Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Roostify Integrates with LendingTree

Roostify Integrates with LendingTree
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: LendingTree, Roostify

Consumer-focused mortgage digitization platform Roostify integrated with online loan marketplace LendingTree today. The integration leverages LendingTree’s aggregation technology to help consumers find the right loan, while Roostify keeps the mortgage origination process online.

Nikul Patel, Chief Strategy Officer, LendingTree cited a “digital gap” in the mortgage industry, explaining that even though most consumers shop for loans online, the mortgage origination process still takes place offline. “Our integration with Roostify brings the industry one step closer to the all-digital vision for a seamless consumer journey,” Patel said.

Consumers browse mortgages on LendingTree and when they select a lender using Roostify they move seamlessly into the application flow. From the lender’s website, Roostify powers authentication using pre-populated fields and the user can apply for a mortgage using Roostify’s fully online process. The integration will be available in the first quarter of this year for all joint LendingTree-Roostify clients.

“Roostify is dedicated to improving the lending experience for both consumers and lenders,” added Rajesh Bhat, CEO of Roostify. “Partnering with LendingTree, whose mission is to help consumers find the best home loan, helps us achieve both those goals, increasing efficiency and lead quality for lenders while offering consumers a faster, stress-free path to apply for and close a competitively priced home loan.”

This move positions Roostify to better compete with mortgagetech company Sindeo, which takes a B2C approach by enabling consumers to shop 40+ lenders and 1,000+ loan programs on its platform.

Roostify presented at FinovateSpring 2016 where the company’s Nathaniel Sokoll-Ward, Head of Product, and Jonathan Kirst, CTO, showed off integrations with TurboTax, Equifax, as well as account aggregation capabilities for asset verification. About a year ago, the company teamed up with Chase to power the bank’s self-service mortgage application process. In October of last year, Roostify launched a Decision Builder tool to offer lenders a set of visual decision-making tools for borrowers. For more on the mortgagetech sector, check out our industry overview.

Founded in 1998, Lending Tree went public on the NASDAQ in 2000. The company was acquired by InterActiveCorp (IAC) in 2003. At FinovateSpring 2015 the company debuted My LendingTree, a personalization platform with a dashboard to view all credit-related accounts. Last spring the company acquired DepositAccounts.com for $33 million.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, AutoGravity, Betterment, Check Point, eMoney Advisor, First Data, FIS, Geezeo, Pindrop Security, Ripple, Risk Ident, Roostify, Signicat

On Finovate.com

  • AutoGravity Tops $2 Billion in Financing Requested Milestone.
  • Geezeo Powers PFM Platform for F&M Bank of Virginia.
  • Signicat Raises $2 Million to Build Out its Identity Assurance as a Service Technology.

Around the web

  • Forbes: Atlanta Startup Pindrop Makes Its Push To Power Security For The Voice Economy.
  • Chevy Chase Trust selects FIS for Unified Wealth Management Technology Platform and Services.
  • eMoney Advisor and Capital One announce new API data sharing agreement.
  • Check Point Technologies announces Infinity Total Protection, a new security model to prevent ‘Gen V’ threats and attacks
  • Investment News: Betterment beefs up 401(k) advisory board with ex-Vanguard expert.
  • BMO Financial Group chooses Up Real -Time Payments solution from ACI Worldwide.
  • Global payment providers IDT and Mercury FX to use Ripple’s XRP.
  • The Paypers interviews Roberto Valerio, CEO of Risk Ident, on getting the best from fraud prevention solutions.
  • First Data expands agreement with SBI Card.

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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Payfone Teams Up with U.K. Mobile Network Operator

Payfone Teams Up with U.K. Mobile Network Operator
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Payfone

Digital identity authentication company Payfone has partnered with O2, a U.K.-based mobile network operator. The initiative aims to protect mobile users from digital fraud, including cyber-hacks, account takeover attacks, SIM swap attacks, and other forms of fraud.

The two are collaborating on Payfone’s Instant Authentication for Mobile, a behind-the-scenes, identity verification solution that enables enterprises to authenticate their clients quickly and securely by using a Trust Score that is generated by analyzing millions of digital signals against multiple authentication factors. One of those factors is real-time authentication from O2, which relies on a mobile phone and does not require the user to switch between channels, such as in two-factor authentication.

Payfone CEO Rodger Desai said, “Payfone is already on track to authenticate 50,000,000 transactions per day in the United States, and extending our capabilities into the United Kingdom is a major milestone for us as we continue our expansion into 35 worldwide markets.”

Originally a mobile payments company, Payfone was founded in 2008. The New York-based company has since pivoted to focus on authentication solutions, adopting the motto, “Delight users. Defeat hackers.” Payfone, whose technologies are currently used by six of the top 10 U.S. banks, processes millions of signals per day to authenticate and score transactions; the company currently authenticates 10 million transactions per day. Last spring, Payfone announced it would power mobile ID authentication for Zelle.

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Expensify Reports More than 1 Million New Users and Double the Partnerships in 2017

Expensify Reports More than 1 Million New Users and Double the Partnerships in 2017
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Expensify

Travel and expense management company Expensify released strong growth figures this week, summarizing a successful 2017. So successful, in fact, the company ended the year with the highest growth rate in its 10-year history.

Here are the highlights:

  • Surpassed $100 billion processed
  • Exceeded 660 million expenses created (more than 180 million expenses were created in 2017 alone)
  • Ended the year with more than 50,000 customers and five million end users across 170 countries
  • Doubled the number of companies in its partner program
  • Received Xero’s App Partner of the Year Award

The San Francisco-based company also enhanced its expense reporting product by adding new features. Expensify improved its report approval workflow and has added the ability to automatically export approved reports in real time. Additionally, at the start of 2018, the company introduced a new user interface and a friendlier user experience.

“The past year has been full of tremendous progress and learnings, and we’re deeply grateful to our customers old and new for their enthusiasm along the way,” said David Barrett, founder and CEO of Expensify. “We have ambitious dreams for 2018 and will continue doing everything we can to make life easier for everyone out there who has better things to do than keep track of receipts.”

At FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016, Expensify presented Bedrock, an open sourced relational database management system. The company last demoed at FinovateSpring 2013, where the company showed off its integrated invoicing technology. Last month, CB Insights featured Expensify in its list of four apps every executive should download now. In November of last year, the company arranged a data sharing agreement with Wells Fargo.

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Japanese Telecom NTT to Distribute Trusona Technology in Japan

Japanese Telecom NTT to Distribute Trusona Technology in Japan
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Trusona

Identity authentication company Trusona has formed a distribution partnership with NTT Advanced Technology Corp. (NTT-AT), a large Japanese telecommunications company. This follows the Arizona-based company’s Asia Pacific launch last August, when it opened offices in Japan.

Through the partnership, NTT-AT will offer Trusona’s frictionless, password-less login solution to its enterprise customers across Japan. NTT-AT clients will have access to Trusona’s Identity Authentication Suite, a solution that replaces passwords with a dynamic, multi-factor login solution. The authentication technology is built with anti-replay technology and can be used to access any digital channel– from web, to mobile, to IoT.

“The opportunity to distribute Trusona’s technology will enable NTT-AT to offer our customers a safer and more secure identity authentication solution that completely gets rid of passwords,” said Eiji Kuwana, SVP of NTT Advanced Technology Corp. “Our company is committed to providing excellent user experience and the best possible security for our customers.”

In the press release, Kazunari Tanaka, APAC Managing Director of Trusona said that Trusona’s password-free authentication solution is “a solution that millions of consumers in Japan have been craving.” Tanaka continued, “Businesses have a responsibility to assure the security of millions of online consumers without complicating user experience.”

Founded in 2015, Trusona is used across a variety of sectors, including government, education, and financial services. The company’s CEO and founder, Ori Eisen, demonstrated Trusona’s Cloud Identity Suite at FinovateFall 2016. The Cloud Identity Suite allows end users to authenticate themselves by using the Trusona app on their smartphone to photograph a QR code on a website login page, then selecting accept on their mobile device.

In November of last year, KPMG and H2 Ventures named Trusona on the list of Emerging Stars on its Fintech 100 rankings. Earlier that year, analyst David Penn highlighted Trusona in his piece The Best Authenticators, Verifiers, and Fraud Fighters.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: AutoGravity, Clinc, Expensify, Geezeo, IdentityMind Global, Kabbage, Kantox, Mitek, Payfone, Realty Mogul, Tradeshift, Trusona, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • Japanese Telecom NTT to Distribute Trusona Technology in Japan.
  • RealtyMogul Introduces new President, Aaron Halfacre.
  • Tradeshift Launches Innovation Center to Bring the Blockchain to Business Commerce.
  • Payfone Teams Up with U.K. Mobile Network Operator.
  • Expensify Reports More than 1 Million New Users and Double the Partnerships in 2017.

Around the web

  • Auto Finance Excellence talks with AutoGravity CTO Sheng Wang, who discusses the company’s new security features.
  • Sam Maule talks with Kabbage founder Rob Frohwein.
  • F&M Bank selects Geezeo to enhance digital banking.
  • Kantox partners with BELLIN to help support SMEs expanding globally.
  • Mitek and IdentityMind announce integration to enhance their digital ID verification capacities.
  • Zopa re-opens its platform for new customers.

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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Trulioo Launches KYC Tool to Connect MNOs

Trulioo Launches KYC Tool to Connect MNOs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Trulioo

Identity verification company Trulioo is extrapolating the use of its know your customer (KYC) solution to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). Available via Trulioo’s Global Gateway ID verification platform, the new authentication will be used in tandem with more than 200 data sources to help verify consumers’ identities during the onboarding process.

Specifically, Trulioo will work with 24 MNOs from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., China, India, Spain, France, and Switzerland, all of which will offer data to help Global Gateway customers meet KYC compliance for mobile identity verification. Through this expansion, financial services providers can leverage mobile network carrier data combined with existing KYC data sources to meet KYC regulations. This will be especially helpful for businesses with clients in China, Spain, and France, three markets where it is particularly challenging to fulfill KYC compliance because of limited access to data.

Trulioo CEO Stephen Ufford said the company has “long been heavily investing in MNO relationships” to grow the list of identity verification partners on its platform. He added, “We are very excited to be the first platform to offer the market services from dozens of MNOs through a single contract and API.”

Founded in 2011, Trulioo leverages 400 data sources to offer verification of 4.5 billion personal identities and 250 businesses in 80+ countries. The Canada-based company also offers a data exchange platform that allows data partners to provide access to consumer data for electronic identity verification purposes, allowing them to set bid prices for electronic ID verification on a region-by-region basis.

At FinovateFall 2016, Trulioo’s Head of Growth, Anatoly Kvitnitsky, demonstrated how GlobalGateway blocks fraudulent users from onboarding in real time. Last May, the company teamed up with Mitek to add a layer of biometric authentication to its identity verification tool. Most recently, Trulioo expanded its services to add business verification in October of 2017.

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Juvo Receives Investment from Samsung to Boost Smartphone Usage Among Underbanked

Juvo Receives Investment from Samsung to Boost Smartphone Usage Among Underbanked
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Juvo

Mobile identity company Juvo has received an investment from Samsung NEXT, an off-shoot of Samsung that launched in 2013 to create new software and foster a startup culture at Samsung. The amount of the investment was undisclosed and adds to the San Francisco-based company’s $54 million in equity funding.

The bigger story here is that the investment is a strategic one. Samsung will bring Juvo access to billions of underbanked prepaid users across the globe. This will help Juvo enable MNOs to increase smartphone adoption among prepaid mobile subscribers.

Juvo was founded in 2014 with a mission to “establish financial identities for the billions of people worldwide who are creditworthy, yet financially excluded.” The company’s tag-line sums this up as, “access for all.”

In today’s press release, Steve Polsky, founder and CEO of Juvo, explained that the investment and alignment with Samsung NEXT is important because it allows Juvo “to further realize our vision by being among the first to integrate financial identity into a hardware device and, with it, offer unprecedented access to greater financial services.” He added, “Samsung opens a critical piece of the ecosystem for Juvo, and its world class organization, market expertise, and reach will accelerate the Juvo mission, putting sophisticated technology in the hands of unbanked people and provide financial access to those who need it most.”

“At Samsung NEXT, we’re focused on working with entrepreneurs and startups that are creating truly impactful software and services–software and services that will transform the way we, as humans, interact with our devices, each other and the world,” said Patrick Chang, Principal at Samsung NEXT Ventures. “Juvo’s impressive traction from mobile operators and consumers offers an opportunity for us to tap into the next billion customers through more comprehensive financial inclusion and accessibility.”

Polsky demoed Juvo’s Identity Scoring at FinovateFall 2016. The company empowers underbanked consumers by offering them a single identity with which to access financial services across the globe. Juvo also incentivizes financially underserved consumers to build credit and access financial services by extending microloans.

Since launch, the company has attained a reach of more than 500 million subscribers across four continents and is deployed in 25 countries. Last fall, Juvo partnered with Malaysian mobile virtual network operator, Tune Talk.

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Xero Teams with DBS on Small Business Account Feeds

Xero Teams with DBS on Small Business Account Feeds
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Xero

Cloud accounting platform Xero has added the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) as a bank partner this week. By teaming up, the two aim to help their mutual small business clients manage their finances.

The partnership will allow small business customers who use DBS IDEAL, DBS’s online business banking platform, to opt in to have their bank transactions imported automatically into their Xero account every day. This automatic transaction data feed enables businesses to gain a holistic view of their financial standing while avoiding manual data entry.

This bank partnership is one of many the New Zealand-based company has undertaken. Xero is currently integrated with more than 80 Australian banks, 20 New Zealand banks, eight banks in the U.K., four banks in the U.S., five banks in Asia, and one bank in South Africa. Rod Drury, Xero CEO and Founder said, “We are working with more than 140 financial and fintech organizations around the world to establish a global financial web which securely opens up data flows that can help de-risk lending and enable small businesses to access much-needed capital so that they can prosper.”

DBS has more than 280 branches across 18 markets. This expanded reach will help Xero access more small business clients in the region, which experiences particular difficulty arranging direct bank feeds. Singapore requires businesses to apply via paper forms that can take up to 10 days to set up. In fact, the region seems to have a particular difficulty in this area. A recent survey of 150 non-Xero SMEs in Singapore found that small business owners:

  • Spend an average of 15+ hours a month manually importing and reconciling their bank statements
  • Almost 30% spend between 20 and 40 hours a month manually reconciling
  • More than 67% cited manual bank statement reconciliation as a challenge in managing operations

Joyce Tee, DBS Group Head of SME Banking said, “By enabling SMEs to manage their finances in a much more efficient manner, we hope that they can better manage their business and make more informed decisions.”

Xero most recently presented at FinDEVr San Francisco 2014 when the company’s Head of U.S. Partnerships David Pollock spoke about building an API-driven ecosystem for small businesses. At FinovateSpring 2011, CEO Rod Drury debuted the company’s Business Identification solution. The company recently ranked number 16 on the KPMG and H2 Ventures Fintech 100 list. In November of last year, Xero partnered with Worldpay to facilitate e-invoicing for small businesses.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FI.SPAN, FICO, Finastra, Juvo, Quid, SoFi, Thomson Reuters, Trulioo, Xero, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • Xero Teams with DBS on Small Business Account Feeds.
  • Zopa Boosts Executive Ranks with Trio of C-Level Hires.
  • SoFi’s Choice: Former Twitter COO Anthony Noto to Take Helm as New CEO.
  • Trulioo Launches KYC Tool to Connect MNOs.
  • Juvo Receives Investment from Samsung to Boost Smartphone Usage Among Underbanked.

Around the web

  • Atomico uses Quid for the 2017 State of European Tech report.
  • Bobsguide interviews Lisa Shields, CEO of FI.SPAN.
  • Thomson Reuters unveils Wizcorp, a digital gateway that will provide customers with data on more than 1.8 million Indian private companies.
  • FICO partners with European regulatory risk analytics consultancy, 4most.
  • Finastra announces new partners to its FusionFabric.cloud open architecture.

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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Dwolla to Power Identity Verification for Yahoo!’s Tanda Savings App

Dwolla to Power Identity Verification for Yahoo!’s Tanda Savings App
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Dwolla

Bank access API provider and money transfer system, Dwolla, is playing a role in Yahoo!’s latest fintech venture. The Iowa-based company will be powering identity verification and money transfer for Tanda, Yahoo!’s social savings app.

Launched last week, the Tanda app divides users into groups of five or nine to pool money and save for short-term savings goals. Users group their money together over the course of a set period of time and every month, one user gets to take home the entire pot of money. The first two users to receive the funds pay a small fee, while the last recipient earns a 2% bonus.

The Tanda app is intended to be used as an alternative to credit cards or short term loans. The concept comes from a rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA), an idea that’s been around for quite some time.

Using Dwolla’s API, Yahoo! will connect to the user’s bank to move money, store funds, validate their identity, and verify their bank account. This comes exactly one year after Dwolla relaunched its API to offer a more inclusive, white-labeled API that rolls in additional features such as a wallet functionality that holds a balance of funds.

Dwolla, which most recently demoed FiSync at FinovateSpring 2015, was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. Last summer, the company added a multi-user feature to its Access API dashboard. In May of 2017, Dwolla teamed up with Plaid to offer a fully tokenized ACH payment integration. Ben Milne is founder and CEO.

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iSignthis and Worldline Finalize Partnership

iSignthis and Worldline Finalize Partnership
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: iSignthis, Worldline

Digital identity proofing company iSignthis has finalized its partnership with European payments firm Worldline. The two have completed a technical integration that combines iSignthis’ regtech services with Worldline’s acquiring capabilities.

European ecommerce merchants will have access to the new service, ISXPay, that is being marketed and delivered via iSignthis subsidiary, iSignthis eMoney. ISXPay, which will operate under its own eMoney Monetary Financial Institution license to directly contract European merchants, offers services for everything from JCB card acceptance to alternative payment methods for cryptocurrencies.

Merchant clients leveraging ISXPay will have access to Paydentity, a payment authentication suite with Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance that links a person’s identity to a payment, satisfying AML and PSD2 regulations. Via a single integration ISXPay Paydentity merchant clients can leverage identity verification, customer due diligence, and a payments platform across Europe and Australia.

Founded in 2013, iSignthis went public on the Australian Stock Exchange in March 2015 (ASX:ISX). The company presented its platform at FinovateEurope 2015 in London. In 2016, iSignthis partnered with Coinify to help its bitcoin exchange platform meet AML, KYC, and CTF regulations for customer due diligence. In October of last year, the company agreed to power KYC for online gambling site Omnislots.

Worldline went public in 2014 and showcased a connected piggy bank at FinovateEurope 2017. In July of 2017, the company purchased First Data Baltics for $85 million. Last month, Worldline announced plans to recruit more than 1,500 people across the globe to support its growth.

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