Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Realty Mogul Builds $35 Million in New Funding

Realty Mogul Builds $35 Million in New Funding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Realty Mogul

RealtyMogulHomepage

Realty Mogul, a platform for crowdfunding real estate transactions, pulled in $35 million in funding early this week. This Series B installment is the company’s fifth round of funding since it was founded in 2012, bringing the total to $45.1 million.

Canaan Partners, the leader of Realty Mogul’s Series A round, participated in this year’s round, which was led by existing investor, Sorenson Capital.

For buyers, Realty Mogul offers debt financing of up to $1.5 million for residential properties and $25 million for commercial properties. It also has a commercial property equity option for up to $5 million. Additionally, the platform caters to both accredited retail investors and institutional investors.

RealtyMogulLendingOpps

Since launch, the California-based company’s platform has been used to furnish $80 million in funding for 250+ properties worth a total of $500 million. In the past year, Realty Mogul has added 70 employees and plans to hire more. In fact, the company will use the new funding to bolster its technology and data team to better analyze deals and risk.

Realty Mogul debuted its crowdfunding tool for real estate at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose. Check out the live demo video below.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Algomi, Arxan Technologies, BBVA Compass, BioCatch, Braintree, Cachet Financial Solutions, Coinbase, EverSafe, Fastacash, Fenergo, Five Degrees, Green Dot, Heckyl Technologies, InComm, Malauzai Software, MyOrder, PayPal, Realty Mogul, SizeUp, TIO Networks, Venmo, Wealthfront

On Finovate.com

  • “Realty Mogul Builds $35 Million in New Funding”
  • “Fastacash Secures $15 Million in Series B Investment”
  • “Fenergo Raises $75 Million from Insight Venture Partners”

Around the web

  • InComm adds new brands to its Incentives e-commerce site, including vacation brands.
  • Green Dot opens subsidiary in Shanghai.
  • Citizens 1st National Bank introduces mobile remote deposit capture with integration of Malauzai SmartApp, Ensenta mRDC.
  • Liz Loewy, senior vice president for EverSafe, spoke about elder financial abuse at White House Conference on Aging.
  • Arxan Technologies partners with Sequent to develop new security solution to protect HCE-based payment systems.
  • Five Degrees appoints Peter-Jan van de Venn as new chief commercial officer.
  • BBVA Group inks strategic agreement with the Alliance for Financial Inclusion.
  • Business Insider names executives of Braintree, PayPal, Coinbase, and Venmo as 5 of 10 execs who are transforming the fintech industry.
  • Kotak Securities and Heckyl launch real-time news and market-info apps.
  • Cachet Financial Solutions to deploy Select Mobile Money platform for SOLE Financial’s Visa Paycard.
  • MyOrder teams up with WirecardGroup to issue contactless mobile cards using HCE technology.
  • Algomi wins “FinTech Innovation of the Year” honors at 2015 Euromoney Global Awards for Excellence.
  • Wealthfront lowers its minimum investment to $500.
  • Bank Innovation takes a look at how startups like SizeUp help banks work better with small businesses.
  • Authentication specialist BioCatch earns a pair of patents from the U.S. Patent Office.

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

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: ArthaYantra, Backbase, Betterment, Billhighway, Braintree, Coinbase, FutureAdvisor, Insuritas, iSignthis, Lending Club, Market Prophit, PayItSimple, PayPal, Prosper, ReadyForZero, Ripple, Topicus, Trustly, Wealthfront

On Finovate.com

  • “Redesigning the Value Chain: Q&A with Michiel Schipper of Topicus”

Around the web

  • Trustly appoints CCO from Société Générale and director of sales from Klarna Group.
  • Swiss Re partners with Backbase to develop a new digital platform for selling and servicing life and health products online. Come see Backbase at FinDEVr on 6/7 October in San Francisco.
  • PayItSimple launches in the United Kingdom.
  • Greater Nevada, $550 million in assets, hires Insuritas to launch insurance agency.
  • Paybefore: “How the Ripple Protocol Could Change Payments”
  • PayPal’s Braintree supports Apple Pay in the U.K. with its v.zero SDK. Come see Braintree at FinDEVr this fall.
  • Billhighway adopts SnapApp platform to develop and publish interactive content that increases market engagement.
  • ReadyForZero lists Prosper and Lending Club as 2 of the top 3 debt-consolidation loan companies.
  • Betterment launches SmartDeposit feature.
  • Market Prophit licenses its platform to Nasdaq’s Market Intelligence Desk.
  • The Flying Merchant to use digital eKYC solution from iSignthis to meet AML requirements.
  • The Economic Times India features ArthaYantra, Betterment, FutureAdvisor, and Wealthfront in a review of robo-advisors.

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

TickerTags Launches in Beta

TickerTags Launches in Beta
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: TickerTags

TickerTagsHomepage

TickerTags, a startup that surfaces market trends before they become news, launched the beta version of its platform for investors last week.

TickerTags charts the number and sentiment of conversations around a brand and other key words to help investors anticipate a rise or fall in the company’s stock price. The TickerTag database holds 350,000 keywords and phrases associated with 8,000 publicly traded companies.

The platform lets users create up to 40 Private Tags, for example, Kate Spade + Love and Michael Kors + Love to help forecast the stock price activity of public handbag companies.

TickerTagsHandbags2

The Dallas-based company, which debuted the platform at FinovateSpring in May, plans to price subscriptions at $30 per month for 40 Private Tags. Right now, it’s letting users track up to 40 tags for free until the end of this year.

The company plans to launch sentiment analysis in a few months and will add trend data from Facebook by the end of this year.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: AcceptEmail, BankBazaar, BioCatch, CardFlight, Cardlytics, InComm, Lendio, TickerTags, TransferTo, TransferWise, Yodlee

On Finovate.com:

Around the web

  • Lendio launches new commercial real estate financing division.
  • AcceptEmail announces first major reseller agreement since opening U.S. headquarters.
  • Weinstein Company to use Cardlytics’ Box Office Purchase Data to engage with active moviegoers.
  • TransferTo enables Xoom customers to instantly send airtime credit online from the U.S. to international prepaid mobile phones.
  • Payment Alliance International to offer CardFlight’s EMV mPOS acceptance solutions to its market-partner distribution-network and merchant customers nationwide.
  • Yodlee’s write up of fintech innovation in Europe highlights TransferWise.
  • State Bank of India partners with BankBazaar to provide an online platform to home loan borrowers to apply for SBI Home Loans.
  • MetaBank partners with InComm to become an issuing bank for InComm’s prepaid card programs.

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

Prosper’s Growth History: $4 Billion in Loan Originations Since Launch

Prosper’s Growth History: $4 Billion in Loan Originations Since Launch
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Prosper

ProsperHomepage715

What’s the most efficient way to understand the growth of a company? Look at the data, of course!

P2P lending granddaddy, Prosper, recently published some facts and stats about its history, performance, and future plans. We dissected the key pieces:

  • Prosper launched in 2006, and six years later, in 2012, the company had closed $150 million in loans.
  • In 2014, Prosper closed $1.6 billion in loans, a record at that time, and brought in 3.5 times more loan volume than 2013.
  • In Q1 2015, Prosper closed its largest quarter so far with $912 million in loan originations on the platform—an increase of almost 12x over two years before.
  • This week, Prosper announced it has originated more than $4 billion in loans since its 2006 launch.

LendItGraph

Graph source: Prosper blog (http://bit.ly/1JWswZO)

The industry is taking notice. So far this year, Prosper has been named one of Forbes Magazine’s Most Promising Companies of 2015, an AlwaysOn OnFinance Company of the Year, and was listed as a Global 250 Top Private Company.

In 2012, Prosper employed 85 people. The company now has 457+ employees and, in 2015 alone, has doubled the size of its engineering team.

Prosper debuted at the first Finovate event in 2007 in New York City. Check out the demo video below.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Currency Cloud, Kreditech, Patch of Land, Prosper, Realty Mogul, Tradeshift

On Finovate.com

  • “Prosper’s Growth History: $4 Billion in Loan Originations Since Launch”

Around the web

  • American Banker covers Realty Mogul and Patch of Land (paywall).
  • PYMNTS looks at how Currency Cloud plans to use its recent round of funding. Come see their presentation at FinDEVr 2015.
  • Tradeshift partners with supply-chain management solutions company Quyntess, which has built three apps on Tradeshift’s open platform.
  • TechCrunch rumors Kreditech is three months out from closing a $110 million round with contribution from Peter Thiel.

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

Finovate Debuts: itBit’s Regulated Bitcoin Trading Platform

Finovate Debuts: itBit’s Regulated Bitcoin Trading Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Finovate Debuts, itBit

itBitHomepage

While there are dozens of bitcoin trading platforms available to people looking to buy and sell bitcoin, itBit easily differentiates itself from the masses.

itBit’s founders set out to build a compliant exchange which is what sets the New York-based company apart from its numerous competitors. In fact, it is the only regulated bitcoin trading platform open to all U.S. customers.

itbitMultichannel

Company facts:

  • 32 employees
  • $30 million in funding
  • Headquartered in New York City
  • Thousands of users across the globe
  • Board members include Senator Bill Bradley; Sheila Bair, former FDIC chairman; and Robert Herz, former FASB chairman
  • Accommodates both retail and institutional traders

itBit Trust Company

nydofsitBit has a trust company that is licensed by the New York State Department of Financial Services. The company selected New York state because the founders are based in NYC, and it is the most difficult state from which a license can be obtained. For this reason, the certification is recognized nationwide.

As a part of this license, itBit protects all of users’ fiat and bitcoin currencies. It also offers tax documentation and FDIC insurance for U.S. currency deposits.

Since itBit is regulated, it must pass yearly exams, complete capital requirements, and face oversight to ensure its bitcoins are secure. Additionally, the company must maintain a certain level of regulatory capital and is liable to repay users in the event any currency is lost or stolen.

Trading platform

itBit enables users to trade three fiat currencies against bitcoin (XBT), including Euros (EUR), Singapore dollars (SGD), and U.S. dollars (USD). itBit holds all client bitcoins in cold storage, i.e., stored offline.

The screenshot below shows the user’s wallet, which displays account balances across all currencies. The wallet also offers the option to deposit and withdraw from their account.

itbitWallet

To make a deposit, the user selects the desired currency. For every deposit, itBit generates a unique address, corresponding to the user’s wallet, which ensures funds are routed directly into their itBit account. The wallet dashboard also offers a visualization of all historical deposits, withdrawals, and currency trades.

Make a trade

At the top of the trading platform, itBit highlights the best bid and ask in the market, as well as the 24-hour bitcoin trading-volume.

To buy bitcoin, the user enters their desired limit-order price and amount, which will be filled only if the price of bitcoin reaches the user’s specified limit-price. Once they click buy and confirm the trade, their account updates in real-time to reflect the purchase.

The order book displays all executed, cancelled, and live orders in the market to all users. This transparent view of trades enables users to conduct their own price analyses.

itBit operates on a maker-taker fee structure, meaning that it pays rebates to users who are making money on its platform via limit-order execution. The rebate section shows the user their available balance to use toward future trading fees.

itbitBid

itBit is available internationally to users from 67 countries. The startup has offices in New York City and Singapore. It is currently looking for bank partnerships.

Check out itBit’s full live demo from FinovateSpring 2015 below, or visit the Finovate video archives.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Avalara Integrates Automated Sales Tax Solution with Stripe

Avalara Integrates Automated Sales Tax Solution with Stripe
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Avalara

AvalaraHomepage

Earlier this week, sales-tax automation company Avalara announced it has integrated with payment acceptance company, Stripe.

The integration with Stripe’s subscription billing service and API will make Avalara’s sales-tax calculation and compliance services available to companies using Stripe. The integration with Avalara takes minutes, after which merchants can automatically calculate sales tax owed on every transaction. Additionally, Avalara will automate the tax return preparation, filing, and remittance processes.

Avalara is now one of five third-party sales-tax service-providers available to Stripe merchants.

StripeHomepage

Founded in 2004, Avalara works with businesses of all sizes to provide holistic tax compliance systems that work within their own financial, billing, ecommerce, or point-of-sale systems. The Washington-based company has a variety of specialized products, ranging from SKU-level tax solutions for retailers to compliance systems for vacation rental homeowners. Avalara integrates with many other ecommerce software providers, including Bigcommerce, Groupon, Recurly, and Zen Cart.

Avalara is one of the presenting companies at FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco on 6/7 October, so come and check out their presentation. Super Early-Bird tickets are on sale through 10 July, so pick up yours today and save.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: App Annie, Avalara, Cachet Financial Solutions, Coinbase, Insuritas, itBit, Nearex, Tradeshift, Vouch, Xero

On Finovate.com

  • “Nearex Closes Series B Funding”
  • “Avalara Integrates Automated Sales Tax Solution with Stripe”
  • “Finovate Debuts: itBit’s Regulated Bitcoin Trading Platform”

Around the web

  • American Banker article notes Vouch is bringing social connections back into lending in the 21st century.
  • Xero updates Tracked Inventory feature.
  • Cachet Financial Solutions partners with risk-management software company Advanced Fraud Solutions.
  • Kansas City Business Journal considers how Tradeshift is igniting renewed interest in its new partner, C2FO.
  • TechCrunch: “App Annie Integrates with Google Analytics, Launches Free In-App Analytics for Developers”
  • Insuritas to power multistate insurance agency solution for Enterprise Bank.

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

Nearex Closes Series B Funding

Nearex Closes Series B Funding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Nearex

NearexHomepage

Singapore-based Nearex, a proximity-transaction solutions company, received an undisclosed amount of funding in a Series B round today. This marks the second round of funding Nearex has received from a group of investors, led by Tata Capital Growth Fund LP. Existing investors also contributed to the new round, including Japan-based BEENOS Asia and Xinvesco.

The company, which specializes in contactless micro payments, debuted Xip at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose. Xip’s micropayments solution offers merchants a tiny mobile point-of-sale terminal, called a XipPOS, that communicates with the consumer’s Mobile Money account via a personalized NFC sticker, XipTAG, to initiate a contactless payment.

The hardware integrates with existing mobile wallets. Nearex’s target clients include financial institutions and other mobile money service providers.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

A Dash of Good Karma: Karmic Labs Raises $5 Million

A Dash of Good Karma: Karmic Labs Raises $5 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Karmic Labs

KarmicLabsHomepage

Was it good karma? San Francisco-based Karmic Labs, a company whose APIs offer payment and SaaS solutions to enterprises, pulled in $5 million in a Series A funding round today.

The funds come from Greycroft Partners, who led the round, with participation from Trusted Ventures, Accelerator Ventures, Pipeline VC, Correlation Ventures and individual investor Iqram Magdon-Ismail. The new amount tops the company’s 2013 Seed round, in which it garnered $2.7 million from Draper Associates. Karmic Labs’ funding now totals $7.7 million.

The comDashCardsMobilepany debuted its Dash Prepaid MasterCard at FinovateSpring 2015 (watch the live demo below). Dash is a business-expense-management platform that supplies employees with MasterCard prepaid cards, and enables managers to view, approve and control employee spending via a mobile app. The all-in-one system facilitates budgeting and accounting by simplifying the expense-reporting process.

The company is working with FIS as a distribution partner for Dash and plans to use the $5 million to advance Dash and create product awareness.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook