Author: Jim Bruene

Fintech Fundings: 16 Companies Raise $470 Million Week Ending April 10

Fintech Fundings: 16 Companies Raise $470 Million Week Ending April 10
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

patchoflandhome

The second quarter is off to a big start as charter Finovate alum Prosper raised $165 million at a valuation near $2 billion. In comparison, recently public competitor Lending Club is currently trading at a $6.8 billion valuation. Finovate alums Zen Payroll ($60 million), PayNearMe ($14.7 million) and Patch of Land ($23.6 million) also brought in 8-figure rounds. In addition, two Finovate alums were acquired: Authentify by Early Warning and SaveUp by a single investor. All told, Finovate alums attracted more than $260 million in VC funding, our alumni’s best week ever (excluding IPOs).

In total, 16 fintech companies raised $467 million. That’s the fourth biggest week (excluding IPOs) since we began tracking in August.

Here are the fundings from 5 April through 10 April 2015 in order of size:

Prosper
Consumer marketplace lender
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $165 million Series D; $1.9 billion valuation
Total raised: $355 million
Tags: Lending, credit, peer-to-peer consumer loans, investing, Finovate charter alum
Source: Finovate

Qufenqi
Chinese marketplace with purchases made on installment plan
HQ: Bejing, China
Latest round: $100 million Series D
Total raised: $125 million
Tags: Installment lending, credit, underwriting, ecommerce, payments
Source: Crunchbase

ZenPayroll
Online payroll management
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $60 million Series B; $550 million valuation
Total raised: $86.1 million
Tags: SMB, human resources management, payroll, payments, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

DIY wealth management using ETFs
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Latest round: $30 million
Total raised: $31.9 million
Tags: Wealth management, investing, roboadviser, Toronto, Canada
Source: Crunchbase

MobiQwik

Indian mobile wallet
HQ: New Delhi, India
Latest round: $25 million Series B
Total raised: $30 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, wallet
Source: TechCrunch

Patch of Land
Crowdfunding real estate
HQ: Los Angeles, California
Latest round: $23.6 million Series A
Total raised: $24.9 million
Tags: P2P lending, peer-to-peer credit, real estate, investing, mortgage, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

PayNearMe
Risk management for P2P lending
HQ: Sunnyvale, California
Latest round: $14.7 million Series F
Total raised: $71.2 million
Tags: Payments, underbanked, cash, Finovate alum
Source: Crunchbase

AssetAvenue
Commercial real estate marketplace lender
HQ: Los Angeles, California
Latest round: $11 million Series A
Total raised: $14 million
Tags: Commercial property, mortgage, lending, credit, underwriting, investing
Source: FT Partners

RealtyShares
Real estate marketplace lender
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $10 million Series A
Total raised: $11.9 million
Tags: Lending, real estate, mortgage, credit, crowdfunding, P2P, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Dealstruck
Lending marketplace for small business
HQ: Carlsbad, California
Latest round: $8.3 million Series A
Total raised: $9.5 million
Tags: Lending, SMB, underwriting, credit, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

ApplePie Capital
Crowdfunding for the franchise industry
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $6 million Series A
Total raised: $11.8 million
Tags: P2P lending, SMB, peer-to-peer, underwriting, credit, investing
Source: FT Partners

PeerIQ
Risk management for P2P lending
HQ: New York City
Latest round: $6 million Seed
Total raised: $6 million
Tags: Marketplace lending, enterprise, peer-to-peer lending, underwriting, risk management
Source: Crunchbase

Estimize
Aggregates stock analyst forecasts
HQ: New York City
Latest round: $3 million Series B
Total raised: $5.6 million
Tags: Investing, research, analysts, Wall Street
Source: Crunchbase

Crowd2Fund
Small business marketplace lender
HQ: California
Latest round: $3 million Series A
Total raised: $3 million
Tags: P2P, SMB, lending, debt, equity, underwriting, investing
Source: The Paypers

Praesidio
Cybersecurity for the banking industry
HQ: Seattle, Washington
Latest round: $1.7 million Seed
Total raised: $1.7 million
Tags: Security, fraud protection
Source: Crunchbase

Elorus
Greek online invoicing platform
HQ: Greece
Latest round: $55,000 Seed
Total raised: $55,000
Tags: Accounting, billing, accounts receivables
Source: Crunchbase

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The New New in Financial Technology

The New New in Financial Technology
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Strategic Planning

chemical_Bank_atm

It’s about this time every year that someone tells me there just isn’t that much new going on, at least not like the “old days” (which could be last year, 2007, or 1997). Usually, they want me to change their mind, offer up some crazy examples of how the world of financial services is about to be turned on its head.

But things just don’t move that fast in the world of money, nor should they. In the past 50 years, there’s been a banking technology game-changer every 10 years or so:

  • 1960s: Credit cards move unsecured consumer lending outside the branch
  • 1970s: ATMs moved cash withdrawals out of the branch
  • 1980s: Call centers moved customer service and account queries out of the branch
  • Late 1990s: The internet moved account queries away from the telephone, mail and ATM
  • Late 2000s: Mobile moved account queries away from the (desktop) web, and check deposits out of the branch
  • Late 2010s: ????

We are still hard at work on the mobile phase which started very late in the last decade. Apple didn’t allow outside apps until mid-2008, and it wasn’t really until 2009/2010 that mobile banking came into its own. And the Great Regulation push after the Great Recession, has stifled innovation somewhat.

However, halfway through the 2010s, I’m still unsure what history will show as the groundbreaking change of the decade. Here are three contenders:

  • Wearable computing: That’s just a workaround before less cumbersome technology comes along
  • Bitcoin/blockchain/crypto technology: It may be on the chart in the next decade, but I don’t think it gains dramatic traction in the next four or five years (at least not in countries with stable fiat currencies)
  • Crowdfunded/marketplace lending: While initially commercialized by Zopa, Prosper, Lending Club in the 2005-2007 period, it really didn’t get going until after the worst of the financial crisis had run its course in 2010/2011 (and after the SEC shut down the U.S. companies for half-a-year in 2008/2009).

My prediction: All three contenders are interesting and potentially huge. But I don’t think wearables or crypto will gain enough traction in the next four or five years to be considered the game-changers of this decade. But I do believe history will show that direct investor-to-customer lending (aka P2P lending or crowdfunding) begin to take hold in the mid-to-late 2010s.

Last year, total worldwide volume in crowdfunded loans was just $11 billion. That’s just 1% the size of a Chase, BofA or Citibank. So clearly, there is a long, long way to go before we start considering crowdfunded lending to be a disruption. But I believe it will begin to take measurable deposits and loans away from banks, credit unions and credit card issuers by 2018/2019.

We are due for a new game-changer, and I doubt we will be wearing it on our wrists.

——–

Picture credit: PixGood

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Fintech Four: Santandar, Robo-Advisors, Crowdfunding, Apple Watches

Fintech Four: Santandar, Robo-Advisors, Crowdfunding, Apple Watches
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Fintech

four_blockHere are four developments making headlines last week:

1. According to Massolution, a research company that tracks crowdfunding volume, the total amount of debt and/or equity raised through so-called peer-to-peer platforms in 2014 was $12.2 billion:

  • Debt crowdfunding is up 3.2x year over year:
    2014 = $11.1 billion; 2013 = $3.4 billion
  • Equity crowdfunding up 2.8x year over year:
    2014 = $1.1 billion; 2013 = $390 million
    —–
  • Combined total up 3.2x:
    2014 = $12.2 billion; 2013 = $3.8 billion

Source: Massolution, 31 March 2014

2. Financial apps for the Apple Watch are slowly rolling out in advance of the 24 April 2015 launch. So far we have only four released but there are certain to be hundreds by year-end. We’ll definitely have a few Apple Watch demos at next month’s FinovateSpring15. According to Bank Innovations, the following financial institutions have iWatch apps available three weeks in advance of its introduction:

  • Citibank
  • Mint
  • Desjardins (Canadian Credit Union coalition)
  • Tangerine unit of ScotiaBank

Source: Bank Innovations, 31 March 2015

3. Santander goes all-in on mobile meal-pay. The amount of money flowing into the fintech sector is staggering, amounting to more than $3 billion so far this year. But investments from banks are still relatively rare; however, this week Spanish giant Santander made a bold bet on the mobile-payments space, investing $5 million into MyCheck’s Series B round. MyCheck offers a payments platform to restaurant chains such as Busaba and Prezzo in the U.K., and Blockheads and Aroma in the U.S. We are so looking forward to the uber-experience when dining out. I wonder if it will eventually put an end to discretionary tipping?

Source: TechCrunch, 29 March 2015

4. Robo-advisers are taking over the world, or at least that’s what it seems after watching hundreds of millions in venture capital (VC) money flow to the simplified investment platforms (case in point, VentureBeat is reporting that Acorns has attracted another $10 million to its service which invests your spare change). I had a great conversation this week with Herbert Moore, founder of WiseBanyan, an ETF-based asset-allocation service in the same vein as Betterment, FutureAdvisor, Wealthfront and others. But WiseBanyan has completely eliminated the asset-management fees, a bold move that is getting it plenty of attention. (My WiseBanyan beta-invite arrived as I was writing this, so am looking forward to giving it a spin).

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Fintech Fundings: 13 Companies Raise $120 Million Week Ending April 3, 2015

Fintech Fundings: 13 Companies Raise $120 Million Week Ending April 3, 2015
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

ratesetter home

The first quarter ended with a flourish of funding as 13 companies raised new funds ranging from $810,000 to $60 million. The total intake was $123 million, of which about half was the $60 million in debt raised by FinovateSpring15 presenter Yapstone. In addition, two Finovate crowd favorites were acquired this week: Toopher by SalesForce and ReadyForZero by Avant.

All told, about $770 million poured into the sector in March, a heady $9 billion run-rate (see previous weekly funding reports).

Here are the deals from 28 March through 2 April 2015 ranked by deal size:

Yapstone
Online and mobile payments
HQ: Walnut Creek, California
Latest round: $60 million (debt)
Total raised: $113.4 million ($53.4 million equity, $60 million debt)
Tags: Payments, mobile, Comerica Bank (investor/lender), FinovateSpring 2015 presenter
Source: Finovate

RateSetter
Consumer marketplace lender
HQ: London, United Kingdom
Latest round: $30 million
Total raised: $45 million
Tags: P2P, peer-to-peer lending, credit, underwriting, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Companisto
German equity crowdfunding platform for startups
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Latest round: $8 million
Total raised: $13 million
Tags: Crowdfunding, investing, SMB, startups
Source: Crunchbase

MyCheck
Automatic payment system catering to restaurant customers
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Latest round: $5 million
Total raised: $11.1 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, SMB, restaurants
Source: Crunchbase

PeerNova
Blockchain technology
HQ: San Jose, California
Latest round: $5 million
Total raised: $19 million (includes unspecified amount of debt)
Tags: Bitcoin, virtual currency, cryptocurrencies, Overstock.com (investor)
Source: FT Partners

EZBOB
Online small business lender
HQ: London, United Kingdom
Latest round: $4.5 million
Total raised: $26 million
Tags: Loans, credit, SMB, underwriting, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Lendix
French marketplace lender for business loans
HQ: Paris, France
Latest round: $3.5 million
Total raised: $3.5 million
Tags: SMB, peer-to-peer lending, underwriting, credit, investing
Source: FT Partners

Bitt
Caribbean cryptocurrency exchange
HQ: Christ Church, Barbados
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $1.5 million
Tags: Bitcoin, blockchain, virtual currency
Source: Crunchbase

Scutify
Social network for investors
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $2.5 million
Tags: Investing, information, traders, advice
Source: Crunchbase

Ittavi
Automates child-care payments with its SupportPay service
HQ: Santa Clara, California
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $2.6 million
Tags: Payments, automation, billpay, legal
Source: FT Partners

Gem
Bitcoin API provider
HQ: Venice, California
Latest round: $1.3 million
Total raised: $3.6 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, developers, bitcoin
Source: Coinbase

PayNova
Swedish online payments provider
HQ: Stockholm, Sweden
Latest round: $810,000
Total raised: $810,000
Tags: Payments, mobile, online
Source: FT Partners

PPDai
Chinese-consumer marketplace-lender
HQ: Shanghai, China
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: At least $70 million
Tags: Loans, consumer, lending, underwriting, P2P, peer-to-peer, investing
Source: Crunchbase

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Fintech Fundings: 19 Companies Raised $180 Million Week Ending March 27

Fintech Fundings: 19 Companies Raised $180 Million Week Ending March 27
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

kofax_lexmark

It was a busy week as both Barclay’s Accelerator and YC announced their newly funded companies. In total, 19 companies announced new fundings bringing in a total of $181 million. Two of the top-3 deals involved Finovate alums with Ayadsi pulling in $55 million, Lendio $20.5 million, and Advanced Merchant Payments (undisclosed).

In addition, two Finovate alums were acquired at what appears to be profitable outcomes:

  • Kofax was acquired by printing giant Lexmark for $1 billion (post)
  • Learnvest was bought by mega-insurer Northwestern Mutual for a reported $250+ million (post)

Here are the fundings from March 21 to 27, in order of deal size:

LendingHome
Platform for investing in rental real estate
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $78 million
Total raised: $98 million
Tags: Home lending, mortgage, real estate
Source: Crunchbase

Ayadsi
Data analytics
HQ: Menlo Park, California
Latest round: $55 million
Total raised: $106.3 million
Tags: Big data, analytics, machine learning, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Lendio
Online small business lender
HQ: South Jordan, Utah
Latest round: $20.5 million
Total raised: $33 million (includes $2 million in debt)
Tags: SMB, lending, underwriting, credit, loans, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Property Partner
Platform for investing in rental real estate
HQ: London, UK
Latest round: $7.7 million
Total raised: $9.8 million
Tags: Real estate investing, marketplace lending, crowdfunding, P2P
Source: Crunchbase

Dream Payments
Canadian mobile payments startup
HQ: Toronto, Canada
Latest round: $6 million
Total raised: $6 million
Tags: Mobile payments, SMB, merchants
Source: FT Partners

SpotCap
Spanish small business online lender
Latest round: $5.4 million
Total raised: $21.9 million
Tags: SMB, lending, credit lines, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

iAngels
Platform for startup capital fundraising
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Latest round: $2.25 million
Total raised: $2.25 million
Tags: Investing, raising capital, equity investing, SMB
Source: FT Partners

Sensibill
Digital receipt platform
HQ: Toronto, Canada
Latest round: $2 million
Total raised: $2 million
Tags: Purchases, document management, mobile, SMB, PFM, accounting, expense management
Source: FT Partners

Fxkart
Foreign currency dealer aggregation
HQ: Bengaluru, India
Latest round: $2 million
Total raised: $2 million
Tags: Foreign exchange, remittances
Source: FT Partners

OpenGamma
Open platform for financial services risk management
HQ: London, UK
Latest round: $1.25 million
Total raised: $28.25 million
Tags: Compliance, risk, regulations, open source
Source: FT Partners

CityFalcon
News & information for traders
HQ: London, UK
Latest round: $300,000
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Investing, information services
Source: Crunchbase

RazorPay
Stripe for India
HQ: Jaipur, India
Latest round: $120,000
Total raised: $120,000
Tags: Online payments, API, YC, acquiring, merchant, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

Stockfuse
Gaming platform to find trading & banking talent
Latest round: $118,000
Total raised: $118,000
Tags: Bitcoin, investing, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, Barclays accelerator
Source: Crunchbase

Origin (no URL)
Direct platform for issuing corporate bonds
Latest round: $118,000
Total raised: $118,000
Tags: Barclays accelerator, commercial banking, enterprise, debt
Source: Crunchbase

Safello
European bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $118,000
Total raised: $1.1 million
Tags: Bitcoin, investing, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, Barclays accelerator
Source: Crunchbase

LiquidLandscape
Data visualization for traders
Latest round: $118,000
Total raised: $118,000
Tags: Barclays accelerator, trading, analytics, big data
Source: Crunchbase

BlockTrace
Certifies ownership & transaction history of diamonds
HQ: London, UK
Latest round: $118,000
Total raised: $118,000
Tags: Blockchain, crypto, precious gems, alternative assets, Barclays accelerator
Source: Crunchbase

Self Lender
Helps consumers establish credit via small loans
HQ: Denver, Colorado
Latest round: $118,000
Total raised: $118,000
Tags: Lending, payday alternatives, underwriting, underbanked, sub-prime, credit score, TechStars
Source: Crunchbase

Advanced Merchant Payments
Technology solutions for small business lending
HQ: Hong Kong, China
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: More than $5 million
Tags: SMB, underwriting, lending, Route 66 (investor), Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

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First Look: Square’s New Cashtags for Small Business & Non-Profits

First Look: Square’s New Cashtags for Small Business & Non-Profits
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Credit/Debit Cards, Square

cashtag_wikipedia
There has been no shortage of major announcements in the payments space in the past few weeks.

  • Facebook added a “send money” option to its messaging service
  • Starbucks added pre-ordering into 650 northwestern U.S. locations in advance of a national rollout
  • PayPal acquired the platform upon which MCX is built on

And yesterday, Square launched an SMB version of its Square Cash, brilliantly named Cashtags. Any person, business, or non-profit can create a cashtag out of its name (first-come, first-served) at cash.me/$yourname. Then to pay by debit card, users click on your cashtag, enter their debit card number, postal code, CVV and amount to pay. Space for an optional message to the business is also included. First time users also have to confirm their email address or mobile phone number, before the payment is sent.

For businesses, it’s not much different than using PayPal. But the setup is slightly less intimidating Square onboards new merchants gradually, so as to not scare them off before finishing the process. When I set up my original cashtag, all they asked was my email address or mobile phone number, which was subsequently verified. It was only later when I was playing with that app, that they hit me up for my full name and last 4 digits of my social security number.

The big difference is in pricing. Square Cash business recipients pay a 1.5% transaction fee (with no per-transaction flat fee), undercutting PayPal business account fees by about 50% (both Square & PayPal have free options for non-business person to person transfers). I sent a few bucks off to Wikipedia and it worked perfectly (see screenshot above).  As it should, the debit authorization showed up right away in online banking (see below, from U.S. Bank).

cashtag debit confirmation

 

FI Opportunities & Threats:

For financial institutions not actively involved in the acquiring business, here’s a chance to build ties between your business debit card and your small-business (SMB) customers, at little cost and with no cannibalization of existing revenues. The zero-cost approach is to simply educate your customers about this new option from Square. Since cashtags are available on a first-come-first-served basis, it would make a timely subject for an email, blog post, or online article.

A more involved strategy would be to incorporate Square Cash and Cashtags directly into secure online banking. While Square has not published an API to make integration easier, access to Square Cash could be added to your dashboard, even though it would still run through the Square UI.

The main downside for at least endorsing Square, and it’s potentially a sticky issue, is that Square Cash/Cashtags is part of a larger payment and lending business being built by Square. It’s possible, but not all that likely, that at some point Square could be considered a material competitor to your core business. However, if you are not in the acquiring business, you have already opened the door for others to provide payment services to your customers. Square is probably less of a direct threat than Chase, Wells Fargo or other major merchant acquirers.

And regardless of whether or not you steer customers to Square, you can mine debit card transaction history. Personal checking accounts with numerous Square and/or PayPal transactions are likely being used by someone with recurring revenues. That’s your first clue there is a potential new business banking customer in the mix.

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Fintech Fundings: $237 Million Raised Week Ending March 20

Fintech Fundings: $237 Million Raised Week Ending March 20
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

Fundbox homepage
Fintech investors poured $237 million into the sector this week, with nine companies picking up new funding. The majority of the funds, $208 million, went to three enterprise plays: Dataminr ($130 million), FundBox ($40 million) and Collective Health ($38 million).

Here are the nine deals ranked by size (March 14 to March 20):

Dataminr
Stock market sentiment analysis
HQ: New York City
Latest round: $130 million
Total raised: More than $179.6 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, merchant, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

FundBox
Invoicing & factoring platform
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $40 million
Total raised: $57.5 million
Tags: Invoicing, accounts receivables, SMB, merchant advance, credit, factoring
Source: Crunchbase

Collective Health
Self-funded health insurance
HQ: San Mateo, California
Latest round: $38 million
Total raised: More than $38 million
Tags: Insurance, risk, underwriting
Source: FT Partners

Remitly
Online remittances
HQ: Seattle, Washington
Latest round: $12.5 million
Total raised: More than $23 million
Tags: Payments, international remittances
Source: Crunchbase

Unilend
French debt crowdfunding platform
HQ: Paris, France
Latest round: $8.6 million
Total raised: More than $8.6 million
Tags: P2P lending, marketplace lending, credit, investing, peer-to-peer
Source: Crunchbase

TableSafe
Payment system (Rail) for restaurants and bars 
HQ: Kirkland, Washington
Latest round: $5 million
Total raised: $18.96 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, merchant, SMB, Seattle
Source: Geekwire

HonestDollar
Stealthy retirement service provider
HQ: Austin, Texas
Latest round: $3 million
Total raised: $3 million
Tags: 401(k), IRA, retirement planning, employer plans, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

Coinigy
Professional tools for cyroptcurrency traders
HQ: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Latest round: $100,000
Total raised: $100,000
Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, p2p payments
Source: FT Partners

YeePay
Chinese online/offline payment system
HQ: Bejing, China
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: More than $8.4 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, merchant, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

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First Look: Starbucks Mobile Order & Pay

First Look: Starbucks Mobile Order & Pay
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Mobile Payments, Starbucks
Order Ahead Display in Starbucks store
Order Ahead Display in Starbucks store

 

Living in the epicenter of the Starbucks empire, I have followed the caffeine-dispensing giant closely since the beginning. What I would not have guessed 20 years ago, is that it would emerge as a payment pioneer. First, the company was at least five years ahead of its time with gift cards. Now, it’s doing the same with mobile payments/rewards.

And Starbucks continues to innovate. Just this week, the company widened the beta rollout of its remote ordering option, Mobile Order & Pay, to 650 stores in the Northwest. And luckily this includes my home turf in Seattle, so I had a chance to use the service on its first and second day (March 17 & 18).

Here’s my first impressions:

  • It’s no gimmick: There are real user experience and operational gains. Unlike Apple Pay, or even the Starbucks app, which arguably take longer than a simple credit card swipe, there is a material time saving for the mobile order & payment process. Once your drink order is saved (see screenshot below), it takes only about 15 seconds to order AND pay. Even if there were no queue (unlikely), that’s still a significant time savings over the usual ordering process. And the labor savings over time could be significant, especially in relatively high-wage areas, such as Seattle where the minimum wage is scheduled to move to $15 .
  • Pushes usage to stored payment credentials: There’s a reason why Starbucks added “Pay” to the name. They clearly like making the payment invisible. In the past, I’ve opted to top up my Starbucks account (via credit card) at the counter, since I was there ordering anyway. Now, I’m going to do all that in the mobile app. Again, another labor savings for Starbucks and an opportunity for issuers to make sure their card is loaded into the Starbucks app, PayPal, or in Apple Pay, since those are all reload options.
  • Drives more business: While remote ordering is seen initially as a convenience for existing users, it’s also a powerful tool to drive additional store traffic. In an unfamiliar area, you simply open the orders tab and instantly see the closest store, GPS-guided directions and an estimated time to get there, either walking or driving. A great use of map

Screenshots

The app shows 3-minute window when order will be ready along with driving directions.
The app shows 3-minute window when order will be ready along with driving directions.

 

Previous orders are saved in the app for quick reordering.
Previous orders are saved in the app for quick reordering.
Users can reload the Starbucks mobile app using Apple Pay, PayPal, or credit card
Users can reload the Starbucks mobile app using Apple Pay, PayPal, or credit card

 

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Alumni News: 16 March 2015

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Uncategorized
  • Finovate-F-Logo-thumb-100x100-4490-thumb-100x100-8209-thumb-200x200-8210-thumb-200x200-8972-thumb-200x200-8975-thumb-125x125-9061-thumb-125x125-13257-thumb-150x150-13291-thumb-150x150-13321-thumb-125x125-13415Telegraph Herald Online quotes Matthew Goldman, co-founder and CEO of Wallaby Financial on the business of credit card rewards.
  • Irish Independent: CurrencyFair seeking to raise €10 million.
  • iSignThis makes debut on Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) with market capitilization of AUD$49.5 million.
  • Personal Income reviews Motif Investing.
  • Automotive supplier, MAHLE Industries, automates remittance processing by deploying joint solutions from Hanse Orga and Top Image Systems’ eFLOW.
  • Open Bank Project launches survey that aims to identify the drivers behind the trend of API’s in banking. Take the survey here.
  • Benzynga mentions Yodlee, Mint and PayPal as disruptors in fintech.
  • Yodlee launches Small Business PartnerHub to give business owners access to a suite of tools through a secure financial portal.
  • Trulioo appoints Zac Cohen as first-ever General Manager.
  • Localiza selects Kony to power mobile applications.
  • AcceptEmail and Twikey integrate platforms to connect creditors, senders of direct debit mandates and recipients.
  • Taulia plans to go public as early as next year and expects a valuation of at least $1 billion.
  • Actiance announces Socialite 2015, its latest release that allows organizations to manage, market, and sell through social media channels while remaining compliant.

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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Fintech Fundings: $300 Million Raised Week Ending Mar 13

Fintech Fundings: $300 Million Raised Week Ending Mar 13
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

money_scrabble

The number of fundings has slowed, but the flow of dollars is still massive, thanks to a pair of $100+ million rounds to stealth bitcoin startup 21 Inc ($116 million) and recurring billing-solution provider Zuora ($115 million).

Also of note:

  • The rare insurance play and Finovate alum, CoverHound, added $14 million this week
  • Recently public Finovate alum Q2 Holdings raised $35 million in new capital in a $116 million offering (the remainder went to existing shareholders)

In total, the 11 companies raised $303 million. In order of deal size (from 7 through 13 Mar 2015):

21 Inc
Stealth bitcoin startup
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $116 million
Total raised: $121 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, virtual currency, blockchain
Source: Crunchbase

Zuora
Cloud-based subscription-billing services
HQ: Foster City, California
Latest round: $115 million
Total raised: $$242.5 million
Tags: Billing, payments, subscription, invoicing
Source: Crunchbase

Q2 Holdings
Digital banking solution-provider (Q2Ebanking)
HQ: Austin, Texas
Latest round: $34.6 million (new capital in $116 million follow-on public offering)
Total raised: $165 million
Tags: Online banking, mobile
Source: Finovate

Coverhound
Online car-insurance-shopping site
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $14 million
Total raised: $23.4 million
Tags: Insurance, lead generation, price comparison, automobiles
Source: Finovate

London-based P2P lending marketplace
HQ: London, United Kingdom
Latest round: $7.7 million
Total raised: $14.8 million
Tags: P2P lending, peer-to-peer, credit, loans, automobile lending, Australia
Source: P2P-Banking

ChargeBee
Cloud-based, recurring billing solutions
HQ: Walnut, California
Latest round: $5 million
Total raised: $6.1 million
Tags: SMB, accounting, billing, invoicing, billpay, payments
Source: FT Partners

Big data & analytics for financial institutions
HQ: Skolkovo, Russia
Latest round: $3 million
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Banking enterprise software, analytics, big data
Source: VentureBeat

Profile Financial Solutions

UK-based financial advisory
HQ: Preston, United Kingdom
Latest round: $2 million
Total raised: $2 million
Tags: Wealth management, investing, advisers, financial planning
Source: Crunchbase

Marketplace lending services
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $2.8 million
Total raised: $2.8 million
Tags: Credit, lending, peer-to-peer, P2P, investing
Source: Xconomy

Webgility

Accounting automation software
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $2.5 million
Total raised: $2.5 million
Source: Crunchbase

ShapeShift

Swiss-based bitcoin & alt-coin exchange
HQ: Switzerland
Latest round: $525,000
Total raised: Unknown
Source: Coinbase

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Fintech Fundings: 10 Companies Raise $50 Million Week Ending March 5

Fintech Fundings: 10 Companies Raise $50 Million Week Ending March 5
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

pig_in_sunglasses

It had to happen, fintech finally had a relatively quiet week. While 10 companies received new money, just two deals reached eight figures: Finovate alum Linkable Networks ($11.7 million) and cloud payroll/HR provider Namely (which is not exactly a pure fintech play). In total, $50 million was invested into the sector this week.

Here are the deals by size from 28 Feb through 5 Mar 2015:

Linkable Networks
Card-linked rewards and rewards platform
HQ: Boston, Massachusetts
Latest round: $11.7 million
Total raised: $40.4 million
Tags: Advertising, rewards, merchant-funded, offers, value adds, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Namely
Cloud payroll, benefits, HR platform
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $11 million
Total raised: $32.8 million
Tags: Outsourced, SMB, payments, payroll
Source: Crunchbase
Simplesurance
Simple solution for easily purchasing product insurance
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Latest round: $8 million
Total raised: $8 million
Tags: Insurance, payments
Source: Crunchbase
BookKeeping Express
High-tech and high-touch SMB bookkeeping
HQ: Virginia
Latest round: $5.8 million
Total raised: $5.8 million
Tags: SMB, accounting, financial management, invoicing, billpay
Source: Crunchbase
MoBeam
Digital wallet
HQ: Virginia
Latest round: $5.2 million
Total raised: $14.4 million
Tags: Payments, mobile
Source: Crunchbase
Bondora
Peer-to-peer lending marketplace
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Latest round: $5 million
Total raised: $5 million
Tags: Lending, credit, investing, crowdfunding, P2P
Source: FT PartnersCrowdCredit
Japanese debt crowdfunding marketplace
HQ: Tokyo, Japan
Latest round: $1.7 million
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Lending, credit, investings, P2P lending
Source: FT PartnersMomoe Technologies
Mobile payments
HQ: Bengaluru, India
Latest round: $1.2 million
Total raised: $1.2 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, merchants, acquiring, point-of-sale
Source: Crunchbase
Buckley & Brown
High-tech and high-touch SMB bookkeeping
HQ: Sydney, Australia
Latest round: $200,000
Total raised: $200,000
Tags: SMB, accounting, financial management, invoicing, billpay
Source: Crunchbase
Compare88
Southeast Asian financial services comparison sites: cekaja.com and eCompareMo.com
HQ: Philippines
Latest round: Undisclosed (series A)
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Personal finance advice, lead generation, comparison
Source: Crunchbase

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Fintech Fundings: 11 Companies Raise $230 Million Week Ended Feb. 27

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

pig_in_sunglasses

Eleven companies raised $232 million this week, with the all but one (disclosed) round coming in at $2 million or more. Finovate alums accounted for more than half the total with Xero taking in $111 million and SecureKey $29 million.

The deals from Feb 20 to 27 by size:

Xero
Cloud accounting
HQ: Wellington, New Zealand (public)
Latest round: $111 million
Total raised: $355 million
Tags: SMB, accounts receivable, payable, bookkeeping, financial management, invoicing, Finovate & FinDEVR alums
Source: Finovate

DriverUp
Marketplace lender for automobile financing
HQ: Dallas, Texas
Latest round: $50 million
Total raised: $50 million
Tags: Auto lending, underwriting, P2P, investing, installment credit, secured credit, title lending, Sierra Auto Finance (parent)
Source: Crunchbase

nCino
Cloud-based banking solutions
HQ: Wilmington, North Carolina
Latest round: $29 million
Total raised: $49 million
Tags: Banking, operating system, regulatory compliance
Source: Crunchbase

SecureKey
Payment security & authentication
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Latest round: $19 million
Total raised: $70.5 million
Tags: Security, payments, identity, digital, mobile, hardware, Finovate alum
Source: Crunchbase

Visio Financial Services
Online residential real estate loans for investors
HQ: Austin, Texas
Latest round: $6.7 million
Total raised: $13.2 million (includes $4.7 million debt)
Tags: Mortgage, investing, real estate
Source: Crunchbase

Trov
Values household goods for insurance purposes
HQ: Danville, California
Latest round: $6.5 million
Total raised: $13.3 million
Source: Pando

easySYS
SMB cloud-based accounting
HQ: Zurich, Switzerland
Latest round: $4.8 million
Total raised: $4.8 million
Tags: SMB, accounting, invoicing, financial management
Source: Crunchbase

Linked Finance
Person-to-person lending to SMBs
HQ: Dublin, Ireland
Latest round: $2.8 million
Total raised: $2.8 million
Tags: SMB, debt crowdfunding, lending, underwriting, P2P, peer-to-peer, loans
Source: Crunchbase

FundThrough

Online lending platform for Canadian SMBs
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Latest round: $2.2 million
Total raised: $2.2 million
Tags: SMB, lending, underwriting, credit, loans, credit lines
Source: FT Partners

CloudMargin
Collateral and risk management platform
HQ: London, UK
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Investing, enterprise, analytics
Source: FT Partners

Squirrel
Financial wellness as an employee benefit
HQ: London, UK
Latest round: $565,000
Total raised: $1.3 million
Tags: Investing, enterprise, analytics, money management, PFM
Source: Crunchbase

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