Author: David Penn

Kalixa Launches New “Whereever, Whenever” Mobile POS Device

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2013, Kalixa

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This post is a part of our live coverage of FinovateEurope 2013.

Midway through the second session of the day, here is Kalixa with a demo of their new m-wallet, Kalixa mpos:

“Kalixa mpos is a new mobile POS device enabling ‘prosumers’ and small businesses to accept payments anywhere, anytime, and anyhow. Kalixa mpos accepts all major debit and credit cards and can be used wherever, whenever. Kalixa mpos is totally seure and can offer businesses next day settlement without contract.
Kalixa is a wallet linked to multiple devices – offering consumers one account, one wallet, one way to pay. As an m-wallet, Kalixa can make P2P and MFC transactions, in-store, online or payment over the phone, as well as offering the ability to withdraw cash from ATMs. With no exchange fees, no commission, no charges, Kalixa is prepaid and easy to load via internet banking, credit/debit card, voucher and direct company payments.”

Product Launched: February 2013

HQ Location: Vienna, Austria
Company Founded: January 2007
Metrics: More than 100 employees from 25 countries. Processes transactions worth 2.7 billion euros annually. Powers 90 of the world’s most popular alternative payment solutions. Serves more than 300 merchants. Has over 150,000 cardholders. Can accept, process, and pay in 32 European countries.
Presenting Kamran Hedjri (Chief Operating Officer) and Chris Ranallo (Software Test Engineer)
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Birdback Unveils Card-linking API Technology

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Birdback, FinovateEurope 2013

This post is a part of our live coverage of FinovateEurope 2013.

Taking the stage next is Birdback.

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“Our technology platform enables features such as loyalty programs, offers and automatic receipts to run on consumer’s existing payment cards. This is made possible through a simple, plug & play API that retailers and advertisers can easily use to link their applications to payment cards.
Birdback’s API handles security, compliance and privacy aspects of card-linking. Card-linking applications range from traditional cash-back schemes to virtual gaming currency redemption. Birdback is demoing a use-case of its REST API.”

Product Launched: February 2013

HQ Location: London, UK
Company Founded: 2012
Metrics: $0.5 million in capital raised; 8 employees
Website: birdback.com
Twitter: @birdback
Presenting Halim Madi (Business Development Director), Ben Brown (CEO, Vouchacha)
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TSYS Spend Controls Manages Commercial Card Programs

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2013, TSYS

This post is a part of our live coverage of FinovateEurope 2013.

Taking the stage next is TSYS.

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“Every business needs to have a system of checks and balances as an essential part of any successful commercial card program. Effective programs include upfront transaction controls, ensuring cardholder compliance to company policy.
TSYS Spend Controls puts control over card usage into the hands of the business owner or program administrator. It provides businesses a means to implement upfront transaction controls to ensure cardholder compliance with purchasing guidelines.
Administrators manage parameters using a simple, web-based user interface, establishing guidelines according to business, department or individual needs. Each transaction is reviewed at the point of sale based on the pre-established parameters.”
Product Launched: 2012
HQ Location: Columbus GA, USA
Company Founded: August 1983
Metrics: $1.89 billion in annual revenues; more than 8,000 employees worldwide
Website: tsys.com
Twitter: @TSYS_TSS
Presenting Chris Colson (Product Innovation Director), Simon Taylor (International Solutions Management Consultant)
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TransferWise’s Peer-to-Peer Strategy for Exchange Rate Savings

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2013, TransferWise

This post is a part of our live coverage of FinovateEurope 2013.

The second presenter in the second morning session is TransferWise.

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“TransferWise allows regular people to access the real, mid-market exchange rate. We do this using peer-to-peer technology that cuts out traditional fees.  Customers pay a tiny, fully transparent service charge to access this.”

Product Launched: February 2011

HQ Location: London, UK
Company Founded: March 2010
Metrics: $1.35 million in investment capital; 20 employees; transferred over £10 million in the first year; growing at more than 20% per month
Twitter: @transferwise
Presenting Kristo Kaarmann (Co-Founder) and Taavet Hinrikus (Co-Founder)
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PrivatBank Empowers Cashless Transactions with Smartphones

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2013, Liqpay.com

This post is a part of our live coverage of FinovateEurope 2013.

Next up to the stage is PrivatBank:  
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“Liqpay is the project of the Center of E-Business of Privatbank.  The Liqpay team specializes in innovative web and mobile services deployment such as Liqpay (liqpay.com), iPay (pos.liqpay.com), and SiteHeart (site heart.com) and a number of other projects.
We have developed smartphone applications that allow users to manage ATMs (cardless and contactless cash withdrawal) and payment apps for gas stations.”

Product Launched: October 2012

HQ Location: Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine
Company Founded: 2007
Metrics: Service is launched in 10,000 ATMs and in 1,500 gas stations in Ukraine.  The company has three employees.
Website: privatbank.ua
Presenting Kristina Chaykovskaya (Vice President), Marla Gurina (Business Development Manager)
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Device Ident Launches Anti-Theft Solution

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Device Ident, FinovateEurope 2013

This post is a part of our live coverage of FinovateEurope 2013.

Next up to the stage is Device Ident with an anti-fraud 

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solution for European companies in the e-commerce and financial sectors:

“Device Ident provides a sophisticated anti-fraud solution for any type of online transaction. We identify and evaluate any device interacting with our customers’s online services and analyze history and behavior of the visiting device to prevent fraud and misuse for all our customers in real time.
In addition, our products have a built-in, anti-fraud network that allows all participants access to much higher degrees of protection without running into conflict of revealing customer information.”

Product Launched: January 2013

HQ Location: Hamburg, Germany
Company Founded: May 2012
Twitter: @deviceident
Presenting Roberto Valerio (Managing Director, Device Ident) and Michael Backes (Managing Director, Liquid Labs)
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Temenos Introduces edgeConnect’s Live Designer

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2013, Temenos

Thumbnail image for TemenosLogo.jpgThis post is a part of our live coverage of FinovateEurope 2013.

Coming to the stage now is Temenos. The company will be showing an innovative way to build and design dynamic applications pages:

“edgeConnect is the industry’s most dynamic user experience platform (UXP). edgeConnect provides a single, consistent platform that enables superior user experiences to be delivered across multiple distribution channels, for any product, any user, in any language and optimized for each device.
A major new editor within edgeConnect called ‘Live Designer’ is a game changer in application design. It allows designers to change the look and feel, layout and behavior while an application is executing, so that they can make changes and see the effects of dynamic application pages prior to live deployment.”

Product Launched: Q1 2013

HQ Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Company Founded: 1993
Metrics: Over 1,500 customer deployments in 25 countries; more than 3,900 employees; revenues as of Dec. 2012 were more than $470 million USD
Website: temenos.com
Twitter: @temenos
Presenting Dharmesh Mistry (Product Director UXP) and Holger Lehmann (Manager Business Solutions – Front Office)
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Simple and Secure: Azimo Unveils Social Sending Strategy

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Azimo, FinovateEurope 2013
This post is a part of our live coverage of FinovateEurope 2013.

And they’re off!

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Taking the stage as the first presenter on day one of FinovateEurope 2013 is Azimo with its digital money transfer innovation:
“Azimo is a digital international money transfer service. We offer a simple, secure, fast, and inexpensive way to send money from a mobile or PC to friends and family in over 125 countries around the world.
Recipients can receive funds in any bank account or from over 150,000 cash collection points. Senders can fund their money transfer with a debit card or bank account using their social media account to speed up the process.”

Product Launched: August 2012

HQ Location: London, UK
Company Founded: January 2012
Website: azimo.com
Twitter: @Azimomoney
Presenting Michael Kent (CEO) and Marek Wawro (CTO)
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Lights! Camera! Finovate!

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2013

Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgWe’re less than 24 hours away from the first Finovate event of the year, FinovateEurope 2013.

And from fintech veterans to the latest innovators on the block, the diversity of new apps, toolkits, services, and solutions on display here at dress rehearsal is nothing short of impressive.

What are we seeing so far? More mobile payment and banking strategies than you can shake a dongle at, advances in authentication and gamification, creative ways to help banks better understand and serve their customers and much more.  

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We hope you’ll be joining us for what promises to be two great days of presentations and demos of the best in financial technology. If you can’t be with us here in London, then be sure to follow us on Twitter @Finovate, or via our Live Blog at finovate.com starting bright and early Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM London time.

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Finovate Alums Make America’s Most Promising Companies List

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Boku, Lending Club, On Deck Capital, Swipely

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgAccording to Forbes, four of the 100 most promising companies in the United States right now aren’t just fintech companies. They are Finovate alumni, as well.

Of the four, Lending Club is the highest rated, earning the number 12 spot in Forbes‘s “America’s Most Promising Companies” roster. Also making the top 50 was Boku, with alumni On Deck Capital and Swipely helping round out the list.
Interestingly, Swipely CEO Angus Davis recently made a “most promising” list of his own.  Davis was featured along with more than 20 of his peers in a profile of “America’s Most Promising CEOs Under 35” also compiled by Forbes.
Here’s a closer look at the alumni featured.
  • Rank: 12
  • Revenue: $16 million
  • Employees: 125
  • Demo video
  • Rank: 38
  • Revenue: $195 million
  • Employees: 115
  • Demo video
  • Rank: 94
  • Revenue: $37 million
  • Employees: 152
  • Demo video
  • Rank: 95
  • Revenue: $1 million
  • Employees: 36
  • Demo video

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Affinity Solutions Announces More than $6 Million Raised

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Affinity Solutions

Thumbnail image for AffinityLogo3.jpgLoyalty program provider Affinity Solutions reported that the company had raised $6.75 million in a combined equity/convertible securities offering.

Two investors were involved in the offering, neither of which has been discovered.
Affinity Solutions has more than 100 employees and manages loyalty programs with more than 4,000 banks.  Founded in 1998, the company was last on the Finovate stage in the spring of 2012.  See their demo here.

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CashStar Reports Record Holiday Season

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: CashStar

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for CashStar.jpgStrong holiday sales for the company’s eGift Cards have made CashStar optimistic about the prospects for mobile gift card and “last-minute gifting” demand in 2013.

Why are eGift Cards working for CashStar? In part, it may be because they are working for merchants. According to CashStar:
  • The company enjoyed a 800% increase in mobile eGift Cards purchased compared to 2011
  • Brands with mobile-optimized eGift Card websites outperformed non mobile-optimized websites in purchases by smartphone by more than 50% in December 2012
  • Brands from mobile-optimized sites earned 3,700% more in sales in 2012
CashStar has a network of more than 250 brands, including Brooks Brothers, Jiffy Lube, Harry & David, and Petco. The company’s support for Passbook on the iOS platform has added new retail partners like Home Depot and The Body Shop.
See CashStar’s most recent demo from FinovateFall 2011 here.

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