TransCard to Provide Payroll Solutions for U.S. Xpress Employees

TransCard to Provide Payroll Solutions for U.S. Xpress Employees

TransCardHomepage

Cloud payment solutions company TransCard announced this week it will power payroll solutions for trucking-and-logistics company, U.S. Xpress.

As a part of the agreement, the 7,000 employees of U.S. Xpress will have access to virtual payment accounts through TransCard’s online funds disbursement platform Paynuver. The partnership will help U.S. Xpress remain compliant while offering its employees a choice on how they receive their wages.

Paynuver is a self-service portal that allows companies to manage a paperless payroll solution that lets employees choose how to receive payment. Options include ACH, check, or disbursement onto a prepaid card. TransCard rolled out the platform nationally in February, so the acquisition of 7,000 new customer accounts is a large growth spike for the company.

TransCard President Greg Bloh comments on the new alliance: “With this strategic [partnership], thousands of truck drivers and transportation workers will now be provided much-needed choice and convenience when receiving their payroll.” Bloh added that the deal would “further position the company for growth” as it “continue[s] to revolutionize the traditional payment model.”

TransCard will present its newest solution at FinovateSpring next month. Register today to be among the first to watch the live demo.

FinovateSpring Sneak Peek: Advisor Software

FinovateSpring Sneak Peek: Advisor Software

AdvisorSoftware

FS2016-wdateA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500+ fintech professionals on May 10 & 11. Register today.

Advisor Software (ASI) is a cloud provider of wealth-management apps and APIs, and is a strategic partner of Salesforce. The company has multiple patents in the area of goal-based investing.

Features:

  • Streamlined acquisition process to easily acquire, onboard, and advise clients
  • Operational efficiency to automate portfolio management and account maintenance
  • Modern UI to digitize your customer experience

Why it’s great
ASI’s apps for Salesforce Financial Services Cloud put CRM at the center of adviser practice-management, enabling financial advisers to be truly efficient and customer-centric through scalable onboarding and investing.

AdvisorSoftwarePresenter1Presenters

Kevin Kraus, VP, Product
Kraus is responsible for product management at Advisor Software. Previously he spent 20+ years at Charles Schwab in various client and product management roles.
LinkedIn

AdvisorSoftwarePresenter2Tom Flint, VP, Sales
Flint is responsible for sales at Advisor Software. He has 20+ years of fintech sales experience at firms that include Addepar, Box, Advent, Schwab, and Salesforce.
LinkedIn


Check out all of today’s sneak peeks:

FinovateSpring Sneak Peek: brandCrowder

FinovateSpring Sneak Peek: brandCrowder

brandCrowderHomepage

FS2016-wdateA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500+ fintech professionals on May 10 & 11. Register today.

brandCrowder’s equity crowdfunding platform offers syndication services and portfolio functionality. Crowdfunding-curated franchise deals match franchisees and investors with the right franchise opportunity.

Features:

  • Equity crowdfunding-compliance and -offering platform
  • Functionality to build your own portfolio
  • Syndication services

Why it’s great
brandCrowder has coded the ability to shift compliance and regulatory work onto CFA and RIA primary agents that advise on all accounts.

brandCrowderPresenter1Presenters

Robert Armiak, CEO, brandCrowder
Armiak, former treasurer of Alliance Data [NYSE:ADS], was named in 2010’s 100 Most Influential People in Finance.
LinkedIn

BrandCrowderPresenter2Francois Nabwangu, Co-founder, brandCrowder
Nabwangu is an experienced business development and franchise compliance executive, and formerly CBDO with the Viridian Group.
LinkedIn


Check out all of today’s sneak peeks:

Guardian Analytics Launches “Omni-Channel Fraud Prevention”

Guardian Analytics Launches “Omni-Channel Fraud Prevention”

GuardianAnalyticsHomepage4.16

Fraud-prevention company Guardian Analytics has launched its Omni-Channel Fraud Prevention solution that uses behavioral analytics and machine learning to prevent fraud across multiple channels.

The solution will be delivered in phases, the first of which is Omni-Channel Visual Analytics, which offers banks insight into customer fraud risk and behavior and a view of criminal activity. Subsequent phases include:

  • Enterprise API
    An API for banks to capture data about customer behavior and context for all banking transactions
  • Integrated Risk Database
    Storage for risk, account, and intelligence data that banks can use to enhance risk scoring and investigations
  • Omni-Channel Risk Scoring
    Advanced behavioral analytics that calculate risk scores for each customer

Capital Bank is piloting the new release. Zahid Afzal, Capital Bank’s chief technology and operations executive, says the omnichannel solutions “provide us with even better defenses and more visibility into our customers and their fraud-risk levels, which are central to our ability to expand our offerings and to deliver the faster, lower friction experience our customers demand.”

The California-based company is making the solution available through its early adopter program. Subscription pricing for larger banks starts at $50,000 per year.

Guardian Analytics complements its behavioral analytics using behavior-based anomaly detection. The company studies fraudsters’ strategies and dynamically adapts to the threats by bolstering its solution to prevent attacks at its 400+ financial institution customers.

Guardian Analytics debuted FraudXCHANGE at FinovateFall 2012.

Finovate Debuts: Envestnet “Advisor Now” Offers Robo-tools for Wealth Management

Finovate Debuts: Envestnet “Advisor Now” Offers Robo-tools for Wealth Management

EnvestnetHomepage

Envestnet offers wealth management technology and services to help advisory firms leave brokerages and compete with large financial institutions. Founded in 1999, it went public in 2010 and acquired data-aggregation company Yodlee in August of 2015 for $660 million.

At FinovateEurope 2016, the company launched Advisor Now, a digital advice portal to help traditional advisers compete with robo-advisers. In the demo, Jay Hummel, SVP of advisory services, says:

The future of the robo-adviser movement isn’t going to be standalone robos, it’s going to be a blend of a digital movement. We believe the future is these institutions being able to blend this digital movement to be able to serve a 20-year-old millennial on the exact same platform that they can serve the 70-year old retiree that’s looking for the relationship with a full human advisor. That one platform is what we call Advisor Now.

Advisor Now offers a set of white-labeled tools that help clients monitor investments, track net worth, edit budgets, and securely communicate with their personal adviser.

Company facts:

  • Founded in 1999
  • Based in Chicago, Illinois
  • Used by 47,000 financial advisers to support over $851 billion in assets
  • 2,500+ employees
EnvestnetDemoIMGAdvisory Service SVP Jay Hummel, Blake Wood, SVP, product management, and Molly Pandya, SVP, product management, presented Advisor Now at FinovateEurope 2016 in London.

EnvestnetBill2

We interviewed Envestnet’s William Crager (LinkedIn) for more insight into Advisor Now. Crager has served as president for 16 years; previously, he was managing director at Nuveen Investments.

Finovate: What problem does Envestnet solve?

Crager: Today’s dynamic investor seeks a personalized approach to investing their money. With the ongoing emergence of the latest technologies that offer intuitive methods to help manage wealth, advisers are confronted with how to demonstrate their value proposition and to differentiate their services. While investors are challenged to understand the implications that managing wealth on their own can mean, Envestnet underscores the importance of good advice to an individual’s financial health and wellness. Through the Advisor Now portal, advisors can cater to a client’s basic investing needs and build on that adviser-client relationship to deliver solutions to more complex situations that require full advisory support in the future.

Finovate: Who are your primary customers?

Crager: Our Advisor Now portal is ideal for enterprises, advisers, and investors. Not only does our fiduciary framework provide support to large institutions that need to centralize small accounts—especially in the wake of a new DOL Rule—but also gives advisers an opportunity to extend their reach to new and existing clients that may include millennials or “savers.” Investors can take advantage of goal-oriented planning and investing, knowing that their adviser is behind the scenes offering guidance. Additionally, our robust data-aggregation capabilities give investors a holistic view of their growing wealth.

Finovate: How does Envestnet solve the problem better?

Crager: Our legacy platform is leveraged by more than 47,000 advisers today. As an extension of Envestnet’s open architecture platform, Advisor Now is powering a digital revolution that brings together the simplicity of a robo-offering with a reputable infrastructure that automates the process of goal planning, portfolio selection, account opening, fund transfers, client communication and more.

Finovate: Tell us about your favorite implementation of your solution.

Crager: With Advisor Now, advisers are able to enhance a client’s investing journey, personalizing the approach to advice according to the needs of the investor. We’re giving advisory firms not only a viable solution to help distinguish themselves from the pack, but a way to powerfully scale their business.

Finovate: What in your background gave you the confidence to tackle this challenge?

Crager: Envestnet was built on a vision to empower advisers. As a founding partner of the firm, we had a vision to level the playing field in a world dominated by the most capitalized firms on Wall Street. Today, our firm is a leading provider of wealth management, and crossing the digital divide was our most logical next step to advancing our cause to further establish the importance of the adviser.

Finovate: What are some upcoming initiatives from Envestnet that we can look forward to over the next few months?

Crager: Traditionally, our core capabilities delivered a fully integrated end-to-end platform to enhance the daily practice of managing wealth. Through a new initiative called Open ENV, we will be unlocking our core technology to deliver wealth-management toolsets that give clients the option to leverage customized portals that reflect specific business needs, as well as the flexibility to leverage singular tools to help emphasize the services that are most important to them.

Finovate: Where do you see Envestnet a year or two from now?

Crager: Envestnet is driving enormous innovation in the advice and wealth management space. I believe within a year it will become clear how powerful the integration of leading cloud-based software with consumer financial data is. It is the digital future of advice that incorporates the entire wealthspan of a consumer, from retirement planning to investments to the myriad of personal finance components of their lives. Today, very disparate parts can be brought together to empower the consumer to reach their financial goals. We are excited about what lies ahead.

TransferWise Available in Canada, eh?

TransferWise Available in Canada, eh?

TransferwiseHomepage4.15

Online foreign exchange platform TransferWise is now open for exchanges in Canadian dollars.TransferWiseCanada

The company states in a blog post: “With 3 million Canadians living abroad and almost 7 million foreign expats living in Canada, we can’t wait to start saving you money.”

Starting today, users can transfer Canadian dollars on both web and mobile interfaces to the 60 countries and 35 currencies available on the TransferWise platform.

Well known in the European fintech scene, TransferWise was founded in 2010 with a mission to circumvent banks by democratizing access to the mid-market exchange rate. Using its P2P currency-exchange marketplace, consumers avoid traditional foreign exchange fees and pay a small and transparent fee for the service.

TransferWise has raised $9.4 million from nine investors. It has become notorious for its guerrilla marketing campaigns—most of which feature nearly nude, underwear-only stunts—to promote the company’s transparent fees and to protest the hidden charges in the banking system. The company recently took home awards at the European Fintech Awards, FintechCity’s Fintech50 and Forbes’ Fintech50 (yes, there are two separate awards called Fintech50).

The London-based company debuted its product at FinovateEurope 2013 in London.

Check Out Who Took Home Top Honors at Last Night’s European Fintech Awards

Check Out Who Took Home Top Honors at Last Night’s European Fintech Awards
GroupPhoto(Photo credit: http://www.fintech.nl/)

Last night in Amsterdam the 2016 European Fintech Awards celebrated innovators shaping the future of finance. A total of nine awards were presented to companies selected by a panel of judges for the quality of their pitch.

Four of the winners are Finovate and FinDEVr alums, including BehavioSec, who won the overall award of Best European Fintech Company of 2016:

BehavioSec
Category: Risk, Intelligence, and Security
HQ: Stockholm, Sweden
Founded: 2009
FinovateFall 2015 demo
FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 presentation

Backbase
Category: Innovative Banking Software
HQ: The Netherlands
Founded: 2003
FinovateEurope 2016 demo

Kreditech
Category: Financial Inclusion
HQ: Hamburg, Germany
Founded: 2012
FinovateSpring 2014 demo

Xpenditure
Category: Best of Show, selected for the best pitch
HQ: Mechelen, Belgium
Founded: 2011
FinovateEurope 2016 demo

A total of 29 Finovate and FinDEVr alums were recognized in the European Fintech Top 100 list. Companies awarded on this list were selected by a combination of online public votes (weighted 25%) and a panel of judges (weighted 75%).

  • AdviceGames
  • Kantox
  • Aire.io
  • Klarna
  • AMP Credit Technologies
  • Kontomatik
  • Azimo
  • Kreditech
  • Backbase
  • Mambu
  • BehavioSec
  • mBank
  • Cloud Lending Solutions
  • Meniga
  • ebankIT
  • Nutmeg
  • eToro
  • Qumram
  • ETRONIKA
  • Scalable Capital
  • eWise
  • SmartEngine
  • Fenergo
  • TransferWise
  • Holvi
  • Trustly
  • IdeaBank
  • Zopa
  • InvoiceSharing

The European Fintech Awards are organized by Amsterdam-based publishing company Alex van Groningen BV. The company offers a great explanation of the awards: “The purpose of the FinTech awards is not to scientifically prove who are the best FinTech companies. The judging is primarily based on the judges’ individual ideas and views on the nominating companies using their expertise, knowledge and ideas.”

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Check Out Who Took Home Top Honors at Last Night’s European Fintech Awards”
  • “TransferWise Available in Canada, eh?”

Around the web

  • Segmint launches new features for SegmintOne.
  • Ayondo planning $155 million ‘Reverse Takeover’ IPO on Singapore Exchange.
  • SwipeStox wins Best Pitch Award at Wolves Summit.
  • “DAVO Technologies Joins Intuit’s QuickBooks Partner Platform to Offer Unique Payments Solution for Sales Tax”
  • Canada’s TD Bank goes live with Moven-powered MySpend PFM app.
  • Celent names CBW Bank 2016 Model Bank.

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.

Where Are They Now? A Look at FinovateSpring 2015 Best of Show Winners

Where Are They Now? A Look at FinovateSpring 2015 Best of Show Winners

Finovatefloor

FinovateSpring is quickly approaching. This year’s show, May 10 & 11 in San Jose, California, will be our biggest show yet with 72 winning ideas pitched to more than 1,500 fintech execs. Pick up your ticket to save your seat. While we’re eager to see this year’s demos, we wanted to reflect on the successes of last year’s Best of Show winners (in alphabetic order):


Alpha Payments Cloud

HQ: Singapore
Founded: 2012
Total funding: $12 million

APCStage

May 2015 demo: Alpha Payments Cloud showed AlphaHub, its omnichannel solution-access platform that helps banks, merchants, MSPs, and ISOs gain access to any solution provider in the world. (Demo video)

Partnerships, presentations, and product offerings since August 2015:


Avoka

HQ: Broomfield, Colorado
Founded: 2002

AvokaStage

May 2015 demo: Avoka showed Transact for Financial Services, which combines social, cloud services, and crowdsourcing into the world’s fastest credit card application. (Demo video)

Partnerships, presentations, and product offerings since September 2015:


MoneyAmigo

HQ: Las Vegas, Nevada
Founded: 2015
Funding: $300,000

MoneyAmigoState

May 2015 demo: MoneyAmigo debuted its new platform that brings financial services to the underbanked and underserved, delivering traditional banking products in an innovative way. (Demo video)

Activities and media coverage since May 2015:


Moven

HQ: New York, New York
Founded: 2011
Funding: $24.4 million

MovenStage

May 2015 demo: Moven introduced its Financial Health Platform that provides real-time, contextualized notifications and interactions that create “gamified money moments.” (Demo video)

Media coverage and new product features since October 2015:


NAMU Systems

HQ: Mahwah, New Jersey
Founded: 2014
Funding: $200,000

NamuStage

May 2015 demo: Namu debuted its Joyful Banking which uses new and intelligent behavior modeling to focus on customer behavior and digital experiences to create a new standard in mobile banking. (Demo video)

Namu’s awards and press coverage in 2015:


Shoeboxed

HQ: Durham, North Carolina
Founded: 2007
Funding: $2 million

ShoeboxedStage

May 2015 demo: Shoeboxed launched Receipt Capture for Banks solution which boosts the functionality of online and mobile banking apps while providing fraud protection. (Demo video)

Shoeboxed recently received media buzz for its product update and corporate move last year:


Stratos

HQ: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Founded: 2012
Funding: $6.63 million

StratosStage

May 2015 demo: Stratos debuted its dynamic Stratos Bluetooth Connected Card and Digital Card Issuance Platform that analyzes card usage trends and interactively engages card members. (Demo video)

Awards and activities:

PayPal Marks U.K. Rollout of PayPal Credit with Interest-Free Financing

PayPal Marks U.K. Rollout of PayPal Credit with Interest-Free Financing

PayPalHomepage4.16

Starting this week, PayPal users in the United Kingdom can now spread out the cost of larger purchases when using PayPal at an online retailer or paying with their PayPal digital wallet.

Eligible customers may now enjoy interest-free financing on purchases over £150 ($212) for four months, thanks to the launch of PayPal Credit. After that the rate is 17.9%.

PayPal has partnered with a handful of online retailers to integrate a range of financing deals within their checkout experience:

  • Blacks
  • Chain Reaction Cycles
  • Dyson
  • Millets
  • Samsung
  • Simply Games
  • Ultimate Outdoors

Interest rates start at 0% with terms of up to 24 months.

U.S. customers have used this feature since PayPal acquired Bill Me Later in 2008. In 2014, the San Jose-based company rebranded the service to PayPal Credit and began offering U.S. consumers interest-free financing on purchases over $99.

PayPal was founded in 1998 and works in 203 countries and markets. Its 179 million active accounts allow customers to get paid in more than 100 currencies, withdraw funds to their bank account in 57 currencies and hold a balance in their PayPal account in 26 currencies. Last year, 28% of the 4.9 billion payments the company processed were made on a mobile device.

PayPal’s Braintree Developer Evangelist, Justin Woo, presented at FinDEVr New York 2016 last month:

https://finovate.wistia.com/medias/q3ch6fgcm1

PayPal’s last Finovate demo was at FinovateEurope 2012 where it debuted Instant Account Creation.

Ixaris Receives $6 Million in Funding After Spinning Off from Parent Company

Ixaris Receives $6 Million in Funding After Spinning Off from Parent Company

IxarisHomepage

Payments-solutions provider Ixaris has spun off Ixaris Technologies, a dedicated B2B tech-focused arm that will support its Open Payment Ecosystem Platform, an offering that launched last June.

With the launch of Ixaris Technologies as a distinct company, the London-based company’s shareholders have contributed $6 million in launch funding to accelerate growth. Combined with its previous $10 million in equity funding, Ixaris’ total funding is $16.

CEO Alex Mifsud highlights the fiscal reasoning behind the spinoff: “Our B2B payment offering now accounts for 25% of Ixaris Group revenues, which exceeded $16 million in 2015.” He continues by explaining the market reason behind the separation: “The payments industry is shifting focus towards APIs and technology solutions to help drive open banking, further reinforcing that the time is right to launch a company dedicated to open payments.”

Ixaris’ sister-company EntroPay will focus on its self-service consumer and SMB virtual card business.

At FinovateEurope 2015, Ixaris launched a UI editor for its Open Payments Platform.

FinDEVr APIntelligence

FinDEVrSV16-LogoV2(wdate)Our FinDEVr New York developer showcase last week was a success! FinDEVr Silicon Valley will be held October 18 & 19 in Santa Clara. Register today and save.

On FinDEVr.com

  • “Envestnet | Yodlee Unveils its Risk Insight API”
  • “Google’s Guide: New Book Explains How Google Manages its Cloud Infrastructure”

The latest from FinDEVr New York 2015 presenters

  • OutsideIQ joins fintech accelerator, Bank Innovation INV, as an API partner. See OutsideIQ at FinovateSpring in San Jose next month.
  • Vix Verify opens new offices in Atlanta, Georgia’s Transaction Alley as part of American expansion.
  • Chase launches OnDeck-powered SMB loan platform.
  • Praesidio ranks top 10 most-promising cloud-banking-solution providers of 2015.
  • API report covers Streamdata.io.
  • CryptoCoinNews takes a look at the recent funding for blockchain-development platform, Stratumn.

Alumni updates

  • “CardFlight and Miura Systems Partner to Offer EMV and NFC Mobile POS Solution to the U.S Market”
  • PayNearMe facilitates users to pay for their taxes in cash.
  • “BehavioSec, Nationwide, Unisys Team Up on Biometrics”
  • Crowdfund Insider interviews Snehal Fulzele, Cloud Lending CEO.

Stay current on daily news from the fintech developer community! Follow FinDEVr on Twitter.