Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Linkable Networks Raises $8 Million for Card Linked Offers Platform

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Linkable Networks

LinkableNetworksLogo.jpg

Just days after its competitor, Cardlytics, announced a major funding round, Linkable Networks landed a fresh $8 million round.

The new installment is Linkable Networks’ seventh funding round, bringing its total to $28.7 million.

    • October 2014: $8 million
    • August 2013: $3.6 million
    • December 2012: $4.1 million
    • September 2012: $3.2 million
    • October 2011: Undisclosed
    • March 2011: $8.3 million
    • October 2010: $1.5 million

The Boston-based company’s investors include Kepha Partners, Common Angels Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Citi Ventures.

Linkable Networks focuses on enhancing customer loyalty for retailers while providing financial institutions with a reward program linked to bank cards.

The company was founded as Clovr Media in 2011 and has since changed its name. It debuted MyLinkables MasterCard solution at FinovateFall 2012.

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Alumni News– November 11, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Cachet Financial Solutions, Coinbase, Hoyos Labs, Linkable Networks, TradeHero, Xero
  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgLinkable Networks Raises $8 Million for Card Linked Offers Platform.
  • Coinbase integrates with Openfolio to create transparency in who is investing in Bitcoin.
  • Cachet Financial Solutions Launches Enhanced Select Business Solution.
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.

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Alumni News– November 10, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: BankBazaar, BillGuard, Bionym, Experian, Hoyos Labs, Kofax, Narrative Science, SocietyOne, Strands
  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgNHS Choices selects Narrative Science to Assist with Delivery of Healthcare Information.
  • Visa using Kofax TotalAgility to deploy enhanced data and invoice management in Asia Pacific.
  • PostFinance integrates Strands PFM in their new digital banking platform.
  • BNN interviews Bionym CEO on how its Nymi band could work for payments.
  • The Australian Business Review considers how SocietyOne is contributing to the P2P lending boom.
  • Livemint.com features Bankbazaar.com’s growth.
  • Hoyos Labs launches iOS & Android password manager that uses the user’s face to log into websites.
  • BillGuard and Experian Data Breach Resolution partner to offer an advanced ID protection suite.
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.

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What the Hack to do With All those APIs?

What the Hack to do With All those APIs?
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bionym, Blockchain, Feedzai, Intuit, MasterCard Developer Zone, Modo Payments, PayPal
IMG_3008

We’re in Vegas this week, catching up with several Finovate and FinDEVr alums. Before the week even started, however, we took a gamble and spent the weekend at the Money20/20 Hackathon.

Many Finovate and FinDEVr alums have powerful APIs to enable the creation of solutions to solve all types of problems. At the hackathon, the crowd of 450 developers, engineers, and entrepreneurs developed a myriad of solutions over the course of 25 hours.

Here are the winners for each company:

BionymLogo_FinDEVr

Bionym winners: 

  • OffBank, which uses Bionym’s Nymi band to authenticate bank customers before initiating a wire transfer
  • I Heart Pay, which uses Bionym’s Nymi band, combined with an app, to enable merchants to verify a customer’s identity to charge them for a transaction

Check out Bionym’s demo from FinDEVr 2014, San Francisco

BlockchainLogo


Blockchain winner:

Samaritus, which uses barcode scanners inside of recycling bins that read bar codes on recyclable materials to reward people for recycling. The app pays them in bitcoin, while simultaneously collecting data on what and where users recycle.

FeedzaiLogo.jpg

Feedzai winner:
Bacon, which places a multi-layer authentication platform that layers more security data on top of Feedzai’s algorithm to authenticate customers before a transaction. 

IntuitLogo.jpg

Intuit winner:
In Reach, which uses the QuickBooks Online API to determine the availability of a retailer’s inventory, then enables customers to purchase goods via a native app, and pick up the item in the store.
MasterCardLogo

MasterCard winner:

Enterchange, which uses MasterCard’s API to enable customers to order food and pay at sit-down restaurants.
Modo Payments winners:
    • ShopperPal (for FIS), an app that incents consumers to enter a physical retail store by giving them points for entering a 
      ModoLogo_FinDEVr

      store, liking the company on Facebook, and making purchases in the store. The points are added to the consumer’s Modo Payments app.

    • KidFit (for Alliance Data), an app that syncs with wearable devices, such as a smartwatch, to enable parents to reward their children for elevating their heart rate for a set amount of time. The rewards are given in the form of points in the Modo Payments app. 
    • Nike Modo, a system that uses the Nike Fuel band to track a consumer’s geolocation and add reward points to their Modo Wallet when they enter a store and make a purchase.
Swift, a solution for retail stores that uses an RFID sensor to track each product that is placed into shopping carts. The data syncs to the consumer’s PayPal app to enable a quick and mobile checkout experience.

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Socure Scores $2.5 Million to Overcome Evil with Good

Socure Scores $2.5 Million to Overcome Evil with Good
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Socure

Socurelogo.jpg

Online security companies are always working to stay one step ahead of fraudsters. Socure, a New York-based company is out to fight these malevolent deeds with an approach it calls Social Biometrics.

As it turns out, it pays to be good. The company just closed a $2.5 million round of funding this week. Investors include:

    • Founder Collective
    • Two Sigma Ventures
    • ff Venture Capital 

This, added to Socure’s $2.2 million Seed round it generated in March, brings the company’s total funding to $4.7 million.

Socuredashboard

Socure’s fraud detection solution uses people’s social behavior across networks to determine the authenticity of their identity. See their debut of Social Biometrics at FinovateFall 2013.

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Cardlytics Pulls in $70 Million in Series F Round, Prepares for IPO

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Cardlytics, Funding

CardlyticsLogoNew.jpg

Card-linked offers company, Cardlytics, closed a $70 million Series F round yesterday. The round was led by Discovery Capital, who will appoint a representative to Cardlytics’ board.

The Wall Street Journal reports that, with this newest installment, the Atlanta-based company has raised a total of $170 million since it was founded in 2008. Past investors include:

    • Groupe Aeroplan
    • Canaan Partners
    • ITC Holdings
    • Kinetic Ventures
    • Polaris Venture Partners
    • TTV Capital
    • Aimia

The company plans to use the funding to develop products that analyze data in new ways. It will not only help the merchants, who pay Cardlytics to list their offers, but it is also good news for its 400 bank partners.

This includes Bank of America, who uses the company’s technology to power its BankAmeriDeals (below). This year, Cardlytics anticipates the banks’ cut of payment it receives from merchants will add up to $20 to $25 million.

CardlyticsTablet1.1.jpg

The company plans to go public within the next 18 months. According to Cardlytics co-founder and President, Lynne Laube:

“We want to be ready to take advantage of the market, and getting ready for an IPO takes work.”

Check out Cardlytics’ demo from FinovateFall 2013, where it debuted its Gelocation Application.

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Finovate Debuts: HedgeCoVest

Finovate Debuts: HedgeCoVest
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: HedgeCoVest

The Finovate Debuts series introduces new Finovate alums. Today’s feature is HedgeCoVest, which demonstrated its Replicazor at FinovateFall 2014.

HedgeCoVestLogo

HedgeCoVest’s web-based tool enables users to replicate hedge fund investments in their own brokerage accounts. The platform is aimed at existing hedge fund investors, advisors, and retail investors seeking more flexibility.

The stats

    • $900,000 raised
    • 12 employees
    • Product launched in September 2014
    • 35+ hedge fund managers have signed up 
    • 50+ models coming in the next few months

Hedge funds vs. HedgeCoVest
While hedge fund returns can be impressive, investing in them is not always practical. To qualify, investors need to have a net worth of $1 million (excluding primary residence). Additionally, hedge funds have prohibitively high account and strategy minimums.

Investors also face liquidity restrictions, locking them into strategies, and there’s little transparency into strategy specifics.

In comparison, HedgeCoVest’s minimum is $30,000, and investors can allocate as little as $10,000 to individual strategies. Liquidating investments is easy, just one click. HedgeCoVest charges a flat fee of 2.5%, instead of the often-confusing legal, audit, and trade fees incurred with traditional hedge funds.

HCVHomepage

How it works
HedgeCoVest enables investors to automatically replicate real hedge fund portfolios in their own brokerage accounts, in real time. It does this using a trading technology called the Replicazor, which automatically mirrors hedge fund investments.

In milliseconds, the Replicazor registers a hedge fund trade and makes the same trade for HedgeCoVest clients.

The overview page (below) is used to search and compare available hedge fund models.

HCVSearchModels

Users select a model for an in-depth view of the strategy. The overview tab breaks down the exact sector allocations, both long and short.

HCVSectors

Other tabs include statistics (shown below), real-time fund performance, and an About Us section that profiles the firm and person behind the strategy.

HCVStatistics

When the user finds a strategy they like, they select Invest Now, enter the amount to allocate, and choose their leverage. The Replicazor buys the securities into the brokerage account and tracks the holdings going forward.

By trading outside of the rigid hedge fund structure and requirements, HedgeCoVest opens hedge fund investing to a wider audience.

Check out HedgeCoVest’s debut of the Replicazor at FinovateFall 2014.

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Finovate Debuts: Linqto

Finovate Debuts: Linqto
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Linqto

The Finovate Debuts series introduces new Finovate alums. Today’s feature is Linqto, which demonstrated its virtual Personal Banker solution at FinovateFall 2014.

LinqtoLogo

With Linqto’s Personal Banker, users can talk face-to-face with their bank teller in real time, from anywhere with an Internet or data connection.

The stats

    • Company founded in 2010
    • Product launched in 2014
    • Clients include Marriott, Intuit, NCR, and other major organizations

The product
Digital banking has transitioned from a “nice-to-have” to a “must-have,” but many customers find that an online-only channel lacks the personal connection that comes with the in-branch experience. Personal Banker captures the convenience of remote banking while maintaining the personal, face-to-face relationship aspect of in-branch banking.

With Linqto’s system, customers launch a live video chat with a real teller directly on their mobile device. Personal Banker is built to accommodate all devices; even customers without a camera can use SMS to text with a teller.

LinqtoIphoneChat

How it works: Consumer facing

>>Banking
Customers launch the video chat by clicking a button on the web or mobile platform. The one-touch access works like the Mayday button for the Kindle Fire HDX.

To make it as easy as possible, there is no software to upload, no plug-in to install, and no additional user name or password required.

During a video chat, customers can view and discuss their balance and take a picture of a check to deposit it during the session. They also have the option to type in questions and answers during the discussion, in the event they are in a public place.

LinqtoPersonalBankerVideo

>>Learning
The Personal Banker solution also has community rooms that act as virtual conference rooms where banks can host seminars on subjects such as retirement and home buying. Customers can interact with the conference host by speaking through their microphone or typing into the chat box.

How it works: Bank-facing

The teller’s screen shows a streaming video of the customer, their location information, their account information, and notes, such as their preferred nickname.

The teller also sees the availability and location of other tellers or specialists. Similar to a call-in experience, the teller can transfer the customer to someone such as a loan officer or wealth management specialist.

LinqtoTellerApp

Since Personal Banker still requires the use of tellers, it enables banks to use idle teller resources, helping some branches remain cost effective. This serves digital customers while keeping tellers in geographical locations where they are needed.

Security

Personal Banker adds an extra layer of security. First, it is difficult to spoof a live video of a face, which enables the teller to verify the customer’s identity. Additionally, the video feed is delivered securely, and all proprietary information is sent behind a firewall.

Linqto markets Personal Banker to bank technology providers such as Intuit, who combine the functionality with other solutions and market it to banks. The Personal Banker solution is coded to fit seamlessly within a bank’s website, mobile app, and branch software.

Watch Linqto’s live demonstration of Personal Banker at FinovateFall 2014.

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Vaamo Raises $3.2 Million, Launches Out of Private Beta

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, vaamo

vaamoLogo2.jpg

A German platform where users save and invest money towards their long term goals has brought on some funding of its own this week.

Vaamo announced yesterday it closed a $3.2 million (€2.5 million) Seed round. The investment was led by Route 66 Ventures, the same firm that furnished U.S.-based D3 Banking with $7 million last week. The remaining funds have come from business angels.

This round comes a year after its angel round of $635,000 (€500,000), which brings vaamo’s total funding to $3.8 million (€3 million).

Goalsetup.jpg

According to vaamo co-founders Thomas Bloch, and Oliver Vins, the funding will be used to hire more talent, specifically for marketing, customer service, and engineering. It will also be used to bolster marketing efforts to improve customer acquisition.

Vaamo is opening to the public today after spending about four months in private beta. It currently has 250 customers saving real money on its goals-based platform. It is limited to German residents only, but vaamo has not excluded the possibility of expanding its usage across borders.

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D3 Banking Brings in $7 Million, with $3 Million More on the Way

D3 Banking Brings in $7 Million, with $3 Million More on the Way
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: D3 Banking, Funding
D3BankingLogo

Here’s the math: D3 = Data Driven Digital Banking. The funding amount = $7 million.

Today, D3 Banking announced it raised $7 million in venture funding from Route 66 Ventures, a private investment firm focused on emerging financial services companies.

The Nebraska-based company reports that in the next 60 days, existing investors and a subordinate VC will contribute another $3 million, finalizing the round at $10 million.

The $10 million projected in this round, along with previous Angel investments of $6 million, will bring D3’s total funding to $16 million.

D3BankingHomepage

Since its launch in 2007, D3 Banking (formerly Lodo Software) has built a customer base of 225 institutions that use its digital financial management tools.

D3 expanded beyond financial management tools last year when it launched a comprehensive digital banking solution at FinovateSpring 2013. The first customer to roll out the new solution plans to go live with it in the next 30 days. Additionally, D3 is in talks with a number of other institutions who are interested in deploying the new solution. According to CEO Mark Vipond, now is the perfect time for the company to bring in its first round of Venture funding.

D3 will use the new capital to expand its sales and marketing team, invest in other product innovations, and deploy a SaaS-based solution for FIs that prefer on-premise deployment.

Check out D3 Banking’s video from FinovateSpring 2014 where it demonstrated the money movement tools added to the comprehensive solution it introduced last year.

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Finovate Debuts: Thinknum

Finovate Debuts: Thinknum
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Thinknum

The Finovate Debuts series introduces new Finovate alums. Today’s feature is Thinknum, which demonstrated its collaboration and comparison tools for financial analysis.

ThinknumLogo

Thinknum’s web-based software is targeted to financial analysts. The collaboration and cloud-computing tools help build better financial models. It seeks to revolutionize asset valuation and empowers analysts to turn complicated spreadsheets into in-depth analyses.

Stats
    • 4,000 analysts on platform
    • $1 million raised
    • Product launched December 2013
The problem
To more accurately value stocks, sophisticated investors create financial models based on metrics such as company sales, website page views, and global events such as spikes in food prices. Often, analysts use simple spreadsheets which can be inefficient in managing complicated data.
Most financial models are shared by email, with different versions saved on various hard drives leading to lost content, mis-used models, and other confusion. Additionally, finding specific data points by sorting through spreadsheets is cumbersome.
Enter Thinknum.
The solution
Thinknum provides analysts with a platform to host their spreadsheet-based models. Users can either upload existing models from Excel or build them directly on the platform. Powerful search capabilities enable users to apply a single model to multiple companies, automatically aggregating company-specific information, such as earnings and revenue.
ThinknumSpreadsheet
Additionally, Thinknum serves as a collaboration platform where 4,000 analysts from major banks and hedge funds across the globe can share and tweak each others’ models using different assumptions.
What sets Thinknum apart? 
1) Computing power
With an overwhelming amount of data and hundreds of APIs created every day, it is impossible to capture all of the information needed for an accurate model. Even if it were possible, analysts would still lack the computing power needed to crunch the numbers in the model. Thinknum’s 50 computing nodes deliver results in seconds, pulling data from thousands of sources.
2) Crowdsourced insights
Similar to Github, Thinknum gives users visibility into the work of other analysts on the platform. This provides insight into how others value certain companies, and can lead to better financial models.
The example below shows how other analysts, listed along the bottom, value Google. The bubbles represent each person’s valuation based on their personal financial model. 
ThinknumModelsPage
From here, analysts can open the model, view its performance, or use the QuickBuilder feature.
With QuickBuilder (below), investors can test their models by simulating the effect of changes in inputs, such as company revenue and cost of goods sold, have on the overall stock price.
ThinknumQuickbuilder
Thinknum’s capabilities extend beyond the QuickBuilder feature. It also provides graphs detailing data from over 2,000 sources such as home prices, construction spending, and the unemployment rate.

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Alumni News– October 23, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bionym, CardFlight, Digital Insight, Flint Mobile, Forte Payment Systems, Insuritas, Intuit, Jingit, PayPal, Settle
  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgJingit’s Head of Product, Chris Ohlsen, weighs in on loyalty and rewards.
  • Intuit launches developer experience and global app store for QuickBooks Online, including payments API.
  • Anovia Payments partners with CardFlight to offer mobile point of sale solutions to merchants and developers.
  • Richwood Bank hires Insuritas for its insurance agency solution.
  • Bionym forges own path to biometric harmony with the Nymi band.
  • Forte CEO Jeff Thorness comments on why omnichannel  is not just a buzzword.
  • MECU to provide members with digital banking services from Digital Insight.
  • PayPal’s Venmo earns a spot on VentureBeat’s list of 13 must-own apps for your smartphone.
  • Flint announces Verizon-led $9 million investment round.
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.

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