Finovate Alumni News– November 8, 2011

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgNetbanker: Credit Karma Launches “Hands Free” Account Aggregation.
  • Kony and CIBC deliver new mobile brokerage application.
  • Ixaris to introduce the Opn Payment Partner.
  • Backbase & Forrester Research to host free webinar Nov 9: ‘Banks Need to Become SUPER.’
  • Everything PR lists BillGuard in the Money category of 2011′s Top 100 Best Startups for PRs.
  • eToro launches mobile HTML 5 App for social trading on the go.
  • SecureKey Technologies Inc. to power the Government of Canada’s new online authentication service.
  • Malta Independent Online looks at Wesabe, Geezeo, and Budgettracker as key online money management tools.
  • BankSimple launches to the public, changes its name to Simple.
  • eToro launches iOS mobile app for on-the-go trading.
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.

Balance Financial Launches Professional Platform

Thumbnail image for BalanceFinancial.pngBalance Financial announced today that its Balance Professional platform has launched out of beta and is now available to any financial, accounting or tax advisor. 

“Balance Professional gives financial professionals a free client portal to start that allows them to collaborate with their clients over shared files and documents as well as a client’s financial accounts. The Balance platform allows clients to connect their financial accounts and use the integrated budgeting, expense tracking and reporting tools.”

The screenshot below shows the PFM platform for advisor clients.

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To learn more about Balance Profesional, watch the demo from FinovateFall 2011.

peerTransfer Partners With 30 New Universities

Peertransferlogo.jpgLast week, peerTransfer announced that during the third quarter of 2011 it signed up more than 30 new universities:

“Schools such as Oberlin College, Georgia State University, Western Kentucky University, Mount Holyoke College, University of San Diego and Stevens Institute of Technology join peerTransfer’s now 50 plus partner schools.”

The startup allows international students to finance tuition in their own currency helping them save on currency exchange fees.

To learn more about peerTransfer, watch its demo from FinovateSpring 2011.

Finovate Alumni News– November 7, 2011

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  • BillGuard CEO, Yaron Samid, shares lessons learned as a startup entrepreneur.
  • Expensify listed as 1 of 7 software makers to bring integrated, cheaper add-ons to Google Apps.
  • The Globe and Mail lists Wikinvest as a tool to help ordinary investors dig through the data.
  • Investors.com explains the benefits of using Yodlee to track your finances.
  • Fast Company examines Betterment and BillGuard’s  #occupywallstreet event.
  • Dwolla alters its registration process into a more pleasant experience.
  • VentureBeat explains how Prosper is helping to support the #occupywallstreet protesters.
  • peerTransfer partners with 30 new universities.
  • Bill.com receives “Awesome Add-On” award.
  • Social Lending Network provides details on Prosper’s recent round of funding.
  • Balance Financial launches professional platform.
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.

Lending Club Reaches $400 Million in Loan Originations

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Yesterday morning, Lending Club announced its achievement of reaching the $400 million mark in loan originations:

“The milestone comes less than four months after Lending Club reached $300 million in total loan originations in July. A record $27.5 million in personal loan originations in October contributed to the milestone. Lending Club loan originations are growing by more than 150 percent year-over-year, and the platform has now paid investors more than $33 million in interest.”

To learn more about Lending Club, watch its demo from FinovateStartup 2009.

Finovate Alumni News– November 4, 2011

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  • Plastyc launches UPside Visa Savings Purse.
  • Diversinet receives U.S. Patent for securely storing information on a mobile device.
  • American Banker reports Ohio Valley CU is working with Truaxis to offer discounts.
  • Xero calls on UK Gov to deliver better reporting, not simpler reporting for micro businesses.
  • Lendio adds 40 Banks, offers local business loans to 70% of the U.S.
  • Lending Club reaches $400 million in
    loan originations.

  • Huntington Bank works with Kony to
    create an iPad app.
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.

SecondMarket Reels in $15 Million From Former Facebook VP

SecondMKTLogo.jpgYesterday, SecondMarket announced a new round of funding: a $15 million Series C from The Social+Capital Partnership, a new venture fund established by former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya. He will also join the SecondMarket board. 

This brings SecondMarket’s total funding to $34 million with a $200 million valuation according to the Wall Street Journal, an increase of $50 million since February 2010.
To learn more about SecondMarket, watch its FinovateStartup 09 demo.

doxo Adds AT&T as a Biller and Launches New Feature

Thumbnail image for doxologo9.11.jpgMy collegue at Netbanker recently covered doxo’s recent addition of auto pay with limits:

“Digital ebill storage and payment startup doxo announced an important new feature to its service today, the ability to automatically pay ebills that fall within preset maximum values. For example, as long as my family’s wireless bill is under $250, doxo will automatically pay it and send me a confirmation message. If it’s more, I get an alert advising me to take a look at my bill before it’s paid.”

It also announced the addition of AT&T, a biller with almost 100 million billing accounts.

To learn more about doxo, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo

Finovate Alumni News– November 3, 2011

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  • Reuters highlights how ReadyForZero benefits those in debt.
  • Braintree continues rapid growth — now processing $10 million daily.
  • doxo adds AT&T as a biller and launches new feature.

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.

Finovate Alumni Website Traffic in September

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of Finovate alums using data from Web-analytics company Compete.
Out of 268 alumni, 80 had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in September 2011 and are included in the tables below. Of those, 33 (41%) had more visitors in September than August. Year-over-year, 42 (52%) had traffic increases.
Private Companies
  • Seeking Alpha and Cortera had the highest traffic in September with 2.1 and 2.0 million unique visitors, respectively. Cortera also had the highest increase in number of unique year-over-year visits with over 1.5 more visits in 2011 than in 2010.
  • Kabbage had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, up 280x.
  • Weemba saw the highest monthly growth percentage with more than 7.5 times the number of unique visitors in September compared to August.
  • SmartCredit.com had the highest increase in number of unique year-over-year visitors, growing by 126,000.
PrivateWebTrafficSeptember2.jpg
Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of October 26, 2011
 
1) The previous month recorded was August 2011
2) Sears Credit Score is powered by CreditKarma.com
3) Truaxis was formerly BillShrink
4) Kasasa is powered by BancVue
Public companies
 
  • CheckFree had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, with over 7 times the number of visitors this year than last year.
  • Intuit had a notable increase in number of unique, year-over-year visitors, increasing by 300,000 visits.
  • Check Point had the highest month-over-month percent growth, with 41% more visitors in September than in August.
PublicWebTrafficSeptember2.jpgSource: Compete.com retrieved the week of October 26, 2011

1) The previous month recorded was July 2011.
_______________________________________________________
Notes:
1. We reviewed 268 Finovate alumni. Only those with at least 10,000 unique visitors in July are listed.
3. NM = not measurable
4. t= tie
5. Compete estimates online visitors based on the activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic and may undercount at-work usage.

Finovate Alumni News– November 2, 2011

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  • Prepaid Awards honors CashStar and Dell for Best Prepaid Gift Program.
  • Backbase names Visionary in latest Gartner Magic Quadrant.
  • American Banker discusses T8 Webware’s perfect solution for National Grand Bank of Marblehead.
  • Tab Times looks at the progress & success of Kashoo’s iPad app.
  • The Wall Street Journal reports Visa Europe takes 8.8% stake in Monitise.
  • Check Point buys compliance solutions co Dynasec.
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.

Finovate Alumni News– November 1, 2011

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  • Kashoo’s small business iPad accounting app hits 5,000 downloads on iTunes.
  • CarryQuote named аѕ a winner οf the European Bully Awards.
  • Investment News examines how Personal Capital plays into the online-advice space.
  • The Washington Post surveys HelloWallet’s business model.
  • RobotDough.com announces its student financial writing competition.
  • Silicon Angle compares the 3 iPad apps launched last week: Wikinvest, Pageonce, & Mint.
  • Q2ebanking discusses mobile-banking security in Credit Union Times.
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.