Lighter Capital Increases Funding Limit to $3 Million

Lighter Capital Increases Funding Limit to $3 Million

Revenue-based small business financing startup Lighter Capital announced today it has increased its funding limit by 50%.

The Washington-based company will now provide tech startups with up to $3 million in working capital in exchange for 2% to 8% of their business’ future revenue. The $3 million cap is up from Lighter Capital’s previous funding limit of $2 million. Unlike with VC funding, startups retain full ownership of their company.

“As more and more tech entrepreneurs discover alternatives to equity-based venture funding, we realized the need for even more significant financial commitment,” BJ Lackland, CEO of Lighter Capital said. “The reality is, most banks won’t fund small, early-stage tech startups, and venture capitalists demand significant equity in the company. By increasing our loan amounts by 50 percent, we can ensure burgeoning tech startups can rapidly expand and get ahead of competition.”

Founded in 2010, Lighter Capital has funded more than 270 early stage tech startups in 450 funding installments totaling $125 million. The company today announced it has provided an additional $555,000 in funding to proptech company ListReports. Thanks to the more than $2 million in total financing from Lighter Capital, ListReports has increased its revenue by 11x since Lighter Capital first began investing in it in 2016, Regarding the round, Lackland said, “Since day one, ListReports has been on an upward trajectory, showing continuous growth, while building out a sustainable business model. We’ll happily provide them with the financing they need to become a dominant force in the real estate technology market.”

Lighter Capital most recently demoed at FinovateFall 2013 where it showcased loan analysis and monitoring tools. Last month, the company launched a new Client Perks Program and a few weeks back appointed Anthea Louie as Chief Marketing Officer.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • MoneyHub Secures Investment from Nationwide.
  • Lighter Capital Increases Funding Limit to $3 Million.
  • Prosper Plans HELOC Product Launch in 2019.
  • Nvstr Brings Brokerage Optimized Investing to the Masses.

Around the web

  • Kasasa partners with rateGenius to offer Kasasa Loans on behalf of Kasasa’s community financial institution network.
  • Infosys to open technology and innovation hub in Texas and hire 500 American workers by 2020.
  • Xero announces new integrations with Tide, Starling Bank, TransferWise, Revolut, and Soldo.
  • Javelin names OneSpan ‘Best in Class’ provider, honoring it with the 2018 Mobile Biometrics Platform Award.
  • Emailage announces Tom Miller as new Chief Revenue Officer.
  • Quovo becomes the first U.S.-based financial data provider granted registration in the Open Banking Directory.
  • Javelin Strategy & Research names Daon a 2018 Mobile Biometrics Platform Awards Leader in the Functional category.

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.

Fintonic Links Up with Amazon

Fintonic Links Up with Amazon

Personal finance app Fintonic announced today it will collaborate with Amazon in Spain. Starting next week, Fintonic customers in Spain will be able to finance their Amazon.es purchases ranging from $225 to $1,100 (€200 to €1,000) at a rate of 0% interest for up to four months.

Fintonic Founder and CEO Lupina Iturriaga said, “It’s an exceptional collaboration, as it opens a new way of cooperating between the fintech sector and online distributors, settling new alternatives for users to access e-commerce in beneficial conditions.”

While the idea is similar to point of sale financing, the actual logistics are a bit more complicated. Before making their Amazon purchase, users must first go to the Fintonic app, apply for the credit, and buy an Amazon gift card. The gift card can be used for multiple Amazon purchases and the balance is good for a maximum of ten years.

To apply for the credit, Fintonic users select the gift card amount and choose when they plan to pay the balance. As an underwriting method, Fintonic uses its FinScore, a score between zero and 900 that is determined by more than 160 factors about a user’s creditworthiness. Users with a score of 450 or higher are eligible for the Amazon.es purchase financing.

Founded in 2012, Fintonic is a consumer-focused financial management platform that aggregates all of an individual’s financial accounts to offer a single view of their overall financial health. In addition to helping its 500,000 users keep track of their finances, Fintonic also presents relevant loan and insurance offers through a free brokerage service.

Madrid-based Fintonic has raised almost $30 million, thanks in part to a $28 million round garnered in June of 2017. At FinovateSpring 2016, the company debuted its alerts and inbox system to help users act in a timely manner on their financial needs and recommendations. Earlier this year, Fintonic teamed up with BBVA to boost its in-app lending capabilities, allowing users to borrow up to $39,400.

FinovateAfrica Sneak Peek: Craft Silicon

FinovateAfrica Sneak Peek: Craft Silicon

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAfrica on November 27 and 28, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Register today and save your spot.

Craft Silicon is a global leader in financial technology services and consulting. The company enables clients in more than 32 countries to craft and execute solutions for their digital transformation.

Features

  • Significantly enhances a bank’s acquisition process
  • Provides a true “anyplace is a banking place” experience to bank customers
  • Offers an Instant Loans On Phone solution for banks’ customers and non-customers

Why it’s great
Craft Silicon offers a single engagement platform to open new accounts and loan services through any handheld device. These tools significantly enhance the “anyplace is a banking place” experience to clients of financial institutions.

Presenter

Kamal Budhabhatti, Chief Executive Officer
In his more than 20 years of international experience, Budhabhatti has developed deep expertise across a range of technology solutions that moved him to build complex products in the financial space.
LinkedIn

FinovateAfrica Sneak Peek: XENO

FinovateAfrica Sneak Peek: XENO

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAfrica on November 27 and 28, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Register today and save your spot.

XENO is a goal-based, automated investment platform that helps users plan, save, and invest for financial goals like retirement, education, income, etc. The company will demo a group-linked investment account.

Features

  • The group is on-boarded as a sponsor and members are on-boarded as investors
  • Each member has a unique investment portfolio
  • Users are able to track individual and group contributions and manage their portfolio

Why it’s great
The XENO group linked account introduces a robo-advisor that savings and investment groups can use to save and invest for financial goals together transparently.

Presenters
Aeko Ongodia, Chief Executive Officer
Ongodia is a former pension fund manager with the largest pension fund in East Africa. He has extensive industry experience and training.
LinkedIn

Joel Niwogaba, Software Developer
Niwogaba has extensive experience developing software applications for firms.
LinkedIn

FinovateAfrica Sneak Peek: truID

FinovateAfrica Sneak Peek: truID

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAfrica on November 27 and 28, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Register today and save your spot.

truID is a South African fintech that has created a data sharing ecosystem inspired by Open Banking. truID’s innovative Collect platform enables consumers to safely and rapidly share their digital banking information with third parties in a manner that guarantees ease-of-use and privacy.

Why it’s great
truID has made bank integration simple. With just a few lines of code, developers can securely access real-time bank data from South Africa’s largest banks.

Presenters

Dmitry Drabkin, Co-founder
Drabkin started his career as a chartered accountant, specializing in financial services. His passion for technology and innovative solutions led him to co-found truID.

Paris Valakelis, Co-founder
Valakelis has a background in actuarial science. He gained his experience as an equity analyst covering banking and insurance, where his deep insights inspired the co-creation of truID.
LinkedIn

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Anorak Raises $6.5 Million in Series A.

Around the web

  • British lender CYBG signs payments partnership with Worldpay.
  • Azimo begins money transfer service to China.
  • AlphaPoint announces TrueUSD integration to Exchange Technology Network.
  • InComm partners with Xsolla to enable online game account funding with cash.

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.

Simple Appoints Former Amazon Exec as CEO

Simple Appoints Former Amazon Exec as CEO

Seven months after Simple’s CEO and Co-Founder Josh Reich announced plans to leave, the digital bank, which is owned by BBVA, appointed David Hijirida (pictured right), a former executive at Amazon, to take the reigns of the nine year old bank startup.

Hijirida is replacing Dickson Chu who was temporarily working as the interim CEO of the bank. Chu will remain Executive Chairman of Simple’s Board of Directors. “We worked hard to find a leader for Simple with the right and rare combination of financial services knowledge, a track record of delivering great products, and a work ethic that aligns with our values,” said Chu. “David possesses a wealth of leadership experience and knowledge, bridging the banking industry and technology product world,” he added.

Hijirida worked at Amazon for almost 12 years, first building the online retailer giant’s global payments business, then transitioning as the director of Amazon Web Services and finally serving as the company’s Director of Advertising. But while his background is focused on big tech, he also has experience at Washington Mutual (before its collapse) and FleetBoston (which was later acquired by Bank of America).

Part of Hijirida’s reason for leaving the banking world is that he was “tired of the way banks were treating customers.” Simple seems to be a good fit, however, because, Hijirida said, “Simple’s mission, vision, and values address that exact frustration. I’m excited to enhance what Simple has already created, and I’m committed to launching products that help people feel confident with their money…. My heart is with the consumer.”

Founded in 2009 and launched two years later under the name BankSimple, Simple debuted at FinovateFall 2011. In 2014, BBVA purchased Simple for $117 million. Since then, things have been a bit bumpy but not quite turbulent– all three Simple co-founders have left and last year the company laid off 10% of its staff.

Though it is owned by a large bank, Portland, Oregon-based Simple puts forth a lot of effort to differentiate itself from the mega banks. In September, the bank announced it will pay 2.2% interest on savings accounts with balances of more than $2,000. Compared to the national average APY of 0.6%, this promotion certainly stands out. The effort aims to boost the bank’s customer base and it’s working– I’ve reactivated my previously dormant account and coerced my husband into joining.

eToro Launches GoodDollar to Reduce Income Inequality

eToro Launches GoodDollar to Reduce Income Inequality

Citing the fact that the 42 richest people on Earth have more wealth than the poorest 3.7 billion, social trading platform eToro made an announcement this week that it is supporting the social good through a new project. The Israel and London-based company’s new initiative, GoodDollar, is a non-profit, open source project that seeks to reduce income inequality with a new cryptocurrency.

And the GoodDollar project is already off to a good start. eToro announced it has injected $1 million into the project and is calling for more innovators to join in. GoodDollar leverages smart contracts, which help parties transparently exchange money, property, shares, or any unit of value. Overall, the project aims to use a new cryptocurrency to establish universal basic income (UBI) by paying “social interest” to individuals who have less. To reduce wealth inequality, GoodDollar will operate on four basic principles: its available to anyone, exchangeable with other currencies, has low transaction fees, and is fairly distributed across wealth segments.

“We believe that we can create a mass-market cryptocurrency that is engineered to reduce inequality and provide a UBI. Engineers, product designers and economists are currently developing the prototype. Today is just step one on a long, ambitious journey,” said Yoni Assia, eToro CEO.

Aside from building a robust user base, the most challenging aspect GoodDollar may face is maintaining a cryptocurrency that is neither inflationary nor speculative. GoodDollar will also need to come up with a global KYC alternative and design a structure to govern the cryptocurrency.

Founded in 2007, eToro demonstrated CopyFunds for Partners at FinovateEurope 2017. Since then, the company announced that clients can now invest directly in shares on the platform, and raised a $100 million in Series E round in March, more than doubling its funding to $162 million. Most recently, eToro began supporting IOTA and Binance cryptocurrencies.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • eToro Launches GoodDollar to Reduce Income Inequality.
  • Zopa Seals Series G Investment En Route to Bank Launch.

Around the web

  • Privakey partners with FIDO board member Raonsecure to deliver joint solution to North America.
  • Green Dot reports record Q3 revenue of $230.6 million, up 14% from $201.6 million in Q3 2017.
  • Cardlytics expands U.S. Travel and Entertainment division with new appointment.
  • UOB’s Digital Bank advances customer-centric data solutions with Meniga.
  • Avaloq appoints Martin Greweldinger as Group Chief Product Officer.
  • LENDindex adds Centre’s USDC digital currency to its SME loan portfolio.
  • TransferWise secures £65 million syndicated debt facility with NatWest, JP Morgan, and LHV Bank.

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.

CardFlight Aligns with Payscape to Expand Merchant Base

CardFlight Aligns with Payscape to Expand Merchant Base

Payment tech company CardFlight formed a partnership this week that will help boost its client base. The New York-based company has formed a distribution partnership with small business software provider and payment technology company Payscape.

Aimed at serving small-to-medium-sized businesses, Payscape will offer CardFlight’s SwipeSimple payment acceptance technology and business management tools to its clients as a part of its Payscape Mobile product offering. Payscape Mobile is a holistic product offering that provides merchants advanced payment acceptance technology, leading security, and management tools.

A handful of new capabilities will be available to Payscape Mobile users via SwipeSimple. Additions include mobile point of sale and Bluetooth LE credit card readers that are EMV and magstripe compatible, customer subscription and installment plan technology, address verification for card not present payments, and an analytics, inventory, and business tools dashboard for merchants.

“At Payscape, our goal is to help businesses grow by equipping them with superior products and services,” Said Adam Bloomston, CEO and co-founder of Payscape. “We’re happy to partner with CardFlight because their product aligns with our goal and allows us to provide the best solutions to our customers and give them everyday advantages in managing their businesses and accepting payments.”

Payscape is the latest of CardFlight’s reseller clients, which together have distributed CardFlight technology to more than 45,000 merchants across the U.S. Other resellers include TSYS, Worldpay, and First Data.

Founded in 2013, CardFlight serves 10 of the top 30 merchant acquirers in the U.S., reaching tens of thousands of merchants across all 50 states. The company debuted its technology at FinovateSpring 2013, showing off the first iteration of its API/SDK. Last month, CardFlight launched SwipeSimple Customers to help merchants build customer databases and manage card data. Earlier this year, the company added paper receipt printing capabilities and enhanced its security.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • CardFlight Aligns with Payscape to Expand Merchant Base.

Around the web

  • PaySimple announces latest payment integration with MarketSharp’s CRM software.
  • Equifax selects Experian to provide customers free credit monitoring through its TrustedID Premier service.
  • QuotePro and Fiserv partner to speed credit for cash payments at self-service kiosks.
  • Singapore-based WeInvest expands to UAE.
  • PYMNTS: OnDeck loan origination volume increased double digits YoY and sequentially, the volume up 22% from the 2017 third quarter
  • Mitek appoints Max Carnecchia as CEO.

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.