Dipti Bele, Integration Architect, Visa Digital
Join us next week for our FinDEVr Preview featuring MasterCard Developer Zone. To read our earlier previews, check out our introductions to Yodlee Interactive and TD Ameritrade Institutional.
From iCloud to Home Depot, is anybody else looking for some good news when it comes to digital security?
Fortunately, BioCatch – who will be making its FinovateFall 2014 debut later this month – is punching through the “Who Got Hacked?” gloom with news that its mobile security technology is now out of beta.
BioCatch CEO Benny Rosenbaum highlighted two features he thinks will help separate BioCatch Mobile from the rest of the multi-authenticating pack. “What makes our solution so unique is the fact that it’s completely transparent, works behind the scenes, and yet is far more secure than traditional two-factor authentication, ” he said.
How so? BioCatch specializes in cognitive biometrics. Cognitive biometrics provides for a greater range of inputs than many multi-factor authentication schemes. For example, BioCatch not only creates a unique signature based on physical factors such as left or right-handedness, but also factors in device interaction patterns, geolocation, and more.
The goal is to help identify many of the more common security breaches experienced by FIs and their customs. These include account takeover and malware threats, as well as identifying the presence of “jailbroken” devices. The trick, said Rosenbaum, is to allow banks to “add new functionality without admitting new fraud or creating new friction.”
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Boston, BioCatch was recognized last December by Aite Group as an “emerging player in biometric authentication.” And Gartner called BioCatch a “Cool Vendor in Security” as recently as April 2013. The company announced that it had raised $10 million in new funding in June, courtesy of investments from Blumberg Capital and OurCrowd, as well as existing investors.
The 2014 FinTech Innovation Lab Asia Pacific has announced the latest set of fintech startups to participate in its accelerator program. And FinovateAsia 2013 alum Advanced Merchant Payments is among them.
Advanced Merchant Payments specializes in providing short-term, unsecured financing for small and medium-sized businesses. AMP also provides SMEs with accounts receivable financing and cash-flow management services. Loans can be approved as quickly as five days, and terms typically range from 90, 180, 270, or 360 days. The company lends to a variety of businesses in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, from retailers and wholesalers to contractors and equipment providers.
The Innovation Lab was developed by Accenture and launched in June of this year. The program is geared toward “early-state” companies with technologies designed for the Asia Pacific market. The program lasts for 12 weeks and includes mentoring, panel discussions, and workshops led by industry veterans and fintech professionals – as well as networking opportunities for incubator participants.
Sushil Saluja, senior managing director for Financial Services at Accenture suggested that the kind of technologies chosen by the lab selection committee are indicative of the kind of solutions FIs and customers alike are looking for. Saluja pointed specifically to “data security, analysis, and risk assessment” as areas where innovation could “make a real difference in the everyday lives of people” in the region.
Joining Advanced Merchant Payments will be:
AtCipher.com
Beijing Wecash Wonder Technology
FinSuite
I Think Security
iDGate
Jocata Financial Advisory & Technology Services
OxBranch.
Among the FIs supporting the FinTech Innovation Lab are Bank of America, Bank of China (Hong Kong), Barclays, China Construction Bank (Asia), Credit Suisse, DBS, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Ping An, and UBS.
Based in Hong Kong and founded in 2009, Advanced Merchant Payments has provided more than $25 million USD in loans to small businesses. The company demoed its technology at FinovateAsia 2013. See a demo of Advanced Merchant Payments at work here.
Micronotes‘ Cross-Sell interview marketing platform now automatically reports Net Promoter Score.
Advanced Merchant Payments 1 of 8 fintech startups to enter the FinTech Innovation Lab in Asia-Pacific.
Jumio and IDologyannounce partnership to enable verification via government-issued ID in card-not-present situations.
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.
Get Connected: Join the FinovateFall 2014 Community on Bizzabo.
