Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate

  • Wave Brings Business Services to Royal Bank of Canada’s Online Banking Platform
  • Finicity Teams with DataVerify.
  • Ripple Entices Banks with New Accelerator Program.

Around the web

  • Tradeshift joins the Hyperledger Board.
  • DAVO to offer app to Poynt merchants via Poynt’s App Marketplace
  • Ondot, Elan provide two-way fraud alerts for My Mobile Money app.
  • EverSafe wins a spot in Fidelity’s list of “8 financial tips for new widows.”

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.

P2Binvestor Launches Bank Partnership Program

P2Binvestor Launches Bank Partnership Program

Peer-to-business crowdlending platform P2Binvestor (P2Bi) has launched a bank partnership program today. The new initiative will offer small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) working capital while providing banks access to a diversified asset class.

Under the partnership, banks will front 50% of the capital with a senior secured position. P2Bi’s base of private investors will provide the remaining half of the capital and businesses will receive the funds with a blended interest rate of 8% to 12%. By partnering with P2Bi, banks can quickly extend multi-million dollar lines of credit to growing SMBs and establish a lending relationship with them at an early stage in their business development.

The Colorado-based company’s CEO Krista Morgan explained that regulatory and technology hurdles have made it difficult for business borrowers and banks to connect. “Until now, there hasn’t been a solution like this, which unfortunately has forced growing companies to take on expensive and time consuming funding,” Morgan said. “We’re enabling banks to lend to businesses they otherwise wouldn’t be able to due to strict lending standards,” she added.

Piloting the bank partnership program is New Resource Bank, a San Francisco-based bank with $331 million in assets under management and a focus on social, environmental, and economic change. “P2Binvestor is excited to be powering New Resource Bank’s line of credit with both our marketplace and proprietary receivables lending platform,” said Morgan.

Vincent Siciliano, president and CEO of New Resource Bank describes the program as a “win-win” for the bank and for businesses. Siciliano said, “By using P2Bi’s platform, growing businesses will be able to secure capital that they typically wouldn’t be able to access through bank lending alone. This allows us to offer a greater suite of lending products to the community of sustainable businesses we serve.”

Founded in 2012, P2Bi debuted at FinovateSpring 2013 and, at FinovateFall 2014, the company showcased its borrower application and loan management platform. In November of 2016, P2Bi closed a $7 million Series A round, bringing its total equity funding to $9.6 million. Last month, Forbes featured the company in an article titled, “When Venture Capitalists Said, ‘No,’ This Woman Didn’t Give Up.”

doxo Surpasses 30,000 Payable Billers on its Platform

doxo Surpasses 30,000 Payable Billers on its Platform

Consumer bill pay service doxo announced it reached a milestone today. The Seattle-based company now has more than 30,000 billers on its platform, allowing users the ability to pay even more companies from a single website.

This achievement also gives doxo a new status– the Seattle-based company now has more billers on its platform than any other bill paying service in the U.S. The company attributes the growth to the network effect between users and billing service providers. That is, doxo’s user base of 2 million consumers add billers who they want to pay to the platform while billers join the platform to offer their clients a fast, easy way to pay.

The company’s CEO and co-founder Steve Shivers said that the accomplishment is an “important milestone” for the company, especially when coupled with the fact that doxo surpassed 2 million users earlier this year. “The most compelling service we provide to our users is the ability to pay all of their bills from a single, secure, mobile-friendly account,” Shivers said.

doxo is compatible with existing billing systems and allows billers to electronically connect for free. The platform offers a simplified experience for end users and provides a complete online payment system for billers who have yet to go digital. Among the company’s list of billing partners are AT&T, National Grid, Puget Sound Energy, Kansas City Light, and more providers across finance, utilities, healthcare, telecom, banking, and insurance sectors.

doxo debuted its Control Panel at FinovateSpring 2011. The company received the 2015 Washington Excellence Award for Consumer Payments and Customer Service and most recently was named to the Red Herring Top 100 North America Winners in 2017. Founded in 2008, doxo has raised $18.8 million.

Finastra Partners with VASCO to Offer Customers eSignLive Capability

Finastra Partners with VASCO to Offer Customers eSignLive Capability

It turns out, banks can gain a lot from business tools. That’s probably why business solutions company VASCO and financial services software company Finastra teamed up. Under the agreement, London-based Finastra now offers an interface from its LaserPro loan origination solution to VASCO’s eSignLive e-signature solution.

The LaserPro loan origination solution offers a streamlined way for commercial lenders to originate and process loan transactions. By adding eSignLive’s e-signature capabilities, LaserPro will make the loan signing process even more efficient. The integration will reduce costs and manual errors for lenders– making a clean audit trail– and will offer borrowers flexibility on when and where they sign their documents.

“Digital loan origination and processing require a high amount of compliance and financial institutions need to balance those requirements with security and ease of use,” said VASCO Chief Executive Officer, Scott Clements. “In partnership with VASCO, Finastra is enabling a trusted process and trusted transactions, which are essential in digital loan origination and processing.”

VASCO President Tommy Petrogiannis and Director of Technical Sales Francois Leblanc demo at FinovateFall 2017 in New York

VASCO most recently presented eSignLive at FinovateFall last month in New York. The company’s President Tommy Petrogiannis and Director of Technical Sales, Francois Leblanc, took the stage to debut the eSignLive Digital Lending Solution. The solution leverages the blockchain and e-signature capabilities to offer a fully compliant, fully digital lending solution. In July, VASCO appointed Scott Clements as CEO and earlier this year was selected by Mizuho Bank for its DIGIPASS, digital application security solution.

Finastra was formed earlier this year by acquiring and combining D+H and Misys. London-based Misys debuted its Fusion.Fabric.cloud software development environment at FinovateEurope 2017 in London.

Personal Capital Launches Education Planner to Prepare You for College Costs

Personal Capital Launches Education Planner to Prepare You for College Costs

Wealth tech player Personal Capital has picked up on the student loan crisis. The company announced today it is adding a new feature to its dashboard to help families plan and prepare for the rising cost of higher education.

Personal Capital’s Education Planning Tool helps users understand costs of a specific college, compare in-state vs. out-of-state college costs, determine annual savings needs, and track their progress. The differentiating factor in Personal Capital’s new tool is that it allows for what-if scenarios and hypothetical income analyses. For example, users can determine how much more they would need to save if their student took a fifth year to graduate or if they sold their house, received inheritance money, or retired. Users can model multiple potential outcomes and compare the results to their current plan and see the possible effects on their overall portfolio and retirement readiness.

When starting a new education goal, users enter information about their student, planned education costs, and current savings. The planner accounts for inflation or deflation and calculates how much the user needs to save per month or per year to stay on track. Users can see the projections, edit their contribution amounts, and select specific schools to determine potential changes.

Founded in 2009, Personal Capital debuted its One-Click Investment Proposals at FinovateSpring 2014. At FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016, the company’s Ehsan Lavassani, Founding Engineer & Chief Engineering Officer, and Ravi Gundlapalli, Director of Frontend Engineering, gave a presentation titled, Data-Driven Account Opening. Personal Capital was recently named in CB Insights’ Fintech 250 List. Earlier this year, the company extended its Series E funding round by $40 million, bringing its total capital to $215 million. In late August, Personal Capital reached $5 million in assets under management. Jay Shah is CEO.

Ayondo Pursues IPO After Reverse Takeover Deal Lapses

Ayondo Pursues IPO After Reverse Takeover Deal Lapses

Here’s a quick update on our report a few weeks back that social trading company ayondo would not be undergoing a reverse takeover (RTO) IPO due to a lapsed bid from Singapore-based property developer, Starland Holdings. Today, ayondo has announced that, despite the bid falling through, it is determined to become the first fintech company to IPO on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

The Frankfurt-based company’s CEO Robert Lempka said, “The end of the RTO opens up the way for ayondo to pursue an Initial Public Offering (IPO) instead. The preparation work for an RTO and IPO is almost identical in Singapore and therefore provision is made for a listing in early 2018.”

Other parties involved in the listing include sponsor, UOB Kay Hian Private Limited, as well as the Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX). Both continue to support ayondo in its listing efforts.

Founded in 2008, ayondo offers a brokerage platform that lets users copy the moves of top traders to optimize returns. At FinovateEurope 2013, the company unveiled the newest version of its service, its London brokerage, and a trader career training curriculum. Last month, ayondo received its portfolio management license from German regulator (BaFin).

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Ayondo Pursues IPO After Reverse Takeover Deal Lapses.
  • Personal Capital Launches Education Planner to Prepare You for College Costs.
  • Finastra Partners with VASCO to Offer Customers eSignLive Capability.
  • Trustly Teams Up with Emric to Broaden Payment Options for Businesses.

Around the web

  • Cuffelinks features Jon Medved, CEO and Founder of OurCrowd.
  • Openbank, the digital bank of Santander Group, selects Temenos Core Banking.
  • Interxion working with global institutional agency-model broker INSTINET to host the firm’s BlockMatch.
  • Arroweye Solutions selected by Obsidian to produce custom local open-loop prepaid cards.
  • SecureKey Technologies adds National Bank of Canada to its digital identity network.

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.

SocietyOne Tops $350 Million in Loans

SocietyOne Tops $350 Million in Loans

Australian P2P lender SocietyOne announced today it has issued more than $350 million in loans on its platform since 2012. Additionally, the company has the highest number of current loans, setting a record for itself with $200 million in its books.

“Our growth in 2017 underlines the demand from consumers for a real alternative to the major banks. Consumers are looking for a better deal on their finances and our risk-based pricing is attractive for customers that have demonstrated that they have a good credit history,” said Jason Yetton, CEO and Managing Director of SocietyOne. The company’s loan volumes have seen seven successive quarters of growth. In fact, loan volumes in the first three quarters of this year have totaled $141 million so far; surpassing the $139 million in loans facilitated over the entire course of 2016.

Yetton also noted the growth of SocietyOne’s AgriLending product, which launched in 2014 to serve Australia’s farmers and ranchers. Out of the $350 million in lending on the company’s platform, $80 million was issued to farmers, ranchers, and their agents via AgriLending. “I’m also pleased at the way we are getting behind Australian livestock farmers as the growth in SocietyOne AgriLending has shown. The team is standing ready to help them even more so as rural and regional Australia waits for the rains that will kick start the Spring growth and rearing season,” said Yetton.

In addition to having a strong base of borrowers, SocietyOne reported that the number of lenders on its platform has also risen. The company has an investor base of 320 individuals who have committed a total of $61 million in loans. On the bank side, SocietyOne has 20 partners who have, to date, contributed $100 million of the $350 million in loans advanced to borrowers.

SocietyOne presented its P2P lending platform at FinovateAsia 2012 in Singapore. The company offers borrowers personalized repayment programs with lower interest rates than major banks. Users can borrow between $5,000 to $50,000 for unsecured, personal loans for two, three, or five year terms. In August, the company celebrated five years of facilitating loans and earlier that month was recognized at the 2017 Australian Business Banking Awards.

Bill.com Discloses September Investment Round, Doubles Total Funding

Bill.com Discloses September Investment Round, Doubles Total Funding

Business payments network Bill.com has updated the news regarding the $100 million in funding it landed last month. The round was lead by JPMorgan Chase and Temasek, with participation from lead investors in each of Bill.com’s earlier funding rounds. The financing doubles the company’s previous funding total to $200 million.

In a blog post titled Funding for a Better Future in Digital Payments, Bill.com CEO René Lacerte said the company plans to do “what no other fintech company has been able to do before: eliminate checks and paper from the business operating manual.” Lacerte continued, “With this additional capital, we will cross the chasm shifting digital payments from early adoption to major, widespread market acceptance.”

Bill.com was founded in 2006 to help businesses manage accounts payables and receivables with online billpay, custom invoicing, document storage, collaboration tools, and more. Today, the company remains focused on digital, paperless payment options and offers the largest business payment network in the U.S. Bill.com’s 2.5 million members account for more than 1% of all U.S. businesses and process more than $50 billion in payments each year. The company has 100,000 customers and is partnered with four of the top 10 U.S. banks and with more than half of the top 100 accounting firms.

Bill.com’s Lacerte debuted the company’s CashView tools at FinovateSpring 2012. Last month, the company won the Accountex User Favorite Award in the Bill Pay Solution category. Most recently, Bill.com announced a partnership with JP Morgan Chase in which it will help Chase’s business customers manage their cash flow.

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: additiv

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: additiv

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on November 7 and 8 in Hong Kong. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

additiv is the leading provider of B2B2C digital financial solutions as a service for financial institutions, wealth managers, and fintech companies.

Features

  • Quick implementation and sufficiently configurable roboadvisor
  • Rapid to deploy but integrated with bank’s key data repositories
  • Country and local compliant setup

Why it’s great
additiv is the leading provider of B2B2C digital financial solutions-as-a-service for financial institutions, wealth managers, and fintech companies.

Presenters

Michael Stemmle, CEO
Stemmle is CEO of additiv, building the digital future of the financial industry.
LinkedIn

Derrick Loi, Global Head of Orange Cloud for Business (International)
As a former Citrix and Cisco Manager, Loi is currently responsible for the GTM, revenue targets, order targets and P&L for Orange Cloud Business international, which covers Asia Pacific, Europe, Americas and Emerging Markets.
LinkedIn

Thomas Achhorner, Global Head of Solutions
Achhorner is a former PwC and BCG partner and develops additiv’s SaaS offering by packaging the firm’s renowned digital finance services platform as cloud-based products.
LinkedIn

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Call Levels

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Call Levels

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on November 7 and 8 in Hong Kong. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

CLAIRE (Call Levels AI for Reimagining Enterprises) is a secure, intelligent, chatbot SAAS solution for banks and financial institutions to optimize their customers’ experiences.

Features

  • AI chatbot framework
  • Real-time financial monitoring system and analytics
  • Double hashing blockchain security

Why it’s great
CLAIRE’s AI-powered automation enables you to bank when you want, where you want.

Presenters

Linda Ang, Head, Strategy & Development
Familiar with both corporate developments and the dynamics of financial markets, Ang is a business strategist with significant experience in Business Development and Investor Relations.
LinkedIn

Taqin Jamil, Head of Design
Jamil is responsible for the overall product interaction and experience. As Head of Design, he leads the team in creating UX-friendly fintech applications.
LinkedIn

TASCET Teams with Secured2 to Launch Algo5 Data Security Offering

TASCET Teams with Secured2 to Launch Algo5 Data Security Offering

Identification technology company TASCET announced this week it has partnered with Secured2 to launch a new data security offering. The product, Algo5, aims to protect data against both internal and external breaches, hacks, and disasters.

The new data storage solution combines TASCET’s SuperToken, which verifies a user’s identity, with Secured2’s Beyond Encryption, which protects data from the origination of a document to an endpoint of cloud, local, or hybrid storage. Algo5 offers cost savings by shrinking, shredding, and dispersing data to numerous locations, each with its own encryption. To retrieve the data, users must be authorized and verified through SuperToken.

Daren Klum, CEO of Secured2 acknowledges that there are too many “weak points” in data storage and access. Explaining the advantage of the new technology, Klum said, “Algo5 brings together two technologies – identification and data security at the file level – that are changing the way companies store, access, and retrieve data.”

“Algo5 provides all of the crucial components necessary to secure data in today’s high risk environment,” said TASCET CEO Larry Aubol. “This includes the identification of users, which ensures that access is allowed only by users who are known. This step is nonexistent in approaches that rely on authentication,” he added.

Founded in 2005, TASCET debuted Financial ICONN at FinovateSpring 2012. In June of this year, TASCET announced a partnership with Mobility Exchange to bring TASCET’s SuperToken technology to Mobility Exchange’s clients. TASCET is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin and has raised just over $13 million.