Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Personal Capital Launches Daily News Service

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

PersonalCapitalLogo9.11.jpgWealth management startup, Personal Capital, launched a financial news and advice site called Daily Capital:

“By combining human editorial judgment with Semantic Web curation, Daily Capital captures the long tail of high-quality financial and investing content and brings you the relevant few, all in one destination. The site also offers original insights and advice from Personal Capital advisors and other expert contributors, including former CBS MoneyWatch writers Carla Fried and Allan Roth.”

DailyCapitalClip2.jpgThe new site is powered by Eqentia and includes over 18,000 articles, videos, and other pieces of content.

To learn more about how Personal Capital and other “bank-less” companies are influencing the industry, check out this month’s Online Banking Report.
To see Personal Capital’s wealth management platform in action, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo. 

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Weemba Plays Matchmaker For Borrowers

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

Thumbnail image for weemba.jpgAfter yesterday’s CNNMoney article portrayed Lendio as a matchmaker, Bank Technology News published an article entitled, “Matchmaker Matchmaker, Make Me a … Loan?” that shows Weemba in the same light.

This article, however, highlights Weemba’s role as a friend to borrowers by treating them more as a partner than a product. Here are Weemba’s borrower-friendly features:
    • Potential lenders are screened for predators 
    • The borrower decides when to open up communication
    • The borrower controls which personal pieces of information the lenders see
    • Borrowers do not pay fees, lenders do

It also gave some stats on the startup:

    • Loan requests are between $1,000 and $5 million
    • 2,000 members
    • 32 lenders
    • Competitors includes Kiva, Prosper, and Lending Club

City National Bank of Miami has been working with Weemba since launch. 

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

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Finovate Alumni News– November 11, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: BillGuard, Dwolla, InComm, Lighter Capital, Prosper, ReadyForZero, SecondMarket

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  • Social Times hosts BillGuard as it shares its elevator pitch. Asks: Is it the next big thing? 
  • Business Insider interviews Ben Milne from Dwolla & shares how its frustrating credit card companies.
  • Lighter Capital reacts to fraud, implements fraud prevention.
  • Bloomberg reports SecondMarket gets lobbying win in gridlocked congress.
  • Prosper gives military families their second loan payment free when they get a loan via Prosper.
  • Vinod Khosla, founder of Sun Microsystems and Khosla Ventures, places BillGuard on his “Cool Dozen” list.
  • Weemba plays matchmaker For borrowers.
  • Personal Capital launches daily news service.
  • Planwise launches financial planning tool beta.
  • Tech Cocktail interviews HelloWallet CEO Matt Fellowes.
  • Pilot of the new Zecco Trading Center has begun.
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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CNNMoney Highlights Lendio and On Deck Capital

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Lendio, On Deck Capital

on deck capital.jpgLendioLogo11.11.jpgLendio was featured in CNNMoney this morning, where it was referred to as a, “small biz loan matchmaker.” 

The article goes on to describe the headache that an Alabama small business had when trying to secure funding. After being turned down by a bank, the business turned to Lendio and was able to secure funding within a week through On Deck Capital.

The article also shares some stats on Lendio:

    • Loans range from $5,000 to $1 million
    • 2010 revenue was $8.6 
    • Since March it has received 3,000 loan requests
    • Loan approval rate is 50-70%

To learn more about Lendio, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

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DoughMain Launches Financial Education Game Sand Dollar City

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

DoughMainLogo11.11.jpgFinancial education company DoughMain announced the beta of Sand Dollar City, a multi-player virtual world where pre-teens (age 8 to 12) can learn about finance through game play:

“Players learn fundamentals of earning, saving, budgeting, spending, smart shopping, credit, and more as they attempt to upgrade their business and balance their purchases between the luxury clothing and furniture they want and the equipment they need to succeed.”

SandDollarCity.jpg

To learn more about what DoughMain has to offer, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.

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Bill.com’s Paperless Bill Management Wins Silver Award

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

Thumbnail image for bill.comlogo.jpgYesterday, bill payment startup Bill.com announced that its paperless bill management innovation was named by the Best in Biz Awards as a silver award winner in the Small or Medium Business Product of the Year category:

“Simple to use, but extremely powerful, Bill.com’s product offering was selected as a Best in Biz frontrunner due to its keen ability to help SMBs 

Bill.comMobileIMG.jpg

streamline their tedious bill pay and receivables processes”

The award winners are selected by industry analysts and members of the press to recognize leading products from small and medium-sized businesses from companies of all industries. To learn more about the awards, click here.
To learn more about Bill.com, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

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Finovate Alumni News– November 10, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bill.com, Clovr Media, DoughMain, Dwolla, FeeFighters, Lending Club, Lendio, Linkable Networks, Monitise, Offermatic, On Deck Capital, Simple, Striata, ThreatMetrix, Tyfone

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  • FeeFighters shares its web traffic spikes from being in TechCrunch articles.
  • Monitise launches mobile checkout service.
  • Fox Business News mentions how Tyfone is helping to retrofit cellphones with NFC capability.
  • Reuters reports how Lending Club uses consumer sentiment towards banks as an opportunity.
  • Striata selected by Securitas, a growing security company in South Africa, to provide eBilling & ePayment to customers.
  • ThreatMetrix deploys multi-layered data encryption architecture in new release of Cloud-Based Fraud Prevention Platform.
  • Iowa-based UNI CU and W.Va-based WV United FCU sign on for Dwolla’s FiSync.
  • MyBankTracker compares Offermatic to Groupon and Womply.
  • Linkable Networks (formerly Clovr Media) partners with 24/7 Real Media to tap into card linked offers.
  • Wade Arnold, T8 Webware CEO, is selected for The Courier’s Class of 2011 20 Under 40 award.
  • Bill.com’s paperless bill management wins silver award.
  • Simple explains its new “Simple” name.
  • DoughMain launches financial education game Sand Dollar City.
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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Expensify Creates Four Pricing Plans

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

Thumbnail image for Expensify.jpgExpensify, the expense reporting system that “doesn’t suck,” now supports 650,000 users across 90,000 organizations. 

To accomodate their different needs, the company is now offering four service tiers: 

  • Personal: For individuals who want to test out the app. Up to 10 free scans per month.
  • Professional: Intended for power users and contractors. Includes Freshbooks syncing capability and the ability to exceed 10 scans per month by purchasing them for 20 cents each.
  • Team: Provides the abilities to create and share expense policies and sync expenses with Quickbooks. This subscription costs $5 per submitter per month and 20 cents for extra scans.
  • Corporate: Adds a level of administrative control over employee accounts, enhances expense policies with customizable rules, and provides the ability to reimburse employees via direct deposit. This subscription costs $10 per submitter per month and 20 cents for extra scans.
Receipt scanning will be free until the end of the year.
To learn more about Expensify, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

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Billeo Launches ShopSmart To Bring Consumers Relevant Discounts

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

Thumbnail image for BilleoLogo29.9.11.jpgBilleo, the registration and checkout assistant with 1.5 million users, launched a new app earlier today. This free app, called ShopSmart, brings consumers relevant discounts from over 1500 merchants and instantly alerts users of deals available from their loyalty or rewards programs. 

For financial institutions:

Thumbnail image for ShopSmartIMG.jpg
“The app gives Billeo’s network of financial institution and program provider partners the ability reach, engage and incentivize iPad users during the holiday shopping season.”

In addition to alerting users of their rewards, it also serves as a platform to help them organize their daily deals and share them on Facebook.

To learn more about Billeo, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

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Finovate Alumni News– November 9, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Billeo, Dwolla, eWise, Expensify, GoalMine, Intuit, Lendio, MiiCard, PayPal, Simple, Xero, Zecco

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  • Read Write Web argues the mobile payments capital of the US is Des Moines, IA thanks to Dwolla.
  • Fox Business News reports GoalMine seeks to level the investing field.
  • PayPal updates its Android app with support for NFC payments.
  • eWise hires Alexandre Gonthier, former Boku CTO, as new CEO.
  • Lendio makes its business loan matching service free.
  • Finextra reports Intuit partners with AT&T to take on Square in the emerging mobile card processing market.
  • Xero updates its app: increases speed and improves UI.
  • Business Insider lists Dwolla and Simple as 2 of 20 most innovative startups in tech.
  • Billeo launches ShopSmart to bring consumers relevant discounts.
  • Zecco hosts $500 sweepstakes.
  • miiCard gives first 10,000 users free accounts for life.
  • Netbanker: Top 10 Reasons Why BankSimple Dropped the Bank.
  • Expensify creates four pricing plans.
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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eToro Launches iOS Mobile App for On-The-Go Trading

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

Thumbnail image for eToroLogo.jpg

eToro announced a non-native mobile app to trade currencies, commodities, and indices on their mobile devices: 

“The Mobile Trading application is based on HTML5 that runs the eToro OpenBook™ social trading platform and its award winning CopyTrader™ functionality and supports IOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod) and all Android mobile devices including tablets. eToro also provides a native Mobile Trader application for Android™ which was launched September of last year.”

Javier Paz, Senior Analyst at the Aite Group notes that the new app makes it easier for users to check their account performance, search for people to follow, and find a user to copy.

To learn more about eToro’s trading platform, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.

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BankSimple Launches to the Public, Changes its Name to Simple

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

SimpleLogo.jpgThis morning, BankSimple made two big announcements.

1) It opened its service to a select group of non-employee customers for the first time:

Thumbnail image for SimpleCardIMG.jpg

“We want to understand what works for them and what can be improved. We also want to learn how our customers prefer to reach us so that we can intelligently grow our customer relations team. Using this feedback, we’ll rework and revise; the experience we’re launching today will continuously evolve.”
2) It changed its name to Simple
(Simple.com). This is a logical move because the word “bank” was a misnomer. In fact, Simple is not a bank, but a consumer-facing product that partners with chartered banks that hold your money in FDIC-insured products:
“Simple is a better representation of what we aspire to. It releases us from the constraints of an industry in desperate need of innovation.”

SimpleNewScreenshot.jpg

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

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