BankBazaar Scores $60 Million in Funding Led by Amazon

BankBazaar Scores $60 Million in Funding Led by Amazon

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BankBazaar, an India-based company that sells financial service products on behalf of third parties, raised $60 million in Series C funding today.

The round was led by Amazon, which holds a minority stake, and marks the ecommerce giant’s second investment in BankBazaar. New investors include Fidelity Growth Partners and Mousse Partners. Existing investors Sequoia Capital and Walden International also contributed.

BankBazaar’s funding now totals $79 million, but there’s no word on a current valuation for the company.

BankBazaar has big plans for the funds. It will use the large sum to boost its technology integration, strengthen partner relationships, create an end-to-end customer experience, and expand its marketing efforts to reach a broader customer base.

The company’s technology is available to consumers on Android and iOS apps, and it currently has 23 bank partners to offer a wide portfolio of solutions to consumers.

BankBazaar demoed at FinovateAsia 2012 in Singapore.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com:

  • Bankbazaar Scores $60 Million in Funding Led by Amazon.
  • i-exceed Teams Up with Kris FinSoftware to Promote the Mobile Internet in the Philippines

Around the web:

  • Wealth Help to launch advanced PFM tool using the eWise Money Manager solution.
  • Lufthansa Industry Solutions to use Kony to enhance its mobile portfolio.
  • ayondo purchases additional insurance for clients from the Lloyd’s insurance marketplace totaling up to $728k per client.
  • ReadyForZero completely redesigns mobile app.
  • Silicon Prairie News interviews Hip Pocket’s Mark Zmarzly.
  • Banco Santander and Monitise form a $31 million joint venture that will invest in and build fintech startups.

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.

FinDEVr APIntelligence

Are you building new financial technology? Be sure to register now for the only event exclusively for fintech developers, FinDEVr 2015, 6/7 October in San Francisco.

FinDEVr2015-SF-Logo-StackedwdateThe latest from FinDEVr 2015 presenters

  • Money Under 30 features personal finance apps from Personal Capital and Credit Karma.
  • Bank Investment Consultant mentions Personal Capital in its look at how traditional advisers can compete against robo-advisors.
  • Backbase adds Geezeo’s PFM to its Open Banking Marketplace.
  • Yodlee Brings “Sense” to Forward-Looking Bank Balances.

Alumni updates

  • PayPal and Uber extend their partnership to an additional 9 countries, now 19 in total.

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

Finovate Alumni News

Around the web

  • Seeking Alpha explains why a merger between Yodlee and FutureAdvisor makes sense.
  • Xconomy features Vince Turner’s Planwise.
  • American Banker features how Seattle-based Lighter Capital loans money to tech startups.
  • Cardlytics Wins 2 Silver Stevie Awards at 2015 American Business Awards.
  • Tradeshift to partner with C2FO to expand dynamic discounting solutions to a broader network of suppliers and buyers.
  • Financial Conduct Authority mentions how Nutmeg explains its fees and charges graphically.
  • Jack Henry acquires Bayside Business Solutions.
  • Fox News features Trulioo, Bionym, TransferWise, Kofax, and Numbrs in its column on “10 CEOs who are disrupting finance with technology.”
  • ProfitStars introduces Call Report Pro CU, a solution for meeting regulatory reporting requirements.
  • Hedgeweek takes a look at how QuantConnect enables quantitative traders to operate at a low cost.
  • PayPal acquires money-transfer provider Xoom.

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.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Yodlee Brings “Sense” to Forward-Looking Bank Balances
  • BancVue’s Kasasa Spreads to 1,800+ Client Branch Locations Across 46 U.S. States.

Around the web

  • NerdWallet lists Lendio as 1 of 7 great small-business loan options for women-owned businesses.
  • Credit Sesame wins Gold Stevie Award in 2015’s American Business Awards.
  • PayPal and Uber extend their partnership to additional 9 countries, now in 19 total.
  • Backbase adds Geezeo’s PFM to its Open Banking Marketplace.
  • Partnership between Feedzai and Azul Systems yields first deployment with “leading payment technology provider.”
  • Insuritas wins NAFCU 2015 Services Innovation Award.
  • DriveWealth helps trading software technology company, KnowVera, develop video course on pattern recognition.
  • e-SignLive by Silanis to develop joint, cloud-based solution for digital transactions in new partnership with Australia’s Nuvola.
  • Jim Cramer of CNBC’s Mad Money interviews SeedInvest CEO Ryan Feit.

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.

BancVue’s Kasasa Spreads to 1,800+ Client Branch Locations Across 46 U.S. States

BancVue’s Kasasa Spreads to 1,800+ Client Branch Locations Across 46 U.S. States

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BancVue-owned Kasasa is known for giving community financial institutions (CFIs) a leg up against top-tier banks. Today, the Austin-based company divulged some numbers to offer a better picture of its reach in the industry:

  • 46: Number of states with Kasasa CFIs
  • 1,801: Number of client branch locations
  • 685,000+: Number of Kasasa-branded accounts opened since its 2009 launch
  • $156 million: Amount paid out in Kasasa rewards, cash-back, and ATM fee reimbursement
  • 93%: Percentage of account holders that say they love their account
  • $260 million: Amount of non-interest income Kasasa products have generated for clients

Kasasa didn’t hint at its official number of clients. But it did note that if all Kasasa clients were a single bank, they would have the seventh largest U.S. branch network.

Gabe Krajicek, BancVue CEO, states that as Kasasa grows, it plans to increase the breadth of services offered to community financial institutions.

BancVue launched Kasasa at FinovateFall 2009.

FutureAdvisor Grows 10x to $600+ Million Under Management

FutureAdvisor Grows 10x to $600+ Million Under Management

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In an era when half of millennials are not saving for retirement, robo-advisors have entered the market to help make the task less daunting. One of the players on the robo-advisory field, FutureAdvisor, released metrics today supporting its growth.

The San Francisco-based company currently markets two products, one aimed to help users build their existing retirement fund and another to grow 529 college savings funds. The company’s freemium service offers either a fully managed account service or a free, advice-only resource.

As a money manager, FutureAdvisor invests on behalf of 4,000 clients whose average portfolio totals $143,000. The company’s assets under management now total $603 million, a figure which has grown 10x since last June.

The company’s free, advisory-only service tracks $40 billion in assets for its 320,000+ registered users.

FutureAdvisorUse

FutureAdvisor, which differentiates itself by using real people in tandem with its algorithm-based robo-advisory service, has raised $21.5 million, including a $15.5 million Series B round in May 2014.

The startup debuted FutureAdvisor Premium at FinovateFall 2013 in New York.

FinDEVr APIntelligence

Are you building new financial technology? Be sure to register now for the only event exclusively for fintech developers, FinDEVr 2015, 6/7 Oct 2015 in San Francisco.

FinDEVr2015-SF-Logo-StackedwdateThe latest from FinDEVr 2015 presenters:

  • Wallaby totals 2,700 credit cards and 500 banks in Cardbase database.
  • Avalara adds SuiteRetail to its list of certified solution partners.
  • GeekWire considers Avalara’s success, including its corporate lounge at the U.S. Open.
  • Financial Times lists Personal Capital in its Top 300 RIA List.
  • Personal Capital CEO Bill Harris, former PayPal CEO, discusses how PayPal fits into mobile payments.
  • Personal Capital launches Retirement Calculator that pulls data directly from your account to give you a reality check about saving.
  • Xignite Inside: Market Data Provider Powers Apple Watch Apps for Finovate Alums.

Alumni updates:

  • Tradier integrates with OneOption to advance options-trading platform.
  • Finovate talks payment API security with John Canfield, VP of risk for WePay.
  • Fortune Magazine and Great Place to Work place On Deck Capital on list of 100 best places to work for millennials.
  • Finance Magnates features Tradier in its Fintech Spotlight.
  • Payments Source features BehavioSec’s biometric security solution (paywall).
  • InComm partners with U.K.-based Sainsbury’s to help consumers save on the cost of fuel at Sainsbury’s petrol stations after buying gift cards.

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

Currency Cloud Cooks Up $18 Million in New Funding Round

Currency Cloud Cooks Up $18 Million in New Funding Round

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Cross-border payments as a service company Currency Cloud closed an $18 million Series C funding round this week, bringing its total funding to $36 million.

Strategic contributors to the round include SAP’s independent venture arm, Sapphire Ventures, along with the Rakuten FinTech Fund. The U.K.-based company will leverage the SAP relationship to offer cross-border money remittance services to SAP’s business customers. Currency Cloud will work with Japan-based Rakuten to help guide its expansion into Asia next year.

Existing investors also contributed to the round:

  • XAnge Private Equity
  • Notion Capital
  • Atlas Venture
  • Anthemis Group

The company will use the funds to invest in R&D, product enhancements, and to support international expansion. Last year Currency Cloud expanded to the U.S. and opened an office in New York.

Currency Cloud, which launched in 2012, has seen 100% year-over-year revenue growth over the past two years. Adding to its success, this year Currency Cloud received an eMoney license from the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This permits it to execute payment transactions and issue electronic money.

Michael Laven, Currency Cloud CEO, divulged additional metrics in an interview with TechCrunch:

Laven says that by the end of 2015, the company will be processing $1 billion per month in transactions. Those transactions, meanwhile, tend to be for around $15,000 to $20,000, with “many” extending to $1 million.

At FinovateSpring 2015, Currency Cloud launched Payment Engine, an API that Finovate alums such as Transferwise, Azimo, Kantox, Fidor Bank, and CurrencyTransfer use to power their services. Check out its launch video below:

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Currency Cloud Cooks Up $18 Million in New Funding Round
  • FutureAdvisor Grows 10x to $600+ Million Under Management
  • Xignite Inside: Market Data Provider Powers Apple Watch Apps for Finovate Alums
  • Prairie Cloudware Announces New Round of Investment

Around the web:

  • Insuritas to power insurance-agency solution to First Federal Savings Bank of Wyoming.
  • American Banker mentions how Qapital and Moven recently updated their software to make saving easier.
  • Digital Transactions recognizes Payzur from Acculynk as a P2P payments leader.
  • Misys wins Best Trade Finance Tech Solutions Company at the Trade Finance Awards for Excellence.
  • Fortune profiles Blooom President Greg Smith, former Goldman Sachs banker.
  • Personal Capital CEO Bill Harris, former PayPal CEO, discusses how PayPal fits into mobile payments.
  • InComm partners with U.K.-based Sainsbury’s to help consumers save on the cost of fuel at Sainsbury’s petrol stations after buying gift cards.
  • Jo Ann Barefoot podcast interviews Lending Club founder and CEO, Renaud Laplanche.

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.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Mobile Fees: BillGuard Goes Freemium with Integrated Credit Monitoring
  • New $175 Million Investment Earns Credit Karma a $3.5 Billion Valuation
  • Lake Trust Credit Union Launches Larky-powered Mobile Rewards App

Around the web

  • The Financial Times looks at progress from robo-advisor services Nutmeg and Money on Toast.
  • FCI Federal Credit Union deploys CruiseNet core processing system from Jack Henry’s Symitar division.
  • UPS Capital, the financial services business division for United Parcel Service, to offer loans to its small business customers via Kabbage.
  • Motif launches new website for improved user experience.
  • Fortune Magazine and Great Place to Work name On Deck Capital 1 of 100 best places to work for millennials.
  • CU Management features Onovative in a discussion on innovations in new member onboarding.

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.

Personal Capital Launches Retirement Planner to Give You a Reality Check

Personal Capital Launches Retirement Planner to Give You a Reality Check

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Odds are, you’ve used some type of retirement calculator in the past to ensure you’re contributing enough of your current paycheck to your future self.

Today, Personal Capital launched a detailed, automated version of what it’s calling the Personal Capital Retirement Calculator.

The tool draws data from a user’s existing Personal Capital account, then asks questions about children and their education, Social Security expectations, and planned retirement lifestyle. Next, it generates 5,000 Monte Carlo simulations to predict your median net worth at retirement age and the 10% worst outcomes.

Although looking at the worst case scenario can be a bit sobering, the tool offers practical application by showing a range of expected results from different savings amounts. It also has the flexibility to edit retirement age, spending, and savings, as well as additional income changes, such as downsizing or receiving a pension.

The tool is available as a free feature for new and existing account holders.

Personal Capital showed off its data aggregation capabilities at FinDEVr 2014 in San Francisco.

http://finovate.wistia.com/medias/f94fu66zy9?embedType=iframe&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

Interested in seeing more presentations like Personal Capital’s? Tickets are now on sale for FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco. Pick up yours today.