Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Finovate Alumni News– March 27, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Kony Solutions, Meniga, Seeking Alpha, Simple Tuition, Swipely, ThreatMetrix

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  • SimpleTuition’s PayBackSmarter.com now used by over 40 colleges & universities.
  • Meniga’s PFM goes live within Skandibanken’s online bank in Norway.
  • Mobile Enterprise Strategies interviews Kony’s VP of Mobile Strategies, Sam Lakkundi.
  • Super Sprowtz to implement Virtual Piggy’s child-safe e-commerce tool.
  • Swipely launches Main Street Marketing Manager.
  • Seeking Alpha passes 1 million members, doubles its size in less than 2 years.
  • ThreatMetrix lands $18 million in Series D funding.
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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Monitise Buys Competitor Clairmail for $173 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: ClairMail, Monitise

ClairmailLogo.jpg

United States-based mobile banking and payment solutions provider, Clairmail announced this morning that it will be acquired by Monitise, its European-based competitor.

Monitise will acquire Clairmail for $173 million to expand its international presence by leveraging Clairmail’s grasp on the North American market.

Together, Monitise and Clairmail will:

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    • Have 13 million registered consumers 
    • Operate across four continents
    • Process billions of transactions per year
    • Have 600 employees
    • Process $10 billion in payments and transfers per year
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The deal is expected to close on June 30, the end of Monitise’s fiscal year.

To learn more about Monitise and Clairmail, watch Monitise’s Finovate 2007 demo and Clairmail’s FinovateFall 2010 demo.

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FeeFighters Acquired by Groupon for Undisclosed Amount

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FeeFighters

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On Friday, FeeFighters, the creator of the Samurai payment gateway,announced on its blog that it has recently been acquired by daily deals giant, Groupon.

The post did not reveal the terms of the deal but did mention that there are no plans for major changes to its product line, including the FeeFighters Marketplace, Samurai gateway, and the brands themselves.

TechCrunch reports Groupon’s motive behind the purchase:

“With the FeeFighters acquisition, the focus is clearly on gaining technology aimed to help Groupon’s merchant partners, an area which the company has been diving into more deeply lately, with this month’s launch of the Groupon Scheduler booking service, another product that came out of an acquisition (OpenCal), as an example.”

Sean Harper, co-founder and CEO of FeeFighters, states that the acquisition will help the 3-year-old startup pursue its goal of helping small businesses run more efficiently.

To learn more about FeeFighters, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.

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Finovate Alumni News– March 26, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: ClairMail, ETRONIKA, FeeFighters, FreeMonee, Monitise, Personal Capital, Xero
  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgXero acquires software developer Max Solutions.
  • The Myndset interviews Joe Salesky, founder of FreeMonee.
  • Business Insider walks through Personal Capital’s iPad app.
  • Smart Biz touts the benefits of Xero’s accounting software.
  • FeeFighters acquired by Groupon for undisclosed amount.
  • Monitise buys competitor Clairmail for $173 million.
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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Lighter Capital Makes Borrowing Even Easier By Launching Design-A-Loan

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Lighter Capital

LighterCapitalLogo1.jpg

Revenue-based loan startup Lighter Capital announced the launch of a new feature this week called Design-A-Loan.

Design-A-Loan makes it easy for borrowers to draft a tailored loan based on their personal situation.

Here’s how it works:

1. Enter your business’ revenue from the previous three months

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2. Decide the amount you want to borrow and the term of the loan

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The tool generates the rate of the loan

3. Apply for the loan

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This tool provides a non-intimidating platform where potential borrowers can experiment with different loan types before applying for one.

To learn more about Lighter Capital, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.

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Meniga Takes its PFM to Australia

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Meniga

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Personal finance software provider Meniga announced yesterday that it partnered with Rubik, a company that builds software for banks, to bring its PFM to Australia:

“Both of them are offering a hosted option as well as a classic, enterprise play with on premise, white-label PFM, Rubik and Meniga will account for the needs of all sizes of Financial Institutions…”

The partnership is built on Meniga’s PFM solution and leverages Rubik’s relationships with Australian-area financial institutions.

To learn more about Meniga, watch its FinovateEurope 2012 demo.

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Finovate Alumni News– March 23, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: AcceptEmail, CashStar, ChargeSmart, Credit Karma, Dynamics, Lighter Capital, Meniga, Monitise, PayPal, SaveUp, Zecco
  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgeMudhra partners with Monitise to help launch mobile payments service.
  • Credit Karma profiles SaveUp. Come see SaveUp at FinovateSpring in May.
  • David Stone, CashStar CEO, named business leader of the year.
  • VentureBeat explores PayPal Here’s packaging.
  • ChargeSmart blog looks at what’s behind Dynamics smart cards.
  • AcceptEmail and PostNL enter into a strategic partnership.
  • Meniga takes its PFM to Australia.
  • Lighter Capital makes borrowing even easier by launching Design-A-Loan.
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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AlwaysOn Selects Bill.com as a 2012 OnDemand Top 100 Winner

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bill.com

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E-invoicing company, Bill.com, announced yesterday that it was one of 100 companies selected by AlwaysOn as an OnDemand Top 100 winner. This is the second year in a row it has won this award.

Bill.com was selected from among hundreds of other companies nominated by investors, bankers, and journalists for its innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value, and media buzz.

To learn more about Bill.com, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

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Kabbage Partners with Drop Ship Wholesaler Doba

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Kabbage

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Kabbage, a startup that lends funds to online merchants, has entered into a partnership with Doba, a drop ship wholesaler:

“Kabbage and Doba customers come largely from the same entrepreneurial universe, including independent online stores and merchants that sell goods on eBay, Amazon, Yahoo, Etsy and other online marketplaces.”

The partnership will give Doba clients access to Kabbage’s working capital and, in turn, help them grow their online businesses.

To learn more about Kabbage, watch its FinovateEurope 2012 demo.

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ReadyForZero Helps Users Pay Off $12.5 Million in Debt, Launches Savings Platform

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: ReadyForZero

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ReadyForZero, the startup that aims to get people out of debt faster, has helped users pay off $12.5 million of the $200 million in total debt under management. TechCrunch reported that frequent users are paying down their debt nearly twice as fast as infrequent users (see chart below).

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To help expand these numbers, the startup recently launched a platform for financial partners to make personalized offers. Here’s how it works:

    1. Advertisers create customized offers based on the user’s financial situation, for example credit score, debt-load, payment history, etc.
    2. ReadyForZero analyzes the offer for the user
    3. If it results in real savings, ReadyForZero passes it to the user
    4. If the user wants it, ReadyForZero connects them to the advertiser

To learn more about ReadyForZero, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.

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Finovate Alumni News– March 22, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bill.com, Dwolla, FreeMonee, InComm, Jemstep, Kabbage, peerTransfer, ReadyForZero, Tradeshift
  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgpeerTransfer partners with Boston College.
  • L’ atelier reports FreeMonee brings banks, customers & businesses together through promotional offers.
  • The Washington Post interviews Dwolla’s Ben Milne.
  • Amex partners with InComm to reload its prepaid cards.
  • Spend Matters explores how Tradeshift’s Cloudscan makes e-invoicing sexy.
  • Business Insider shares how to use JemStep to see if your broker is wasting your money.
  • ReadyForZero helps users pay off $12.5 million in debt, launches savings platform.
  • Kabbage partners with drop ship wholesaler Doba.
  • AlwaysOn selects Bill.com as a 2012 OnDemand Top 100 winner.
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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Finextra Looks at Mint, HelloWallet, and Lodo to Consider Benefits of Implementing a PFM

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: HelloWallet, Lodo Software, Mint.com

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Yesterday, Finextra published an article highlighting the benefits of implementing a PFM. It publishes some interesting stats on key PFM platforms:

    • 90% of Mint’s almost 8 million users say the PFM haschangedtheirfinancial habits
    • Users are willing to pay $9 for HelloWallet*HelloWallet.jpgLodoSoftwareLogo.jpg
    • Lodo boasts member retention rates of98% among PFM users
    • According to Lodo, PFM users have more bank accounts than non-users

To learn more about Mint, HelloWallet, and Lodo, watch Mint’s FinovateSpring 2011 demo, HelloWallet’s FinovateSpring 2011 demo, and Lodo’s FinovateEurope 2011 demo

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*Does not include employees who are given the PFM services as an employee benefit from their company.

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