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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
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.
Online Identity as a Service (IDaaS) innovator miiCard announced the launch of DirectID, a technology that provides an embedded, integrated verification solution that makes it easier for financial services providers to securely and swiftly process high value transactions online.
miiCard CEO James Varga said, “DirectID allows business to unlock the incredible potential of new consumer finance offerings by eliminating fraud, meeting complex new regulatory requirements, and saving time and money.”
DirectID is a single-use sign-on that leverages the customer’s bank credentials and credit bureau data to verify both identity and transaction data. What’s key is the fact that DirectID provides what Varga referred to as an “all-in-one solution” that is especially helpful for the kind of affordability and other testing often involved in high value online transactions.
And many of those high value transactions are likely to come from alternative lenders, which helps explain why Landbay and eMoneyUnion.com, a pair of P2P lenders, are among DirectID’s early adopters. DirectID is available as a white label solution, as well. Read more about the technology here.
miiCard also announced on Thursday that the company was opening an office in St. Louis, Missouri, and appointing Peter Esparrago as President of North America. Esparrago is a former Accenture Partner, as well as Co-Founder and General Partner of venture capital firm, Cultivation Capital.
miiCard was founded in September 2011, and is headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. See the company’s FinovateFall 2013 demo here. And get to know miiCard CEO James Varga in our Finovate Interview.
And for developers and other fans of enabling technologies like this, remember that FinDEVr less than a month away on September 30 and October 1. Find out more here.
FinovateFall 2014 is only a few weeks away. And if you are still among those who have not yet picked up your tickets, here’s a reminder of the kinds of folks who have already registered to be in attendance at what promises to be our largest FinovateFall to date.
As always we’ll have the Presidents, CEOs, Directors, and SVPs, the key deciders at innovators and enterprises large and small. But take a closer look below.
Chief Creative Officers, Innovation Strategists, and Software Architects will also be on hand … to say nothing of the managers, analysts and partners who handle everything from acquiring talent to coordinating strategy to investing capital.
Lights go up at FinovateFall 2014 on Tuesday, September 23, and the conference continues through Wednesday. 72 companies. 300 minutes of high-quality networking. 500 minutes of live demos. And an audience likely to top 1,200. What’s not to look forward to about FinovateFall 2014?
There’s no better way to meet the people in your fintech neighborhood than being a part of FinovateFall. To pick up your tickets today, visit our registration page here. And if you’ve already registered, be sure to join the FinovateFall 2014 community on Bizzabo.
It’s hard to believe that FinovateFall 2014 is only two weeks away. And if the pre-event buzz is any indication, conference attendees and presenters alike are in store for quite a show.
As always, our presenters are a fascinating mix of new startups and industry veterans, and the innovations they will be demonstrating on stage later this month are no less diverse and interesting.
Take a look for yourself courtesy of our FinovateFall 2014 Theme Word Cloud. From authentication and biometrics to machine-learning algorithms and self-service banking, FinovateFall has something for everyone.
If you like what you see then you’ll love what we’ve got in store for you at FinovateFall 2014. This year, FinovateFall is moving to the New York Hilton Midtown. Located on the Avenue of the Americas, our new venue is centrally located, convenient to public transportation, and fully-equipped to serve as the center of the fintech universe for two days in late September.
We hope to see you there! Click here to get your tickets today.
Ten of Heartland Financial USA’s banks have implemented the online banking platform developed by Q2 Holdings according to an announcement Tuesday morning.
The implementation of the Q2platform took place over the five months between April and August. Matt Flake, Q2 CEO and president, said, “Everyone at Heartland has an outstanding commitment to simplifying the online banking process and creating a seamless user experience for account holders.”
A full list of the banks that have deployed the technology is below:
Arizona Bank & Trust
Dubuque Bank and Trust Company
Galena State Bank & Trust Co.
The Morrill & Janes Bank and Trust Company
Minnesota Bank & Trust
New Mexico Bank & Trust
Riverside Community Bank
Rocky Mountain Bank
Summit Bank & Trust
Wisconsin Bank & Trust
An innovator in the field of cloud-based, virtual banking, Q2’s solutions are particularly sought after by community banks, regional banks, and credit unions looking to provide new mobile and online services to their customers while keeping costs low. Q2 was recently in the news, announcing partnerships with Easy Solutions in July, and First Financial Bank in June. The company went public in March, trades under the ticker symbol “QTWO” on the New York Stock Exchange, and is currently valued at $500 million.
Founded in 2005 and based in Austin, Texas, Q2 demoed its Risk and Fraud Analytics technology as part of FinovateSpring 2011 in San Francisco. See the company’s presentation here.
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.
miiCard launches DirectID to enable verification for high value transactions online.
