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Intuit Offers eBay Bucks Incentives for Mint, TurboTax Trial

By Jim Bruene Posted on February 16, 2012
Categories: Ebay, Rewards Programs

While I don’t use eBay for entertainment much any more, I still pick up the occasional used item now and then. And I love the rewards program which began about two years ago. It works like it should, with no qualification hoops to jump through or byzantine rules to discourage redemption (note 1).

Users accrue a 2% cash-back bonus, called eBay Bucks, for three months. Then they have 30 days to spend it on the site. When paying for a subsequent purchase, the eBay Bucks are automatically used first, with any remainder shunted off to PayPal for authorization.

It’s all well integrated and transparent. eBay even emails you multiple times as the spending deadline approaches.

They company also provides ways to earn extra eBay bucks. Today, for example, they offered an extra fiver if you bought something worth $100 or more.

In addition, outside brands can make offers on the rewards-summary page as well. The current featured offers (for me anyway) are from Intuit’s Mint.com and TurboTax units. Users receive one eBay Buck for signing up for Mint and two for using TurboTax. There are 36 offers altogether, paying up to 15 eBay dollars (People Magazine). All offers are powered by TrialPay. Two others are financial:

FreeCreditReport.com (Experian): 10 bucks
Credit Karma: 1 buck

Side note: The eBay rewards implementation is a good example to simulate when designing your own in-statement rewards program.

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Mint.com offer displayed in eBay rewards program area (16 Feb 2012)

Close-up of Intuit offers

Landing page powered by TrialPay (link)

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Notes:
1. I did fail to redeem my cash-back horde the first time, because I didn’t realize there was a 30-day redemption deadline. But not before eBay sent multiple messages reminding me of the pending deadline.
2. For more on in-statement rewards programs for banks, check out our Online Banking Report on the subject (published Feb. 2011).

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BillFloat is Loaning More than $1 Million per Month

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 16, 2012
Categories: BillFloat

The New York Times Bucks blog recently featured BillFloat, a startup that provides short-term loans to help consumers pay bills.

The metrics cited in the article:

Registered190,000 users in the past year
Provided 80,000 loans in past year
Total originations were nearly $13 million in past year
Average loan amount was $160
Works with over 2,500 companies across the U.S.
Loan default rate around 10%

Consumer costs:

Maximum interest rate is 36% APR (not including service fee)
Service fee ranges from $9 to $18 per loan

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

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Kabbage’s Partnership with UPS Provides More Funding by Using Shipping Data in Underwriting

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 16, 2012
Categories: Kabbage

Kabbage, a startup that provides financing to online merchants, announced yesterday that it has partnered with UPS to use customer shipping data to make better underwriting decisions.

“Effective today, small businesses will be able to direct UPS to share their shipping history with Kabbage via the Kabbage.com website, making it possible for them to potentially obtain more capital at lower rates.”

A video on Kabbage’s blog states that UPS is also providing Kabbage an undisclosed amount of capital to grow its customer base and fund more small businesses.

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

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ETRONIKA Piques the Interest of FinovateEurope Audience

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 16, 2012
Categories: ETRONIKA

In the week after FinovateEurope, I’ve been keeping track of press coverage from the conference. The media has generated a lot of buzz* about ETRONIKA’s use of Microsoft Kinect for online banking.

ETRONIKA, a Lithuanian startup, uses Kinect technology to provide users access to their online bank account via face and voice recognition, followed by a PIN number. After logging in, clients can navigate the system using voice commands and sweeping hand gestures.

Because this was the first time the Finovate team had ever seen this type of unique financial technology, we eagerly awaited seeing the demo. On the rehearsal day before the show, the microphones interfered with the voice recognition feature**. We sweated it out as the audio/visual team adjusted their equipment to minimize the echo caused by the large auditorium.

When ETRONIKA stepped up to the stage on the day of the conference, all fingers were crossed. Fortunately, the technology worked (almost) flawlessly, and the startup was able to share its unique technology with the audience.

ETRONIKA’s demo video will be posted on the Finovate website in a few weeks.

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*Press coverage includes:

Bank Innovation

7 New Services Launched at FinovateEurope 2012

by Mary Wisniewski

Link

Commercial Integrator

Etronika Unveils Improved Microsoft Kinect-Based Online Banking

by Rachel Cericola

Link

I Programmer

Kinect The Ultimate Security Device

by Harry Fairhead

Link

Inside Brunei fm

ETRONIKA Brings online banking to Gesture Control, But Why?

by Roshan Jerad Perera

Link

My Bank Tracker

Wave Your Arms in the Air: Etronika’s Gesture-Based Banking

by Willy Staley

Link

Slash Gear

ETRONIKA produce Kinect-based online banking

by Chris Burns

Link

TechCrunch Europe

Lithuanian company develops Kinect-powered online banking system

by Mike Butcher

Link

Ubergizmo

Kinect based online banking from Etronika a reality now

by Edwin Kee

Link

Visible Banking

Etronika: Kinect Banking at the Branch, Minority Report Style [INTERVIEW]

by Christophe Langlois

Link

**The voice-recognition feature works fine in a normal setting, this issue was solely caused by audio/visual technicalities.

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Finovate Alumni News– February 16, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 16, 2012
Categories: BillFloat, Dwolla, eToro, HelloWallet, Holvi, IDTheft 911, Kabbage, Kasasa, ReadyForZero, ValidSoft

InspirePay embeds Dwolla’s payment network.

Fast Co Design applauds ReadyForZero’s product and UI.

Phil D’Angio appointed as Senior VP of Global Sales for ValidSoft.

MAPFRE Puerto Rico selects Identity Theft 911 to provide ID theft protection & resolution services to policyholders.

HelloWallet implements new features.

Vision Research Lab highlights Holvi’s demo from FinovateEurope.

ForexPros interviews Yoni Assia, eToro CEO.

DepositAccounts.com looks at reward checking accounts from Kasasa.

Kabbage’s partnership with UPS provides more funding by using shipping data in underwriting.

BillFloat is loaning more than $1 million per month.

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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Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures Contributes to Xero’s Recent $16.6 Million in Funding

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 15, 2012
Categories: Xero

Earlier this month, online accounting software Xero announced a $16.6 million round of financing, funded partially by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures. This is not this first time the famed investor has funded Xero.

TechCrunch reports:

“Thiel first invested $3 million in New Zealand-founded Xero back in 2010, with the aim of fueling expansion in the United States. The company says that’s also the reason for the latest round.”

MYOB co-founder Craig Winkler and Sam Morgan also participated in the round.

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

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MasterCard Forms Alliance with Silver Tail Systems

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 15, 2012
Categories: Silver Tail Systems

Last week, MasterCard announced the formation of a relationship with Silver Tail Systems, an online security and intelligence startup.

“By combining Silver Tail Systems’ technology with MasterCard’s extensive payments experience and insights, merchants will be better equipped to spot malware or robotic (“bots”) activity originating from personal computers or smart phones attacking their online payments systems.”

The two will help U.S.-based online merchants by providing fraud solutions.

To learn more about Silver Tail Solutions, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

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Finovate Alumni News– February 15, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 15, 2012
Categories: Aptys Solutions, Cartera Commerce, CurrencyFair, Diversinet, ETRONIKA, PayNearMe, PayPal, Segmint, Silver Tail Systems, SmartyPig, Xero

American Banker reports SmartyPig adds office in India.

American Banker reports PayPal digs even further into the prepaid card market.

TechCrunch Europe covers ETRONIKA’s FinovateEurope presentation.

VentureBeat lists Danny Shader, CEO of PayNearMe, as an entrepreneur using startups to change the world.

Since Aptys Solutions 2010 launch, over 1,000 commercial banks now use PayLOGICS platform to process payments.

Diversinet Corp. appoints Dr. Hon Pak as the company’s CEO.

Cartera Commerce named to OnMedia 100 Top Private Companies List.

AccMan looks at how CurrencyFair solves multi-currency cost issues.

INDYCAR partners with Segmint to reward race fans.

MasterCard forms alliance with Silver Tail Systems.

Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures contributes to Xero’s recent $16.6 million in funding.

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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Self-Serve: Chase Bank Allows Users to Create Their Own Billpay “Proof of Payment” Letters

By Jim Bruene Posted on February 14, 2012
Categories: Bill payment, Chase Bank, Service

Last night, my son was having trouble convincing his college landlord that the Feb rent payment had been sent via online billpay. I was not happy, envisioning an extended conversation with bank customer service, something that is very, very low on my list of Monday night activities.

So I logged in to the Chase account to see if the check had cleared. At best, I expected to see that the payment had been sent via billpay, but no way to prove that the check had actually arrived.

Bit I was pleasantly surprised. Not only could I see that the payment had cleared, the bank had posted an image of the check so I could see the landlord’s endorsement (see screenshot 1 and 2).

That was great on its own. But wait, there was more.

The bank offers a self-service “Note to Payee” function that automatically creates a letter to document payment details, including a copy of the check image (see screenshot 3). All you have to do is download the PDF and attach it to an email to the payee.

The only hitch in the system is finding these functions. They are located under the Payments & Transfers tab (see screenshot 1). That’s not bad, but it would be more intuitive to place a direct link from the the online statement (My Accounts) to the bill payment details. Also, the “Print to PDF” button is easily missed (screenshot 2).

Still, the entire process took less than two minutes. And I didn’t have to call customer service, a saving of 15 minutes of my time and $15-20 in customer service expense by the bank.

The letter worked perfectly. Within an hour, the landlord had backed down, apologized for her error, and went back to her day job. This pretty much makes up for the unreadable bit of correspondence I got from the bank last week.

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1. Chase bill payment activity screen (14 Feb 2012)

2. Chase proof-of-payment screen
Note: Print to PDF option

3. Chase automatically generated “Note to Payee” letter in PDF format

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Note: See our Online Banking Report for more info on bill payment, messaging, customer service and much more.

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Dwolla Raises $5 Million in Series B From Union Square Ventures

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 14, 2012
Categories: Dwolla

Earlier this month, payment network Dwolla announced that it raised $5 million in Series B funding from Union Square Ventures. In addition, Village Ventures, Thrive Capital, Artists & Instigators and angel investor Paige Craig also participated in the round.

Silicon Prairie News reports:

“With the new funds, which bring Dwolla’s total amount raised to date to around $6.3 million, the company plans to bolster its product development and support and aggressively expand its API offerings…”

While not divulging any concrete numbers, Dwolla has shared a few stats over the past year on its blog:

Users grew 25x

Merchants grew 37x

Millions have been saved in fees

16 jobs were added to the Des Moines economy

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

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Five of Fast Company’s 10 Most Innovative Companies in Finance are Finovate Alums

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 14, 2012
Categories: Dwolla, Google, PayPal, SecondMarket, Simple, Stocktwits

Fast Company recently published a list of most innovative companies that contained multiple Finovate alumni. Here’s the breakdown:

Overall top 50 most innovative companies:

Google
Rank: 3
FinovateFall 2011 demo

PayPal
Rank: 43
FinovateSpring 2011 demo

Top 10* in finance category:

PayPal
Rank: 4
FinovateSpring 2011 demo

SecondMarket
Rank: 6
FinovateStarup09 demo

Dwolla
Rank: 8
FinovateSpring 2011 demo

Simple (formerly BankSimple)
Rank: 9
FinovateFall 2011 demo

StockTwits
Rank: 10
FinovateEurope 2011 demo

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*Also included in the finance category are:

2. Starbucks

3. Kickstarter

5. Y Combinator

7. American Express

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IBM to Purchase Worklight for Undisclosed Amount

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 14, 2012
Categories: Worklight

Late last month, IBM announced plans to purchase mobile app management company, Worklight:

“With this acquisition, IBM’s mobile offerings will span mobile application development, integration, security and management. Worklight will become an important piece of IBM’s mobility strategy, offering clients an open platform that helps speed the delivery of existing and new mobile applications to multiple devices. It also helps enable secure connections between smartphone and tablet applications with enterprise IT systems”

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year. The financial terms were not disclosed.

To learn more, watch Worklight’s FinovateFall 2010 demo.

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