Five Finovate Alums Make Forbes America’s Most Promising Companies List for 2014

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Last year, Forbes selected four Finovate alums for its “America’s Most Promising Companies” roster.

This year, Forbes picked five.

Lending Club is back, the veteran of last year’s list climbing from a #12 ranking in 2013 to a #5 in 2014. Also returning is On Deck Capital, which soared from a #94 ranking last year to an #11 ranking this year.
When you look at the other alums to make the 2014 roster, it is clear that success in the lending  and capital-raising businesses are what bring in the votes over at Forbes. In addition to Lending Club and On Deck Capital, there is Kabbage coming in at #37. 

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Rank: #5
Revenue: $98 million
Employees: 379

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Rank: #11
Revenue: $65 million
Employees: 240

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Rank: #37
Revenue: $17 million
Employees: 80

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Rank: #81
Revenue: $16 million
Employees: 88

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Rank: #98
Revenue: $0
Employees: 12

InComm Launches Reloadable Card at 7-Elevens Across the U.S.

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In an arrangement with Ready Wireless, InComm will be launching its Airfair Lifeline Reload card at more than 7,000 participating 7-Eleven stores.

Lifeline is a public program for low income Americans that helps them gain telephone access, secure employment, and make and stay in contact with health services. The program provides a set number of cell phone minutes but, until now, buying additional minutes has been a complicated process. Lifeline-eligible telecommunications companies (ETCs) typically have no brick and mortar presence, making it difficult for cash-oriented program participants.

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This new arrangement makes it easier for those using the program to reload their cards with additional minutes, texts, or data by paying in cash at the point-of-sale at participating 7-Eleven stores. 7-Eleven is the first national retailer to participate in the program. Others are expected to offer the product later in the year.
Fred Haumessert, co-founder and executive vice president of sales for Ready Wireless said, “Lifeline customers want to use their wireless Lifeline phone as their primary phone … Through our partnership with InComm, we’re now able to offer a universal card for all Lifeline ETCs …”
InComm leverages its state-of-the-art, point-of-sale transaction technology to provide stored-value gift and prepaid products. Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, InComm’s CEO and President is Brooks Smith.
InComm supports more than 400,000 points of distribution and has more than 123 global and domestic patents. The company was a part of the FinovateFall 2011 show in New York.

Wealthfront Promotes COO Adam Nash to CEO

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Just over a year after joining Wealthfront as Chief Operating Officer, Adam Nash has been tapped to succeed founder Andy Rachleff as President and CEO. Rachleff will take on the position of Chairman.

Adam Nash has a diverse background in engineering, product management and strategy, and venture capital. Educated at Stanford and Harvard Business, he has held executive positions at LinkedIn, eBay and Atlas Venture, the latter an early stage venture capital firm. Adam blogs about technology and finance at his personal website, Psychohistory, at blog.adamnash.com.

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What’s interesting about the pick is that Rachleff says he saw a CEO in Nash from the very beginning. Rachleff wrote about the announcement on his blog, “In fact, I actually wanted Adam to join as CEO, but he felt the infrastructure we needed to build would require his full attention in the short term.”
We now know what was meant by “short term.” Nash takes the helm of the company at a time when Wealthfront is experiencing significant growth. The alternative investment advisory industry in general, particularly online advisory, also has attracted the attention of mainstream media like the Wall Street Journal and CNN, which named Wealthfront among its 15 best financial websites and apps.
Wealthfront was founded as “kaChing” in 2008, and has since grown into one of the major onine investment advisory services, with more than $500 million in assets. One of Finovate’s earliest alumni, the company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Finovate Alumni News — January 22, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgPayoneer announces partnership with Quantum Solutions.
  • MasterCard card payments coming to Singapore transit courtesy of collaboration with Transit Link Pte Ltd.
  • Backbase releases Backbase CXP 5.5 with added mobile and WCM features.
  • FIS names new CIO: Ido Gileadi.
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.

Make Mine Mobile: On-the-Go Solutions Define FinovateEurope 2014

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As we return to the United Kingdom for our fourth Finovate event in London, is there any surprise that “mobile” is the most dominant theme going into this year’s show?

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Startups and established veterans alike are putting more emphasis into building features, functionality, and user interfaces with a “mobile first” perspective. This is enabling a generation of consumers to make payments, manage their finances and investments, and even get a loan wherever they are, without needing to rely on transportation or the tether of a power cord.

Meanwhile banks and financial institutions are exploring the mobile channel as a way to improve customer on-boarding, both in and outside of the branch.

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From authentication and asset management to white-label BPM solutions, and from ambitious direct-to-consumer innovators to B2B, software-as-a-service specialists, this year’s demos at FinovateEurope will provide an insight into the state of financial technology at the beginning of 2014, as well as offer a glimpse of what we can expect in the months to come.
Join us at Old Billingsgate Market Hall for two days of innovative fintech demonstrations and high caliber, C-level networking. Click here to get your ticket today.

Finovate Alumni News– January 21, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgFenergo taps Stan De Schepper for SVP, Americas.
  • National Bank of Andrews, AimBank to adopt Temenos T24 core processing platform. See Tememos at FinovateEurope in London.
  • Business Review Europe takes a look at Azimo’s expansion into Austria.
  • GMC Software Technology recognized as industry leader in latest Forrester Research Wave report.
  • Technics and Time feature PayPal and TransferWise in list of ways to pay without your wallet.
  • Swipely unveils its “Winter ’14” release to extend its service to help restaurant and hospitality customers make smarter decisions.
  • SafetyPay signs agreement with Brazilian firm Privalia.
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.

FinovateEurope 2014 Sneak Peek: Part 4

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FinovateEurope 2014 is officially less than one month away. We will be returning to Old Billingsgate Market Hall in London for our fourth event in Europe and are excited to see and share the variety of fintech innovation our presenters will have on display. Get your ticket here today and see all 66 demos live.

Our Sneak Peek series is designed to help you get to know a little bit about each of our presenters ahead of time. If you’ve missed any of our earlier installments, take a look at FinovateEurope 2014 Sneak Peeks 1-3 below.

And now, meet another six companies who will be demoing next month at FinovateEurope 2014.


IT_Sector_lo_res_logo.jpgIT Sector presents a new approach to sales. Enable your commercial team to plan and close deals while on the road, with less effort, more results, and satisfaction from customers.

Features:

  • Commercial lead generator
  • Portable Sales Office
  • Real-time access to commercial management
Why it’s great:
Close more deals with less effort with our innovative commercial GPS solution that covers the main activities of the sales process. Our software shines with strong usability and compelling value.

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Joao Lima Pinto, IT Sector Board of Directors
Background in financial institutions and multichannel solutions. Masters and PhD from UMIST (UK).


nous_lo_res_logo.jpgNous operates a free, day-trading simulator app which collects real-time predictions blended to generate a financial sentiment feed to help you predict the markets.

Features:

  • A mobile app gathering predictions from thousands of traders worldwide competing for prizes
  • Real-time feeds help you predict markets
  • Feeds use the intuitive and analytical abilities of real people
Why it’s great:
Our Spark Feed crowdsources alpha to help you understand and predict the markets.

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Justin Short, CEO and Founder
Justin has worked in finance for 16 years, building quantitative algorithmic trading systems, strategies and teams.

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Mick Horgan, Co-Founder
Mick has ten years experience building real time decision applications with Pega Systems. Prior to moving into software development. Mick worked as a turbine field engineer mostly in Africa and Taiwan.


Pixeliris_lo_res_logo.jpgPixeliris’ CopSonic enables contactless sonic and ultrasonic communication between smart devices and mobile payment and passwordless authentication available on phones and smartphones.

Features:
  • It turns any phone into a mobile payment device
  • It is truly contactless and entirely secure thanks to One Time Password and strong authentication
  • It replaces standard online passwords
Why it’s great:
With CopSonic, pay anywhere with any phone.

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Brian Roeten, Director of Projects
Brian joined the team in 1999. Today, his experience and skills enable him to manage the company’s innovating international high-tech projects.

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Emmanuel Ruiz, Founder
Since he has founded the company in 1995, Emmanuel Ruiz has initiated all innovations, from our first audio broadcasting systems to the recent sonic and ultrasonic contactless communication technology.



Temenos_lo_res_logo.jpgTemenos Treasury Management Dashboard App enables the transformation of treasury operations with a dynamic dashboard user interface accessible on a tablet device.

Features: 
  • Multiple source of real-time data accessible from single point
  • Rich, intuitive user experience reducing the complexity of multifaceted data
  • Holistic view of banks entire position
Why it’s great:
Visually excited dashboard enabling treasury managers to better understand the data and be far more responsive and effective in making critical business decisions anytime, anywhere.

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Dharmesh Mistry, UXP and Mobile Product Director
Adam Gable, Product Manager, Treasury
(not pictured)


Topicus_Finan_lo_res_logo.jpgTopicus Financial focuses on business lending value chain integration with innovative web-based technology.

Features:
  • The entrepreneur gets the lead of business lending
  • What-If scenarios to asses the financial impact of future plans in real-time
  • Freeing the entrepreneur from all banking complexities
Why it’s great:
Topicus Finan believes that self-service is an important factor in keeping operational and risk costs at an affordable level, while increasing transparency and fit with credit demand.

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Michiel Schipper, CEO

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Jamie Burink, Senior Consultant Innovative Banking


Yseop_lo_res_logo.jpgYseop is natural language generation software based on artificial intelligence that boosts sales productivity and turns each financial advisor into an expert without additional training.

Features:
Yseop automates the sales process from lead generation to the writing of prep-to-meeting reports, customer follow up and personalized marketing communications – automatically.
Why it’s great:
Yseop turns data into text, leads into clients, and salespeople into experts. Double your sales force productivity overnight with the power of artificial intelligence.

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Elizabeth Farabee, VP of Marketing
Has a background in inbound and direct marketing. She is passionate about Yseop’s personalized marketing potential in both the B2C and B2B markets.

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Arden Manning, Director of Communications and UK Business Development
Brings nearly 10 years of experience in public relations, strategy, and product management.

Finovate Alumni News– January 17, 2013

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgAcculynk announces patent for PIN based, online authentication.
  • St. Louis Business Journal takes a look at miiCard’s chances at winning the FStech Award for “most disruptive financial services technology.”
  • Kapitall launches bonus program; $200 and 2,000 koins for new accounts.
  • The Financial Brand features Strategy CorpsBaZing.
  • Management Today interviews with Christian Laang, Tradeshift CEO.
  • CNBC highlights FutureAdvisor and how it can help you save on fees.
  • Kofax today announces availability of the Kofax Mobile Capture Platform.
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.

Investing Millennials Help Drive Fivefold Asset Growth at Wealthfront

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And you thought the stock market had a great 2013.

Online investment manageme service Wealthfront announced this week that it now manages more than $538 million in assets. Given that the company began 2013 with assets under management of approximately $100 million, it is no exaggeration to say that Wealthfront is doing a strong job of attracting investors looking for alternatives to traditional financial advisory.

Wealthfront credits its rapid growth on two factors: the rise of passive investing and the entry of the millennial generation into their investing years.

Some interesting metrics about Wealthfront and its clients:
  • More than 55% of the company’s users are under 35 years old
  • More than 80% of the company’s users are under 50 years old
  • The average investment with Wealthfront is between $80,000 and $100,000
  • More than 16% of Wealthfront’s users have a liquid net worth of more than $1 million
At the same time, it is worth pointing out that Wealthfront is not just for rich guys and gals. A fifth of the company’s investors have less than $50,000 in liquid net worth.
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Growth in the online investment advisory business is a good thing for Wealthfront – not the least because the company is far from alone in the space. Among Wealthfront’s rivals are companies like Betterment, Personal Capital, and SigFig, as well as similar services with slightly different models such as FutureAdvisor, Jemstep, and LearnVest (and, yes, Finovate alums all).
Formerly known as KaChing, Wealthfront picked up $20 million in funding in March of last year. This took the company’s total investment to $30.5 million. Wealthfront was founded by Andy Rachleff, former co-founder and general partner of Benchmark Capital, now serving as Wealthfront’s president and CEO. 
The company was among the earliest of Finovate alumni, showcasing its technology as part of FinovateStartup in 2009.

Finovate Alumni News– January 15, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgDiginomica takes a look at Trustev and the problem of e-commerce fraud. Come see Trustev demo its new tech at FinovateEurope this February 11-12.
  • HelloWallet noted as a third-party PFM option for employers who want to help their employees with their finances.
  • The Times Money section features Nutmeg in a review of ten myths about individual savings accounts.
  • BBVA to deploy next generation touch-screen ATMs courtesy of Wincor Nixdorf.
  • Ripple debuts on “TV’s No. 1 New Show” – NBC’s The Blacklist.
  • Travis Credit Union extends 30 year partnership with Fiserv by selecting DNA account processing platform.
  • Ron Shevlin recommends using BillGuard in tandem with credit monitoring.
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 Alumni News — January 14, 2014

  • ACI Worldwide announces its point to point encryption (P2PE) solutions now supported by VeriFone, Ingenico, and Equinox.
  • New contract with Advanced Network helps Better ATM Services grow its reseller network.
  • Netbanker reports: Moven Offers Free Ride, but Only to New Uber Customers.
  • Industry analyst Ovum names Backbase a Market Leader for next generation digital banking platforms.
  • Linkable Networks partners with marketing content publishers to form The Linkable Network, its new card-linked shopper marketing network.
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.

FinovateEurope 2014 Sneak Peek: Part 2

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We are counting down the days and weeks to FinovateEurope 2014, our fourth Finovate event in London. On February 11 and 12, Old Billingsgate Market Hall will once again host two days of demo-only fintech presentations and high-quality networking with professionals from across the industry.

To help you get to know the companies presenting next month, here’s an introduction to another six innovators that are building tomorrow’s fintech today. See Part 1 for the first six. 


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Advanced Merchant Payments enables banks, merchant acquirers, and other institutional lenders to profitably offer short-term, unsecured loans to underserved small businesses in both developed and emerging markets.
Features:
  • Proven, profitable, and scalable managed solution
  • Requires minimal investment or technical development
  • Complementary, value-add, product set supports customer acquisition and retention
Why it’s great:
AMP enables banks to profitably lend to those small business customers who might otherwise be underserved for reasons of cost and efficiency.

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Thomas De Luca
Chief Executive and co-founder of AMP. Previously co-founded multi-currency payment processor Planet Payment, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLPM). Before that: Legal Affairs at American Express.

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James Phillip Lloyd
Director of Product Management at AMP. Previously Operations Delivery Manager for European payment service provider, Realex Payments. Before that: Strategy & Operations at Deloitte Consulting

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Fiserv, the world’s leading provider of digital banking and payment solutions will demonstrate the next generation version of Mobiliti.
Features:
Mobiliti, Fiserv’s mobile and tablet banking platform, focuses on completeness, intuitive design and disruptive functionality.
Why it’s great:
Fiserv’s Mobiliti is the broadest and most disruptive set of features on a mobile device, without compromising the user experience.

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Denis Zelensky
Is passionate about mobile and stays mobile himself: born in Russia, educated in the U.S., lives in London, and works with financial institutions across EMEA.

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Jonathan Atkinson
Pre Sales, Mobile Solutions

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GMC Software Technology is a leader in the field of Customer Communications Management. GMC develops innovative software applications that enable businesses to transform the customer experience.
Features:
GMC Inspire Mobile Onboarding is a game-changing innovation that allows banks to attract, retain, and grow customers through real-time, interactive communication.

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Antoine Hemon-Laurens
Is an expert in Customer Communications Management. He is Director of Mobile Product Marketing at GMC.

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Gary Jenkins
Product Manager for GMC Software Technology and has extensive experience in delivering Enterprise solutions into the financial sector.

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Luxoft‘s iStockTrack is an innovative mobile application for premium & private banking services that offers state of the art user experience.
Features:
  • Provides comprehensive customer experience for private & premium banking clients
  • Offers unlimited sales capabilities to banks
  • Reduces cost of service per client
Why it’s great:
iStockTrack is a toolkit that can be customized to fit business needs and corporate style in just four weeks.

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Przemek Berendt
Global Marketing Vice President at Luxoft (NYSE: LXFT). Previously Luxoft Poland, Managing Director. Prior to Luxoft, Przemek was Business Development Manager at Betware.

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Money On Toast is a revolutionary new service that allows clients to get fully-regulated, automated financial advice directly online.
Features:
  • Clients can access FCA-regulated advice online via an algorithm-powered virtual adviser
  • Automatically generates a suitability report
  • Provides a fully compliant audit trial
Why it’s great:
Money on Toast is the first UK-based company to drive the way financial advice is delivered into the modern digital age.

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Charlie Nicholls
Founder and managing partner of Money on Toast. Studied law at Cardiff University. Lives and works in London.

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Catharine Dodd
Manages the online advice service at Money on Toast. Based at the Chichester office on the south coast.

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Smart Engine is a pioneer in the field of customer loyalty. We are drivers of innovation and leaders in personalized target marketing.
Features:
  • Merging online and offline shopping world for retail customers
  • Closer to the customer with real-time in-store targeting
  • Increases customer lifetime value
Why it’s great:
Shopping Assistance adds an entirely new level of “big data” consumer profiling and multichannel targeting to our card-linked offer, bank loyalty platform.

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Christian Bacher
Spent more than 20 years working at different top management levels in IT solutions for the banking and payment industry in Europe and Russia.

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Anna Bacher
Has more than 15 years of international experience in designing and implementing complex IT solutions for the banking and payment industry in Europe and Russia.