Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Affinity Solutions Launches Coupon-On-a-Card

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Affinity Solutions, FinovateSpring 2012

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Later this morning, Affinity Solutions debuted Coupon-on-a-Card, a rewards platform that allows consumers to redeem offers just by swiping their card:
“Coupon-on-a-Card is a patent-pending product allowing consumers to either pre-purchase or opt-in to a retailer offer and then receive the discount at the point-of-sale through the credit card swipe, not in a statement credit, but in real-time.
Retailers will be able to use Affinity’s proprietary segmentation strategies to create a marketing campaign and banks will be able to deliver the offer totally through the plastic, with no need to deal with paying up-front and receiving a statement credit later.
The receipt will show the split-tender transaction, only charging the credit/debit card for the final amount due, after the discounts/offer is applied.”
Product Launched: May 2012
HQ Location: New York, NY
Company Founded: July 1998
Metrics: Affinity Solutions has over 100 employees and manages loyalty and engagement programs with over 4,000 banks.
Introducing Jonathan Silver (President & CEO) and Michael Biamonte (Chief Technology Officer)

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BancBox’s APIs Cover All Types of Money Movement

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: BancBox, FinovateSpring 2012

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Then, BancBox demonstrated its APIs:

“We’ve integrated with banks so our clients don’t have to. With an out-of-the-box set of APIs that cover the entire money movement flow, BancBox customers can integrate payment services in just a few days rather than months and can leverage the platform to scale and adapt to new requirements as needed.”

Product Launched: May 2012
HQ Location: San Mateo, CA
Company Founded: April 2002
Website: bancbox.com
Introducing Sanj Goyle (CEO) and Praveer Kumar (VP, Engineering) 

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Taulia Launches its Early Payment Network

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2012, Taulia

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Afterwards, Taulia demonstrated how its Early Payment Network can help businesses get paid faster:

“Taulia is an expert in Early Payments through Dynamic Discounting. We are launching our Early Payment Network, which expands the power of Early Payments beyond our existing network to every business. The combination of our knowledge of Dynamic Discounting, our network of financing sources, and our new API allows us to extend our Early Payment Network to users of any accounting system, ERP software or e-invoicing network. In fact, any financial software provider can now offer Dynamic Discounting directly to their install base via the new Taulia-powered API. A very simple, one-time integration opens the door for the financial software provider to instantly share in the revenue generated by Early Payments.”

Product Launched: May 2012
HQ Location: San Francisco, CA
Company Founded: July 2009
Metrics: $11.7M raised, 50+ Full-time employees, user base that extends to over 40 countries
Website: taulia.com
Introducing Ian Sweeney (VP of Product) and Markus Ament (Chief Product Officer)

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WattzOn Shines Light on How Banks Can Drive Loyalty with Energy Management

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2012, WattzOn

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Second up, WattzOn lit up the stage with its energy management platform:
“WattzOn is a personal energy management platform that provides tools to help people use less energy and save money on an everyday basis.
The WattzOn Marketplace: A marketplace for energy-saving products and services (such as appliances, windows, solar systems, hybrid and electric cars), to be combined with financing (loans, credit cards, savings accounts, Home Equity Lines Of Credit, mortgages) and rebates to create compelling energy and money-saving opportunities. 
The WattzOn Platform for Financial Services: Increase consumer engagement and drive loyalty with our WattzOn Personal Energy Management Platform. Incorporate branded personal energy management capabilities with your website or app. Provide your consumers with more ways to save money and promote complementary financial products, such as credit cards, car and home loans. Can be undertaken as a branded experience (for example, “MyBankGreenHome.com”) or integrated into your existing website or mobile app through our web services (APIs).”
Product Launched: June 2012
HQ Location: Mountain View, CA
Company Founded: 2008
Metrics: Over 250,000 households have already used the WattzOn Personal Energy Management Platform to save energy and money.
Website: wattzon.com
Introducing Steven Ashby (Co-Founder, CMO, Chief Product Officer) and Dan Sheehy (Executive VP of Business Development):

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Dwolla Releases New FiSync Iteration

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Dwolla, FinovateSpring 2012

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To kick things off, Dwolla launched a new iteration of FiSync:

“Dwolla is releasing the newest iteration of FiSync, the company’s revenue-generating financial services product.”

Product Launched: May 2012
HQ Location: Des Moines, IA
Company Founded: May 2008
Metrics: 
  • Funding:
    • Series B: $5 million (Union Square Ventures, Thrive Capital, Village Ventures & more)
    • Series A: $1.3 million
  • Employees: 20+
  • Users: 100,000+
  • Merchants: 10,000+
Website: dwolla.com
Introducing Ben Milne (Founder and Builder):

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One Year After its FinovateSpring 2011 Demo, Bankons Inks Deal with Capital One

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

bankonsCapital1.jpgBankons (think bank + coupons), a real-time mobile offers service, announced today that Capital One’s IT group, Capital One Labs,* has made a limited asset purchase agreement with the startup to obtain their software.

The relationship started exactly one year ago at the FinovateSpring 2011 conference when Joshua Greenough, former CEO of Bankons, took the stage to show off his his Best of Show-winning mobile offers platform.
Greenough states:
“The Bankons team wouldn’t be here without the great people who helped us launch at Finovate. We want to thank the community of technologists and banking professionals who we have worked with over the past year and look forward to future collaboration.”
Capital One, through the limited asset purchase, obtained intellectual property and talent from Bankons for an undisclosed amount (Bankons remains a separate and independent company). Greenough now serves as Senior Director of Capital One’s Technology Innovation in San Francisco.
  

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Capital One states:
“The combination of our Lab and the strengths of the Bankons team will add to the talented Digital Innovation Lab team and help accelerate the Labs innovation and rapid prototyping agenda at our innovation labs.”
Through Capital One Labs, the former Bankons team now has access to Capital One’s customers and will be able to push the innovation forward to 45 million customer accounts– a number, Greenough says, that most startups can only dream about.
To learn more about Bankons, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.
About Bankons
Bankons was an early stage technology company located in San Francisco. Founded in the summer of 2010, Bankons’ dynamic team comprised of individuals with many years of experience and expertise in the technology fields. Bankons built an app and platform to help consumers get the best offers via a mobile phone based on using geo-location and purchase history.
*Capital One Labs is a new group that does rapid prototyping, incubation, and testing of product ideas before they are rolled out to customers.

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Finovate Alumni News– May 4, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Backbase, Betterment, SigFig, Yodlee
  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgTechCrunch hosts Jon Stein, Betterment CEO, to talk about the future of investing.
  • Backbase signs Higher One, a leading financial services provider for colleges & universities.
  • Bank Technology News reports Yodlee opens a workshop to boost startups.
  • TechCrunch reports SigFig launches.
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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A Look at the Participants at FinovateSpring Next Week

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2012

image We have a diverse bunch on stage at the fifth annual FinovateSpring next week. The 64 demoing companies come from all over the U.S., and from around the globe.

Here’s the geographic distribution of the 64 demoing companies (click to enlarge). It’s no surprise that we have 24 from California. But there’s almost twice as many from elsewhere around the country and world.

 FinovateSpring 2012 companies mapped

Next, here’s a graphical representation of the job titles from the FinovateSpring 2012 registration records:

 FinovateSpring 2012 attendee titles

And if you will be in the record-breaking crowd next week (thanks, everyone!), here’s the demo schedule which lists each company. See you in San Francisco.

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Finovate Alumni News– May 3, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Boku, BrightScope, Check Point, Fiserv, FutureAdvisor, Lendio, Meniga, Personal Capital, SecondMarket, SecureKey
  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgCNBC covers how SecondMarket is looking to move from trading Facebook to Pinterest.
  • TechCrunch reports Boku launched billing partnership with Sprint, giving it partnerships with all 4 major U.S. carriers.
  • Meniga’s PFM solution powers Sweden’s first Smartbank, launched by Skandia.
  • SecureKey adds 40 staff in past six months, reaches business and recognition milestones.
  • Lendio sees nearly 500% increase in matching businesses with small business loans.
  • Check Point launches free ZoneAlarm anti-virus/firewall combo.
  • Forbes features article by Mike Alfred, CEO of BrightScope, discussing the differing opinions he, Personal Capital and FutureAdvisor have on the role of financial advisors.
  • Fiserv to offer global ACH payments through partnership with Earthport.
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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cbanc Network Launches Premium Subscription Services

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: cbanc Network

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cbanc Network, a free, online network for banking and credit union professionals to collaborate and share knowledge, launched two options for premium services this week. The premium services will grant paying members access to special features that go beyond what the free service provides.

There are two levels of service: 

  1. cbanc Plus — $250/ year
    • Can access the Peer Trends feature to see what similar institutions are paying attention to
    • Receive 5 free content downloads
    • Receive a 1.5x Points Booster that allows them to earn 50% more points every time they complete a vendor review, survey, content review, or exam watch

2. cbanc Pro — $750/ year

    • Same benefits as cbanc Plus
    • One free registration to the webinar of their choice 
    • Five additional Free Content Downloads
    • Access to the Vendor Management and Due Diligence software solutions

To learn more about cbanc Network, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.

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Finovate Alumni News– May 2, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Expensify, Kabbage, Kony Solutions, PayPal, Pindrop Security, Silver Tail Systems, SimpleTuition, Yodlee, ZipZap
  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgBank Innovation names Kabbage CEO, Rob Frohwein, as 1 of 10 top innovators.
  • SimpleTuition’s SmarterBank announces $25,000 #CrushStudentDebt Sweepstakes.
  • Pindrop Security raises $1 million in seed funding.
  • Yodlee Interactive announces new accelerator/incubator programs.
  • Bermuda’s Royal Gazette features Expensify.
  • ZipZap to power cash payment service for Towah Group.
  • Silver Tail Systems announces partnership with Barclaycard Global Payment Acceptance. See Silver Tail Systems at FinovateSpring.
  • Kony Solutions is one of the first mobile platform vendors to support BlackBerry 10.
  • Bank Technology News reports Bancorp using PayPal for payments and account-opening tech.
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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Pindrop Security Raises $1 Million in Seed Funding

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Pindrop Security

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Pindrop Security, a startup that aims to stop caller ID fraud, announced today that it raised $1 million in seed funding. Investors include Andreessen Horowitz, GRA Venture Fund, New World Ventures, Sigma Partners, and Webb Investment Network.

According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle: 

“Pindrop, backed by serial entrepreneur Paul Judge, expects to raise a $5 million to $8 million Series A round in mid-2012, is tapping into a mammoth market.”

Come see Pindrop Security demo its latest technology on stage at FinovateSpring next week.

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