Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

With $100 Million in Fresh Funding, Coinbase Joins Unicorn Club

With $100 Million in Fresh Funding, Coinbase Joins Unicorn Club
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Coinbase

Digital currency wallet Coinbase has taken the leap to become a unicorn today. The San Francisco-based company announced it has received $100 million in Series D funding led by IVP. Other investors include Spark Capital, Greylock Partners, Battery Ventures, Section 32, and Draper Associates.

Today’s investment brings the company’s total funding to $217 million; Pitchbook estimates Coinbase is now valued at $1.6 billion. This makes the company one of only a handful of unicorns (startups with more than $1 billion valuations) in fintech and crowns Coinbase as the first bitcoin unicorn.

Since it was founded in 2012, Coinbase has now exchanged more than $25 billion worth of digital currency for its clients. Almost $15 billion of this occurred in the first half of 2017 alone. The company plans to put the new funds to work in three ways. First, Coinbase plans to expand its engineering and customer support teams. Second, it will open a GDAX office in New York City to better position itself to serve professional traders. Third, it will invest in the digital currency Toshi to build it into a global payments network.

Coinbase, which supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin in 32 countries, offers three main products:

  • Coinbase: an exchange platform for digital currency
  • GDAX: exchange platform for professional U.S. traders and institutions
  • Toshi: a browser for the Ethereum network

The company notes that with this funding, it is preparing to transition into phase three of its “secret master plan,” that is, it plans to build a consumer interface for decentralized digital currency apps. Coinbase, which demoed Instant Exchange at FinovateSpring 2014, has made headlines twice today– the first instance highlighting its View Balance feature in partnership with Fidelity Labs.

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PayPal Strengthens Lending Arm with Swift Financial Acquisition

PayPal Strengthens Lending Arm with Swift Financial Acquisition
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: PayPal

PayPal has apparently not taken vacation this summer. After a surge of partnerships, the payments company announced it will acquire Swift Financial, a U.S.-based small business lending platform. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close later this year, were not disclosed.

Delaware-based Swift Financial has provided working capital to thousands of small businesses since launching in 2006 and has been recognized by J.D. Power for offering an “outstanding customer experience.” PayPal acquired Swift Financial to feed into PayPal Working Capital, the company’s business financing arm that launched in 2013 and has since provided more than $3 billion in funding to more than 115,000 small businesses. PayPal describes its small business financing arm as a “strategic offering” that “drives merchants’ sales growth, increases processing volume, and reduces merchant churn.”

PayPal anticipates the acquisition will help it enhance underwriting capabilities. “While PayPal Working Capital provides access to capital based exclusively on proprietary insights, Swift’s technology will allow us to assess supplemental information to more fully understand the strength of a business and provide access to complementary financing products to meet the needs of small and mid-sized businesses,” Darrell Esch, PayPal VP & Commercial Officer, Global Credit said in a blog post. Furthermore, the acquisition will help PayPal accelerate its goal of democratizing financial services and will enable the company to expand its loan cap from $125,000 to $500,000.

After being acquired by eBay in 2002, PayPal split from the online auction company in 2015, launching on the NASDAQ under the ticker PYPL. So far in 2017, PayPal has been busy expanding partnerships and initiating acquisitions. Here is a flurry of news from just this April to the present:

The company’s market cap currently sits around $70 billion. PayPal’s Braintree recently presented at FinDEVr New York 2016. The company also showcased its Instant Account Creation feature at FinovateFall 2012. The company’s second quarter revenue is up 20% year-over-year to $3.14 billion. Since the second quarter of 2016, PayPal has added 22 million active accounts and increased its mobile payment volume by 50%. Also in the second quarter of this year, Venmo payment volume was up 103% to $8 billion.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: CardFlight, Coinbase, CustomerXPs, FutureVault, Karmic Labs, Mambu, PayPal

On Finovate.com

  • Fidelity Partners with Coinbase on View Balance Feature
  • PayPal Strengthens Lending Arm with Swift Financial Acquisition.
  • With $100 Million in Fresh Funding, Coinbase Joins Unicorn Club

Around the web

  • Mambu to power lending products of Fuse, the lending arm of Filipino financial technology firm Mynt
  • Central Payment Announces Partnership with CardFlight to Offer SwipeSimple Mobile POS to Merchants.
  • CustomerXPs positioned again as Enterprise Solution in 2017 Chartis RiskTech Quadrant for Enterprise Fraud Technology
  • FutureVault appoints new Chief Revenue Officer, Trevor Marshall.
  • Karmic now powers Lowe’s PreLoad prepaid payment and expense management technology.

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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BioCatch Partners with LexisNexis to Leverage Data and Analytics for Better Risk Management

BioCatch Partners with LexisNexis to Leverage Data and Analytics for Better Risk Management
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: BioCatch

Behavioral authentication and threat detection company BioCatch teamed up with risk management company LexisNexis Risk Solutions today in an effort to reduce losses caused by fraud.

Specifically, the two companies aim to mitigate application fraud and account takeover fraud, which account for 40% of total fraud losses. Paul Bjerke, VP of fraud and identity management of LexisNexis Risk Solutions noted that companies cannot address application fraud with static means. Instead, Bjerke suggested “supplementing applicant-provided data with additional dynamic data sources, like behavioral biometrics.”

The combined solution will offer companies additional risk scores by monitoring user behavior and discerning between real and fraudulent users. Specific behavioral clues include:

  • Application Fluency: how well a user knows the site
  • Navigational Fluency: how well a user knows various computer functions
  • Data Familiarity: how well a user knows the information they are entering

“By understanding ‘how’ a user enters information into an application, and not ‘what’ information is being entered, we are able to change the rules of the game and seamlessly provide a completely new level of identity assurance in an era of rampant identity theft,” Eyal Goldwerger, BioCatch CEO said.

Founded in 2011, BioCatch monitors 4 billion transactions per month for a handful of major banks. In April, the company partnered with Experian to prevent new account fraud for CrossCore users and in February BioCatch teamed up with Nuance Communications to power continuous authentication for Nuance Security Suite solution. At FinovateFall 2014, the company showed off Invisible Challenges.

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Mitek Enhances MobileVerify with NFC

Mitek Enhances MobileVerify with NFC
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Mitek

The fintech community has been eyeing the capabilities of near field communication (NFC) technology for awhile now. And though we’re still waiting for its successful application in payments, Mitek has proven that the enabling technology has a clear use case in mobile capture and identity verification. The California-based company announced today that it has added NFC capability to its Mobile Verify suite.

With this enhancement, Mobile Verify can read data held on radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips embedded in identity documents. By simply touching the RFID-powered document to their smartphone, users can easily transfer their biometric data to their phone for streamlined authentication. The NFC enhancement layers another factor of authentication by comparing three elements: 1) the user’s photograph stored on the chip, 2) the printed photo on the document, and 3) a live selfie taken by the user. The video below illustrates the user experience.

https://youtu.be/3kIryhjxH2M

This development comes at a time when RFID-equipped documents are becoming more common. Almost 1 billion ePassports have been issued to date, and it is estimated that 3.6 billion people will have RFID-enabled ID cards by 2021. James DeBello, Mitek chairman and CEO said that fintech companies today need “modern methods for ensuring the identities of their users and verifying electronic ID documents.” DeBello added that the enhanced Mobile Verify product offers a “faster, easier and extremely secure digital identity verification process” for Mitek’s global user base.

Mitek’s solutions are embedded into the apps of 5,800 organizations with a combined user base of more than 80 million consumers. Mitek recently demoed at FinovateEurope 2017, where the company’s General Manager of Identity Solutions, Sarah Clark, and CMO, Kalle Marsal, showcased the company’s Mobile Verify solution that helps onboard customers without requiring them to visit a branch. In May, the company partnered with Trulioo to offer identity document verification with facial comparison for Trulioo’s Global Gateway API. This September, Mitek will be showcasing its newest technology at FinovateFall 2017 in New York (register today to save your spot). Check out a sneak peek of what the company plans to demo this fall.

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Flywire Expands Operations in Japan, Forms Partnership with Volvo

Flywire Expands Operations in Japan, Forms Partnership with Volvo
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Flywire

Cross-border payments and receivables platform Flywire (formerly peerTransfer) is marking international growth today. Less than a year-and-a-half after entering the Japanese market, the Massachusetts-based company has moved $60 million on behalf of Japanese schools and students.

Flywire has also signed on 90 schools in Japan, including Yamanashi Gakuin University, Globis University Graduate School of Management, Kumamoto Gakuen University, Chuo College of Technology, eight YMCA Vocational Schools, Kyoshin Group Schools, Meiko Network Group Schools, Sendagaya Japanese Language School, Arc Academy, and Akamonkai Japanese Language Schools.

“International education is thriving in Japan, and it’s one of the key countries in our expansion in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Mike Massaro, CEO at Flywire. “We have an outstanding team in place focused on serving the needs of both educational institutions and students to make the cross-border payment and receivable process easy, efficient and transparent for all involved.”

Earlier this month, Flywire announced an agreement with Volvo to support the vehicle manufacturer’s new program that helps international students lease a Volvo car while they attend school overseas. With a single payment upfront, students can borrow a new Volvo vehicle for their term at school, with maintenance and insurance included. At the end of the school term, the student returns the vehicle to the dealer. Through the agreement, Flywire will not only facilitate payment tracking and reconciliation with Volvo Car Financial Services, it will also enable the borrower– the student– to pay in their preferred currency.

Since it was founded in 2011, Flywire has processed $5 billion in educational payments. The company is partnered with more than 1,300 organizations across 18 countries and the service works in 220 different countries and territories with 120 different currencies. Earlier this summer, Flywire partnered with PayPal to offer clients a new channel through which to send and receive money. The company presented its original tuition payment platform at FinovateSpring 2011. Flywire has raised a total of $43.2 million.

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StreetShares Raises $10.3 Million for “Shark Tank Meets eBay” Approach to P2P Lending

StreetShares Raises $10.3 Million for “Shark Tank Meets eBay” Approach to P2P Lending
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, StreetShares

Alternative lending platform StreetShares raised $10.3 million in a venture round this week. The funds come from an undisclosed investor and bring the Virginia-based company’s total funding to almost $20 million since it was founded in 2013.

StreetShares describes itself as “Shark Tank meets eBay” because it serves as a platform where small business owners pitch their loan requests to the community of StreetShares investor members. Founded by military veterans, StreetShares is focused on offering financing for small businesses run by military veterans and their families, but serves non-veteran- run small businesses, as well. The company offers loans with terms ranging from three to 36 months and lines of credit ranging from $2,000 to $100,000. Investors can lend from $25 to $100,000 in Veteran Business Bonds and earn 5% interest.

Mark Rockefeller (CEO & Co-Founder), Mickey Konson (COO & Co-Founder) demo at FinovateEurope 2015

At FinovateEurope 2015, the company’s CEO and co-founder Mark Rockefeller and COO and co-founder Mickey Konson showcased the StreetShares platform. Last year, the company began leveraging Title IV (Regulation A+) of the JOBS act to allow unaccredited investors to lend to small businesses. It is now one of only a handful of P2P lending platforms open to unaccredited investors.

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Kantox Pulls in $6 Million from Existing Investors

Kantox Pulls in $6 Million from Existing Investors
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Kantox

Currency and risk management solutions company Kantox recently reeled in $6 million in funding. Business Insider reported on Friday that the U.K.-based company’s CEO and founder Philippe Gelis confirmed the round, which closed at the end of July. This brings Kantox’s total funding to just over $27 million since it was founded in 2011.

Contributing to the round are existing investors Partech Ventures, IDinvest Partners, and Mundi Ventures. In a statement, Gelis told Business Insider, “We have great traction so we did not want to look for new investors (something which is always very time consuming) but wanted to stay focused on the business and product development. We are getting close to becoming profitable.” He added, “We are progressing well and focusing on building sophisticated software solutions for our clients.”

“We built Kantox because we consider that foreign exchange is one of the few financial services for which you do not know how much you pay,” Gelis began the company’s FinovateEurope 2013 demo. The company serves as a marketplace where businesses can buy and sell foreign currencies; offering a low-cost foreign exchange solution that aims to undercut the interbank exchange rate. Since launching in 2011, Kantox has exchanged $4.5 billion for 2,000+ clients in 124 countries working in 35 currencies.. The company, which has offices in London and Barcelona, was recently highlighted in FinTechCity’s FinTech50 list of top European fintechs. Last year, Kantox launched Dynamic Hedging to help companies monitor currency risk in real time and expanded its API out of beta.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Cloud Lending Solutions, Featurespace, Kantox, Kasasa, PwC, Sandstone

On Finovate.com

  • Kantox Pulls in $6 Million from Existing Investors.

Around the web

  • Kasasa named a Best Place to Work in Austin for a third consecutive year.
  • PCF Bank partners with Sandstone to launch a digital origination and servicing platform.
  • Cloud Lending Solutions announces CL Portal, a new expansion of the CL Solution Suite.
  • PwC UK and Featurespace partner to provide clients with technology to combat financial crime attacks.

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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Personal Capital Extends Series E Round by $40 Million

Personal Capital Extends Series E Round by $40 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Personal Capital

Wealth management company Personal Capital just scored $40 million in additional funding today. The money comes from existing investors as an add-on to the $75 million Series E the company received from IGM Financial in May of 2016.

This brings Personal Capital’s total funding to $215 million since it was founded in 2009 by Bill Harris, former CEO of both Intuit and PayPal. The company, which aims to build a better money management experience for consumers, offers financial tools such as a retirement planner, a portfolio fee analyzer, and a net worth assessment. To differentiate the platform from other wealth management tools, Personal Capital prides itself on offering a high level of personal touch by combining digital advisory technology and human advisors. The company will use the funds to boost product development and marketing, grow its human advisor workforce, bolster offerings for specific customer segments, and expand its offices in San Francisco and Denver.

In the press release, the company disclosed it now has $4.9 billion in AUM, $1.4 billion of which was added in the past 7 months. Over the course of the same time frame, the company’s average client size has grown from $340,000 to $380,000. Jay Shah, CEO of Personal Capital, said that the funding will help the company “capitalize even further on [its] rapid growth trajectory.”

The San Francisco-based company also announced this week that it has integrated with real estate investment platform PeerStreet. The partnership aims to offer Personal Capital clients a more comprehensive view of their overall net worth. With PeerStreet data loaded into a Personal Capital account, users can track the performance of their crowdfunded real estate portfolios within the same view of the rest of their net worth. Brett Crosby, co-founder and COO of PeerStreet, said that the integration will improve the customer experience and “provide greater control and transparency.”

Personal Capital debuted its One-Click Investment Proposals at FinovateSpring 2014. At FinDEVr Silicon 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 spring, the company appointed Jay Shah as CEO.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Actiance, BioCatch, Clinc, Flybits, Gro Solutions, Insuritas, LeanXcale, Micronotes, nCino, Personal Capital, Ripple, wipro, Xero

On Finovate.com

  • Personal Capital Extends Series E Round by $40 Million.
  • Conversational AI Comes to USAA Courtesy of Clinc.
  • nCino Inks 100th Customer in Pacific Western Bank.

Around the web

  • Actiance Introduces First Compliance and Archiving Solution for WeChat and WhatsApp.
  • Xero expands Stripe partnership for automated reconciliation.
  • DBS, Xero unveil bank feed integration for SMEs.
  • ICT solution provider Telindus announces integration into the Ripple network.
  • LeanXcale earns a spot in the DB-Engines Ranking of relational and NoSQL database management systems
  • BioCatch granted patent for technology that detects remote access tools in order to spot malicious behavior.
  • Flybits launches new Experience Studio, announces partnership with Bouygues Energies & Services.
  • Wipro opens new Silicon Valley Innovation Center in Mountain View, California.
  • Micronotes partners with TimeTrade to bridge the clicks-to-bricks divide.
  • Credit Union CEOs Move 5 Millionth Member to Insuritas.
  • Gro Solutions to relocate its headquarters to Midtown Atlanta.

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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Ripple Unveils Expanded Suite of Offerings

Ripple Unveils Expanded Suite of Offerings
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Ripple

What’s in a name? Blockchain solutions company Ripple is about to find out. Today, the company has unveiled a new name for its existing global payments network, as well as a handful of new solutions.

RippleNet, the global payments network, has more than 90 customers and is undergoing more than 75 commercial deployments. The network’s digital asset, XRP, was listed by five new exchanges in the second quarter of this year, which resulted in $11.06 billion worth of XRP transactions. By the end of the second quarter, XRP had risen by 11.6x from the previous quarter and by 39.8x year-to-date.

The San Francisco-based company structured a suite of offerings in support of XRP:

  • xCurrent is a payments processing solution powered by the Interledger Protocol (ILP). The enterprise software solution allows financial institutions to instantly send and receive international payments. The payments include end-to-end tracking and bi-directional messaging, as well as standardized transactions through a Rulebook.
  • xRapid leverages XRP to lower the liquidity costs of payments in emerging markets. xRapid is currently still in development, but the company anticipates more developments over the coming months.
  • xVia is a payments interface available in an API that allows users to send international payments through a bank or payment provider on RippleNet. xVia is also in development and will offer users transparency into their transaction as well as the ability to attach invoices and other rich payment details.

In a blog post announcing the change, Ripple VP of Product Asheesh Birla explained how these developments are all aimed at helping Ripple move toward its singular goal of creating the Internet of Value (IoV). “Our products are coming together (and growing) to support our one, single vision,” Birla said.

Last fall, the company appointed Brad Garlinghouse as CEO, who filled the seat of Chris Larsen who co-founded the company in 2012. Larsen debuted Ripple (originally known as OpenCoin) at FinovateSpring 2013. In addition to making headlines for its rapid growth during the first half of this year, Ripple also made the news this spring when it partnered with BBVA to complete an international money transfer using RippleNet. The company has raised more than $93 million.

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