Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: AcceptEmail, Betterment, Fidor Bank, Klarna, MX, Nous.net, On Deck Capital, Ripple, TIO Networks, TSYS, WePay, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • “Four Finovate Alums Land on Inc. Magazine Top 100″

Around the web

  • Check out Utah Business’s video interview of Ryan Caldwell, MX CEO, honored as one of Utah’s Fast 50. Come see what MX has for developers at FinDEVr this October.
  • Silicon Republic names WePay, Betterment, and OnDeck as companies to follow on Twitter.
  • Pymnts examines how Ripple Labs’ partnership with Earthport enables payments between global trading partners in real time.
  • TSYS hires Patricia Watson as Senior EVP and CIO.
  • Finovate, FinDEVr alums make Let’s Talk Payments’ list of payment companies raising money in 2015.
  • Waters Technology looks at the use of sentiment analysis by investment-oriented startups like Nous and Market Prophet.
  • BankNXT profiles the partnership between two disruptive businesses, Uber and Zopa.
  • Klarna valued at more than $2.25 billion after secondary offering.
  • Fidor Bank CEO Matthias Kroner calls bitcoin a “natural part of the digital lifestyle.”
  • TIO Networks initiates a non-brokered private placement of up to 2.1 million Common Shares priced at $1.08 CAD per share.
  • AcceptEmail names Ron Averett as president and CEO for U.S.A. and Canada.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Four Finovate Alums Land on Inc. Magazine Top 100

Four Finovate Alums Land on Inc. Magazine Top 100
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Cardlytics, Kabbage, Prosper, WePay

Inccollage

Last week, Inc. Magazine published its annual ranking of private American companies based on 3-year revenue growth.

Four out of the top 100 companies are Finovate alums:

KabbageLogo2015Kabbage, provides working capital to small businesses online:

WePayLogoWePay, payment technology provider for online platforms and marketplaces:

ProsperLogoProsper, online P2P lending platform:

CardlyticsLogoNewCardlytics, a card-linked offers platform that provides big-data insights to financial institutions

Further down this year’s list are Payoneer, ranked 1976; CAN Capital, ranked 3206; Forte Payment Systems, ranked 4,466.

Having four alums among the 100 fastest-growing companies is a testament to fintech’s recent growth spurt. Last year, only two—Lending Club (ranked 248) and OnDeck (ranked 726)—made the top 1,000. Since both went public in late 2014, neither qualified for this year’s list.

The increasing number of Inc.’s 500 fintech companies is partially fueled by the swell in funding over the past few years. Inc. Magazine noted this trend in its recent article, Why Fintech Is One of the Most Promising Industries of 2015. It primarily focuses on WePay’s achievements but also highlights growth and success stories throughout the industry.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Payoneer Pulls in $50 Million

Payoneer Pulls in $50 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Payoneer

PayoneerHomepage2

PayoneerPlacedMobileCross-border payments platform Payoneer closed its eighth round of funding yesterday, a $50 million investment from seven contributors.

Financiers include new investors Greylock, Secondary Market, and Wellington Management. Existing investors Carmel Ventures, Nyca Partners, Ping An, and Susquehanna Growth Equity also contributed.

The new installment brings the company’s total funding to $90 million. While shares were purchased from existing investors, all of Payoneer’s major shareholders retained the majority of their holdings.

Payoneer’s money-transfer solutions enable small businesses and professionals to receive funds in 150 currencies and withdraw the money to their local bank account in their own currency. It also facilitates mass payouts for businesses looking to transfer money internationally, a service that supports companies such as newegg, airbnb, and fiverr.

The New York-based company has 500 employees in offices across Silicon Valley, Europe, and Asia.

Payoneer debuted its commercial account capability at FinovateAsia 2013. Check out the live demo video below:

 

 

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Boku, Cloud Lending, DigitalMailer, Entersekt, Geezeo, Holvi, MicroStrategy, Payoneer, PayPal, ProfitStars, Prosper, Tradeshift, Zooz

On Finovate.com

Around the web

  • FIDO Alliance now certifies security products from Entersekt and MicroStrategy.
  • Prosper updates credit model to PMI 6.
  • Boku acquires Mobileview Italia, offering it access to all four of the major mobile carriers in Italy.
  • NAFCU chooses Geezeo as PFM Preferred Partner.
  • Cloud Lending Solutions unveils CL Originate, its next generation, cloud-based loan-origination platform.
  • PYMNTS.com takes a look at Tradeshift’s acquisition of Merchantry.
  • BlackBerry and PayPal team up to beta test P2P payments via BBM in Canada.
  • Albawaba profiles Zooz and its unique approach to hiring developer talent.
  • Partnership with DigitalMailer to enable Primadata to provide its clients with the ability to send digital statements.
  • The Tennessean names ProfitStars a 2015 Top Workplace.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FinDEVr San Francisco Very-Early-Bird Ticket Discount Ends Friday

FinDEVr San Francisco Very-Early-Bird Ticket Discount Ends Friday
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinDEVr 2015 San Francisco

FinDEVrYodlee

For FinDEVr’s second visit to the Bay Area on 6/7 October, we’re projecting a sell-out crowd of more than 600 builders from organizations such as:

  • JP Morgan Chase
  • Twitter
  • Intel
  • BancVue
  • ING
  • Experian
  • TSYS
  • USAA
  • Insuritas
  • Wells Fargo

Very-early-bird tickets offer discounted access to this developer-focused event. Sixty companies will present their latest case study, innovation, or tutorial, followed by a Q&A session and one-on-one networking. So you will get all of your questions answered from the industry’s top tech gurus.

It will all take place at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco. Be sure to register before the discount expires on Friday.

FinDEVr is sponsored by Yodlee Interactive. Our event partners are the Bank Innovators Council, BankersHub, BayPay Forum, bobsguide, California Bankers Association, Celent, The CoinTelegraph, Mercator Advisory Group, and SF Fintech.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Debuts: 3E Software’s Teslar is a Toolbox for Credit Management

Finovate Debuts: 3E Software’s Teslar is a Toolbox for Credit Management
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: 3E Software, Finovate Debuts

3EHomepage

3E Software’s Teslar offers a fully integrated system to track loans. Its lending and credit management tools offer multiple services to track commercial debt.

Company facts:

  • Self-funded
  • 100% employee owned
  • Five-year annual average revenue growth rate of 150%+
  • Average customer ROI totals 200%

3E’s Teslar toolbox integrates with all of a bank’s systems to present commercial loan officers with portfolio and performance data. What is unique about Teslar’s platform, according to CEO Joe Ehrhardt, is that it aggregates multiple tools to offer a cradle-to-grave approach to assist with all phases of loan management.

Teslar’s capabilities are highly configurable and suitable for small community banks, as well as large regional banks.

Dashboards

Teslar’s dashboards offer a customized overview of loan-related stats and facts pertaining to specific concerns. Banks can configure dashboards at the branch level and even the user level by using filters. And managers can use it to compare various teams of loan officers.

Upon logging in, the lender sees the main dashboard (below) which outlines maturing loans, past-due loans, exceptions, and covenants. This overview highlights important factors for that day. Users simply click through graphs for details and borrower contact information.

TeslarDashboard

Teslar’s Main Dashboard (above)

The Loan Portfolio Performance Dashboard (below) graphs six aspects of a loan portfolio:

  • Balance comparison
  • Yields
  • Income
  • Problem percentages
  • Exception trends
  • Past dues

Similar to the main dashboard, users can customize each graph.

Loanportfoliodashboard

Teslar’s Loan Portfolio Performance Dashboard (above)

Exception tracking

Teslar supports five different types of exceptions: collateral, credit, policy, financial, and covenant (see section below). Its reporting system minimizes the need for data entry and helps quality-control groups find irregularities faster.

exceptionsDash

Covenant tracking

Banks that service large commercial loans with complex covenants often need a system to track and monitor them. Covenant tracking is one of the more popular modules.

Teslar pulls in information for each covenant, then tracks loan documents, calculates values such as debt-service-coverage ratios, and maps the historical values over time.

covenantTracking

Tailored Covenant Exception Summary (above)

Teslar also offers a waiver and forbearance system that helps banks handle covenants in default.

CovenantsSummarySummary of Customers with Covenants (above)

 

We’ve looked at just three of Teslar’s large feature set. 3E Software can also integrate with a bank’s entire lending system, including:

  • Image systems
  • Origination systems
  • Core
  • Factoring
  • Small businesses

3E Software demoed Teslar live at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose. It is the first company from Arkansas to take the Finovate stage.

 

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FinDEVr APIntelligence

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinDEVr APIntelligence

FinDEVr2015LogoV2DateAre you building new financial technology? Be sure to register soon for the only event exclusively for fintech developers, FinDEVr 2015, 6/7 Oct in San Francisco.

Developer news

  • “Mobile Monday: APIs to Power Thousands of Banking Apps”
  • “UBS Launches Future of Finance Challenge with Fintech Startups”

The latest from upcoming FinDEVr 2015 presenters

  • In Gartner’s latest report, Backbase scores twice in the top 5 for the B2C Informational and B2C Transactional use-cases.
  • Inc. ranks Kabbage as 36 in list of 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in America.
  • Envestnet acquires Yodlee for its Aggregation API and Instant Account Verification API for $590 million.
  • “Coinalytics and Token Earn Finalist Spots in BBVA Open Talent Competition”
  • CIO magazine features Wallaby Financial in a look at the end of passwords.
  • Yodlee adds four companies to its International Acceleration Program.

Alumni updates

  • Bluefin Payment Systems partners with EchoSat to protect point-of-sale systems from security breaches.
  • WatersTechnology interviews Derek Corcoran, CEO of Avoka Technologies.
  • nymi teams up with TD Bank and MasterCard to develop heartbeat-based, biometric authentication for contactless payments.
  • “Xero Launches its New Android Touch App”
  • LendUp deploys TaskRouter from Twilio to improve its call-center customer service.

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

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Debuts: Money Amigo Puts the Blockchain to Work for the Underbanked

Finovate Debuts: Money Amigo Puts the Blockchain to Work for the Underbanked
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Finovate Debuts, Money Amigo

MoneyAmigoHomepage

Money Amigo’sMoneyAmigoSendMoney mobile banking platform delivers traditional banking products in a nontraditional way. Its clean interface targets underserved markets by delivering simple-to-use services with a transparent fee structure.

Company facts:

  • $300,000 raised
  • 7 employees
  • Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada

Money Amigo, which is primarily targeted toward Hispanics and students, prides itself on bringing financial services to previously ignored market segments. Its core feature is international remittances.

Cross-border remittances are expensive and time-consuming. To keep the cost low and the transfer-speed high, Money Amigo moves money using the blockchain. Because digital currencies intimidate most users, the startup insulates all players from cryptocurrency elements. The currency-transfer process runs completely and securely in the background: The sender, recipient, and back-end operational players interact only with Money Amigo’s simple user interface, unaware they are using digital currency.

MoneyAmigoRemittance2

When I asked the Money Amigo team for specifics on how the startup is using the blockchain, they would admit only to doing some “very very cool things” that they “just can’t talk about right now.”MrAmigo2

What’s next for Money Amigo? With so many players interested, the team tells me that Money Amigo is considering selling its remittance solution as a separate white-label option.

This post would not be complete without mentioning Mr. Amigo. The furry green mascot is a crucial part of the user experience. The friendly guy greets users at multiple points to walk them through the user experience. Financial services can be quite complex, and Mr. Amigo helps make managing money more approachable.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FinDEVr APIntelligence

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Backbase, BehavioSec, Evo Snap*, FinDEVr APIntelligence, InComm, On Deck Capital, PayNearMe, PayPal, PayStand, Personal Capital, SimplyTapp, Tradier, Wallaby Financial, Yodlee

FinDEVr2015LogoV2DateAre you building new financial technology? Be sure to register soon for the only event exclusively for fintech developers, FinDEVr 2015, 6/7 Oct, in San Francisco.

Industry news

  • Expensify launches new fintech investment fund.
  • Yodlee hosts webinar on how to build financial apps to meet evolving customer expectations.
  • The Full FinDEVr: “A Look at the Final Line-up for FinDEVr 2015 San Francisco”

The latest from upcoming FinDEVr 2015 presenters

  • Wallaby Upgrades Credit Card Optimization Solution with Spend Monitor.
  • Backbase-powered Touch Bank goes live in Russia.
  • PayPal hires new CFO John Rainey, a former United Airlines executive.
  • EVO Snap* to fast track EMV migration for software vendors and retailers; partners with Handpoint.
  • NerdWallet looks at Personal Capital in feature on how automation is disrupting investing.
  • BehavioSec mentioned as one “wild invention of the future” that the Pentagon is behind.
  • OnDeck rolls out mobile app for account management on-the-go.
  • PYMNTS looks at how PayPal’s Paydiant is powering Subway’s mobile payments app.

Alumni updates

  • Market Visual integrates with Tradier’s API to enable investors to manage stock portfolios and trade on a single platform.
  • Tradier announces 75+ investor platforms and advisers now integrate with its API.
  • Let’s Talk Payments interviews CEO Jeremy Almond of PayStand.
  • In its latest podcast, Payments Views talks with Doug Yeager, HCE inventor and CEO of SimplyTapp.
  • Mobile Payments Today looks at InComm’s drive to bring open-loop prepaid to mobile wallets.
  • PayNearMe partners with The California Department of Child Support Services to offer a new payment option for cash-paying customers.

Stay current on daily developments by following FinDEVr on Twitter.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Wallaby Upgrades Credit Card Optimization Solution with Spend Monitor

Wallaby Upgrades Credit Card Optimization Solution with Spend Monitor
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Wallaby Financial

WallabyHomepage1

Wallaby Financial launched Spend Monitor, along with an updated dashboard and customizable widgets. The improvements to its credit card rewards maximization service give users a more complete view of their daily finances.

Spend Monitor provides a quick view of credit-card spending, making it easy to track finances and identify changes in spending behavior. It does this with three key actions:

  • Pinpoints increased or unusual activity in a specific category via spending alerts
  • Identifies suspicious activity, such as double charges and potential fraud
  • Depicts where and how users could have earned more rewards

The updated dashboard screen (pictured below) offers users a quick glance of their rewards, upcoming bills, and overall spending.

MobileDashboard

These upgrades are part of version 4.0 of Wallaby’s iOS mobile app, which also includes widgets such as bill-pay alerts, and a tool (pictured below) to identify the best credit card to use for each purchase.

WallabyBestCardThe new Wallaby 4.0 mobile app is available for iOS devices, including the Apple Watch.

WallabyAppleWatch

Wallaby’s most recent Finovate appearance was at FinovateSpring 2013 where it debuted Wallaby Wallet Boost (demo video below). The California-based company is slated to present at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 this October, where it will make a specialized pitch for developers.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alkami Technology, Backbase, Cachet Financial Solutions, Evo Snap*, FIS, Green Dot, Handpoint, Jack Henry, PayPal, Top Image Systems, TradeHero, Wallaby Financial

On Finovate.com

  • “Wallaby Upgrades Credit Card Optimization Solution with Spend Monitor”; come see Wallaby at FinDEVr, San Francisco, 6/7 Oct.

Around the web

  • Backbase-powered Touch Bank goes live in Russia. Check out what Backbase has for developers at FinDEVr San Francisco on 6/7 October.
  • Top Image Systems appoints Andrew Pery as new CMO.
  • Campus FCU integrates Alkami Technology’s ORB Platform into its core banking system.
  • Green Dot launches mobile cash-processing technology.
  • Security First Bank picks FIS to provide core banking system.
  • PayPal hires John Rainey, former United Airlines executive, as new CFO.
  • Fox Chase Bank to deploy SilverLake core system from Jack Henry.
  • “Cachet Introduces Express Mobile Deposit Solution for Small Financial Institutions”
  • EVO Snap* to fast track EMV migration for software vendors and retailers; partners with Handpoint.
  • Macquarie Capital Securities and TradeHero launch Warrant Hero, a virtual warrant competition, with RM100,000 in prize money to be given away.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Expensify Tallies Up $17.5 Million in Funding to Support its New Fintech Investment Fund

Expensify Tallies Up $17.5 Million in Funding to Support its New Fintech Investment Fund
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Expensify, Funding

ExpensifyScreenshot

Automated expense-report-management platform Expensify closed a $17.5 million round of funding earlier this week from OpenView Venture Partners. The new installment brings the company’s total funding to $27.2 million.

The San Francisco-based startup, which has 16,000 customers, will use the funding to support its newly launched endeavor, Expensify Ventures, a strategic investment fund for early stage fintech startups. According to David Barrett, Expensify CEO:

Every day we meet with entrepreneurs and companies that have awesome ideas when it comes to solving some of the corporate world’s biggest pain-points, and making life easier for both employees and employers … . From receipt-capture to expense management and even booking travel, a ton of companies are out there trying to make these processes easier, and Expensify wants to be involved.

ExpensifyVentures

Expensify is positioning itself as a unique type of investor with an empathetic point of view. “Fundraising is pretty much the worst part of a CEO’s job,” the company states on its web page. “We know—we’ve been there. But we’ve made it through the ring of fire (many times) and are now in a position where we’re ready to give back. Let us help.”

As a VC, the company is looking to invest in startups focused on financial technology, mobile OCR, travel services, payments, and anything relevant to business travelers and accountants. One of the first companies to partner with Expensify through Expensify Ventures is Piper, an alternative receipt solution.

Expensify’s most recent Finovate appearance was on stage at FinovateSpring 2013 where it debuted its invoice solution.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook