Author: David Penn

Finovate Alumni News– July 10, 2013

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Authentify, CashStar, GoBank, Google, Manilla, Mitek, Moven, Outright.com, SAGE SA, SecondMarket
  • FinovateLOGO.jpgAuthentify launches security app for mobile devices, replacing passwords with digital images and spoken pass phrases.
  • Google Wallet’s “Buy with Google” promotion provides discounts via Android apps ranging from Airbnb to Uber.
  • IBS Intelligence ranks SAGE SA’s Prospero 2nd in 2013 Sales League Table.
  • Manilla’s activated user base surpasses half million mark.
  • CashStar announces new clients for its digital gifting program.
  • Moven’s beta program expands to add additional testers as company anticipates mobile signup by year’s end.
  • Bank Innovation reviews GoBank’s progress toward customer engagement and mobile centricity.
  • American Banker reports: Mitek Receives Patent for Mobile Card Balance Transfers.
  • SecondMarket launches General Solicitation solution in response to the SEC lifting of the ban on general solicitation by the JOBS Act.
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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BBVA Ventures Investment to Help SumUp’s South American Expansion

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BBVA, SumUp

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SumUp is coming to America – one hemisphere at a time.

The European mobile payments company is expected to reach South American shores by the end of the year, according to a report in TechCrunch published today.

News of the expansion comes as SumUp announced receiving funding from BBVA Ventures, the venture capital wing of Spanish bank, BBVA. The amount of BBVA’s investment was undisclosed, but it is believed to be part of the larger investment of more than $20 million announced by SumUp in May. That round included participation by investors ranging from American Express to Groupon to Tengelmann Ventures.

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Funding from BBVA will contribute toward SumUp’s growth into South America, as well as help extend the brand in European countries like Spain and Portugal, where BBVA is strong. SumUp also recently announced expansion into Russia.
Both BBVA and SumUp are alumni of FinovateEurope 2013, held earlier this year in London. BBVA demoed Stockbuzz.es, technology that analyzes Twitter data for clues to market sentiment. SumUp presented its mobile payments solution, which makes it easier for small businesses to accept card payments.
See BBVA’s presentation here. SumUp’s demo is available here.

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Finovate Alumni News — July 9, 2013

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, authenticID, GoBank, Mitek, Monitise, SumUp
  • FinovateLOGO.jpgACI Worldwide announces latest version of ACI Acquirer, the company’s multi-currency merchants management system.
  • Mitek wins patent for its technology that lets customers transfer credit card balance using their mobile device.
  • BBVA Ventures investment helps SumUp plan for South American expansion.
  • GoBank’s mobile-first bank accounts now available through Rite Aid.
  • Monitise VP of mPOS Tim Corke talks mobile point-of-sale in video interview with Finextra.
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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Equifax Scoops Up TrustedID for $30 Million

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: TrustedID

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Equifax announced today that it has agreed to acquire ID protection innovator and Finovate alum, TrustedID.

The specific amount of the deal was not disclosed by Equifax. However reports indicate that the all-cash arrangement totaled more than $30 million.

TrustedID will become a part of Equifax’s Personal Solutions, which focuses on credit monitoring and identity protection. The company has raised $20 million in investment capital since it was founded in 2004. TrustedID is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, from which the company’s employees will continue to work, post-acquisition.

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TrustedID was recently in the news for its new service designed to help protect seniors from identity theft. Announced last month, the program is run through AARP and is geared toward the over-50 population that is most vulnerable to ID theft. TrustedID’s product suite includes solutions ranging from ID and credit protection to data breach defense systems.
TrustedID demoed its technology as part of the FinovateSpring 2011 show in San Francisco. See the company’s presentation here.

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Finovate Alumni News — July 8, 2013

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Intuit, Realty Mogul, Swipely, TSYS
  • FinovateLOGO.jpgTSYS announces multi-year agreement to bring debit card services to KBC Bank in Ireland.
  • Inman News’s Real Estate Connect column includes Realty Mogul in its list of companies likely to benefit from passage of the JOBS Act.
  • Swipely’s Amanda MacArthur talks strategies for serving millennials.
  • Bank Innovation’s Hornblass takes a close look at Intuit’s decision to sell its IFS unit to Thoma Bravo.
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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Temenos Integrated Framework Enables Mobile Banking in Africa

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Temenos

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Temenos unveiled its latest IT solution for banks: Temenos Integrated Framework, designed to help banks better integrate new technologies into their existing systems.

The company announced the platform’s general availability this week, and have been highlighting its recent deployment by the Commercial Bank of Africa (CAB). CAB has been using it to build out its M-Shwari mobile phone-based virtual banking platform over the past few months. Since the platform’s launch in November 2012 in Kenya, M-Shwari has:

  • Attracted more than 30,000 new customers a day on average in the first 100 days
  • Gained more than 1 billion Kenyan shillings in deposits in one month.
  • Attracted 1 million customers after 41 days
  • Onboarded more than three million customers by April 2013
M-Shwari was developed in partnership with Safaricom, an integrated African communications company, and Vodafone. Read more about the program, which aims to bring savings and loans programs to Kenyan adults, here.
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, Temenos is a leading provider of integrated core banking systems, with more than 1,500 customer deployments around the world. The company presented its edgeConnect UXP with Live Designer technology earlier this year at FinovateEurope. See Temenos’s demo here.

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Finovate Alumni News– July 5, 2013

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: CommunityLend, Monitise, QuantConnect, Quantopian, SeedInvest, Temenos, Zopa
  • FinovateLOGO.jpgInvestment News’ “In Tech” column features Jared Broad, co-founder and CEO of QuantConnect.
  • Crowdfundinsider reports on SeedInvest’s new feature: SeedInvest Groups.
  • Bamboo Innovator takes a look at “do-it-yourself” hedge fund site, Quantopian.
  • Monitise wins Cross-Border Deal of the Year award for acquisition of Clairmail.
  • CommunityLend launches FinanceIt iPad app for consumer financing in store or on the road.
  • Zopa CEO Giles Andrews urges banks to keep customers in mind in address at Wired Money.
  • Temenos unveils solution to make it easier for banks to integrate new technology.
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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Second Quarter 2013 Funding for Finovate Alumni — More than $200 Million Raised

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Affinity Solutions, Cardlytics, Credit Karma, Dwolla, Kony Solutions, On Deck Capital, OpenCoin, peerTransfer, Personal Capital, Receivables Exchange, SeedInvest, SumUp, Swipely, TransferWise, Zooz

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For the second quarter of 2013, fifteen Finovate alumni raised more than $200 million. The quarterly total exceeded both that of the previous quarter as well as the same quarter last year.*

  • Q2 2013: 15 companies raised more than $200 million
  • Q1 2013: 15 companies raised more than $155 million — blog post
  • Q2 2012: 14 companies raised more than $120 million — blog post
Here’s the Q2 summary for 2013:

April — $32 million raised by two companies
May — $91.5 million raised by seven companies
June — $81.7 million raised by six companies

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*While the funding over last year has increased, so has the number of Finovate alums. We’re tracking more than 100 additional companies this year compared to last year.

Note: Funding that companies received before they demonstrated at Finovate was not counted. Questions? Comments? Email us at julie@finovate.com or david@finovate.com.

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OpenCoin Launches Bitcoin Bridge, an E-Commerce Enabler for Ripple

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: OpenCoin

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Thanks to a new technology from OpenCoin, Ripple users just got access to more than 8,500 Bitcoin-accepting merchants, as well as the rest of the Bitcoin world.

OpenCoin, developers of the virtual currency protocol Ripple, announced today that Ripple users now will be able to pay directly to all Bitcoin addresses. Using a new feature called Bitcoin Bridge, users will be able to send payments in any currency and have the recipient get that payment in Bitcoins with no additional cost.

The move is significant because it demonstrates the distributed nature of OpenCoin’s virtual currency network. Said CEO Chris Larsen in a press release, “Now, anyone can send Bitcoins without having to use a central exchange.”

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Larsen similarly sees Bitcoin Bridge as a boon for merchants who accept Bitcoin.
The company also announced on Tuesday that their first U.S. gateway was now live. Using the SnapSwap gateway, Ripple users now can fund their Ripple wallets directly from their U.S.-based bank accounts.
OpenCoin’s Ripple protocol is a virtual currency and distributed currency exchange. The technology has a number of payment system applications, ranging from merchant payments to remittances. 
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, OpenCoin demoed its technology as part of the FinovateSpring 2013 show in May, Watch the company’s presentation here.

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Corduro and LendUp Partner to Provide Loans for Medical Expenses

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Corduro, LendUp

They aren’t calling it “CorduroCare” – at least not yet. But the new partnership between a pair of Finovate alumni does aim to make it easier for people to pay their medical bills.

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As reported in a VentureBeat exclusive, a program launched by Corduro and LendUp will allow patients at participating hospitals to take out loans through LendUp. First-time borrowers will be charged up to 15% of the total loan amount, and discounts are available for borrowers who make timely payments, pay early, or take advantage of LendUp’s credit betterment/financial health resources.

Once approved, borrowers use Corduro’s mobile app (available for both iOS and Android) to pay their bill. The largest hospital currently participating in the program is Dignity Health, a non-profit hospital network in California.
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Corduro was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Southlake, Texas. The company’s PayMobile app enables one-touch payments, credit card acceptance, and also includes a secure mobile wallet.  
Based in San Francisco, California, LendUp was founded in November 2011 by Sasha Orloff and Jacob Rosenberg. The company’s LendUpLadder solution provides small dollar loans to help borrowers manage expenses and build credit.
Corduro and LendUp both demoed their technology at FinovateSpring 2013 in May, with LendUp winning Best of Show honors. Watch Corduro’s presentation here. See LendUp in action here.

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Finovate Alumni News– July 1, 2013

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BillGuard, BlinkMobile Interactive, Corduro, CSI globalVCard, EZBOB, Kabbage, LendUp, LICUOS, MiiCard, SafetyPay, SecondMarket, SeedInvest, TSYS, Virtual Piggy
  • FinovateLOGO.jpgCorduro teams up with LendUp to provide loans to help pay for medical expenses.
  • Entrepreneur Handbook reports on EZBOB‘s 12-month loan for online retailers.
  • CrowdFundBeat features SeedInvest and its new feature, SeedInvest Groups.
  • TSYS announces completion of NetSpend acquisition.
  • Banking Technology takes a look at LICUOS and the company’s win of Innotribe Startup Disrupt at Next Bank Madrid.
  • SafetyPay and GlobalCollect partner to advance secure Int’l payment solutions to over 300 million consumers.
  • Navallo.net interviews BillGuard CEO Yaron Samid.
  • SecondMarket expands into Bitcoin.
  • Virtual Piggy teams up with Live Gamer.
  • AG Beat describes why Kabbage and other alternative lenders will remain prevalent.
  • miiCard wins award for Technology Innovation in Financial Services at the 2013 ScotlandIS Digital Technology Awards in Glasgow.
  • BlinkMobile Interactive announces partner agreement with Linktech Solutions.
  • Pymnts.com interviews CSI Enterprises CEO, Keith Stone, on recent updates to the company’s globalVcard 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.

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SeedInvest Raises $1 Million in Round Led by Jumpstart New Jersey Angel Network

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: SeedInvest

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Crowdfunding platform SeedInvest announced that it has raised $1 million in new funding. The round was led by the Jumpstart New Jersey Angel Network, and included the participation of unnamed “prominent individual investors.”

The company plans to use the additional capital to help grow the equity-based platform, and to add new features. SeedInvest helps connect accredited investors with entrepreneurs seeking capital, providing both parties with web-based tools such as a due diligence dashboard, virtual boardroom, and streamlined funds transfer.

The Jumpstart New Jersey Angel Network is a private, angel group focusing on early-stage technology startups in the mid-Atlantic region. Started in 2002 and making its first investment in 2004, Jumpstart typically provides funds ranging from $200,000 to $1 million. To date, the Network has provided more than $33 million in funding for more than 50 companies.
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SeedInvest was founded in January 2012 by Ryan Feit and James Han, and launched its crowdfunding platform a little over a year later in February 2013. The company is headquartered in New York City.
SeedInvest demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2013 in San Francisco in May. Watch the company’s presentation here.

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