Prosper’s BillGuard Unlocks Premium Features for All Users

Prosper’s BillGuard Unlocks Premium Features for All Users

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.

Finovate Alumni News

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.

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

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.

Finovate Alumni News

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.

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]

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.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “StockTwits Offers Brokerage Functionality Powered by Robinhood”
  • “Finovate Debuts: bleu Unveils its Beacon-powered, Point-of-Sale Solution”

Around the web

  • TechCrunch names Stockpile gift card on list of Awesome Gifts For Your Favorite 20-Something.
  • Prosper recognized as 24th fastest-growing company on Deloitte’s Fast 500. San Francisco Business Times places Prosper as number 3 of the Fastest Growing Companies of 2015.
  • Kashoo launches period-locking feature to lock data within prescribed timeframes.
  • Built in Colorado names Google, OnDeck, Ping Identity, Personal Capital, Xero, and PaySimple on list of top 100 tech companies in Colorado.
  • TickSmith’s TickVault platform earns the fast-growing firm an Innovators Award from FIA.
  • CenturyLink and Cogent enter into interconnection agreement.
  • RAGE Frameworks partners with Genpact, leveraging AI to automate financial processes.
  • Los Alamos National Bank chooses FIS as its new core banking provider.
  • National Bonds to deploy AML Risk Manager from Fiserv.
  • Geezeo launches its Life Infused Financial Experiences custom apps.
  • Let’s Talk Payments looks at edo Interactive and its partnership with Visa Europe.
  • Azimo extends its money-transfer service to Nigeria.
  • Fidelity Clearing and Custody teams up with EverSafe to help prevent elder financial abuse.
  • TransferTo joins forces with Continental Money to bring remittance services to Africa.

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.

StockTwits Offers Brokerage Functionality Powered by Robinhood

StockTwits Offers Brokerage Functionality Powered by Robinhood

StocktwitsHomepage

StockTwits, a social network for investors and traders, last week announced it has partnered with stock-trading app Robinhood to incorporate brokerage functionality into its iOS app.

The partnership allows users to connect their two accounts, giving Robinhood users access to StockTwits’ stock-tracking tools, and offering Robinhood’s free brokerage service to StockTwits’ users. Highlights of the integration include:

  • See stocks on their StockTwits’ watchlist that they own in their Robinhood account

RobinhoodStockTwits2

  • Swipe to trade for free with Robinhood without leaving the StockTwits’ watchlist and trending list

StocktwitsRobinhood3

  • Share Robinhood trades within StockTwits’ community

StockTwitsRobinhood4

While the new trading functionality is not currently available on Android, StockTwits’ CEO Howard Lindzon notes that a solution is in progress and will be available soon.

StockTwits’ Lindzon presented at FinDEVr San Francisco 2014:

http://finovate.wistia.com/medias/mxy40adk50?embedType=api&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=800

Finovate Debuts: RedCloud Technology Helps Financial Institutions Build Regulatory Compliant Products

Finovate Debuts: RedCloud Technology Helps Financial Institutions Build Regulatory Compliant Products

RedCloudHomepage

The RedCloud 1 Platform by RedCloud Technologies is a transaction engine and processing platform. By leveraging RedCloud 1, financial service providers can offer regulated digital financial services such as domestic payments, remittances, mobile wallets, lending, savings, and insurance.

The RedCloud 1 solution, which can be co-branded or white-labeled, can act as an end-to-end transaction platform or simply form a new front-end interface to existing backend processes. It is designed to help effectively deal with regulatory constraints.

Front-facing platform

The RedCloud 1 platform offers a simple, omnichannel user experience. For example, when using its remittance capabilities to send money internationally, consumers log in with a unique identifier (for example, email address, phone number, or Twitter account), then enter the amount and their PIN. RedCloud processes all transaction types, including cross-border payments and remittances, in real time with no settlement delay.

DynamicEndUserUI

 

Behind the scenes

The RedCloud administration view offers multiple tools, such as a transaction-search capability and a CRM module, that enable service providers to manage the platform.

Dashboard

The analytics suite offers a real-time bank reconciliation view that shows both sides of all transactions. Preconfigured insights are not only useful to service providers, but also to agents and merchant clients, who can use transaction data to drive business strategy.

PreconfigAnalyticsDashboard

The company’s configuration tool has a drag-and-drop WYSIWYG interface which enables non-technical employees to bring new products to market with no need for IT involvement.

selfserviceconfigtool

What’s next

RedCloud is contracting with several organizations across Africa and Asia.

RedCloud founder, Justin Floyd and product manager, Matthew Smith, demoed RedCloud 1 at FinovateFall 2015:

http://finovate.wistia.com/medias/ec4vzxoet0?embedType=api&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=800

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate debuts: RedCloud Technology Helps Financial Institutions Build Regulatory Compliant Products”
  • “PRUDENA Launches Online Marketplace for Stock Market Research”

Around the web

  • PYMNTS looks at Akimbo’s next venture, Akimbo Now.
  • Dealstruck crosses the $100m mark.
  • Deluxe Corporation celebrates its 100th birthday by ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
  • PYMNTS interviews Michael Garrity, co-founder and CEO of Financeit.
  • Inside Big Data interviews Dr. Venkat Krinivasan, CEO of RAGE Frameworks.
  • The Financial Brand’s Ron Shevlin takes a look at the future of Venmo.
  • InvestinGoal provides a free eToro base course to help introduce new investors to social trading.
  • Strands brings its PFM solution to Temenos Connect and Mobile Internet Banking.
  • Geezeo builds custom financial event app: Life by Geezeo.

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.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Coinbase Unveils America’s First Bitcoin Debit Card”
  • “Blooom Named “One in a Million” in Kauffman Foundation Startup Competition”

Around the web

  • Cardlytics ranked 25 on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500.
  • Entrust Datacard’s Kurt Ishaug named one of 24 CFOs of the year by the Minn./St. Paul Business Journal in the “large private company” category.
  • Prosper Marketplace announces mobile SDK for the marketplace lending industry.
  • DriveWealth adds Carlo Macchi as director of global institutional accounts. See DriveWealth at FinovateEurope 2016 in London in February.
  • PYMNTS.com interviews Arroweye Solutions’ President and CEO Render Dahya on payment trends in 2015.
  • TRADE names Markit to its Hall of Fame.
  • Signifyd releases extension for the Magento 2 platform.
  • LendingRobot to bring its automated robo-investing to Funding Circle’s small-business lending marketplace.

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.

Personal Capital Lowers Investment Minimum From $100,000 to $25,000

Personal Capital Lowers Investment Minimum From $100,000 to $25,000

PersonalCapitalHomepage1115

Robo-advisers have been on a roll. By year-end they are expected to amass $53 billion under management, up more than 3x from $16 billion last year. While these numbers are dwarfed by the $20 trillion wealth-management market, robo-adviser growth has garnered much attention.

In an effort to capture more of that growth, Personal Capital is lowering its minimum investment from $100,000 to $25,000. The San Francisco-based company expects the lower threshold will help tap into its 850,000 users who track their investments with its free online platform. About half of these users are eligible to meet the new $25,000 investment minimum.

Lowering the minimum will also help Personal Capital compete with Wealthfront which requires a minimum of $500, and Betterment which does not have a minimum investment requirement.

The New York Times recently reported stats from three robo-advisers:

Company Min. Investment Req’d Users AUM Average AUM/ User
Personal Capital $25,000 6,000 $1.6 billion $260,000
Wealthfront $500 37,400 $2.6 billion $70,000
Betterment $1 118,000 $3 billion $25,000

Personal Capital most recently presented to a crowd of developers at FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco. The company launched One Click Investment Proposals at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose.

Betterment last demoed its multiple goals feature at FinovateFall 2011, and before changing its name in 2010, Wealthfront launched as KaChing at FinovateSpring 2009.

FinovateEurope 2016 Presenting Companies Announced

FinovateEurope 2016 Presenting Companies Announced

FEU15BookletIMG

For weeks we’ve been sifting through applications from companies vying to present their latest at FinovateEurope on 9/10 February 2016. Today, we’re excited to announce 59 of the 72 companies that will take the stage in London.

To watch all 70+ companies demo live, be sure to register soon. This is the final week to save £200 on FinovateEurope tickets.

We’ll announce the remaining stealth companies over the next two months.

additiv’s Descartes Finance Digital Asset Management Platform uses an array of sophisticated digital asset-management functions to provide demanding, self-directed investors with solutions to implement individualized portfolio solutions.

AdviceRobo’s Finius virtual money assistant uses machine learning-driven gamification to help borrowers and lenders manage risk by understanding the impact of future financial changes and teaching them how to respond.

Alpha Payments Cloud’s AlphaHub offers banks, merchants and payment-and-risk product vendors unlimited vendor access and orchestration, using a single integration.

Asseco Poland offers customers a tailored and satisfying banking experience for both internet and mobile banking systems.

Avoka’s digital commerce platform helps banks, insurance and wealth-management institutions overcome the challenge of “selling” financial products by offering a frictionless, omnichannel customer experience.

Backbase DBP for Wealth Management uses a beautiful customer experience that runs on any device. It uses algorithms to provide robo-advisory for traditional banks who are losing affluent customers to dedicated money managers.

BankersLab’s PortfolioQuest is an addictive simulation game for fintech investors, regulators, and bank executives to predict which managers and lending institutions will make good decisions.

Capital Preferences is an enterprise consumer-risk-profiling system that employs a series of simple investment games—based on advances in game theory, econometrics and experimental economics—to help banks, insurers and wealth managers solve growing regulatory scrutiny and unscientific profiling methods used to document client-risk preferences today.

Capitali.se’s platform for automation of trading uses a simple human language interface to help traders worldwide solve the technological barrier problem.

Capitalise.com is a one-stop-shop search and comparison site to help SMBs easily access financing.

CREALOGIX’s Digital Banking Hub uses best-of-breed functionalities and state-of-the-art technologies to flexibly deploy established banking functionalities and integrate various third-party products.

DriveWealth’s real-time fraction trading for global retail investors uses its full-stack investing platform to build diversified portfolios.

ebankIT’s platform uses innovative, omnichannel solutions to create customer traction and engagement through different channels.

Ethoca’s Alerts helps card issuers and merchants with a global collaboration network to prevent unnecessary and costly reliance on the chargeback process to resolve disputes and recover associated losses.

Envestnet’s platform helps financial professionals and investors scale goals-based wealth management using a unique mix of service and technology.

ETRONIKA’s BANKTRON uses visual attractiveness, robust tools, and an omnichannel banking approach to create products that facilitate a fintech partnership ecosystem for established banks, new fintech startups, and aggregators.

EyeVerify’s Eyeprint ID seeks to solve the security and convenience issues inherent in passwords by using biometrics that image the blood vessels in the whites of the eye.

Featurespace’s ARIC Engine spots and prevents financial services fraud-attacks in real time with its world-leading adaptive behavioral analytics.

Fintura’s comparison platform for SME loans uses a risk-adjusted rate-comparison and a quick approval process to help SMEs find cheap loans in a transparent and quick way.

HotDocs’ automation software uses its document-assembly engine to help financial services companies with the challenges they face when producing high-volume, customized, repeat documentation.

IDscan Biometrics’ new algorithm helps financial institutions authenticate identities using game-changing neural network technologies.

ING Bank’s consistent, omnichannel ecosystem improves customer experience in corporate banking for B2B banking clients.

INNOFIS’ Real-Time Sales Transformation solution uses micro-targeting and smart analytics to bring sales efficiency to financial institutions.

InvestGlass’ engagement tool uses customizable artificial intelligence to enable easy compliance for financial professionals.

investUP offers sophisticated retail investors a crowdfunding brokerage in an increasingly fragmented marketplace.

InvoiceSharing’s Accounting Robot helps businesses automate their manual invoice processing using its free electronic invoicing network.

ITSector’s Digital Credit solution offers faster access to bank credit through alternative channels.

Kontomatik’s data-aggregation solution offers data accessibility to the financial services industry.

Ledger’s security tools help make Bitcoin secure.

Lendstar offers an app without the hassle of traditional P2P transactions.

Lexmark’s onboarding solution uses a real-time, voice-driven, collaborative mobile app to eliminate the antiquated mobile experience when onboarding new customers.

meetinvest’s automated, expert-driven, single-stock robo-adviser platform explains the what, when and how of stock investing for mass-affluent and retail investors worldwide by using successful investment recipes from the world’s best investment experts without using financial jargon.

Meniga’s communication platform offers timely, contextual and targeted events and notifications to promote engagement between banks and their customers

Nexmo’s Chat App API offers a single platform for financial and banking brands to stay connected with their users.

North Side’s VerbalAccess offers consumers and businesses an effective, self-service channel using leading-edge natural language-understanding technology.

Nostrum Group helps lenders reduce customer churn.

Outside IQ’s DDIQ-cob uses a cognitive computing engine with natural language processing to offer financial execs and investors advanced due diligence in compliance matters.

Passport is an enterprise software platform that uses mobile payments to bridge the technology gap in transportation.

payever’s platform solves the buying and selling problems that merchants and customers face every day.

PaySend’s global, card-based infrastructure not only helps users remember to send remittances on time, but also keeps them from paying too much to send and receive money across borders.

Qumram’s session recording and replay technology offers financial service companies transparency in digital channels.

Refund.me Group helps financial service providers capture cardholders’ full purchasing power and become top-of-wallet by offering features that enhance their customers’ travel experience.

Risk Ident’s EVE Evaluation Engine uses data science and machine learning to assess consumer risk for ecommerce companies and financial institutions.

Sandstone Technology’s BankFast 2.0 mobile app combines industry-leading self-service onboarding, mobile banking, card-management and customer-engagement modules to deliver a highly secure and seamless customer experience.

SBDA Group’s web solution offers bank-marketing specialists a client-behavior-prediction platform that uses machine learning to transform raw data into clear insights of customer behavior.

Scalable Capital is a digital investment manager that offers investment options to make intelligent investing accessible to everyone.

SizeUp offers banks a business intelligence SaaS platform to help their SMB customers make data-driven business decisions by generating analysis that is understandable and accessible.

Spiff’s simple investment service, with the female investor demographic in mind, offers tools and inspiration for new investors.

STRANDS Discovery uses machine-learning algorithms to offer banks simplified insights into complex customer behavior hidden within big data.

Stratumn is an open standard and API that offers enterprises transparency and traceability using the Bitcoin blockchain.

Suitebox’s virtual meeting room collaboration-solution removes time and cost constraints while ensuring full compliance for risk managers, wealth managers, and insurance advisers.

SwipeStox social trading app offers traders and investors a platform to make informed trades.

TaxFree4U is a mobile processing platform that uses a network of local agents in VAT-imposing countries to allow international travelers to claim VAT refunds quickly.

TWINO marketplace offers retail and institutional investors confidence in investing in unsecured consumer loans from non-Eurozone countries by combining the peer-lending model with traditional currency and default risk-management practices.

Valuto offers an open API for multi-currency wallets to facilitate cross-border payments and collections.

Vipera’s customer application uses a proprietary matching engine to help banks and retailers better engage their customers.

VoicePIN.com’s scalable and secure cloud-based Voice Biometrics System offers a multichannel customer experience for fintech and banking companies.

Xignite’s XigniteAlerts speed reactions to critical market fluctuations by using its market-data APIs.

Xpenditure’s efficient approval process and mobile technology reduces the hassle that SME and decentralized large companies face in managing and controlling expenses.


FinovateEurope is sponsored by KPMG

FinovateEurope is partnered with bobsguide, CoinTelegraph, Let’s Talk Payments, Mapa Research, The New Economy, PLUS Journal, and World Finance.