Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Gusto Launching its Own Yelp for Accountants

Gusto Launching its Own Yelp for Accountants
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Gusto

Online payroll and HR services provider Gusto is unveiling its Partner Directory today, a directory of accounting firms suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.

The directory offers Yelp-like reviews of accountants and is available to any business– both Gusto customers and non-customers– for free. The tool allows businesses to filter the search results by geography, services offered, software expertise, and industries served.

“We noticed a growing trend of accountants that are competing effectively against larger accounting firms by advising small businesses more holistically. These accountants are differentiating and ‘future proofing’ their practices by offering non-traditional services like benefits and human resources for their clients,” said Gusto Senior Product Manager Mike Lyngaas. “Recommendations for accountants and trusted partners are one of the top requests we get from small businesses, and the Partner Directory allows modern accountants and entrepreneurs to grow their businesses together.”

To curate the directory, Gusto screened more than 4,000 of its accounting firm partners for their payroll expertise, benefits and HR services, ability to help businesses claim the federal R&D tax credit, or even acting as an outsourced CFO. The company adds more accountants regularly to both its list of partners as well as to the directory.

Accountants can leverage Gusto’s technology to run payroll or provide benefits and HR services for all of their business clients. They can also tap into Gusto’s relationships with third party software providers.

Founded in 2011 as ZenPayroll, Gusto serves over 60,000 companies across the U.S. and has offices in San Francisco and Denver. At FinovateSpring 2014, Gusto CEO Joshua Reeves showcased the company’s payroll solution. In March, the company launched a freemium model for its payroll solution and in February was highlighted in Forbes for its diversity efforts. Of the company’s 525 employees, 51% are women.

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Diebold Nixdorf Brings its Bank-Like Kiosk to Emirates NBD Customers

Diebold Nixdorf Brings its Bank-Like Kiosk to Emirates NBD Customers
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Diebold

Diebold Nixdorf announced this week that it partnered with Emirates NBD to bring consumers in the United Arab Emirates access to its digital kiosk that offers a variety of banking services.

The bank has called the kiosk EasyHub, and the capabilities go far beyond a typical ATM. This kiosk allows customers to conduct many of the activities they would typically do in a brick-and-mortar bank, all outside of bank operating hours. Users interact with a video teller and follow written instructions on the screen to sign up for new products and services, apply for and receive a new debit card, update their personal details, request a checkbook, authenticate statements, and even apply for a personal loan.

Diebold Nixdorf’s Vynamic Connection Points, a multi-vendor software allowing for customized applications, is powering the EasyHub kiosk. The device comes with a debit card dispenser, biometric signature pad, document scanner, statement printer, ID reader, cash recycler and coin dispenser, and an NFC reader for contactless transactions.

In a blog post, Abdulla Qassem Emirates NBD group chief operating officer cited EasyHub’s customer-first approach, increased flexibility, and superior service among the benefits of teaming up with Diebold Nixdorf.

Diebold Nixdorf appeared on the Finovate stage alongside Zenmonics at FinovateFall 2014 to showcase an in-lobby terminal. Founded in 1859, the company is partnered with almost all of the world’s top 100 banks and most of the top 25 global retailers. Diebold Nixdorf is headquartered in Ohio and has 23,000 employees across the globe.

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Personetics Accommodates Digital-Only and Challenger Banks

Personetics Accommodates Digital-Only and Challenger Banks
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Personetics

Cognitive analytics company Personetics has traditionally served large banks, including six of the top 12 banks in North America and Europe. Today, however, the company launched a new offering that makes its solutions more accessible for smaller digital-only and challenger banks.

The new offering provides a highly customizable, pre-packaged application, lowering barriers for smaller banks to implement AI-powered banking services. Founded in 2010, Personetics leverages predictive analytics to help banks anticipate their clients’ individual needs.

“Personalized and proactive guidance is quickly becoming a must-have requirement for banking, especially for new banks that are built on the promise of a new banking experience,” said David Sosna, Personetics co-founder and CEO. “Our mission is to deliver market-proven engagement and personalization technology that is quick and easy to deploy so digital banks can focus their resources on their go-to-market strategy.”

The implementation, which takes under three months, is designed to work with banks with limited resources. To meet these requirements, the new software package offers:

  • Pre-built banking content: The offering includes hundreds of pre-built insights, financial tips, and personalized advice that the bank can easily modify and control
  • API-first approach: Personetics uses open APIs to integrate AI functionality into a bank’s digital banking experience and allows banks to create their own brand identity and customer engagement strategy.
  • Editing tools: These tools allow the bank to retain control over the content and develop new capabilities to support its own business goals.
  • Fast time-to-market: Personetics delivers a production-level solution in just three months.

Among the first challenger banks to leverage Personetics’ new software package is U.K.-based Tandem Bank, which announced its participation in February. “The Personetics Cognitive Banking Brain provides great AI capabilities with prebuilt insights which enable us to accelerate time-to-market and place personalised highlights in the hands of our customers sooner rather than later,” said Ricky Knox, chief executive at Tandem Bank.

At FinovateFall 2016, Personetics demonstrated its Personetics Anywhere chatbot solution. The company was founded in 2011 and has received $18 million in total funding. Personetics recently onboarded Romania’s Banca Transilvania to offer AI-powered, forward-looking financial guidance to the bank’s clients. The company offers more than 4.3 billion personalized interactions to more than 45 million end customers across the globe.

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Dwolla Launches Start, a Pay-as-You-Go Payment Solution

Dwolla Launches Start, a Pay-as-You-Go Payment Solution
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Dwolla

Payments platform Dwolla introduced a new product plan today. It’s called Start, and it offers a white-labeled, out-of-the box way for businesses to send and receive money without a large time or money commitment.

Launching in beta today, Start will complement Dwolla’s other offerings: Scale, which provides a consistent monthly bill with a set number of transactions; and Enterprise, which the company describes as a customizable, “white-glove” approach for complex businesses. Start is differentiated from Scale and Enterprise because it does not lock businesses into contracts, nor does it require monthly minimums. Overall, the new offering helps Dwolla deliver on its commitment of “helping businesses of all sizes start and scale their growth.”

Businesses can integrate their existing app with the Start API or they can use Start’s dashboard, which does not require any coding. After signing up, businesses simply complete AML and KYC checks and can then go live after being contacted by a Dwolla representative.

The beta version of Start is currently being rolled out to select businesses. There is no word on when Dwolla will open the product for a full launch.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, Dwolla offers a white-label payments API that allows firms to credit or debit any U.S. bank account the user has connected. The company integrates with Sift Science to help reduce fraud by leveraging real-time identity verification. And in May of 2017, Dwolla integrated with Plaid to instantly verify and authenticate customers’ bank accounts using tokenization.

The company most recently demoed FiSync at FinovateSpring 2015. Earlier this year, Dwolla closed a $12 million investment led by Foundry Group that brought its total funding up to $51.4 million. Last month, the company partnered with Cryptanite Blockchain Technologies to process their online payments.

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BondIT Integrates Bond Portfolio Solution with FIIG Securities

BondIT Integrates Bond Portfolio Solution with FIIG Securities
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: BondIT

Fixed income portfolio platform BondIT has initiated a partnership with FIIG Securities. Through the agreement, FIIG will leverage BondIT’s bond portfolio solution for relationship managers.

Australia-based FIIG offers fixed income services for 6,000 clients, managing more than $7.6 billion (AUD 10 billion) in assets. The company will bring BondIT’s bond portfolio solutions to its core investment management platform, SimCorp Dimension, allowing front office users to leverage the technology for new portfolio construction, investment idea generation, relative value analysis, portfolio monitoring, and portfolio optimization.

In the press release, John Prickett, Chief Operating Officer at FIIG Securities described how more investors are interested in the diversification that corporate bonds can bring to their portfolios and that this spike has increased the demand for fixed income and corporate bonds. He added, “The BondIT software will further enhance our offering, pairing the knowledge of our expert team with the latest technology to identify more fixed income opportunities for our clients and help them maximize their investments.”

Powered by machine learning algorithms, BondIT’s tools empower advisors to automate the optimization of fixed-income portfolio creation and management. The technology allows individual investors to select 12 different constraint dimensions to personalize their portfolio. BondIT leverages these data points, combined with AI, to create algorithms that offer flexibility in optimizing risk and returns in non-linear, multi-dimensional portfolio selections.

BondIT’s COO Eran Nachshon debuted the technology at FinovateFall 2016 in New York. The company added $4 million to its Series B round last week, bringing its total funding to $18.2 million. BondIT is headquartered in Herzliya, Israel and was founded in 2012.

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Signifyd Takes in $100 Million in Series D Funding

Signifyd Takes in $100 Million in Series D Funding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Signifyd

Ecommerce fraud protection provider Signifyd has more than doubled its financing total with a new round of funding today. The company just closed a $100 million Series D round, bringing its total to $187 million.

Leading the round is Premji Invest, with participation from existing investors Bain Capital Ventures, Menlo Ventures, American Express Ventures, IA Ventures, Allegis Cyber, and Resolute Ventures. Signifyd will use the new capital to grow its retail customers.

“Premji invests in private companies with all the necessary ingredients to become thriving stand-alone public companies,” said Sandesh Patnam, lead partner at Premji Invest. He added that his firm is impressed with Signifyd’s growth, company culture, and the breadth of its customers. “More than that,” Patnam continued, “it comes down to the high quality of Signifyd’s innovation and technology. It couldn’t be clearer that guaranteed fraud protection is reaching mainstream adoption, and Signifyd is leading this space.”

Founded in 2011, Signifyd offers fraud protection for ecommerce merchants using technology that leverages machine learning algorithms, user behavior, and data science to identify fraudulent orders. Signifyd reduces merchant chargebacks on fraudulent charges, as well as saves companies money on shipping declined orders. In one case study, the company helped a major retailer realize a return on investment of 3.8 times over three years. Signifyd currently serves 10,000 retailers across the globe including top brands such as Build.com, Helly Hansen, iRobot, Jet, Lacoste, and Wayfair.

Signifyd demoed its chargeback mitigation solution at FinovateSpring 2013. Last month, the company opened its first European office in Spain following a partnership with Magento in February. Signifyd has been named on the Forbes FinTech 50 and was listed among Bloomberg’s 50 Most Promising Startups. Additionally, it has been named a top place to work by Entrepreneur, Inc. Magazine, San Francisco Business Times, and the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

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VASCO Rebrands as OneSpan to Focus on Secure Onboarding

VASCO Rebrands as OneSpan to Focus on Secure Onboarding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Mergers & Acquisitions, OneSpan, VASCO

Business solutions company VASCO is making a major pivot today, along with a fully-fledged rebrand, as well as an acquisition to support the company’s new objectives.

VASCO, now known as OneSpan, has narrowed its focus to become an anti-fraud platform. OneSpan will trade on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “OSPN.” It is expected to begin trading on Monday, June 4.

OneSpan offers a Trusted Identity platform (TID), an API-based solution that aims to reduce fraud associated with onboarding and transactions while offering an enhanced experience for the end user. TID’s new Intelligent Adaptive Authentication reviews and scores data pulled from user behavior, devices, and transactions to offer a real-time view of user security without interfering with the user experience.

“The launch of our Trusted Identity platform provides a single foundation that spans the needs of our customers today and into the future while our name change underscores a generational evolution in our strategy,” said OneSpan CEO Scott Clements. “We listened closely to the challenges our customers are facing and identified a significant gap between customer needs and solutions available in the market. OneSpan is addressing this gap by delivering a much needed and innovative approach to reducing the billions of dollars banks are losing annually to fraud.”

Bolstering today’s transition is OneSpan’s acquisition of Dealflo for $54.5 million (£41 million). Founded in 2009 and headquartered in the U.K., Dealflo offers configurable onboarding solutions to financial services clients. The company has partnerships with Equifax, TransUnion’s iovation, Mitek, and VASCO’s eSignLive (now OneSpan Sign).

“This acquisition will enable us to grow our subscription revenue and Dealflo’s technology will be a major differentiator for our eSignLive solution,” said Clements. “In addition, Dealflo’s identity verification capabilities will allow us to accelerate the launch of our TID platform based onboarding, identity and anti-fraud solutions.”

Dealflo has operations across North America and EMEA, and is headquartered in London. The Dealflo team will join OpenSpan, working to bring Dealflo’s solutions into new geographic markets.

OneSpan presented as VASCO at FinovateFall 2017 in New York. The company debuted the OneSpan Sign (then eSignLive) Digital Lending Solution. The solution leverages the blockchain and e-signature capabilities to offer a compliant, digital lending solution. Last month, the company teamed up with Finovate alum nCino to offer nCino clients access to an electronic signature solution.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Compass Plus, FICO, Fidor Bank, OneSpan, Signifyd, Tradeshift, VASCO

On Finovate.com

  • Tradeshift Raises $250 Million in Round Led By Goldman Sachs.
  • VASCO Rebrands as OneSpan to Focus on Secure Onboarding.
  • Signifyd Takes in $100 Million in Series D Funding.

Around the web

  • Compass Plus announces new partnership with Payhuddle Solutions in Asia Pacific.
  • FICO to help Raiffeisen Bank accelerate digital transformation.
  • Fidor appoints Adam Woolford as Chief Information 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.

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WorkFusion Closes Add-On Funding Round

WorkFusion Closes Add-On Funding Round
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, WorkFusion

WorkFusion promises what many banks are seeking: to help clients outpace change. And fortunately, the New York-based company has funds to back up that idea. Robotic process automation (RPA) specialist WorkFusion quietly added to the $50 million funding round it received last month. Last week, the company closed on an undisclosed amount of funds from strategic investors including Guardian, New York-Presbyterian, PNC Bank, and Alpha Intelligence Capital.

Pete Cumello, WorkFusion CFO, tells us that the company’s aggregate funding stands at $120 million– and the undisclosed investment boosts the total up over that amount. Cumello also noted that the add-on round added “somewhat” to the company’s value.

WorkFusion’s goal with the new capital is to fuel growth and boost acquisitions. The company was founded in 2010 and offers products for financial services, insurance, and healthcare sectors. Broadly, WorkFusion’s mission is to help firms deal with the rapid rise of AI by reducing the complexity of AI and helping customers exploit the AI opportunity by leveraging products that pair people with the power of robotic software. Specifically, use cases for WorkFusion’s AI-powered RPA include creating a more efficient account opening process, increasing loan booking accuracy, and automating rule-based processes in trade finance.

The company began with a simple question, “What if software could learn to identify high-quality work and manage the people who perform it?” By 2014, WorkFusion had expanded on that idea and at FinovateFall 2014 it demoed Active Learning Automation in New York. The company’s goals for 2018 and beyond are to make software-as-a-service automation products that offer elastic, on-demand capability with the Automation Cloud.

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Lidya Scores $6.9 Million in Series A Investment

Lidya Scores $6.9 Million in Series A Investment
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Lidya

Nigeria-based digital bank Lidya landed a fresh round of funding this week. The bank pulled in a Series A round totaling $6.9 million, an amount that marks the round as one of Nigeria’s largest tech investments. Combined with the $1.25 million Lidya received last March, today’s round brings the bank’s total funding to $8.2 million.

Omidyar Network led the round and was joined by new investors, Alitheia Capital, Bamboo Capital Partners, and Tekton Ventures; as well as existing investors Accion Venture Lab and Newid Capital. Ameya Upadhyay, Principal at Omidyar Network, is slated to join Lidya’s board of directors.

“We are excited by the overwhelming support from the investor community, which signals a great confidence in our business model and team,” said Ercin Eksin, Lidya co-founder. Lidya will use the funds to expand its loan book, scale in Nigeria, enter new markets in Africa, and onboard more employees, specifically data scientists and engineers.

“Access to flexible, affordable credit is at the crux of unlocking growth in the MSME sector. Lidya is addressing that by using smart algorithms to analyze transaction data from small businesses to assess their creditworthiness,” said Upadhyay. “This data-driven approach allows the company to offer loans without the need of hard collateral– a requirement that has scuttled MSME financing in Africa. In the process, Lidya gathers insights that help expand its product portfolio to become a holistic partner to small businesses.”

Eksin demonstrated Lidya’s credit scoring algorithm at FinovateFall 2016. The demo showcased how the bank helps small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) share or upload their bank data to manage cash flow, customer data, and create and send digital invoices. To help businesses smooth lumpy cashflow held up in invoices, Lidya lends from $500 to $50,000 without requiring the business to visit a physical branch.

Since it was founded in 2016, Lidya has extended 1,500 loans to help SMEs in industries ranging from farming to technology. The bank was recently accepted into MasterCard’s Start Path Program, an accelerator program that supports the next generation of commerce solutions.

Interested in learning more about the state of fintech in Africa? Check out FinovateAfrica, held in Cape Town, South Africa on November 27 and 28, 2018.

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Mortgagetech Magnates Ellie Mae and Blend Team Up

Mortgagetech Magnates Ellie Mae and Blend Team Up
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Blend, Ellie Mae

Mortgagetech company Blend and mortgage finance platform provider Ellie Mae have joined forces this week, as reported by American Banker. Through the partnership, Blend is leveraging Ellie Mae’s electronic disclosure delivery, a part of the company’s Encompass mortgage solution.

The integration will augment Blend’s self-service mortgage platform by offering a more seamless user experience. Lenders who use Ellie Mae’s Encompass loan origination solution can create and deliver electronic disclosures through Ellie Mae’s document preparation software. The electronic delivery will not only facilitate the e-signature process, it will also enhance compliance by leaving an audit trail.

Ellie Mae’s Encompass mortgage solution helps lenders originate more loans with lower origination costs and a faster time to close. Using the full Encompass solution, Ellie Mae helps lenders save an average of $967 per loan in operational improvements, such as saving time and postage from having to deliver disclosures via snail mail. Blend estimates its integration of Ellie Mae’s electronic disclosure delivery will save an average of $15 per loan.

Earlier this spring, Pacific Union Financial partnered with Ellie Mae to leverage the full Encompass mortgage management solution, enabling customers of both Pacific Union and Ellie Mae to deliver loan data and documents from Encompass to Pacific Union more efficiently and in real time.

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. During the demo, presenter Jonas Moe, SVP of Market Strategy, demonstrated the company’s API by showing off an Alexa integration with Encompass Plus– asking questions such as, “What loans have rate lock expirations this week?” and “Search for a better rate.” Ellie Mae is headquartered in California. Jonathan Corr is president and CEO.

Blend demoed its data-driven mortgage at FinovateSpring 2016. The company was recently recognized for its achievements in the mortgage industry at the MBA Insights Tech All-Star Awards and was also featured on the Forbes Fintech 50 list. Last summer, Blend pulled in a $100 Series D investment from Greylock, Emergence Capital, Lightspeed Ventures, Nyca Partners, and 8VC, bringing its total capital to more than $160 million.

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WeInvest Raises $12.3 Million for its WealthTech Platform

WeInvest Raises $12.3 Million for its WealthTech Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, WeInvest

B2B digital wealth management solutions provider WeInvest has taken in an investment of its own today. The Singapore-based company just closed on $12.3 million in Series A funding.

The financing comes from a handful of angel investors, along with London-based Schroders, which acquired a minority equity stake in the company. This is WeInvest’s first major funding after an undisclosed round in 2017.

In an interview, WeInvest Co-Founder and CEO Bhaskar Prabhakara told DEALSTREETASIA that the funds will be used to promote product development and to “expand the functional range of [the] platform across regional regulatory requirements, business models, and products.”

Unlike other models, WeInvest’s roboadvisory services empower traditional advisors with tools to help them compete with pure roboadvisory plays. WeInvest has three main products. TrackWealth offers simplified account aggregation and wealth analysis for advisors to provide their clients. GrowWealth, provides goal-based and thematic investing roboadvisory services that advisors can offer their self-directed clients. And AdviseWealth offers a service for relationship managers.

Founded in 2015 and with 38 employees, WeInvest offers its services in Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, India, and Dubai. Prabhakara recently presented AdviseWealth at FinovateMiddleEast 2018 in Dubai. WeInvest has 5 clients and anticipates it will double that number by the end of the year.

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