Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

20 Alums Make the First Forbes Fintech 50

20 Alums Make the First Forbes Fintech 50
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Algomi, Betterment, Braintree, Chain.com, Credit Karma, HelloWallet, Kensho, LearnVest, Motif Investing, Personal Capital, Plaid, Prosper, Quantopian, Ripple, Simple, TransferWise, TrueAccord, Uncategorized, Vouch, Wealthfront, Xignite

ForbesFintech502015

There’s more to the Forbes Fintech 50 list than just an awesome logo featuring George Washington wearing wrap-around shades. Forbes compiled the list by soliciting information from 300 startups, then interviewing more than 150 CEOs, founders, and industry experts. To make the cut, companies were required to have operations in the U.S. and a viable product.*

Simply put, Forbes describes the companies on the list as “small firms destined to have a big impact on your financial future and possibly upend your portfolio.”

This year, 20 Finovate and FinDEVr alums made the cut:

Algomi

  • Founded: 2012
  • HQ: London
  • Funding: $30 million
  • Customers: 14 large banks and 140 buy-side firms
  • FinovateFall 2014 demo

Betterment

Braintree

Chain

Credit Karma

HelloWallet

  • Founded: 2009
  • HQ: Washington, D.C.
  • Exit: Purchased by Morningstar in 2014 for $52.5 million
  • FinovateFall 2015 demo

Kensho

LearnVest

  • Founded: 2009
  • HQ: New York City, New York
  • Exit: Purchased by Northwestern Mutual in 2015 for $250+ million
  • FinovateFall 2013 demo

Motif

Personal Capital

Plaid

Prosper

Quantopian

Ripple

Simple

TransferWise

TrueAccord

Vouch

Wealthfront

Xignite

*While the list excludes financial giants, Forbes included startups acquired by larger companies but operating independently.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Debuts: Gro Solutions Takes Mobile Account Opening Beyond ID Capture

Finovate Debuts: Gro Solutions Takes Mobile Account Opening Beyond ID Capture
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Finovate Debuts, Gro Solutions

GroHomepage

Gro Solutions, a subsidiary of Mobile Strategy Partners that offers digital banking services for financial institutions, launched a new addition to its mobile account opening solution at FinovateFall earlier this year.

Company facts:

  • Headquarters: Atlanta, Georgia
  • Founded: 2015
  • 30 full-time employees

Since Gro’s founders have all worked in traditional banks, they understand the need for an easy onboarding process. With its new carrier data integration, Gro Account Opening goes beyond typical driver’s license-capture with an alternative for customers who may be uncomfortable or unable to upload their license.

Instead of pulling data from a photo ID, Gro uses cell phone carrier data to verify identity and meet KYC and AML requirements. Here’s how it works: When the user applies for an account, GRO detects their mobile carrier; in this case, Verizon (screenshot left). When they click on the Verizon logo, GRO shows a disclosure and requests their ZIP code to verify the account (screenshot right).

GROScreenshots12

Pulling data from their Verizon account, GRO automatically populates the form.

GROScreenshots34

After verifying the Verizon information, customers manually enter sensitive information such as Social Security Number, date of birth, and mother’s maiden name. Next, GRO validates their email address and sends disclosures and legal documents.

After accepting the terms and conditions and signing the agreement, the customer answers out-of-wallet questions from Experian, TransUnion, or LexisNexis, and the process is complete.

To fund their new account, the user snaps a photo of their credit card using their mobile camera (see below) and signs their screen.

GROFundAccount

Gro also creates additional layers of security by integrating geolocation and parsing out email addresses to match the applicant’s name and/or company name.

What’s next?

The company is working on using data from LinkedIn to authenticate users with questions such as, “Where did you work 10 years ago?”

This fall, Gro was recognized by American Banker and BAI as a “fintech company to watch” as part of the 2015 FinTech Forward rankings.

Gro Solutions CEO David Eads and CRO Paul Mackowick demoed Gro Account Opening at FinovateFall 2015 in New York City, as seen here:

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FinDEVr APIntelligence

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: BehavioSec, On Deck Capital, Personal Capital, Tradier, Twilio, Xero

FinDEVr2016-NY-(Stacked)V2

Building a new financial technology? Mark your calendars for our spring developer event in New York City, 29/30 March 29, FinDEVr 2016 and check out the first round of FinDEVr New York presenting companies.

The latest from FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 presenters

  • Modest Money asks: “Are Personal Capital’s Financial Advisers for the Small-time Investor?”
  • Let’s Talk Payments features BehavioSec in a roundup of top Nordic fintech startups.
  • JPMorgan announces partnership with OnDeck Capital.

Alumni updates

  • Xero adds two-step authentication to its accounting platform.

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

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Gro Solutions, Kasasa, Personal Capital

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate Debuts: Gro Solutions Takes Mobile Account Opening Beyond ID Capture”
  • “20 Alums Make the First Forbes Fintech 50″

Around the web

  • Kasasa wins 2 MarCom Gold Awards for its 2015 Kasasa Rewards Rush program.
  • Modest Money asks: “Are Personal Capital’s Financial Advisers for the Small-Time Investor?”

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

BankersLab Closes on Undisclosed Amount in Angel Funding Round

BankersLab Closes on Undisclosed Amount in Angel Funding Round
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: BankersLab, Funding

BankersLabHomepage

BankersLab, the company that refers to its training products as Flight Simulators for Bankers, announced today it closed a round of angel funding. The company has previously relied on its bootstrapped funds.

The amount of funding is undisclosed, but the San Francisco-based company hinted of its investor base, which includes financial and tech sector executives from the U.S., Germany and Singapore.

The San Francisco-based company plans to use the funding to accelerate development of PortfolioQuest, an SaaS-based simulation training product it will demo live at FinovateEurope 2016 in London.

BankersLab was founded in 2011. It has since offered training in acquisition, underwriting, collections, and account management to retail banking and fintech industry participants across 35 countries. The PortfolioQuest game, a spinoff of its original game series, enhances portfolio management skills by offering a single-player simulation game that allows participants to measure their performance against their colleagues and the fintech community at large.

BankersLab last demoed ScoringLab at FinovateAsia 2012.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

CAN Capital’s CAN Connect APIs Now Offer iPayment Merchants Access to Funds

CAN Capital’s CAN Connect APIs Now Offer iPayment Merchants Access to Funds
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: CAN Capital

CANCAPhomepage

On the heels of OnDeck’s announcement last week that it is partnering with JPMorgan Chase to offer small-business loans, CAN Capital announced today its partnership with iPayment, provider of payment solutions and processing services. As part of the partnership, CAN Capital will offer iPayment’s 150,000 merchant customers access to working capital.

Without ever leaving the iPayment platform, merchants can apply for $2,500 to $150,000 in funds to grow their business.

The integration is made possible through CAN Capital’s CAN Connect platform, a suite of APIs that leverages iPayment’s existing merchant data to simplify the application process and prequalify them for financing.

Since launching in 1998, CAN Capital has furnished small businesses with $5.5 billion in working capital. The company last demoed at FinovateFall 2013 where it debuted Mobile Funder, a tool for sales reps to remotely prequalify businesses and submit applications for a variety of finance products.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

SocietyOne Offering Car Loans to Uber Drivers in Australia

SocietyOne Offering Car Loans to Uber Drivers in Australia
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: SocietyOne

SocietyOneHomepage3

 

Australia-based P2P lending platform SocietyOne today announced it is partnering with Uber to offer its drivers car loans. This comes at a time of high growth for Uber Australia which has seen its UberX platform grow from 0 to 20,000 drivers in the past 18 months.

Uber, which operates in nine cities across Australia and New Zealand, requires drivers to have a car no older than 10 years. However, some drivers have difficulty obtaining a traditional loan because ride-sharing jobs may be perceived as unstable.

SocietyOne charges drivers an upfront fee of $250 to take out a car loan, which ranges from $5,000 to $35,000 at an interest rate of 6.5% to 12.6% which is competitive with rates from traditional banks.

Launched in 2011, the company now employs 75 in Australia and New Zealand and has extended $60 million in personal loans this year. It is experiencing 10% growth in loan originations month-over-month.

SocietyOne debuted its ClearMatch technology at FinovateAsia 2012 in Singapore.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Prosper’s BillGuard Unlocks Premium Features for All Users

Prosper’s BillGuard Unlocks Premium Features for All Users
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: BillGuard, Prosper

BillGuardHomepage

Fresh on the heels of being acquired by Prosper in October, the expense-management and fraud-tracking application BillGuard made some of its most popular premium features available for free, including:

  • Unlimited card monitoring (previously limited to one credit or debit card)
  • Free tracking of TransUnion credit scores

Prior to today’s announcement, BillGuard offered three versions: freemium, BillGuard Pro, and BillGuard Ultimate. The company is paring down to two services by retiring its Pro service. All Pro users will be upgraded to Ultimate at no additional cost.

In today’s announcement, Prosper also hinted at its future plans for BillGuard:

In the months ahead, we will be releasing our initial BillGuard-Prosper product integrations which will take BillGuard to a whole new level of financial control and well-being. We can’t wait to share it with you.

San Francisco-based BillGuard, which launched in 2011, has helped its 1.4 million users flag more than $70 million in unauthorized charges.

BillGuard last presented at FinovateSpring 2012 where it debuted BillGuard FI. Prosper presented at FinovateSpring 2009 as well as the inaugural Finovate in 2007.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Arxan Technologies, Bento for Business, BillGuard, DocuSign, Equifax, eWise, Expensify, EyeVerify, InComm, Insuritas, Jack Henry, Ledger, ProfitStars, Prosper, Spotcap, Tradier, TransferTo, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • “Prosper’s BillGuard Unlocks Premium Features for All Users.
  • “Zopa Partners with Equifax, Boosting its Risk-profiling Capabilities”

Around the web

  • Ledger launches developer edition of hardware wallet.
  • Jack Henry’s ProfitStars now has 20+ institutions that have implemented Gladiator Hosted Network Solutions.
  • RTN FCU to power its insurance agency with Insuritas.
  • InComm plans Atlanta expansion, will add 200 employees.
  • TransferTo joins with Continental Money to bring remittance services to Kenya.
  • Bankless Times features Bento for Business and its solution for helping small businesses control employee spending.
  • Marx Noctor of Arxan explains the importance of protecting apps “down to the source code” in CBR Online.
  • Business2Community features Expensify and DocuSign in its list of nine apps to help you run your business on the go. See DocuSign at FinovateEurope 2016 in London.
  • Adelaide Now profiles small-business lender Spotcap. Join Spotcap in London for FinovateEurope 2016.
  • Mobile ID World looks at the reception to EyeVerify’s mobile app.
  • Tradier reaches milestone: 100 financial services firms are now directly integrated with Tradier’s brokerage platform.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Lighter Capital Closes $9 Million Series B Funding Round, Raises $100 Million to Lend to Tech Startups

Lighter Capital Closes $9 Million Series B Funding Round, Raises $100 Million to Lend to Tech Startups
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Lighter Capital

Lightercaphomepage

Lighter Capital made a two-fold funding announcement last week. First, the Seattle-based company closed $9 million in Series B funding. Investors include:

  • Voyager Capital
  • Summit Capital
  • Individual investors, including Lighter Capital’s Chairman, Jeff Seely

Lighter Capital plans to use the funds to advance its platform and double its 23-person team. Today’s $9 million installment, combined with the company’s $6 million Series A round, brings its total funding to $15 million.

In addition to this, Lighter Capital raised $100 million to furnish 500 tech startups with capital. The funds, which come from Community Investment Management, will help Lighter Capital increase its investment cap from $1 million to $2 million.

Lighter Capital was founded in 2010. This year, it has increased investment funding to an average of six businesses per month. In total, the company has provided funds to 75 small businesses, including Finovate alum, Cloud Lending.

BJ Lackland is CEO of Lighter Capital, which debuted its Revenue Loan at FinovateSpring 2011 and last demoed at FinovateFall 2013.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Arroweye Solutions, BehavioSec, Bento for Business, BioCatch, Comarch, Dealstruck, Dwolla, FIS, Kantox, Klarna, Lendio, Lighter Capital, Markit, Open Bank Project, TESOBE, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • “Lighter Capital closes $9 Million Series B Funding Round, Raises $100 Million to Lend to Tech Startups”
  • “Dwolla Helps Seamless Deploy its Mobile Wallet in the United States”

Around the web

  • PYMNTS records 2015 payment-trend insights from multiple Finovate and FinDEVr alums.
  • Arroweye featured in Credit Union Journal.
  • Kantox brings free and automatic SWIFT messages to its clients.
  • Dealstruck and Lendio release eBook.
  • The Growing Business Awards names Zopa the Growing Business of the Year in the small business category.
  • American Banker highlights how Tesobe’s Open Bank Project is working toward an API-based banking model.
  • Markit and CLS unveil new streamlined process for cross-currency-swaps settlement.
  • Let’s Talk Payments looks at Klarna and its unconventional approach to authentication.
  • FIS closes SunGard acquisition.
  • BioCatch adds Gadi Maier and Howard Edelstein to its board of directors.
  • Comarch implements Field Service Management solution for receivables management specialist, the KRUK Group.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Nous Closes In On £350,000 Fundraising Goal [Update: Nous Exceeds Original Goal, Raises $750,000]

Nous Closes In On £350,000 Fundraising Goal [Update: Nous Exceeds Original Goal, Raises $750,000]
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Nous.net

NousScreenshot

[Update] Nous has closed the round, exceeding expectations by raising $750,000 from angels and crowdfunding. This is $223,000 more than its original goal of $527,000.

Nous, a startup that builds products for global financial market enthusiasts, announced last week it has raised 88% of its £350,000 ($527,000) goal in its second external round of funding. The London-based company is currently raising funds on SyndicateRoom, a professional angel-crowdfunding site.

The campaign has two weeks remaining. Nous anticipates it will achieve and possibly exceed its goal amount to reach its overfunding limit.

Nous plans to use the funds to launch an ultra-low-risk trading app to serve a demographic overlooked by current financial products.

The founders of Nous bootstrapped the company with $500,000, and raised $605,000 in funding last year.

At FinovateEurope 2014, Nous launched SparkProfit, a financial data service and gamified market-prediction platform that combines human predictions and quantitative finance to better anticipate future market outcomes.

NousPresenting

From left: CEO Justin Short, founder, and Mick Horgan, co-founder, presented the Nous product for global financial markets at FinovateFall 2014.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook