Alumni News — Week of July 11, 2011

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Last week, AlwaysOn released its 2011 AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies List that represents the top emerging companies Worldwide. Twelve Finovate Alumni were selected:
  • BillFloat
  • Bling Nation
  • Boku
  • Cardlytics
  • ClairMail
  • Expensify
  • IDAnalytics
  • Lending Club
  • SecondMarket
  • Wikinvest
  • Wonga
  • Yodlee
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In other Alumni News:
Aptys Solutions

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Aptys Solutions announced that the ACH functionality in its PayLogics payment platform provides same-day settlement. Link 
Balance Financial
  • Balance Financial launched Balance Certified Pro, a new software that is geared toward professionals. Link
  • Balance Financial released an iPhone App. Link
BillGuard
TechCrunch reported that BillGuard’s “Anti-virus for Bills” is now completely free for users. Link
BrightScope
CNNMoney’s article, Simplify Your Retirement Savings, pointed to BrightScope to provide a clear understanding of retirement savings. Link
ChargeSmart
ChargeSmart announced that its Bill Payments customers can now pay many of their utility bills with an American Express card. Link
Continuity Control
Continuity Control raised $1.1 million in financing from convertible promissory notes and warrants. Link
Cortera

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The Miami Herald reported that Cortera’s Risk Data and Reporting is now an SAP-endorsed business solution. Link
Cortal Consors
Institutional Investor ranked Oliver Le Grand, CEO of Cortal Consors, number 13 of 50 in its Tech 50 ranking of financial tech leaders and innovators. Link
Credit Karma
Credit Karma’s new feature, Credit Alerts is available for free to the first 200 people to click the link. Link
Credit Sesame
The Hands On Home Buyer blog recommended Credit Sesame for its interactive property taxes tool. Link
Currensee
The Business Insider reported that Currensee plans to launch its Trade Leaders program in China. Link
Dwolla
  • The E-News publication, Business Record, commented on Dwolla’s positive impact on Iowa’s startup culture. Link
  • Financial Plus Credit Union adopted Dwolla’s FiSync integration. Link
Dynamics
Dynamics revealed its angel investors in Series A and Series B funding rounds. Link
Guardian Analytics
  • American Banker reported that Guardian Analytics is planning to launch an outsourced fraud prevention service that will help financial institutions meet new FFIEC guidelines. Link
  • Guardian Analytics introduced its FraudDESK service to provide fraud analytics support to financial institutions. Link
  • Guardian Analytics is hosting a free webinar on Tuesday that will explore FFIEC guidance. Link
iPay Technologies
iPay Technologies helped Generations Community Federal Credit Union increase bill pay adoption and its number of transactions. Link
Lending Club
  • San Francisco ABC News Channel 7 explained the benefits of P2P loans from Lending Club. Link
  • Finextra news blog discussed Lending Club’s success. Link
  • American Banker reported that, in June, Lending Club saw an increase of 7% in loans originated that totaled a record $20 million. Link
Lodo Software
The Silicon Prairie News reported that Lodo Software is seeking to raise $5 million in a round of Series D funding. Link

mFoundry
Columbia Credit Union announced that it deployed mFoundry’s mBanking, a mobile banking platform. Link
Mitek

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MSN Money reported that Mitek Systems began a NASDAQ market listing on July 14th, and is trading under the symbol MITK. Link
Monitise 
  • CNBC reported that Monitise’s ReliaCard will be offered to U.S. Bank’s Visa cardholders in some states. Link
  • Monitise, US Bank, and FIS announced that they are planning to offer a mobile app for Visa’s ReliaCard users. Link
Prosper
  • San Francisco’s ABC News Channel 7 explained the benefits of P2P loans from Prosper. Link
  • Finextra news blog discussed Prosper’s success with its P2P lending service. Link
Q2ebanking
Q2ebanking’s director of security solutions, Ward Howell, published an article detailing a Credit Union’s perspective of the FFIEC guidelines in The Credit Union Ti
mes. Link
Receivables Exchange
Institutional Investor ranked Justin Brownhill and Nicolas Perkin, Co-Founders of The Receivables Exchange, as number 42 of 50 in its Tech 50 ranking of financial tech leaders and innovators. Link
Standard Chartered
Institutional Investor ranked Jan Verplancke, CIO of Standard Chartered, as number 37 of 50 in its Tech 50 ranking of financial tech leaders and innovators. Link
TILE Financial

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Daily Finance interviewed Amy Butte, CEO of TILE Financial. Link
TradeKing
TradeKing announced the public availability of its API. Link
Tyfone 
CoVantage Credit Union chose to implement Tyfone’s mobile wallet solution. Link
Zopa 
  • Zopa founder Giles Andrews was interviewed on BBC’s The Bottom Line. Link
  • Finextra news blog discussed Zopa’s success as a P2P lending service. Link

Yodlee Reaches User Milestone, Adds Mobile App

Last week, Yodlee announced that it exceeded 30 million registered users for its account 

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aggregation platform (note 1). With a client base that includes five of the top 10 U.S. banks, 
the company dominates the space. 
FinApp Store
Yodlee continues to build out  its FinApp Store, which has an open API that allows developers to build apps. Here are some fast facts about its FinApps:
  • 12 Facebook FinApps are in processGraphic1.jpg
  • Over 250 developers are working on FinApps
  • It recently released its MoneyCenter Mobile App for $3.99 (see screenshots below) that features: 
        • Account Summary Views
        • Transaction Views
        • Expense Analysis Views
        • Ability to set Budgets by Category
        • Charting
        • Portfolio Management
Profile 
  • Location: Redwood City, CA
  • Founded: 1999
  • Funding: $116M total from Accel Partners, Institutional Vendor Partners, Warburg Pincus, and Bank of America
  • Clients include Bank of America, Fidelity, Amex, and many others 
More Information
Note: 
1. The 30 million reflects registered users, which indicates the total number of users who have registered. This does not reflect active users.

New Funding for Braintree, Dynamics, and Finsphere


Recently, three Finovate alumni reached significant funding milestones. 

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New Round
$14 million Series A funding from Accel Partners
Profile
Market Position: Online Payment Processing
Founded: 2007
Location: Chicago
Description
Braintree is a business credit card processor that provides:
    • Merchant accounts
    • Payment gateways
    • Recurring billing
    • Credit card storage
More Information
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New Round
$35 million Series B funding from Bain Capital Ventures
Funding History
$5.7 million Series A funding in 2009
Previous Investors
Adams Capital Management
Profile
Market Position: Interactive Payment Cards
Founded: 2007
Location: Pittsburgh, Silicon Valley, New York City
Description
Dynamics’ use of programmable magnetic stripes on payment cards increases security with its four payment card products
    • Hidden: Hides the card number until a user enters his pin on the card.
    • MultiAccount: Holds two accounts on one card, allowing the user to choose which to use.
    • Redemption: Allows the user to choose between using rewards or credit for in-store purchases.
    • Dynamic Credit Card: Writes a new security code onto a magnetic stripe for every in-store purchase.
More Information
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New Round
$1.75 million from undisclosed investor
Funding History
$9.9 million in June 2008
$9 million in July 2009
$1.75 million in March 2011
Previous Investors
Shasta Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Frazier Technology Ventures, and Bezos Expeditions
Profile
Market Position: Identity Fraud Protection
Founded: 2007
Location: Bellevue, Washington

Description
Finsphere helps reduce Identity fraud for businesses and individual consumers. Its core product, PinPoint Fraud, validates a user’s identity by comparing the location of their mobile phone with that of the credit or debit card transaction.
More Information

M&A: Fiserv to Purchase CashEdge for $465 Million

On June 29, Fiserv agreed to acquire CashEdge. Here are some quick facts about the acquisition. 
  • The deal is expected to be complete by September 2011.CashEdge Logo2.jpg
  • The all-cash $465 million purchase price is more than six times CashEdge’s projected 2011 revenues of $75 million.
  • Fiserv’s last large acquisition was CheckFree for $4.4 billion in 2007, which was 4.5 times its expected revenue. In comparison, Jack Henry & Associates’ $300 million purchase of iPay Technologies last year was 5.5 times iPay’s revenue.fiserv logo.2.jpg
  • The expected consolidation of CashEdge’s Popmoney P2P transfer service (200 signed clients) and Fiserv’s ZashPay (700 signed clients) will create a stronger competitor to bank-owned clearXchange.
More Information

Alumni News — Week of July 4, 2011

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Boku

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CNNMoney examined Zong’s competition with Boku. Link
BrightScope
  • The Forbes blog recommended BrightScope as a tool to check your financial advisor’s history. Link
  • The Washington Examiner discussed how BrightScope helps consumers make informed decisions about their 401(k) plan. Link
Clairmail
Clairmail increased its security by using authentication from the RSA Secured Partner Program. Link
Credit Karma
The Forbes blog recommended Credit Karma as a tool to track and monitor your credit score. Link
Credit Sesame

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The Forbes blog recommended Credit Sesame as a tool to track and monitor your credit score. Link

Dwolla
Dwolla updated its iPhone app to allow customers to send money via email. Link
Dynamics
American Banker discussed Dynamics’ adaptability to the mobile payment world. Link
Enloop
Small Biz Technology outlined three of Enloop’s features. Link
eToro
AlphaTrade Finance discussed eToro’s CopyTrader network. Link
Expensify
Expensify’s app was listed as Gearburn’s App of the WeekLink
Finsphere

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GeekWire reviewed Finsphere’s new round of $1.75 million funding. Link
Geezeo
American Banker reported that Geezeo’s partnership with Sharetec Systems will help Geezeo reach more credit unions. Link

Guardian Analytics
The Street reported that Guardian Analytics’ Anomaly Detection & Fraud Monitoring will help financial institutions meet updated FFIEC guidelines. Link

Kony Solutions
Kony Solutions announced a partnership with Donriver for the delivery of multi-channel mobile apps. Link
Mint.com
The Quickbooks blog examined Mint.com’s PFM tool. Link
Monitise Americas

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Monitise developed two banking apps designed for the iPad for NatWest and RBS. Link
PayNearMe
The Paypers interviewed Avangate and PayNearMe regarding their partnership and various future endeavors. Link
PayPal
TechCrunch speculated that eBay’s acquisition of Zong  will advance PayPal’s mobile payments. Link
ProfitStars
Credit Union Times discussed ProfitStars’ partnership with Corporate One Credit Union. Link
Prosper
The Social Lending Network reviewed Prosper’s new Quick Invest feature. Link
Q2ebanking

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Q2ebanking commented on the security implications of the new FFIEC guidelines. Link
RobotDough
The Motley Fool highlighted RobotDough as a powerful new tool for individual investors. Link
SilverTail Systems
  • Credit Union Times reported that SilverTail Systems’ capabilities enable financial institutions to comply with FFIEC guidelines. Link
  • Homeland Security Television profiled SilverTail Systems. Link

ThreatMetrix
ThreatMetrix enhanced its security in anticipation of FFIEC guidelines. Link
TradeKing
Stockbrokers4u.com analyzed TradeKing’s services. Link
Xero
Xero hired a CFO onto to its team. Link
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Yodlee
  • Yodlee released its new MoneyCenter app. Link
  • Quickbooks’ blog examined Yodlee’s PFM tool. Link
  • TechCrunch reported that Yodlee reached 30M users. Link

PayPal and Cortera Take Charge in May’s Web Traffic

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of our alums, using data from Web-analytics company Compete to review the sites they operate. 

Out of 255 alumni, 62 (24%) had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in May 2011 (see tables below). Of the 62 reviewed, 25 (40%) had fewer visitors than in the previous month and 28 (45%) saw a decline year-over-year.

Private Companies
The 44 private companies are as follows:

Notable successes:

  • Cortera saw the highest number of unique U.S. visitors in May, with almost 2 million hits.
  • HelloWallet experienced the greatest month-over-month growth, with more than four times as many visitors.
  • Betterment saw its traffic increase an impressive 38 times from May of last year.

Private Finovate Alumni With More Than 10,000 Unique Visitors in May 2011

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Source: Compete.com retrieved June 29, 2011

Public Companies
The 18 public companies are as follows:

Notable successes:

  • PayPal experienced the highest number of U.S. visitors in May, with over 32 million visitors.
  • TransUnion Interactive saw the highest month-over-month growth with more than two times the number of visitors in May than in April.
  • Sybase 365 experienced the highest year-over-year growth, with its traffic up almost 80% from last year.

Public Finovate Alumni With More Than 10,000 Unique Visitors in May 2011 

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Source: Compete.com retrieved June 29, 2011

_____________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

1. We reviewed 255 unique sites. Data was unavailable or irrelevant for 201 sites because: 

  • They had been acquired.
  • They were no longer available online.
  • They were not covered by Compete for various reasons (including some that were not U.S. domestic companies).
  • The number of unique visits was too small to be considered accurate.
  • They were subdomains of larger websites.

2. Numbers have been rounded to three significant digits.

3. The charts include companies that did not have measurable traffic in May 2011, indicated by “N/A.”

4. Compete draws its information from the online 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.

Alumni News — Week of June 27, 2011

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ActivePath
A top Brazilian card issuer implemented an ActivePath solution. Link
AlphaClone
AlphaClone incorporated new sentiment scores into its stock view pages. Link
Bills.com
Bills.com released the results from its Consumer Money Survey that gauges money attitudes and behaviors. Link
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Blaze Mobile
Blaze Mobile was awarded a patent for NFC on stickers. Link
BOKU
BOKU released 1-Tap Mobile Billing for the Android and took it live in 56 countries. Link
Braintree
Braintree received $34M in Series A funding from Accel. Link
Currensee

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Reuters outlined the benefits of Currensee. Link
Credit Karma
Credit Karma CEO Ken Lin advised consumers how they should deal with credit card offers. Link
doxo 
doxo won the Stevie Award for New Product of the Year for financial services in the 2011 American Business Awards. Link
Dwolla
Dwolla said its Grid payment network is more secure than Visa and MasterCard’s card networks. Link
Dynamics
Dynamics raised $35M for computerized smartcards and payment systems. Link
eToro

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Reuters outlined the benefits of eToro. Link
eWise
gotoBilling, Inc. added eWise’s Secure Vault Payments as another payment platform. Link
Expensify
The Wall Street Journal listed Expensify as a must-have mobile tech tool for entrepreneurs. Link
Fiserv
Fiserv entered into an agreement to acquire CashEdge for $465 million to advance its digital payments and channel strategies. Link

Guardian Analytics

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Yahoo! Finance reported that Guardian Analytics’ FraudMAP is helping financial institutions meet FFIEC guidelines. Link
HelloWallet
HelloWallet was added to Mercer’s Outsourcing business benefits administration. Link
Intuit
Intuit purchased Mobile Money Ventures’ web banking technology to augment its mobile banking capabilities. Link
Kony Solutions

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The American Business Awards selected Kony Solutions as the Most Innovative Company of the YearLink
Lendio
The Launch blog highlighted Lendio. Link
Outright
Outright rolled out a new report function allowing clients to view sales by state. Link
PayPal
PayPal reached 100 million active users. Link

Profit Stars
Profit Stars introduced its new Remote Deposit Anywhere solution. Link
Prosper
  • Former Lending Club director Joseph Toms joined Prosper as its Chief Investment Officer. Link
  • The San Francisco Times reported on Prosper’s growth. Link
Q2ebanking

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Q2ebanking was noted as a service to help community financial institutions meet FFIEC Guidance. Link
SimpleTuition
SimpleTuition expanded its student loan payment options by partnering with Discover Card. Link
SmartyPig
SmartyPig was recommended by Mint.com as a way to save for impulse purchases. Link
TradeKing
TradeKing implemented SunGard’s MarketMap to deliver market data to its active trading platform. Link
UBank
Mashable highlighted UBank’s feedback forum. Link
Voice Commerce
Voice Commerce launched a payment solution for the iPhone. Link
Wikinvest

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PC mag reviewed Wikinvest’s mobile app. Link
Xero
Tech Day assessed Xero’s Debtor Daddy service. Link

More Than Just a Free Credit Score From Credit Karma

Credit Karma, founded in May 2007, provides free ad-supported access to consumer credit reports. Based on website traffic, it is one of the most popular companies to demo at Finovate (see previous coverage). The company has closed in on the million-visitor mark several times this year (see chart below).  

Web Traffic: 
(Retrieved June 23, 2011 from compete.com) 
WebTraffic.jpg
Number of Employees: 22
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
Market Position: Credit score provider
Value Proposition: Credit Karma uses targeted advertisements to offset the cost of purchasing credit information from TransUnion. The company also provides tools and calculators to help understand and predict credit score changes. 
Revenue in 2010: Over $3 million
Timeline:
Timeline.jpg
The User Experience:
1) Create a user profile with email and a password. 
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2) Provide personal information to retrieve your credit information.
Account info Page.jpg
3) Confirm your identity. 
4) View your credit score, learn how it was calculated, and see how it compares to others.
Credit Score.jpg
5) Use Credit Karma’s tools to see how future events, such as applying for a new credit card, will impact your credit score.
Manipulator tool.jpg
6) Credit Karma provides recommendations from advertisers based on your credit score. A

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 high credit score might yield a credit card offer similar to the Chase offer to the right, whereas another might trigger an auto loan offer.
Recently, Credit Karma announced a new service called Approval Odds, which is a free feature that aims to help consumers avoid being declined for a credit card.
To see a live demo of this service from FinovateStartup 2009, check it out here.

Alumni News– Week of June 20, 2011

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AlphaClone
AlphaClone launched a new feature that measures sentiment. Link
BillFLO
Taulia acquired BillFLO. Link
Bills.com

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Bills.com shared money-saving strategies for recent college graduates. Link
BrightScope
BrightScope was highlighted on the Tuscon NBC news channel series, “4 Your Money.” Link
CashEdge
Ally Bank began offering CashEdge’s Popmoney service. Link
Continuity Control

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LEVERAGE, the Service Corporation for the League of Southeastern Credit Unions, began offering Continuity Control’s CreditUnion Assistant program. Link
CreditKarma
Credit Karma introduced its Approval Odds service to help avoid being declined for a card. Link
Currensee
Currensee reached $6 billion in trading volume and $12 million under management. Link
doxo
The MakeUseOf blog reviewed doxo’s online filing cabinet. Link
Dwolla
  • Dwolla CEO commented on the Bitcoin virtual currency debate, exchange, and hysteria.  Link
  • Dwolla’s fees were compared to PayPal’s. Link
  • Silicon Prairie News discussed Dwolla CEO’s comments on Bitcoin. Link
eWise
eWise Payo’s smartphone app won the Editor’s Award for Consumer Focus at the 2011 Cards International Awards. Link
Expensify

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  • The Dallas News highlighted Expensify. Link
  • Expensify was listed as one of 25 tools to help you manage spending by cmvlive.com Link
HelloWallet
HelloWallet posted a short video series explaining its wealth-tracking service. Link
Jwaala

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KEMBA Financial Credit Union implemented Jwaala’s platform. Link
Lending Club
  • Lending Club is approaching its financial breakeven point. Link
  • Reuters commented on Lending Club’s P2P marketplace. Link
Lendio
Lendio helped banks increase business loans by finding qualified borrowers. Link
Mortgagebot

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Mortgagebot and Business Solutions extended their Tech Alliance to provide mortgage application solutions at preferred terms. Link
PayNearMe
PayNearMe facilitated 7-Eleven’s partnership with Greyhound for cash transactions. Link
Prosper
Reuters commented on Prosper’s P2P marketplace. Link
Receivables Exchange

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The Receivables Exchange won 2011 “Management Team of the Year” at the Stevie Awards. Link
Strands
Strands Personal Finance landed in the 2011 Red Herring Top 100 North America list. Link
TradeKing
TradeKing announced its free webinar series on trading advice beginning July 12th. Link
Voice Commerce

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Voice Commerce launched its CashFlows app. Link
Xero
Getapp.com reviewed Xero’s cloud-based software. Link

HelloWallet is a PFM with Deep Philanthropic Roots

We all know that sticking to a budget is important, but it’s not easy. HelloWallet’s online

HWLogo.jpg

personal financial management (PFM) is designed to help. Users can track long-term goals and spending through interactive graphs and personalized notifications. In addition, the startup’s philanthropic efforts make you feel even better about using the $8.95/mo advertising-free service. 
Washington, D.C.-based HelloWallet was founded in 2008 by former Brookings scholar Matt Fellows to provide financial guidance for Americans who lack access to professional advisors. The service originated with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation intended to help low-income Americans create a budget. 
Web Traffic
(Note: The traffic below does not reflect users who access the service through their employer. The footnote* at end of the post reflects those numbers.)

CompeteTraffic.jpg

(Retrieved June 22, 2011 from compete.com)
The company has expanded its horizons and now looks to help consumers at all income levels. In fact, HelloWallet is primarily distributed through Fortune 500 companies to their employees as a benefit.  
The User Experience 
No matter where you are in your financial journey, HelloWallet has features to help you stick to your budget. 
It has five main sections:
  1. Home features an overview of your accounts, a list of to-dos, and a feed of alerts.Thumbnail image for HomeScreen.jpg
  2. Plan focuses on the long-term view of wealth, goals, and budget through a cash-flow graph. It also provides personalized recommendations on how to increase savings.Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Plan Screen.jpg
  3. Budget displays account totals and income by day. It also shows budget totals by category.Budget Screen.jpg
  4. Transactions are listed and graphed. The graph shows money earned compared to money spent on a daily timeline.Transaction Screen 2.jpg
  5. Profile facilitates personalized advice by asking about other personal situations, such as number of children and if you anticipate caring for elderly parents in the future.Profile Screen.jpg
A mobile version is scheduled for later this year.
Philanthropy
Because HelloWallet believes in helping people at all income levels, it has pledged to give away one subscription to a low-income family for every five purchased. To help identify deserving families who qualify for a free subscription, it maintains community partnerships with the following non-profit organizations:
  • The Center for Economic Progress: Assists hard working, low-income families reach financial stability.
  • The Community Builders: Builds homes and communities for low-wage families and individuals.
  • Community Renewal International: Restores communities through personal relationships. 
  • EARN: Provides low-income working families with tools to help them achieve financial goals.
To see it in action, check out HelloWallet’s Finovate Spring 2011 demo
—————————————————————————————————————————————
*HelloWallet’s average employer partner workforce is 50k employees where the average take-up rate is about 20% after six months. It expects to serve 600,000 employees by the end of the year. Thus, since employees log in once a week on average, the actual web traffic varies substantially from the compete.com graph. 

Alumni News — Week of June 13, 2011

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AcceptEmail
AcceptEmail partnered with WorldPay to launch an e-billing and online payment service. Link
Balance
GeekWire interviewed Balance Financial CEO, Devin Miller. Link
BancVue
BancVue executives won Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Link
BankOns
Examiner.com referred to BankOns as the new GroupOn. Link
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BillShrink
BillShrink was featured in The New York Times. Link
BrightScope
Forbes reported on BrightScope’s list of exchange-traded funds held in America’s 401k plans. Link

CheckFree
CheckFree expanded its functionality to support account-to-account and peer-to-peer transfers. Link
Clairmail

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Clairmail joined the RSA Secured Partner Program to provide secure access to mobile banking. Link
doxo
  • doxo CEO explained paperless billing in a video interview, highlighting the mobile app. Link
  • doxo was featured on the Top Productivity Apps website. Link
  • Northwest Innovation reviewed doxo’s mobile app. Link
Dwolla
TechCrunch reported that Dwolla hit a milestone of $1M in transactions per week. Link
Enloop
  • Business News Daily interviewed Enloop CEO, Cynthia McCahon, about creating a “living business plan”. Link
  • Huffington Post spotlighted Enloop. Link
eRollover
eRollover launched an online solution for financial advisors to grow practices. Link

eWiseThumbnail image for eWise.jpg

eWise announced its partnership with Affirmative Technologies to speed the adoption of
alternative payment methods. Link
Kiboo
Kiboo launched a public site called “Know Your Money”.  Link
Lending Club
  • Lending Club posted a video of their five-word acceptance speech at the Webby Awards. Link
  • The Wall Street Journal noted Lending Club as leading the way in P2P lending. Link
mFoundry
  • mFoundry helped Starbucks build an app for Android. Link
  • mFoundry passed the 400 customer milestone. Link
Mitek
Mitek’s mobile check deposit was cited as the number one feature that would cause you to switch banks. Link
Monitise
  • ComputerWeekly discussed the survey Monitise conducted on mobile banking. Link
  • Forbes discussed Monitises’ deal with Visa. Link
peerTransfer
  • peerTransfer is hosting a free webinar on international student payment processing this Wednesday, June 22. Link
  • peerTransfer won the Innovation Award from Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange. Link
ProsperThumbnail image for Prosper.jpg
  • Prosper announced that it is giving away an iPad2 to new investors. Link
  • The Wall Street Journal noted Prosper as leading the way in P2P lending. Link
SafetyPay
SafetyPay was selected by BorderJump as its preferred payment solution for cross border transactions. Link
SmartyPig
Fox Business News suggested using SmartyPig.com as a tool to help “pump up” savings. Link
Tagit 
Tagit helped Commonwealth Bank launch its first mobile app. Link
ThreatMetrix
  • ThreatMetrix announced its cloud-based fraud prevention platform. Link
  • ThreatMetrix launched “ThreatMetrix Fraud Facts,” a free downloadable report. Link
Tyfone
  • Tyfone was awarded an NFC over-the-air and over-the-wire seminal patent. Link
  • American Banker reviewed Tyfone’s mobile payment patent. Link
  • NFC Rumors looked at how Tyfone uses SD cards to enable NFC transactions. Link

Alumni News — Week of June 6, 2011

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Andera
  • Andera launched FortiFI, a new fraud prevention system. Link 
  • Andera CEO Charlie Kroll discussed the release of FortiFI. Link 
ChargeSmart
  • ChargeSmart launched ChargeSmart Direct to provide customers with additional access to support staff. Link 
  • Fox Business News highlighted ChargeSmart and PlasticJungle’s gift card trading service as a way to make savings fun. Link   
Check Point Software Technologies 
Check Point announced the 2012 version of ZoneAlarm. Link 
Currensee 

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  • Forex Crunch outlined the benefits of Currensee, describing its profitability as “significantly high”. Link 
  • The Street highlighted Curensee as a startup that “rocks” the financial house. Link 
doxo
  • Chicago Tribune discussed doxo’s step toward a paperless society. Link 
  • TechCrunch & VentureBeat featured the launch of doxo’s mobile app, a mobile digital filing cabinet. Link  and Link 
  • Macworld took a closer look at doxo’s new app. Link   
Dwolla

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  • Dwolla released Grid, a feature that protects personal user information. Link 
  • The Street highlighted Dwolla as a startup that “rocks” the financial house. Link 
  • The Next Web interviewed Dwolla about its API. Link 
Enloop 
StartUp Beat profiled Enloop. Link
eWise 
eWise raised $14 million in funding. Link
Expensify 

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CNNMoney named Expensify as one of five best apps for businesses. Link
FreeMonee 
CardTrak.com examined FreeMonee’s gift network. Link
Ftrans 
Ftrans raised $650,000 in equity financing. Link
GoalMine 
GoalMine won The Core Underbanked Innovators Challenge at the 6th Annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum hosted by Core Innovation Capital. Link
Jemstep 

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Jemstep launched a new version of its service that features many improvements. Link
mFoundry 
The Washington Post reported that mFoundry’s mobile deposit service is its most requested feature. Link
Mitek
  • Mitek Systems was granted 4 more patents for its mobile deposit feature. Link 
  • Bank Technology News discussed Mitek’s new patents. Link 
Monitise
  • Monitise launched its services in India. Link 
  • The Wall Street Journal covered Monitise’s 5-year agreement with Visa. Link 
  • TechCrunch examined Monitise’s recent deal with Visa. Link  
Prosper 
Prosper raised $17.5 million in funding from investors. Link
RobotDough
The Street highlighted RobotDough as a startup that “rocks” the financial house. Link

SecondMarket 
CNBC interviewed Barry Silbert, CEO of SecondMarket, regarding its role in IPOs. Link
Silver Tail Systems 
Silver Tail Systems raised $20M in a Series B funding round. Link

Striata 
Striata partnered with POCiT to enable bill payments. Link
Sybase 
Sybase was named the most successful database software vendor in China. Link
ThreatMetrix  

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ThreatMetrix collaborated with USA ePay to provide fraud prevention to online retailers. Link
TradeKing 
TradeKing partnered with CoolTrade for automatic stock trades. Link
UBank 
UBank voiced that it will change the banking industry by using the web and mobile technology. Link
Zopa 

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BBC’s Radio 2 interviewed Zopa CEO Giles Andrews about P2P lending. Link