DoughMain Launches Financial Education Game Sand Dollar City

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.

Bill.com’s Paperless Bill Management Wins Silver Award

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 

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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.

Finovate Alumni News– November 10, 2011

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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.

Capital One Driving Mobile Use with Sweepstakes

imageBoosting mobile engagement has a promising ROI. Among other benefits, the potential $6+ saved per displaced call center inquiry can have a meaningful impact on the bottom line (note 1).

And while volumes are growing, Capital One says mobile usage is up 5-fold compared to last year, it’s still a lightly used channel compared to phone (voice) and online.

Yet, for a card issuer, mobile is THE most important channel for the NFC/Square/GoogleWallet future.

So it makes a ton of sense to pull out the stops now to get customers using the bank’s mobile app. Capital One in particular, as one of the last majors to get into the app store, likely has an awareness problem with mobile cardholders. Even if the CapOne native app was downloaded, it’s buried so deep on the iPhone’s screens, that users forget about it. In my case, it’s on screen number eight and I rarely see it even though I use my card almost every day.

To attract more mobile uptake, the card giant launched a usage sweeps today. Between now and Jan 6, each cardholder will get one sweepstakes entry every day they log in to the mobile app or mobile web (SMS activity does not appear to count). One person will win a 16GB Wifi iPad2 each day. And a grand prize of a Chevy Volt will be awarded at the end (full rules). The total prize package is $80,000, less than the cost of one 30-second spot on an about-to-be-cancelled sitcom. 

The sweeps is being promoted with a small homepage link and a prominent mention on the main mobile banking page (see second screenshot below).

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Capital One mobile sweeps landing page (link, 9 Nov 2011)
Note: The call to action, text “power” to 80101, was not working in my test. 
Update 10 Nov: Fixed 

 

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Main mobile banking page (link)

Main mobile banking page Capital One

Notes:
1. Of course, you also have to put in place a mobile channel strategy that actually does displace call-center inquiries. That’s easier said than done. Also, financial institutions paying mobile vendors for each active user, may not want to boost mobile usage in this way. 
2. Despite the name of our subscription newsletter, Online Banking Report, we cover mobile issues almost every month. 

Expensify Creates Four Pricing Plans

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.

Billeo Launches ShopSmart To Bring Consumers Relevant Discounts

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:

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“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.

Finovate Alumni News– November 9, 2011

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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.

Top 10 Reasons Why BankSimple Dropped the Bank

Simple login area

When I started my company in 1994, I was told by the state that I couldn’t have “bank” in the name unless I was one. So one of the first questions I asked BankSimple founder Josh Reich early last year was how they were getting past that issue. He said it was not a problem since BankSimple was just a brand name. The company name was, and still is, Simple Finance Technology Corp.

So evidently, the startup wasn’t forced to change. That got me to thinking about why they moved away from BankSimple, which is a great description of their initial product set. Here is what I came up with.

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Top 10 Reason for Changing the Name from BankSimple to Simple
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10. While it may be OK in the United States for a non-bank to use “bank” in a brand name, that may not be the case in other markets the startup hopes to eventually conquer

9. There’s been lots of bank bashing the last few years; so it avoids negative connotations

8. One word names are cooler than two-word mashups

7. It allows them to move into other less “bankish” areas such as payments and offers

6. It allows them to partner with credit unions, card companies, and other non-bank financial companies

5. Can add any other word to “simple” to create great product names, e.g., “Simple Billpay”

4. The generic word, beginning with S, is being used by the highest-valued fintech startup in the world, Square

3. Much easier to riff off of “simple” for killer taglines (see login screen above)

2. They don’t have to worry about anyone saying “occupy simple”

And the most important reason (drum roll):

1. Tweets can have 4 more characters (ba dump bump)

Yes, BankSimple made a good strategic move, though I’ll miss the old name, which had a nice oxymoron-ish quality to it.

eToro Launches iOS Mobile App for On-The-Go Trading

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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.

BankSimple Launches to the Public, Changes its Name to 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:

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“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.”

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

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.

Credit Karma Launches "Hands Free" Account Aggregation

Everyone likes the idea of an online PFM, but relatively few will take the time to enter the necessary account numbers and passwords. Fewer still will keep it running smoothly by coming back periodically to update passwords, provide security question responses, and so on. That friction means it’s not benefiting as many people as it could. 

But Credit Karma removes the friction, at least on the credit side, with its latest feature, My Accounts (see first screenshot below; see fourth screenshot for today’s email announcement). The startup parses credit bureau data to automatically present each user with an aggregated look at their debt over time. The service requires ZERO account info from the user, they simply sign up with Credit Karma to get free credit report info.

Historical data is captured each time the user updates their credit info at Credit Karma. Since it’s new, there’s just a single data point on my account (see second screenshot).

To earn advertising and referral income, Credit Karma integrates card offers into My Accounts with a Recommended Cards tab in the tertiary navigation (third screenshot). Cross selling is also woven into other areas as well (first screenshot). Credit Karma also covers home loans, auto loans, and personal loans. Each has their own tab in the secondary navigation.

The company has 3.5 million registered users and is adding 500,000 every quarter.

Bottom line: Keeping closer tabs on debt has huge benefits for many households. Credit Karma’s "no data input" method makes it easier. The last remaining hurdle is integrating the data into online banking so it’s not forgotten (see UW Credit Union post).  

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Credit Karma "My Accounts" (7 Nov 2011)

Credit Karma "My Accounts"

Balance history is tracked for each card
Note: Only one data point, since this was my first time using the new feature

Balance history is tracked for each card

Integrated offers drive revenue

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Email announcement of new feature

Credit Karma's email announcement of My Accounts

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Note: We’ve have written a number of reports on PFM and related issues in our subscription service, Online Banking Report.