Author: Jim Bruene

Fintech Fundings: 12 Companies Raise $240 million Week Ending Feb 20

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

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The number of deals this week (12) didn’t set any records. But there were some doozies including three greater than $30 million, two of which are Finovate alums: Betterment ($60 mil) and Pindrop Security ($35 mil).

The total amount raised was $236 million.

There was one major exit this week: Finovate alum LoopPay was purchased by Samsung, presumably to beef up its handset in competition with Apple Pay.

Following are deals by size announced between Feb 14 thru 20: 

WorldRemit
Global remittances
Latest round: $100 million
Total raised: $147.7 million
Tags: Funds transfer, money transfer, mobile, fx, London, UK
Source: Crunchbase

Betterment
Simplified investing platform for consumers
Latest round: $60 million
Total raised: $105 million
Tags: Consumer, investing, investment management, ETF, robo-advisor, Personal finance, Brooklyn, New York, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Pindrop Security
Call center anti-fraud technology
Latest round: $35 million
Total raised: $42 million
Tags: Security, authentication, anti-fraud, call center, telephone, Atlanta, Georgia, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Itz Cash
Prepaid card in India
Latest round: $16 million
Total raised: $51 million
Tags: Prepaid, debit card, India
Source: FT Partners

InDinero
Online accounting for small businesses
Latest round: $7 million
Total raised: $8.2 million
Tags: SMB, accounting, payroll, tax, receivables, invoicing, San Francisco, California
Source: Crunchbase

Mobeewave
Mobile point-of-sale technology
Latest round: $6.5 million
Total raised: $6.5 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, POS, merchants, acquiring, EMV, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Source: Crunchbase

Argon Credit
Personal loans
Latest round: $3 million
Total raised: $5.1 million
Tags: Consumer, credit, lending, underwriting, loans, Chicago, Illinois
Source: Crunchbase

Credible
Refinancing student loans
Latest round: $2.7 million
Total raised: $3.9 million
Tags: Consumer direct, student loans, credit, underwriting, San Francisco, California
Source: Crunchbase

Prism
Mobile bill payment
Latest round: $2.0 million
Total raised: $3.5 million
Tags: Consumer, billpay, payments, bills, SMB, Seattle, Washington
Source: GeekWire, Crunchbase

Ledger
Hardware bitcoin wallet
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $1.5 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, security, bitcoin, USB drive, France
Source: Coinbase

Sindeo
Mortgage advisor for consumers
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $6.5 million
Tags: Consumer, personal finance, mortgage, refi, advice, lead gen, San Francisco, California
Source: Crunchbase

CyndX
Equity crowdfunding platform
Latest round: $500,000
Total raised: $500,000
Tags: Crowdfunding, investing, SMB, lending, New York City
Source: Crunchbase

——–

Acquisition

LoopPay
Contactless mobile payments
Acquirer: Samsung
Purchase price: Unknown
Total raised: $13 million
Tags: Consumer, credit/debit cards, mobile payments, mPay, Visa (investor), Woburn, Massachusetts, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

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Transaction Alerts Need to Get Smarter

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Alerts & Messaging, Email Samples, Security & Privacy, Service

fraud word cloud.jpgMy inbox is far from normal. With 25 active financial accounts, all set to maximum notifications, I am drowning in email alerts, push notifications and other helpful communications. But who isn’t overloaded with missives from social media, news feeds, spambots and whatever else is competing for your attention.

Banks need to help users cut down on the noise, by offering smart alerts that don’t bog you down in trivial details. Not to pick on anyone in particular, because all my providers do pretty much the same thing (with the notable exception of BillGuard), but this alert from Bank of America today (see below) is a good example of info overload.
Yes, I’m sure I asked the bank to notify me of any card-not-present transactions. Given the amount of times my card number has been breached in the past five years, it’s a good early warning. But really, do you think it’s necessary to tell me for the 89th consecutive month that you paid my $8.75 Netflix monthly fee? Really, I just want to be informed if it were to suddenly go up or be repeated.
BofA would probably want my permission to stop sending me this monthly alert. So how about a little button that says, “Don’t tell me about this charge if it’s the same next month” or something along those lines. And this should also be an option in the bank’s alert dashboard: “Please don’t alert me to repetitive monthly fees, unless they change.”

Thanks for listening.

——-
Bank of America email alert (18 Feb 2015)
bofa_alert.jpg
——-
Source: Fraud artwork above from NCUA’s MyCreditUnion

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Fintech Fundings: 13 Companies Raise $700 Million Week Ending Feb 13

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

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It was another blockbuster week with 13 companies raising a total of $695 million. However, $500 million of that was not a pure fintech play, as China’s Ant Financial (which runs Alipay) took at 25% stake in Indian mobile payments and ecommerce hub, One97, which runs Paytm. Even without that gargantuan deal, there was still $200 million invested into the sector, with $125 million of that (63%) put into the lending sector and $61 million (31%) earmarked for billing and payments.

The total included one Finovate alum, AdviceGames ($570,000), which demoed at last week’s FinovateEurope (demo videos will be available at Finovate.com by the end of the month).

Here are deals by size announced between 7 Feb and 13 Feb 2015 (in order of magnitude):

One97
Indian mobile payments and commerce hub
Latest round: $500 million
Total raised: $534 million
Tags: Paytm (brand), mobile payments, bill payment, ecommerce, Ant Financial/Alipay (investor), Noida, India
Source: FT Partners

Oportun (formerly Progreso Financiero)
Online lender
Latest round: $90 million
Total raised: $213 million ($30 million is debt)
Tags: Credit, lending, unsecured, underbanked, Menlo Park, California
Source: Crunchbase

Bill.com
SMB invoicing and payments platform
Latest round: $50 million
Total raised: $122.6 million
Tags: Billing, invoicing, accounts payables, bill payment, SMB, Palo Alto, California, Finovate alum
Source: Crunchbase

Borro
Online loans secured by luxury assets
Latest round: $19 million
Total raised: $171.6 million
Tags: Secured lending, underwriting, credit, pawn, London, UK
Source: Crunchbase

CapitalFloat
Online lender to SMBs in India
Latest round: $13 million
Total raised: $16 million
Tags: Lending, credit, underwriting, SMB, India
Source: Crunchbase

MineralTree
SMB billpay and invoicing tools
Latest round: $11.1 million
Total raised: $18.9 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, SMB, accounts receivables, bill payment, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Source: Crunchbase

ComparaGuru
Financial price comparison site
Latest round: $4 million
Total raised: $4 million
Tags: Lead generation, personal finance, price comparison, Mexico City
Source: FT Partners

Bento
Small banking business platform
Latest round: $2.5 million
Total raised: $2.5 million
Tags: Crowdfunding, SMB, San Francisco, California
Source: Crunchbase

InvestiQuant (formerly Master the Gap)
Specialized investing platform
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $1.5 million
Tags: Investing, fx, ETF, indices, arbitrage, quants, Morrisville, North Carolina
Source: Crunchbase

BitPesa
Nigerian digital currency exchange
Latest round: $1.1 million
Total raised: $1.7 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, payments, bitcoin, remittances, Nairobi, Nigeria
Source: Crunchbase

Money360
Online marketplace for commercial real estate loans
Latest round: $1 million (debt)
Total raised: $3 million ($1 million is debt)
Tags: Crowdfunding, real estate, commercial lending, P2P, investing, Ladera Ranch, California
Source: Crunchbase

CoAssets
Real estate crowdfunding platform
Latest round: $800,000
Total raised: $800,000
Tags: Crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, credit, P2P, SMB, Singapore
Source: Crunchbase

AdviceGames
Financial gamification software
Latest round: $570,000
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Gamification, personal finance, youth banking, Hilversum, Netherlands, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

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Fintech Fundings: $530 Million Raised First Week of February

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

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It was a big week for marketplace lenders with SoFi landing $200 million; CommonBond, $150 million (an undisclosed portion of that was commitment to purchase loans); Fundera, $12 million (debt). In addition, Chinese online lender U51 pulled in $50 million.
In total, 13 companies—including Finovate alum, SimplyTapp‘s $2.5 million—raised $533 million, which includes at least $12 million in debt.
Here are the deals from 31 January to 6 Feb 2015, in order of size:
Marketplace for student loan refinancing and other loans
Latest round: $200 million
Total raised: $766 million; $365 million equity, $401 million debt
Tags: lending, student loan, personal loan, underwriting, P2P, peer-to-peer, San Francisco, California
Source: Crunchbase
Student loan marketplace lender
Latest round: $150 million; an undisclosed portion of the round is a guarantee to fund loans originated on the platform
Total raised: $253.5 million
Tags: lending, education, student loan, refinance, investing, P2P, person-to-person, New York City
Source: Crunchbase
Indian mobile bill-pay and commerce platform 
Latest round: $80 million
Total raised: $116.5 million
Tags: mobile, bill payment, billing, rewards, offers, coupons, prepaid, wireless, topup, Mumbai, India
Source: FT Partners
Chinese alternative lender
Latest round: $50 million
Total raised: $50 million
Tags: lending, personal loans, underwriting, credit, China
Source: FT Partners
Mobile banking and payments platform for Latin America
Latest round: $19 million
Total raised: $39 million
Tags: mobile, online banking, payments, Miami, Florida
Source: Crunchbase
Archer (a.k.a. Market Street Advisors)
Investment management technology 
Latest round: $12.5 million
Total raised: $12.5 million
Tags: investing, enterprise, Edison, New Jersey
Source: FT Partners
Loan marketplace for small business loans
Latest round: $12 million (debt)
Total raised: $15.3 million; $3.3 million equity, $12 million debt
Tags: lending, small business, SMB, investing, debt crowdfunding, loans, New York City
Source: Crunchbase
Mobile receipt capture app
Latest round: $2.6 million
Total raised: $3.1 million
Tags: expense management, PFM, receipts, SMB, Barcelona, Spain
Source: Crunchbase
Cloud-based mobile payments
Latest round: $2.5 million
Total raised: $10.1 million
Tags: payments, mobile, SMB, POS, Austin, Texas, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Digital currency
Latest round: $2.3 million
Total raised: $2.3 million
Tags: cryptocurrency, payments, bitcoin, Paris, France
Source: FT Partners
Bitcoin security and authentication
Latest round: $850,000
Total raised: $950,000
Tags: security, bitcoin, authentication, cryptocurrency, Rochester, New York
Source: Crunchbase
ziftrCOIN digital currency
Latest round: $850,000
Total raised: $850,000
Tags: cyrptocurrency, digital currency, bitcoin, ecommerce, Milford, New Hampshire
Source: Crunchbase
Indian mobile wallet
Latest round: $240,000
Total raised: $240,000
Tags: mobile, payments, Bengaluru, India
Source: Crunchbase

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Fintech Accounted for 10% of Companies Funded Online via Angel List in 2014

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

angellist-logo.pngIt’s no secret that the fintech sector is hot. We have tracked $6 billion in new investments during the past 6 months alone (see note 1). Most of those dollars are from big VC deals, such as last week’s $58 million to Transferwise and $30 million to Ripple Labs.

But what about smaller fintech seed rounds? While it’s hard to get solid data across all industries, online fundraising through Angel List’s platform provides a few clues.
In 2014, Angel List reported that 243 startups across all tech sectors raised $104 million through its online platform. While the size of the deals aren’t known, we can see that 23 of the companies fit into a broad definition of “financial technology.” That’s just under 10% of the startups funded through Angel List’s new online funding option.
Here’s a listing of the startups funded, including close date of the angel round:
Q1, 2014
—-
RealCrowd (19 Feb)
LedgerX (22 Feb)
Estimize (14 March)
Q2, 2014
—-
Equidate (24 April)
Abacus (30 April)
PayByGroup (13 May)
RealtyShares (21 May)
ZipZap (22 May)
Q3, 2014
—-
True Link Financial (22 July)
Lenda (22 Aug)
MakeLeaps (26 Aug)
Splitwise (11 Sep)
Blockstream (18 Sep)
Cleartax (18 Sep)
OneName (26 Sep)
Q4, 2014
—-
Coinsetter (1 Oct)
Koinfy (2 Oct)
ChartIQ (4 Nov)
Neighbor.ly (4 Dec)
Elsen (22 Dec)
ExpenseBot (26 Dec)
Close date unknown
—————————
OpenDoor
Vouch Financial
——
Note:
1. Includes more than $1 billion raised in IPOs from Lending Club, OnDeck and Yodlee.

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Fintech Fundings: 16 Companies Raise $150 Million Last Week of January

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

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January went out with a bang, with another $150 million invested into 16 fintech companies. Finovate alums secured two-thirds of the cash with four companies taking in $90 million: Transferwise ($58 million), Ripple Labs ($30 million), Bolstr ($1.7 million) and Spreedly ($150,000).

In January, a total of $772 million was raised, $565 million in equity and $200 million in debt. That’s an annual run rate of more than $9 billion, or about $7 billion only considering the equity investments. 
The deals from Jan 24 through Jan 30 in order of size:

International money transfers
Latest round: $58 million
Total raised: $90.4 million
Tags: Remittance, international transfers, FX, payments, SMB, London, UK, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Open source payment network 
Latest round: $30 million
Total raised: $39 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, virtual payments, San Francisco, California, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Digital lender
Latest round: $17 million
Total raised: $32 million
Tags: Credit, lending, personal loans, student loans, refi, San Francisco, California 
Source: Crunchbase
Builds trust between business & trading partners
Latest round: $12.5 million
Total raised: $12.5 million
Tags: B2B, SMB, enterprise, payments, identification, security, McLean, Virginia 
Source: Crunchbase
High-tech and high-touch bookkeeping services
Latest round: $7.0 million
Total raised: $10 million
Tags: Accounting, SMB, bookkeeping, Techstars, Vancouver, Canada
Source: Crunchbase
Solutions to automate accounts payables
Latest round: $6.0 million
Total raised: $10.2 million
Tags: Invoicing, billing, SMB, B2B, accounts payables, billpay, payments, Beaverton, Oregon
Source: Crunchbase
Helping consumers manage health care savings accounts 
Latest round: $5.1 million
Total raised: $5.1 million
Tags: Healthcare, payments, HSA, FSA, health insurance, Hunt Valley, Maryland 
Source: Crunchbase

Personal financial mangagement
Latest round: $3.7 million
Total raised: $7.8 million
Tags: Personal finance, money management, consumer, aggregation, PFM, online, mobile banking, Edinburg, Scotland, UK
Source: Crunchbase
Remittances that directly pay for goods & services
Latest round: $2.8 million
Total raised: $3.6 million
Tags: Remittances, payments, P2P transfers, Africa, Paris, France
Source: Crunchbase
Blockchain technology
Latest round: $2.5 million
Total raised: $2.5 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, payments, blockchain, bitcoin
Source: Crunchbase
Crowdlending for small businesses
Latest round: $1.7 million
Total raised: $1.7 million
Tags: Lending, underwriting, SMB, investing, Carthage, Illinois, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Japanese Bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $1.1 million
Total raised: $2.9 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, payments, Japan
Source: Crunchbase
Social lending platform
Latest round: $1.0 million
Total raised: $1.0 million
Tags: Lending, underwriting, social networks, P2P, peer-to-peer, New York City
Source: Crunchbase
Credit card with highly customizable controls
Latest round: $1.0 million
Total raised: $1.0 million
Tags: Credit, debit cards, customization, YC, security 
Source: Crunchbase
Netherlands Bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $570,000
Total raised: $570,000
Tags: Cryptocurrency, payments, Netherlands
Source: Coindesk
Secure card tokenization technology
Latest round: $150,000
Total raised: $2.2 million
Tags: Credit/debit cards, security, payments, Durham, North Carolina
Source: Crunchbase

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Fintech Fundings: 13 Companies Raise Nearly $400 Million This Week

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

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The new year finally blasted off this week with nearly $400 million in new money headed to the hot sector ($194 million equity, $200 million debt). The majority of the cash ($322 million or 82%) went to Finovate alums including Kreditech ($200 million), Coinbase ($75 million including money from two retail banks, USAA and BBVA), Motif Investing ($40 million from China), True Link ($3.4 million), and Kofax ($1.9 million). In addition, one Finovate alum, prepaid card white-label specialist Akimbo was acquired by Payment Data Systems.
This brings total funding for the month to more than $630 million ($430 million equity, $200 million debt), a healthy $10 billion annual run rate (see recaps from 1st week, 2nd week of January). 
The deals from Jan 17-23 in order of size: 
Alternative banking & lending products 
Latest round: $200 million (debt)
Total raised: $263 million (includes $215 mil debt)
Tags: Mobile, lending, underwriting, online banking, Hamburg, Germany, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Cryptocurrency wallet and exchange
Latest round: $75 million
Total raised: $106.7 million
Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, Investors: USAA, BBVA, NYSE, San Francisco, California, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Giftcard marketplace for buying and selling
Latest round: $56 million
Total raised: $82.2 million
Tags: Prepaid, gift card, merchant, POS, fee income, Chicago, Illinois
Source: Crunchbase
Automated investment advice for consumers
Latest round: $40 million
Total raised: $126 million
Tags: Consumer, investing, robo-advisor, wealth management, ETFs, Renren (investor), San Mateo, California, Finovate Best of Show alum
Source: Finovate
Mobile-first payments platform
Latest round: $9.1 million
Total raised: $14.1 million
Tags: Payments, apps, mobile, SMB, London, UK
Source: FT Partners
Italian payment network
Latest round: $6.4 million
Total raised: $6.4 million
Tags: Mobile payments, micropayments, P2P, peer-to-peer, Milan, Italy
Source: Crunchbase
Prepaid card with advanced controls for seniors
Latest round: $3.4 million
Total raised: $3.4 million
Tags: Prepaid card, credit, debit, controls, security, seniors, YC, California
Source: Finovate
Document and image capture technology
Latest round: $1.9 million
Total raised: $11.5 million (public KOFX)
Tags: Remote capture, enterprise, mobile, Irvine, California
Source: Crunchbase
Social trading network
Latest round: $1.0 million
Total raised: $1.0 million
Tags: Investing, consumer, social networks, Mountain View, California
Source: Crunchbase
Securities market technology
Latest round: $800,000
Total raised: $800,000
Tags: Trading, investment management, enterprise, Bangkok, Thailand
Source: Crunchbase
Secure mobile payments with your signature
Latest round: $700,000
Total raised: $700,000
Tags: Security, mobile payments, Antwerp, Belgium
Source: Crunchbase
Online and mobile payments
Latest round: $500,000
Total funding: $9.0 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, Palo Alto, California
Source: FT Partners
Canadian provider of blockchain-powered smart contracts
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, legal, identity, security, Vancouver, Canada
Source: FT Partners
—————
Exits
White-label prepaid card solutions
Price: $3 million
Buyer: Payment Data Systems
Tags: Prepaid card, gift card, debit, San Antonio, Texas, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

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FinTech Fundings: 15 Companies Raised $150 Million Second Week of January 2015

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding
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As expected, capital flow heated up as the new year truly got underway this week. Globally, 15 fintech companies attracted $157 million in new capital (see note below). More than half the total ($84 million) went to Finovate alums App Annie ($55 million), PeerTransfer ($22 million) and Global Debt Registry ($7 million).
There was also an important exit in the space, with Capital One buying up yet another promising personal finance startup, Level, the creator of mobile PFM LevelMoney.
—–
Note: App Annie would not be considered “fintech” by most definitions. But the fact that it targets financial services, among other verticals, and has appeared at Finovate, qualifies it for our tracking. Excluding App Annie, the fintech sector pulled in $102 million this week.
 
 
Fundings (Jan 9 to 16, 2015 in order of size)
 
Business intelligence for mobile applications 
Latest round: $55 million
Total raised: $94 million
Tags: Mobile, apps, San Francisco, California, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Aixuidai

Microfinance for Chinese college students to buy goods
Latest round: $40 million
Total raised: $40 million
Tags: Ecommerce, lending, loans, student segment, Rayleigh, China
Source: TechInAsia
Remittance processing for international student tuition
Latest round: $22 million
Total raised: $42.3 million
Tags: Payments, funds transfer, student market, remittance processing, Boston, Massachusetts, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Revenue optimization systems for financial institutions
Latest round: $15 million
Total raised: $18.9 million
Tags: Business intelligence, metrics, Tel Aviv, Israel
Source: Crunchbase
Personal lending marketplace
Latest round: $7.7 million
Total raised: $7.7 million
Tags: Person-to-person loans, P2P, credit, investing, marketplace, Trade Me (investor), Aukland, New Zealand
Source: FT Partners
Clearinghouse for charged-off consumer debt obligations 
Latest round: $7 million
Total raised: $7 million
Tags: Debt, collections, lending, Wilmington, Delaware, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Amazon web services for the blockchain
Latest round: $3.1 million
Total raised: $3.1 million
Tags: Bitcoin, cloud services, cryptocurrency, blockchain, San Mateo, California
Source: Crunchbase
Indonesian giftcard startup
Latest round: $2 million
Total raised: $2 million
Tags: prepaid cards, debit, gift card, Indonesia
Source: Crunchbase
Payment and marketing services
Latest round: $2 million
Total raised: $2 million
Tags: Payments, marketing, SMB, Bucharest, Romania
Source: FT Partners
Unbiased financial advise as an employee benefit
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $1.5 million
Tags: Personal finance management, PFM, advise, employee benefits, Charleston, South Carolina
Source: Crunchbase
Investor services platform
Latest round: $1.1 million
Total raised: $1.1 million
Tags: Hedge fund, mutual fund, compliance, back-office, enterprise, New York City
Source: Crunchbase
mSignia bitcoin wallet
Latest round: $500,000
Total raised: $500,000
Tags: Cyrptocurrency, bitcoin, wallet, security, San Diego, California
Source: FT Partners
Parallel computing for financial calculations
Latest round: $400,000
Total raised: $400,000
Tags: Investing, trading, infrastructure, Boston, Massachusetts
Source: Crunchbase
Payment processor for the clinical trials industry
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: $1.5+ million
Tags: Health care, payments, acquirer, merchant, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
Source: FT Partners
Payment security technology
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Security, payments, Allen, Texas
Source: FT Partners
__________________
Exits
LevelMoney mobile personal financial management 
Acquirer: Capital One
Terms: Undisclosed
Funds raised: $5 million
Tags: PFM, money management, mobile app, personal finance
Source: The Verge
Health record and financial solutions for smaller health care provider
Acquirer: Athenahealth
Terms: Undisclosed
Funds raised: Unknown
Tags: Healthcare, payments,
Source: Fortune

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Fintech Fundings: 14 Companies Raise $80 Million First Week of 2015

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding
The new year started strong with $81 million raised across 14 fintech companies. It was a very international week with all but $6 million of the total headed outside the United States. The group included soon-to-be-Finovate-alum, iSignThis, an Australian payment security startup appearing at FinovateEurope next month.
Here are the deals from Jan 1 though Jan 8 by size:
Mobile payments for the unbanked
Latest round: $30 million
Total raised: $30 million
Tags: Underbanked, unbanked, mobile, payments, Singapore
Source: Crunchbase
Lending marketplace in Hong Kong
Latest round: $20 million
Total raised: $20 million
Tags: Peer-to-peer lending, P2P, credit, underwriting, investing, Hong Kong, China
Source: Crunchbase
Indian mobile payments startup
Latest round: $10 million
Total raised: $10 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, ecommerce, Secunderabad, India
Source: Crunchbase
UK-based mortgage lender
Latest round: $7.8 million
Total raised: $8.0 million
Tags: Mortgage, lending, underwriting, Liverpool, UK
Source: FT Partners
Lending marketplace in India
Latest round: $4 million
Total raised: $4 million
Tags: Peer-to-peer lending, P2P, credit, underwriting, investing, Gurgaon, India
Source: Crunchbase
iSignThis

Payment security technology
Latest round: $3.1 million
Total raised: $3.1 million
Tags: Security, mobile, payments, Collingwood, Australia
Source: Paypers
Alternative consumer lender
Latest round: $3 million
Total raised: $3 million
Tags: Lending, credit, underwriting, social, San Francisco, California
Source: FT Partners
Automatically manage your bank account balance
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $1.5 million
Tags: Online banking, PFM, money management, personal finance, Oakland, California
Source: Crunchbase
IFAN Financial (aka iPin Technologies)
Online debit payments 
Latest round: $1.0 million
Total raised: $1.0 million
Tags: Payments, debit card, mobile, San Diego, California
Source: FT Partners
LibertyX (previously Liberty Teller)
Enables Bitcoin purchases offline 
Latest round: $400,000
Total raised: $400,000
Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, payments, SMB, point-of-sale, POS, Boston, Massachusetts
Source: Crunchbase
 
Socially responsible payments platform
Latest round: $125,000
Total raised: $125,000
Tags: Payments, non-profit fundraising, Edina, Missouri
Source: Crunchbase
Online payment platform for subscriptions
Latest round: $47,000
Total raised: $47,000
Tags: Invoicing, bill payment, SMB, accounting, payments, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Source: Crunchbase
Geolocation services for payments industry
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: $800,000+
Tags: Mobile, security, local, notifications, customer service, Melbourne, Australia
Source: Crunchbase
Digital equity shares management
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: $1.8+ million
Tags: Investing, equity, stock, cap table management, Mountain View, California
Source: Crunchbase

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Capital One’s Well-Designed "Suspicious Activity" Email Alert

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Capital One, Email Samples, Security & Privacy

image I’ve used Capital One’s credit card fairly actively for the past 4 or 5 years. And they’ve rarely, if ever, declined a charge (and there has never been any fraud on the card). The last fraud message I can find in my email was in December 2011 (see last screenshot). But apparently our travel combined with extra holiday spending finally caused the banks’ fraud system to flag our account, rejecting a $100+ Target purchase a few days after Christmas.

I have Capital One’s mobile wallet installed which pushes near-real-time notifications to the lock screen (iOS). I did receive a notice I’d been declined, but no word on why or what to do about it. But luckily the issuer’s email system handled that task admirably. Within a few hours I received an excellent email detailing the five most recent charges, and providing a simple "all clear" button that was clickable within the email, a major improvement over issuers who merely tell you there is suspicious activity and make you call or login to find out the details.

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Analysis
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This is the best suspicious activity notice I’ve ever received. Typically, I receive message similar to Capital One’s "old" version imploring me to call the bank (see last screenshot). However, there is still room for improvement, especially in the reporting process.

As much as the fraud folks desire a concrete yes/no answer, the real world is often full of gray areas. In this case, I was sure that I’d make all these transactions, but often that’s not the case. Sometimes you don’t recognize a merchant or your spouse may have made the charge or you simply don’t recognize something you may have authorized a while ago. There needs to be a third option here, "I’m not sure." Furthermore, when faced with a list, users should be able to address each transaction individually.

In my case, clearly the Target purchase triggered the red flag. It was a large amount, I rarely shop there, and I’d just flown 2,000 miles from my previous transaction the day before. In reality, the other transactions were pretty meaningless to the fraud detection algorithm. Even if I couldn’t remember one of the previous four routine transactions, Capital One wouldn’t have wanted to shut my account down. They’d already lost a few dollars on the declined Target transaction, there was no reason to compound that loss with costly calls to customer service to vet the other transactions.

Finally, I’m not a fan of the web pages presented after clicking on the "Everything’s OK" or "There’s an issue" button (see second and third screenshots). The bank gets points for thanking me for my help, but they forget to apologize for the inconvenience of declining my purchase at Target. It’s pretty embarrassing to be standing at the checkout with a basket full of goods while everyone thinks you are a deadbeat.

The webpage responses don’t go very far it telling me what to do next. Even if I’d given the all clear, I still have questions. Which of the transactions, if any, were declined? Will the declined transaction go through now that I’ve said it’s OK? And how can I avoid this in the future.

And if I did have issues with one or more of the transactions, the only option is to call the bank, and there isn’t even a number supplied. Aren’t there self-service options at this point that could save everyone some time?

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Suspicious activity email from Capital One (28 Dec 2014)

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Webpage after clicking "Everything’s OK" above

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Webpage after clicking "There’s an issue" above

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Previous Capital One Fraud Alert (16 Dec 2011)

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FinTech Fundings: 3 Companies Raise $29 Million the Last Week of 2014

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Uncategorized

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During the short week (three business days) closing out the year, just three fundings were announced, totaling about $30 million. The majority ($24 million) went to Finovate alum, Alkami Technology, to fuel growth of its digital banking platform offering.
Here are the three deals announced between 27 Dec and 31 Dec 2014: 

Alkami Technology
Digital banking technology
Latest round: $23.7 million
Total raised: $50 million
Tags: Online banking, mobile banking, Plano, Texas, Finovate alum
Source:FT Partners

PayClip (aka Clip)
Mexican payment company enabling POS purchases via smartphone
Latest round: $5.2 million
Total raised: $8.8 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, POS, merchants, acquiring, Mexico City, Mexico
Source: FT Partners

Arthena
Crowdfunding fine art investments
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Crowdfunding, P2P, person-to-person, investing,
Source: FT Partners

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