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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateMiddleEast on November 20 and 21, 2019 in Dubai. Register today and save your spot.
Neo Technologies is a leading wealth services platform providing an end-to-end white label solution that enables banks and financial institutions to deliver on retail and affluent wealth opportunities.
Features
Digital onboarding of customers and front-end UI
Robo-advisory suite and digital distribution of investment products
Administrative tools to successfully manage a new business vertical
Why it’s great Neo’s platform-as-a-service is enabling banks and FIs to deliver on affluent wealth opportunities by launching leading services in a fraction of the time, cost, and resources within a compliant framework.
Presenters
Fahad Al Bader, CEO Al Bader has worked in roles across capital markets, corporate finance, and asset management in MENA over the past 15 years. LinkedIn
Abdullah Razooqi, Head of Product Razooqi has diversified experiences across traditional financial services and financial technology, currently overseeing product development and delivering innovative financial solutions. LinkedIn
GoDaddy Adds SME Financing Option with Kabbage Partnership.
EphesoftDrives Digital Automation in Thailand via Language Recognition.
Around the web
Forbes featuresOurCrowd’s approach to startup investing.
Flywireappoints former Apple Pay executive Rob Orgel as President and Chief Operating Officer.
Kabbageforms distribution partnership with GoDaddy.
Creditinfo recognizesfive°degrees as one of Iceland’s Strongest Companies for the 9th consecutive year.
The Milford Bank goes live with Plinqit’s savings app.
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.
After 12 years in the P2P lending business, U.S. P2P lender Prosperannounced a significant addition to its product offerings today, as well as a major bank partner.
Together with BBVA U.S.A., Prosper has created a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) solution that enables borrowers to apply for a HELOC and receive pre-qualification in minutes. The offering, hosted on Prosper’s website, offers competitive rates and does not charge origination fees.
“We are thrilled to have a partner like BBVA that believes, as we do, in the power of technology to improve efficiency and deliver a great customer experience,” said Prosper CEO David Kimball. “Working closely with BBVA, we’re excited to be able to offer our customers the opportunity to quickly and easily apply for a HELOC online, which can be a smart and affordable financing option for things like home improvement and debt consolidation.”
In addition to being hosted on Prosper’s website, there will also be a BBVA-branded version of the HELOC. BBVA is making that version available to a select number of its own customers.
This news comes after Prosper teased the launch of a HELOC product in late 2018. The HELOC is available to Prosper customers in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, and Texas, and will roll out to additional states “in the coming months.”
“We look forward to expanding this product offering to more states and continuously improving the experience,” Kimball added.
According to Prosper, available home equity is at an all-time high, reaching $6.3 trillion in the second quarter of this year. Despite that figure, 2019 brought a drop in HELOC popularity because of high interest rates. However, with the Federal Reserve’s recent trend of lowering the interest rate, today’s launch may be timed perfectly.
Prosper presented at FinovateSpring 2009 as well as the inaugural Finovate in 2007. The company has raised a total of $410 million and is valued at $550 million.
Finicity’sAssetReadyReportsAccelerate the Prequal Process.
EnvestnetAddsYodlee FinApps to MoneyGuide’s MyBlocks.
Around the web
PyraMax Bank launchesPyraMax Insurance Services leveraging Insuritas’ digital insurance platform.
Finastra’s new Fusion Treasury Essentialhelps small banks with no dedicated treasury system automate their treasury function.
nCinoappoints David Rudow as Chief Financial Officer.
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.
Amsterdam-based Interxion, which provides carrier and cloud-neutral colocation data centre services, announced this week it has agreed to be acquired by Digital Realty, a data center services company.
The transaction values Interxion at $8.4 billion and brings added value to the company. Interxion will benefit from Digital Realty’s global footprint, helping it build its presence in the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific. “We also believe our stakeholders will benefit from Digital Realty’s investment grade balance sheet and lower cost of capital,” said Interxion CEO David Ruberg.
“The transaction is expected to be accretive to the long-term growth trajectory of the combined organization, and to establish a global platform that we believe will significantly enhance our ability to create long-term value for customers, shareholders and employees of both companies,” said Digital Realty CEO A. William Stein.
Once the deal is finalized the new entity will be called Interxion, a Digital Realty company. Interxion CEO David Ruberg will serve as the CEO of the combined company’s Europe EMEA business while Stein will serve as CEO of the combined company.
Finalization of the deal is subject to closing conditions and shareholder approval. The transaction is expected to close in 2020.
Interxion was founded in 1998 and now serves its customers through 50 data centrs in 11 European countries. The company is partnered with more than 700 connectivity providers, 21 European internet exchanges, as well as many cloud and digital media platforms.
At FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2015, Interxion’s VP of Enterprise Bill Fenick, gave a presentation titled Quants in a European Cloud.
UK-based SME challenger bank Recognise has selected Mambu and its cloud-based Core banking platform, reports Alex Hamilton of Fintech Futures, Finovate’s sister publication.
Recognise, which is still in the process of obtaining a banking license, originally planned to launch trading under restriction in mid-2019, and is aiming for a 2020 full launch. It was founded by Jason Oakley, former managing director of Metro Bank’s commercial and mortgage lending business.
The challenger will be implementing Mambu’s platform on the cloud, and will be pairing it with nCino’s Bank Operating System, which Recognise opted for earlier this month.
“We know that speed and flexibility is critical for SMEs and the current SME banking providers are no longer fit for purpose,” said Oakley. “This is why we have decided to select a cloud-based solution that is modern and open early on our journey.”
Recognise isn’t the first time the two vendors have collaborated. In September start-up B-North selected both companies to aid in the building out of its banking services. Like Recognie, B-North is also awaiting a licence.
Monica Velaquez, CTO of Recognise, said, “We are really excited to work with Mambu and explore the ways in which we can enhance the overall customer experience through a composable architecture. With Mambu we will be able to apply innovation initiatives to build the new foundations of SME banking through the Mambu Core and Mambu Process Orchestrator.”
Ben Goldin, CTO of Mambu, added, “It’s been a great opportunity for us to work with Recognise and once again prove the value and power of our composable banking approach. We are enabling Recognise to provide remarkable customer experience to their end-client by combining Mambu with other best-for-purpose partners like nCino and bring the composable architecture to life using Mambu Process Orchestrator.”
In its eight-year history, Mambu has garnered almost $47 million in funding (€42 million) from investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Acton Capital Partners, and CommerzVentures.
The Berlin-based company, which made its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia 2013 in Singapore, has recently formed a host of new partnerships, including Swiss online lender bob Finance, U.K.-based neobank B-North, and software development provider ABC TECH Group.
Stratifydexpands workforce by 200 people, moves to a new 30,000 square-foot office.
Lendionamed to MountainWest Capital Network’s 2019 Utah 100 List.
Square leveragesDriveWealth’s trading API to compete with the likes of Robinhood.
Signicat now offers identity verification in 208 countries through identity document scanning, web-based video interviews, and NFC scanning of passports.
SpareBank1 to leverageMinna Technologies to help customers cancel their unwanted subscriptions.
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.
Ellie Mae announced today it has acquired fellow mortgagetech company Capsilon for an undisclosed amount. This news comes after Ellie Mae was acquired by Thoma Bravo earlier this year for $3.7 billion.
With a mission to “automate everything automate-able” when it comes to the mortgage process, Ellie Mae sees today’s acquisition as a step forward. “This is a significant day for the mortgage industry, as with the acquisition of Capsilon we are bringing together two market-leading companies and adding to our platform the pioneer of AI-powered intelligent automation leveraged by some of the largest lenders and servicers in the industry,” said Ellie Mae President and CEO Jonathan Corr.
Ellie Mae will combine its Encompass digital lending platform with Capsilon’s technology to create a more fully digital mortgage solution. Specifically, Ellie Mae will leverage Capsilon IQ, which is used by six of the top 10 mortgage loan originators to automate manual tasks; and Capsilon Instant Underwriter, which the company launched earlier this year to bring consistency and accuracy to the underwriting process.
“By joining forces with Ellie Mae, we are excited to extend our capabilities and deliver unprecedented functionality through deep integrations with the Encompass Digital Lending Platform,” said Sanjeev Malaney, CEO and Founder of Capsilon.
Mortgagetech is one of the least crowded sub-sectors in fintech, and partnerships among players are common. In the past few years both companies have partnered with Finicity, while Capsilon has partnered with Blue Sage, Home Point Financial, and Optimal Blue; and Ellie Mae has teamed up with AI Foundry, Roostify, First Data, Blend, and Lender Price.
Founded in 1997, Ellie Mae demonstrated Encompass Consumer Connect at FinovateSpring 2017. The online lead generation tool turns consumer interest into a mortgage application by letting the borrower complete an application, provide and receive information, and order services from a single platform. Ellie Mae is headquartered in California.
Founded in 2004, and with eight offices around the globe, Capsilon processes 15% of U.S. mortgages. At FinovateSpring 2019 the company demoed how its instant, digital underwriting solution helps lenders make more informed decisions.
Capsilon, which processes 2 million pages of mortgage documents per day, has 450 employees and 100,000+ users. The California-based company has raised $21 million.
International payments innovator Currencycloudrevealed a new solution this week that will help banks and fintechs go global. The new tool, Currencycloud Spark, will enable financial services companies to offer multi-currency accounts to their business customers. Using the multi-currency accounts, businesses can collect, store, convert, and pay in more than 35 currencies. Currencycloud will offer competitive foreign exchange rates and complete visibility of the entire payments process.
In a blog post, Currencycloud CEO Mike Laven explained the impetus behind the new launch. “Financial institutions have long struggled to help business customers compete on a global scale, relying on a patchwork of banking providers to carry out international transactions, as there was no credible alternative,” he said. “Currencycloud Spark levels the playing field and allows any financial institution to compete in an increasingly inter-connected world.”
Currencycloud Spark is in beta with select customers and will be generally available in the first half of 2020.
The new offering competes with Transferwise, which launched its Borderless Accounts in early 2018. And while it technically does not offer a multicurrency account, Revolut has a competitive offering that allows cardholders to spend in more than 150 currencies at the interbank exchange rate and make exchanges in more than 30 fiat currencies. Less well-known in this space is Spain-based Neo, which launched in 2017 to serve small businesses.
At its most recent Finovate appearance, Currencycloud debutedGlobal Collections, a tool that issues clients with local accounts to speed up payments in the U.S. and Eurozone. The company, which offers an API integration and white label access, has four flagship products: Collect, Convert, Pay, and Manage which help companies manage their cash flow and monetize their foreign exchange offerings.
Tradeshiftteams with Genpact to help clients enhance accounts payable and procurement processes.
OurCrowd to join the Millennium Alternative Investment Networkto increase VC opportunities in the U.S.
Finextra talks toNutmeg about expanding the human side of its roboadvisory.
Dwollaunveils The Integration Partner Program for more seamless technical integrations between Dwolla, its partners, and their clients.
Finantixappoints Christine Ciriani as Chief Commercial Officer.
NCRteams with Brightwell to supply ATMs and managed services for Brightwell’s largest cruise line clients.
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.
Predictive email intelligence firm SparkPostannounced plans to acquire eDatasource this week. Terms of the deal, which marks SparkPost’s second acquisition, were undisclosed.
SparkPost sought eDataSource, an email delivery solutions and insights company, for its inbox performance insights and reputation management tools in hopes to create a fully integrated email sending and analytics platform.
“The industry has long accepted a certain level of lost subscribers, however, those stakes are considerably higher based on some of the email provider changes over the last few years. Today, a miss at the sending layer will result in a significant hit to a marketer’s total acquisition costs, and can be avoided by making small adjustments,” said SparkPost CEO Rich Harris. “By combining forces, we can now integrate insights with your sending for direct action and measurement. Our two companies coming together solves this problem.”
The new offering from the combined companies will offer:
Enhanced predictive inbox performance insights
Increased email engagement and conversion
Illustration of how emails are performing in the context of a larger marketing campaign
SparkPost plans to ship new offerings in the “next few quarters.” On that list are an automatic seeding tool and a real-time blacklist alert that is weighted to actual sending patterns.
At FinovateSpring 2019, SparkPost demoedSignals, a tool that analyzes email sending and data from across the company’s email network to warn users about email issues. Founded in 2008, SparkPost powers the delivery of more than 37% of all B2C email across the globe.
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateMiddleEast on November 20 and 21, 2019 in Dubai. Register today and save your spot.
Flybits enables financial institutions to deliver hyper-personalized customer experiences, leveraging contextual intelligence and AI.
Features
Transform your mobile app into a sales channel
Assemble proprietary, public, and device data to deliver contextual experiences
Lower marketing costs and raise conversion rates
Why it’s great Flybits powers mobile, in-app marketing and sales for banks.
Presenters
Amir Yazdanpanah, Managing Director (MENA Region) Yazdanpanah is an entrepreneurial IT executive with extensive experience in software product development, product sales and marketing, business operations, and P/L management. LinkedIn
Rebecca Engelberg, Market Intelligence Manager Engelberg specializes in Market Intelligence, monitoring industry trends and translating them into actionable insights for sales, marketing and product strategy. LinkedIn
