Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Cardlytics Hooks Wells Fargo as Partner

Cardlytics Hooks Wells Fargo as Partner
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Cardlytics

According to data-driven marketing company Cardlytics, every purchase tells a story. And it turns out that every partnership tells a story, too. During its earnings call this week, the Atlanta-based company announced a deal with Wells Fargo under which Cardlytics will power the bank’s cash-back rewards program.

“We are happy to announce the signing of an agreement with Wells Fargo to launch Cardlytics Direct nationally and across all digital channels,” said Lynne Laube, Cardlytics COO and co-founder. Cardlytics Direct leverages the Purchase Intelligence platform, which processes trillions of dollars of raw purchase data from millions of accounts across thousands of financial institutions. The company uses algorithms and machine learning to make it useful for marketing and analytics, developing insights for smarter business decisions.

While Purchase Intelligence will boost Wells Fargo’s cash-back rewards program, it will also benefit Cardlytics, which will receive access to a new wealth of customer data. “Adding Wells Fargo to the Cardlytics Purchase Intelligence platform will further strengthen our ability to provide actionable insights for our marketing clients. Marketers can act on these insights, reaching a scaled audience inside banks’ secure digital channels – where consumers are already thinking about their money,” said Laube.

(above) Cardlytics’ Purchase Intelligence platform breaks down customers’ purchase data to offer banks insights.

Additionally, Cardlytics released its Q2 earnings report, highlighting a handful of growth metrics:

  • Total revenue was $35.6 million
  • Revenue increased 8% year-over-year, up from $32.8 million in the second quarter of 2017
  • Cardlytics Direct revenue was $35.1 million

At FinovateFall 2013, Cardlytics demoed its geolocation application, a solution that sends bank customers ads and offers based on their location.The company was the first fintech to go public early this year, now boasting a market capitalization of $408 million. Cardlytics also inked a deal with J.P. Morgan Chase and today announced it was listed on the Inc. 5,000 list for the fourth consecutive year. This year, Inc. ranked the company 2886 with revenue of $130.4 million and revenue growth of 142% from 2014 to 2017.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: aixigo

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: aixigo
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: aixigo, FinovateFall 2018, FinovateFall 2018 Sneak Peek

FinovateFallA look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 24 through 26, 2018 in New York. Register today and save your spot.

aixigo offers the fastest wealth management technology. The company enables innovation leaders to digitalize all aspects of the personal investment business.

Features

  • Offers the fastest wealth management platform
  • Manages millions of portfolios
  • Sends millisecond responses combined with big data scalability

Why it’s great
aixigo’s wealth management technology is the fastest available. It will manage millions of portfolios your way.

Presenters

Mario Alves, Head of Sales and Partner Management
Alves is a proven expert in retail and private banking, with a special focus on investment and advisory in MiFID related markets and products.
LinkedIn

Marcus Gründler, Head of Portfolio Management Systems
Gruendler is head of portfolio management systems at aixigo with international project experience and develops aixigo’s high performance wealth management platform.
LinkedIn

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Relay

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Relay
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2018, FinovateFall 2018 Sneak Peek, Relay

FinovateFallA look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 24 through 26, 2018 in New York. Register today and save your spot.

Relay is solving the billion-dollar customer engagement challenge. Its new CX Builder gives businesses the power to create the easiest and most convenient customer interactions.

Features

  • Establishes a direct line to customers for personalized, proactive engagement
  • Offers drag-and-drop tools to create app-like experiences in minutes
  • Automatically sends solutions when customers need them

Why it’s great
Self-service tools don’t work if customers aren’t engaged. Relay proactively engages customers with personalized, simplified support in their neediest moments. The company calls it guided service.

Presenters

Matt Gillin, CEO and Co-founder
Gillin is a three-time tech entrepreneur. Prior to Relay, he founded Ecount, the recognized leader in the prepaid card industry, which he sold to Citigroup in 2007.
LinkedIn

Brie Tascione, CMO
Tascione is CMO and founding member of Relay. Previously she was VP of Global Marketing for Citigroup’s fastest-growing electronic payments division where she led market expansion.
LinkedIn

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Payworks to Fuel New Point of Sale Tool for Bambora

Payworks to Fuel New Point of Sale Tool for Bambora
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: payworks

Point-of-sale technology provider Payworks announced a partnership with multi-channel payment solutions company and Ingenico subsidiary Bambora.

Payworks and Bambora are partnering to launch Bambora Connect, an international solution for POS software providers and merchants. Connect leverages the expertise of both Bambora, which offers merchant sales expertise, and Payworks, which provides advanced payment technologies and integration capabilities. Bambora Connect will work with multiple mobile and stationary card terminals, enabling merchants to accept Visa, Mastercard, and American Express payments in six currencies across Europe.

Christian Deger, CEO and co-founder at Payworks said, “From our own experience working with POS software vendors, we saw and understood the opening in the market for an integrated POS solution which offered powerful infrastructure with advanced tools and processes for onboarding and management. We’re extremely proud of Bambora Connect and look forward to our future collaborations with Bambora and Ingenico.”

Through their collaboration, Bambora, which processes more than $62 billion (€55 billion) per year and serves merchants in 70 markets, and Payworks will facilitate software integration for Bambora’s customers without the need for technical expertise. Connect will be available in the fall of this year; Bambora’s existing clients can begin onboarding their merchants now.

“Bambora is successfully working to make payment acceptance for merchants as simple as possible,” said Johan Tjärnberg, CEO at Bambora and EVP of the retail business unit at Ingenico. “Partnering with Payworks on Bambora Connect…. has ensured a fantastic product for in-store payment acceptance. The POS software market is growing at a rapid pace on a global scale and we see plenty of opportunity to collaborate beyond the SME space as well.”

Payworks provides three payment technology offerings: Pulse, a set of SDKs and APIs that allow developers to offer their merchants EMV certified, PCI compliant, and P2PE ready POS solutions; Accept, a white-label mPOS solution that enables merchants to quickly and easily accept card payments; and Engage, which enables developers using Pulse to build customer engagement solutions.

At FinovateEurope 2014, Payworks showed how its platform makes integration easy for developers, allowing them to focus on building value-added merchant solutions. Founded in 2012, the company’s partners include First Data, TSYS, Stripe, and American Express. Earlier this spring, Payworks partnered with Hubtel to enable merchants in Ghana to accept payments. Payworks has raised $19 million and has offices in Munich, New York, London, and Barcelona.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Roostify Enhances Customization with New Adapt Tool

Roostify Enhances Customization with New Adapt Tool
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Roostify

Mortgagetech company Roostify announced the launch of Adapt, a tool for mortgage lenders, this week.

Adapt helps lenders who have complex workflows achieve process management without disrupting their primary and secondary digital lending accounts. The feature enhances Roostify’s hierarchy tools, allowing lenders to create child accounts that follow a business unit structure, while at the same time allowing others on the mortgage team to maintain productivity across those business units.

Sarah Boultinghouse, business architect and process improvement manager at Roostify client, Colonial National Mortgage, said that the feature simplifies implementation on one of the mortgage company’s most complex business channels. “In an account structure that supports hundreds of accounts, this enhancement has been a critical factor in our continued implementation success, providing both user and admin friendly functionality to navigate through accounts with ease, further enabling our ability to deliver a superior customer experience,” she explained.

Adapt is available as a part of Roostify’s enterprise lending platform. The tool increases flexibility, helping streamline the lending process increase collaboration, ultimately decreasing costs and time-to-close.

Roostify presented at FinovateSpring 2016 where the company demoed account aggregation capabilities for asset verification, as well as integrations with TurboTax and Equifax. The California-based company started off the year by raising $25 million, bringing its total funding to $33 million.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Holvi Helps Uber Drivers Manage Finances with New Partnership

Holvi Helps Uber Drivers Manage Finances with New Partnership
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Holvi

BBVA-owned Holvi announced this week it has teamed up with ridesharing company Uber. The two have joined forces in an effort to help Uber’s drivers manage their finances more efficiently.

Holvi has long been known for supporting workers in the gig economy, and has been referred to as the neobank for the self-employed. The company will enable Uber drivers in Helsinki to quickly open business and checking accounts. “We at Holvi want to support also this new form of entrepreneurship and make it easier for all entrepreneurs to manage their entrepreneurial responsibilities. In the future we will see more examples of platform economy and a decrease in traditional employment – we will develop Holvi to support these new forms of work,” said Antti-Jussi Suominen, Holvi CEO.

Drivers also have access to Holvi’s small business banking tools, such as bookkeeping, expense management, tax reporting, and automatic invoice management. Additionally, Holvi’s accounting services offer drivers access to its partner accountant network.

“Our collaboration with Holvi enables us to simplify entrepreneurs’ routine tasks so that our partner drivers can focus only on driving and serving their customers,” said Joel Järvinen, Uber’s country manager for Finland and Sweden.

Founded in 2011, one of Holvi’s co-founders, Kristoffer Lawson, demoed the company’s small business accounting tools at FinovateEurope 2013. In 2016, and with $4.9 million in funding, Holvi was acquired by BBVA for an undisclosed amount. Later that year, the company appointed Suominen as CEO.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Dynamics’ Battery-Powered Cards Hit Japan

Dynamics’ Battery-Powered Cards Hit Japan
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Dynamics

Payment technology company Dynamics announced today it has introduced its battery-powered, interactive debit and cash cards to the Japanese market. The move comes via a partnership with GMO Aozora Net Bank.

The Tokyo-based bank is a technology-focused bank aimed to help clients better manage their money. Offering the Dynamics card, which features a touch keypad and digital display, will further GMO Aozora Net Bank’s technology-first reputation.

The keypad and digital display work together to secure the card by requiring the user to enter a passcode to activate the card for use. If the passcode is correct, the card number appears in the display screen on the card. Using the keypad, the user selects whether they want the card to act as a debit or cash card. Once it is activated, they can swipe, tap, use the mag stripe, or contact/contactless EMV chip to make a payment at a traditional payment terminal; no special infrastructure is required.

In the press release, Dynamics CEO Jeffrey Mullen said, “Through this new card, we shall provide new convenience and security to the Japanese consumer, and together with GMO Aozora Net Bank we will deliver further value into the future.”

Headquartered in Pennsylvania, Dynamics maintains APAC headquarters in Singapore, LATAM headquarters in Brazil, and EMEA headquarters in New York. The company is partnered with financial institutions in Europe, the U.S., and Asia for card distribution. Dynamics also maintains a processing partnership with a major Canadian financial institution, and a mobile payment partnership with a major mobile handset carrier in Korea.

Dynamics has won Best of Show eight times since its first Finovate appearance in 2010. At its most recent demo at FinovateSpring 2018, the company showed off its Wallet Card, a network-approved payment card that uses Sprint’s wireless network and boasts a 65,000 pixel display that depicts all cardholder information.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

A Peek at FinovateFall in Full Force

A Peek at FinovateFall in Full Force
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2018, FinovateFall 2018 Sneak Peek

We may have reached peak summer heat, but it’s time to leave vacation-mode behind and start preparing for FinovateFall, which is coming up next month on September 24 through 27* at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York.

Last month, we announced the 80 presenting companies that will demo their new technologies and this month we’re finalizing the agenda for the discussion day that will take place the day after the demos. Register today to secure special discounts.

Your sneak peek into the demos

Now that the groundwork has been laid, the real fun begins. Starting next week, we’ll take a company-by-company look at each upcoming demo via our Sneak Peek series. In the weeks leading up to FinovateFall, we’ll reveal what each company plans to demo and why it’s worth paying attention to.

The blog will also highlight notable speakers, keynote addresses, and discussion day panel highlights in the coming weeks.

For more details on FinovateFall, view the list of demoing companies, check out the full speaker lineup, and plan your visit. Have questions? Send us your inquiry and we’ll respond as soon as possible.

*The general conference will take place on September 24 through 26. We’re hosting a separate summit session, not covered with a general admission ticket, that will take place on September 27.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Behalf Brings in Funding from Visa

Behalf Brings in Funding from Visa
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Behalf, Funding, VISA

Alternative small business lending platform Behalf has benefitted from its ties with Visa this week. The New York and Israeli-based company announced it landed an undisclosed amount of funding from the payments giant, marking Visa’s first investment in an Israeli company.

The investment will be added to Behalf’s previous total funding of $306 million in combined debt and equity. As part of today’s deal, Visa will have access to Behalf’s small business clients to market its tokenized Visa Virtual Card, a payment solution that offers businesses instant financing for business purchases. Visa will begin marketing the card in the U.S. and expand to more markets later this year.

“Our network of B2B merchants can fit Behalf seamlessly into their eCommerce flow, receive payment immediately and provide their business customers with more buying power and flexible payment options at checkout,” said Benjy Feinberg, Behalf CEO. “We are proud to partner with Visa with the goal of making purchases easier.”

The partnership is part of Visa’s strategy to promote its products through collaborations with startups and fits with the company’s commitment to invest up to $100 million in fintechs. Shahar Friedman, acting general manager for Visa in Israel, described small businesses as being “the backbone” of the global economy. “This partnership is a result of a close collaboration between the Visa Innovation Studio Tel Aviv and the dynamic Israeli start-up ecosystem to bring the power of the VisaNet global network to promising young companies in Israel such as Behalf,” he added.

Founded in 2012, Behalf offers short-term purchase financing for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Unlike other alternative SMB lenders such as Kabbage or OnDeck, Behalf does not issue funds directly to the SMB. Instead, the startup pays the small business’ vendors on the SMB’s behalf. Having flexibility in repaying their suppliers helps merchants increase their production and ultimately grow their business.

Feinberg showcased Behalf’s vendor payment platform at FinovateFall 2014. Since then, the company has partnered with FinWise bank to offer SMB clients a broader range of financing solutions and, earlier this year, secured $150 million in debt financing.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

DriveWealth and Bambu Join Forces on Roboadvisory Tool

DriveWealth and Bambu Join Forces on Roboadvisory Tool
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bambu, DriveWealth

Two wealthtech companies from opposite sides of the globe have built upon their partnership this week. New Jersey-based DriveWealth and Singapore-based Bambu have collaborated on the launch of a white-label, roboadvisory platform for U.S. wealth managers.

While the two have worked together for the past three years on products for overseas markets, this is their first joint offering in the U.S. Robert Cortright, DriveWealth CEO, described the new platform as “a streamlined product for wealth managers seeking to offer a unique, easy-to-use investing platform directly to their retail customers.”

The solution is the result of an integration between DriveWealth’s suite of wealth management APIs, which facilitate everything from customer onboarding to U.S. stock market ordering and reporting; and Bambu’s roboadvisory software, which automates financial planning, saving, and investing for end consumers. More simply, the new offering pairs DriveWealth’s fractional share technology with Bambu’s front-end user interface.

The new platform has three major components:

  • An advisor dashboard that provides an overview of client activities and alerts, and tracks invested capital and cash balances.
  • A CIO dashboard with portfolio-building capabilities that assist in simulating, creating, and rebalancing portfolios.
  • A client application that allows them to adjust investment goals, access investments, and perform investment analyses.

Ned Phillips, CEO of Bambu said, “We are confident that this end-to-end service for financial institutions in the U.S. will be a game changer in simplifying investing.”

Founded in 2012, DriveWealth’s clients include MoneyLion, a lending and wealth management app, and INVSTR, a U.K.-based stock trading application. At FinovateAsia 2016, the company released a new API to enable partners to offer a roboadvisory product suite and a self-directed equity investing platform. Earlier this year, DriveWealth closed a $21 million investment, bringing its total funding to $30 million.

At FinovateAsia 2017, Bambu won Best of Show for its demo of People Like Me, a tool that leverages machine learning to help users define their financial goals. Last month, the company raised $3 million in funding and earlier this year it expanded into London.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Blend Launches Insurance Agency

Blend Launches Insurance Agency
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Blend

Mortgagetech company Blend is venturing into insurance. The San Francisco-based company launched Blend Insurance Agency, an extension of its digital mortgage platform that offers borrowers a range of options for homeowners insurance.

Homeowners insurance is required to be in place before the borrower closes on their home, and since Blend already has data about the home, borrower, and loan on file, the company is in a unique position to offer a streamlined application process. Blend said that offering insurance felt like a “natural extension” of its mission to bring transparency into the home buying process.

“We see our new insurance agency as an exciting step forward to further remove friction from the home buying process and improve customer satisfaction. We believe it will be better for our lenders, their borrowers, and the insurance providers we work with and will help to make the process of buying a home a little less daunting,” said Greg Isaacs, an insurtech expert Blend hired earlier this year to launch Blend Insurance Agency.

To support this new offering, Blend is building an office in Los Angeles that will be staffed with insurance professionals able to help borrowers find a product that fits their needs. At launch, the company has partnered with six U.S. insurance providers, including MetLife, Stillwater Insurance, and Swyfft, with plans to add more. The insurance option is presented to the borrower early on in the home buying process to offer them plenty of time to shop and to give loan processors time to verify insurance before closing the loan. Having more time on the front-end of the process helps the loan close faster.

Blend demoed its data-driven mortgage at FinovateSpring 2016. Earlier this year, Blend teamed up with Ellie Mae to leverage Ellie Mae’s electronic disclosure delivery. And in June, the company introduced Blend Vision, an advanced OCR solution with built-in quality control. Blend’s most recent round of funding brought its total capital to more than $160 million. Nima Ghamsari is CEO and co-founder.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

TransUnion Teams Up with EXL for CECL Compliance

TransUnion Teams Up with EXL for CECL Compliance
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: TransUnion

,

Credit reporting agency and risk solutions provider TransUnion is taking steps to help lenders to comply with the new Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) accounting rule. The company is partnering with operations management and analytics company EXL to facilitate the change.

The partnership will allow TransUnion to create a CECL Credit Loss Calculator to help lenders forecast losses under CECL, since the new guidelines change the methodology used to calculate loan loss allowances. The tool combines EXL’s analytics capabilities with TransUnion’s de-personalized credit data to create a platform that complies with all CECL reporting guidelines, which alter how banks calculate loan loss.

“Many players in the industry are describing CECL as the biggest change to bank accounting standards in years,” said Jason Laky, SVP and consumer lending business leader at TransUnion. “While large banks have more resources at their disposal to adapt, we believe the majority of small to mid-sized lenders will not have the ability or capacity to comply internally and may face challenges as they prepare for the rollout of this new rule.”

Using the Credit Loss Calculator, lenders can leverage their own portfolio data or automatically import data reported by TransUnion. The tool allows lenders to adjust for macroeconomic scenarios, apply overlays, and adjust the models for different credit products, including mortgages, auto loans, and revolving credit.

Founded in 1968, TransUnion is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois with office locations in Hong Kong, Mumbai, Toronto, Johannesburg, Colombia, and Brazil. At FinovateFall 2016, TransUnion showcased Prama, a suite of analytics tools that helps lenders gain market intelligence and acts on insights to drive growth and build a risk policy. Last month, the company acquired device intelligence firm iovation. TransUnion is a public company with a market capitalization of $13.4 billion, trading on the NYSE under the ticker “TRU.”

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook