CashStar Turns Credit Card Loyalty Points Into Mobile Gift Cards

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Starting off after lunch, CashStar demonstrated a gifting and incentives platform:

“A first of its kind location-based iPhone application that enables consumers to walk into a retail location (i.e. Starbucks) and instantly redeem credit card loyalty points in real-time in the form of a mobile gift card that can be used immediately. With CashStar, consumers can burn their points instantly on their mobile device for the first time ever, providing the ultimate convenience and relevancy the digital age now affords.”

Product Launched: September 2011 


HQ Location: Portland, ME 

Company Founded: 2007 
Metrics: $9M Raised, 50+ Employees
Website: cashstar.com
Presenting David Douglas Stone (Co-Founder & CEO) & Phelps Peeler (VP of Engineering)

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MyCyberTwin’s Virtual Agents Use Artificial Intelligence to Assist Clients

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To cap off the morning session, MyCyberTwin showed how virtual agents use artificial intelligence to convey emotion when interacting with customers:

“MyCyberTwin will demo its Artificial Intelligence solutions – called virtual agents – and give a detailed explanation about how current leading financial institutions are using the technology today and will use the technology in the future. It is a powerful demo to show an audience how a computer thinks and answers questions in real-time, helping customers get the answers they need while helping companies garner the intelligence of the customers visiting their websites.”

Product Launched: September 2011 


HQ Location: New York, NY & Sydney, Australia 

Company Founded: January 2005 
Metrics: The company has been funded by millions in federal grant funding, angel investors and founder seed capital, and is in rapid growth, having delivered Virtual Agents to some of the largest organizations in the world, including two banks on the Forbes top 25, HP, NASA and others.
Presenting Dr. John Zakos (Co-Founder & CIO) & Todd Barrish (PR)

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Kony Solutions Streamlines the Internal Approval Process for Banks

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This morning, Kony Solutions showed a mobile app that facilitates the internal executive approval process for banks:

“Kony Commercial Banking leverages Kony’s Platform and our expertise in mobile banking. It allows the corporate treasurer and executives to track and approve transactions from any mobile device they choose to use including tablets. Each user is able to view the transaction amount, date, account involved, the approval status of other users and a memo. 

This solution is unique in offering secure, multi-user transactions accessible anytime, anywhere. Plus, from the development perspective the application is updated and deployed to any mobile device, mobile web or tablet from a single application definition.”

Product Launched: Fall 2011 

HQ Location: Orlando, FL 
Company Founded: January 2007 
Metrics: Kony has 700 employees
Presenting Bjorn Hildahl (VP Product Management) & Shannon Pham (Marketing Program Manager)

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Personal Capital Introduces Customized Investment Services

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Next up, Personal Capital unveiled its suite of investment services that aims to help consumers better manage their money:

“Today’s traditional financial advisory system is broken. Brokerage firms operate under a “one size fits all” approach that marginalizes investment returns and diminishes the client’s visibility and control. Personal Capital addresses the need for a holistic, convenient, affordable and highly customized investment service for today’s investor. At Finovate, the company will demonstrate the full suite of services that will enable investors to view their complete financial picture and work with a financial advisor to create personalized investment solutions.”

Product Launched: September 20, 2011

HQ Location: Redwood City, CA
Company Founded: July 2009
Metrics: Money raised to date: $10 million, Series A (Institutional Venture Partners), $15 million Series B (Venrock and Institutional Venture Partners)
Presenting Bill Harris (Chairman & CEO) & Jim Del Favero (VP of Software Products)

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Micronotes Demonstrates A Cross-Sell Engine for Financial Insitutions

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Next up to the podium, Micronotes demonstrated KulaX, a service that helps generate leads:

“KulaX is a cross-sell engine that enables financial institutions to leverage their online banking platform to generate more leads faster without interfering with core banking functions. Online banking customers are targeted with the “next best product” where they are invited, at logout, to engage in an automated one-on-one microinterview with their financial institution about their financial products’ needs and preferences. Upon interview completion, customers are presented with special offers for the FI’s products and services that have been tailored based on interview responses; requested offers are emailed to the customers. KulaX has generated 5 leads per 1000 online customers per week in field application.”


Product Launched: July 2010 

HQ Location: Cambridge, MA 
Company Founded: June 2008 
Metrics: Money raised to date: $2.5 million, Number of employees: 7
Presenting Christian Klacko (SVP Field Operations) Jim Craig (VP Marketing at First Advantage Credit Union)

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Balance Financial Uses Face Time to Connect with Personalized Bookkeepers

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This morning, Balance Financial demonstrated Balance Essential, a service that provides consumers with a personalized bookkeeper to track spending and prepare reports:

“Balance uses highly automated financial tools and a nationwide network of professionals to manage your personal finances for you. At Finovate, our team will present a new $39.95 per month package focusing on reporting and filing. To go along with our core bill management capabilities, our new Essential package features account aggregation and expense tracking tools along with the ability to have your bookkeeper create custom spending reports. Also, look for our photo bill pay mobile app also with video chat.”

Product Launched: September 2011 
HQ Location: Bellevue, WA 
Company Founded: May 2004 
Metrics: $1.5M Series A completed in July 2011, 14 employees
Presenting Devin Miller (CEO) & Andrew Buhrmann (Director of Operations)

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Transecq’s Two-Factor Authentication Product Boasts User-Friendliness

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Next up, Transecq demonstrated an out-of-band, user-friendly authentication system:

“ENTERSECT’s Interactive Transaction Authentication (ITA) module provides additional-factor, out of band, interactive authentication for any form of digital action taking place. This module employs all of the security features of the eCertificate system and allows for unique user identification through bilateral, signed certificates. This product completely replaces the need for any other two-factor authentication product and is significantly more secure and fundamentally more user friendly. Responses are relayed back to the server over an electronic and encrypted communication channel – not via a manual OTP re-entry (which can be intercepted) as is the case with other legacy solutions.”

Product Launched: September 2010 

HQ Location: Atlanta, GA 
Company Founded: July 2008 
Metrics: Aggregate # of employees: 50
Website: transecq.com
Presenting Jim Happe (VP Business Development) & Christian Brand (CTO of ENTERSECT)

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Equifax’s App Lets You Check Your Credit Score On-The-Go

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This morning, Equifax demonstrated a mobile app that provides real-time access to your credit file:
“Equifax Complete key features can be accessed via the Equifax Mobile App & include:
  • Interactive Score Estimator & score monitoring 
  • Alerts to Key Changes in your credit files 
  • $1M ID Theft Insurance
  • Automatic Fraud Alerts
  • Lock/Unlock your Equifax Credit Report
  • WebDetect – online monitoring of your personal information to see if it is found on suspected Internet trading sites”

Product Launched: April 2010


HQ Location: Atlanta, GA 

Company Founded: March 1899, PSOL Business Founded 1999 
Website: equifax.com
Presenting Trey Loughran (President, Equifax Personal Solutions) & Peter Schoenrock (SVP Product Development)

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TandemMoney Helps Consumers Save For A Rainy Day By Borrowing From Themselves

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To begin the second morning session, TandemMoney demonstrated a product that helps users save money through an automatic withdraw process, then borrow it from themselves on a rainy day:

“It is both a consumer line of credit and a savings account that integrate to form a single, evolving source of “rainy day” liquidity. The product conditions borrowing upon the accumulation of savings as consumers must agree to have $20 automatically deposited into savings each month. Advances are made from accumulated savings, at no cost, with credit made available early on to cover any savings shortfalls. When advances are repaid, payments are made to the line of credit AND the savings account – as though the consumer was borrowing and repaying herself. As the savings balance grows with each $20 monthly deposit, the mix of funds available for financial emergencies steadily shifts more to savings until consumers ultimately reach the point of using (and replenishing) their own savings to meet their short-term cash needs.”

Product Launched: September 2011

HQ Location: Sioux Falls, SD
Company Founded: March 2010
Presenting Trent Sorbe (President) & Nicole Pullman (Director of Marketing)

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Credit Sesame’s Badges Give Users a Certification for Financial Responsibility

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Finishing off the first morning session, Credit Sesame demonstrated its Certified Badge program:

“It not only authenticates your identity online, but also certifies that you are financially responsible and trustworthy because of your good credit. After signing up for Credit Sesame, you are able to get and easily display your Certified badge on your social media profiles, email signatures, resume, blog/personal website, and other web-based locations. 

Obtain different levels of badges based on your credit rating and credit management and customize your badge verification page. Credit Sesame’s Certified Badge helps you stand out and gives you an edge that can make a real difference in today’s complex, competitive world.”

Product Launched: September 2010 
HQ Location: Sunnyvale, CA 
Company Founded: January 2010 
Metrics: $7.1M raised, 15 employees
Presenting Adrian Nazari (CEO) & Irene Shubladze (VP Marketing)

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Rebirth Financial’s JAS Rating System Grades Financial Health of Small Businesses

Rebirth_Financial.jpgLater this morning, Rebirth Financial 

debuted the JAS Rating System:

“A first-of-its-kind scoring system that determines the financial health of a small business. The JAS Rating System delivers a clear 1 through 100 score for small businesses, and displays industry specific comparisons. 

S&P and Moody’s can predict the financial health of a publicly traded business with a close to 96% accuracy. The JAS Rating System can predict the financial health of a private business with 86% accuracy.”

Product Launched: September 2011

HQ Location: New Orleans, LA 
Company Founded: February 2010  
Metrics: Initial funding raised, Multimillion dollars in loans requested through the platform, operations in multiple states

Presenting Chonchol Gupta (CEO) & Xavier Cabo (COO)

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RobotDough Introduces A Portfolio Monitoring Service

Thumbnail image for RobotDough.pngThis morning, RobotDough demonstrated a portfolio monitoring service that scans for accounting red flags:

“We’ve developed an extensive set of accounting rules based on forensic accounting analysis that looks for hidden accounting red flags. Every night, after we receive new financial data from our providers, we apply those rules to our database of 45,000 companies to find hidden accounting problems. Users can link their brokerage accounts directly to RobotDough and we will automatically crosscheck our database of red flags with their portfolio companies. If we find any problems, we notify the user immediately, so they can take action before the stock price moves.”

Product Launched: September 2011

HQ Location: Los Angeles, CA
Company Founded: July 2010
Presenting Wilton Risenhoover (CEO) & Olivier Moratin (VP of Product Development)

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