Author: David Penn

Financeit Unveils New Loan Application Design and Features

Financeit Unveils New Loan Application Design and Features
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinanceIt

Thumbnail image for FinanceItLogo2014.jpg

The announcement of Financeit’s new loan application process may not resound with the crescendo of multi-million-dollar fundings. But my guess is that the businesses who rely on Financeit to help them offer financing services to their customers are pretty pleased at the news.

Simplification and a clearer, through-line taking customers from the beginning to the end of the loan application process is the goal of the redesign. Here are the features of the “new Financeit experience”:

  • eSignature functionality to sign and submit documents online
  • Better notifications in real-time on loan status and other updates
  • Improved design provide single-click access to borrower, loan, fee, and commission details
  • New technology powers drag and drop document submittal
Financeit_homepage
Financeit specializes in providing businesses with the ability to provide point-of-sale loans to their customers. With interest rates as low as 7.13% APR, Financeit borrowers can finance between $500 and $50,000 for up to 15 years. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the company has processed more than $650 million in loan applications from more than 3,400 partners.
Founded in 2011, Financeit is led by CEO Michael Garrrity and has raised more than $21 million in funding. The company demoed its technology most recently at FinovateFall 2013.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

TradeHero Launches in China on iOS and Android

TradeHero Launches in China on iOS and Android
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: TradeHero

TradeHeroLogoSm.jpg

Just in time for the IPO of Chinese commerce giant, Alibaba, TradeHero has announced that its virtual stock market platform is now available for Chinese traders and investors, whether they prefer iOS or Android.

Although just announced this week, the Chinese version of TradeHero that runs on iOS allegedly has been available since April. The Android version, which can be downloaded from app store at Baidu and Tencent as well as at Google Play, is the more recent arrival. But there’s no denying that having Chinese versions for both platforms will go a long way toward helping spread adoption of the technology, with more than 400,000 users in more than 100 countries already on board.

TradeHero_homepage
TradeHero also announced new features for Version 2.0, including expanded access to the trade details of other traders, changes in the way some features are paid for, and an improved user interface that puts a new emphasis on social sharing and networking.
A virtual trading community, TradeHero leverages mobile technology to provide real-time push notifications and gamification to model stock market trades and performance. Users of the platform can track top traders, who themselves can monetize their TradeHero experience by selling real-time alerts to others on the platform. 
The app is free to download and use.
TradeHero is ranked the #1 finance app in 75 countries, and is in the top 10 of financial apps in 114 countries. Based in Singapore and founded in August 2012, the company demoed its virtual stock market platform at FinovateAsia 2012. See a video of the presentation here.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Correction: RevolutionCredit Announces Investment from Accion Venture Labs

Correction: RevolutionCredit Announces Investment from Accion Venture Labs
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: RevolutionCredit

revolutioncredit_logo_rgb.jpg

If there’s such a thing as life after death, I think I want to come back as an alternative lender.

Or anything in that ecosystem for that matter. Venture capitalists are eager to spend big money on the fortunes of a growing number of alternative lenders. Big banks are looking to make deals and partnerships. And now investors are beginning to pay more attention to some of the other players in the fintech alt lending jungle.

RevolutionCredit, which specializes in credit decisioning, is a richer company today courtesy of an undisclosed investment from Accion Venture Lab. The Lab is a $10 million effort from Accion International designed to support those startups that are promoting financial inclusion through their technology. Both seed funding and mentoring are included as part of the initiative.
RevolutionCredit_homepage
RevolutionCredit works by combining gamification, education, and forward-looking behavioral data to provide insights into which potential borrowers are more likely to successfully pay back their loans. Specifically, RevolutionCredit says that it can distinguish higher quality borrowers from lower quality borrowers even when traditional metrics like credit scores are the same or similar. 
CEO Zaydoon Munir claims that RevolutionCredit can reduce delinquency by 30% and increase retention by more than 67%. The platform, which is currently available by invitation only, has been tested in pilot environments with lenders, credit card companies, and billers.
RevolutionCredit demoed as part of the FinovateFall 2013 conference in New York last year. Zaydoon Munir is founder and CEO. Watch the company’s presentation here.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Motif Investing Raises $35 Million in Move Toward Wealth Management Market

Motif Investing Raises $35 Million in Move Toward Wealth Management Market
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Motif Investing

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for motiflogo.jpg

What’s good for the retail investor may be even better for the professional wealth manager.

That’s the strategy of Motif Investing, the two-time Finovate Best of Show winner that just announced raising $35 million in funding from new investors. With an innovative investment product originally pitched toward everyday investors, the company has quickly outgrown its retail-oriented origins to take on the larger, and potentially more lucrative, wealth management market, as well.

Participating in the round were Balderton Capital, a venture capital firm out of Europe, as well as JPMorgan Chase and Wicklow Capital. With previous support from investors ranging from Goldman Sachs to Foundation Capital, Motif’s funding total stands at $86 million.
Motif_homepage_new
Motif says that the additional capital will help the company expand internationally, citing the participation of Balderton, as well as support continued technological innovation, particularly with regard to the Advisor platform.
On this note, Motif’s move toward wealth management was anticipated by their FinovateSpring appearance in San Jose. The company’s Advisor platform makes it easy for wealth managers to build, manage and rebalance motifs for their clients. The platform also features new social technology to help improve communication between advisor and advised.
Motifs are combinations of up to 30 stocks that can be traded as a single investment product, much like an exchange-traded fund (ETFs). The combination of the product’s ability to meet a real investor desire for personalization with smooth and eye-coddling user experience and interface helps distinguish Motif from its competitors. While motifs are a treat for the creative investing mind, they are also easy to build, easy to track, and easy to trade.
Motif Investing first appeared on the Finovate stage in the fall of 2013, picking up Best of Show honors with their debut demo. The Motif team continued its winning ways this spring, earning another Best of Show trophy at the FinvoateSpring conference in San Jose.
The full video of Motif Investing’s demo last week will be available later this month.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Coinbase’s Acquisition of Kippt to Bring Usability to Bitcoin

Coinbase’s Acquisition of Kippt to Bring Usability to Bitcoin
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Coinbase
Coinbase_lo_res_logo

The news that bitcoin exchange Coinbase has acquired startup Kippt is one of the more positive stories to come out of the bitcoin community in recent weeks.

In an amount-undisclosed deal that consisted of stock and cash (but sadly, no bitcoin that we know of), Coinbase will be acquiring a company with which it already has a significant relationship. Members of the Kippt team reportedly have been working on branding for Coinbase, as well as developing a Coinbase app gallery.

Kippt’s reputation was built on its social bookmarking and messaging products. Both services will remain available, though there will be changes (such as the end of the paid Kippt Pro plan). Coinbase hopes to leverage the talent of Kippt to create a bitcoin that is friendlier to merchants and consumers alike.
In a blog post announcing the acquisition, Kippt co-founders Jori Lallo and Karri Saarinen wrote: “For the first time, designers and developers like us can now re-imagine the way financial transactions and products are designed and built.”
Fun fact: Coinbase and Kippt are members of the same 2012 Y Combinator class.
Founded in July 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Coinbase holds more than 1 million consumer wallets and enables bitcoin transactions for 28,000 merchants. The company specializes in removing exchange-rate risk from bitcoin transactions. This further reduces a source of friction for merchants and consumers using the virtual currency.
Coinbase is a recent Finovate alum, having debuted on the Finovate stage during the Spring show in San Jose last month. Video of the company’s demo will be available soon.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

MasterCard Accelerator for European Startups Announces May 16 Deadline

MasterCard Accelerator for European Startups Announces May 16 Deadline
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: MasterCard

Are you a European startup with seed funding and a beta program ready to go?

If so, MasterCard’s Start Path Accelerator program may be the opportunity you’ve been looking for.

The Start Path Accelerator program will give up to eight startups the opportunity to spend four months in Dublin working with MasterCard. The companies will also be mentored by program partners like Asos and Capital One. The goal of the program is for each startup to develop a pilot project with MasterCard or a MasterCard partner during the period.
MasterCard_StartPath
Startups will also receive €35,000 to help cover expenses while working in Ireland.
MasterCard says that companies participating in the program will have “direct access” to the company’s wealth of knowledge and experience. We also know that MasterCard’s knowledge and experience with incubators and accelerators likely has been enhanced through their work with other successful programs such as FinTech Collective and Techstars.
If you’re interested, there’s no time like the present to apply. The deadline for applications is Friday, May 16.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

BBVA Compass Teams Up with OnDeck to Better Score Small Biz Borrowers

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BBVA Compass, Kabbage, Lending Club, On Deck Capital, Prosper

ondeck_logo_new.jpg

The only thing keeping pace with the investment interest in alternative lenders from Prosper to Kabbage may be the growing partnership interest from banks.

Earlier this week we reported on the deal between Lending Club and Union Bank. Today we learn that BBVA Compass will be working with OnDeck to develop better ways to provide loans to its small business clients.

Specifically, BBVA Compass will be relying on OnDeck’s OnDeck Score. This technology allows banks and financial institutions to review thousands of relevant data points, including social data points, to help determine a would-be borrower’s suitability for a given loan.
This new initiative is a big deal for OnDeck, and represents the first such collaboration with a bank the size of BBVA Compass. Founded in 2007 and led by CEO Noah Breslow, OnDeck made headlines a month ago when it announced a $77 million funding round led by Tiger Capital. The company specializes in combining loan underwriting analysis with the merchant’s own business data to determine a potential borrower’s creditworthiness faster than traditional lenders.
The average loan from OnDeck is $40,000, and loans can run as high as $250,000. Terms range from as little as three months to two years. The company demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2012.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

LendUp Gets $50 Million Credit Debt Facility

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: LendUp

Thumbnail image for LendUpLogo.jpg

With so many venture capitalists throwing money at alternative lenders in recent days, is it any surprise that they’ve begun hurling credit cards at these innovators, as well?

LendUp announced today that it has raised a $50 million credit facility from Victory Park Capital. This comes just a few months after picking up $14 million from Google Ventures and QED Investors in November.

LendUp co-founder Sasha Orloff credits rapid growth for the fresh funding needs of his company. He points to month-over-month growth between 10-20%, as well as expansion into Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee as evidence that LendUp will make good on its goal of launching in a new state every two weeks, and originating 300,000 loans this year.
A pioneer in socially responsible lending, LendUp provides a source of money for those typically unable to borrow through banks and credit unions. LendUp combines financial education, gamification, and better loan terms than those typically offered by traditional non-bank lenders to build a business that serves rather than avoids non-prime borrowers.
LendUp was founded in 2011, and launched its platform a year later. The company was part of FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose, California, where they demoed their technology. Video of LendUp’s demo will be available soon.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Leaf Appoints Sarah McCrary as CEO

Leaf Appoints Sarah McCrary as CEO
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Leaf
SMcCrary_LeafnewCEO

Sarah McCrary has been appointed CEO of Leaf. She formerly held the position of Chief Operating Officer, and will replace outgoing co-founder and CEO Aron Schwarzkopf.

Becoming “the small business owner’s best friend” is how Sarah characterized her goals for Leaf, the mobile, point-of-sale tablet that gives merchants greater flexibility in choice of payment providers. 

The platform allows business owners to create a virtual store with customers, inventory, and employees, and features a variety of productivity apps geared toward small businesses. Many of these apps have been created by third-party developers.

Thumbnail image for LeafLogo.jpg

Sarah McCrary spent six years at Heartland Payment Systems, and another four at Allied Data Systems previous to her joining Leaf as COO. While at Heartland, she co-invented the company’s end-to-end encryption technology, E3. In a statement, Leaf says they hope to leverage her expertise and background to grow sales and drive technological innovation in a small business POS space.
Leaf’s relationship with Heartland Payment Systems is a close one. Heartland invested $20 million in the mobile POS platform developer last October, and is involved with both selling the platform and developing new Leaf apps.
Leaf demoed its technology as part of the FinovateSpring 2013 conference in San Francisco. See the company’s demo here.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Lending Club Announces Partnership with Union Bank

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Kabbage, Lending Club, Prosper

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for LendingClubLogo.jpg

Between the proliferation of lenders at FinovateSpring 2014 demoing in San Jose last week, and today’s funding announcements from alums Prosper and Kabbage, it is clear that lenders in the 21st century will continue to demand their space in the fintech headlines.

Today brings news that Lending Club has reached a deal that will allow Union Bank to sell loans from Lending Club. The two organizations will also work together to develop new credit products and services to be made available to customers of both companies. In a press release, Lending Club cited the combination of its low operating costs and Union Bank’s “strong balance sheet and large customer base” as one of the synergies contributing toward the deal.

One key question is what sort of new credit products are Lending Club and Union Bank discussing? Details remain few and far between as this point. But this could be a significant development. It has been a goal of Lending Club to sell its loans to banks and other financial institutions. But the potential of a customer-facing link to Lending Club at FIs like Union Bank would be a very worthwhile opportunity for the P2P lender.
Lending Club also recently announced raising $115 million in debt and equity, and an acquisition of Springstone Financial. Based in San Francisco, California, Lending Club has issued more than $4 billion in personal loans since the end of March 2014. The company has also more than doubled its annual loan volume annually since its 2007 launch. With more than $335 in total capital raised, Lending Club has been valued at nearly $3.8 billion.
Union Bank is the primary subsidiary of UnionBanCal Corporation, a financial holding company with assets of more than $107 billion. Union Bank operates more than 400 branches in seven states in the U.S., as well as two international offices.
The partnership between Lending Club and Union Bank was announced at the LendIt 2014 conference in San Francisco on Monday. The arrangement represents the largest such partnership Lending Club has inked to date, and comes in the wake of Wells Fargo’s decision to reverse, or at least clarify, a policy that banned its employees from participating in P2P lending platforms.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fidor AG is First Bank to Deploy Ripple Protocol

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Fidor Bank, Ripple

Thumbnail image for ripplelogo1.jpg

We don’t know who reported the news first, but Finovate was glad to be among the few who figured out late last week that Fidor Bank AG was using Ripple to move money in three different countries. 

And once we were able to track down the source of this exciting development in the world of alternative payments, we couldn’t wait to share it.

Today we get further confirmation as Ripple announces that Germany’s Fidor Bank is indeed the first bank to adopt the Ripple protocol. Ripple Labs CEO Chris Larsen celebrated the occasion by emphasizing the benefits of his technology, chiefly its ability to provide “real-time settlement in any currency … at highly competitive rates” anywhere in the world.

Thumbnail image for fidorLogo.jpg

Fidor will use Ripple in a number of ways, including inter- and intrabank payments between other financial institutions and its own branches. The Ripple integration will also allow the bank to offer its customers faster and less expensive money transfer options.
It will be interesting to see how much Fidor’s deployment of Ripple influences other financial institutions to pursue similar alternatives. In nothing Fidor’s adoption of Ripple in a panel discussion at the Finextra Future Money conference last week, the Anthemis Group’s Udayan Goyal did so in the context of saying that “Swift will be gone in 3 years.” He tweeted later:

SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, is the leading provider of international interbank messaging. 
Developed by Ripple Labs, Ripple is an open-source, distributed payment protocol. The system allows anyone to transmit value anywhere in the world, securely and in real-time. Virtually free transactions and the lack of chargebacks make the technology attractive to merchants. And consumers can take advantage of the flexibility of Ripple to support everything from real and virtual currencies to non-currency value such as frequent flier miles and mobile minutes.
Ripple Labs won Silver in the “Best New Technology” category at the PYMNTS.com Innovation Awards this year, and has raised $9 million in funding. A Finovate alum, the company demoed its Ripple protocol at FinovateSpring 2013 in San Francisco.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News — May 5, 2014

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: DeMyst Data, FinovateSpring 2014, FutureAdvisor, ID.me, Jumio, Kashoo, LearnVest, Mint.com, Xero
  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgCheck out our Twitter highlights of FinovateSpring 2014 – from the opening demo to Best of Show.
  • LearnVest, Mint, and FutureAdvisor featured in Wall Street Journal column on managing your own money.
  • Forbes highlights Demyst.Data, showing how Big Data can be used to determine loan suitability for the underbanked.
  • Xconomy profiles authentication specialist, Jumio. Video of Jumio’s FinovateSpring 2014 demo will be available soon at Finovate.com.
  • Kashoo and Xero are among the cloud accounting apps reviewed in a new ebook by the Sleeter Group.
  • American Banker features Ondot Systems’ use of debit on/off controls via mobile device.
  • Backbase launches Backbase Engage, an out-of-the-box digital banking solution for FIs.
  • CUneXus proceeds to Innotribe Startup Challenge 2014 Semifinals.
  • Tradeshift extends “App” ecosystem and offers co-investment to encourage development on its platform.
  • Wearable tech company GTX now using Stockr to communicate directly with the investors.
  • Motherboard looks at Zighra’s next-gen kinetic ID that will recognize users by how they swipe on their phone.
  • MoneyDesktop named 1 of 8 of Utah’s Most Innovative Products.
  • SafetyPay partners with UOL BoaCompra, a leader in monetizing online games for Latin America.
  • VentureBeat looks at a government program that awards grants to companies working on an “Identity Ecosystem,” bringing to mind FinovateSpring 2014 alum, ID.me.
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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook