Mark Shifke Named Green Dot CFO After Interim Term

Mark Shifke Named Green Dot CFO After Interim Term

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Prepaid card company Green Dot announced yesterday it has appointed Mark Shifke as CFO.

Shifke had been interim CFO for the California-based company since May 2015, when prior CFO Grace Wang began a new role as SVP of corporate finance and business intelligence.

During those eight months, Green Dot expanded its CFO search outside the company; however, after reviewing the applicants, Green Dot CEO Steve Streit said it became “clear that the best candidate was already serving in the role as our interim CFO.”

Before joining Green Dot in 2011, Shifke served as VP at Goldman Sachs and managing director at JP Morgan Chase.

GoBankFounded in 1999, Green Dot launched GoBank at FinovateSpring 2013. GoBank is a mobile-first bank that offers a debit card, bill pay, and access to 40,000 free ATMs. With no overdraft fees or minimum balance requirements, it targets the underbanked population.

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: HotDocs

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: HotDocs

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FEU2016_logo_withdateA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Get your tickets to join us in London!

HotDocsLogo

HotDocs software allows you to produce business-critical documents, such as loan agreements or policy documents, in a fraction of the time, at a fraction of the risk and cost of traditional methods.

 

Features of HotDocs:

  • Reduce risk from human error
  • Aid compliance with internal governance or external regulation
  • Create operational efficiencies by saving time and money

Why it’s great
HotDocs document-assembly technology can save many thousands of hours of document production time and can be easily integrated with other LOB systems to eliminate duplicate data entry and negate risk.

FIS Closes SunGuard Acquisition to the Tune of $5.1 Billion

FIS Closes SunGuard Acquisition to the Tune of $5.1 Billion

FISHomepage15

Fintech giant FIS Global (NYSE:FIS) closed a $5.1 billion deal to acquire software and technology services company, SunGuard.

The deal boots FIS to 55,000 employees and a combined revenue of $9.3 billion. As a part of the acquisition, the Florida-based company will repay SunGuard’s outstanding debt.

In a statement, FIS president and CEO Gary Norcross states:

This acquisition creates one of the broadest sets of technology assets and market expertise in the industry, and allows FIS to present new opportunities to our existing client base as well as to financial services markets that we have not historically served.

At FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose, FIS debuted Cardless Cash, a mobile app that enables users to retrieve cash from ATMs using their smartphones. The application protects cardholders from ATM skimmers and uses in-app biometric authentication. Check out the live demo video.

FinDEVr APIntelligence

FinDEVr2016-NY-(Stacked)V2

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

Developer news

  • Financial Services blog describes why 2015 is time to expand open-source to finance.
  • “Let’s Talk Payments: 63 Insanely Useful APIs Across 12 Segments to Supercharge Your Product”
  • TechCrunch: “The Golden Age Of Open Source Has Arrived”

The latest from FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 presenters:

  • SavingAdvice.com highlights how Personal Capital can help you gain control of your finances.
  • Quisk selected as a 2015 Red Herring 100 Global Winner.
  • TechCrunch looks at OnDeck and the future of alt lending.
  • Financial Planning speculates about Personal Capital’s future.

Alumni updates

  • “Trulioo Raises $15 Million with Help from American Express Ventures”

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

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Check out this week’s “FinDEVr APIntelligence”
  • “Finovate Debuts: ArcBit Introduces its Secure, Easy-to-Use Bitcoin Wallet”
  • “FIS Closes SunGuard Acquisition to the Tune of $5.1 Billion”

Around the web

  • CSI globalVCard launches partnership program for banks for its electronic payments program.
  • SavingAdvice.com highlights how Personal Capital can help you gain control of your finances.
  • Credit Sesame features millennial-friendly robo-adviser investment-platforms: Betterment, FutureAdvisor, SigFig, Blooom.
  • Quisk selected as a 2015 Red Herring 100 Global Winner.
  • TSYS signs payments agreement with Atlanticus to continue support of loan-origination platform, Fortiva.
  • Digital Insight unveils Business Banking, an SaaS solution to enable FIs to offer personalized banking experiences to business customers.
  • Q2 opens new offices in Lincoln, Nebraska, to accommodate growth, acquisition of Centrix Solutions.
  • Xignite Market Data APIs now available on SoundHound’s Houndify sound recognition and search-technology platform.
  • Let’s Talk Payments features Trustev, Trulioo, and Trunomi in its look at “RegTech” startups in Europe and the U.S.
  • Temenos wins “Best Provider of Front-to-Back Wealth Suite Solutions” at Asian Private Banker’s Technology Awards 2015.
  • Avalara partners with open-source billing and payments platform, Kill Bill.
  • Silicon Prairie News interviews Daniel Carnes, CSO at Prairie Cloudware, on the future of cybersecurity.

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.

Bizfi Closes on $65 Million in Debt Financing

Bizfi Closes on $65 Million in Debt Financing

BizfiHomepage

Merchant-finance platform Bizfi received a $65 million boost from Metropolitan Equity Partners today to help it drive money into U.S. small businesses.

The debt financing will help the New York-based company:

  • Expand its financing programs to meet the capital needs of small businesses
  • Decrease the amount of time it takes for businesses to receive financing
  • Build brand awareness

Combined with the $75 million the company received in March 2014, Bizfi’s debt financing totals $140 million. Additionally, Bizfi has raised $15 million in equity financing from various angel investors.

Since its 2005 launch, Bizfi has provided $1.3+ billion in financing to 26,000+ small businesses across the U.S. The company’s small business financing platform consists of three product silos:

  1. Aggregation silo: comprised of third-party brokers, channel partners, and Bizfi’s direct-sales force
  2. Funding silo: provides merchant cash advances and small business loans
  3. Marketplace silo: offers a participation market for institutional investors

Bizfi debuted its aggregation platform at FinovateFall 2015 in New York City.

Tink to Test PFM App with 10,000 ABN AMRO Customers

Tink to Test PFM App with 10,000 ABN AMRO Customers

TinkHomepage

Fresh off the announcement of the FinovateEurope 2016 lineup, we have big news from Swedish alum Tink which has partnered with ABN AMRO, a large Dutch bank widely considered digitally progressive.

As a part of the partnership, ABN AMRO has worked with Tink to launch Grip, a budgeting and expense-management app that aims to help users control their spending.

Starting today, a select 10,000 ABN AMRO customers will pilot the iOS app, offering feedback on how developers can tweak the platform. If the pilot is successful, Grip will be released to the bank’s 4.5 million customers.

Tink’s direct-to-consumer PFM app launched in 2012 and boasts 300,000 iOS and Android users in the Swedish market.

The company was listed in the Fintech 50 earlier this year and won Best of Show for its demo at FinovateEurope 2014. Check out its award-winning presentation.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Tink to Test PFM App with 10,000 ABN AMRO Customers”
  • “Bizfi Closes on $65 Million in Debt Financing”
  • “Nous Closes In On £350,000 Fundraising Goal” [Update: Nous Exceeds Original Goal, Raises $750,000].

Around the web

  • “TIS Closes 550,000 Euro Deal with Leading German Health Insurance Provider”
  • Trustly partners with payment solution iDEAL in the Netherlands.
  • TechCrunch looks at OnDeck and the future of alt-lending.
  • USA Today features how Simple is a different type of bank.
  • TechCrunch considers how TransferWise is a better way to send remittances.

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.

A Boku Win for Carrier Billing in Expanded Microsoft Partnership

A Boku Win for Carrier Billing in Expanded Microsoft Partnership

BokuHomepage

Direct mobile billing startup Boku took home a big win last week. The San Francisco-based company expanded its partnership with Microsoft to enable direct carrier billing in the Windows store.

Sprint’s U.S. customers can now make purchases from the Windows store using their mobile phone number. Previously limited to mobile transactions, customers can now purchase applicable content on all Windows devices. Boku’s previous integration with the Windows store resulted in an 8x increase in purchase rates in emerging markets and a 3x increase in developed markets.

In a press release, Boku CEO Jon Prideaux highlighted the solution’s convenience, security, and ubiquity. He says with this new move that “[Microsoft is] creating a tremendous opportunity for developers and consumers alike.”

If you’re not familiar with direct mobile carrier billing, this graphic explains how it works:

boku_direct_how_it_works_r2 

In addition to the Windows Store, Boku can be used to make purchases at:

  • Google Play
  • PlayStation Store
  • Facebook App Center
  • League of Legends
  • Spotify

Boku works with 300+ mobile operators in 60+ countries. The company demoed its mobile payment service at FinovateEurope 2011 in London.

Finovate Debuts: CellTrust Separates Work & Personal Communications, Even on Same Device

Finovate Debuts: CellTrust Separates Work & Personal Communications, Even on Same Device

CellTrustHomepage

In an era when BYOD is not just a fad, but a need, CellTrust SecureLine helps businesses manage their enterprise’s mobility while keeping operations secure and compliant.

Company facts:

  • Founded: 2006
  • HQ: Scottsdale, Arizona
  • Offices in Canada, London, Australia, and Singapore
  • Funding: $10.1 million

CellTrust SecureLine creates a work phone and a personal phone on the employee’s existing device by issuing a unique mobile business number for professional communications.

In 2014, CellTrust partnered with Good Technology to leverage the Good Dynamics SDK and create CellTrust SecureLine for Good, a containerized version of the solution that offers a full ecosystem of encrypted business apps.

How it works

Companies without mobility-management containers can use CellTrust SecureLine, although it will track only phone and text-message communications. The example below shows the containerized version, integrated with apps in the Good container such as email, Salesforce, and EyeVerify.

As you can see, the employee has placed all of their business apps on the right side. All work-specific apps are designated by a lock icon.

When placing a business call, the employee selects the Good for Work app to access contacts.

SecureLineforGoodWork

CellTrust is fully integrated with the device and pulls in the user’s existing contacts (see below left). No additional steps are needed; the employee proceeds with the call as they naturally would.

CellTrustSet1

The recipient receives the call normally, with no special app or additional steps; however, after answering, CellTrust plays a recorded disclosure customized by the bank.

The technology works similarly when sending and receiving text messages:

CellTrustText

 

Compliance

Because all work communication takes place under a business number, CellTrust enables corporations to dig into business conversations while offering privacy for personal ones.

CellTrust archives work communications in real time on its server. To respond quickly to compliance requests, the company partners with Actiance and GWAVA to offer:

  • Reporting
  • Audit trails
  • Traceability
  • Archiving

At the end of every business day employees receive a recap of all work conversations.

CellTrustEmail

What’s next?
CellTrust is working on tools to keep employees and clients compliant by prohibiting the sending of personally identifiable information (PII) across insecure channels. The company is also working on integrating with CRM apps.

Brian Panicko, SVP, global sales strategy, and Dragan Marceta, director, sales engineering, presented CellTrust SecureLine at FinovateFall 2015 in New York:

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate Debuts: CellTrust Separates Work From Personal Communications, Even on Same Device”
  • “Julie Parrish Joins Check Point as New Chief Marketing Officer”
  • “Trulioo Raises $15 Million with Help from American Express Ventures”
  • “Finovate Alums Take Silver and Bronze at UBS Future of Finance”
  • “A Boku Win for Carrier Billing in Expanded Microsoft Partnership”

Around the web

  • Jeff for Banks researches the success of FinovateFall 2010 Best of Show winners.
  • Kim Komando highlights ReadyForZero as a way to manage debt.
  • Blooom featured on the cover of December’s Thinking Bigger Business magazine.
  • Michael Halloran joins MaxMyInterest as head of partnerships and business development.

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.

Trizic Raises $2 Million to Help Advisers Compete with Algorithms

Trizic Raises $2 Million to Help Advisers Compete with Algorithms

TrizicHomepageFront

Trizic, a startup that creates wealth-management solutions to help advisers keep up with advancing technology, closed $2 million in funding earlier this week.

This is the company’s third round of funding and brings its total to $5 million. Contributing investors were not disclosed. Trizic has named only one investor in past rounds, Operative Capital, which also funds AlphaClone.

The San Francisco-based company’s Accelerator is a cloud-based advisory platform that caters to both advisers and their clients. The adviser platform offers portfolio automation and management, securities trading, rebalancing, compliance reporting, and client billing services. Accelerator also provides an intuitive client-facing platform with customized portfolio insight and reporting.

Accelerator is available as an API that advisers can customize and white-label with their existing applications. Trizic’s SaaS model uses a contract-free pricing model that charges a percentage based on AUM, starting at 0.05%

Trizic demoed Accelerator at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose.