FinDEVr APIntelligence

FinDEVr2016-NY-(Stacked)V2Are you building new financial technology? Be sure to check out coverage from our recent developer conference in San Francisco. We’re taking the fintech developer tool showcase to New York on 29/30 March 2016. Stay tuned for details.

Developer news

  • TechCrunch: Rakuten Launches $100 Million Global Fund for Fintech Startups.
  • GitHub is rolling out a redesign for code repositories.
  • New Relic Now Lets Developers Dive Deeper Into Their Analytics.

The latest from FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 presenters

  • Hyperwallet launches loyalty program for independent workers.
  • Arxan announces cyber security scholarship program.
  • Avoka introduces digital account opening from within Salesforce.
  • Kabbage to power Sage’s small business loan offering.
  • Market intelligence provider Ipreo selects Xignite to provide real-time and delayed equity prices to its Investor Relations platform, BD Corporate.
  • Nexmo announces partnership with Netherlands KLM.
  • CenturyLink adds former U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu to its board.
  • Banking CIO Outlook magazine features Praesidio.
  • TokBox’s new developer toolkit brings voice and video chat to Apple TV apps.
  • Thinking Capital earns Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 Canada Awards.
  • Worldpay employees evaluate use of finger vein technology to authenticate payments at the POS without the need for a card.
  • Let’s Talk Payments interviews Brent Warrington, Hyperwallet CEO.

Alumni updates

  • Pymnts chats with Nymi founder and CEO, Karl Martin.
  • Deccan Herald features Cloud Lending Solutions.
  • Xero pilots program to allow users to file their GST returns.
  • MasterCard announces Ed McLaughlin as new chief information officer.
  • VentureBurn highlights Entersekt: SA’s fintech gem making it safe for millions to bank, shop online.

Stay up to date on daily developments by following FinDEVr on Twitter.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Tuition.io Raises $5 Million in Series A”
  • “Banking Technology Awards Recognize Finovate Alums”

Around the web

  • Bitbond launches bitcoin purchasing power index.
  • Hyperwallet Launches Loyalty Program for Independent Workers.
  • Pymnts chats with Nymi founder and CEO Karl Martin.
  • Avoka introduces digital account opening from within Salesforce.
  • Kabbage to power Sage’s small-business loan offering.
  • Market intelligence provider Ipreo selects Xignite to provide real-time, and delayed, equity prices to its investor-relations platform, BD Corporate.
  • Deccan Herald features Cloud Lending Solutions.
  • Nexmo announces partnership with Netherlands KLM.
  • The Paypers interviews Nilesh Dusane, Ripple VP of global sales and client relations.
  • PYMNTS.com talks about the future of the prepaid market with Larry Blaney, EVP of sales for Cachet Financial Solutions.

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

  • “VATBox Wins Spot in Inaugural Global MasterCard Start Path Class”
  • “Finovate Debuts: Persistent Systems Introduces Social Payments Solution, BuddyPay

Around the web

  • Billhighway ranked number 398 fastest growing company in North America on Deloittes 2015 Technology Fast 500.
  • Inspirus Credit Union replaces its existing digital banking system with Alkami Technology’s ORB platform.
  • Corezoidpowered mobile Privat24 for Android lets users scan and digitize discount cards.
  • Let’s Talk Payments features Coinbase, Chain, Ripple, and ItBit in its roundup of top fundraising blockchain and bitcoin companies for 2015.
  • PYMNTS.com interviews Ripple CEO Chris Larsen on payment trends for 2016.
  • BBVA’s new release of BBVA Wallet enables users to redeem credit card rewards on the spot.
  • TokBox’s new developer toolkit brings voice and video chat to Apple TV apps.
  • Facebook’s CTO Mike Schroepfer joins Wealthfront’s board of directors.

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.

Thinking Capital & Flybits Make Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 Canada Awards

Thinking Capital & Flybits Make Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 Canada Awards

Screen Shot 2015-11-13 at 9.56.43 AM

Deloitte last night announced the winners of its Technology Fast 50 rankings, and two Finovate and FinDEVr alums made the cut.

The Technology Fast 50 awards, which are split across three categories, recognize achievements and evolution in the Canadian tech sector.

THinkingCapitalHomepageFirst up is Thinking Capital which achieved a Fast 50 award*. This award lists the 50 fastest growing Canadian technology companies based on the highest percentage of revenue growth over the past five years.

Thinking Capital’s alternative lending platform has helped more than 10,000 SME’s gain access to capital. The company offers merchant advances and term loans up to $300,000.


 

Screen Shot 2015-11-13 at 11.03.18 AMFlybits was listed among 11 others in the Companies to Watch category, which is based on the same criteria for the Fast 50 award without requiring the company to be in business for 5 years.

Flybits helps financial institutions deliver a more personalized mobile experience by leveraging all aspects of a user’s context.

*Qualifying companies must have: headquarters in Canada, been in business for at least five years, revenues of at least $5 million, their own proprietary technology, research and development activities in Canada.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate Debuts: DarcMatter Shines a Light On Alternative Investments”
  • “BBVA’s Wallet App Tops One Million Downloads; Goes Live in Turkey This Week”

Around the web

  • Magnify CU partners with Insuritas to launch an insurance agency.
  • Worldpay employees evaluate use of finger-vein technology to authenticate payments at the POS without need for a card.
  • mydesq selects Encap Security to boost productivity and engagement for wealth managers.
  • Let’s Talk Payments interviews Brent Warrington, Hyperwallet CEO.
  • MasterCard announces Ed McLaughlin as new chief information officer.
  • VentureBurn highlights Entersekt: SA’s fintech gem making it safe for millions to bank, shop online.
  • Algomi’s Honeycomb named “Product of the Year” and “Best Buy-Side Newcomer” in Waters Technology’s Buy-Side Technology Awards.
  • The Next Web profiles BioCatch, a biometric security specialist.
  • FusionWire looks at ways that banks can use Matchi to build relationships with fintech startups.

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.

FinDEVr APIntelligence

FinDEVr2016-NY-(Stacked)V2Are you building new financial technology? Be sure to check out coverage from our recent developer conference in San Francisco. We’re taking the fintech developer tool showcase to New York on 29/30 March 2016. Stay tuned for details.

Developer news

  • Harvard Business Review: The Changing Economics of App Development.

The latest from FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 presenters

  • Aberdeen Asset Management selects Markit to value hard-to-price assets for positions with limited market data.
  • Developer reviews Authy’s two-factor authentication.
  • PayPal among the companies highlighted in Inc.’s look back at Money20/20.
  • Thomson Reuters unveils its new desktop platform, grouping all of its FX transaction venues into one single point of access.
  • Business Insider lists BehavioSec and Fidor as “companies we wish were big the U.S.”
  • Silicon Slopes Podcast hosts Ryan Caldwell, MX CEO, as he discusses how to improve online banking.
  • Thomson Reuters unveils latest version of its tax-technology platform, Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE.
  • Yodlee’s Ynext unveils new incubator class.
  • Business Insider names BehavioSec among the 12 hottest Nordic fintech startups.

Alumni updates

  • “Trulioo Selected as Runner-up for Startup Canada Award for Innovation”
  • Xero reaches 600,000 subscribers in 180 countries.
  • VentureBurn features Entersekt CEO Schalk Nolte.

Stay up to date on daily developments by following FinDEVr on Twitter.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate Debuts: Sliced Investing Provides Advisers with Access to Alternative Investments”
  • “Narrative Science Introduces Anti-money Laundering Solution, Quill for AML
  • “Yodlee’s Ynext Unveils New Incubator Class”

Around the web

  • Thomson Reuters unveils latest version of its tax technology platform, Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE.
  • Re/code looks at ShopKeep POS’s growth and newly hired COO, Michael DeSimone.
  • Currency Cloud partners with API-driven Fidor Bank to provide new SEPA Direct Debit functionality.
  • Hedgeable to take part in Yodlee’s Ynext Launchpad.
  • Business Insider lists eToro, BehavioSec, Klarna, and Fidor, as “companies we wish were big the U.S.”
  • Silicon Slopes Podcast hosts Ryan Caldwell, MX CEO, as he discusses how to improve online banking.
  • RTN Federal Credit Union re-ups with Fiserv’s XP2 account-processing platform.
  • Meniga to power Santander’s PFM.

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 Debuts: Sliced Investing Provides Advisers with Access to Alternative Investments

Finovate Debuts: Sliced Investing Provides Advisers with Access to Alternative Investments

SlicedInvestingHomepageIn the past few years there has been much disruption in the wealth management space especially with the influx of robo-advisers. Sliced Investing takes a different approach, offering registered investment advisors access to alternative investments.

Company facts:

  • Launched 2014
  • $20+ million invested through the platform
  • Headquartered in San Francisco
  • 8 employees

At FinovateFall 2015, Sliced debuted its offering for institutional investors. Sliced not only enables investors to deploy strategies in minutes, but also offers access to hedge funds and private equity funds with $10,000 minimums. These capabilities enable advisers to diversify clients’ portfolios by adding alternative investments.

How it works

Browse

Browse and filter alternative investments to find those that suit client preferences.

Slicedfundgridscreenshot

View performance

Review and compare fund performances. Sliced offers institutional-quality analytics and risk management tools.

Slicedcomparefundsscreenshot

Deploy

Once an adviser finds a suitable strategy, they deploy it in minutes by sending their client an agreement and digital paperwork directly from within the Sliced platform.

Sliceddeployscreenshot

Client overview

Advisers see an overview of all investment activity and have access to client documents.

Slicedadvisordocumentscreenshot

 

The Sliced platform can be white-labeled for family offices, brokers, pension funds and endowments.

What’s next?
Sliced is working on a robo-adviser for alternative investments and a set of algorithms to help advisers compete against robo-advisers. The company is also building tools to offer a single sign-on to eliminate password confusion.

Co-founders of Sliced Investing, CTO Akhil Lodha and CEO Mike Furlong, debuted Sliced Institutional at FinovateFall 2015:

http://finovate.wistia.com/medias/lkvw07jlkl?embedType=api&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=800

Roostify Garners $500,000 in Funding from Wells Fargo Accelerator

Roostify Garners $500,000 in Funding from Wells Fargo Accelerator

RoostifyFunding

Mortgage loan technology startup, Roostify, landed $500,000 in funding last week.

The San Francisco-based company received the funds as a part of its participation in Wells Fargo’s startup accelerator program, a semiannual bootcamp for fintech companies. The year-old accelerator has hosted Finovate alums EyeVerify and Zumigo, which graduated in the spring of 2014.

The $500,000 installment adds to Roostify’s series A round received mid-month October from USAA, Colchis Capital Management, and two tier 1 banks. Since the amount of the series A was undisclosed, Roostify’s total funding is unknown.

Roostify debuted at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose.

 

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate, FinDEVr Alum News at Money20/20″
  • “Figo Announces New “Seven-Figure” Financing Round”

Around the web

  • Payoneer Selected by Amazon to Expand Cross-Border Payment Options in Select Countries.
  • Business Insider names Holvi, BehavioSec, Trustly, Meniga, and Klarna among the 12 hottest Nordic fintech startups.
  • Xero reaches 600,000 subscribers in 180 countries.
  • Tradeshift launches Tradeshift Risk, a solution to monitor and mitigate supplier risk.
  • ayondo launches first product in Singapore.
  • Crowdfund Insider interviews Krista Morgan, CEO and co-founder of P2Binvestor.
  • ACI Worldwide acquires payment gateway, PAY.ON.
  • Let’s Talk Payments interviews Tom Villante, CEO and co-founder of YapStone.
  • MainStreet features “simplified 401(k) robo-adviser” Blooom.
  • SavingAdvice.com reviews Motif Investing.

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, FinDEVr Alum News at Money20/20

Finovate, FinDEVr Alum News at Money20/20

Money2020StripeVinod

I spent the majority of last week at Money20/20 catching up with Finovate and FinDEVr alums.

With 5 tracks of panel discussions and product announcements, plus an exhibit hall floor, it was impossible to parcel out all of the themes buzzing around. However, from the slice of the mega-conference that I attended, the overarching theme was payments, specifically, removing friction from the payments experience. This became evident in the product announcements and discussions throughout the keynote sessions from Stripe, Poynt, Chase, Verifone, Google’s AndroidPay, Samsung Pay, PayPal, MCX, and First Data.

In addition to these larger players, there were many smaller companies in attendance. I sat down with five Finovate and FinDEVr alums to find out what’s new.

Arxan-LogoArxan
Arxan, which protects applications, has experienced 50% year-over-year growth for the past 5 years.

Last week the company announced the extension of its application protection to the Apple TV. Arxan safeguards the TV operating system and already protects multiple pre-installed applications on the Apple TV. The apps are shielded using multi-layered guards to fortify the application from being reverse-engineered and compromised and are inserted within the binary code of the applications.

See Arxan’s FinDEVr 2015 presentation.

endeavour logoEndeavour
This was the first time I’ve chatted with Endeavour since they debuted their mobile account opening solution at FinovateSpring 2014. The Austin-based company revealed some crucial news— it was acquired by Genpact, an operational efficiency specialist for enterprise organizations.

The structure of Endeavour’s organization will remain more or less unaffected by the acquisition which Genpact hopes will bolster its Lean Digital offering by adding Endeavour’s mobile expertise.

Kabbage-logoKabbage
Kabbage recently partnered with ING, Santander, and Kikka Capital, and the company is growing fast. These partnerships will help the Atlanta-based company expand operations outside of the U.S. Kabbage is especially targeting the growing ecommerce market in India through its Bangalore office.

Kabbage anticipates originating $1 billion in small business loans in 2015, and is planning a major push into consumer loans next year.

Watch Kabbage’s presentation from FinDEVr 2015 and its demo from FinovateSpring 2015.

SocureSocure
Socure uses a person’s existing online “fingerprint” (Facebook photos, email address, and phone number) to validate their identity. Because Socure sources the data from pre-existing information users to simply take a selfie to validate who they are.

In my discussion with Socure the company disclosed plans to extend its services to verify information for small and medium-sized businesses. Today, this process consists of manually scouring websites for data. Socure’s technology could speed up and streamline that process.

Check out Socure’s demo video from FinovateFall 2015

splititSplitIt (formerly PayItSimple)
SplitIt offers point of sale financing with no interest by placing a hold on the customer’s existing line of credit. The solution launched at FinovateFall 2014 under the name PayItSimple. Alon Feit, the company’s CEO, states that the new name is a better reflection of what the company does.

Since launching last year SplitIt has signed 100 merchant partners and is in negotiations for $14 million in funding. After the round closes the company plans to use the funding to further grow its merchant base, as well as its 15-person team.

FinDEVr APIntelligence

FinDEVr2016-NY-(Stacked)V2Are you building new financial technology? Be sure to check out coverage from our recent developers conference in San Francisco. We’re taking the fintech developer tool showcase to New York on 29/30 March 2016. Stay tuned for details.

Developer news

  • “The Next Web: How to Design with Developers”

The latest from FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 presenters

  • Think Big Data mentions Praesidio as a startup using machine learning in its cyber-security solution.
  • “Xignite Surpasses 50 Billion API Calls in a Single Month”
  • VentureBeat: Twilio rolls out new feature set designed to help developers build messaging apps using its platform.
  • Arxan Technologies extends its app-security protection to Apple TV.
  • “Digital Asset Holdings Acquires Blockchain-as-a-Service Innovator, Blockstack.io
  • Security solutions from Arxan Technologies now running on more than 500 million devices.

Alumni updates

  • Tradier teams up with Equities Lab to bring real-world trading experience to college students.
  • Google appoints Entersekt CTO Christiaan Brand as product manager for security and identity teams.
  • Pymnts looks at how SimplyTapp is addressing host card emulation.
  • Visa Inc. to Acquire Visa Europe.
  • Fierce Finance IT features BehavioSec.
  • Avoka partners with Trulioo to provide digital identification authentication to international banks.

Stay up-to-date on daily developments by following FinDEVr on Twitter.